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The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Freelancing

Are you considering freelancing but unsure of where to begin?

Then you should read this manual.

This is my comprehensive guide for beginners on how to begin freelancing.

This manual will assist you in beginning your journey as a freelance writer, web designer, or developer in 10 easy steps.

I need to make a few clarifications before you continue.

Contrary to what you might believe, freelancing is much more difficult. Some individuals think anyone with a laptop and internet access can work from home and make money. It’s untrue, though.

Only if you’re willing to put in the effort to achieve your goal of going freelance and obtaining financial independence should you continue reading.

Additionally, read the suggested links to find out more about each section.

Let’s get started now.

Get The Right Equipment

When you’re in a desperate situation, you tend to make terrible decisions. That is precisely why I always suggest against starting a freelance business in order to make quick money.

Working for yourself is not a way to get rich quickly. It takes a lot of effort. In reality, it took me close to 4 years to establish a reliable freelance income. But thankfully, compared to me, you now have more opportunities. Freelancers frequently ask me if there is any work they can do with just a smartphone. There are none, is the short answer. not ones that are worthwhile, at least.

The features of smartphone apps are limited. To run the software needed for doing the job correctly and producing excellent results, you need a computer.

Therefore, getting a laptop or an old computer would work just as well before you consider working online.

Before continuing, be sure to read the suggested articles below.

Further Reading:

Find A Marketable Skill

The next, and most important, step is to find a skill you can offer as a service.

This can be as simple as transcribing a podcast or as complex as developing a mobile application. The key to success in freelancing is to find a skill that you are proficient in and that is in sufficient demand on the market.

For instance, if you’re skilled at drawing illustrations or designing product packaging, you should visit a freelance marketplace such as Upwork or Freelancer to see if there are any available jobs.

If there are enough job postings for your skill on those sites, then you’ve struck gold.

Further Reading:

Polish Up Your Skills

Once you’ve identified a marketable skill, make sure you can provide it as a service. Simply put, you must be exceptionally skilled at what you do in order to be paid for it.

Assume you want to work as a freelance writer for health and wellness blogs. This category is in high demand. You have also written about it in school or college.

That does not, however, imply that you can create blog posts for online readers. Articles on blogs and online publications are written in very different styles and formats. Mainly to attract general audiences.

So you must now learn how to write blog posts for online readers. Discover how to use WordPress. How to make graphics for articles. And even more.

It’s the same for every other freelancing skill out there. You can’t just dive in without first learning the basics. You must first hone your skills.

Read books, watch YouTube channels, and follow blogs about your skill and industry.

Taking online courses is also the most effective way to properly learn and polish a skill.

It takes time to develop a skill from the scratch. So be patient and continue to learn and practice. It could take several weeks, months, or even years. Just keep going.

Further Reading:

Build Your Reputation

Managers analyzing company rating and brand reputation. Big computer and tiny people vector illustration. Professional management, insight, SEO, social network analytics concept

The ability to demonstrate your skills and work will determine whether or not you will be a successful freelancer.

It makes no difference whether you have a college degree or years of experience. Clients will never hire you if you can’t demonstrate your expertise in your field.

You should have articles published on popular blogs if you are a writer. You should be able to point to a brand and say you designed their logo if you’re a graphic designer. If you work as a web designer, you must be able to send a link to a website you created.

In a nutshell, put some of your work out there. Do some free work first if necessary. Contact blogs that accept guest posts. Create some concept designs. Whatever it is, work to improve your reputation.

Further Reading:

Create A Portfolio

When you start building your reputation, make sure to include a portfolio that contains all of your published/live work.

A portfolio can be a website or a webpage that displays all of your work.

For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you can use a site like Behance to showcase all of your work. When you contact a client, you can simply send them a link to your portfolio so they can evaluate your skills.

Make certain that your portfolio only contains your best work.

Further Reading:

Try Freelancing Part-Time

Freelancing is not for everyone. The process of marketing yourself, selling your services, and dealing with clients can be overwhelming.

If you’re not sure if freelancing is the right career path for you, try it part-time.

Spend a few hours each day working on smaller freelance gigs. And learn the ins and outs of freelancing.

When you feel ready to take on bigger projects, you can decide whether to freelance full-time or quit your day job.

Further Reading:

Find The Right Freelance Platform

This step plays a crucial role in how easily you’ll find work and the quality of clients you’ll be able to work with.

A mistake most new freelancers make is to find and join the most popular freelance marketplace to get started. Like UpWork or Freelancer.

These sites are already filled with millions of freelancers from all over the world. And because of the competition, they engage in bidding wars to win work. They will constantly lower their prices to get the job. And that will get you nowhere.

So the best approach, and the approach that worked wonders for me, is to pick a marketplace that’s relatively new and join it. It’ll have fewer freelancers, so you’ll have less competition. And it will increase your chances of getting work.

Further Reading:

Charge The Right Price

Finding the right price for your services can be a challenge. After all, if you charge the wrong price, clients will never even consider hiring you.

In the beginning, the best way to figure out the right price is to look at popular freelance marketplaces and see what other freelancers in your niche or industry are charging.

Since you’re new, it’s not fair to charge the same prices as experienced freelancers.

Instead, you should try to find a middle ground where you can offer a more competitive price than those experienced freelancers without making yourself seem cheap.

Further Reading:

Send Your First Proposal

Writing a proposal to a client needs to be done carefully.

It’s not like writing a regular email or social media post. You need to put some serious thought into it and figure out how to convince your client to give you the job over all the other freelancers.

There are a few tips and hacks you can use to your advantage when writing a winning proposal. I can’t go into all the details here, so check out the links below for more information.

Further Reading:

Deliver Beyond Expectations

Once you land a job, the next step is to make sure you deliver the project exactly as the client asked.

Or, in this case, I want you to overdeliver by going above and beyond the client’s expectations.

I’ll give you an example. In the early days of my freelance career, I used to get jobs writing blog articles with a fixed word count, like 1000 words. What I did was write the article to be around 1100-1200 and also include a unique header image for the blog post when I delivered it. Without charging extra for it.

The clients were always happy with my work. And gave 5 star reviews.

So find a way to do work that exceeds expectations. And learn to stand out. That’s the only way to build a lasting freelance career.

Further Reading:

What’s Next?

You are now ready to enter the world of freelancing. With dedication and hard work, you’ll be able to create a profitable and prosperous freelance career. That’s guaranteed.