Forget about the money you could have made on that bet yesterday, why not focus on money that you can earn online TODAY! For example you might have lost your job, taken a pay cut or are struggling to sustain your business. You may now be looking to make online. May I share with you 10 ways to kick start your freelancing career.
1. Do Your Due Diligence
Part-time freelance writing appears popular, glamorous, and a get-rich-quick scheme. However, you must have realistic and genuine intentions before getting into this online world.
The best way to start is: to ask family, friends, previous employees, or colleagues if they know anyone who needs your services. Then from there you can browse online gig sites, research on keynote blogs, and follow successful freelance writers on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
2. Get Training From the Experts
The key to success in any worthwhile endeavor is to learn and take massive action. Any knowledge without practice is mere theory. For a beginner in the freelancing journey, the main objective is to gain experience and then the money will come. There is an easy formula to remember: EXPERIENCE +EXPERTISE= MONEY. Your secret to success as a freelancer is hard work.
I was trained by one of the experts in the industry. I’m forever grateful that I took that step.
If you interested, you can sign up for the article training course.
3. Gain Experience Gradually
When you went for your first job interview, what was the first question that you were asked? Didn’t the interviewing panel ask whether you had any work experience? So to be a successful freelancer you will need to gain work experience. How do you go about obtaining freelance experience?
You jump straight into the ball game. You start by offering to write articles of successful entrepreneurs and sharing their articles on social media. You can also offer to create an online presence for businesses that aren’t yet online on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or even YouTube.
Start by charging a small fee so that you’re not just doing charity work. Make sure that people get to know your name, respect your content, and respect your brand.
This is hard work, you will have deadlines to meet, and on top of all this, you may also be working full-time. You will need to write the first draft, email the client, make corrections, and then send out the final draft. Many of the clients will pay but a few may disappoint. This will teach you about the importance of introducing a deposit first before completing the clients’ work. You will have to learn the hard way.
4. Manage Your Work
Once you hit the jackpot in turning on the faucet and work starts gushing forth then you’ll be a very busy freelancer. As such you will need to take on a balanced workload so that you don’t feel overwhelmed and burnt out. You always need to deliver pure gold to your clients.
If anything stops you from delivering pure gold to your customers then you will need to address the way you work and seek to strike a wise balance. Keep off social media sites when you’re working, take short breaks, and find effective ways of rewarding yourself when you succeed!
I love to go for a short walk, listen to my favourite song or watch my favourite movie. What do you do to get into your lane and then slay?
5. Establish a Saving Culture
As a freelancer, your commodity will be money in exchange for your services rendered. A smart freelancer is one who saves and reinvests.
You can save and invest money into building a website, printing of business cards, investing in a relevant course, or buying a book. Don’t ever save money in Paypal or on M-pesa. Save money in a Sacco or a local bank account to enable you to take a future loan.
Once you start earning continue with the habit of saving. As a freelancer, you will experience challenging times when there will be limited work. During these times make sure to establish an emergency fund to cover you during such unpredictable periods.
6. Create Devoted Workspace and Routine
Your general productivity is tied down to how much you make as a freelancer. Take the time to thoroughly analyze your productivity and how to get more work done; as this will pay off in the future. Every athlete has their corner of success and their tricks to delivering pure gold. As a freelancer, you need to find that one place that brings out the best productivity in you!
You need to ask yourself some of these questions. What are your most productive hours of your day? What tasks tend to make the most of your time and energy? How and where do you work best? All of us are unique in our working style.
There is no perfect formula to guarantee your individual success. But, you must establish a consistent daily routine that will help you to manage the workload. For me, I’ve realized that I work better at night because there is less noise and distraction. For you, it could that you work best in the wee hours of the morning.
7. Make Marketing and Networking a Priority
You need to be out there, seen, heard, and read by the world. There is no better way to achieve this than through your website or blog. A well written and marketed blog sells and converts clients into customers. A Successful freelancer will have to put in the time to market their business and harness the power of networking to make professional contacts.
Once you have become a successful freelancer, make sure that you use the power of positive testimonials from happy clients. For each client that you work with ask for a testimonial that you can pin to your blog. Testimonials can be used to attract new clients towards your blog and these can become loyal customers.
You will learn more about the power of ratings through sites such as Fiver, Upwork, and Guru. The higher your skills-based rating is, the more clients will want to work with because they know that you can be trusted to deliver pure gold!
8. Build Your Online Credibility
Be known for something great. Be known as the freelancer that creates websites, exquisite graphics, or writes provoking content. Whatever it is, stand out from the rest of freelancers. You can achieve this by writing an ebook, creating an online course, or opening a Facebook group where you’re the real expert.
When you start to build your credibility, you are also building your portfolio. This is excellent for your clients because you’re able to demonstrate how knowledgeable you are in a certain niche.
9. Blog Frequently
Do you want to stand out as an expert in your specific niche? Then take advantage of using your blog as a platform to attract and convert new customers. When I started writing my first blog back in 2016 I would post every 3 months or so… and one comment from one of my readers blew my mind. The client suggested that my content was on point but I needed to post much more regularly than every 3 months!
I used this feedback when I began my second blog. My goal was to create one or two in-depth blog posts per month. Strive to create content that is of value and provides helpful solutions to your potential clients. This way they will be coming back again and again to read more exciting content. By blogging frequently, you’ll achieve the best returns on your marketing platform.
10. Offer Guest Post Services
As an upcoming freelance writer do you want to improve your writing skills, gain valuable experience, expertise, and MONEY? The answer is by getting your content featured on blogs and publications that can drive clients to your blog.
As a freelancer, you can increase your online visibility by being published on high traffic blogs and publications. Please note that you will be offering your services for free but the net returns once clients get to identify with your name, website and blog will be amazing! You’ll be smiling straight to the bank.
Parting Shot
Wow! I’ve just mentioned 10 ways to kick start your freelancing career. Remember freelancing is a journey just as Rome wasn’t built in one day. I am also learning every single day. I have the utmost confidence in your abilities to become a successful freelancer. Take massive action and deliver pure gold!
