More individuals are actually working from home than ever before due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). If you’re interested in becoming a freelancer, following these steps will help you establish a successful freelance career.
Getting Started
Working from your home is not as simple as you might think, especially as a freelancer. You may be working from your computer a lot, meaning that your eyes are going to be strained, to help reduce eye pain that could cause you to take frequent breaks or finish early, you may want to look into companies such as Felix Gray to see about blue light blocking glasses so you are prepared. To get started as a freelancer, you need to think about your skills and how they can benefit individuals and companies. Popular freelancing skills include graphic design, writing content, accounting, and more. Once you find your niche, you can start preparing to enter the freelance world.
Research Different Platforms
The next step in establishing yourself as a freelancer is finding the right platform to offer your services. As a freelancer, I use Google to help point me in the right direction. It’s best to find a platform that best suits your service niche. Say you’re a content writer looking for freelancing opportunities, you might want to check platforms like Contena. This online platform connects freelance writers with businesses looking to hire them, which can be useful to kickstart your freelancing career. Now, if questions like “is Contena legit?” are running through your mind, you should do your own research to be sure. Researching different platforms and making a note of the reviews they’ve received and their overall layout is very important. Therefore, it’s a good idea to check out their terms of service, prices, and features that will help you sell your services.
Choose Your Services
Now you need to figure out what services you’re going to offer. I would start with the things you’re best at, whether that be consulting, home repairs, interior design, and other services. You need to put your best foot forward. Advertise the services that you know you are excellent at doing.
Consider Your Prices
You need to consider how much you will charge for each of your services. If you’re comfortable with offering only one service to get you started, that’s fine. Ideally, I would offer three services to begin with or two versions of the same service, each one offering more than the first. You can use a unique pricing system or use a base cost. A unique pricing system features prices that you set based on what you think each job is worth. A base cost is a system you use to price your services based on a particular platform’s prices.
The Legal Aspect of Things
As a freelancer, you need to consider the legal aspect of operating your business. Most beginner freelancers believe you can provide a service, get paid, and move on to the next customer. While this is true in a sense, you need to have some legal perimeters. If you choose to offer your services on a freelance platform, you take the hassle out of the legal work. Freelance platforms cover all the legalities, some of which you can find in the company’s terms of service.
If you’d rather go it alone, you can, but you need to provide some legal documents for the work you provide. These legal documents don’t have to be extravagant. Still, they do need to state your terms of providing freelance work and your customers’ role in the work you provide.
In addition, do not forget to factor in the taxable aspect of your income, generated through freelancing. Each nation may have its own set of rules and regulations. To make yourself knowledgeable about the same, you can look at some verified online freelance and personal finance resources or you can talk to a finance expert as well. This remains immensely important because at the end of the day you want to be paid fairly.
Share on Social Media
One of the things I recommend is sharing your work on social media. Millions of people use social media every day, and it is one way you can advertise your services. Use multiple social media platforms for promoting your services. The more social platforms you use, the more growth potential you have, so use them wisely.
Find Customers
Finding customers is easier said than done, but not impossible. Most freelance platforms bring the clients to you, so that takes a lot, not all of the work out of your day. If you find clients elsewhere, you can bring them to your platform of choice and earn money. Most freelancers make use of a reliable VPN to work with international clients. If you are a freelancer, you should also consider using a virtual private network that has the choice for a diverse server network. Research and compare between different providers that suit you the best. For example, nordvpn vs expressvpn is a popular choice among remote workers.
Tell Customers About You
Your customers want to know as much about you as possible. I would disclose your education and special skills that help you perform your services better. You can also include certifications you’ve obtained and the goals you’ve achieved. I would also tell customers what you like to do in your free time, such as your hobbies.
Further Your Knowledge
There’s always room for improvement. Further your knowledge as much as possible. Improving your experience in the services you offer allows you to earn more money. Clients are willing to pay more for your services if you can prove you’ve had training or education that certifies you know what you’re doing and can help them in some way.
Becoming a freelancer during a pandemic is a smart idea. Still, you need to make sure you execute your plan correctly. Use these tips to help you get started on your freelance journey.