Freelancing, as the name implies, is one of the freest forms of employment the world has ever known. There is no boss to answer to, no external location to carpool to (unless you wish to lease an outside office) and you get to call all the shots. The best part about freelancing, however, is all the online income. Imagine being able to work anywhere as long as you had a computer and an online connection. You could take your entire family to Maui and work while you watch your children play in the surf, if you have children. Stay at home parents and those who don’t quite like the regiment of the nine-to-five will find the life of a freelancer quite comfortable indeed. And all that online income certainly doesn’t hurt matters. If you want to know what it takes to become a freelancer, put on your pajamas, fire up the coffee pot and strap into your office chair. The quick guide to freelancing is finally here.
The Choice of How to Proceed is Yours
In order to earn an online income freelancing, you need to hone your skills so that you can provide a billable service to potential clients. So dig deep down inside yourself and find that one skill that is just dying to make itself known. Maybe you like to write, maybe you like to draw or design, maybe you like accounting or managing other people’s businesses. Whatever skill you have to provide, that is the one you’re going to use to earn an online income.
Once you discover the freelancing service you will be providing, the next step is to find potential competitors. If you plan to become a freelance graphic designer, find other designers that are looking for the same type of clients. Find out how they market their services, how much they charge for each service and it might pay to contact them to find out how the back-end is run. Do this for every competitor you find and start making a list of the elements you like and dislike. Study the colors they use on their websites, the language and tone of voice they use, the service names, the amounts of services, and anything else that catches your eye.
You will then base your new freelancing venture off of the best aspects of all the freelancers you study and survey. Hopefully you have compiled an extensive list, because those elements that you just picked out are going to be used to construct your very first freelancing online marketing campaign.
Marketing Your Services
In order to earn an online income, you need to let others know that your services are on the market. In this day and age, you should at least have a website that offers a mobile-friendly version that potential clients can access on their tablets and smartphones. Since you will be marketing online, we want to optimize our site for a global audience. After all, it’s not uncommon for freelancing professionals to have clients located all over the world. The website should be able to accommodate all of those folks and direct them to where they want to go quickly and without too much thought.
To stack your deck when starting your freelancing business, it is recommended that you hire someone else to create your website and initial online marketing campaign, unless of course web design and/or SEO are services that you plan to offer potential clients. If the latter is the case, design a site based on those best-practices we spoke of earlier and ensure that your website is easy to navigate and order from.
We will assume that you have a freelancing services website and mobile site established. We are now going to deal with your first client. Your client will give you the assignment he or she wants you to complete, usually via email or through a web communication platform, and you will get to work. When you have completed the assignment, you send it to the client and the client then pays you via an online payment processor, such as PayPal. Then you just rinse and repeat and do enough of a good job that clients opt to hire you as their go-to freelancing professional for the long-term.
This is generally how freelancing is conducted, and it is a great way to earn an online income. As the freelancer, you will have a lot on your shoulders. You will have to manage insurance, taxes, payments, invoices, the marketing of your business and all the rest that goes into keeping your business afloat and your customers happy.
As long as you are reliable and you strive to always give your freelancing clients your best, you will succeed at this incredibly lucrative and freeing profession.
