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The best 7 steps to become a freelancer
We all know that Freelancing is the right career choice if you dream to control your working life.
Becoming a freelancer will help you to be freer, you can work at any time and from everywhere, you don’t have to respect your office timing or to be contained in one single place.
These appealing features are participating in the rapid growth of the freelancing work market.
In fact, after the pandemic, more than 33% of the USA workers have shifted to freelancing life according to the Up work recent freelancing research study.
But if you want to take this career path and become a freelancer, how should you proceed?
If you are asking yourself these questions, you are in the right place to discover our seven steps to become a freelancer.
· The most wanted freelancing jobs
Whether it is a recruitment agency or a client, professionals always look for successful freelancers to find the right solutions to their problems across every industry.
So no matter what is your occupation, there will be always clients who will need your skills and experience to solve their problems.
Here are some of the most wanted freelancing posts this year:
· Graphic designer
· Software developer or engineer
· Digital marketer
· Mobile application developer
· Writer
· SEO specialist
Some staffing agencies offer several Parcourir nos offres d'emploi that might need the skills and proven experience of Freelancers.
· 7 easy steps to become a freelancer
At first start by asking yourself one essential question: why do you want to be a freelancer? Is it an opportunity to extend your working experience? Do you need another income? Or are you dreaming to replace your full-time job?
Well, freelancing is the answer to all these questions and even more. There is too many choices to succeed your freelancing career in 2021.You can start your journey during your free time or you can take it as a full-time job.
No matter what is your approach, here are seven steps that will guide you to overcome many obstacles and hardships while becoming a freelancer.
1. Define your offer
Identifying your skills and transforming them into service is the first step to start with if you want to become a freelancer.
Ask yourself what are your skills and how could they help your future client? Put yourself in the position of your client, what problems do they face, and how your skills can be used to resolve this issue?
You need to understand that the client looks for a problem solver. Consequently to become a successful freelancer, start with analyzing your client’s situation and use your offer to address their issues.
You need to know how to package your offer as a good service. You need to prepare a brief description of your service as the core of your freelancing activity. Explain briefly your offer and service: what can you bring to the table, how you do it and for what kind of clients is it offered. Let the price be another concern.
2. Determine your targeted audience
Now that you know your offer, you need to identify your audience.
What type of clients can be interested in your service? What is the common problem they share, what are their characteristics? Do they work in a specific field?
If you dream to become a freelancer, being just good at what you do is not enough to make clients come to you or seek your services. Hence you need to position yourself as a specialist in front of your target so they will be attempted to learn about your offers.
You must play an active role to find potential clients. Experienced freelancer confirms that there are three ways to get clients:
· Networking and leveraging your actual connections
· Checking freelance offers or freelance job posting websites
· Advertising and marketing efforts
Start by using some of these options, and identify which is the one that works best for you to find a good client for your services.
3. Have a pricing strategy
After defining your target and special offer, it is time to develop your pricing structure. Aim to maximize the amount of your payment without losing of sight the potential opportunities.
The first step to set up your prices is by taking a look at your competitors in the same industry. Some direct hiring agencies, looking for freelancers, showcase the budget they propose for each mission. Through freelancing job boards or specific websites, you can learn how your competitors are charging their clients for the same service?
There is no perfect equation to price your services. Many elements can influence the amount that your clients will pay:
· The project duration
· The industry
· The experience
· Deliverables
· The urgency
· The client’s location
· The complexity of tasks
If you are a beginner don’t let pricing be an excuse to prevent from starting. Your pricing strategy is not fixed you can update as you evolve in this career.
Start with a price range you are comfortable with and don’t overthink about it.
4. Build a strong portfolio
To become a freelancer you must take your time to create a strong portfolio.
Your portfolio is your chance to showcase your work, by listing your accomplishment and several projects. This is your opportunity to show what you are capable of and the value of your expertise.
Your portfolio must also highlight your best achievements, each part of it must show a compelling picture of your contributions and how your work benefited the client.
You can include in your portfolio some illustrations, work samples, mock-ups, study cases, analyses, work samples …however you need to have your past client permission before adding their projects to your portfolio.
5. prepare an attempting proposal
To succeed as a freelancer, you must know that your first project should match your capacities and work experience. If you find a project that makes you feel confident to provide an excellent service for, it is time to prepare and submit your proposal.
A good proposal can be the only difference between getting the job or losing it! This means that you must create a proposal that advantages you!
You can get inspired by many sources to create your proposal and show your real value to your future clients!
A great proposal should be a strong and valuable selling point to your abilities and skills.
It must serve the company’s needs, show how you can help, and offer qualifications. Finally, being friendly and professional is the real key to success, so try to use a professional tone to make you stand out.
Using a generic template can help stay organized with your proposal, but to be successful freelancers tailor their offers to different projects and clients. Taking this further step shows your professionalism, sincerity, and enthusiasm.
6. Build a strong relationship with your clients
If you want to become a freelancer you must understand that your clients are your business. Even if it sounds obvious, it is crucial to develop positive work relationships with clients.
Experienced and smart freelancers give more importance to establishing relationships with clients rather than considering the work as a one-to-one or a one-shot deal.
Creating a strong long-term relationship with a client can lead to more business opportunities plus the chance to get new client referrals.
To build a strong relationship with your potential client you must:
· Communicate with him,
· Build trust with consistency, direct
· Deliver excellent work,
· Find opportunities to provide extra value
7. Keep developing your skills
Freelancers are hired according to their skills and services. Consequently, they must improve their skills, expand their knowledge and adapt to changes. Keeping up with trends is crucial to provide your clients with the greatest level of services. Online learning platforms or resources like LinkedIn, Udemy or Coursera, and YouTube are good starting points to make sure that your skills are always updated and relevant.
