In the present post-Covid era, the global job sector has gone through a dramatic change. These days, most professionals seek freelancing jobs as the global economy is gradually coping up with a breakdown, and most companies are working on a remote setup.  

Moreover, the pandemic has forced most professionals to consider that no jobs can provide proper stability. The best way to earn money in this situation is to work on a freelance basis. However, people having some experience in one or multiple job sectors can easily start a freelance job than the complete newbies. 

Here are some stats which prove that you can have a secured future and more job prospects in the freelancing industry. 

As per the data shown by TheBalanceCareers, experts predict that nearly 40% of the global workers can work on a freelance setup. As per the market demand, 25% of the total freelance workers residing in the US can quickly get a job within a day after applying. The WebsiteBuilder publishes this data. 

So, as you already know the market scenario, it is time for you to make yourself ready to become a freelance worker. 

How to Start a Career as a Freelancer

Here are the seven essential tips that you need to follow while becoming a freelancer. However, the only thing you must check is whether your client is genuine and ready to pay you timely. 

Proper Self-Marketing is Crucial

The primary necessity for every freelance worker is proper market exposure. So, self-marketing should be done thoroughly. Most workers fail to get projects due to poor marketing. When it comes to the freelance market, do not expect any client to visit your website and hire you for work randomly. 

Advertising yourself on social media is the best marketing strategy you can take to find work. However, it is crucial to find the target audience. Here are some ways how you can get the target audience:

• Expertise in a specific type of work
• Gain all factual information regarding the work
• Know the places where you can get your target audience

Posting about the type of work you do and the approximate charges on leading social media platforms can increase a potential client’s chances to find you. Remember to use formal language and provide details regarding the works you can do. 

Apart from the top social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, you can profile and market yourself on the platforms like LinkedIn, Freelancer, Guru, and Localmart. Even if you get a freelance job, continue posting about projects and reviews as it can lead you to get better options. 

Be the Best in whatever you do

Beware that the market of freelancing is highly competitive, and you need to be the best fit for your job role. In the initial phase of your freelancing career, you might not get much money for your work, but your profit can increase with proper networking and advancement.

Experience as a freelancer boosts up your reputation, and you can start getting high-paid projects gradually. Just make sure the end-product satisfies the client. Some simple facts to keep in mind to ensure excellent service are given below:

• Maintain regularity and balance in your work
• Communicate with the client and show him/her a glimpse of your work while it is on-going
• Avoid procrastination at all costs, as it helps you to complete your job long before the deadline
• Thoroughly check the credibility or performance of the work before submitting it to the client

If you are new to a process, do not hesitate to inquire why your client is investing in it, as you will get a direction for the work you do. 

Never take your work loosely as a freelancer, as your positive reputation can turn just the opposite, and you would end up losing a client. 

Be precise about your Charges 

No matter if you are a graphic designer, content writer, or programmer, you should talk precisely regarding your charges with the clients. Considering all works you do for a specific client is worthy. Try acquiring a written contract (either a hard or soft copy) from the client to avoid a situation of getting tricked by him/her. 

Ensure that the details of the project, deadline, and the charges are written on the contract. To keep track of the projects from the clients, maintain a schedule. There are several free apps like ProjectBubble, Base Camp, and Liquidplanner to help you in job management. Invoicing can be done with the help of the billing apps like Toggl, BankSale, etc. 

Proper scheduling can help you acquire a work-life balance, and you can gradually turn your professional life multidimensional by earning profits from multiple sectors.

Organize a proper work Station

Every freelancer needs to set up a proper workstation. If you are getting ready to start your career as a freelancer, setting up a workstation is crucial. Here are some steps that you must follow to organize a workstation:

• Find a place where you can complete all your works calmly
• Check if the place has a proper power supply
• Install a system with all necessary accessories and software that you need
• Avoid clumsiness by keeping blank space
• Make sure your workstation has much light and comforts like a fan or an air conditioner

You can apply your creativity to design a workstation for yourself. Remember, it depends on you whether you like your personal workstation to be formal or funky. 

Work on Goals and Develop Networking

As a freelancer, it is obvious that you need to be keen about your earnings. However, the pressure of work you take will depend on the amount of profit you desire to draw. As a freelancer, you might never improve in terms of professionalism without setting proper goals regarding your work. 

As you start working on your professional goals, networking will automatically develop. Excellent market networking is something that a freelancer always craves for. Enriched networking can enable you to avoid a situation to go jobless at any point in time. 

Basic networking can happen with proper digital exposure, but you have to look forward to man-to-man communication. Consider printing a business card and give it to every professional individual you meet. Remember that personal networking can often be more enhancing than digital networking. 

Look for Testimonials

If you have worked on a few projects with different clients, invite them to your website and request them to write a few lines on a special column. This can work as the testimonials, and new clients can be generated easily. 

Most potential professionals visit a freelancer’s website and access the column of testimonials. They can approach you for a job deal on finding positive reviews on that column. The best thing you can do is act as a moderator for your testimonials column and address a negative review sensitively.

Turn yourself into a brand and pitch Random Clients

Are you already working as a freelancer for many years? Well, now is the time to turn yourself into a brand. The necessary thing that you need to make yourself a brand is a business profile. You can turn all your social media handles into business profiles and communicate with the clients as an organization. 

Having a clear idea about the job market, you can pitch your charges to your clients not as a mere freelancer but as brands. By branding yourself properly, you can expect to get projects from top-ranking corporate entities. 

Working as a freelancer can lead you to a situation where you will develop the potential to open a new company. The process is simple, but you have to take every step at the right time. Let’s study it in brief. 

• Expertise: As you keep doing a specific task for several months, you can develop an idea regarding the management. In this situation, you can approach your clients to provide the job in bulk, and you can distribute it to your employees. 

• Employee recruitment: Employee recruitment is a tricky process, and you can only do it if you have complete knowledge about the type of work you will provide them. According to your preference, you can hire experienced people or freshers. 

• Payments: Make sure the expenditure towards every employee is made after considering a bit of profit. You should always hire employees keeping in mind the turnover for your organization.

You can become the boss of your own organization by starting a career as a freelancer. As you have already known the tips to become a successful freelancer, now it is time you can go through the key advantages of earning through freelancing. 

Key Advantages of working as a freelancer

There are some outstanding advantages of working as a freelancer that you need to know. The points are briefly mentioned below:

Proper workload

As a freelancer, you will not have any daily targets, and you will be paid according to your performance. So, you can easily manage time and complete a project. However, some clients might give you a deadline for the project and leave the rest to you. In such cases, you can work for long hours on a day and slow-up on another day. Working as a freelancer allows you to focus on your job skillfully as the extra stress is absent. 

More flexibility

If you work as a freelancer, you can always have the option to take a day off, unlike the full-timers. The full-timers work for a company based on hours and daily targets. However, a freelancer gets paid based on the services that s/he provides to the company.

Working in different Sectors

If you are a freelancer and know the work processes of multiple job sectors, you can freely try a hand. You are not tied up with a particular company on a full-time contract, and there is a chance for you to explore new opportunities in the market,

Moreover, you can enjoy an outstanding work-life balance being a freelancer. Often, proper exposure to your co-curricular skills on the right platforms can lead you to earn money while managing a professional life. 

Factors to be careful of while being a freelancer

There are certain factors that every freelancer must be careful of while starting a professional career. You might become the victim of the negativities of freelance work setups. Some are discussed here. 

Bearing extra Taxes

No matter which job you do and what you earn, you might have to pay the taxes in all leading countries of the world. So, you should always consider earning up to an amount that does not fall under tax-free. 

No access to Company Benefits

Being a freelancer, you will not get any company benefits that a full time worker is entitled to. So, you should consider calculating the earnings you can get being a freelancer. Always compare it with an approximate earning that you can get while working full-time for an organization and all the benefits. 

Restricted Growth

As a freelancer, you cannot get any growth from the company’s side. However, you should not keep doing a job actively for a prolonged period in minimum charges. As a freelancer, you should timely pitch for the increased demands. Otherwise, there are hardly any chances of getting monetary growth.

Another issue in the case of freelance jobs might occur that relates to the timely cash flow. Some companies might not provide you with the payments on a timely basis. The best way to avoid joining such a company or client is to go through the profile and check the testimonies before joining. 

Final Words

As the job sector’s environment has changed globally, you can take a bold step to become a freelancer and earn your livelihood. However, you need to do some more homework. Remember that the exposure of freelance jobs depends on locations. There are some cities where you can find a lot of companies hiring freelancers. On being determined, you can shift to one of such cities. 

Author Bio:

Name:  Khushali RavalBio: Khushali Raval is an Author at Phoneier. Having experience with 5 years of writing about phones and other gadgets. He loves to explore and write different gadgets from android phones to wearable gadgets