What You Need to Know Before Starting Freelancing
By now, you’ve probably heard all about the perks and benefits of freelancing.
You can be your own boss! You can make your own schedule! You can travel! You can make more money!
But here’s the hard truth: freelancing is not for everyone.
So, how do you know if freelancing is right for you? And what do you need to know before you get started?
If you’re curious about freelancing and don’t know anything about it, keep reading to learn what you need to know before you get started and the personality traits you need to succeed as a freelancer.
What you need to know before starting freelancing
1. You need to understand why people will hire you
People hire freelancers for three reasons:
They want an expert who will do it better than they can
They can do something, but they don’t have time
They don’t want to do something
Only in the first case do you need to be better at the service than the person hiring you. If you’re not yet an expert at your skill, you can still assist them.
There are a lot of tasks out there that people don’t want to do or don’t have time to do, and they’re looking to outsource. So you are still making their lives easier.
2. You need to know how to do something that people will pay for
This is the root of all entrepreneurship. You need to have something you can sell.
As I said before, you don’t have to be an expert. But you have to be able to get the job done within a reasonable timeframe.
Some ideas of freelance services you can offer:
Write SEO blog posts (this is what I do!)
Graphic design
Video editing
Bookkeeping
Social media management
Transcription
Translation
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve heard of people writing eulogies, creating dating profiles, developing personal style lookbooks, and more.
Make a list of things that you can do that other people might not necessarily want to do or have time to do.
This is how I started writing blog posts. I worked for a marketing company, and no one wanted to write the blog posts on the company website.
I love writing and enjoy writing blog posts, so I said, “I’ll do it!”
And now I’ve been a freelancer for 5+ years.
Take some time to really think about what you like to do, and what you could help people with!
3. You need to know the definition of a service-based business
If you’re a freelancer, you’re running a service-based business.
A service-based business differs from a product-based business, where you make and sell a physical or digital product. When you’re a freelancer, you’re selling your time.
If you’re having a hard time conceptualizing this, let me give you some examples of other types of people who have service-based businesses:
Beauty salons
Personal trainers
Dentists
Mechanics
You go to one of these places; they do a service, and you pay them. If you’re a freelancer, you do the same thing, but you do it online.
Someone comes to you; you do the service, and they pay you. You’re exchanging the time it takes you to do the service for money.
4. You need to know the basics of running a service-based business
First, let’s start with clients. Clients are the people who pay you to perform a service. As a freelancer, you spend a lot of time finding clients.
Most people get started finding clients on freelancing platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. I personally don’t use Fiverr, but I’ve had great success with Upwork.
You can also find clients through freelancing job boards, creative temp agencies, and freelancing Facebook groups.
Some people run their freelancing businesses completely independently of platforms and job boards. Instead, they create their opportunities by cold-pitching potential clients.
If you want to learn more about cold pitching, then watch this video.
The basics of running a freelancing business are this:
You find a potential client.
You have a conversation with them and figure out how you will work together. Then, you create a proposal and a contract based on that conversation.
You complete the project.
You send them an invoice. They pay you.
Repeat.
You also need to track all the money you make and spend on your business. Then, you use those records to pay your taxes.
That’s running a business in a nutshell.
5. You need to know yourself
After several years of coaching freelancers, I’ve noticed that there are certain personality traits that my most successful students share:
They’re curious. They like learning. They make time to learn more about running a business, marketing, their industry, and their service.
They’re willing to try new things, even if that means failing. They may be afraid to fail, but they’re brave enough to try anyway.
They’re organized and focused. Not that you necessarily need to follow classic organization advice, but you must know yourself well enough to create systems that keep YOU organized.
They don’t make excuses. There will never be a perfect time to start a freelancing business. You can’t wait to move into a new apartment, recover from a cold, or quit your job. Because when you’re freelancing, there will always be annoying stuff to deal with. And you have to do your work around it. Okay? That’s just how it is. And while it’s important to prioritize rest and know your limits, also understand that the only time you have to affect change in your life is now. There is only the present moment.
They stick with it. You need grit to be a freelancer, particularly when starting. If you constantly need positive encouragement to keep going, you’re not going to like this field. You will receive little positive feedback.
They genuinely like the service they provide. If you’re only focused on money and not your enjoyment, you’ll never be able to stick with it in the long term.
What to do next
If you’re ready to start freelancing as a copywriter, then consider joining my course, The Freelancer Writer’s Guide to the Galaxy. This online business course will give you a step-by-step plan for launch and growing a sustainable freelance copywriting business.
Plus, I hold monthly Q&A office hours over Zoom in case you get stuck.
Well, that’s it for today, buddy! I hope this blog post has given you the knowledge and tools to get out there are start freelancing!
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