What Every One Ought To Know About Freelancing

Author

Zainab Adetayo
February 17, 2024

One of the questions I frequently get asked is how to use freelancing as a way to gain experience.

It's no secret - volunteering and internships and bootcamps are ways to gain experience but they are so few opportunities that you are better off creating your own experience. 

Freelancing is also a great way to future-proof your career, especially in today’s job market where there is no more job security. If you haven't considered it yet, I would recommend you at least think about it and explore it as a way to diversify your income streams.  

Freelancing involves taking on different jobs with multiple clients.  It means convincing a prospective client that you can deliver results - if they don't like or trust you, there’s no way you are going to get the job. To keep getting jobs, you must deliver results. To get repeat business, you must be consistent.

There are so many different aspects to freelancing including marketing, sales, advertising, content creation, bookkeeping, operations, contract management, networking, to mention a few. 

Let’s dig in.

Have The Right Mindset

I strongly believe that all battles are conquered in the mind. Having the mindset is the first step and it is the number one determinant of success. 

Here are the key mindset every freelancer must adopt: 

  • Realize that you are an entrepreneur and a business owner. Embrace the mindset of growth, opportunity, and resilience.

  • Be proactive in looking for clients and sourcing opportunities, instead of waiting for opportunities to come to you.

  • Be comfortable with solving problems on your own and navigating uncertainties.

  • Be flexible and adapt to the fluid nature of freelancing, which could mean fluctuating income and varying work hours, depending on where your clients are located.

  • Learn continuously, build upon your existing skills and upskill. Strive to be better every single day.

  • Self-motivation and being able to work independently without external supervision is important. Keep your commitments and deliver on time.

  • Be patient and set realistic expectations. Everything takes time to build and optimize - give yourself at least 6 months to start making progress. Don't give up within the first month. 

  • Get comfortable with rejection - you will get more no’s than you expect. Don’t take it personal - some people will want to work with you and others won’t. 

If you can't embrace these mindset shifts, you are better off not starting on this journey - because you will get discouraged and won't be successful. 

Pros & Cons to Freelancing

Freelancing is not a walk in the park - you need to sell yourself, apply to open positions and actively prospect for clients. You also need to have good knowledge of and expertise in the specific topic or field.

Pros:

  • It is easy to start with a low barrier to entry

  • Offers opportunity to gain varied experience 

  • Provides flexibility and can replace your 9-5

Cons: 

  • No guarantee of jobs

  • Requires consistency to stand out

  • Can be quite competitive, especially if using freelancing platforms

How To Start Freelancing

There are two main ways to get into freelancer - sign up on freelancing platforms or be an independent freelancer. Whichever you choose, freelancing is hard work - don't expect clients to suddenly drop in your lap, once you create a profile. You need to do the hard work.

A. Freelancing Platforms

This involves using marketplaces and waiting for opportunities to come to you. Some freelancing platforms take a commission from sales you make on their platform while others are subscription based. Get my list of Top 10  platforms to find freelancing opportunities.

B. Independent Freelancing

This is primarily sourcing for clients by yourself. A crucial component of this is building a personal brand and creating content to put yourself out there. If you are not comfortable with doing this, then this might not be your best approach. However, it is beneficial for your career to do these things anyway, so the earlier you start, the better.

Platforms like Upwork provides a structured environment to find work while building a personal brand can yield greater long-term benefits, though it demands a more substantial upfront effort in marketing and networking.

Freelancing Components

There are more intrinsic details involved in each step, but I have tried to cover the essential elements and peel the onions on what it takes to build a successful freelancing business or career.

1. Market Research/Discovery

  • Explore in-demand skills 

  • Identify your niche and define your unique selling point

  • Conduct market research 

  • Talk to prospective clients to understand what they want

  • Research your competitors

  • Decide on your rate - low, mid and high rate

  • Create your target customer profile 

2. Set Up Your Freelancing Business

  • Decide on a legal structure 

  • Understand basic contract essentials

  • Set up financial tracking, invoices, taxes and manage your expenses

  • Utilize project management and time-tracking tools

  • Utilize tools, systems and automation

  • Standardize your process and make it repeatable

3. Portfolio Development & Resume
4. Personal Branding and Online Presence
5. Marketing and Client Acquisition

  • Make a list of your friends, colleagues and managers - then reach out

  • Build new connections and actively network

  • Do personalized outreach to find your ideal clients

  • Actively gather testimonials and references for social proof

  • Give as much value as you can for free to attract your ideal client

  • Manage client expectations effectively - respond quickly, give revisions, be polite and stay in touch

  • Iterate and continuously improve your approach 

Tools You Can Use

All these tools are free to use, some of which I currently use. You can upgrade to the paid plan as your business scales and grows.

  • Trustpilot/Testimonial.to for testimonials

  • Trello for project management

  • Canva for design

  • Calendly for booking appointments

  • Zoom for meetings

  • Stripe for payments

  • Excel/Quickbooks for finances

  • Convertkit for landing pages

  • Mail chimp for sending emails

  • Godaddy for your own domain

  • Google Docs/Notion for documentation

  • Zapier for automating tasks

  • ChatGPT or other AI Tools

  • Loom for recording videos

If you stick around long enough with me, I will share more tips, tricks and resources in future newsletter posts.

Please feel free to reach out and let me know what posts resonate with you and what you would like me to share more of  - I respond to every single email and I would love to hear from you.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:

 1. [60-min] 1:1 Power Hour: Pick my brain on all things job search, resume, LinkedIn, personal branding, interviewing and more. Apply here for $249.

2. Apply to join my Agile Project Management Accelerator Program: A 3 month career transition coaching program to get you hired in 3-6 months. Apply here.

Until next time,

Zainab

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