Going freelance and becoming your own boss can be liberating and rewarding, but it is also a process that creates a lot of significant challenges for those who choose to undertake it.
With that in mind, here are a few ways to point yourself down the path to success as a freelancer, while avoiding some surprisingly common conundrums.
Table of Contents
Approach pricing sensibly
The biggest question many freelancers face is how much to charge for their services, but the real problem comes when deciding how to deliver this information to clients.
It might be tempting to simply bill by the hour, but this can generate issues of its own and will potentially prove to be a sticking point for certain clients. The better choice is to price on a per-project basis, which simplifies proceedings and should help you to attract valuable clients in the first place.
Get insured
As a freelancer, you are invariably in a more precarious financial position than someone with a full time job working for a major employer. This is where having adequate insurance comes into play, because you will need a way to protect your income and avoid unexpected costs when disaster strikes.
As well as investing in freelancer health insurance, you should also consider income protection insurance, especially if you are the main breadwinner in your household.
Clarity is key
Being able to market yourself effectively is a skill every freelancer should nurture, and part of this is about clarity of expression when it comes to explaining what you can do for clients and more importantly how you intend to go about this.
Laying out an uncomplicated strategy and a set of comprehensive processes that you will apply to a project will help you to win more of the bids for work that you make. If, on the other hand, you are vague about any aspect of this, you could struggle to gain traction.
Optimize your communication capabilities
Following on from our discussion of the value that clarity brings to the life of a freelancer, having excellent communication skills in general should be seen as essential.
Clients will appreciate being kept in the loop as a project progresses, and will also lean towards working with freelancers who are responsive, open and capable of expressing themselves in a professional, engaging way. If you are not a master of grammar, or find yourself struggling to reply to emails promptly, both of these things should be addressed to improve your freelance successes.
Seek out feedback
For freelancers, word-of-mouth recommendations from existing clients can be far more valuable than any of their other self-promotional efforts. You can be proactive about getting feedback by asking clients to provide testimonials that outline the advantages of the work you have done for them, which in turn you can put on your website and share with prospective customers to convince them of your capabilities.
Most importantly, ensure that you are focused on clear goals and also set these at realistic levels so that you can gain a sense of achievement from the work you do.
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