Freelancing is a popular source of work for many people around the world. Doing freelance work can be a good way to earn extra money for students studying in college. It can also be a fantastic full-time career option.
Being a freelancer means you aren’t tied down to one particular company throughout the year. You can do lots of work for many different companies during any period of time. Freelancing, like any area of work, has its positive and negative aspects. On the plus side you don’t have a rigid work pattern, so you aren’t committed to a 9 to 5 type of job. Essentially, you’re working to your own schedule, and you decide how much work you want to take on. On the downside, you aren’t guaranteed a monthly income, you only get paid when you complete work for clients. You can still earn a healthy wage from freelancing, in fact, it could be a very well paid career. But, it all boils down to how you manage your freelance career. You have to know the correct actions to take if you want to be a successful freelancer.
The first port of call is thinking about what type of freelance work you want to do. Freelance roles are diverse and can be anything from a blogger to an accountant. My advice would be to pick a passion of yours. Pick something you enjoy doing and can do to a high standard. Content is key, so if you’re confident in the work you produce, you should have a good freelance career.
Then, you need to look at how to get noticed by potential clients. Companies often turn to specialized freelance sites when advertising work. These are sites like Elance that allow people to create freelance profiles and search for work. You can upload examples of your work to your profiles and write a little bit about yourself. Try and promote your achievements in a way that doesn’t sound too cocky or forced. Put an emphasis on your experience and the quality of the content you produce.
I’d also recommend you start social networking, create a profile on LinkedIn. This is a social network site designed for professionals. You create a profile detailing your career and it’s a good way to make business connections. You’re far more likely to find freelance work on LinkedIn than any other social networking site.
It might also be worth creating business cards for you to hand out to people in real life. Giving someone a business card after a meeting or interview is a great way to make you noticeable. It looks professional and shows you mean business and take your work seriously.
My final tip would be to create a website for yourself. Again, like with business cards, this makes you seem very professional. Employers are much more likely to hire a freelancer with a website, compared to someone without one. It’s a great place to showcase all of your work and for people to contact you.
The toughest part about freelancing is finding work and getting noticed by employers. If you want to be a successful freelancer, you’ll need to use the advice above to get seen by more people.