Mere possessing knowledge and skills is not enough to be a successful freelancer. You need to see yourself as the business, the salesperson, the marketer and customer service department.
No doubt, they are a lot of position for a single person to occupy but if you can manage it, there is great freedom and financial reward. There is nobody holding back your growth except yourself.
In this article, I discussed 8 tips to help you get started to a successful freelancing career.
- Network with other Freelancers in your Field
You will be shocked to know that many freelancers help one another. They usually do this privately on slack, private chats, professional sites like LinkedIn, Facebook groups and other professional forums.
The key is to learn where the most brilliant minds hang out and then begin to engage with the members and build trust.
I would suggest that you first identify the people you’d ideally like to connect with and follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn. Engage with their content, establish a relationship, and monitor their interactions with other SEOs. You will often learn where they hang out and when.
- Create a Strong Personal Brand
People need to know about you and your services in order to have the opportunity to hire you. As a freelancer, you need to position yourself as the leading expert in your field. Social media provides you with a platform to reach millions of individuals in all corners of the world.
Create posts regularly on what you do, engage with the global online market, guest post on blogs and industry publications and participate in question and answer on others post on Twitter or related channels.
- View Yourself as the Business and Position Accordingly
When starting your freelancing career, be prepared to take up a lot of responsibilities. Your job varies from handling all pre-sale inquiries to performing the actual work and customer follow-up, to handling things like business registration and taxes.
You need to pay attention to every detail of operating a business – from small to large – to avoid creating a backlog that could crash your business when it takes too long.
- Price Your SEO Services According to Your Value Not Your Competition
The amount you charge for your services should be based on your service and goals not on the competition. There will always be a cheaper option but it does not have to be you. If you try to be the lowest cost or option, you will sell yourself short and reduce your earning potential greatly.
In fact, many clients are not looking for cheapest service. They want the best and are ready to pay for it.
It makes more sense to have a single high paying client than to have several paying you little. Having fewer clients will allow you to devote more time and manpower to their job – that is less client management – and you earn more.
- Become A Great Salesperson
You are solely responsible for selling your services. When a potential client inquires about your services, you are expected to explain the value you provide, what your service entails and the expected result.
If you learn and master the art of selling, you will close a much larger percentage of leads. Try to read as many sales books as possible. You can find great recommendations on Google search or by looking at the top search on Amazon.
Another great way to learn to be a great salesperson is to dive right in and start selling. You will learn practically what works and what does not.
- Build A Streamlined Process From Onboarding To Workflow To Delivery And Reporting
Time optimization and efficiency are crucial in freelancing. You have several roles and therefore have to be frugal with your time. You would need to allocate time to selling, client work, follow-up, billing and reporting.
Try to keep everything organized and easily accessible. Google workspace could be a great tool for you. There are a number of SaaS, analytic and reporting tools out there which can help automate the process.
- Publish Marketing and Customer Attraction Assets
Most times, it pays to build reputation in your freelancing field by publishing as much educational content as possible. This could be done on your blog or existing platforms like Medium or Quora.
The more you share information, the more the chance of attracting interested prospect. Through the value you provide, you establish yourself as experts in the field.
Be sure to also ask your clients to leave you reviews. Not only does it help with new leads, but the freelance marketplaces will give more organic exposure to freelancers with high ratings and client satisfaction.
- Identify Your Specialty and Remain Exclusive.
When you have a clearly identified specialty you will attract clients that meet your skill set and when you work with a certain group or in a specific specialty, it enables you to provide a much more effective service.
You cannot always be a master of all. It is impossible to take up every client that approaches you for your service.
CONCLUSION
The tips above are great starting point and if followed can guide you to a successful freelancing career. You have to be self-motivated with knowledge and ability to deliver great results. Start slowly and continue building yourself as you climb the ladder.
Once the contracts and money start flowing in, do NOT be in a hurry to quit your job. The greatest mistake would be to quit a job that provides for you and your family. If you must quit your job, ensure you have an established freelancing career first.
Do you have any questions on freelancing as a side-hustle or providing any type of service? Drop your comments below and I will provide answers to the best of my ability.
