You should know about freelancing full-time

You should know about freelancing full-time

For most of us, freelancing full time seems like a dream come true. We get to be our own boss, work our own hours, and are responsible for our own success. It all sounds great – and it is, but freelancing full-time isn’t for everyone. While some freelancers thrive on being their own boss, others find that they’re not as good at working for themselves as they were working for a company, or in their 9 to 5 job.

A lot of people thrive on working full-time in a traditional office setting. Whether it’s because they love working in teams, like to bounce ideas off each other, and be able to share a joke with a colleague sitting in the cubicle next to them, or because they are too used to it to be independent, there are people who may not be suited for the freelancer‘s life. So before you take the plunge, consider the following aspects of a freelancer’s life to see if it is your cup of tea, things like

1. You Will Be Working Alone

Freelancing can be a lonely profession. While previously you work right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of an office environment, now you’re working from your home, isolated from society.

The kids will be at school, your significant other would be at work and you will definitely be home alone working on your laptop, Mac or PC. Apart from when you go for interviews to pitch your services or to meet partners you can collaborate with, sometimes you could go an entire day without using your voice! Before long the isolation will start to affect your mood and work.

If you’re used to having people around while working, consider sharing an office with someone or go rent a desk or cubicle and embrace the co-working phenomenon.

2. You Hold Yourself Accountable

Freelancing full time means you’re responsible for yourself and your work more than ever. There’s no one around to monitor how much work you’re getting done or whether you’re meeting your targets.

For you to be successful as a freelancer, you need to be accountable for yourself. Otherwise, you might end up spending half the day tweeting and going through your RSS reader.

Your work will suffer and your clients will see the effect in the work you turn in. There are plenty of tools, apps and methods to help you stay focused at work but at the end of the day it boils down to having the self-discipline to run yourself and your work.

3. You’ll Need Self-Discipline

When you first start freelancing full time, it’s so tempting to give it your all and work late nights. But what those late nights really do is make you so tired that getting up in the morning is difficult. Then you think, since you’re working for yourself, you can set your own hours making it okay to sleep in.

That’s where you’re wrong.

If you sleep and wake up late, your entire day gets realigned. Instead of working through the morning, you’re working through the night. Not only is that unhealthy, it turns all your waking hours into working ones.

Stick to your office-going work hours and your freelancing business has a good chance of making it. After all, clients don’t burn the midnight oil – they keep to office hours and that’s also when they are most likely to contact you with the latest updates. Keep yourself available.

4. You have to Deal with Clients

Unless you’ve directly dealt with your company’s customers and clients during your office years, your very first roadblock is going to be dealing with clients.

When interacting with clients you need to be courteous, direct and helpful in your communications with them. There’s no room for exasperation or sarcasm – even when they are horrid to work with. Think of it this way: your client is now your boss and you have to treat them like one.

A lot of clients stick with freelancers who are easy to work with and always go out of their way to deliver 100%. So impress your client, and you’ll have smooth sailing for the most part.

5. You must learn to negotiate

In a full-time job you’re paid a fixed salary each month with a raise every year, medical insurance, paid leave and other perks. In freelancing your earnings are directly dependant on your rates and there are no perks in freelancing.

In order to succeed, you need to be able to negotiate reasonable freelancing rates for yourself. There’s nothing wrong with starting out with low rates – as long as you steadily raise them as you gain a reputation for yourself and are always improving your skill set to deserve higher pay.

Failure to negotiate rates means that you’ll be stuck with low rates – and nobody else is going to help you raise your rates.

Here’s a quick tip for raising rates: always quote a rate that is higher for your new clients compared to your present clients and work your way up as you get more projects.

6. You Mustn’t Let Emotions Take Over

Freelancing doesn’t give you a buffer against irate clients, unreasonable demands and rejections. Instead of hearing the news from your boss or a colleague, you’ll be hearing it directly from the client.

Whether it’s a rejection (they’re the hardest to take), an unreasonable demand or just a disgruntled client, you’ll need to handle the situation with tact.

Keep your emotions in check and instead of going on the offensive, do damage control. Clients are your life line; you can’t afford to alienate them.

7. You must know what’s Trending

As a freelancer, you’ll need to stay on top of the trends in your industry to stay ahead of the game. It doesn’t mean you waste time trying out everything, but figure out which trends affect you directly and how you can use them to your advantage.

A few years ago, when blogging became the next best thing for business, freelancers who quickly establish their own blogs managed to not only get more clients but also established themselves as leaders in their niche.

As a full-time freelancer, you need to keep an eye on emerging trends and have the ability to quickly figure out which trends would benefit your freelance business the most.

8. You Need Your Family and Friends

Before you make the jump, make sure that your family supports your decision. When you start freelancing, things are pretty stressful. You’re spending a majority of your time finding clients and are constantly worried about making ends meet.

If you don’t have your family’s support (and I’m not takling about just financial support) your stress level is going to spike through the roof.

There are going to be days when you’ll feel like it might not work. That’s when family support matters the most. Just having someone – a partner, spouse, your parents or even one of your big-eyed kids – tell you that it’ll all work out or they believe in you, can go a long way in boosting your confidence.

Friends are also a great source of support during the first few months too. They can help spread the word about your services and refer you to folks in their social and professional circle if they are looking for a freelancer.

9. You Must Have Extra savings

Before you leave your full time job, start freelancing on the side. It’ll help you gauge your chances of success and when you do switch to freelancing, you’ll have some clients already.

But here’s the catch. After a while, you may feel confident that their payments can keep you afloat, but don’t expect when you do go full-time with freelancing that you’ll have the same clients beating down your door with work.

Think of it as setting up a business from scratch. You’ll eventually need to go out there and find clients – which takes a lot of time and networking, something you will be disadvantaged after removing yourself from the scene by quitting your job.

Until you’re making enough to make ends meet or turn a profit, you’ll need to dip into your savings to get by on a monthly basis. Try to have enough savings to last 6 months before you quit to go full-time freelancing.

The Secrets to Success

The secret to succeeding as a full time freelancer is to treat it as a business. You’re the CEO of your freelance company. You’re the one responsible for everything related to it.

Stick to the work ethics you conform to during your office-going days and you’ll be fine. The only difference is that you can take a break when you want to, and work extra hours when needed. You get to spend more time with your family since you’re spending less time getting stuck on the way and back from work and not to mention those epic-length meetings.

Set your own hours: if you can get your work done in 4 hours instead of 8, no one’s forcing you to stay in the office. How cool is that?

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Know how to start Freelancing with no Experience

With freelance work being such an enticing prospect, no one would blame you for giving it some serious thought. However, a common issue does simply not know how to start. Fortunately, building a successful freelancing career is easier than it seems — just follows the steps below.

1. Choose Your Craft

Just about everything can be outsourced these days. That's why there's a strong likelihood that the skills on your resume contain one or more freelancing opportunities.

You may be required to think outside of the box — we're not all graphic designers or programmers. However, you may find that your "secondary" skills can offer up freelancing opportunities. For instance, if you are a strong writer, then you have the potential to develop a freelance writing business.

Don't be paralyzed by a preconception that you do not have the necessary skills or experience — you would be surprised how little experience you need in order to get started. A little faith in your abilities will take you a long way.

2. Create a Brand

If you plan to succeed in the world of freelancing, you will need to create a strong brand that sets you apart from the competition. Your brand is your identity (i.e. your website, blog and social media accounts) and it should clearly communicate your unique selling proposition — what you do that makes you special.

With that in mind, you should narrow down your focus to a specific industry. For instance, as a graphic designer you might choose to do branding work for digital start up businesses only. This form of specialization will make you far more attractive to a specific set of prospective clients and give you a greater chance of success. You can try to cater to all and sundry, but you will probably only provoke indifference.

3. Build a Portfolio and Source Testimonials

The world of freelancing lacks the red tape of the corporate world. Many prospective clients are not concerned with qualifications; they simply want to see what you have done in the past and judge whether it is the right fit for them.

Therefore, if you are good at what you do and can demonstrate your skill through a quality portfolio and positive client testimonials; you have every chance of success. The conundrum, however, is in building a portfolio without experience.

Many freelancers will react to this by picking up the smallest and least lucrative jobs around, but that puts them into a vicious cycle of bargain-basement work. To work for high-paying clients, you need to demonstrate that you are worth big money by doing good work.

So don't be afraid to do pro bono work for the right clients when you are first starting out. The free work you do at this stage can ultimately be priceless when it clearly communicates your worth to future potential clients via an extensive portfolio and glowing testimonials. Also, offering your services at no cost is a gentle introduction into the world of freelancing where you do not feel the pressure of having to deliver a service of requisite value.

4. Start Pitching

You should only seek paying clients when you are able to demonstrate your abilities (and your reputation) with a quality portfolio and testimonials. Once you have done so by working on pro bono jobs, it's time to start pitching.

But whom should you pitch? Well, if you branded yourself correctly then you should know exactly whom to pitch. By having such a narrow focus, potential clients are far more likely to take you seriously than if you offered a generic service. Businesses want to work with freelancers who seemingly came into existence to serve them specifically — you can create this illusion through specialization.

Potential clients can be found everywhere: from Google to social media to your doorstep. The possibilities are endless.

The two keys to successful pitching are relevance and volume. Only pitch those clients who fit the mold of your brand and pitch a lot of them. Ruth Zive of Marketing Wise, a content marketing firm based in Canada, had a "ten before ten" rule when she first started out as a freelance writer — she would make sure to pitch ten prospective clients before 10 a.m. every working day. Those numbers add up quickly.

5. Play the Odds

Ultimately, securing freelance work is a numbers game — the more prospective clients you contact, the more likely you are to find work. That is the equation you should keep in mind. If you have a reasonable skill set and create a quality brand, there is no reason why you cannot succeed in the world of freelancing like so many others have before you.

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Do you know what is Freelancing?

 

Do you know what is Freelancing?

A freelancer is someone who performs tasks, usually for multiple employers over the course of a year. A freelancer is somewhat like a free agent in professional sports - he or she essentially sells their services to the highest bidder - except that they usually work for more than one employer.

Freelancers may work part-time or full-time. Because they are not considered employers, freelancers are allowed to work for other employers and are usually permitted to perform tasks in their own way, so long as the work gets done to the client's specifications.

Longer term freelancers who work for the same employer for an extended period are sometimes referred to as "permalancers" - or "permanent freelancers". Permalancers may or may not be offered benefits through their employers.

Freelancing is one of the easiest, fastest, and lowest cost ways to start working for yourself. Multiple freelancing websites, like Guru.com and eLance.com provide an online marketplace where employers post work and freelancers bid on completing the work in an open market, which is often extremely competitive.

A somewhat common misconception is that freelancers are called that because they work for free - or next to it. That is not the case, and as freelancers gain more and more experience in the field in which they specialize, they can command higher rates for their work.

Freelancer employers who try to exert too much control over where, when or how the work is done can place themselves in jeopardy with the Internal Revenue Service, since such workers are usually considered employees, especially when they work for one employer over the long term. Unlike employees, employers are not required to offer freelancers any benefits withhold payroll taxes or pay into workers compensation or unemployment plans.

Also Known As: permalancer, permanent freelancer, outsource help, independent contractor

Examples: More and more businesses are becoming open to the idea of using freelancers to get work done as it saves them money without having to make a permanent commitment as they do with employees. Freelancers often fill a temporary need and then move on to the next freelancing opportunity.

Others sides/different thinking

Some times life can get tough, and you probably are thinking, let me quit my Job and work for myself. In short, freelancing definition is, working for your self; this is a plain and simple explanation.

Nowadays, there are many people in the field of freelancing. Top most reasons for that are:

A. You can work with the convenience of your own schedule

B. You can work from home

C. You dont have a boss of over you

Well these are the top most practical reasons of being a freelancer. For many people the dream of independence turns into reality when they become freelancers. Consulting or freelancing is the most straightforward path towards being your own boss. You can succeed with freelancing, with your commitment and seriousness with the work you do.

Purpose of freelancing/consulting should be very clear to you. You cannot start doing something, without having an aim or goal.

Freelancing positions are available full time or part time. It depends on you, of what you would like to do. If you have an experience in certain field of expertise than you can start working full time in convenience of your own hours through freelancing. But however, without an experience, it is not advisable to leave a full time Job just to start freelancing. You can freelance part time, and even that can give you an experience more into making you an experienced person in the field. If you plan to freelance while at your full time job, it will also help you to have more options for success. The moment you have steady source of income outside your freelancing work, your time line for finding clients can be longer, you can therefore be choosy about your projects and clients, your financial needs are covered during your start-up period.

Freelancing will help you to set your own agreements; you can choose to be a registered freelancer as well. Freelancing does not put any work pressure on you.

Secondly, Freelancing can be your dreams come true. I am sure we all have certain dreams, where our careers are concerned, you might have a unique dream you want to get fulfilled and so freelancing can be one of the ways to fulfill your dream at the same time make you an independent proud person.

The last thing in freelancing is the importance of wining clients and spreading a word of your services. For many people this can be a challenge, but it is not all, that hard when it comes to advertising or spreading a word of your services. Email is the fastest and convenient ways to advertise of your services. You can also try yellow pages or white pages to advertise, but either ways, you will find, after all it is not hard work.

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