How to become a successful freelancer (Full Roadmap of 5 (7) Steps)
Who doesn’t want to be a freelancer and have time freedom? Who doesn’t want to have the ability to scale their business to 6-7 Figures?
Of course, we all do! But how can we do it?
Here are 7 Steps to start Freelancing:
#1 Acknowledge that you know nothing!
Of course, this is not the case if you got the skills and the experience.
But I’m talking about someone whose primary goal is to be a freelancer and do what they love!
It’s essential to accept that you know nothing and you’ll start from the underground and up!
#2 The Skills
#2-A Identify the Skill
Try to discover more about yourself and what you love to do. Explore different things and try all the options.
Eventually, you’ll settle on something that will spark 💡 the bulb in your head!
#2-B Acquiring the Skill
To acquire a skill, you got 2 methods. Depending on your personality, you can choose one of them.
Method #1: YOUTUBE! Youtube has literally everything! You can learn anything on youtube. BUT, it can get distracting sometimes. So, if you can focus easily, Youtube is a great option!
Method #2: Paid Course. This method is best for people who struggle with focusing and get distracted easily.
A paid course will divide the course module perfectly and you’ll be committed to it because you lost money on it. So, do you want this money to be a loss or an investment?
#2-C Practicing the Skill
In order to say that you got the skill, you must: 1-Practice it 2-Have proof of that skill (aka Portfolio)
If you’re a designer, you can get briefs to practice from here.
If you’re a social media manager, you can create Social media accounts and practice different growth strategies.
If you’re a content creator, CREATE CONTENT and put it out there! You’ll be hitting 2 birds with the same stone!
1-You’re creating content and showing up to people.
2-You’re practicing your skills.
#3 Marketing Your Services
This is one of the most challenging steps. But there are plenty of methods.
1-Put Content on Social Media. Share educational content as well as your projects.
2-Create a Blog. A blog is a great way to show your knowledge and get traffic.
3-Share Testimonials. If you’ve done the slightest project for anyone, get a testimonial from them!
#4 Getting Clients
Everyone’s favourite Step is to get clients for their business! It can be done in 3 different ways:
Approaching Clients out of the blue
It’s not totally out of the blue. But let’s say you’ve noticed a problem in a business that you can solve.
You can reach out to them, explain the problem and how it’s affecting the business, and start offering your solution and showing them your portfolio.
Approaching Potential Clients
Let’s say that a business posted that they need someone to solve a problem for them.
You can now send them your proposal and state why your solution is better than anyone’s.
Waiting for Clients to approach you
This will happen if you’re putting yourself out there. For example, if a business owner saw your social media content, they may get aware of a problem they are facing in their business.
They will then contact you and start discussing how you can work together.
The most important thing in getting clients is to be a good seller and have a good conversation with them. It’s all in the conversation!
#5 Identifying the Platform
How different are Freelance Platforms?
I won’t confuse you with tens of platforms, here are the 2 platforms I’ve tried.
Freelancer.com
How can you get clients there? You need to search for job listings and start proposing to them.
It has very high competition. And be very aware of Scams!
Fiverr.com
How can you get clients there? It’s more of a marketplace. All you need to do is:
2-Publish your Services.
3-Keep enhancing your gigs to make them SEO friendly.
4-Until you get a message from your first client.
It’s a little hard to get your first client. But it’s a great platform and it’s the go-to freelancers’ platform for many business owners!