When you’ve made the choice to become a freelancer, it’s liberating. You get to be your own boss, pick the jobs you want to do, set your rates, and market yourself. For some, establishing your personal brand is a dream come true.
During your career as a freelancer, it’s possible you’ll have ups and downs. You’ll have to put in a lot of work at first to get clients, a positive reputation, and constant income.
We’ve put together a checklist for all new freelancers to consider when starting.
Payment Tracking System
When you have a traditional job, you receive a paycheck every week, two weeks, or month. Accountants keep track of taking out taxes, how much your income is for the year, and providing you with a W-2 at the end of the year. However, when you’re a freelancer, all of this becomes your responsibility.
You’ll have to keep a close look at what your actual income amount is without your business expenses. Luckily, we live in a time where you can keep track of all of this through multiple software that you can have on your business computer and even now as an app on your phone.
These software companies “help with quick answers to your accounting, bookkeeping, and invoice questions,” state Amaiz.com. They’ll provide charts to track income and help you when tax season comes. This is an essential expense to invest in to keep yourself organized and accurately track your income.
Digital Business Pages
A crucial part of all successful businesses is an online presence. It would help if you spent some time creating a website and social media pages for your business. KPMG stated that 55% of people will look online for reviews and recommendations, and 47% of people visit a company’s website before spending money with them.
Your website should be clean and organized. Utilizing a menu feature to help customers navigate the site is very beneficial. Make sure you advertise your best work and what you can offer people.
Also, social media pages have shown promise for business owners. You can reach a lot of your clients or new customers through multiple platforms. Sprout Social stated that with Instagram, 90% of users follow a business on it.
You can post pictures of your work or what you sell on your social media pages. Your content should be eye-catching and informative.
Spending time creating a website and social media pages can increase the number of clients you have, which is how you’ll become more successful.
Market Yourself
You can’t rely solely on people just stumbling upon your business; you have to market yourself. One way you can do this is by creating a blog about what you’re selling. Give people some personal stories about how you got here, or provide them with fun tips. Showing you’re passionate about your work will resonate with consumers.
You can also try reaching out to people through email. It’s the traditional way to market by adding discounts and your website URL. It’s possible to email more prominent companies that might need your services and who hire freelancers to perform these jobs.
Whenever possible, make sure your interactions with your potential consumers are personalized. Start an email with their names or ship them products you think they’ll like based on their previous interactions with you. Forbes reported that 74% of customers are frustrated when content is not personalized.
When thinking of marketing tactics, you should utilize your social media. This is also the perfect platform to offer exclusive deals to your followers or ask them to share your page for exclusive offers. It’s free advertisement for you, and you’ll likely get more followers or clients when you do this.
The Bottom Line
Becoming a freelancer is a great way to express your creativity and passion the way you want to. You’re in control of all aspects of your career when you make this decision.
The things that a new freelancer should have are an online accounting system, digital business pages, and a marketing strategy. When combined all together, you’ll have the foundation you need to become successful as a freelancer.
