Freelancers have a bad rep.

People often think we’re young, lazy, and unmotivated. We work whenever we want, and we usually laze around all day.

And yet, only one of these things is true.

Yes, as a freelancer, I have more flexible working hours. But that doesn’t mean I don’t work twice as hard to foster a good relationship with my clients. Yes, I am my boss and only accountable to myself. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a routine and work ethic that keeps me disciplined and motivated.

When you start as a freelancer, you might be in for a rude awakening because things are not as easy as they seem. There is no such thing as instant success. Freelancing is a fast-paced and competitive field, and there’s always someone better and more experienced out there. It might seem hard to make it at first, but trust the process and don’t give up.

You will learn all that you need to know about staying afloat and prospering as a freelancer. From knowing your services to making them transferrable for clients’ needs, this piece covers everything you need to know about making it as a freelancer.

1. Make your profile stand out

Make sure you share relevant information with your clients through your profile. Since there is a lot of competition, it helps to do more than just listing the jobs and projects you did and focusing more on the impact of those engagements.

For that, you will have to provide details of your role and the outcomes each of your projects achieved. It helps you highlight your services as a freelancer within a context that makes the client think there is more clarity about what to expect if they reach out to you.

2. Readiness of your services

As a freelancer, you cannot compromise on the prompt delivery of your services. The readiness of your services helps you maintain high responsiveness, which is likely to result in more client engagement and satisfaction. Your clients are more likely to come back and even refer you within the industry.

3. Highlight your skills and expertise

While working on your freelancing profile, make sure that it captures your top three skills and expertise. This tactic will help your clients know what areas they are most confident about.

Not only that, but it does help you convey to your clients that amongst your many skills, you are best known for these three. You would be surprised how easier it makes setting expectations. Another way to do this is to highlight a special skill set alone.

You should see how that helps solve a particular problem. Your clients will be more inclined to work with you by showing them how your services add value to their entire venture.

4. Maintaining a professional appearance

Everyone knows the importance of being professional, but now and then, you wonder what it means to be professional, especially when you are a freelancer and hold the reigns for coming up with a structure. Let’s unpack what includes maintaining a professional appearance.

Firstly, having a professional picture and an updated work profile with all relevant project details. Professionalism includes picking up information about your work and yourself that is the most useful to the kind of clients you want to attract.

Second, always communicate with your clients. Everyone wants to work with someone with average skills but is easy to work with, instead of someone who has exceptional talent but doesn’t respond on time!

Third, be authentic. The best way to build relationships with your clients is not to over-commit and set realistic expectations from the get-go.

5. Define your brand

There are too many freelancers, which makes it even harder to stand out. If you are trying to say “choose me!” you need to make sure that you give your clients the feeling that the experience they will get from you is unique. To achieve this, you need to define your very own personal brand.

Now, this does not have to be you talking about the work you do, but more about its why. What drives you, and what does not? Today clients want to engage personally, where they know your philosophy.

For polishing this, work on your pitch, making it more and more personalized. This does take up more time but follow the methodology of less is more, and you will see more quality business coming to you.

6. Collecting client feedback

As consultants or freelancers of any type, it is important to show the success that you have had in ways that help you gather more clients. Collect testimonials from your clients and highlight them on your platform’s profile. Make sure that it aligns with the parts you want to shine through. Your profile should reflect that you have both soft and hard skills and can use that appropriately.

These six ways are the foundational things that every freelancer should do to succeed in this field. If you are mindful of these factors, the world of opportunities will open on you, and you will have more room to expand and experiment.

You will have more chances to prove your worth by working with clients and projects of high caliber, making you stand out as a top-notch freelancer amongst many around you.

 

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