19 Pro Tips on How to Become a Successful Freelancer

3 months ago

12 Min Read

Are you dreaming of cutting the chain from your 9-5? If you’re amongst the 86% of Americans that the US Census Bureau says drive to work every day, then the hours per week and days or even weeks per year that you could be saving on commuting is enough of a reason alone to break free.

The dream is no longer simply to become financially free and have the right colored fence protecting your house and kids. With the rise of technology people are increasingly in the position to demand that their lifestyle be up to the times. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 53 million American’s are participating in the freelancer economy in some capacity. That’s 1 in 3 workers!

Maybe you’re already apart of the freelancer economy as a side-hustle and you want to step it up to a full time income. Or maybe you watch helplessly from your desk as some of your friends are living the life of their dreams as a digital nomad in Nicaragua or Bali and you’re ready to get in on the action.

Do you want to know how to become a freelance writer? Or maybe how to become a freelancer web developer? Whether you want to be a writer, web developer, editor, graphic designer, marketer, programmer or any other kind of freelancer, the process of transitioning your income stream from payroll to invoice is similar.

We’ve put together a panel of experts to help you transition to the freelancer economy, no matter where you’re currently at. These seasoned freelancers collectively have decades of experience freelancing and they want to help you. If you have any tips to add submit a request.

So without further ado, here are the top tips on how to become a freelancer from those who have done it themselves:

Stephanie Caudle, Owner of Black Girl Group, a freelancing site for African American women.

 My one piece of advice for freelancers is to focus less on project based jobs and more on retainer opportunities this because project work will always run out and will put you in a feast or famine world.

Professionalism & Communication

Daniel Davidson Founder of By Dan Design Co.

Having a successful career freelancing is the culmination of many small things done right – with consistency.

One trait that is missing for most freelancers is their ability to communicate. When communication isn’t clear and timely, all sorts of bad things happen.

It’s quite common for new clients to share their horror stories before coming to me. Without fail, it always comes back to problems with communication.

Which is frustrating, because communication isn’t that complicated.

Simply, respond in a timely manner. Don’t leave your client guessing if you’re still alive.

Never allow the client or yourself to assume what the next steps are. Make it clear who is responsible for what, and set a clear due date on next steps.

It sounds simple, but it’s shocking how often the simple things are missed.

When you keep your client in the loop, you establish a pattern of trust. That trust leads to less wasted time, increased efficiency, and just a happier experience for everyone involved.

Getting Started, Networking, and Goal Setting

Vladimir Gendelman, Founder and CEO at Printwand, Inc.

When you are venturing out on your own, it’s important to set some goals before you get started. Most people make one of two mistakes when setting goals: They either don’t know how to get to their goals, or they obsess over it at the expense of other endeavors. Both of these strategies will set you up for failure.

Instead of expecting your goal to magically happen, plan ahead. Decide what actions you need to take to accomplish the goal. Then, mix those behaviors into your daily routine. You’ll have a roadmap to reach your goal while staying on track for your other objectives.

If you’re not sure what to do, reach out to people who have achieved what you want to and learn what they did to make it happen. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. They will be flattered you aim to achieve what they did and you see them as a mentor to make it happen.

Clemens Sehi, Freelance Creative Director at Travellersarchive.com

My best advice is to stick to the contacts that you might already have from a career not freelancing and then just go proactive. Send your portfolio out to agencies and potential employers to say hello and present your work to them. If they don’t know you, they probably should. Because your work is great, right? So if they would know your work they would probably give you freelance work.

Another advice would be to just call them: say hello and tell them who you are. Its’s never too direct. 

Differentiation/Personal Branding/Value Proposition

Fabi Paolini, Brand Strategist and Designer at FabiPaolini.com

I have been working as a brand strategist and designer for over 11 years and built a 6-figure business by helping hundreds of entrepreneurs others build their own.

The most important thing in being able to build a successful freelance business, in my opinion, is to be able to effectively differentiate yourself from everyone else. Giving your audience an understanding about the unique things that you bring to the table that no one else can bring. Usually, designers feel like the work that they are doing is something that maybe anyone can do, and because of this, they end up undervaluing their work and even undercharging for their services. However, if they understand the true essence and value of their work, while bringing that extra value that no one else can offer, it builds for an important foundation that will radically change they do business.

For example, for years I used to communicate that what I did was work as a designer that did logos and websites. There was nothing special or unique about that message. It wasn’t until I realized that I wasn’t communicating my unique value, that I made the change. Now I say that I help entrepreneurs transform their years of experience into a profitable online business and a Brand that Attracts premium clients. With this, I am clearly positioning myself as an expert that is specifically geared towards people that are looking to turn their expertise into a business. I am also communicating that what I do is build premium brands.

In your case, I would recommend getting crystal clear on what it is that you do differently and how to make that message effectively come across to your audience. It will absolutely make the difference in having success in your business as a freelancer.

Dipping your toes with a side hustle vs. diving in head first as a full-time freelancer

Ryan Scollon, SEO & PPC Freelancer at RyanScollon.co.uk

My tip for anyone wanting to pursue the life as a freelancer would be to get started while you are working elsewhere. Progress as a freelancer can be slow, so it’s worth having a main source of income and then working in the evenings and weekends to get small bits of freelance work.

At the moment, I have enough additional income from freelance work, but there is no way I could survive on just that alone. So the plan is to get as much freelance work as possible and to get a steady flow of leads to build my confidence for the future supply of work. Once that is in place, I can then make the move of leaving my main job. 

Jason Scott, Digital Marketing Specialist at jcscott.co.uk

My number one tip for those who are looking to pursue a career as a freelancer is to start whilst you’re still in full-time employment. Making the leap from full-time employment to freelancing is daunting and for many, unsuccessful. By making it more of a phased process where you slowly phase in freelance work and phase out of full time employment you set yourself up for a more successful career.

So, sign-up to a few sites like UpWork, People Per Hour and Fiverrand start pitching. Once you start to build a good reputation on freelancing sites, you’ll find more and more work coming your way. Once it becomes financially viable, quit your full-time job and go all-in on freelancing.

Productivity

Erik Pitzer, Graphic Designer at Illumine8 Marketing & PR

As a former freelance graphic designer, my biggest piece of advice is simple (though difficult to achieve): Stay on top of your game. Whether that involves giving yourself a strict schedule or physically re-locating to a dedicated workspace, staying productive is paramount to success.

The temptation of idleness and leisure time is very real when you have no direct superior, and you’re not going to make a comfortable living if you’re only putting in 20 hours of real work each week

General Tips

Delanie West, Founder & Creative Director at DelanieWest.comand BeSuperCreative.com

Most important to consider for remote workers and a freelance economy:

1. Cultivate genuine connections with people you meet professionally and socially.

Someone in our networks is always asking for reference

on a designer, your connections & friends will recommend you.

2. IF you’re void working with creative temp agencies when you can some of them require businesses to pay a

“finders fee” if that business wants to hire you or work with you past your initial assignment. Once you have a body of work

that you can present to the client, you can do the work of the agency and sell your-self (and keep the markup).

3. Know when to offer gratis or discounted work. Often bartering or discounting your service fee it worth it. If it’s a business or organization that is growing, and you develop a working relationship with them as their trusted creative, when they are generating greater revenue, they more likely than not call on you and you’ll be able to at a point adjust your fee to the market rate.

4. When negotiating a fee, always start by asking what the budget for the project is. Straight away, you’ll know how much value is placed on design as a service. You can counter with “I don’t think I’ll be able to provide what you’re looking for at that rate” and see if they offer a rate more commensurate with your services and experience, and if the budget is just impossible, you can offer what could be achieved within that range.

5. For unknown contacts that don’t come with a recommendation, charge an consultation fee – which can be deducted from the total project fee (if they indeed choose to move forward with you as the creative on the project). You would be surprised at how little is understood about design, the time it takes to research and provide creative direction, and the time attributed to requested revisions. Often you spend a good amount of your time communicating about the project needs to build the brief so you can educate the client on the prices, agree on the rate or negotiate the fees – that’s time you don’t get paid for if you don’t charge.

6. In an offsite freelance economy, your online presence matters. Be Present! Unless you have an agent, you are your best advocate. You need to cultivate an online presence that gives an at-a-click introduction to who you are, what you do and what work you’ve done. Gone are the days of leafing through various portfolio sites to figure out what a creative has to offer, you should own your personal URL or that of your business name. Your work should be easy to access and not emailed to a client in a jumble of PDF attachments.

I have always managed my private design business while working in corporate. It’s kept my finger in the creative pie, and allowed me to maintain my creative identity separate from that of any brands that I was managing professionally. Working both sides (hiring freelancers and acting as a freelancer)  has enabled me to better manage both professional and personal freelance efforts.

Dylan Kelley, Founder of Wavebreak

Always charge upfront. Require clients to pay you in full before they can book time on your calendar. It’s not fun to do thousands of dollars worth of work and not get paid for it. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress and worry by billing at the beginning of a project.

Referrals & Ambition

Jessica Thiefels, Freelancer at JessicaThiefels.com

My top tip would be to not be afraid to go after big projects. So often, we think: oh, I can’t handle that or my work isn’t good enough—but in most cases, you’ll be able to figure it out.

Bonus: you’re getting an amazing potential referral in the process, while learning something new you can offer future clients. Big projects often pay more as well – win, win, win!

Ready to get started as a freelancer?

So now that you’ve been able to get tips directly from all these seasoned freelancers, what are you waiting for? If you’re like many of the other people allowing their skills to go undervalued with one employer, chances are you’re a bit skeptical that your skills are marketable as a freelancer. Will you really be able to get clients? The answer is overwhelmingly YES!

If you’d like me to write up a full guide on how to market your unique skills as a freelancer to stop being underpaid, leave a comment below requesting what topics you’d like covered.

Are you an experienced freelancer with something to add to this list? Contact us with inquiries. 

Tagsdigital nomad freelancer

About the author

VIEW ALL POSTS

Nick Hastreiter

Shaping the future of your industry? Send pitches to Nick at Future of Everything .io !

HOW TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IN 1/2 HOUR (OR LESS)

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.

— George Addair

I recently read one of the most powerful blog posts I’ve read in a long time, a post about renowned entrepreneur Elon Musk and the 'secret sauce' that allows him to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

In the post I saw a lot of parallels to my work. When I’m not running my adventure travel company, I also mentor and consult with startup entrepreneurs to help them get their entrepreneurial ideas off the ground. Although they turn to me for advice, tips and tools, usually what’s really holding them back isn’t a lack of knowledge or knowhow, it’s something else entirely.

Fear.

As Tim Urban explains in his post about Musk, what makes him so successful in achieving the seemingly impossible is not some sort of superhuman ability or rare genius, it’s simply the ability to view two important things in a more realistic light: 1) what’s possible and 2) the risk involved. With this ability, he is able to manage fear far better than most of us.

TAKING THE LEAP

Many of the entrepreneurs I work with work at full time jobs that don’t provide them with much fulfillment, meaning or joy. Underlying this lack of fulfilment is an idea, a dream that’s been itching away for years without ever being scratched. Typically the first question they ask me is some variation of “Where do I start?’ or “How do I start?”.

The enormity of starting a new business - or any new worthwhile endeavour - typically overwhelms most people, and they feel that it requires a massive commitment on their part: quitting their job, selling their house, moving to a new country… some sort of big change to signify their commitment to their dream.

The problem with that thinking is that it typically kicks our fear response into overdrive. And then we operate from this:

This is taken from the Wait But Why post referenced earlier. As the author explains, 'chefs' like Elon Musk, whom we revere as extreme risk-takers, are not actually taking on levels of risk that are truly dangerous. The rest of us are just so risk-averse that their behaviour seems crazy to us.

And when our fear response kicks in our self-talk starts to sound like this:

“If I quit my job and this business fails, I’ll never get another job again."

“If I sell my [house, car, baseball cards, etc.] to fund my business, I’ll end up broke with no assets and have to start all over, and I'll probably end up on the street."

“If I commit to this and it doesn’t work out, my [husband, girlfriend, dog, parrot, etc.] will leave me."

As the above diagram shows, the portion of the fear spectrum most people typically operate in is well to the left of “things that we should be truly concerned about”.

So the first thing is to recognize that that the fear reaction is a normal response, but that it’s often warped well out of proportion to actual risk.

The second thing to recognize is that the fear response shows up in devious ways: it typically manifests not as a conscious response of “holy crap, if this doesn’t work out then X and Y are going to happen, and my life will be over”, but rather as some variation of:

“This idea is really dumb. No one is going to buy this from me."

“I don’t have the [knowhow, knowledge, willpower, brains, personality, etc.] to pull this off."

“There’s another more-established competitor already offering this. I’ll never be able to compete with them."

“Someone’s going to come along and steal my idea and put me out of business."

"I'm not an [entrepreneur, singer, artist, athlete, etc.]. What was I thinking?"

When you hear self-talk like this, it’s important to recognize that you are probably not operating from what Elon Musk calls ‘first principles’, or objective information, but rather from a perspective of fear. That self-talk is a direct manifestation of your fear centres - mostly that pesky amygdala - trying to keep you unnecessarily safe.

When you hear this type of self-talk, ask yourself "Am I operating from objective, 'first principles' information, or is there some sort of distortion going on?" Typically it's the latter: your idea is probably not that dumb, you probably do have the knowhow to pull it off, and you are an entrepreneur/singer/artist/athlete/etc.

The third thing to recognize is that even if you do recognize this self-talk for what it is - your innate fear response - it's still incredibly difficult to overcome.

Fortunately, there’s a way around this.

HOW TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IN 1/2 HOUR

OK, I’ll admit it, I got a little clickbait-y with that headline. I’m not suggesting that you can accomplish anything in just 1800 seconds. What I want to demonstrate is that you can accomplish just about anything you want in life by applying a very simple strategy to it.

How? By focusing a small, very manageable amount of time, every day, toward a chosen goal. 

When I work with people who are not happy with their current career path and are considering a switch to entrepreneurship, but are concerned about leaving the safety of their existing job, I'll usually work with them to help them clarify their idea and turn it into a viable business model, then outline next steps to help them validate their idea. Once we've outlined those next steps, I'll encourage them to break them down into small bite-sized chunks, then get them to commit to doing some small daily action or actions that will get them a little bit closer to their goal, every single day.

I usually suggest 1/2 hour a day, but for some time-challenged people, I suggest they at least commit 20 minutes per day to working on their 'escape plan'. One woman I recently worked with was working 75-hour weeks at her current job, so her time was pretty limited, but she wanted to get the hell out, so she was very motivated - she has committed to doing 20 minutes a day, and has managed to do it consistently.

That's the strategy in a very simple nutshell: commit a small amount of time (at least 20 minutes) every day towards your dream. If you can spare more, then commit more time, but only commit to what you can realistically pull off. If you say you're going to commit 2 hours a day, but then do 3 days in a row where you only do 1/2 hour, you're going to get de-motivated by not hitting your goal, so you're better off committing to 1/2 hour a day.

It's a powerful strategy because:

1. You're not overwhelming yourself with a monumental task, and not letting your natural fear response overtake you. 
2. While you're moving towards your goal, you get to appease the safety-seeking, risk-averse side of you and stay in your current reality (while still moving away from it).
3. Every day you make a small bit of progress toward your goal, which is extremely motivating and helps build momentum towards your goal.

I've applied this strategy to a number of projects over recent years. For most of this year my daily 1/2 hour was applied to building out a comprehensive online course for social entrepreneurs. There's a massive amount of content in the course (over 300 pages and dozens of videos), and a lot of technical setup involved to make the course function the way I wanted it to.

Had I sat down without a strategy and thought about the enormity of the task ahead of me, and how I could fit that in to a busy life that already entailed running a 50-person adventure travel company, parenting 3 young children, supporting my wife and everything else in life that I have a responsibility to, I probably would have thrown in the towel and said "No way I can pull that off." 

Instead, I just told myself I would commit 1/2 hour - every day - toward building out the course. Every day I would write some content, build out the website, whatever it took to move closer to that goal. And lo and behold, here I am 11 months later with a complete entrepreneurship course that is already being used by hundreds of people. [psst... I'm offering a launch promo of 50% off the regular monthly subscription of $38 CAD/month - just use promo code 'changetheworld' until Dec. 31, 2015]

Want more proof? This blog post was written in three 1/2 hour chunks: once while I was at the pool while my daughter was doing her swimming lesson, once while sitting on the subway traveling to an appointment, and once during my morning routine.

KEEPING ON TRACK

To keep me on track with my 1/2-hour-a-day commitment, I use an app called Way of Life (here's an Android version):

It's a pretty simple app: you start by creating up to 12 'habits' that you want to track. They can be either good habits (like spending 1/2 hour a day on your project) that you want to encourage, or bad ones (like too much coffee) that you want to avoid. 

Then you log in to the app every day (I find it easiest to log in once in the morning and once in the evening), check in on the habits you want to encourage/discourage, and mark off whether you've achieved your goals or not that day. So if I actually did 1/2 hour of work on my 'muse' (I borrowed this term from Tim Ferriss' excellent book, The 4-Hour Workweek), then I just click on 'Yes' under this habit and I get a nice green checkmark for my efforts.

The app offers a reporting feature where you can track your progress both on a macro (i.e. all of your goals) or individual goal level ('how did I do with regards to exercising every day?'), but that, to me, is less important than the simple act of having to report on my progress each day. Reporting my progress in the app is an act of accountability that reminds me, every day, what is important to me. And as silly as it sounds, I don't want to let the app down (and by process of extension, let myself down).

HOW WILL YOU USE YOUR 1/2 HOUR?

I'll finish off with a question: how will you use your daily 1/2 hour? What dream will you pursue? What idea will you launch into the world? What long-buried goal will you finally bring to life?

Just commit 30 minutes every day and you'll be amazed at what you can achieve.

---

Want some help starting or growing your business? Check out The Social Entrepreneur, a comprehensive online course I spent 11 months developing, to help entrepreneurs like you build, launch and scale businesses that change the world for the better.

From now until Dec. 31, 2015, enter promo code 'changetheworld' on the order form and you'll get 50% off the monthly subscription fee of $38 CAD/month - forever.

I also work with a (very) limited number of committed, passionate entrepreneurs on a consulting basis. 

Tagged: productivity, goals, goal setting

Comparing 5 Search Engine Evaluating-Type Jobs

Have you ever wondered how many non-phone jobs are out there?

Do you enjoy surfing the Internet and understanding how searches work?

Are you looking for more challenging “brainy” work?

Then search engine evaluating-type jobs might be in your future. There are companies who pay workers to do this type of work with more companies popping up all of the time. These are often highly flexible and well paying jobs that require no direct experience at all.

This article will explore some of the most popular companies offering this type of job. You will then be able to compare each of the five companies listed to determine which will be the best fit for you.

1. Introducing Leapforce.

Leapforce is a well-known company that offers the Search Engine Evaluator position. Search Engine Evaluators provide feedback on search engine results by measuring the relevance and usefulness of web pages in correlation to pre-defined queries, by providing comparative analysis of sets of search engine results. While it may sound confusing, all this really means is that you will be evaluating why certain results come up in the order they do in an online search.

Leapforce also offers the Search Quality Judge, who participates in analysis and online search tools. Then there is the Map Quality Analyst to help improve and evaluate Internet-based mapping data. You will analyze and annotate text and graphical routing instructions while providing suggestions for improved routes. This is not related to Google Maps. These are search engine maps.

The pay is between $14.50 to $18.50 an hour depending upon the position you take. Payment is made via a paper check or direct deposit delivered monthly.

Leapforce also allows you to log in when you want, but does require that you work 10 to 25 hours a week to stay current. You are an independent contractor with Leapforce.

Leapforce requires a high level of online researching skills. They are looking for analytical thinkers and a college degree is not required but is a big help. You will need to take a three-part exam, which some find very difficult and some find easy.

To apply go to https://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/jobs/list. Leapforce does hire quickly, but make sure that you do read the FAQ before applying. Leapforce doesn’t mind if you work for similar companies like the ones listed below. In other words, you will not have to sign a “non-compete” agreement.

2. Introducing Lionbridge.

Lionbridge is a company offering many jobs among them is the Internet Assessor position, which does not require a college degree.

You will be working with guidelines to determine if the search engine results would have been what the individual web user would have wanted.

At Lionbridge, you can log in when you want with no set hours, but they do like everyone to work 10 to 20 hours a week. The pay is between $13 to $15 an hour. Lionbridge pays once a month via wire transfer to your bank. You would have to check with your bank and find out how much they charge for bank transfers.

To qualify for a job at Lionbridge, you must pass an exam with the first part of the exam including 24 questions. If you pass this part, you will move on to the second part. The 150 question exam is a bit more difficult than the first and more time consuming. You may expect to spend 5 hours on the exam alone. Not counting the many hours you will spend reading and studying the guidelines.

Lionbridge takes about three months to hear back. You would be an independent contractor and responsible for your own taxes.

To apply, go to http://www.thesmartcrowd.com/workers/ and follow the instructions.

3.Introducing iSoftStone.

iSoftStone is a Chinese company who believes that talent is the most important workforce element.

With US offices now open, flexible hours with a 10 to 25 hour a week requirement are offered. You are an independent contractor making $12 an hour in the SEO Analyst position. This position is responsible for figuring out why certain searches come up in a particular order. You must pass an assessment and a two-part exam to work for iSoftStone as a work-at-home SEO Analyst.

Pay is once a month via automatic deposit. And most–not all jobs–are posted via Indeed or Craigslist. iSoftStone doesn’t mind if you work for other similar companies.

To apply you will need to go to Indeed or Craiglist as they do not post their jobs on their website.

4. Introducing ZeroChaos.

ZeroChaos is a fairly new company, but similar to all of the rest of the companies listed here. ZeroChaos doesn’t mind if you work for others similar companies. Here you will be providing services for the Ads Quality Rater for $15 an hour for 10 to 30 hours as a part-time employee.

The best part is the hours are flexible, and you can log in whenever you want. However, you will need to provide between 10 to 30 hours a week without going into overtime. Again, you are considered a part-time employee of ZeroChaos. You must own your own computer and have high-speed Internet. Training is provided, which is also paid.

You will need to pass a two-part exam by finding their job postings onhttp://www.zerochaos.com/careers.php or Craigslist or Indeed where they prefer to post their job openings.

5.Introducing Appen Butler Hill.

Appen Butler Hill is a company that also allows you to work from home doing search engine evaluations. The pay tends to be the highest of all of the search engine jobs.

Appen Butler Hill does NOT allow you to work for Leapforce, Lionbridge or any of the others mentioned here. The pay is $25 an hour and you must make $50 to close out. Search evaluation positions require up to 5 hours availability per day Monday through Friday. Web search evaluators must complete a qualification process that involves completing a review of qualification materials and a series of exams. The process may take up to 25-40 hours of commitment over 1 to 3 weeks. Training is free, but not necessarily paid.

Applying to Appen Butler Hill is done by choosing “Search for Opportunities” at the Appen Butler Hill website. If you don’t see a position in your language or location you may choose to register with the company and be notified when s a suitable project is available.

Their qualifications vary for the different positions. Some, particularly translation ones, require a college degree but most don’t. All will require some kind of test of your language abilities. For search evaluation jobs you must be “a native or near native speaker” in the required language.

Work-at-home independent contractors–which is what you’ll be–need to provide their own computer with antivirus software and high-speed Internet. Some projects might require a headset with a microphone that uses VOIP.

Pay is bi-monthly by a paper check.

If interested, go to http://www.appen.com/company/opportunities/. It can take about six months to hear back from Appen Butler Hill.

Then there are a few others springing up that I may have to revisit and review at a later time. However, there is enough variety here for anyone really wanting to take the leap and get involved in doing this type of work.

Good luck to all who apply.