Successful Freelancers Need to Know These 6 Concepts to Build Their Hustle

Whether you are new to freelancing or have been doing it for a long time, bringing in enough money is always a concern. There are many considerations to think about in the freelancing business, and it is getting more and more competitive. The number of freelancers is growing in the US. With more people working from home due to Covid-19, working remotely for yourself appears to be increasingly feasible and alluring.

For some, the corporate world have be soul-draining. With overbearing managers and superfluous meetings, it’s not difficult to feel like you need a change of scenery. In fact, since 2019, more than 57 million Americans working as freelancers, up from 53 million in 2014 – and that number is only increasing. What’s more, there are valid justifications behind this trend.

Alongside the desire to escape the corporate life, being a freelancer empowers you to look after your own self-interests; as well as give you control over your own schedule and projects. As a freelancer, you are responsible for your own business. You can decide when you work, when to take a vacation, when to child care, or run errands.

However, freelancing has its difficulties, as well. While you have more control over your work and time, the main challenge is making money. As an independent freelancer, you are responsible for getting your own customers. Moreover, you are also responsible for administrative overhead such as sending invoices, collecting payment, managing your time, and setting aside sufficient cash to endure tough times. Being an independent freelancer can be daunting. However, there are ways to approach this challenge to turn your hustle into a full blown career.

Here are 6 key things of the business that you must know to become successful:

1. Pick a Niche

If you are new to the freelancing business, you may want to take on any paid work coming your way. While counterintuitive, that might not be the best mindset to progress this hustle. As you progress further in the freelancing business, you need to be more selective about your customers and work.

You may be thinking: How can getting selective about the work I do help me be more successful and earn more money?

The answer? As you get better at the projects you deliver, you become a specialist at that particular type of work; and as a specialist, you can charge more for your work!

Many beginners struggle over the thought of becoming a subject-matter expert or a generalist when starting their independent freelancing career. Think about it from the perspective of a customer. If you were looking to improve your email advertising campaign, would you hire a marketer or an IT generalist? What about updating an obsolete website? Would you hire someone that “knows about computers”, or would you hire a web developer? Personally, I would pick expert to solve my very specific task even if the generalist is 2 times cheaper.

Moreover, deciding on a niche will allow you to start with the mindset of an expert as you build your skills.

2. Be Clear on Your Offerings

The more explicit you can be about what you offer, the better. Not only will it help you build your brand, but it will also control what kind of potential customers find you. This will also help you accumulate the type of work to build a great portfolio you want to show.

For example, if you want to become a well sought-after, generously compensated Ruby on Rails web developer, then at some point, you shouldn’t be considering any projects for designing drag-and-drop WordPress sites, or designing website graphics.

While the advantages of consistent work are enticing (and essential), taking on just any project would not help you specialize and grow. Rather, it may even distract you from your goals.

3. Characterize Your Ideal Client

Before you go out and search for customers, you’ll need to foster an image of the ideal customers you should be targeting. Would you like to construct sites for individuals, contribute to a team within a small business, or take on longer-term contracts with large enterprises? Making these qualifications early will be fundamental to pitching your offerings effectively.

To characterize precisely who your optimal customers ought to be (and how to begin discovering them), ask yourself these questions:

• What kind of business issues am I solving with my services?

• How can I segment my customers? Think: age, geographic location, style, the customer’s customers.

The more focused you are on a specific customer persona, the more targeted your services and messaging will be; thus increasing the likelihood of gaining the prospect’s attention and business.

4. Make a High Quality Portfolio Site

The most ideal approach to exhibit your capabilities to potential customers is to have an amazing portfolio site. In order to stand out from the competition, you should ensure that your site :

• Showcases your ability

• Articulates successful customer stories and examples

• Communicates your brand

• Integrates with every channel of communication to increase visibility

The goal of your portfolio is to teach, gather interest, and persuade potential customers that they should trust you. Thus, it is worth putting time into choosing what to include in your portfolio, and how it’s being shown; this will help you in searching for new opportunities.

When your portfolio site is up and running, start connecting it to your email and social media. You want the site to be as findable as possible whenever someone interacts with you.

5. Start Freelancing Before You Quit Your Day Job

I’m a fervent fan of starting an independent business while you keep your regular day job. I don’t think it’s necessarily beneficial to jump head first to starting your independent freelancing career.

When you first start freelancing, there are a lot of systems to set-up, and your workload will be unpredictable. Not only does building out your portfolio – if you haven’t already been doing – takes a lot of time, it takes time to build your brand. Without consistent work, you may struggle to generate the amount of revenue to overcome the expenses your day job is currently covering

I would strongly recommend having a couple consistent customers before cutting off your day job income. As a rule of thumb, I suggest having your freelancing gig be about 50-75% of your current day job income before considering making the switch-  depending on your risk tolerance.

In addition, starting your freelancing gig as a side hustle would give you experience on what a full-time gig look like:

• Dealing with tight timelines
• Searching for new customers
• Managing revenue and expenses
• Building a brand
• Scoping customer expectations
• and more…

Finally, by starting your freelancing gig while you have a day job, you have the luxury of being more intentional. You don’t have to be pressured into taking just any job – you can choose your customers and projects. This will provide you with a much more ideal set-up once you decide to make the switch.

6. Level Up Your Skills

The best approach to growing as a freelancer and legitimize higher rates? Ensure you have skills that are sought after.

Work on building new skills over time by working on projects. Then, use those projects to develop an attractive portfolio of work to showcase your skills. Whether your new skills involve WordPress, web applications, or something different altogether, the more you differentiate yourself, the better positioned you will be.

Also, remember that while skilled freelancers in technology can get paid a significant amount for their work, you don’t need to earn a B.S. in software engineering to learn those skills. Taking classes from sites such as Coursera, Udemy, or even YouTube can set you up with all the knowledge you need to be successful.

Bottom Line

Becoming a freelancer, particularly in today’s digital age is highly do-able and desirable. Yet, while many people have the great idea of becoming a freelancer and working for themselves, they often fail in execution. The reason? They don’t have the knowledge or experience to run an independent business – which is what a freelancer is. They underestimate the transition from becoming an employee to and employer*. Some freelancers are just better at their craft, than at marketing it. There is a plethora of reason why freelancers don’t become successful. However, with these 6 concepts outlined in this article, I hope you have a better idea of what it takes. Feel free to comment below or reach out to me at contact@moneyadmiral.com if you have direct questions; I’m always happy to chat.