Be a Successful Freelancer

Introduction

If you’ve ever thought about going freelance or have already done so with mixed results, this guide is for you. You’ll learn the strategies I used to become a successful freelancer and discover how you can apply them to your own career. Best of all, these strategies are easy and exciting!

Develop a Business Plan

To be successful as an independent worker, it’s important that you develop a plan for your business. A business plan is a written document that provides direction for the future of your freelancing career. It will help you decide what work to take on, how much time to allocate to each customer, and how much money to charge for your services.

A good business plan can also be used to communicate with investors or potential employers about the viability of your idea and its potential growth potential. In addition, having this type of document will make it easier for you when hiring employees or subcontractors in the future.

Set Goals

Goals are the foundation of building a successful business. Without goals, you won’t know what to do or how to measure your success.

For a goal to be considered a “success,” it needs to be:

• Specific: A specific goal is clear and measurable. Instead of saying “make more money,” try writing something like: “Increase monthly income by 15% this quarter by offering SEO services six times per month at $1,000 each time.” You can also look at past months and see what your average income has been over time so that you can know how much growth you need each month (in this case it would be $15k).
• Attainable and realistic: If your client list only consists of two people on Facebook who live in Antarctica where there are no internet connections, then there isn’t much point in trying to increase your client base right now! Look instead at ways that might bring more clients into contact with you – maybe write some articles on freelancing topics? Or get involved with local meetups? Then, once those avenues lead new contacts into your pipeline, start thinking about how many new clients they will bring in over time!
• Time-bound: Goals need deadlines because otherwise, they don’t become concrete enough for us humans (who are notoriously bad at sticking with things)

Be a Self-Starter

As a freelancer, you’ll need to be self-motivated and proactive. You’re the one who has to get things done on time and in accordance with your own standards of quality. You don’t have anyone to answer to other than yourself, so it’s important that you take the initiative when things need doing.

I’m not saying that being self-employed means you can slack off or ignore your responsibilities. Just because there isn’t a manager hovering over your shoulder doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to sit around all day watching Netflix (unless it’s really good). But there are some advantages associated with being freelance:

• As long as clients pay their bills on time and give clear instructions, they won’t micromanage how their work gets done and won’t tell freelancers what tasks they should be working on next. The objective is for everyone involved—including clients—to get results quickly while maintaining high standards of quality. As long as this works out well for both parties, everyone wins!

Do What You Love

The most important thing you can do to be successful is to do what you love. This means finding a niche and staying in it, even if it’s not the most popular or profitable one. You will never work a day in your life if you do what makes you happy, because when you’re doing something that brings joy into your life, it doesn’t feel like work at all!

Doing what you love will also help reduce stress levels considerably. Stress can be detrimental to our health and well-being, so having something that helps us relax and unwind is essential for success both personally and professionally.

Value Yourself

Your skill level is a moving target, and it’s up to you to keep it moving in the right direction.

• Be confident in your skills. You know more than you think you do, even if it sometimes doesn’t feel like it. As long as you’re willing to learn from others and put in the hard work necessary for success, nothing is stopping you from reaching new heights.
• Be confident in your value. If someone’s happy with what they get from working with or hiring you, then their happiness is worth something—and that something is money! The more valuable and appreciated your work is by clients (and potential ones), the easier time finding work becomes down the road. So start being awesome now so people will want more when they get a chance later on down this freelancing journey train called life!
• Be confident in your ability to grow as a professional: This one can be tough if we’re not used to doing things outside our comfort zone often enough but stick with me here because growth IS important if we want our careers/businesses to succeed over time – especially since freelancers are responsible entirely themselves without having anyone else holding them accountable which means no one but yourself can hold yourself accountable either!

The key to success is setting goals and doing them with passion!

To be a successful freelancer, you must set goals. It’s that simple.

You need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how much time it will take. This way, you’ll know if you’re on track when faced with obstacles along the way. It can also help organize your priorities: If one goal takes up too much time, perhaps another needs further attention until things are more manageable again?

When setting goals, be specific! Don’t just say “I want to work from home” or “I want more clients” – tell yourself exactly what this means in terms of outcomes (like: make X amount per month). When planning out how many clients/projects/hours per week etc., don’t overestimate either – set reasonable targets based on facts such as where your skills lie and how much effort goes into each type of task (i.e., writing vs design vs business development).

Conclusion

I hope this blog post has given you some helpful tips for starting your freelancing career. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] or message me on Twitter @mryoungmadison. Happy freelancing!