Hello!
Being a freelancer or consultant means one thing at the end of the day: you are your own boss. As your own boss you can set your own schedule, your own pricing, and pick your own clients. As your own boss you also have to deal with taxes, client acquisition, time management, marketing, and so much more. Starting a freelance business or consultancy, even if at the end of the day you are only offering your talents for sale as a service.
Still takes some steps as Start Your Own Freelance Business
Focus on Your Talents
The most obvious way to start your career either as a freelancer or as a consultant is to use your strengths and expertise. This is the selling point that will be most attractive to potential clients and therefore should be highlighted the most.
As an expert, however, you are likely aware of the other supportive roles that would complement your skills.
If you are a business consultant, for example, you will be expected to help on varying aspects of the business.
Build Supportive Skills
There are so many free or budget-friendly online courses out there that it is a mistake to not go through and learn all you can to help improve your supportive skill set.
Start Your Own Freelance Business or consultant, for example, would benefit from refreshing and learning new digital marketing skills or by having supply chain optimization ideas.
You don’t need to be an expert, but you do need to know where you can direct your clients after the fact. You need to know it all in order to have a complete picture of your clients and their problems. Even for those who are artistic, having a wider knowledge in business will help immensely
You could be an illustrator, but knowing what a website needs in terms of function and design can help you better advise your clients. It is not just your talent, after all, but your expertise that your clients will want to cash in on.
Create Your Digital Profile
Next you need to make your digital profile. This includes a website, social media profiles, guest posts, and even a digital portfolio of your work. It’s okay if you don’t know how to set up a website, either. The only thing you need to do is have a vision and know when it is appropriate to outsource.
Find and Grow Your Client List
Once you have everything up and running online, it’s time to start gaining clients. Right at the start this can be very difficult to do, as many businesses rely on word of mouth or at the very least, good reviews to find a quality freelancer or a consultant they can trust.
Start with Friends or Family
That is why you should start with the people that you know. You could work for free or for a discount to fix a client problem and then use that as evidence of your talent on your website.
Use a Referral System
The best way to gain new clients is through old ones, so offer a referral system where they can fetch a discount for referring a friend. Not every industry allows this, but most do, and it’s a great way to grow organically through word of mouth.
Thank you!
Subscribe to our newsletter! Join us on social networks!
See you!
