5 Simple Steps on How to Start Freelancing for the Very First Time
When I was searching online on how to earn more, I stumbled into an article about how to start freelancing. I thought it was a great opportunity for me to start doing a side hustle.
I wanted to try freelancing while I have a full-time job, but I was so tangled with my busy corporate life that I didn’t have time to do it.
To be honest, I was hooked into the idea of making money while working online in my own time.
Eventually, I finally decided to quit my job, tried a couple of freelance gigs while being broke, applied to a project-based company to harness some skills and finally commit myself to be a self-employed individual who is working online.
Unexpectedly, everything was aligned.
I never planned it perfectly and I had a lot of bumps and turns with this path that I chose.
So, in case you want to try freelancing, here are simple tips that I can share with you to do it better than I did.
Simple Steps on How to Start Freelancing
1. Identify the things you can do or offer
It is very important to identify your skills and things you can do.
Do you like writing? Then try to apply as a freelance writer. There are a lot of platforms from different kinds of niche that offers payment per article.
I first tried to be a freelance writer since I like writing, but then as time passed by, I learned other skills that I can offer better than my writing skills.
Do you know how to do simple graphic design?
Have you tried to create quotes in your social media accounts or infographics? Do you know how to make pretty Instagram Stories and Pinterest Pins?
You can offer those simple graphic designs to your clients.
TIP: A great platform to practice is canva!
You can also offer your administrative skills as a Virtual Assistant. There are tons of work with this job, and you can learn a lot of things too while being a virtual assistant.
2. List the things you want to learn
Of course, aside from the skills that we already have, we also want to learn a lot of things that can help us get more clients.
You can list at least 3 things you want to learn.
Find time to learn those skills. Everything is available online.
There are tons of free stuff to learn online, and if you want to deep dive into it, feel free to enroll in an online course that suitable for your goal as a freelancer.
Skillshare is also a good way to learn a lot of skills or any other topics you are interested in.
I have a FREE 2 months premium for you!
3. Create a portfolio before you start freelancing
The best thing you can have as a portfolio is to create a blog.
I was hired a couple of times because my clients like my blog and my content.
Having a blog can teach you a lot of things such as:
- Content Writing
- Website Creation and Management
- Basic HTML
- Social Media Management
You can offer this skill set to your future clients!
Please know that there are a lot of website platforms that are available for free such as WordPress and Wix.
Another good way to create a portfolio is to offer your services for free. This is not ideal but it is effective.
You can offer your services to your friends or family and add the output as your portfolio.
4. Put yourself out there!
Once you have a portfolio, you need to get visible!
Post your portfolio online or in your social media accounts. You might have friends (or a friend of your common friend) that might be interested to hire you!
Create online profiles and apply for jobs on websites like Upwork, Outsourcely and even in Linkedin. If you are a Filipino like me, you can apply in Onlinejobs.ph.
5. Be Confident!
Send your proposals to those online websites I mentioned above. It is better to try and try until you find your first client.
Most importantly, always be confident in doing your tasks!
Every client can challenge you in each task they gave, and you need to push yourself to do it.
A key to this is to lower their expectations and exceeds your performance.
Do not be afraid to try new tasks, always remember that Google is our friend! Everything is online, you can just search it and learn it. Be a google search master, that is the key to do your job better.
Finally, be open to new opportunities.
I always have something to learn for each from my clients, they teach me a lot of things that I can add to my skills.
Learning is a process that never ends. Remember, only the first step is the hardest. Hopefully, you can start your freelancing adventures.
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Are you a freelancer? Any tips to add in this article?
Or if you have any questions on how to be a freelancer, comment down below!
Sagar Mohanty
Hi Roneth,
This is amazing piece of information on starting freelancing for beginners. Thank you for for writing this.
Cheers,
Sagar
Roneth Politud
Thank you Sagar, I’m happy this blog post is helpful. 🙂