10 Steps to Start Freelancing with No Experience
Freelancing is slowly but surely becoming a norm in various industries of our economy. More and more individuals, particularly Millenials and Gen Zs, are exploring freelancing as a career. They freelance at home, at cafes, or any place of their preference since freelancers don’t need to work in an office setting inside a corporate building. Although having extensive experience is very useful for a fruitful freelance career, you can try it out even if you don’t have any formal experience. So if you’re inexperienced and you plan to do regular freelance work, we’ll show you the ten steps to start your freelancing career in this blog.
10 Steps to Start Freelancing with No Experience
Select a Niche
In freelancing, you need to have a main focus or niche that highlights your best skills. You might be thinking about getting involved in multiple fields to earn more money, but that’s not advisable for newbies in the freelancing world. You should start by focusing on the type of work that you do best. For instance, if you have a knack for writing, you can freelance as an online content writer, copywriter, or technical writer. If you’re good at taking photographs, you can freelance as a photographer for events and newspaper or magazine companies. Having a single niche will also enable you to season your best skills; and, if your skills reach a certain level, your value as a freelancer will increase subsequently. So selecting a niche that suits you best should be the first step you must take in starting your freelance career.
Know Your Target Clients
Before filmmakers shoot their movies, they analyze the script to know what type of audience the story will attract. A similar principle applies to freelancing. Once you’ve decided on your niche, you need to know what kind of clients you have to approach or might encounter. Try to determine their general needs and wants so that you can prepare yourself for the task they’ll let you perform. For this matter, you have to study the industry of your niche itself and the freelance economy as a whole. If you’re knowledgeable about your target clients, you’ll be able to meet their expectations consistently.
Create a Portfolio
For someone who doesn’t have any formal experience, the only thing you can present to prove that you are the right person for a job is a portfolio. That said, you need to have one by creating multiple sample outputs and gathering them together in one file. Your portfolio will showcase how adept you are in your niche. Most clients will want to know the skill level of a freelancer they’re considering. In that case, they would undoubtedly want to see a portfolio as this is a freelancer’s main selling point. With that in mind, make sure that your portfolio contains your best works. Also, think of your portfolio as your advertising material to grab the attention of the market.
Define Your Price
According to an article in FastCompany.com, in the U.S., most freelancers earn more money than 70% of professionals recently. The most probable reason why that happened is that freelancers can accept as many projects as they can handle, which maximizes their possible income rates. Other than that, one of the freelancer benefits is that they can negotiate their service fees; for sure, freelancers will negotiate a higher price. This is something that you might be looking forward to once your freelance career starts. But, you need to slow down first. As a beginner, you need to define your introductory price. Your price should be on par with your skill level. Your price may not be as extravagant as the prices of tenured freelancers yet, but you’ll get there eventually.
Build Your Profile
You need to build your profile if you’re to find freelance work despite being inexperienced. Your profile must display a photo of yourself, your complete name, and, most importantly, your contact details. Additionally, you can add your educational background, especially if it supports your credibility as a freelancer. You can also add your portfolio to your profile or resume, which we believe would be much better.
Go to Well-Known Platforms
Sites for freelance work are abundant online. In these sites, you can find multiple freelance jobs, and clients can search for available freelancers. But for inexperienced freelancers like you, finding work can be tough. So, you should find a well-known freelancing website or online platform and place your profile there. Such a website has high traffic, which means a lot of people visit it daily. Among these people are a number of your target clients, and they might be interested in hiring you once they see your profile on the platform. You can also register your profile on multiple freelance platforms to maximize your opportunities.
Use Social Media
Another excellent online platform where you can advertise your freelance services is social media. That said, you should consider it. For one, using social media to market yourself is free, so it doesn’t hurt your budget. People are always on social media nowadays, which means more of your target clients will know that you’re offering the freelance service they need. You can use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Post Blogs Regularly
If you have the budget to build your website, you should consider it and post informative blogs on it regularly. Your blog should contain helpful content that your target clients are looking for. In that way, your website will earn visitors who’ll read your blogs, and these visitors can potentially be converted to clients. If you can’t afford to build a website yet, social media is always available. Other than blogs, you can also shoot vlogs and post them online.
Find and Join Freelance Groups
Other freelancers can help you obtain clients by referring you to them. Because of your inexperience, joining freelance groups could be beneficial for you. For sure, some of the members of a freelance group are tenured freelancers. You can learn many freelance tricks from them, and they could even connect you with the right clients. In freelancing, despite it being labeled as an independent kind of work, you also need connections and collaborations with people to make it big. There are many freelance groups out there that you can find online.
Start Strong with Your First Clients
As an inexperienced freelancer, one of your goals should be to establish a good reputation. The only way for that to happen is to start strong with your first clients. Prove to them that you have what it takes to deliver the output they need despite not having prior exposure. Remember that first impression last. If you can provide excellent service to your first clients, they might give you a proposal to work for them on future projects. And, if you continue to produce with quality and consistency, your reputation as a freelancer will build, and your experience as well. That’s the time when you can start increasing your service fees and earn more income.
You definitely can have a steady career and job security in freelancing. Just be practical and smart in making decisions and be passionate about your craft. So go ahead and make a checklist out of the ten steps we’ve discussed in this blog, and start your freelance career on a high note.
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