How to earn money Ů–from freelancing It is a job that anyone can use to earn money from freelancing at home.
Since I began freelancing just over a year ago, I have had the opportunity to work with nearly a dozen high-growth startups and world-class experts. I have never had to negotiate for the premium prices I charge for my content marketing services, which is why I had like to share some tips with you on how to start freelancing and how to make money doing.
However, that certainly did not happen overnight. My rapid success in the world of freelancing is the result of a lot of strategic positioning, hours of hard work, and good timing.
If you are ready to get serious about freelancing and multiplying your self-employed income, here are my top twelve tips for earning more during your first year doing freelance jobs.
How to Earn Money From Freelancer – Freelance Jobs for Students
1. Choose a Niche
If your goal is to start freelancing, you might feel ready to take ANY paid work on Fiverr or Upwork you can get your hands on. But as you get deeper into your freelancing career, you will need to start being more strategic about the types of work you do and the clients you take on.
When you specialize in a skillset, you become an expert in a specific field, and experts can charge more for their specialized services (there are expert and pro categories on Upwork and Fiverr too).
In my opinion, the age-old debate of whether you should be a specialist or a generalist(opens in a new tab) when starting your freelance career is not even worth thinking twice about.
If you were a prospective client and you needed someone to fix your email marketing so people actually sign up, write ads that convince people to buy, or just update your outdated website, would you rather hire someone who is a jack of all trades, or a person who is a pro at doing one thing and doing it well? I will choose the specialist every time.
When it comes to my own experience, choosing to specialize as a content marketing consultant — as opposed to being a general digital marketer for hire — has been the single best decision I have made with my freelance business.
Because I have built my reputation with clients as a talented content marketer over the past few years and frequently engage with content marketing content on various social media channels, I have been able to rise to the top of my niche in a relatively short period of time. Aside from my blog and existing client referrals, the next most consistent source of new clients has been from business owners seeking out specific expert help through both Google and social searches.
If you choose the right niche, deciding to specialize and putting some effort into branding yourself as an expert within your niche can really pay off for years to come.
2. Get Clear on Your Service Offerings
One major decision you need to make early on in your freelance career is what you do and what you do not do.
The more specific you can be about what services you offer, the better. Not only will it help you brand yourself, but it will also allow you to control how prospective clients perceive you and give you the opportunity to continue building your portfolio in the direction you want to move in.
If you want to focus on becoming a sought-after, highly paid Ruby on Rails developer, you should not even consider contract offers for customizing WordPress themes or designing the user experience for an upcoming app.
While the short-term benefits of steady work are tempting (and sometimes necessary), taking on projects that are not getting you closer to your ultimate goal of becoming the best in your field, will only distract and delay you from making meaningful progress.
3. Define What Your Ideal Client Looks Like
Before you can go out and start looking for clients, you will need to develop a clear picture of who you are going to work best with. Do you want to build websites for small business owners, make a name for yourself blogging as a professional blogger, work as a copywriter, pitch in on new feature development for high-growth technology startups, or take on longer-term contracts with enterprise-sized companies? Or maybe you want to work specifically for brands and clients with values that align with yours, etc.
Making these clear distinctions between who and what type of business you are targeting will be essential to effectively pitch your services.
To define exactly who your ideal freelance clients should be (and how to start finding them), ask yourself these questions:
What type of business has the problems I am solving with my services?
Can the business I want to work with afford to hire me?
What demographic trends can I identify about the decision-makers in the types of businesses I am targeting? Think age, gender, geographic location, websites they frequent, and their personal interests.
Because I know that I will be more engaged and work most effectively with smaller startup teams who are working on projects I can personally relate to, I have proactively chosen to make my scope of potential clients narrow. By working with similar startup teams, new potential clients I target within my niche are able to instantly relate with me and have confidence that I will be able to replicate my results for their business.
4. Create a High-Quality Portfolio Site
It goes without saying that one of the best ways to demonstrate your technical skills is by having an amazing portfolio site(opens in a new tab) of your own. If you want to be taken seriously as a new freelancer, you are going to need a website that:
Showcases your expertise.
Highlights relevant past experiences.
Shows who you are.
Includes your contact information so that potential clients can easily find you.
A stellar portfolio can really help you out if you do not have a lot of job experience or testimonials to prove that you know your stuff.
The purpose of your portfolio is to educate, spark interest, and convince potential clients that they will want to choose you for their technical needs. That is why it is worth investing time into deciding what to feature on your portfolio and how it is being displayed — before you start looking for new projects.
5. Start Freelancing Before Your Quit Your Day Job
I am a huge fan of starting a freelance business while you keep your day job (or work part-time), as opposed to immediately pursuing self-employment.
In addition to the fact that creating a high-quality portfolio website, building your personal brand, and adding to your portfolio naturally takes a good amount of time, it is a good idea to have a few steady freelance clients on your roster before axing your sole source of income with typing jobs.
I recommend growing your side income to at least 50–75% of your total current income before leaving your full-time job, depending on your risk tolerance.
Managing a tight schedule, heavy workload (including demanding freelance projects), and being responsible for client deliverables with limited time resources will teach you quickly what it is like to run your own business.
The other awesome benefit of picking up freelance clients while you are still working full-time is that you can be selective. You likely do not absolutely need the money. This puts you in a position to turn down work that either does not pay enough to justify your time investment or that you are not genuinely interested in.
These are two points you will need to be a stickler about if you want to be happy once you are freelancing full-time.
6. Level Up Your Skills
The best way to justify higher hourly rates? Make sure you have impressive skills that are in high demand.
Practice using your new skills by building the types of projects that you want to eventually be paid to work on. Whether that is WordPress websites, mobile apps, or something else entirely, such as graphic design, copywriting, etc, the more you can differentiate yourself among a sea of competition with cool side projects and examples that will attract potential customers, the better.
7. Build Your Credibility
There are many ways to build your credibility within your industry.
Aside from creating high-quality blog content and collaborating with notable influencers in your industry, you can write an ebook, create an online course, and line up speaking engagements to start increasing your visibility within your niche.
You can also build up your portfolio on freelance platforms and freelance gig websites by working for a slightly lower hourly rate to start, and increasing it as you gain more experience.
These credibility boosters can help you add to your list of accomplishments that you can highlight on your portfolio and simultaneously demonstrate your knowledge for more potential clients to see. The wider you can broadcast your message, the more influence you will build within your niche.
8. Determine Your Pricing
While deciding how much to charge for your freelance services is a major step toward determining your perceived value, you need to make sure you are charging enough to make a sustainable, comfortable living.
Most clients do not hesitate to pay higher rates for a freelancer that gives them an incredible first impression and sells them the ability to deliver high-quality results.
As long as I continue to deliver consistent value to my clients (beyond their expectations), I have no trouble setting and maintaining high prices for the services I am providing.
Before setting your prices at the bare minimum you need to charge in order to hit your financial needs, consider the actual value you had be creating for your potential clients and make sure you are not leaving money on the table.
You can always increase your rates in the future and hope your client stays on board, but if you start at a price point you are already excited about, you will be that much more likely to over-deliver and continue increasing your value moving forward.
9. Leverage Your Network for Introductions
One of the most effective ways to land higher quality and better-paying freelance work is through leveraging your existing networks. Whether it is pitching your actual friends and former co-workers on freelance help, or using their connections to make warm introductions to companies you do want to work with, this is a great alternative to cold contacting potential clients.
Whenever I discover a freelance opportunity I want to pursue on Angel.co (opens in a new tab), CloudPeeps(opens in a new tab), or elsewhere, I give myself 10–15 minutes to research the company, find my ideal point of contact, and do a little homework on if I have a mutual connection on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook before reaching out with a cold email.
If I do have a mutual contact, I will reach out to my friend (only if I am actually friends with them) and ask if they had mind sending an email introduction on my behalf.
This approach, where my first impression is being endorsed by a recommendation from someone my potential client already knows, has consistently netted me a higher response and close rates.
10. Perfect Your Pitching
There is an art and science to pitching your freelance services to new clients.
Landing new clients are not just a matter of crafting an awesome freelance proposal. Your success depends on how you are selecting new jobs, how you position your value propositions, and how much research you do ahead of time.
I have won new gigs simply because I clearly put in more time and effort into researching the company, determining their needs, and providing immense upfront value in the form of insightful recommendations before I even discuss payment. In the world of freelancing, much of your success (and ability to make money online) will depend upon the strength of your client relationships, and how well you are able to forge meaningful partnerships.
11. Blog Frequently
The goal of having a website showcasing your skills is to attract and convert new clients. What better way to increase the number of potential new clients coming across your website than by creating high-quality blog content that positions you as a stand-out expert within your field?
In the beginning, aim for creating one or two in-depth blog posts per month, geared toward providing truly helpful solutions that your potential clients may be searching for. Note: That means you will be writing for an audience of your clients, not other people in your field.
Once they discover your content and get some free value from you, you will naturally be top-of-mind if they are ready to hire out for more in-depth help.
I initiated the majority of the freelance contracts I have landed over the last year by mentioning a company in a successful blog post on my website. After publishing my in-depth post chronicling all of the best side business ideas(opens in a new tab), I spent a lot of time reaching out to a carefully chosen person at each brand or online tool I mentioned, asking if I cited them correctly within the post.
The majority of them wrote back either confirming or offering a suggestion, which then gave me an opportunity to either pitch a guest post, ask them to share my content with their audience on social media, or open the door to a potential marketing contract.
My blog has been by far my highest return marketing channel for my freelance business.
12. Guest Post on Relevant Industry Blogs & Publications
Once you have a website that highlights your abilities and clearly communicates that you offer freelance services, one of the most effective ways to increase your online visibility is by getting content published on the blogs and publications where your potential customers spend the most time.
While you will be starting on a much smaller scale, do not underestimate the immediate benefit of getting your content featured on blogs and publications that can drive hundreds or even thousands of new visitors to your website.
In the span of less than one year, I have been able to get my posts published on Entrepreneur, Inc, Business Insider, HubSpot, and dozens of more publications by creating extremely high-quality content and leveraging my pitching abilities. This increased visibility has had a direct, positive impact on my business.