5 Steps for Starting Your Freelance Journey

Regular 9 to 5 is not a bad way to live life. But only if you love what you do, make a good living, and have a healthy personal life as well. 

For the most part, many professionals or even freshers want to go the freelance way. It is understandable because of the freedom you get being a freelancer. With freelancing, you get the freedom to move around, the freedom to do whatever work you want, and financial freedom.

However, being a freelancer is not easy. You will undoubtedly face a lot of competition, and making a good steady income can sometimes take a couple of years. But once you reach that point, things get easier, and your earning potential is unlimited.

To start, here are a few steps to guide your way. 

The Right Tools 

Many people get into freelancing but don’t have the right equipment for the work. For instance, some people have just a smartphone and want to make loads of money freelancing. That is nearly impossible since the options for smartphone freelancers are very limited and don’t pay much. 

Therefore, you probably need a laptop and some good tools to get started. Since you’re only starting, don’t go out buying premium versions of software. You can look into trials or free tools, like a PDF editor free, for your use.  

Choose A Marketable Skill 

You may have some skills that you think can help you get started, but it won’t be that easy. For instance, if you were great at writing essays or papers in your school or college, it doesn’t mean you will be great at freelance content writing.

According to the skills you already possess and what you like, try to find and develop a skill that you can market. This skill needs to be in demand and add value for the client. For instance, writing quality copy pays well because it makes the clients money. 

Build A Reputation

Before finding clients, you need to have at least some reputation for your skills. Having a reputation allows you to confidently tell clients why they should hire you.

However, you don’t need to spend money or a lot of time to build a reputation. If you’re going into writing, for example, you can reach out to websites that post articles and blogs on the topics you want to write about and pitch your article. Since you are new and want to build a reputation, you may need to do this for free or at a very low rate.

Have A Portfolio

While building your reputation, you should make a collection of works, and a portfolio, to showcase your talent to potential clients when the time comes. 

You can easily use a website or a webpage to create your portfolio. If you don’t want to invest in a paid site, you can look into free alternatives. They may not be impressive, but they can do the job, for starters. 

In your portfolio, only include your best work.

Find the Right Platform

With a reputation and a portfolio of your talent, you need to find the right platform that will work for your skills. The most popular platforms, like Fiver or Upwork, are already saturated with millions of freelancers, which means a lot of competition.

Therefore, you should try to find new marketplaces with less competition. You can more easily find good clients on these sites.