Freelancing: How to Start Your Career as a Freelancer

Kashif Bashir
5 min readJun 28, 2023

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Start Career as Freelancer

Freelancing is becoming more and more popular Worldwide, especially among the younger generations. Data show that it has the fourth-fastest growing freelancing market in the world, expanding at a rate of 47% annually. This surge has been attributed to a number of factors, but the two most significant are the government’s efforts to promote technical education and the widespread availability of 4G services.

Understanding the Basics of Freelancing

Freelancing is a form of self-employment when an individual enters into a contract to sell their products or services to others. Freelancers can take on many projects simultaneously, and work for businesses and private clients. They typically have fixed or starting rates that people or corporations agree to before work begins.

For a one-hour photo shoot with a set amount of photographs, a freelance photographer might bill $150. One can either consider it their full-time profession or do it part-time while holding down a full-time career. Freelancing might be advantageous for anyone who needs to augment their income in between jobs.

How to Start Freelancing?

Following are the steps you should take to become a freelancer:

Set Your Goals

One must first choose the services they want to offer as a freelancer. In this manner, they might be able to focus more on a straightforward business concept.

For instance, if someone intends to work as a freelance graphic designer, they must decide what kind of content they want to create. This could include brochures, internet advertisements, or company logos.

Before beginning, individuals should consider what they want to accomplish with their skills, how to market those skill sets, how much they really would like to offer, and the types of payments they will accept. They must conduct some research to find out what other businesses offering comparable services charge in order to determine a reasonable starting price.

Locate Your Ideal Client

One can pick and select whom they would like to work with as a freelancer. It can be advantageous to find potential clients who would gain the most from their services. It would get easier to increase one’s clientele after gaining some experience.

Check for Tax and Licensing Requirements

As long as one is not stealing or committing any kind of financial fraud, freelancing is neither illegal nor unethical.

However, a person might need to have a license or authorization in order to work independently or under contracts in various fields. They will also need to take different taxes into consideration, such as sales tax because they are providing a service to other people.

Construct a Portfolio

A portfolio is an assortment of a person’s finest prior work. Building a portfolio while working with clients and gaining experience is necessary for one to succeed as a freelancer and attract more clients.

Make Connections and Expand Your Professional Network

Connecting with other freelancers is crucial for success. One can join groups for Global freelancers on Facebook and/or WhatsApp. They will be able to stay abreast of all the most recent developments, fee adjustments, and news regarding freelancing in this manner.

Also, one should always make an attempt to build long-term connections with their clients so they can hire them for their services again in the future or recommend them to others.

Utilize Websites for Online Freelance Work

Once a freelancer has some experience, they ought to check out some of the most popular freelance networks. These online earning websites in the USA will enable them to develop profiles and market their skills. They are also reliable, ensuring that no freelancer is taken advantage of and that they are paid for their work.

Earning Through Freelancing

It may take some time for a freelancer to build clientele and a portfolio.

Maintain Your Profits

It’s essential to monitor revenue when one initially begins freelancing. Utilize a spreadsheet to keep an account of deals and earnings according to the time spent on each project. This information can be used to determine whether a fair price is being charged for the services provided.

Pricing Your Services Properly

A lack of knowledge about the market can cause one to undersell their services. To make money as a freelancer, one has to set a reasonable fee for one‘s time, hard work, and knowledge. They can conduct some industry research to make sure they are charging the right amount of money for their services.

When possible, Upsell

One can also package or promote their skills under specific conditions. Making more money can be achieved by upselling solutions, such as offering a more costly design bundle or additional alternatives.

Online Freelancing Platforms

There are several online platforms through which you can run your freelancing business. The most popular ones are given below.

  • Fiverr
  • Upwork
  • Freelancer.com
  • PeoplePerHour

Communicate Clearly — An Often-Neglected Freelancer Tip

You can read a hundred articles on freelancer tips, and they will all mention communication — or at least they should.

Communication is how you, as a solo worker and entrepreneur, will build your brand and small business. It is the foundation for all client relations.

You could have attractive rates and great samples, but when you can’t convey your worth to clients, they will look at other options.

As mentioned above, think from the client’s perspective and address them in your application. But even after your pitch/application has been accepted, your written and verbal communication must convey every relevant detail to clients.

You must communicate project expectations, deadlines, potential delays, and anything that affects a project to your client to sort things out efficiently.

Final Thoughts: Freelancing Tips for Professional Success

Freelancing can be daunting when you first start. There’s trial and error involved in getting things right, from your website to your tools and even your clients. However, you must persevere beyond the lows to become a successful freelancer.

We hope these freelancer tips help you out.

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Kashif Bashir

I like to write about what cherish me! ➜Finance & Marketing Professional, Writer, Entrepreneur, Content Creator. Learn how to make money online. Start here ➜⚡