Do you love freedom? Let me rephrase it for you. Do you love your freedom when it comes to your work? How does it feel to set your work timings and choose your workplace? Are you tired of constantly trying to appease your condescending boss or do you feel like you are stuck in a job where you no more see an opportunity for growth? Perhaps you think your skills are not being acknowledged by your supervisor even though you have been contributing for quite some time. Then freelancing is for you.
In freelancing, you can work at your own discretion. You get to choose whom you are gonna provide your services to and decide your rates for your services and set your own rules. As a freelance worker, you can always keep learning new things and grow both professionally and personally.
So here’s a five-step Freelance plan for you:
1} Ferret out or learn profitable skills: As a Freelancer, the most important treasure you have is your skills. The skills could be basic one which comes naturally to you or you can to choose to learn some high-income skills.
Communication skills: This is a lifetime skill. The way you communicate reflects your personality and accentuates your confidence. While working with multiple clients it’s pivotal to communicate properly and impede any misunderstandings which could affect your work.
Social Media Marketing: It’s a high demand skill. It’s basically about connecting with your clients through social media and helping them understand your brand.
Sales & Marketing: The goal is to increase sales and improving client retention. The main motto is to draw potential customers in by creating brand awareness.
Negotiation Skills: Your negotiation skills will help you seal amazing deals, and will help you maintain excellent relationships with your clients.
Critical Analysis: Having the ability to observe, understand and then analyse can bring brilliant results.
2} Start looking for clients on social media: As a beginner one may feel stuck or confused while approaching people. Several questions come forth like how should I convince them and what should I say next etc. Your every word and every sentence should be articulated in a manner to persuade people to become your clients. The best way to get the best clients is from social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram.
The best outcome of these platforms is you could diversify your network and bring in more opportunities. You can connect with potential clients without you having to chase them.
3} Upskilling: As a freelancer, the reiteration of decade-old services could plummet your business. Thus you are obligated to provide upscaled services to your clients, for that you need to up-skill yourself. Moreover, you can ask for more money to complement your new skills.
Here’s how you can Up-skill both personally and professionally:
- Take up online classes
- Attend webinars
- Read books,
- Learn basic designing tools
- Maintain good relations with your fellow freelancers
- Take new projects
- Try new work styles
- Create a personal brand
4} Start increasing rates when you start sealing 50% prospects: Many Freelancers are reluctant to increase their prices because they believe doing so will make them lose their clients to someone who is charging less. But this ain’t true. The longer you work for your customer, the more valuable you become to them. So if they trust your service and they understand your processes, replacing you will be a headache. The best way is to explain to them why you are increasing prices. Explain to them what upscaled services you are providing and show your worth. Don’t increase new clients’ rate too soon and make sure to give them plenty of time before increasing the rates.
5} Increase your global market reach: Expand your company and maximise your profit by targeting International clients. Firstly analyse the market situation before doing business in other countries. By doing that you get to understand the needs of customers in respective countries and set a strategical plan to enhance your business in that particular country. Build an attractive portfolio and make sure to choose a country or market where your business is unique, affordable and demanded. Plus, the demand is more in the International market, so you get a lot of clients and opportunities there.
