Freelancing Guide For A Beginner

Freelancing requires structure, discipline, and vision. The structure will help you navigate your work on a daily basis. Discipline will set the standard and tone for the work you do and vision will give you a mental picture of the path you are wanting to take and give you a clear direction of the goals you would want to achieve. With these three in place, you can set out to start freelancing.

We have already written an article compiling all the necessary tools for freelancers. Link: https://timestatement.com/blog/some-freelancer-tools-to-make-your-work-easier

Before you take the leap, here are some things you would want to consider before committing to be a full-time freelancer.

Market: What is your target market? Do you have the skills to deliver the standard or above standard expectations in that market? If no, what would it take to build that skill? Do you have the necessary tools and how would that process work? As soon as you start asking these questions, you will surely get more questions and do remember, you don’t have to answer all the questions at once. The only reason to ask questions is to get more clarity on the whole process.
Tools: Depending on the segment of work, choose the tools that will help you do your work faster and with more accuracy. Tools make your life easier and give you a particular advantage in your type of work. Determine the tools you need for your requirement.
Client: Do you have any client to start working as a freelancer? No? Find one. Get at least 3 clients to start with and pay great attention to them. You are still setting up your business and they are not only clients but your primary assets as well.
Contract: It is always best to draw up a contract between your client and you. This should mostly cover clauses on project confidentiality, the work you do, the payment terms, etc.
Focus: It is easy to lose focus as a freelancer. Since you are in charge of your time and work, you may be juggling too many tasks at a time and by doing this continually, you lose your focus. Here is what will help you: Stephen R Covey’s priority quadrants will assist you to get focused for the week. The Pomodoro technique is useful for checking off tasks and getting work done. On top of that, the vision you set will indicate whether the task you are performing will bring you closer to your vision or take you away from it. Focus is one of the most important considerations in freelancing success.
Time Management: Along with focus, time management is also important. You can use time management tools but here is a more effective way. Buy a diary. Write your tasks for the day as well as the tasks you completed on that day. Make the diary a complete visual map of the work you are doing and constantly remind yourself about the vision. In addition to that, this will give you an overview of how you are spending your time. Adding to that, you can also use time management software to track your day-to-day work or the time that you spend on specific client projects. However, it is always useful to have a diary or a notebook or else you may even maintain a record on your phone too.
Pricing: To start with, you can set prices competitively but as you progress and gain more traffic, you can set higher standards.
Professionalism: Let your client know you are available at certain hours. Though freelancing gives you flexibility, you have to draw a line so that you can maintain respectable boundaries and a healthy relationship.
Transparency: Clients value transparency. If you were a client, you would value it too. Clients want to know how and where their money is spent. Of course, these are very simple things, but it is easy to get caught up in the process and forget about it. Maintain the value of transparency.

The guide will serve you in establishing a proper structure for your work and help you kickstart your new profession as a freelancer.

You can find also a new compelling guide for freelancing at:
https://www.toptal.com/ultimate-freelancing-guide

If we have missed anything important, do let us know.

Good Luck on your career!

Thanks for reading!