Freelancing has become immensely popular in this past decade, while the general perception around freelancing is a side income but what many people don’t realize is that freelancing is a career choice these days. With the digitalization ecosystem at its peak, the need for information technology professional is higher than ever. Choosing to quit your full-time job takes a lot of courage can may seem daunting at first but trust me the journey of a freelancer is equally rewarding. Many people opt for freelancing because they simply want to work for themselves at their own terms. And this liberating feeling is every worth the risk!
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Launch your rewarding career as a full time freelancer
So for enthusiastic professionals looking to make it into IT freelancing here we have put together a complete guide of do s and don’ts of freelancing that will get you up to speed and help launch your rewarding career as a full time freelancer.
- Set goals! Have a vision!
The most popular question coming from individuals looking to start freelancing as a career is, how to stay motivated or on track? Keeping yourself in check can be pretty hard job but you need to organize your work structure and maintain it. To overcome daunting thoughts that may put you off, like whether you’re on up for it? Or you’re not worthy enough maybe?
Well to tackle this imposter syndrome you need to get into it, register yourself for freelance portal and just put yourself out there. Procrastinating about things isn’t going to help. It’s important to understand that freelancing is not just a hobby it’s an actual business plan, we’re the company and brand in you.
The ideal way to find your vision and set goals is to ask yourself the following questions:
- Why am I doing this?
- What do I hope to achieve from this?
- How can I achieve my set goals?
Hopefully, by doing this exercise you will have a clear picture of what you’re getting into.
- Get organized, come up with a structure
Build a robust structure for everything, this includes getting a professional number to communicate with clients to setting up bank accounts. Don’t slack on this, companies don’t care who they’re hiring just judge your credibility by your operational values. Set up a private email address, set up a company bank account, quote prices professionally.
The market is competitive and it may seem that a freelancer cannot compete with big tech organizations, it is actually not true. Many companies are on the outlook for talented freelancers because of their flexibility for work with.
- Advertise yourself!
Once you’ve got everything set up, it’s time to out yourself out there! By advertising in not referring to paid ads or anything. In this age of social media outreaching has become very easy. Join groups, use linkedin and register on freelance portals and put yourself out there.
Showcase a solid portfolio for potential clients, by easily accessible and build a network. Tell your friends and family about your availability, you never know where your potential may come from.
- Showcase a solid portfolio
Are you a freelancer and don’t have a portfolio? What are you even doing? It’s best to not get into freelancing if you don’t have a solid portfolio to showcase. You see in the freelance world a freelancer is only as good the portfolio he has. After all the buyer should know what he’s buying right?
Don’t be too picky when showcasing your work, if you don’t think your work will expectation DO IT ANYWAY! Because something is better than nothing. The hack here is to find sample that meet your work level and showcase it. Having the capacity to do something is as good as doing it.
Creating a portfolio isn’t that hard, you can just create a portfolio from your sample and test projects. Or even do some gigs at a cheap rate just for the portfolio. Believe a strong portfolio is the greatest weapon in a freelancers arsenal.
- Stay motivated
Freelancing can feel like a lonely journey somethings, when the chips are down its really hard to motivate yourself but if such situations do arrive, it is important to remind yourself why you’re in it in the first place? Instead of letting panic get control over you, take control over the situation and stay focused on the end result, what you do hope achieve from all of this?
Reminding yourself the very basics can be very helpful. Whatever you do don’t paralyze yourself by doubting your ability to get the job done. If they can do it, so can YOU!
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- Build and maintain your own website
Unless you have a personal referral, your first client is going to come google search and where your own portfolio website comes in, if don’t even exists on the internet how will client find you? Write a good and appealing web copy, hire someone if you have to, sending a clear message to the client is very important in freelancing. Be sure to mention your contact information explicitly in the website.
- Collaborate with other freelancers
There are many ways to collaborate with people online, you can guest post on someone’s blog or do some project in sharing. Heck you can even share some responsibility for free, having your name attached to a project makes all the difference in the world for a freelancer.