The Best Freelance Advice You’ll Ever Read
Freelancers: What is your best piece of freelance advice to help other freelancers?
Freelancing can be a lonely business. You wonder if you’re doing it “right.” You think about how other freelancers operate and what they’ve figured out that you could benefit from.
That’s why I went straight to the source and asked other freelancers to share their best insights in the biz.
Here are 14 pieces of advice for freelancers:
Use SEO and Social
The best thing you can do is to learn SEO. I receive many gigs from people who find me on Google. Have a static "Hire Me" page explaining you are available for freelancing. Share testimonials from happy clients on your page. Static pages get indexed in Google faster than other web content. Also, promote your Hire Me page everywhere. I have also received clients who found me on Twitter. LinkedIn is also helpful for getting freelance work.
Janice Wald, Mostly Blogging
Target Startups for Long-Term Gigs
When I was working as a freelance cybersecurity consultant, I grew tired of the feast or famine ways of freelancing. After a particularly troublesome gig ended, I sat and thought about how I could keep this from happening again. One option is constant networking outreach, but I’m in cybersecurity, not sales. Eventually, I started to seek out startups as clients over established ones. The thought process was that I could grow along with them, which would give me more opportunities for long-term work.
So if you are a freelancer who doesn’t want to deal with sales, go after startups, and do a great job. This is the best course of action for long-term work, and long-term relationships. You may even wind up with a vested interest in the next big thing.
Eric Florence, Security Tech
Put Aside Extra Money for Taxes
It may sound obvious to some who have been freelancing for awhile, but if it's your first year of freelancing, put aside a conservative 30% of your income for taxes. After you file your first year of taxes, you'll probably have a clearer view of what your tax implications will be each year and can increase or decrease the amount you set aside.
Kristine Thorndyke, Test Prep Nerds
Don't Be the Cheapest Option
Don't go cheap! When you're in the freelance market, sometimes you'll feel that the only way to stand out amongst your more established peers is to cut your prices and undersell those with stronger histories and portfolios. You might think you can just make up for the price cut by getting more customers, quantity over quality. DO NOT do this! Quality clients are willing to pay more for quality work. Cutting your prices too deeply will actually have the opposite effect and cause potential clients to consider your product as cheap, rather than a discount. You don't do yourself any favors short selling your skills.
Boye Fajinmi, TheFutureParty
Use an Invoicing Tool
Once I started using an invoicing tool (there are plenty out there, but I use bill.com) I felt more capable and confident in my freelancing efforts. Having a tool where I tracked work, looked legitimate and felt more organized had a positive impact. All it took was a simple invoicing tool, which didn't cost me anything!
Logan Mallory, Motivosity
Be Patient with the Highs and Lows
While there is the upside of being able to regulate your hours as a freelancer, there is also never a promise of having a stable amount of work or income. That said, make sure you are aware there may be times when work isn't always coming in. Don't do any self-damage by equating the amount of work you receive with your work ethic. Be cognizant of the ebbs and flows of being a freelancer. Save your money in the event that there are a couple of months where the workflow isn't as busy as you would expect.
Kate Lipman, embrace Scar Therapy
Embrace the 'Free'
Freelancers are a special breed. Not everyone can trade job "security" for supreme flexibility. When choosing the life and professional path of a freelancer, do all that you can to fully embrace and appreciate what you are pursuing. The path is to be savored more than the destination.Freelancers can usually work from anywhere on the globe, day or night, and enjoy some of the best work/life balance of any professional in any industry. Usually, they are focused on producing results for a client, and not bogged down in the minutiae or details that many office worker positions are defined by. Freelancers produce a specific result, and then are free to do as they please.Embrace and appreciate that freedom and flexibility. Most people will go their entire lives trading at least a 1/3 of their time every day for a paycheck. Embracing the freelancer lifestyle and make a goal to spend 1/8 of your time on generating pay.
Devin Schumacher, SERP
Always Have a Contract
Always have a contract in place. This will always protect you from issues later down the road. For example, this contract can entail compensation rates and when payment is required, as well as legal steps if payment is not sent. Save yourself the hassle and have rules set in writing.
Natália Sadowski, Nourishing Biologicals
Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
As a beginner freelancer, I got a client paying me more than the salary I used to have on my full-time job. Three months after we started, the client canceled the project without giving any prior notice. I spent the next six months looking for my next client and stressing about finances in the meantime. Diversify your income and don't rely fully and solely on a single client. They can go as fast as they've come. If your eggs are in different baskets, you might lose one or two at a time, but you'll still have some income.
Georgi Todorov, ThriveMyWay
Share As Much As You Can About Your Process
We assume that since we know things like sending an invoice, writing a contract, building your first proposal and so many other stuff that comes with being a freelancer, everyone else will know it too. This is where we are wrong. So, my best piece of freelance advice to help other freelancers is — to document your process. Tell people what you ask potential clients during discovery calls, remind people to send them invoices, and share your behind-the-scenes of writing an email to end your contract with a client. There is so much other freelancers don't know about and once you start sharing your process, they start learning and growing by following your journey.
Momina Asif, Freelance
Show Your Results Everywhere
Show your results everywhere! I was working with a huge amount of clients and they want to know just one thing - how much money you are going to earn for them. Some of them will only measure you by the amount of money you bring to them, period. Ask your past clients to write an honest review about your services and start collecting the results from your work. Results and testimonials increase your credibility to prospective clients and they will get a chance to see how you can add value to people like them. It’s the most important thing you really need if you want to be THE MOST successful freelancer.
Tomasz Bartczak, PhotoAiD
Take 'No' as a Challenge, Not a Failure
I’ve been a full-time freelance writer for four years now. One piece of advice I would share with other freelancers is to keep trying. Success doesn't come overnight. You have to put in the work to find those excellent clients, and you might have to work with not-so-great ones along the way. Keep trying, keep persevering, and learn to take "no" not as a failure, but as a challenge to find an even bigger and better "yes."
Becca Stewart, PCSgrades
Grow Your Network
In 2022, I set out on my second bout of full-time freelancing. Growing my network has 100% made this experience better for me and my wallet. Having a network of content marketing managers in my niche has given me endless opportunities to get my work out there. Start posting on LinkedIn, send connection requests, join Slack groups for your niche, and make sure people in your life know what you do. Before you know it, clients will start coming to you based on recommendations from your network.
Amanda Cross, Amanda Cross
Don't Overconsume Content
My best piece of advice for freelancers is to not overconsume content, especially when it comes to social media. There are so many courses, free resources, and information out there that it can be hard to know what to focus on first. The most important thing is to not get overwhelmed or consumed by the volume of 'info' out there but to focus on what's most important for growing your freelance business. Figure out the money-making tasks and make those a priority instead of trying to learn everything or feeling like you have to be everywhere.
Tara Reid, Tara Reid Marketing
Got your own piece of freelancing advice to share? Drop it in the comments below!
By the way, this post was created with the help of Terkel experts.