The following is a guest post from Martin of Studenomics, where he tries to make personal finance fun since you have enough to worry about already. You can click here to check out the wide range of content on everything from student loans to getting paid to drink coffee.
“How can I start freelancing like you?” I’ve had many friends ask me about how they could get into freelancing over the years. I usually try to see if they’re actually serious or not before I go in with my best freelancing advice. Since you’re still reading, I’m going to assume that you’re serious about making money as a freelancer.
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What’s the exact system for getting started as a freelancer? I want to show you how to start making money with freelancing in 30 days. We’re going to look at how you can find freelance work, how you can market your skills, and how to start making money. I’ll be blunt: freelancing isn’t for everyone and it isn’t passive income. However, a freelancing career can help you build your savings account and even eventually quit your boring job to do something that you enjoy. Let’s look at how you can get started with freelance work so that you can make money on your own.
Here are a few questions that I often receive about freelancing:
- Do you need to learn the skills first?
- What skills will translate into dollars?
- How do you market your skills?
- Where do you look for work?
Let’s break these down in clear sections to get you started in the right direction as an aspiring freelancer.
Part 1: What Skills Do I Need To Be a Freelancer?
Most people get stuck on this part because they don’t think that they have any marketable skills. It’s important that you don’t compare your day one to somebody’s 10th year in the business. We all have different skillsets. You may not be an executive coach, but you could be the best freelance writer on American history.
Freelancing tip #1: Look at your skills.
What skills do you have? What are you known for? The best part about freelance work is you can pretty much do anything for money. I’ve seen folks do everything from plan birthday parties to share style advice. What profitable skills do you have?
- Teaching English (there was lots of work in this field during the initial lockdown).
- Working out/specific sports.
- Organizing things.
- Photography/video work.
- Editing (spell check, grammar, and structure).
- Design work.
- Setting up Ikea furniture.
- Lawn care.
- Building things.
Those are just a few examples of skills that you could already possess. Just because something comes easy to you, don’t assume that others don’t struggle with it. Try to look at your current skills to see if you can pinpoint 1-3 things that you could perform as a service in exchange for money.
Freelancing tip #2: Look at what the market demands.
What does the market need at the moment? Go through Kijiji and job board like Upwork and Freelance.com to see what kind of skills are in demand these days. Here are examples of skills that are in demand:
- Writing a cover letter/resume.
- Setting up Ikea furniture (especially these days with most people needing a home office setup).
- Personal training.
- Resume writing/editing.
- Technical setup.
This is also where you may realize that you have to take the time to build your skills up.
Freelancing tip #3: Think about what you can offer.
How do your skills intersect with the market? What can you offer? Here are some examples:
- You can help busy content creators with grammar and structure.
- You can teach English online. I had many friends become tutors to students worldwide.
- You can make graphics for bloggers.
- You can offer guitar lessons for bored students.
Those are just a few rough ideas.
Freelancing tip #4: Take the time to learn new skills.
If you realize that you don’t have any lucrative or marketable skills, then you may have to take the time to learn them. Don’t let this discourage you. You don’t have to learn quantum physics. You can simply upgrade existing skills. The trick will be to learn one skill that could bring in money. This could range from mastering Canva for graphics to learning how to manage a business account on Instagram. The good news is that you can take courses online for free, study on YouTube, or become self-taught. You don’t have to enroll in a four-year degree program to pick up new skills. You just have to be good enough to be trusted with the work.
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Part 2: How to Start Offering Your Services
Are you ready to start offering your services? It’s time to look for paid work. There’s a big difference between marketing your skills and actively looking for work.
How to market your skills
I want you to create a portfolio where you showcase your best work. Your portfolio could be a website, an Instagram page, or anything along those lines. Your portfolio will depend on your niche. Here are some examples of portfolios:
- My brother is a barber so he shares his best work on his Instagram account since that’s where his audience is.
- Friends who are freelance writers, put out their content on Facebook so readers can get a taste of their writing style.
- You can showcase your graphic design skills on Facebook too.
How to find work
How do you look for paid work as a freelancer?
- Job boards. This is the first place to start. Check out job postings in your niche. There are many sites (Upwork, Freelancer.com, Craigslist, Guru, People Per Hour, Kijiji, and so on) that post job offers. You’re going to want to take some time to apply.
- Forums. Join blogging forums. There are many forums where bloggers are looking for help.
- Pay attention to social media. Many influencers will put up ads or notices when they’re looking to hire someone.
- Facebook Groups. There are local and international Facebook groups for like-minded folks where you could hear about jobs. I’m in a podcasting group where job offers often go up for editors.
- List your services on your social media platforms. You can mention you freelance on your personal social media pages or you can work on building a social media presence in your niche.
- Word-of-mouth. Once you become known as a freelancer in a field, word will spread and you may have offers coming from unexpected sources.
If you talk to any freelancer, you’ll find out that they all took a different path to start making money. For example, I had a blogging friend reach out to me about helping out with their workload many years ago. They wanted someone to write and post new content.
From there, I became known as a freelance writer. Although I never applied for work on job boards, I found gigs through word-of-mouth. Luckily, I was just in the right place at the right time when I was in a blogging forum where we all shared ideas. Good luck with your freelancer career. Find a niche that you’re passionate about and keep on sharing your work until you find clients that are willing to hire you.