Freelancing As a Career: A Realistic Guide On Getting Started

Feel like the full-time 9-5 grind isn’t for you? And that you would prefer working for yourself?

Well, check this out: It’s entirely possible. In fact – you could be getting started as a freelancer in the next 2-3 weeks, depending on your effort.

As a company that connects freelancers to businesses – we know a thing or two about what it takes for a new freelancer to get started.

And in this article – we’ll walk you through EVERYTHING you need to know about choosing freelancing as a career.

That includes:

• Finding out whether freelancing is right for you
• Finding clients that want to pay you for what you love doing
• Growing your freelance business + potential opportunities in the future

Freelancing As a Career – Is It Worth It?

Freelancing is worth it for the right type of person.

The truth is, freelancing is NOT for everyone. Some people prefer working on long-term full-time contracts because it gives them stability and predictability in their income.

Freelancing, on the other hand, has some unique benefits:

• Work where you want
• Work when you want
• Choose what you provide to clients (i.e., you create offers for your services, instead of having to adjust to job applications)
• Claim expenses
• No limitations on income – i.e., you can earn as much as you like

Don’t get us wrong: The work where & when you want doesn’t mean you don’t work at all. But, combined with the fact that you can choose what you work on… It makes sense that many freelancers enjoy their work more than traditional workers.

So, are freelancers actually happier?

Well, according to ReportLinker’s Study, a whopping 84% of freelancers stated they had a real purpose and enjoyed their careers.

This same statistic for employees lies at about 40-50%, based on several studies.

Freelance Career: 4 Things To Keep In Mind

Okay – so freelancers live an awesome life – with no worries at all, right?

Not so fast… While freelancing has some excellent benefits, it does lack some of the security that some traditional full-time jobs provide.

Of course, for many, if not most people, the benefits will outweigh the negatives.

Still, we wanted to walk you through some of the things you need to keep in mind when freelancing.

Marketing

One of the first things to keep in mind is that as a freelancer, you are responsible for your own marketing, i.e., finding clients.

Later we will walk you through how you can make marketing your freelance services a lot easier – and even a place where you can share your services with thousands of biz owners for free.

Taxes

Freelancers are officially self-employed. This means that you will have to do your own taxes or hire an accountant.

With a job, you don’t have this same level of responsibility. But what this also means is that you should remember that your taxes do NOT automatically come out of your wages, so you have to hold them back.

Pensions

As a freelancer, you don’t automatically pay into any pension scheme either. But, of course, you can open a private one if you wanted to – or simply plan/save responsibly.

But it’s definitely something to keep in mind.

More Responsibility

Yes – all of these points give you more responsibility.

However, you should also keep in mind that you are responsible for your reputation (reviews, etc.) when you become a freelancer.

And if it was ever to get ruined – you could suffer from that.

For example, if you mess up as an employee, that negative reputation would go towards the brand… Not you.

But as a freelancer, that reputation affects you.

You May Also Like: How To Earn $100,000 on Legiit

How To Become a Freelancer

Finding a Skill

The first thing you need to do is find a skill that you can offer to your clients. Your clients will usually be businesses, so make sure to keep that in mind later on.

While there are skills many out there, some of the most common freelancing skills include:

• SEO
• Web design
• Social media marketing
• Graphic Design
• Video Editing
• Voice Overs

If you have some previous experience in the skill you want to freelance, that’s great… even if it’s only a small experience that you’ve gained from working on a project as a hobby.

But if not, then that’s not a problem.

How To Gain Experience

There are endless ways you can gain experience and create a portfolio. Whether it’s doing a free job for a family member’s business or even for your own hobby project – it all counts.

For example, suppose you wanted to help clients with their Instagram…

You could grow one of your own pages to X followers and show that off to future clients.

You wouldn’t even have to go as far as that. In fact, just creating samples of whatever it is you’re providing should do the job.

Showing future clients what you can do can work wonders, and in many cases, it’s more valuable than a formal degree.

Getting Your First Freelance Work

To get started with your freelance career, you need to prove to clients that your work is worth the money you are asking for.

If it’s worth it, or even more valuable (i.e., you have a killer offer) – then clients will always say yes. And it’s the quickest formula to SHOW clients that you’re worth it vs. the thousands of other freelancers out there.

The question is, how can you make your service more valuable to your clients?

We’ll give you some examples:

If you’re a writer: don’t just learn to write and optimize your articles for SEO. From there, you could also dive into copywriting to learn a little more about conversion-focused writing.

If you’re a graphic designer: Come up with unique offers that other graphic designers DON’T offer… That will make your service more valuable.

If you’re a web designer: Don’t just learn how to build beautiful websites, but also about the basics of conversion rate optimization.

To increase the value of your skill – you need to learn what your target audience wants. Usually, this will save time or generate more sales. But, unfortunately, that’s what most businesses want.

Now, what can you add to your service/skill/offer to help businesses achieve that goal?

If you have this answer, you can set yourself apart from 70% of other freelancers – and finding clients will become much easier than if you say… “I just want to do graphic design for clients.”

How To Use Legiit To Get Your First Freelance Jobs – In 1-3 Weeks

If you’ve made it this far into the article, you’re in for a treat… Legiit is a platform that helps freelancers – no matter their experience level – connect to businesses.

We’re basically a marketplace that makes marketing much easier for you. Why?

Because we have thousands of business owners (especially agencies) come to our site to find freelancers like you.

You can get started with a completely free account and use some of the opportunities below to kickstart your freelancing career.

Behind Legiit is a strong community of businesses and freelancers that you have ACCESS to… at no cost.

Legiit Facebook Group

When you become a freelancer on Legiit, you have access to the private Facebook group of over 9000 members.

And twice a week, you have the opportunity to promote yourself to the entire group. Here’s how…

#1 Legiit Roundup – Every Wednesday, you also have the chance to get featured on the Legiit round-up. This is an email newsletter that gets sent out to the entire Legiit database. So all you need to do is head over to the weekly post in the Facebook group and comment with a link to your service.

#2 Job Board

You can also use our Job board to find clients and get started with your freelance career. There, you can see businesses who are ready to hire a freelancer – which could be you.

Plus, when you start racking in some reviews, you can also share those in the Facebook group.

To sign up for a free Legiit account, you can click the button below. Once you have an account, you can join the Facebook group through the links in the footer.

Note: The opportunities above should not take up a lot of your time. But there’s a lot you can actually do simultaneously to maximize your chances of getting as many clients as you can handle.

Sign Up For a Free Legiit Account

Growing Your Freelance Business

One of the coolest things about freelancing is how much potential it has. If you hit the point where your prices are high, but the demand is still huge… Then, you could hire freelancers and grow your business into a model similar to an agency.

And besides that – when the demand grows in the first place – you can charge whatever you want.

But let’s not skip steps here… Instead, focus on what you can do while you are using the Legiit Opportunities.

Building a Brand & Reputation

Building a brand will help you get freelance clients much quicker. Why?

Because

1. Clients will remember and like you, which means they are more likely to buy
2. By building out your brand social media, blog, website, etc.

And more clients also means more referrals.

Related Article: Branding For Freelancers

But How Do You Build a Brand As a Freelancer?

The first step is to choose platforms where you want your brand to be visible.

For example, this could be:

1. Legiit
2. Social media platforms (Facebook, Linked In, YouTube, Twitter, IG, etc.)
3. Your blog or website

From there, you’ll want to create educational content that would help your ideal client.

This will attract them and will be a place where you can SHOW off your skills. If a client sees you creating killer designs, writing interesting articles, or building high-converting websites, they are much more likely to hire you in the future.

From there, it’s all about networking, connecting with other business owners, and getting eyes on your content.

Once you do this consistently, your accounts will start growing, your content will be seen, and you will start getting more clients & freelance jobs.

Aggressive Approach: Cold Outreach

Besides applying for freelance jobs via the Job Board or promoting your services on Legiit – you can also do cold outreach, i.e., calling or emailing prospects and selling your services.

This definitely can work well, but it’s also something you need to put a little more research into before starting.

Because there are some quite technical tasks involved, and then you also have to learn the sales techniques.

That being said, if you have some experience – it could be pretty easy for you.

Scaling Up

Freelancing gives you the option to grow into a real business, i.e., have people provide the skill that you’re selling.

In fact – did you know our CEO Chris M. Walker started as a freelancer and still runs a freelancing business?

That’s right, and his freelancing business has done $1,000,000 in sales on Legiit.

How did he do it?

1. He got really good at a skill (in this case, SEO)
2. Taught in-house team members how to provide that skill
3. Focused on growing the brand and becoming THE GUY for those services

For example, his service is the #1 selling service of it’s type on the internet.

Of course, you’re not going to scale your business to this level overnight. However, we just wanted to show you what is possible after you start freelancing.

The key is to get started and get REALLY good at what you do.

PLUS: If you get good at your freelance work, you’ll get referrals from your clients and grow naturally.

Why a Freelancing Career Is Great If You Have Big Ambitions

One of the biggest benefits of freelance work is the growth and financial potential.

After freelancing, it’s much easier to start other businesses like an agency that provides the skill you’re providing. Why?

1. Because you build more connections
2. Because you can work when it suits you
3. Because you get some businessy experience

Besides, what also makes freelancing excellent is the skills you use for other businesses you can use for your own project.

And since you build expertise, you are actively doing something that benefits you in the future.

Final Thoughts

We hope you have enjoyed this article. If you did, make sure to check out our blog for more articles on similar topics.

And if you do want to start freelancing, click the button below to sign up for your FREE Legiit account.

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