How did you get started with your freelance career?
Just curious as to how everyone got their start freelancing, as I'm looking to do some on the side to help supplement my income.
Replies21
- Hi Sean,I did what other people recommended.1. Reach out to every recruitment agency you can find to figure out how great the freelance market currently is, what kind of briefs are out there and if your specific skills are sought after. If yes, go for it.2. Before going freelance: build a rainy day account of at least 3 months saving. Freelance life can be unpredictable and you want to be in a position where you don't switch into panic mode should calmer months without gigs come along.3. Figure out the the admin side: are you setting up as a company or as sole trader, how do you sort your taxes etc. Takes off a lot of stress further down the line.All the best with freelancing.K
- @Yasmine Patpatia I would also be interested in this.
- @John McGarvey thanks, those are some amazingly useful notes! I did sorta have in my head that I would use side-work as a way of easing myself into doing it full-time so thank you so much for confirming that theory!
- Caveat here is that I'm no longer freelance. But I did work (successfully!) as a freelance copywriter for just under a decade, so I feel somewhat qualified to answer. I'd summarise my own approach as:* Eased myself in. I was employed full-time when I decided to try going freelance. I had some success picking up work in the evenings and weekends - as time went on, I was able to switch to part-time hours in my job, in order to gradually ramp up my freelance work. This meant I retained something of a financial safety net while I established myself.* Made full use of contacts. I had a reasonable network, built up from a few years working in a few different places. People love to help out, and I picked up a decent amount of work just by letting people know I was now available.* Built a website, got a good search ranking. This one was more by accident than design, but for a good few years my website ranked highly on Google for terms like "web copywriter". This delivered a regular trickle of enquiries. Most weren't for me, but I picked up some of my biggest clients by this route.FWIW I think freelancing as a side-job is a tough gig, unless you're happy with with taking over your life. Although it can be a great step into working for yourself full-time! There can also be other issues, such as potential conflicts of interest with your employer, getting their permission to do additional paid work, etc, etc.Good luck, anyway!
- Great question @Sean Womersley, I've just sent you a DM!
- @Elis Jones that’s a great idea! Did you find they had enough money to justify the added expense that comes with having a freelancer?
- @Ricky Diaghe very interesting, thanks for your insight!
- @Luana D'Elias Thomas interesting, thanks for breaking it all down!
- i'm a freelancer because of the stupidity of others. i'm a freelancer because i believe in autonomy instead of being a stooge or useful idiot. i'm a freelancer because i'm nobody's idea of a 'model employee'. i do the work as well as i can, but nobody owns me; i'm not available 24/7; work ends when it ends. goodnight, irene.
- I messaged a bunch of very early-stage startups on LinkedIn and asked if they would be interested in one day per week of consultancy at a low-ish rate.
- Hi!! I'm building a platform that helps career changers match with coaches or mentors that can help them. Sign up for a first free session:https://sdpgu3ul7tl.typeform.com/to/y6r8249g
- By far the easiest way that was sustainable for me was being represented by an agency after working fulltime for 4 years. Haven't got work from that agency since lockdown.. the market is very different since than for motion graphics but 2013 - 2020 they were great.Rule of thumb, a friend told me when I started be represent by 2 to 3 agencies.But as I said the market very different now.. but word of mouth and maintaining relationships with past clients and friends in field is key. And of course great work.
- I got some referrals from other people I worked with, those were the easiest. Some online marketing got me some of my own clients but always a bit of a fight tbh.Word of mouth recommendation is the best way.
- @Sean Womersley not easy at first as i had a lot of rejections from full time job postings but then i found my way, of course i had my ups and downs (think covid times) but as time went on i realized that I'm not an 'office guy'.
- @Sean Womersley Yes, although I had previous studies in marketing, I learned from her and developed my marketing skills. It also made me realize that although I could do marketing too, it wasn't something I loved as much as design.
- @Yasmine Patpatia Thank you Yasmine, I'm only really starting to look at freelance as a side-job at the moment. What sort of support do you offer in your calls?
- @Samantha Arredondo Sounds like a lovely way to enter business - with a friend there to help support! Did you pick up many marketing skills from her?
- @Michelangelo Torres That's certainly one way to get started! How did you find the transition?
- I was fired from my full time job.
- I had been working for big companies for about 6 years. My work wasn't really a creative one, but more focused on manufacturing. I didn't even know I could do something creative or beautiful for a living. I left the corporate job and started a small creative firm with a friend. She had a major in marketing and me in Design. I learned on the way and created my own design methodologies. It worked well for about 6 years until we decided to split out. Now that people know my work, I'm working as a freelancer and I only take design jobs.
- Hi Sean, if you’re looking for a Coach to work with you on this, I’m a Creative Coach and regularly support people to transition to freelance. Let me know if you would like to have a call. Yasmine
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