Being a professional freelance entrepreneur sounds so enticing, doesn’t it? You get to choose your own working hours. You have the freedom to choose your clients. And you aren’t answerable to anyone.
Yes, there’s a reason that so many people are now considering being freelancers. But there’s something you should know. Being a professional freelance entrepreneur is not as simple as it sounds. Once you start your journey, you will realize that landing clients can be quite a challenge. There might be times when you will struggle to make ends meet.
Of course, you can set your own pay rates. But it’s not easy to find clients who will be willing to work with you on your desired earnings. You have to work on your approach and figure out how to keep money flowing in.
What to Do to Earn Money as a Professional Freelance Entrepreneur?
First things first, you have to determine what services you will be offering. If you are indeed a professional, you will already have some idea of what you intend to work on. That’s a great place to start!
In case you are unsure of this, don’t panic. Introspect a little to identify your skills. Figure out what you do really well and try to find out if there’s a market for your skills or talent. There are so many careers you can pursue as a professional freelance entrepreneur. Here are some of them.
- Blog writing
- Copywriting
- Social media manager
- Web designer
- Web developer
- Virtual Assistant
- Graphic designer
- Sales
- SEO expert
- Language Translator
There are plenty of platforms too, that make it easier for freelancers to find work, like Upwork and Fiverr. So you have many options to start your journey. How to progress and earn money? We have some ideas for that too.
Identify Your Particular Niche
It’s great that you are an excellent writer! But people want more! If a website owner is looking for a writer to draft content for his website, he won’t go for a general writer. Instead, he’s more likely to sign up with someone who claims to have copywriting skills.
And this is what you have to understand if you want to make money as a professional freelance entrepreneur. Being vague about your services will not work in your favor. Instead, you have to identify your niche and master it to gain credibility among your clients.
Be Clear of Your Ideal Client
As we have already mentioned, the best part of being a freelancer is that you get to choose your own clients. However, most freelancers are so worried about losing out on work that they say yes to practically everything. This isn’t a sign of a true professional.
You have to decide who you want to work with. For instance, if you think your services are more beneficial to small business owners, you will be wasting your time pitching large organizations. This wouldn’t help you in any way in earning money. You have to ensure your efforts bear fruits.
So the best way to earn money as a professional freelance entrepreneur is to know who to reach out to for your services. Once you know who your ideal client is, you can identify their struggles and package your services accordingly.
Set Your Pricing
Freelancers have plenty of ways to structure their pricing. You can charge your clients hourly. It’s actually pretty simple. Your clients will pay you for the hours you spend on their projects. However, you have to keep one thing in mind. If you want to establish yourself as a professional freelance entrepreneur, this method might not be the best.
For entrepreneurs, a better pricing structure is project-based. You will agree with your client on a price for the entire project beforehand. How much time you spend on the project will be irrelevant.
How will that help you earn money? It’s seen that clients prefer project-based freelancers. In fact, a lot of big brands too work with freelancers for projects. Therefore, with this pricing structure, your workflow and, consequently, your earnings will increase.
Work on Your Portfolio
If you want to be taken seriously as a professional freelance entrepreneur, you have to build your credibility. And this wouldn’t be possible until you have a substantial portfolio and experience to back your services.
If you want to earn money, you have to show your clients what you are capable of. A good way to attract clients is by having your own website. Make sure your website has an about page, a services page, and a page dedicated to portfolios and testimonials. And naturally, you have to include your contact information in it too.
This will make your clients see you as a professional, and they will be more likely to reach out to you. Making money wouldn’t seem like such a challenge, then!
Use Every Available Platform to Find Your Clients
This is among the most significant challenges faced by freelancers. Landing clients can take quite a lot of time. It involves a lot of hustle. Luckily, there are more than one ways to find clients that you would enjoy working with.
Of course, the most obvious choice is social media. You can post your services on various social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, where you can get some worthwhile leads. Another option is to put your personal network to work.
Job boards are also a good place to find suitable clients. And yes, you can ask clients for referrals too. Nothing works better for a freelancer than positive word of mouth!
Work on Your Growth as a Professional Freelance Entrepreneur
Once you start making money as a freelancer, don’t be satisfied with what you have. Remember, you are an entrepreneur. You should always be thinking about scaling your business!
Work on your skills and spend some time developing new ones. Understand that people’s requirements keep changing, and you have to adapt to this change. This will not only help you make more money but also enable you to establish your brand!
