How I Got My Freelance Career Off the Ground

Freelancing was not a lifelong ambition of mine. It wasn't even something I had planned to do as I was getting into it. More than anything, I just kind of fell into the whole freelance world, but once I realized that it was becoming my work reality, I attacked it head on and with vigor.

Building a freelance career from scratch is difficult to say the least. Not knowing if what you're doing is right, whether there are better or more productive ways to do it or whether you are any good at what you are doing may all be areas of concern when working to further such a career. But often, before you even get to ponder such questions, you must first get your freelance career off the ground, which can be anything but easy.

Build a Background

Most employers or prospective clients out there likely won't take you too seriously without some sort of background or experience in your field. While you might find someone here and there to take a chance on someone new, you typically have to take some time, work hard, and build a resume of work to showcase your efforts.

However, this is often easier said than done, and it raises the question, "How am I supposed to build a portfolio of work if no one is going to give me a shot without previous experience?"

It's kind of a chicken or egg type deal and leads me to my next point -- groveling.

Grovel to Grow

While I don't necessarily mean groveling in the sense that you are actually begging for work (although I've certainly considered it), you have to start somewhere in the freelance business, and for the vast majority, that somewhere isn't at the top. Just the opposite in fact, we are usually stuck doing the grunt work, accepting anything and everything that comes our way that might get us to that next level.

This isn't often fun, and there may not be much reward in it, but it's just one of those things many freelancers have to do to get their work out there and into the public eye, while also earning a few bucks to sustain their efforts. I ended up doing this type of work early on in my freelance career, writing copy for a vast assortment of clients, publications, and companies and on a whole slew of topics and subject matter.

This type of work not only humbled me, but it taught me a lot and helped me hone my craft in the process.

Build Your Customer Base

With some experience under you belt to back you up in your efforts, you'll hopefully be able to begin building your customer base. This will likely take a lot of time and effort as well, but for me, I realized that the more time I took to get to know my clients and press them for feedback, the better I was able to meet their needs and build loyalty.

This loyalty led to increased work orders, work that was directed to the type of writing I was better at, and that paid better. As my customer list began to grow, I found I could reduce the time I spent "hocking my wares" if you will, and more time polishing them and focusing on increasing my productivity.

Consider Pricing and Payments

Once you have the work coming in, there's another difficult aspect of freelance work to be considered -- deciding which work to undertake. While this can be a good problem to have, it can be a problem nonetheless.

Selecting the work that pays the best, yet is what you want to be doing and are good at isn't always a simple task. You may have to be willing to turn certain work down, ask for more money for tougher tasks, or cut prices to gain customers or build relationships with clients. How you go about this may be based upon your level of experience, your current work levels, the difficulty and size of job, as well as whether the work you are doing could lead to future work with that particular client or clients.

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.