The demand for self-employment is increasing year after year, driven by some factors related to employers, freelancers, and the market. In fact, many young people are attracted to self-employment due to its many advantages, such as freedom in the time and place of work, the absence of a boss, the ability to work according to passion and love, etc.
While some choose independent work as a source of side income, others choose independent work as a lifestyle and main source of income, and the truth is that there are many models that have achieved great success in working as independents and therefore quit their jobs.
There are also some models that retreated and were unable to continue the march, so what is the reason behind the two models? This is what we specifically address in this article, which provides a series of tips to achieve success and improve the financial return for freelancers. Based on my experience in self-employment, which exceeded four years, I can tell you with confidence that going into self-employment will make you rediscover yourself and how many unknown abilities you have.
You will realize that you are capable of handling a large amount of work with complete professionalism; all you need is self-confidence and continuous learning, as well as positive and effective communication with customers, to reap enormous benefits from doing what you truly enjoy.
Pay attention: do not rush and browse the advice titles only, but rather read the entire topic and focus, because you will find many ideas and important points between the lines.
1. Understand the nature of freelancing.
Independent work or self-employment means that you have different jobs, assignments, or short-term contracts with a number of companies, websites, and organizations without any long-term contract, and to be independent, you need skills that people are willing to pay for.
“Skills that people want to pay for” This is a simple and intuitive point, but it is very important, and it is absent from the minds of many novice freelancers, who treat self-employment as a non-serious way to earn money and make a profit from the Internet! As for you, you must understand that independent work for the client is as important as full-time work. What you offer to business owners is an important part of the success and continuity of their projects and their profits. On the other hand, you have to realize the importance of self-employment for you, as it will help you discover your capabilities over time, and through it you can also achieve a very good level of profit.
2. What skill are you good at? And what can you offer?
One of the initial and essential steps to entering the world of self-employment is to know the skills you possess, develop them, and work on them. The labor market is very wide and requires a variety of skills, so any skill you possess can become a new source of income for you. Determine what you can offer that is valuable.There are various fields such as: writing, graphics, marketing, data entry, giving online training courses, providing consultancy, translation, web design, web programming, audio recording, and other services that you can provide remotely and turn your passion into a source of income.
The advice that I give you here is to specialize and not be distracted by or waste energy in more than one field. It would be more beneficial for you to focus on a specific specialty, become an expert in it, and be able to innovate and present it in a professional manner that will achieve a higher return for you. If you have the writing skill, you can specialize in medical writing, writing for travel and trip websites, advertising writing, promotional writing, etc. The same applies to different fields.
3. Take the time to get into freelancing.
There is no doubt that self-employment is a great source of earning, but at first it may take you some time, so we advise you that self-employment in the beginning is a side business. Make sure that you are 100% committed to investing your effort and time in self-employment before you decide to leave your other job. Consider taking a number of steps while doing your job so you have a stable income that will help you take the leap and succeed in freelancing. And be prepared for the ebbs and flows in your business. Sometimes you will have a large number of projects to work on, and other times you will have fewer projects. From your experience working as a freelancer, you will know when slow times and peak times are and how to deal with them.
Your side income must increase to at least 50–70% of your current total income before you leave your full-time job, depending on your risk tolerance. There is an unavoidable advantage when you start working as a freelancer while you have a full-time job, and that is that you can refuse any work that does not pay you well and adequately.
4. Create a portfolio to showcase your work.
Many potential clients do not care much about your qualifications compared to your ability to perform the task required of you, so they usually want to see samples of your work to determine if you are suitable to work with them. So building a portfolio of previous projects and business models is very important and fundamental to building your business in reality.
You can include the testimonials of the people you have worked with; the comments of customers who are satisfied with your work will help attract new customers. If you do not have a previous business, you can subscribe to some for free or create some specifically for this purpose. And if you want to work with high-paying clients, you need to show that you can do the tasks they need, and don’t forget to give a free gift when you first start out.
5. Market yourself and promote your brand.
You must have the skill of marketing yourself as a freelancer; learn how to talk about yourself and how to provide your services; you do not know where valuable opportunities can come from, so it is important to have a ready presentation of a few sentences about yourself and your services; and do not forget that self-confidence is a necessary factor for success in the field of self-employment. Also, one of the most important points for your success as a Kufri Lancer is to promote your name and build a good mental image among customers, and this can be achieved through three points:
A) Spread: You can achieve spread with a positive presence on your social media; choose an image that expresses your seriousness and distinction.
Create targeted posts on your social media, especially Linkedin, that express you, your personality, and your ambition, and inform the public about the skills you are proficient in and the services you provide.
B) Quality of work: You must perform the work required of you with complete professionalism and a high level of quality that exceeds the expectations of your customers.
C) Play the role of an expert: You can play the role of an expert by writing a book in your field, offering free training courses, or giving advice through various articles on your own blog or social media.
6. Constant learning
The self-employment market has become more competitive, so whoever stops at a certain point becomes a thing of the past. You should devote part of your daily schedule to learning in your field, whether through reading, training courses available online, or contacting others in the same field to learn from their expertise and benefit from their various experiences. Whether successful or unsuccessful,
Always remember that highly trained freelancers can get paid more for their work, and this does not mean that you will return to academic studies, but it is enough to take advantage of some of the lessons available online.
7. Organizing time
The day has 24 hours. This is what the happy and the unhappy have, successful and unsuccessful alike. But the password that makes one of them excel while the other stumbles is “organization.” So you must learn to organize your time by focusing on two points:
A) Planning and commitment: When we make a plan for the tasks that we will accomplish tomorrow, this week, this month, and this year, this makes it easier for us, saves a lot of money, and does not make us waste time. Learn to plan your day and set tasks at a specific time to complete them, and stick to what you have planned.
B) Routine: Who likes routine? Of course, the majority do not like it, but I will tell you now that following a specific routine for completing tasks will help you a lot. For example, you can set a daily number of hours to work, for example, from five in the morning until ten. Try to stick to this daily routine, and you will see the results for yourself. Routine is not always bad.
8. Gain customer trust.
In self-employment, there are hundreds or thousands of people who provide the same service you provide, so what makes business owners ask for service from you and not from others? Of course, in the business market there is no room for emotion. The customer usually aspires to obtain the highest quality, so if you want to gain the trust of your customers, provide them with high-quality service at the agreed time.
Also, you must be adaptable enough to make any modifications or changes that the company requests, and if your work is appreciated, he will ask you for the service again, and he may be nominated to other clients, expanding your circle of clients.
9. Calculation and billing
Part of self-employment is setting up a system for collecting and receiving returns. Before you contact potential clients and actually start working as a freelancer, you should think about that. This will help you keep track of how much money you earn and whether you are making a profit. Consider the following points:
- Set prices for your services or products: Find out if you charge by the hour or by the piece, and be willing to explain how you get paid for what you do.
- Create templates for billing: use some word and number processing programs such as Excel, for example, to prepare an invoice that includes all important information such as the service provided, the cost, the method of payment, and so on.
- Develop an accounting plan and consider opening a business bank account. Banks often have special services and fees for business bank accounts.
10. Build your customer network.
If you have excess time, you can take advantage of it to build your customer network. You can apply for ten customers a day. Dedicate part of your time to building a customer network that you can rely on in the future, and remember that companies are usually attracted to people who specialize in a specific job. Here are some ideas that might help:
- Communicate with companies or target sites for the service you provide and show them your business models.
- Communicate with members of your network on LinkedIn, get to know them, tell them your specialty, and show them work samples for you.
- Reach out to previous clients, tell them that you are ready for new collaboration opportunities, and ask for their help in recommending you to others.
11. Be your own boss.
What makes many people attracted to working as independents is the lack of a boss, and this makes many beginners believe that the lack of a boss means more lack of commitment and working according to whims, which is in fact a trap that leads to failure. In fact, the advantage of not having a supervisor or boss is a good advantage in self-employment, but it also represents a challenge that must be dealt with intelligently so that it does not turn against you, so if you want to achieve success as an independent, you must be your own boss.
The boss always motivates you to complete the tasks and has tools for reward and punishment. Be yourself as well. Set your goals and always ensure that you complete your tasks completely.Reward yourself if you are right; straighten it and stick to it if you fail.
12. Learn to deal with yourself to overcome loneliness.
The freelancer usually needs to learn how to focus on his goal and stay motivated to perform various tasks in order to overcome the feeling of loneliness and the lack of social interaction that usually occur in freelancing. Try to change your workplace every day or two a week. You can take your laptop to a coffee shop and work from there.
You can meet with influencers in your field or independent people like you for tea or lunch and then talk about experiences, work problems, market conditions, etc. This network of contacts will greatly assist you in keeping up with the market and socializing with others.
13. Launch your own website or blog.
In order to succeed in the field of self-employment, you need a website of your own that displays your expertise, highlights relevant previous experiences, and shows your identity and contact information so that potential clients can easily contact you. The goal of building your own website is to attract new customers, and to achieve this, aim to create one or two in-depth blog posts per month with the goal of providing solutions that your potential customers are looking for.
Once they discover your content and get free value from you, it is imperative that you be their top priority when hiring, so your website can be the highest marketing channel for your skills.
14. Set your own price.
Setting the price for the services you provide is very important; you need to make sure that you are getting enough revenue to have a comfortable and sustainable life. Do not worry about customers, as most customers usually do not hesitate to pay higher prices for independent work that gives them a sense of satisfaction, and as long as you provide a service that exceeds the expectations of your customers, do not hesitate to set high prices. Knowing how to set a price for your services as a freelancer is difficult and time-consuming.Many of us do not know what the exact price is, and this may reduce the value of the services we provide, so how do you determine the price of services as a freelancer?
- Simply put, it can be calculated as follows: personal expenses + business expenses + savings = revenue goal.
- Many experts advise setting aside 25% of your income to pay taxes.
Of course, you should get an idea of the prevailing market prices and not rely on the two previous points independently. It is also important to remember that you must initially offer low prices to attract customers, and then you can negotiate a higher price.
It is worth noting that the most important source and guide for you to determine the appropriate price for your services is experience, dealing with diverse clients, and measuring the development of the quality of your services that you will gain over time. So my advice to you here is not to stop too much at the element of determining the price at the beginning, but to make your goal in the beginning be to complete the tasks, gain experience, and gain the confidence of customers.
15. Mastering negotiation
No employer is immune from negotiation, and as a freelancer, you should expect it. Here are some possible negotiation scenarios:
A) If the customer wants to negotiate the price: it is okay to offer a reasonable discount to win the customer, but do not let your need for work make you accept unfair prices.
B) If the customer wants additional services on top of what you provide: there is nothing wrong with charging additional fees for them, and in general, you must be flexible when negotiating with customers and not waste the value of your services.
C) If the customer wants to negotiate the schedule: you have the right to impose additional fees, especially if it will require more effort and pressure.
In any case, you have to understand that negotiation does not have specific rules; it is simply about finding compromises to make both parties happy, or at least satisfied. It is something you will learn better over time and through exposure to a variety of experiences.
In conclusion: we want to stress that self-employment requires commitment, mastery, continuous learning, and positive interaction. These were the most important tips for achieving success and better financial returns in the world of self-employment. If you are one of those who have achieved success as independents, tell us about your experience now and what advice you give.
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