If you've decided to jump into freelance, or are considering it, one of your first questions will be: how do I find work or generate business as a freelancer? Finding work when you are just starting out isn't always easy. The good news is that there are many popular sites where you can create a profile and start to regularly find freelance work. Most freelance job sites are what you would call a marketplace.
In them, you'll find both buyers and sellers of services. The services can include anything from finance consulting to graphic design to transcription to web development to data analysis. Some of sites specialise in certain areas, but the best are wide-ranging and you can find work doing literally anything, often with jobs from around the world. Freelance work that you find online can include one-off contracts, part-time gigs, or even temporary full-time engagements that you can fulfil as someone running your own business.
Most often they are project-based so you should likely expect a variety of clients over time. I did a systematic review of the top 6 freelance job sites by analysing four factors :. Ultimately, you'll likely want to make your mark and create a really strong profile on one or two of these sites, rather than going after all of them. That way you can build a good reputation and set of reviews and have all or the majority of your clients in one place. Being self-employed can offer a great lifestyle and more flexibility-but first you need to bring on clients and close deals.
When I first started freelancing, I stumbled a bit. I had several interested clients and some good projects to juggle-but there were sometimes misunderstandings, either during the sales process or when completing a project. Eventually, I decided to formalise my client communication strategy.
I started writing project proposals. A project proposal makes it clear what jobs will be done, roles and responsibilities of you and the client, requirements from the client, deliverables from you, schedule for completion, and other details, including the project costs and payment terms. Once I started putting together proposals, I started winning way more client deals-in fact, it's over three times what I was doing before-and fulfilling contracts with less headaches. In this article, I've combined my own knowledge with best practices that I found from dozens of articles and examples.
Following these steps can help you write better proposals that improve communication with your clients so that you can win more deals. If you've recently gone self-employed or started your own business, you're probably a decent consultant. Or graphic designer. Or writer. You get where I'm going here. Chances are, you jumped into freelancing because you want to do more of that.
Not play the role of a fully-staffed marketing team for your business. Our experts have compiled some of the best tips, based on their past experiences, into this post to help you get more customers, faster. Here are the Top Remember to bookmark this post, so you can come back and try more strategies. Who we serve. Speak to an Accountant. Business Resources Introduction By: Chris Andreou and Jaxson Khan We keep hearing the same thing from all the busiest freelancers and self-employed workers we know: LinkedIn is the web platform that consistently brings in the most clients.
Your submission has been received! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Dos: Include any membership to professional bodies and networks Link to other online profiles and places that the reader can find you Grow your network.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to sync your address book, which will add more connections to LinkedIn that are already part of your network. Follow the people that your target customers are following, especially those with a lot of followers.
Choose the right profile picture. Ideally have your face take up most of it, unless you have a good action shot and it's relevant to what you do.
For example, Alison's for social media below. Here's how to change your profile picture. A background photo can add context and make your page stand out Claim your custom URL. You can do that in LinkedIn's settings.
Try to get away from buzzwords, such as "specialised", "leadership", "focussed", or "strategic". A string of adjectives won't get you too far. Don'ts: The photo is overly formal making you look standoffish or glum.
You don't want to look like your passport photo or office ID card. The summary is a bunch of buzzwords or doesn't tell you much at all. Key career pieces are missing The career section is so comprehensive as to feel like an entire CV. It can appear desperate. You might want to keep your summary to no more than words. Capture the key elements of your work experience, track record, and current interests which are mostly likely to impress your prospects.
The number one takeaway is to share relevant content from your LinkedIn feed Comment on other people's feeds Share media and marketing collateral that are relevant to your business. Publish longer form content, or at least link to it.
Round it out with personal interests, volunteer work, or causes that you care about. Why we did this When you go into freelance consulting, you lose your old company's brand and have to start fresh with your own.
We also read everything else written so far on the typical qualities of top LinkedIn profiles. Click the "Add a Current Position" prompt under the positions you have listed on your main profile.
Enter your website address if applicable and select the industry in which you work in the respective fields of the blue box that appears after you type "Self-Employed. Type "Consultant" or any other title that describes the work you do as a self-employed professional in the "Title" field of the Add Position dialog box. Select the date and year when you started your self-employment project using the calendar function in the Time Period field if you wish to list this information.
Add pertinent information to the Description field, such as the scope of services you provide as a professional, then click "Save Changes" to return to your main profile page. Having a LinkedIn business profile improves your odds of showing up on that first page of Google — thanks to the keywords you put in your profile and posts. As people in your community like and interact with your content more on this later in the article , your profile will come up in more searches.
With a little work and no money, you can get more eyes on your company name. Here you can establish partnerships in your area related to the type of business you want to do.
With both individual and business profile options, you have a variety of opportunities to stand out and boost your professional credibility. Check out some of these small business LinkedIn examples. LinkedIn has free and paid subscription memberships. This account will allow you to connect with people and post content — including photos, videos, and blogs. After you establish your personal profile, the next step is to build one for your business. Important: While the basic account is the best option when starting out, it does have limitations about who you can connect with and message.
It does, however, come with a monthly fee. This account gives you 15 InMail messages each month to reach out to people outside of your network. Similar to other social media platforms, LinkedIn has a feed that shares updates from your connections. This is a great resource to keep you informed about your industry and community. Sharing content and getting involved in online discussions has the bonus of making your company more visible in searches. You can scan profiles to learn about the professional backgrounds of all your contacts.
You could ask that common contact to make an introduction — which can help you build your network and ultimately grow your business. When you look for a product or service, chances are you read reviews from other people. On LinkedIn, you can have other professionals write recommendations about you and your work on your page. This is a great way to build trust with those who visit your profile.
You can also build stronger relationships with your network by writing recommendations for those you love working with. Are you ready to get set up? Here we go:. Before you can create a LinkedIn page for your business, you first have to set up a personal account.
There are some essential requirements you need to fulfill, so make sure you follow all these steps:. Click Sign Up on the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Then, enter your first and last names no nicknames , your work email, and a password. Click Join Now. Next, the website will walk you through some steps to establish your profile. Enter your zip code, your company name, and your job title.
LinkedIn requires you to thoroughly fill out your personal profile before you can set up a business page. Enter your work and education history. Make sure to list yourself as an employee of your company. Even if someone shares your name — even if they go against all odds and share your same profession as well!
Include a photo of yourself on your profile. Showing your face will not only help to distinguish you from anyone else who shares your name, it will also help you create a deeper connection with potential customers. Start with your title. Next, share — in one short sentence — what you do and who you do it for. Which brings me to…. This is your time to shine! Write your summary in the first person. By writing in the first person, you have the additional advantage of, once again, creating a more human connection.
You give yourself additional credibility by not coming off as a spam robot. What words would they use to search for you? Tailor your summary to target your ideal market.
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