How To Start Freelancing (Complete Beginner’s Guide)

 How To Start Freelancing (Complete Beginner’s Guide)

Thinking about getting started in freelancing but don’t know where to start?

Then this guide is for you.

I created this as an ultimate guide on how to start freelancing for beginners.

Whether you want to start freelancing as a writer, web designer, or developer, this guide will help you start your journey in 10 simple steps.

Before you move any further, I need to clarify a few things.

Freelancing is a lot more complicated than you might think. Some people believe anyone with a laptop and an internet connection can earn money online. But, it’s not true.

Continue reading only if you’re willing to work hard to achieve your goal of becoming a freelancer and finding financial freedom.

Also, be sure to read the recommended links to learn more about each section.

Now, let’s dive in.

Note: Please bear in mind that this guide only covers the basics. It will help you get started the right way. But if you want to take it to the next level and learn some of my secrets of earning $5,000 a month, you can grab my book Freelance Like A Pro.

Step 1: Get The Right Equipment

You make terrible choices and decisions when you’re desperate. And that’s exactly why I always advise not to start freelancing to earn money quickly.

Freelancing is not a get rich quick scheme. It requires a lot of hard work. In fact, it took me around 4 years to earn a steady income as a freelancer. But, thankfully, today you have more opportunities than I had back then. You can read my story for more details.

I often receive questions from freelancers asking if there is work they can do using just a smartphone. The quick answer is there are none. At least not ones that are worth doing.

Smartphone apps are limited in features. You need a computer to run software that are required for doing the work properly and delivering great results.

So, before you go ahead and think about working online, go get yourself a laptop or even an old computer would do the trick.

Also, make sure to read the article suggestions below before going any further.

Further Reading:

• How Freelancing Changed My Life
• 12 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Leaving Your Day Job
• 7 Advantages And Disadvantages Of Being Self-Employed

Step 2: Find A Marketable Skill

The next, and the most important, step is to find a skill you can offer as a service.

This can be something as simple as transcribing a podcast or something advanced like developing a mobile app. Whatever it is, the key to winning in freelancing is to find a skill that you’re good at and has enough demand in the marketplace.

For example, if you’re good at drawing illustrations or designing product packaging, go to a freelance marketplace like UpWork or Freelancer and check to see if there are jobs for that type of work.

If there are enough job listings on those sites for the skill you’re good at, then you’ve hit gold.

Further Reading:

• 110+ Easy Freelance Job Ideas For Beginners
• 7 Highest Paying Freelance Jobs

Step 3: Polish Up Your Skills

Once you find a marketable skill, you should make sure you can offer it as a service. Simply put, you need to be really good at what you do to be able to get paid for it.

For example, let’s say you want to be a freelance writer for health and wellness blogs. This category has good demand. You also have experience writing about it in school or college.

However, that doesn’t mean you can write blog posts for online audiences. Blogs and online publications use very different writing styles and formatting for articles. Mainly to attract general audiences.

So now you need to learn how to write blog posts for online audiences. Learn how to use WordPress. How to make graphics for articles. And more.

It’s the same for every other freelancing skill out there. You can’t just jump right in without even trying to learn the basics. You must polish up your skills first.

Read books, subscribe to YouTube channels, and blogs related to your skill and industry.

Also, taking online courses is the most effective way to properly learn and polish up a skill. Check the links below for recommendations.

Deloping a skill from scratch takes time. So be patient and keep learning and practicing. It could take weeks, months, or years. Just keep at it.

Further Reading:

• 7 Best Skills To Learn Online
• Best Online Courses for Freelancers
• How To Learn Freelance Skills With Online Courses

Step 4: Build Your Reputation

Being able to prove your skills and work will determine whether you’ll be a successful freelancer or not.

It doesn’t matter if you have a college degree or years of experience. If you can’t prove to clients that you’re skilled at what you do, they will never hire you.

If you’re a writer, you should have articles published on popular blogs. If you’re a graphic designer, you should be able to point to a brand and say you designed their logo. If you’re a web designer, you need to be able to send a link to a website you’ve designed.

In short, get some of your work out there. Do some free work at first if you have to. Reach out to blogs that accept guest posts. Do some concept design work. Whatever it is, work on building your reputation.

Further Reading:

• Before You Start Your Freelancing Career, Start Guest Blogging
• The Best Way To Quit Your Job & Start Freelancing – In 6 Steps

Step 5: Create A Portfolio

When you start building your reputation, be sure to also create a portfolio to bring all your published/live work into one place.

A portfolio can be a website or a webpage where you showcase all your work.

For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you can create a portfolio page on a site like Behance to show off all your designs. That way, when you’re reaching out to a client, you can simply give them the link to your portfolio to check out your skills.

Make sure to only include your best work in the portfolio.

Further Reading:

• 10-Step Guide To Getting Started As A Freelance Web Designer
• The Complete Guide To Getting Started As A Freelance Writer

Step 6: Try Freelancing Part-Time

Freelancing is not everyone’s cup of tea. The process of marketing yourself, selling your services, and dealing with clients can be overwhelming.

If you’re not sure whether freelancing is the right career path for you, just try doing it part-time.

Spend a couple of hours every day working on smaller freelance gigs. And learn the ways of freelancing.

When you feel ready to tackle bigger projects, then you can decide whether you should freelance full-time or leave your day job.

Further Reading:

• Should You Do Part-Time Or Full-Time Freelancing?
• How To Work Remotely From Home

Step 7: Find The Right Freelance Platform

This step plays a crucial part in how easily you’ll land jobs and the quality of the clients you’ll be able to work with.

A mistake most beginning freelancers make is search for the most popular freelance marketplace and join to get started. Like UpWork or Freelancer.com.

These sites are already filled with millions of freelancers from around the world. And due to the competition, they engage in bidding wars to win jobs. They will constantly lower their prices in order to land the job. And it will get you nowhere.

So the best approach, and the approach that worked wonders for me, is to pick a marketplace that’s fairly new and join it. It’ll have fewer freelancers so you’ll have low competition. And it will increase your chances of landing jobs.

Further Reading:

• Which Freelancing Site Is Best For Beginners?
• 15+ Lesser-Known Freelancing Sites with Low Competition
• 21+ New Low Competition Freelancing Sites You Should Join
• How To Create The Perfect Freelancer Profile On UpWork

Step 8: Charge The Right Price

Figuring out the right price for your services can be challenging. Because if you ask for the wrong price, clients will never even consider hiring you.

In the beginning, the best way to figure out the right price is to go look at popular freelance marketplaces and see what other freelancers in your niche or industry are charging.

Since you’re new, it’s not fair to charge those same prices as experienced freelancers.

Instead, you should try to figure out a middle-ground where you can offer a competitive price than those experienced freelancers without making yourself seem cheap.

Further Reading:

• How Much Should I Charge? 4 Ways To Calculate Your Rates
• The 5 Worst Mistakes Made by Freelancers

Step 9: Send Your First Proposal

Writing a proposal to a client needs to be done in a careful manner.

It’s not like writing a regular email or writing a social media post. You need to put serious thought into it and figure out how to persuade your client to give you the job instead of all the other freelancers.

There are some tips and hacks you can use to your advantage when writing a winning proposal. I can’t go into all the details here, so please check out the links below for more info on the topic.

Further Reading:

• 3 Ways To Create Freelance Project Proposals That Win Clients
• How To Write A Professional Email & Talk To Clients
• 5 Effective Psychological Tricks To Attract More Freelance Clients

Step 10: Deliver Beyond Expectations

Once you land a job, the next step is to make sure that you deliver the project just as the client has asked.

Or, in this case, I want you to overdeliver the job by going above and beyond the client’s expectations.

I’ll give you an example. In the early days of my freelancing career, I used to get jobs for writing blog articles with a fixed word count like 1000 words. What I did was write the article to be about 1100-1200 and also include a unique header image for the blog post when delivering it. Without charging extra for it.

The clients were always happy with my work. And gave 5-star ratings.

So find a way to do work that goes beyond expectations. And learn to stand out from the crowd. That’s the only way to build a lasting career as a freelancer.

Further Reading:

• How To Beat Veteran Freelancers And Win New Clients
• 5 Email Templates You Can Use To Pitch To New Clients

What’s Next?

You are now ready to tackle the world of freelancing. With a lot of dedication and hard work, you’ll be able to create a profitable and prosperous career as a freelancer. That’s a guarantee.

If you want to learn more about freelancing and insights into some of the blueprints that I use to land high paying clients, please check out my book Freelance Like A Pro.

Here’s what you get from this book.

• Fully Illustrated eBook
• 21 Lessons + 5 Secrets To Freelance Success
• 5 Email Templates For Contacting Clients
• Freelance Contract Template
• A List Of 70+ Freelance Websites
• A List Of 10+ Online Learning Websites

Learn More

FAQs About Freelancing

These frequently asked questions about freelancing will help you further understand how the industry works.

Q: Is Freelancing A Career?

Yes! Freelancing can be considered as a career. But, it depends on what kind of work you choose to do. For example, if you’re doing data entry work, it can’t be considered a career. At least not a good one. However, if you were to choose something like copywriting, you can use it as a career to become a marketer and even be in charge of marketing teams on startups.

Q: Which Field Is Best In Freelancing?

There are many fields in freelancing that allows you to earn higher rates and generate profitable incomes. But, there is no specific industry or a job that you can all as “the best”. You shouldn’t choose a career because it earns the highest amount of money. Choose the ones that you’re good at.

Q: What Kind Of Freelance Work Can I Do?

The freelancing market is quite big. There are hundreds of specializations out there ranging from logo designers to product copywriters, and more. You can do any type of work. If you have a skillset, you can turn it into a service and offer it for a price. Whether it’s online or offline. That’s freelancing!

Q: How Can I Start Freelance With No Experience?

The great thing about freelancing is that it doesn’t have any requirements. You don’t need a fancy college degree or years of experience on a job to get started as a freelancer. All you need is a marketable skill and dedication to work harder and better than everyone else.

Q: What Are Freelancing Websites?

Freelancing websites are like marketplaces where you can find clients and land jobs. You can join a freelancing website, like UpWork or PeoplePerHour, to create a profile and apply for jobs posted by clients. These sites often have a lot of competition and charge high platform fees. While they are good for beginners I often encourage freelancers to avoid such marketplaces.

Q: Which Skills Are In Demand For Freelancing?

Finding the right skill with a good demand is crucial to finding freelancing success. Every year, new trends take over the world of freelancing so the demand for the skills differs from time to time. Some years there’s high demand for coding skills while some years there’s a demand for video editors. You can read this article to learn more about finding skills with high demand.

Q: Is Freelancing Better Than A Job?

Much like any other day job, freelancing also has benefits and downsides. It definitely has many perks compared to the usual office job. So yes, freelancing can be better than a regular job. But that will mostly depend on your personality type.

Q: What Are The Pros And Cons Of Freelancing?

One of the best things about being a freelancer is that you can be your own boss. It’s like running a business. You can look for clients, find work, and do work at your own pace. But it can also be quite tiring. Especially if you’re used to doing things that you’re told to do. Like at an office job. More about it here.

Q: Do Freelancers Get Paid?

Yes! Unless you get scammed by a scam artist. Freelancers always get paid. There’s a myth to this topic that clients don’t pay or avoid payment on time. But it’s not true. If you know how to find good clients, you’ll always get paid on time.

Q: How Freelancers Find Work?

Freelancers can find work using various methods. And you’ll be happy to know that you don’t always have to use marketplaces like Upwork and Freelancer.com. Instead, you can use job boards, communities, and even email outreach to find jobs. I covered more on this topic in a chapter above.

Q: Why Freelancing Is Hard?

Freelancing is not easy. You need to work hard and be determined to succeed as a freelancer. More importantly, it takes time to gain experience and develop skills. A good way to make this process easier is to find a coach and improve your skills by taking courses and reading books.

Q: Where To Learn Freelancing?

Unfortunately, there’s no special place you can go to learn freelancing. It’s something you must learn by doing. Taking online courses and reading books will help, but in the end it will depend on your dedication and the ability to learn from your failures to be a great freelancer.

Q: What Are Easy Freelance Jobs?

Data entry gigs, transcription jobs, translation jobs are all easy gigs you can do as a freelancer. But, keep in mind that “easy come, easy go”. Those easy jobs won’t last long. If you want to build a career as a freelancer, you’ll need to work hard at improving your skills.

Q: What Is Local Freelancing?

You don’t always have to signup for a freelance marketplace online to find work as a freelancer. You can also do work for local businesses. Whether it’s designing a website for a local shop or designing a logo, it still counts as freelancing. There are many job boards you can use to find local freelance jobs. Or you can go old-school and cold-call to ask for jobs.