The 4 Steps to Launch A Freelancing Business (With No Experience)
If steps launch freelancing business is on your radar, this short guide cuts through the noise. Here is what is worth knowing, and how to put it to work today.
Key Takeaways
- Share This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, advisory, or brokerage services.
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- Anyone can make money by freelancing online.
Anyone can make money by freelancing online.
Yes, anyone.
No matter what your existing skills are (and even if you think you don’t have any), you can launch a successful freelance business.
For me and numerous others, making that first dollar freelancing was a life-changing moment. It opens up a world where you take control of your career and your income.
It’s also the future of work, as our economy is shifting more and more towards freelance workers.
So, freelancing isn’t just a way to make money today, but also one that provides more opportunities for growth going forward.
It’s for this reason we’ve put together this in-depth, expert-led guide on how to start freelancing.
4 Steps to Freelance Full-Time Successfully
We’ve broken down the process of landing that first client into four simple steps:
- Chapter #1: How to Choose a Freelancing Niche
- Chapter #2: How to Create a Freelance Portfolio
- Chapter #3: How to Get High-Quality Leads for Your Freelance Business
- Chapter #4: How to Convert Leads to Clients
From there, we’ve created a number of niche-specific freelancer guides (writing, proofreading, etc.) to help you kickstart your freelance career.
Sound good? Let’s get started.
How to Choose a Freelancing Niche
What can be both a blessing and a curse for freelancers is that they have complete control over what services they want to deliver to clients.
The standard advice you’ll get when it comes to freelancers choosing which services to offer is to “follow your passion and the money will follow you.” But this advice ignores something fundamental to creating a successful business, which is value creation.
People want and are willing to pay for value. This value can come in numerous different forms, such as your ability to save the client time, save or make them money, or make their life easier.
What’s key to understand is that the highest-paid freelancers are the ones that provide the most value to their clients:
Next Steps: Read our guide on How to Choose a Freelancing Niche, which goes in-depth on helping you discover the highest value skills and services you have to offer. Plus, it lists four exercises to help you narrow down the best freelancing niche once you understand what you’d like to offer.
How to Create a Freelance Portfolio
Experienced freelancers have an overwhelming advantage over most beginners. When asked by a client, they’re able to provide references, portfolio samples and client testimonials.
As a beginner freelancer, how do you compete with this?
At its core, what these experienced freelancers offer potential clients is social proof. It’s social proof that then makes the client confident they’re hiring the right person.
Social proof is a powerful force in decision-making. It determines a lot of our everyday decisions. After all, who buys a three-star product on Amazon when a five-star product is available?
As a beginner, you might not have a long list of references or a case study that makes the client feel like you’re a excellent fit. However, there are still a lot of different ways you can demonstrate social proof to clients, and therefore make the client much more comfortable that they’re making the right decision.
How to Get High-Quality Leads For Your Freelance Business
Having a service that delivers a lot of value, and demonstrating that you deliver that value, isn’t enough. You also need potential clients to know about what you have to offer.
Successful freelancers have a proven method for attracting the people looking for their services, and a way to make these people interested in what they have to offer.
The cheaper and more efficient you can generate quality leads for your freelance business, the faster you can grow.
How to Convert Leads to Clients
You now have the client’s attention. They’ve raised their hand and said they’re interested in what you have to offer.
Your next step is to take them from “interested” to “sale.” Specifically, you need them to commit. And more frequently than not, that means giving you money.
Accomplishing this is easier said than done (especially for first-time freelancers).
Yet there is a way to approach this stage so that your prospects are excited to hire you and excited about the results they can expect to get from working with you.
Yes, this is the sales process , and it’s a core part of every freelance business.
Sales itself has a bad reputation. But that’s because a lot of people go about it a very wrong way.
The best sales processes establish trust between the freelancer and the client. This way, both the client and the freelancer know exactly what to expect (and what a successful engagement looks like).
Freelance Websites That Can Help You Land Your First Job
No beginner’s guide on how to start freelancing would be complete without mentioning large freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr.
For most freelancers, it’s these two marketplaces where you’ll find the highest number of freelance jobs available with clients who are eager to hire.
Of course, there is also a lot of competition on these platforms. So going about them the way most freelancers do might mean a very long uphill climb.
We’ve prepared two in-depth guides on getting started on these platforms:
- How to Make Money on Fiverr: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
- How to Get Your First Job On Upwork: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
If you’re considering getting started on Upwork, also make sure to check out our article 7 Expert Upwork Tips For Beginners.
Next Steps: Interested in becoming a freelance writer on Upwork? See our article How To Apply For Upwork Writing Jobs, which includes real examples from one of The Ways To Wealth’s contributors who has built a highly-profitable freelance writing career on the platform.
Niche-Specific Freelance Job Resources
Upwork and Fiverr are excellent starting points for numerous freelancers. However, there are a lot of niche-specific websites and freelance job boards that can help you find a job.
In the articles below, we curated the best websites for finding freelance jobs for a specific niche.
- Bookkeeping Jobs
- Customer Service Jobs
- Data Entry & Online Typing Jobs
- Graphic Design Jobs
- Proofreading Jobs
- Transcription Jobs
- Tutoring Jobs
- Virtual Assistant Jobs
How to Start Freelancing: Closing Thoughts
Gaining that first client as a freelancer is no simple task.
But like anything that’s hard, the more you do it the better you get. And most importantly, the more power and options you have over your financial future.
Ready to get started? Jump to our guide on choosing a freelance niche.
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R.J. Weiss
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