Debra Johnson
The Internet offers a number of ways for people to use their skills to make money. Many talented individuals choose to earn a regular income from freelance work. This type of work can involve anything from web design to writing. This article suggests eight useful tips to help online freelancers make the most of their time.
1. Create a Website
Owning your own website gives potential customers an easy way to contact you. You can use your website to host and showcase your work for prospective clients to see. Additionally, your website helps establish you as a part of the online freelance community. Ideally, your website should look professional and use an address that is easy for people to remember.
2. Time Management Skills
Learning how to properly manage your time will help you become a successful freelancer. As a freelancer, you do not have an employer who is constantly reminding you of important deadlines. You will need to work out a method to help you keep track of your schedule on your own. You can use computer software to keep track of your schedule and deadlines.
3. Seek Balance
As a freelancer, you have no regular work hours. However, you can't expect to work all day and all night without feeling stressed and anxious. Once you find yourself in a comfortable groove, you can start setting firm work hours. If you can learn to set limits, you'll still have plenty of time to unwind from work and enjoy your hobbies.
4. Learn To Communicate
Each time you get a new assignment, you must use your best communication skills to keep your client happy. If you're designing a website, involve your client in the process. Show your progress to the client as you work through the design. You can also ask your client for helpful feedback. By keeping a professional and respectful tone at all times, you will increase the chance of a client hiring you again.
5. Organize Your Office
If you plan to do most of your work from home, you need to create a comfortable office environment. Remove any distractions from your office, including your television. If working from home isn't an option, you can rent a small office space near your home. Working at a rented office can help you steer clear of the distractions in your home.
6. Create Limits
Many freelancers find it difficult to decline an offer of work from a new client. If your workload is already more than you can handle, you should consider turning down any more offers until you've finished some of your projects. If you take on too much work at once, the quality of your work may suffer. You can avoid stress by keeping only a manageable workload.
7. Use Social Media
If you need new clients, you can turn to social media networks to seek out new customers. These networks offer you a number of easy ways to advertise your work across the globe. You can also form relationships with other freelancers to learn more from their experiences.
8. Take a Break
Sometimes, a new project may present unexpected challenges. If you're feeling overwhelmed and anxious, take a short break from your work. Try going on a walk to a new cafe for lunch. Forcing yourself to work when you have no motivation can result in a disaster.
Conclusion
Deciding to become a freelancer is not an easy choice to make. You will face challenges as you try to find new clients and keep them happy. However, this work will give you the freedom to get paid for doing something you love. Put these tips into use and you will see good results from your freelancing activities.
Many and many tips are here but I think you have left some points….
There are many and many freelancers but they don’t make a good response at a time and don’t pick the call at once.This makes very irritating.
Secondly Freelancer demands more and more money after some time.this is not irrelevant also.
@Bhushan,
You are right there. I think a freelancer who takes his/her business seriously should be able to respond with ease. Customer service is a big part of business success. Unfortunately, not many freelancers sees themselves as being in business.
On demanding more money along the line, I think in every contract there are terms. Once these terms are agreed upon, both sides are expected to respect them. However, where there is the need to review these terms both sides will of course do well to look into them again.
No freelancer will want to just demand for more pay without any cause. Anyone doing that will only end up failing because clients will understand what he is doing and then stay away from him.
Freelancing is now one of the best ways to earn regular income. Many people do freelancing but they just need to pay attention on some useful tips which are described here perfectly. They can help anyone to become a very successful freelancer.
@bj @ consumer lists,
I must agree with you there. The internet has opened a whole lot of opportunity to earn through freelancing. I really find Debra’s tips helpful.
Your helpful advices are really useful for me, because I’ve just started my blog a couple of days ago and honestly I’m a newbie to the blogging world so any helpful tips are welcome:)
@Gabi,
Glad to hear that. I do hope you will put what you are learning to use!
Great post. I agree that having an understanding of the clients needs and expectations is crucial. Dont over estimate and be honest, dont sell yourself short and always keep on learning and think outside the box
Brilliant Tips Chadrack,
All the above are awesome, only if we can actually apply what we’ve learnt at any point in time, the world would have being a more lively place.
Thanks for sharing friend.
Freelancing is amongst the best way of earning a handsome amount .if you are skilled and very eager to learn new technologies then its the best choice
Dear Admin,
I landed upon your article”8 Proven Tips for Becoming a Successful Freelancer”from google, Actually i am doing a research work on”getting projects via Freelancing”,found your article useful for my research work. Actually i was looking for more related articles on your blog but unfortunately didnt find anymore of it.Hope read more related articles in coming days…I will keep following your blog till then
Regards
Mia
@Mia,
Thanks for the visit. I’m glad that you found this article useful for your needs. Unfortunately, we have not really done much on freelancing. I do hope that in the days ahead we will be able to do that. Please do stay tuned!
I think the most important aspect of becoming a successful freelancer is simply having the right personality. You have to be a self-motivated person who is well-organized, outgoing, and has good time management skills. You also have to be comfortable with the unknown, because when you’re a freelancer you don’t necessarily have a set income or payday. You agree?
@Johnny,
You definitely hit it on the head there, Johnny. When you are a freelancer you just need to know how to manage time and of course be ready to motive yourself because there is so much that may want to keep you down.
Thanks for the comment.
I worked as a freelance writer for three years; I don’t remember taking but a handful of days-off during that time. I’ve finally learned my lesson.
I love hiring freelancers when I need a job done and I have to say that time management is so important. One of my VAs is so excellent at her job that I made her a full time employee. The major reason I made that decision was because of her time management skills. It really does make a difference.
This is certainly a quality post.Quite useful.Thanks for posting.
There’s not a lot of money to be made from working as a freelance writer online. This is because there are too many people offering cut-rate content writing, cut-rate in price and usually quality. I find there is considerably more money to be made writing content for my own websites and parlaying that original and (hopefully) entertaining material into affiliate marketing.
@Brady Partridge,
I want to agree with you there. Lately, I have been looking at most of the freelancing sites and must confess that what many freelancers are asking for their works really makes one to raise an eyebrow. Besides, a lot of employers now want to give peanuts for their jobs but the terms they give are really laughable.
Like you suggested, creating affiliate sites and putting up your content there could really be more profitable if you know what you are doing. I really do not visit freelancing sites for jobs anymore. Positioning yourself as the go to resource can make the difference. You can see my content writing site here as an example – http://www.seowebcontentscribe.com
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