How to start working as a freelancer

Are you determined to start working on your own ? Freelance work allows us to organize at our own pace and without the need to be supervised by a boss, but at the same time it poses an important challenge: the lack of stability, and in many cases we have tons of work and in others very little that do. This condition can affect your economy, however if you are an organized person, responsible and strategist you will manage the matter in an appropriate way. In .com we give you some useful tips for you to discover how to start working as a freelancer .

one

The first thing you must be very clear about is that the freelance work is not for anyone and that certain skills are required to successfully perform this task. In principle you should know that you will not have a fixed income, that the amount of work may vary, many times you must work more hours than you are entitled to and that you will not have the comforts of a formal job such as paid vacations, salary benefits etc.

Once this is understood, it is very important to know that to be a good freelance you must:

• Be organized with work and with time.
• Know how to establish priorities.
• Respond quickly and efficiently to your customers.
• Always offer the best work to your clients so that they always want to return.
• Manage the money properly so you can always have liquidity.
• Have a lot of patience to face all the challenges of working on your own.

two

Are you ready to start working as a freelancer ? Start by establishing a list of the services you can provide with the respective rates as a guide, so when someone asks for a budget for a project you can respond quickly. Remember that at the time of starting it is important to offer competitive prices because you need to let you know, as you gain customers you can adjust your earnings.

3

You must be aware of the legal regulations regarding billing and collection of freelance work . For example, in Spain it is necessary to register as an independent to be able to invoice the work done by our account if they are frequent and exceed 3, 000 euros per year. In other countries it will be enough to make an invoice and declare the VAT to the corresponding body.

The truth is that you do not want to start working as a freelance, incurring in illegality, so informing you about the regulations in this aspect and preparing all the details regarding your billing will be essential.

4

Before starting to apply for freelance work and offer your services, it is very important to review your CV and prepare a portfolio . Your curriculum must be updated with your latest work, it must be creative and original to capture the attention of the reader in a few seconds and it must show your abilities as a freelancer.

In addition, it will be important to prepare a good portfolio or have at hand (and in digital) some samples of your work that serve as a cover letter. Remember that a good job is worth more than any word.

5

Once you have everything ready to respond adequately to any offer, it's time to look for freelance websites . In this type of pages, different jobs suitable for freelance are constantly offered, so you can apply for the offers you consider appropriate and also assess the reality of the market.

It is important to start making a portfolio of loyal customers, that's why every job you do must be of quality, always responding to the deadlines that the client requests and communicating with him in a timely manner to offer what he asks for. All this will make you, the next time you need a job, contact you directly instead of using a website.

6

Another way to start working as a freelancer is to contact companies that fit your profile directly. Let's suppose that you are a translator, because it performs a search for translation companies and sends your CV and portfolio, putting you in order to carry out freelance projects. You never know when you will touch a door that is willing to open, so the effort is worth it.

In addition, an advantage of working on your own is that distance does not necessarily matter and that there are many jobs that we can do no matter where we are, which can expand the search radius considerably.

7

Learning to advertise ourselves is a fundamental aspect of freelance work, because it is important to let everyone know that you work on your own, because you never know when a friend or acquaintance may need your services. Let your environment know what you do and sell your work whenever you can, because you never know who you are talking to or if that person will become your next customer.

8

What better way to get to know you than social networks ? If you want to start working as a freelancer it is very important that all social networks and web media in which a potential client can search for information from you are up to date, so we recommend you:

• Review your Linkedin account and complete all the fields that are necessary. If you are not yet part of this social network, it is important to sign up, since many people use it to investigate the career of the person they wish to hire.
• Optimize your Google + profile as there are many people who can reach you through this medium.
• Create a good profile on Twitter that allows you to highlight your professional skills, again you do not know who can reach you through this medium.