I’m living the laptop lifestyle and I’m loving it! Freelancing gives me the freedom to work whenever and wherever I want to. I make passive income, travel when I want to, take off work when I need to, and have time to spend with my friends and family. I think it’s great not to be tied down to a 9-5 job. I can do what I love, impact millions of people and earn a living from it.
As great as freelancing is, it is still a business and you have to take it seriously. You need to be consistent, committed and hard-working to make it successful.
Having a successful freelance career is a process. Believe me, it took almost 4 years to get to where I am today. I had my fair share of victories and failures. Every experience was a learning process for me, and I won’t change my freelance journey so far, for anything.
I want to share with you some tips to help you grow a successful freelance career. I hope you find these tips useful.
1. Have a plan of action
Planning is key to a successful freelance career. It helps you prioritize your goals, and it forms a blueprint for you to follow. This is great because it will help keep you focused on where exactly you want to take your freelance career. When you are drawing up your plan, make sure you include business goals, financial goals and personal goals. Break down into a set of actions you can take to achieve your goals within a week, a month, a quarter and a year.
2. Keep an eye on the competition
Research into the activities of your competition. Stalk them if you have to. This will help you make sure you’re on the right track and in tune with the current trends.
The most important thing about observing your competition is finding out their weakness and shortcomings so that you can structure a way you can give better service than your competition. The aim is to strive to do better than what your competition is offering but be careful not to spend too much observing your competition than you forget to work on your career.
3. Network
Your Network is your Net worth. Networking is a great way to meet new people, learn from them and get new clients. Join meetups in your area. Join in on Twitter Chats and Facebook Groups. Follow like minds on social media and do not forget LinkedIn. Freelancing business is a people oriented business, so start putting yourself out there, and you will see your connections increase.
4. Have a Healthy Work/Life Balance
I struggle a lot with my work/life balance. I am a workaholic and a perfectionist, so I work every opportunity I get, which has its pros and cons. The good thing about my work life is I get every job done in time, but then I feel like my personal life suffers. I work from home as you all know, I do most of my work once my kids are in bed at 7pm. I work past midnight every day, including weekends. And I also work around my kids daytime naps. I am pretty sure I work more than 40 hours a week, and I won’t have it any other way but sometimes I feel drained, all I want to do is curl up on a sofa with a cup of tea and a cool movie on Netflix.
Having a healthy work/life balance is needed for a successful freelance career. You have to know when to stop working to avoid burning out. I recently took a work/life balance quiz, created by Calibre Office Furniture, and my results were I have a work/life expectancy of 75 years, meaning I have 46 years left to work. The quiz advised I seek medical attention because my work life is killing me, I agree, lol. It is a fun quiz, so try it for yourself and let me know what your results are in the comment section below.
5. Establish a powerful online presence
As a freelancer, you need to make sure that you position yourself as an expert and an influencer. One of the best places to do this is on social media. Help people out, give value and share your knowledge. This will help you build an audience and earn their trust and confidence. You’ll be easily remembered and potential clients will reach out to you.
Another great way to establish a powerful online presence is to guest post on authority blogs like The Huffington Post, Mumsnet, and so on. Write a tutorial, a how-to post or share an experience your audience can relate with.
6. Define your boundaries
Just because you’re a freelancer doesn’t mean you should accept every job that comes your way. You are in control of what projects you accept or reject. Never be afraid to turn down a project that will not suit you or your brand and that has unfavourable terms or low pay.
Be sure to have a sold contract that covers the important terms that you and your client must agree upon. This will help protect you and let your client know how you work and how far the project will go and at what cost.
Setting boundaries shows you’re not a pushover. It’s a sign of professionalism.
The freelance career is a continuous process, like a journey that never ends. The key to success is to be consistent. You have everything it takes to be successful.
Do you have any tried and tested tip to share? Do you take the work/life balance quiz? What was your result?
*This is a collaborative post.
Thank you for posting these tips. I am not freelance but I think they would help anyone who is!
Thanks for reading Nikki xo
These look like great tips for any freelancers. I would love a job that fitted around my girls
I am sure keeping an eye on the competition is key, some great tips x
great tips. 🙂 I want to build a blueprint of my own..I’m slowly working on it!
Nice x
The work / life balance is definitely the one I struggle with most. It’s hard to know when to stop, I find.
Yea it is.
I think having a supportive virtual tribe is really important, someone to have a virtual water cooler moment with.
Yea true that x
Some fabulous tips and I agree you do need to manage your time well otherwise it can takeover your private life too x
Yea easily x
Really good Stella.
XO
Thanks hun x
Love love LOVE your tips. Its hard working freelance so I’m always looking for hints and tips xxx
Yeap it is xo
Great tips! I would love to be a freelancer, it is something that I may look into at a later date when the kids are older, these are all really great tips though, thank you!!
Thank you for reading xo
Awesome tips for those thinking of becoming fill time freelancers. I am not yet ready to take the plunge
I work from home too, similar to freelance and I know how it is. I can never switch off my work, but I love it, so it’s perfect for me (most of the times, anyway).
Yea same here x
Some fantastic suggestions here. After nearly five years of blogging and freelancing I’m finally feeling like I’ve achieved something. I’m loving it!
It does feel good xo
Sound advice here hun, I certainly plan to go freelance in the next few years. I think it will fit around the kids a little better than my current job at the newspaper. I will be bookmarking this post 🙂 x
Ah great stuff x
I read this with avid interest because I completely relate. As you know I work multiple jobs and once I have done the other jobs I come home and do my blogging so all in all my hours worked must be skyhigh. I am about to take the test wish me luck!
Good luck Ana xo
I am trying to get top the freelancing life too, but to be honest is scares me a bit as you don’t know what is gonna happen next. Love your advice. I am bookmarking this.
Yea you can’t relly plan your finances. I hate that about it.
Great and inspiring post! I would love to work for myself! 5 years of blogging now but still not a clue, ha! One day soon hopefully 🙂
It is amazing to be your boss but very challenging at the same time.
fantastic tips.. im not exactly a free lancer but i do work from home.. and can truly understand were working in an office environment can be the death of you.. lifes too short..
Yea it is..
I am not sure I have the get up and go to be a freelancer, works for some though
Yea it does xo
Great tips! I particularly like what you said about planning. That is something I need to improve when it comes to my freelancing. I am still working part time and that is taking priority but you are right that it is so important to have financial goals. Cheers for sharing your tips
Thanks for reading xo
Useful tips. I think freelance work sounds great in many ways – to work from home & structure it as you want to. But I’m sure the structure and balance must be hard, and that would worry me. & networking & building online presence don’t come that naturally to me! (Lucy/R is for Hoppit)
Yea it is hard to maintain but worth it.
I agree with the first commenter, Nikki, who said that your article/blog can be applied to any area of your life. Good read and thank you Everything is about being willing to continue to learn
Yes it is. Thanks for reading.
This is really useful. I hope to go freelance in the future but yes need to sit down and plan it once I’m ready x
Thanks for reading Sabrina xo
Really helpful post – I’m not a freelancer but I do love to write. Building up my blog to act as a kind of portfolio for my work one day hopefully so I could maybe take the plunge and do some work like yourself.
Loving your outfits in the photos by the way!
Gemma – Life is Knutts.x
Thanks Gemma xo
Thanks for the tips, freelancing sounds like a challenge! Your outfit looks great as always!
– Emily from http://www.emilyunderworld.co.uk ♡
Thanks Emily x
I can imagine that defining your boundaries as a freelancer is hard, I always have a problem saying no to work projects. What’s the most challenging aspect for you?
I work every chance I get. I find it difficult to switch off.
This is really good, I’m a year into working as a freelance copywriter and social media manager and I’m looking to expand my workload next year once I finish maternity leave xx
Oh wow that is great Hannah xx
These are some awesome tips and I agree that we need to manage out time I have a full time job but would love to work from home ones and be my own boss, I then blog full time and started doing some freelance work on the side so I get supper super busy. Sometimes is hard to find a bit of time for me and my loved ones but I am working it.
Leslie xoxo
Wow you are busy.
I’ve just made the leap and started freelance writing. These tips are perfect for me to read right now. I’m super excited but also really scared about carving out enough of an income for us through it. But some of these points have really highlighted the areas I need to work on. Thank you so much for sharing this! x
Thanks for reading Chloe x
Some really useful advice here. It is something I have been looking to do for a while now. I am rubbish at networking, though and will have to get to grips with it.
I was rubbish too but I had to step up my game x
Thanks for sharingthese great tips, I need to do some freelancing work, it’s hard to know where to start.
Thanks for reading Melanie x
Fab tips, I have to say keeping up to date, erm stalking no, erm keeping up to date with my fellow bloggers is what gave me the kick up the arse to redesign my blog and also I’ve discovered this amazing vlogger called Shameless Maya: her creativity is just redunkulous, that’s also giving me a kick up the ass about videos.. ( :
Ah great. You are allowed to stalk. We all do. Can’t wait to see the new blog. I will check out Shameless Maya.
I was really interested to read this post. These are some great tips and you’ve given me lots to think about.
I am glad to hear than Zena x
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What a great article. Love the 4th tip, absolutely on point. Freelancing is great but it can be really challenging when it comes to keeping up with friends or even family, I know that from a personal experience. Inner harmony and good time management are so so important.
Thank you. Your tips are spot on too.
I read this. Great read.
Thanks.
Also, before taking that first customer, it is important that
you buy company insurance to secure yourself versus suits, as well as that you are in compliance with work safety requirements.
Great advice! I am in the process of becoming a freelancer myself and in turn learning the value of social media. I blog about experiences and mix in reviews, would you consider this diversity a hindrance? I’ve posted about things like trying to get freelance work at the local pub (funny story by the way) to film reviews. I am starting to think that I should go for a theme as opposed to a selection.
No it isn’t a hindrance. I like variety in blogs..
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Freelancing is kind of thing if you do it properly you do not need to go to office and work for whole day otherwise you end up being frustrated. I personally got frustrated at first but now I am doing ok. Thanks for sharing this tips.
Oh good you are doing ok now. That is great Nikolas.
Hi, I hope you are in great health. I find your article very helpful keep up the good work.
Thank you!