Tag Archives: Freelancing Tips

How To Boost Your Reputation As A Freelancer

September 17, 2020 By in Freelancing/Self-employed Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

*Collaborative post.

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Pixabay. CCO Licensed.

Having a good reputation as a freelancer can help you to win over the trust of new customers. There are lots of ways to develop a good reputation. Here are just a few ways to give your reputation a boost.

Create an exciting portfolio

Proving a portfolio of your work allows potential customers to see evidence of work you’ve done and get an idea of the quality that they can expect. This could be a portfolio of written pieces if you’re a writer, photographs of cakes if you’re a baker or images of designs you’ve done if you’re a designer. This portfolio could be available as a physical book that you show to customers or it could take the form of a website – you should decide what is the best form based on how you attract most of your clients.

Collect testimonials and positive reviews

You can also boost your reputation by collecting evidence of positive feedback from past customers. Testimonials tend to be pieces of private feedback that you then have the choice to make public. Positive reviews are pieces of positive feedback that you have no part in moderating. You should aim to encourage more positive reviews than negative reviews – this can be done by asking all happy customers to leave reviews, while making a point not to ask unhappy customers.

Build followers and endorsements on social media

Social media has become a useful platform for freelancers wanting to attract new customers. Having lots of followers and endorsements can help you to look more established and trusted. These can be accumulated by asking friends, family and all professional associates to follow and endorse you, as well as encouraging all you customers to follow and endorse you. Buying followers is an option, but this is not recommended due to being dishonest and not always convincing.

Improve your qualifications

Having qualifications can help to provide evidence that you are an expert in your field. For instance, if you run an IT consulting business, it could benefit you to take a Master of IT Leadership online. You can add qualification badges to your website. On top of formal qualifications, you could try seeking out business awards or achieving extra licenses to show off on your site.

Show off your expertise with a blog

Starting a blog can be a great way of boosting your reputation by giving you a platform for showing off your expertise. People largely read blogs to seek advice – you may be able to appeal to customers in your industry by offering related advice. For instance, a freelance realtor could consider blog posts on applying to mortgages, improving the value of one’s home or finding a reliable moving company. On top of writing a blog, you could consider starting a vlog – this involves creating videos. These video could be embedded on your site and could similarly be used to give advice and demonstrate your expertise.

 

 

 

Money Tips Every Freelancer Needs to Know

August 25, 2020 By in Freelancing/Self-employed Tags: , , , , 3 Comments

*Collaborative post.

Freelancing and money image

Pixabay – CCO Licence

Being a freelancer sounds like a great career choice and something that many people may choose to do. Whilst it definitely has its perks; like being able to manage your own time and being able to earn money for yourself. When it comes to being a freelancer there are also lots of other things to think about.

Money is one of them. When you do not have a regular cash flow, as you would with a standard, get paid every month job, finances become harder to manage. You need to think about what might come in (and when) as well as how this will balance against things coming out. This can be a hard balance to achieve as each month is not likely to be the same when it comes to incomings.

That said, when it comes to money tips as a freelancer, there are plenty of things that you can do to make things that little bit easier for yourself. Want to know more? Here are some of the money tips that every freelancer needs to know.

Make a monthly budget

One of the best things that you can do for yourself when it comes to managing money is to make a monthly budget of everything that you need to pay out. Note down the key payments that you need to make each month. This includes rent (or your mortgage if you own your own house) as well as your debt repayments, groceries, car payments, and your utilities. When you know this, you can think about how much you need to send out every month and therefore the minimum that you need to have coming in to keep yourself in the black.

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Pexels – CCO Licence

Save for an emergency

It is thought that you need to have around 3 months’ worth of your paycheck in your savings account as an emergency. However, when you are a freelancer, this may vary greatly. It is a much better idea to aim for around the 9-month mark to be saved away for when you may need it. This means that if anything should happen with your business and you need to close, then you know that you have some money put away to help you to cover your bills whilst you start your new project, or secure yourself a job.

Keep your money separate

You might find it much easier to manage your money and minimise the risk of any debt – something that the DTSS U.S. Complete Freedom system will show you is a really negative thing – if you keep your money separate. Have a bank account that you use to put your freelancer earnings in and then transfer the money into another bank account where you pay your bills from. This may be a little on the fiddly side, but it makes things much easier to manage and to keep on track of both your earnings and your bills too. Plus, it will make it much easier to save and to repay any debt that you may have.

Being a freelancer can be great and there plenty of benefits. But it is important to remember that it is not always plain sailing and despite all your best efforts there can be times when things don’t quite go the way that you planned. This means that it is best to do whatever you can to get a handle on your money and manage it in the best way that you can.

 

Managing your money as a freelancer

June 28, 2020 By in Blogging Tips, Freelancing/Self-employed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 11 Comments

I have been freelancing for almost 7 years now and I had to learn on the job. The many articles I read before and while on the freelancing journey did give me tips and tricks to help me as a freelancer, but none of them really prepared me for how to manage my money as a freelancer. When it comes to managing your money as a freelancer, you need to have your numbers head screwed on tight and quick or risk losing the plot. The life of a business owner can be a rollercoaster. You have to be prepared for the busy times as well as the not so busy times.

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Here are a few tips that should help in managing your money as a freelancer –

Set your prices

One of the first things I did was to set my prices. I have a fixed price for every service I offer. That way I don’t have to research or think about what price to give a client for a job. I know what I am worth and I do market research every now and again to make sure my prices are competitive.

Send out invoices

I know many freelancers don’t send out invoices to clients for various reasons but I always make sure my clients receive an invoice for every job. That way I have a trail of all my jobs, clients, and prices. It also makes submitting my tax returns easy since I have all the records in one place.

Take payment in advance

I like to take payment in advance where possible. That way I don’t have to chase payments (that is a job in itself). I appreciate clients that pay quickly and in advance. Going forward, I will be requesting to take more payment in advance. It saves time and effort.

Save for the rainy day

Most freelancers will know all about how busy work can be in some months and how quiet it can be in other months. I have been freelancing for a few years now and I know the pattern. My advice to not just the freelancers but every business owner is to save some money for the rainy day. Don’t spend all your earn, stash some away for when work is quiet.

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Don’t work for free

These days, I thankfully don’t have people asking me to work for free anymore. My work pays my bills and more, so working for free isn’t really an option. I know my worth and I am very quick to ignore anyone who questions it by asking me to work for free or for a ridiculous fee. I manage my money by not working for free.

At the end of the day, we are all different and we will manage our money in our own way. These are some of the ways I make it work for me. Being able to work for me for this long is a dream come true. It has completely changed my life for the better and I am grateful to be able to do all that I do. Apart from this blog which is my main source of income, I am also a Content Writer, Blogger Outreach Consultant, Social Media Manager, Blog Coach, Authour, and Vlogger.

How do you manage your money as a freelancer/business owner?

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