Looking to Grow Your Freelance Business? Here Are the Steps You Should Follow
Congratulations! Running a freelance business is one of the best feats you can try in your life. This kind of business allows you to put in just enough work to still have enough valuable time for yourself and your loved ones.
However, just because things are better in the work-life balance segment, it doesn’t mean that running and growing a freelance business isn’t difficult.
Just like with other types of businesses, you need to invest a lot of effort, time, money, and patience if you want to succeed.
One shortcoming of running a freelance business is that many clients would much rather trust a big company that is run by people in suits instead of placing their projects in the hands of hard-working freelancers.
Now, all of this means that you really need to put your foot in it if you want to grow and succeed as a freelance business owner. Fortunately, below you can find some steps you will need to take if you want to achieve success.
Create a spick-and-span website
Since you are a freelance business owner, your business’s website is the actual face of your brand. And, if you want to attract clients and keep them, your online image has to be flawless.
Choose a good hosting plan, be careful when crafting your domain name, and don’t overdo the whole web design process. Aim at simplicity and functionality. Also, squeeze in a nice theme to add an aesthetically pleasing touch to your website.
Your business website should provide your potential clients all the necessary details to make them consider doing business with you.
For starters, you need to have a page dedicated to your portfolio. Be proud of your work and show it to the world. This way, your potential clients will see that you are not joking around and that many other people prospered from working with you.
Also, make sure that you display your credentials. For instance, if you have a college degree, make sure to leave that piece of information on your website. Potential clients want you to convince them that you are the right person for the job. Displaying your diploma is a good way to do so.
Additionally, you can also ask for written testimonials or even video testimonials and put them on the homepage of your website. This is a tip many marketing professionals always mention.
According to various stats, testimonials can work wonders because customers would much rather trust other people than a company before buying something. So, if you manage to get testimonials from people similar to your target audience, your website will be a success.
Tidy up the finances
A number of freelancers forget that keeping track of each cent is of the utmost importance. Especially if the aim is to grow.
Logging every single transaction, both the ones coming in and the ones going out has to be a priority. Everything has to be in the books, no matter the amount. Sometimes smaller projects keep a business afloat, don’t forget that.
A good piece of advice many accountants share is the ‘three account method.’ This concept is fairly simple to understand:
- The first account is used for spending.
- The second account is the one for taxes. You only take out money to pay taxes and that is it.
- The third one is the one where you put aside some money for rainy days or retirement funds.
Also, if you can, find software solutions to help you with tracking. Some apps can really help you with logging and recording each transaction. There are even some software solutions that work as a PayPal fee calculator.
Seeing that you are a freelancer, you are most likely moving cash through PayPal. So, don’t let any fees go unnoticed. Use the calculator app and know exactly where each dollar went.
Go an extra step for your clients
There is no denying that you need to make your clients happy. If you want to succeed and grow, you have to produce good work and satisfy them.
However, if you really want to set yourself apart, especially if you are still in the starting phases, you need to over-deliver. This is a great way to make yourself visible and show up on the radars of high-paying clients.
It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t matter if you found your clients through your personal networks or through some job platforms. Bottom line is that you need to go an extra step to find more new opportunities.
When you over-deliver, you get more repeat work, more referrals, and ultimately make better progress. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should prioritize some clients over others. Just show them how serious you are.
Once you develop a few strong relationships, it will become easier to attain new ones and grow.
Master the social media game
In order to grow, you need to perfect your skills and find better clients. The work will become more demanding, but you will be better rewarded for it.
One great way to land better jobs and thus learn new things is to master your social media game. A lot of employers rely on various platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook to recruit people for their projects.
This is mainly because these networks have a huge talent pool to tap into. So, you have to be on top of your social media game if you want to find and connect with top clients.
LinkedIn is a network designed for professionals in all industries. This is the platform where a lot of talented people seek work, but it is also a network with thousands of recruiters finding the right people for various companies.
Therefore, you need to create a good page on LinkedIn where you will post regularly and keep all the details accurate and up-to-date. Also, connect to your colleagues and join groups to monitor the trends and look for job opportunities.
Facebook isn’t just for sharing memes and interesting stuff on your wall. Facebook can be used for work purposes too.
You can find numerous useful Facebook groups where people from your industry meet and discuss various things. It often happens that people seek the right talent on this platform too.
Facebook groups are really good for meeting your colleagues, getting referrals, and creating a network of clients.
Instagram is the most popular platform today. However, it really depends on the industry you’re in whether you will be able to take advantage of it.
For instance, if you are a graphic designer, this platform will be great for you. Instagram is made for photo and video content. In other words, it is a network where people mainly share visuals.
So, if you happen to work in an industry where visual content matters, sharing it on your Instagram business page can boost your business.
Once you learn the basics, you can start figuring out some other useful things such as the best time to post on Instagram, using hashtags, and so on.
Be open to changes
You can have an education, you can have serious skills, you can have whatever you need to be a true expert. But, if you are not open to changes, you will be gone in no time.
There is no denying that adaptive skills have been the leading criteria for survival through history. So, if you want to survive and grow your business, you need to be willing to adapt.
Considering how fast new trends pop up these days, you will have to open yourself up to them and accept them.
Many fields are extremely open to changes. Writers, designers, and even coders know how true this is. Industry developments and updates are inevitable. The only question is whether you are willing to adapt to them and learn or not.
One thing is for certain. If you are not willing to learn and change, you can’t really expect much success and growth.
