7 useful tips for freelancers and anyone who wants to become one

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sooner or later, every office worker thinks that it would be great to drop everything and go on free bread. For an outside observer, the world of freelancing is pink cotton candy clouds, but in reality it has its own rules, and quite strict ones. Today our guest Yaroslav Andriyanov will share with you his thoughts on how to organize your work and build relationships with customers so as not to burn out in the very first months.

After I successfully left the office chair and chose the fun and unbridled life of a freelancer, a lot has changed: attitude towards life, towards money, towards my own business; it became possible to travel and be mobile. In such benefits that fell on me, I seriously thought: what is it like, a successful freelance? I didn't think for long and decided to formulate seven principles that allow me not only to constantly stay afloat, but also not to lose the most valuable asset of free artists - loyal and time-tested regular customers.

So where did I come to …

1. Do Better, Do More, Do Faster

Let's say the volume of your task is 100 units. Make it at 105. And not in five days, as agreed, but in four and a half. Especially if you have recently come to freelance, and even more so if you are already an established professional. Give, share, be broadcasters. It was this point that allowed me, in the shortest possible time, not only to get out of the office whirlwind, but also to go on a long journey without a return ticket: my customers were waiting for me while I rode a motorcycle around the islands of Indonesia or wandered through the mountains of Nepal. Trust is a crystal ball that is very difficult to restore once broken.

2. Take responsibility for the work done and the given word

A logical continuation of the first point. Have you messed with the site? Do not excuse yourself, fix it. Did you give the floor to get in touch at 13:00? Let the customer know at 12:55 pm that you are ready to talk. It's amazing how many freelancers burn out on such a simple thing as punctuality. Time is the only irreplaceable resource, disrespect for which leads straight to the black lists of customers.

3. Solve the problems of the client, and do not climb into his pocket

Freelancer - from the word free, that is, free. And in order to carry this proud name, you need to be able to work with clients correctly. Listen to the one who came to you, identify his pains, solve his problems. The customer does not need a website or text that we make. He needs a solution: an increase in sales, audience coverage, traffic movement, and so on. Professionalism is attentiveness, money comes as we are useful to the market and society.

One of the most common beginner questions is: "How much?"

It is the desire to row under oneself, lamenting "Mine, to me", like no other, betrays a non-professional in a person.

It also does not allow him to go beyond all known freelance exchanges. I also sinned with this at first. And a little later, when I pumped up a little, I saw how those to whom I began to delegate some of my tasks were following the same rake.

4. Take a prepayment

The simplest principle that collects internally and provides fuel for the start of a new project. Plus, you have the confidence that the customer will not shit at the moment when all that remains is to upload the site to the hosting. For me, only prepayment is a guarantee of getting started, without it I don't even open my software for development. However, if you are a beginner and your portfolio is minimal, it is better to work on simple exchanges like Work-zilla, which acts as a guarantor and arbiter for all transactions between the parties. In the future, when you develop a name and portfolio, prepayment should become one of the fundamental factors of interaction.

When working with regular customers, I often neglect this rule. The established trusting relationship allows us to cooperate on more flexible terms, up to requests to replenish Skype for future fixes on the site.

5. Take the full payment after the completion of all work

Sometimes you come across customers who are ready to pay the full amount for the work before it is finished. It seems to be nice, but … There is a very subtle point here: motivation disappears. With money in your pocket, you try to close the project as quickly as possible. In this regard, quality begins to suffer, laziness appears, more often you have to force yourself to work with kicks. Therefore, I always leave a carrot for myself, which I will take only at the end of the work. Nice material bonus for a successful ending.

6. Start doing

I discovered this life hack for myself when I was studying at the university. I called it the 10-15 Minutes Rule, and later I learned that I had invented my own bicycle.;)

All the salt lies in the way the brain functions: after being drawn into a task, then it simply does not want to switch to anything else.

But the brain always resists the conscious effort to start something. Moreover, the same principle works in other areas of life: from fixing the faucet in the kitchen, ending with going out to training or hiking. After successfully taming ten minutes of mental obstinacy, I suddenly understood the nature of laziness.

Laziness is a lack of volitional effort to just START!

7. Don't be afraid of low-paying orders

Sometimes there is a lull in the line of orders. Old projects are closed, and new ones have not been opened yet. You can breathe out … Breathe out, breathe out, but there are still no orders. Slowly, irritation begins, turning into panic: “Ah-ah, no orders !!! Ah-ah, soon there will be no money !!! A-ah, I will be lost !!! A-a-a, everyone will die !!! As soon as I see the manifestations of such tantrums on the mental level, I decide to arrange an action. I go to the stock exchange and take orders with a cost 30-50% lower than my established prices.

The purpose of such an event is to remove the block of disturbing feelings and impressions in one's own mind, so that instead of "A-ah, there are no orders!" it broadcasted “Excellent! We have an order, we are working. " A bonus to this technique can be the expansion of the zone of its regular customers. The more people you talk to, the more likely it is that someone will tell someone about you. However, I never work for free! Even if I do not take money for my service, I ask you to do something for me in return. This allows you and the customer to value each other's time and effort.

The most surprising thing is that this technique in conjunction with the first item works almost flawlessly: in eight cases out of 10, I had a stream of orders that could not stop for weeks. Apparently, esotericists are right, speaking about the direct influence of the way of thinking on the reality in which we live.

Instead of a conclusion

I learned some of the above principles from wonderful people who taught me how to make money remotely. The other part was developed empirically, colored in my personal palette. But no matter what each of these principles is generated and wherever it is heard, they all have the same goal: to make us more successful, more conscious and more effective.