How To Start Freelancing With No Experience (Real-Life Example)

Do you want to start freelancing without experience and make money without corporate schedules? If you are interested in it, keep reading this article.

Practical life is very different from the theoretical work you studied in college. Experience is what makes a difference.

Experience shows how patience, perseverance, and perspiration lead to real success in your business. There is gain, there is a loss, there is hope, and there is hopelessness.

Managing a business is not simply about starting it. You must dedicate time and money to it. On the flip side, an online business is a lot easier as you can outreach millions of people through social media marketing and other related marketing techniques.

Brilliant students start taking freelancing projects early (before graduation) and learn to establish their own freelancing businesses. Moreover, freelance practice is a great job that offers flexible hours, flexible workloads, flexible office space, and flexible rewards. This doesn’t mean you should take it as a side job and pay no heed to it.

Students dealing with heavy debt find a bright chance to flee the stress of payments every month.

What Do the Statistics Say?

Many students are skeptical about starting a business of their own due to fear of failure. Let’s see what the statistics tell about the overall success ratio of freelancers.

More than 54 million Americans are forgoing the traditional career to start a freelancing business.

A study conducted at the University of Phoenix showed that among the 1600 adult participants—below 30—around 63% were either business owners or desired to own one shortly.

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In the 2017 Upwork survey, about 53.7 million people freelanced. While in terms of success rate, MBO Partner’s study showed that over 3.3 million independents are earning more than $100,000, and the number of successes is rising.

How To Start Successful Freelancing With No Experience?

The first advice is not simply to focus on the success part. Instead, stay focused on the learning part. The greater the experience, the better you are at the game.

To set up your freelance business like a pro, follow these 5 pro tips to help you start it right:

1) Know Your Goals and Understand Your Personal Abilities

Clarity is the key to achieving any target. If you are unsure whether freelancing is your dream job, you should rethink the option. Is it because you find it exciting to be your own boss? Is it attractive because there are flexible job hours and a great way to earn extra dollars?

There will be peers telling you that you do not have these particular skills and cannot run a business. To ward off the negativity, simply be clear about what you intend to do. If you are sure of your abilities, everything else will fall into place with time.

Take some time to understand what kind of freelance business suits your skills. Is it related to freelance writing, designing, web development, photography, and so on? You must know what lies within you. What kind of powers are you going to unleash from within you? The right decision will determine the success ratio of your business in both the short-term and long term.

Set short-term and long-term goals related to staying on track. A business setup needs a lot of time and dedication to start running at an average pace.

Most students fail to give proper time and consider it simply a side business that can be given extra time. They make it their least priority. This leads to a colossal failure.

Have realistic goals, expectations, and income targets to avoid hopelessness. Have a clear idea of how the business will work and where you will gain clients.

2) Brand Yourself and Your Business

Truly own what is yours. Branding your business or yourself are interchangeable ways to get highlighted in a crowd for what you do. It is a way to be remembered and get some space in the potential client’s mind in the long term.

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Branding yourself or the brand is the question for you. But do you understand the two terms already?

Branding yourself is when you are marketing your skills and services. You can set up social media profiles with your name to reach out to the audience. It benefits you because people prefer to rely solely on others rather than the products. Once the trust relationship has been built, a solid businessman-client relationship is developed. Work on your personal and professional skills to put forward your skills in a secure way.

Branding your business is about creating a name that signifies your business. It is a more professional way of running a business and can make you win large projects based on the success level of your personal brand. To team up with other freelancers, a brand is a great way to connect with them. Suppose your freelancing business requires a graphic designer, a web developer, a team of writers, and a social media expert to pace the success level. In that case, you must show them how successful and well-established your brand is.

3) Build Your Digital Presence

Digital presence is essential in the online world to be found by potential customers or clients. Make your mark in the online market by building an impressionable website. A website that builds the trust of the customers in your brand!

You can increase your online presence via online portfolios, connecting with potential clients, SEO of the website, blogging, and social media marketing.

Online Portfolios

An online portfolio is a must to let your clients know your skills and understand your business. What will you show prospective clients if you lack an adequately developed online portfolio?

It is a significant risk and challenge for businesses to hire fresh graduates or student freelancers if they are unsure what you will deliver. Therefore, a portfolio will showcase your skills and convince hundreds of potential clients to take your assistance.

Socialize with Potential Clients

Students usually are active on social media platforms. Why not use it to interact with clients and build your brand. You may get connected with professionals who can offer you valuable tips regarding your business. Critiquing potential clients is also a helpful tool to upgrade your business. Moreover, through a long-term relationship with the clients, you may win their hearts and offer them assistance according to your skill set.

Optimize Your Website For Search Engine

SEO is the game plan to get on the front page of Google. How? Keep checking where your brand appears whenever you put it in the search bar? Not the first, second, or third page? Here comes the task of SEO, which requires a lot of things to fall into place. You can learn SEO optimization by taking online courses. It is a way to target a specific audience and attract them to your site. However, SEO optimization is a mind-boggling task that takes time, effort, practice, and experience. But, once you are a master of it, you can offer your skills to the clients.

Blogging

Blogging is another way to connect with people around the world. It is a task of effective communication with others and proving your skills to others. When you share your experiences related to business, you are showcasing to the clients your skill set in the most precise possible manner. It is a great way to earn the trust of potential clients.

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Social Media Marketing

It is the art of manipulating social media platforms for your own good. You can find clients, network with clients, and win them via social media. Moreover, social media marketing increases your chance of reaching the maximum number of people.

4) Appear on Freelance Job Sites

Build your presence on freelancing platforms and bid for as many jobs as possible. It will increase your chances of meeting potential clients and gaining experience by working on their projects. You can opt for a freelancing site that suits your expertise level. You can look up Lancelist which provides many site links that offer freelancing opportunities. Once you have gained the necessary experience.

Besides these options, you can consider building a network of friends, clients, startup peers, etc., to raise your business value. It is an old yet the best way to win potential clients. Why? Because the trust level is already well-established. So, you can get long-term jobs from clients. Your friends and family can also help you find clients, businesses, and people seeking someone with your skill set.

Moreover, you can also network at university and business events to win your clients. All that matters is confidence, personality, experience, and effective communication.

Sites to look for freelance jobs include,

• Freelancer
• Fiverr
• Search Remotely

5) Money Management Is Essential

Money management is the most challenging job for students and almost everyone. In freelancing, managing financing is one hell of a task. You must budget your money smartly.

Whether you are taking federal or private student loans, you must remember that the money is meant to be repaid.

By taking on freelance work, students dealing with heavy debt are given the perfect opportunity to ease the stress associated with hefty, seemingly-unending monthly payments.

While freelancing, budget your money to manage your college costs and loan repayment amounts for the first few months (till you are well-established).

Of course, this additional income means that the tax filing process will differ slightly. Since you’re technically your own boss, you are responsible for reporting your income and withholdings. 

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Budgeting

Budgeting is all about income minus expenditure. Keep a close track of it. Start by writing down the monthly expenses, including your college costs, living costs, rent, and due loan repayments. It allows you to have a clear look at what you MUST achieve. Moreover, you can save some amount before freelancing or maybe opt for a student loan to manage money for the initial months. Moreover, cut the cost to a minimum to manage your budget.

Invoice

Besides budgeting, learn to create an invoice- a way clients pay you. You will have to break down all the project costs, provide detailed information about your company, and provide other related things.

Accounting

Accounting is another aspect of the freelancing business that records how much is coming in and going out. Students often overlook this aspect of the company and simply focus on what’s coming in every month. It leads to massive failures.

Keep a record of all the financial statements, such as invoices, quotes and estimates, profit and loss accounts, and balance sheets. Or perhaps you can reach out to a cheap online accountant to manage them.

Tax

Register yourself as a freelancer to your income tax department. Self-employed businessmen have to pay a different quota of tax.

6) Create Professional Contracts

A contract displays your professionalism as a freelancer and allows you to work with more security. There is a lot of fraud in the online arena, so you must keep to your safe lane.

Moreover, a contract details what has been promised or agreed upon and what will happen if things go wrong. It provides security on both ends.

Contracts vary based on the type of freelancing business you manage: intellectual property, agreeing to deliverables, your payments, and payment terms and conditions (maybe the advance you will be taking).

The intellectual property contract details the copyright issues of the product you have created.

Agreeing on deliverables is about forming an agreement about what, how, and when you deliver the product.

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The fee contract refers to the amount you will get paid at the end of the project.

Payment terms refer to the terms and conditions agreed upon before starting a project.

Final Verdict

These 6 pro tips can get your freelance business started in the most professional way possible. You will be able to avoid many pitfalls newcomers have to face due to a new experience in the business field.

Note: This guest post on how to start freelancing without any experience was contributed by Taylor Hill. If you have something valuable to contribute, check our guest blogging guidelines.