Freelancing is one of the most popular career paths as of late with many people looking to take charge of their work, and build their own business from the ground up. Oftentimes, many freelancers are able to quit their 9-to-5 and work as full time freelancers. This may seem stressful or possibly scary, but it doesn’t have to be. So, how do you turn that freelancer side gig of yours into a full-time job? This guide will help you learn how to turn your side hustle into a career and how to grow from there.
1. Assessing Your Current Side Hustle: Is It Ready to Go Full-Time?
One of the most important things you need to consider is if your side hustle is really ready to become a full-time thing. Not every project is ready for full-time status right away and jumping in just before you hit that “just right” moment might lead to more stress and financial trouble than you need.
One thing that you need to consider is the following: Am I consistently earning enough income to justify this move? You should take a look back at your past six months and see how much you earned, how much you spent on your side hustle, and then assess the future projections. If it looks good, then that’s probably a good sign to move full-time.
Another thing to think about is your client base, especially if you’re in more service-oriented industries like design and development. Having a strong client base is something that’s pretty important to have as it can give you more credibility and you can retain your current clients so that you have a more stable stream. If you don’t have many regular clients, you might want to try making some first before you switch full-time.
Another thing that you need to think about is the overall vision that you have for your own business as a freelancer. Do you know what your future goals are? Do you feel like your business makes sense to you? Do you know what goes into running a business? These are all important things to consider before making the jump.
2. Financial Safety Net
One major concern for anyone that is thinking of turning their freelancer side gig into a full-time job is the aspect of financials. Freelancing does not unfortunately have the same level of financial stability in its early stages as a more traditional job, so it’s essential to ensure that you have a financial safety net before you go ahead and make the jump.
Opening a savings account and portioning money into it each month will allow you to have a good emergency fund in case things start becoming a bit rough in life. You also want to try and diversify your streams of income and try not to rely too much on one thing only. For instance, you might want to consider something like starting a blog on the side as well. If you want to learn how to do that, then you can check out this post!
You should also be prepared mentally to deal with periods of highs and lows where money could sometimes be coming in at a high rate and other times, money might be coming in at a low rate. Ultimately, you want to be financially ready for those lows and you want to practice good financial skills during those highs, such as saving money and investing money into other things.
3. Crafting Your Freelance Brand
Now that you’re financially prepared, it’s time to really hone in on the branding side of your freelance work. As a freelancer, you are effectively your own brand. Clients who are part of your target market will be looking into your portfolio, your presence on social media, and your website in order to determine if you would fit their project. That’s why it’s important to really focus on creating a good brand for your business.
One of the first things you want to think about is the idea of your niche and your proposed value. Why should a client go for you over others? What sort of niche or skill do you target and how can you help another business with their work? These are very important things to consider in your freelancing brand.
The next thing you want to think about is your portfolio and/or your website. There are things like Behance or other platforms where you can host your portfolio, but it does help to actually have a website where you can basically show who you are and show your portfolio to potential clients. Having a self-hosted website is also better for credibility as a freelancer too!
Branding shouldn’t start when your business goes full-time. If you want to attract clients–even if you’re still in the beginning stages–you need to start positioning yourself in the market right away!
4. Finding and Landing Clients
Arguably the most challenging aspect of freelancing is finding clients, especially when you’re first starting out in the business. While your side hustle may have grown organically or you may have found local clients through word of mouth, you’re going to need to start seeking new opportunities and clientele if you want to take your business to the next stage.
One of the fastest ways to find clients is on websites like Upwork and Freelancer where you can post offers and connect with people who want your help. However, it’s important to understand that these platforms are highly competitive and that you’re not the only one who wants to do this sort of work out there.
LinkedIn is sort of like the Instagram for professionals, so this is also a great place to try and find freelance work. You might be able to find a job posting for a company and apply and if you get accepted, you can probably try and build some clients from there. It doesn’t need to be a job listing, but you’ll find people looking for professionals on there all the time, so it’s a great place to look as well.
If you know people in your life who need help, you should definitely let them know that you offer your services. You might start out working for free and then using the work you do for them to build your portfolio, or you can charge discounts. Either way though, many freelancers find that their primary circle is where they get their first clients from anyways.
It’s important to try and pitch yourself effectively and focus on what the problem is, how you can solve it, and what sort of benefit you bring to the client. It’s not about your skills, it’s about what you can do for the client.
5. Time Management
One major adjustment you’ll need to make when you transition to becoming a full-time freelancer is the idea of time management and doing it effectively. As a freelancer, there’s no pressure from anyone external to yourself to get work done. Although this freedom seems great, it can also lead to procrastination and disorganization if you’re not being careful.
You want to try and work on time management, which includes things like setting routines, using time-blocking to split the day into multiple sections so that you can get your work done in a timely manner, and more. You also want to try and focus on one task at a time and try not to multitask, since multitasking can lead to a lower rate of productivity. The idea is to get work done, not delay the work to get everything done at once.
Just as you need to schedule for your work though, it’s important to reserve time in the day for fun things and self-care. You can’t really work if you’re burnt out all the time. Now, you don’t want to overdo the self-care and breaks, but you still need them because you’re human and it’s part of life.
6. Rates and Negotiations
One of the biggest challenges any freelancer has to face is figuring out how much they should be charging for their services. If your rates are too low, then you risk burning out and not having enough return on your work. If you set them too high, then you may not find any clients willing to pay you. So, how exactly do you find that middle-ground?
Honestly, there’s no formula to this. You have to factor in your personal experience and skill-level and you have to factor in the competitor prices as well as what your expenses are. From there, you should think about what you’d accept as a base pay rate if you worked for a company and that’ll help you set your rates.
Also, sometimes, you may find yourself negotiating with clients who may want lower rates. However, you need to set your boundaries and have a clear bottom line. Don’t just take a client out of desperation because you’ll have set a precedent and you may not be able to fix that later down the line.
7. Staying Organized: Invoicing, Taxes, and Admin Work
Freelancing isn’t just about the work itself, but also about the administrative tasks that come along with it. While your side hustle was part-time, you may not have had to worry about these things so much, but they’re definitely important in a full-time business.
First, you need to work on your invoicing and you want to ensure that they are clear, professional, and include all the relevant details. You’ll need to draft contracts before working with clients and your contract will basically protect you and your client by outlining the scope of the work and the payment terms and deadlines. You also need to think about taxes, which differ depending on what country you are operating out of.
8. Building Long-Term Relationships with Clients
With all that out of the way, it’s important to think about the idea of building long-term relationships with your clientele. Although one-and-done projects are great for quick cash, you want to get recurrent clients that will be interested in your work and will want to keep working with you for all their designs.
You want to ensure that you are staying in touch, offering additional services to complement your primary work, and are delivering exceptional quality to your client. Taking care, being courteous, and knowing your worth in this line of work are all very important things to building these sorts of relationships. Finding clients that are also willing to keep working with you can help your business a lot and can significantly add to your personal credibility.
Conclusion
Although it may seem challenging to become a full-time freelancer, it should also feel very exciting and like a big step forward. It will, however, require planning, reflecting, financial preparation and more to go forward with something like this. Additionally, there are challenges involved with things like finding and keeping clients, but at the end of the day, you should think of it like this: The hard work you’ll put in at the beginning will eventually pay off at the end of the day, so don’t worry too much!
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest WIPs, book releases, posts and more!