Times are tough and many people are looking for alternative ways to earn additional income or to cut back spending. Every day more individuals are turning to freelancing as a solution to the challenges of our current economy.
Many project managers, CEOs and entrepreneurs are delegating some of their workload to professional freelancers. If your thinking about jumping into the outsourcing community and earn your living freelancing, then you will want to keep reading. I will reveal to you (5) helpful tips to get you started off right.
Have Money On Hand Before You Start
Not everyone has the luxury of starting out with money tucked away but it would be very helpful to you if you can save money up before you plunge into freelancing. Even if your currently employed and only doing freelancing as a side job, your creative powers will flow alot better without the pressure that comes when you are short on cash.
Set Your Fees Carefully
It is important to carefully consider different factors such as your skills and experience and what the market will bear when deciding what prices to charge for your services. Many new freelancers eager to gain as much work as they can start out setting their prices too low. While it may be helpful to get started by charging a bit less than others, be sure to first do research on what prices are currently being offered for your field. You don't want to sell yourself too short. Remember that you reflect those in your industry. If you accept too low a fee this will affect how others are able to price their projects.
Take Full Advantage of the Internet
There are many excellent tools you can use online that will make your freelancing career more productive. Using time management tools will save you alot of money and time.
Choose Where You Will Spend Your Time
Working Decide where you will work. Do you have a home office free of distractions from others where you can close the door or perhaps you "office" is in a more central location like the family room. You may even consider renting a desk space in small office. I saw an ad in the local paper last week for such an offer. A small computer company was renting out a desk space for a web designer with the promise of a bit of work on the side. Wouldn't that be just perfect if your a web designer?
Network With Other Outsourcers Get out there and mingle!
There are lots of great places both online and offline where you can connect with others. Websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MeetUp are excellent online resources for networking.
Following the above steps will help you build a strong foundation for freelance business. One more thing to remember... when your a freelancer it is often feast or famine. While it is true that you want to be careful not to line up more work that you can handle, you do want to be sure to always keep marketing. You never know when a project your about to do becomes cancelled.
Angela Chavez earns her living working online as a fulltime freelancer. You can read more about freelancing by visiting her blog at: http://wahmfreelancer.blogspot.com/ or Search For Freelance Projects now at http://www.freelancer.com
