How to start your freelance business

Do you want to make money with your knowledge and passions? In this post I’ll show you how to start your freelance Business saving time and helping you to make money from your talent!

Who is a freelancer ? A freelancer is a person who uses its expertise to create a business by providing services to others. A freelancer could be a writer, an illustrator, a web designer, a social media pro, a consultant , a web developer , etc .

What do you need to start your freelance business?

1. Identifies your business

make a list of your skills , of all the activities in which you are most knowledgeable and choose the best for you . You can choose the one in which you are most expert or the one that you love the most . If you love one in which you are not so expert remind that you can always learn 🙂 It will be easier and funnier if you will start a business that you really love!

2. Analyze your clients and identifies products / services to sell

This diagram will help you to identify the best products to sell .

Mix together what you like to do and what people would pay for , you will get the products that you love to do and that will make you earn

3.Choose the name of your business

This is one of the most fundamental part of the process to build your freelance business.

To help you to choose the perfect name I’ve listed something that you should consider when deciding the name of your business :

• Will you ever want to sell your business in the future? If so , you shouldn’t add your name
• Will you want to add different products ? If so, don’t add specific keyword in your business name (e.g. if you are a wedding planner and one day you will organize also graduation party you shouldn’t add the keyword “wedding” in your business )
• Your business will be funny or serious ? If you are a tutor for children you can choose a funnier name, while if you are a consultant or a web marketing expert you can choose a serious name .
• Will you like your business name in 4 years?

4. Build the identity of your brand 

You have to make known your business to as many people as possible. Most freelancers work online then a website is absolutely necessary, but if you’re thinking of starting this activity locally (providing services only in your city “in person”) you have to dispose of these items:

1. A website showing your skills and describe what your business deals with (insert a photo and some personal information, of course, do not forget to make visible your contact e-mail and / or telephone number) ;
2. A portfolio that illustrates some of your past work to better show your skills: for example if you’re a web designer shows some website you’ve accomplished by inserting the link, or Show logos and images that you have created. If you’re starting your own business and you have not yet made any products for your customers, you can show your skills by creating products for hypothetical customers 🙂 for example if you are a writer  prepare some articles such as if you really had requested the service, people will notice your skills and will trust you 🙂  ;
3. A blog  to show your expertise and reach more customers. Create post where show what you can do ;
4. A list of your offered products.

5. Set your prices

Set the prices for your own products is never easy, but there are some tips that you can follow to avoid pricing too high or too low.

You can choose to set prices based on your working time or based on the cost of the product.

Prepare a list of activities you do for your business , how long each takes to carry it out and the price per hour for each activity. For example if you’re a web designer you can charge 20 € per hour for the initial consultation on the designers and € 50 per hour for the development of design, or you can decide to charge 500 € for the finished product and vary  the price according to customizations.

6. Prepare a contract

In the document you will need to specify what has been agreed in order to avoid mistakes during product development or delivery of the product / service. Things well written and defined avoid complications and misunderstandings;)

7. Choose your payment method

If you work exclusively online, you can choose to get paid through PayPal, while if you are in direct contact with your customers you can opt for cash, checks or something else.

8. Launch your Business

After following all the above steps  you are ready to start your own business 🙂 Turn your ability in profits and have fun doing what you like but remember, be freelancers allows you to work from home in pajamas but does not mean it requires less time and energies compared to another job!At first it will be very challenging because you will need to take care of everything and you will have to concentrate to introduce your new business and reach as many customers as possible 🙂

Well, what do you think about? Are you ready to start your FREELANCE BUSINESS? 🙂 🙂 It’ll be great ! If you have any questions or need help please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below 🙂