For many people, one of the ideals that they look for in the perfect job is one that they don’t have to go into the office for each morning. Having a job where you can work from home or work from any location around the world sounds pretty good to a lot of people. To accomplish this way of life, you might want to be trying out a career as a freelancer. However, this is often more challenging than you have imagined. So to ensure that you’re able to make this career path work for yourself, here are three tips for being a successful freelancer.
Find The Right Rates
One of the great things about working as a freelancer is your ability to decide what work you want to do and set your own rate for whatever jobs you accept. But while this can give you great control, it can also be hard to know exactly what you should be setting your rates as. According to Amy Gallo, there are quite a few ways you can determine what your rates should be. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll likely want to set your rates a little lower at first. But once you have been working as a freelancer for awhile and have some clients under your belt, you should feel free to raise your prices in conjunction with your experience and products.
Create Weekly Work Plans
As a freelancer, you might feel like your workload is either feast or famine. During the feast times, it can be very challenging to manage all your work without having someone constantly checking on your progress. To combat this, Mariliza Karrera, a contributor to CareerAddict.com, recommends that you plan out your week ahead of time. This will help keep you on track to finish the necessary project within the timeline you’ve been given or set for yourself. As new projects come along, make sure you have the deadline set for at least a week out in the future so you can incorporate this new work into the next week.
Get Your Finances In Order
Before you take the leap to be a freelancer, you’re going to want to ensure that you have enough financial stability to get you through any times where your workload is slower. To do this, Ashley Hanger, a contributor to Freelancer.com, advises that you get an emergency fund that you can tap into when your finances get a little tight. While this might be having to put your freelancing career off for a bit so you can save up, you’ll be glad you did when things get rough.
If you’re interested in becoming a successful freelancer, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how you can do this.