6 Tips To Become An Advanced Freelancer

Angela Hewitt is a website designer who specializes in search engine optimization. She started freelancing straight out of college, knowing that she is good at what she does, and not wanting to go the usual route of starting at an entry-level position in a large web design company. When Angela first started, she whipped together a very fast website, so that she'd have a sort of “online business card” and set to work contacting everyone she could get a hold of so that she could build her experience. For a while, Angela remained very busy, but soon, as her direct contacts began to fade, she was experiencing lulls in her work load. Sometimes she'd have a great contract, but other times it would feel as though there wasn't another contract out there. This had a large impact on her overall income, and her sense of security in her job; never knowing what the next month would do to her bank account.

This was the time when Angela came to me. We sat down together with my book “Freelance Contracts in 48 Hours” and discussed some of its chapters in terms of her own freelance business. What we came up with was that Angela was thinking too much in the “now” and wasn't doing enough long-term planning — which was based on 6 tips to become an advanced freelancer.

With the techniques and strategies from the book, as well as Angela's own gift for creativity, we developed a strategy to build a more consistent, organized way for drawing contracts for a more steady income. Since that time, she has worked 6 days every week, and is beginning to save for a Caribbean vacation for this winter.

This issue of how to become a successful freelancer will discuss, and as readers, how you too can think long-term for your freelance business, as well as additional techniques to polish your marketing strategy. It will discuss the following topics of 6 tips to become an advanced freelancer to help you with maximum profitability and enjoyment in your freelancing career:

1. Building a business for the long term
2. I bid $1 for your project
3. Google Adwords on your site
4. Using a agent to land projects
5. Offline Promotions Matter Too
6. Guest Freelance Tip Of The Week

Almost every day I receive emails from fellow freelancers, wondering what it is that I did before I started counseling and advising other freelancers in obtaining more contracts and getting the most success out of their own businesses. Since this is such a topic of interest, I've decided to include it in the wemovedubai blog.

I'd also like to emphasize that I am more than happy to accept tips from all kinds of freelancers. I mean sure, a writer might find it easy to write tips, but freelancers in other fields have their unique perspectives, so designers, consultants, programmers and others should feel just as welcome to send in those tips on Contact Us page :)

Building a Business for the Long Term As Freelancer

One of the most frustrating elements of owning a freelance business is the instability of the income. Every freelancer at one time or another has asked him or herself “will I have enough money this month?”

This is why it is so very vital to build your business based upon a strategy of long-term income. This is exactly what Angela Hewitt and I discussed, so that she could get the most enjoyment, success, and reward from her own freelance business.

Long-term income from a freelance business starts with a strong foundation. You need to know your business inside and out, create a solid reputation, market effectively, and keep those contracts coming.

In order to build a long stream of income, you need to start an intensive marketing plan right from the very beginning of your business.

The next step is to build a financial plan for the next 3 years; though this will most certainly change over time, you should have both short and long-term goals to follow in order to maintain financial security.

With a financial plan set up, you can go about designing your marketing plan which should involve a multitude of different techniques and levels of marketing. This need not mean a great deal of money from your pocket, but you will need to dedicate a large amount of creativity and time to the matter. After all, 6 tips to become an advanced freelancer will bolster your career as a successful Freelancer.

Thus, you will need a plan for your time. You need to make sure that no one of your tasks overshadows the next to the point that you become ineffectual. You need to schedule how many hours you will dedicate to marketing, as well as all of the other tasks related to your freelancing business. This can be done monthly, and then broken down to the different working days of the week. Don't forget to schedule in your days off!

In the long run, you should have built 2 powerful free contract generators for creating the income stream you've dreamt of:

* Referrals and
* Networking

I get quotes all the time with titles such as this one as an eye catcher. As much as this might seem interesting for a split second, the sales speech that follows always states that he or she doesn't know what to bid.

This is in no way impressive to an employer, and when it comes to catching the employer's eye, it only works if you can keep the interest long enough to award you the contract.

Therefore, you need to find ways to bid that are both professional and eye catching. One great way to be certain that you've sent the right price is to quote what you think you should bid, and then make a note in the message board for the project, asking for more information so that you can provide a more accurate quote.

I Bid $1 for Your Project As Freelancer

I get quotes all the time with titles such as this one as an eye catcher. As much as this might seem interesting for a split second, the sales speech that follows always states that he or she doesn't know what to bid.

This is in no way impressive to an employer, and when it comes to catching the employer's eye, it only works if you can keep the interest long enough to award you the contract.

Therefore, you need to find ways to bid that are both professional and eye catching. One great way to be certain that you've sent the right price is to quote what you think you should bid, and then make a note in the message board for the project, asking for more information so that you can provide a more accurate quote.

Google Adwords On Your Site

I'm constantly being asked whether Google Adwords is a good addition for a freelancer's website, because they are being heavily advertised, and greatly recommended by many so-called web “experts.”

Google Adwords is a pay-per-click advertising venue through the Google search engine. These are basically colored text ad boxes put in the column to the right of the regular search results on Google and other search sites and portals that use Google search results. Google is allowing website owners to create a stream of revenues by adding these colored text boxes – driven by Google's own technology - to their sites. Every click that is made by visitors will allow the site owner to make a bit more money.

However, from a marketing point of view, and from the point of view of another freelancer, I would never, I repeat never recommend Google Adwords. After all, once you've done all of your hard work to get people to visit your site, do you really want to have a tool within it that sends your hard-earned traffic back away somewhere else? Perhaps to your competitors!

Using an Agent to Land Projects For Freelancer Project

A common freelancing question is “do I need an agent.” The answer: it depends on what you want out of your freelancing career. An agent will land the contracts for you, and will ensure that you gain contracts of a certain caliber, but they will take a cut. Will you be obtaining enough contracts that it will be worth it? Will the time you save from having to search for contracts allow you to earn enough money to make the agent worthwhile?

An agent represents the freelancer to potential employers. In other words, the main job of an agent is to find contracts for freelancers. Agents also negotiate rights on behalf of the freelancer they represent.

Most agents have a specialty. That is, there are agents who specialize in computers, writers, the internet, photography, etc.

The agent receives a percentage, usually 15%, of any advance and of all royalties. Making sale is getting paid.

If you ask me, should I use one, well, the answer is not always a definitely yes – I recommend you check it by each case. But think about it, how much money do you spend on marketing? 5%? 10%? 20% of your income? Maybe having an agent could help you with your marketing efforts.

Offline Promotions Matter Too As Freelancer

It's important that not all of your promotions happen online. You need to put a face on your services as well. How? That's easy. Use the following ideas to help you promote your business offline:

* Business cards
* Brochures
* Networking
* Word of mouth through everyone you know
* Phone calls (not telemarketing, just calling up potential customers and introducing yourself)
* Great customer service
* Referrals

Naturally you won't need all of these, just those that work best for you. Create a long-term marketing plan for yourself to be certain that you're getting the most out of your marketing strategy.

Guest Freelance Tip of the Week

One place that I've found which holds a source of practically never-ending, industry-specific information and tips is in online forums. These allow freelancers with similar jobs to exchange tips, leads, strategies and information, and to network, too! Plus, it's nice to know that other people are going through the same thing. As a freelancer, I don't often actually talk to people in my exact profession, so knowing that other people understand.**