7 Things You Can Do TODAY to Kickstart Your Freelancing Career

The start of a new year is traditionally the time to think about change. If a jump to freelancing is on your agenda, then read on for seven things you can do today to get your freelance career started.

Note that unless you’re superhuman, you probably can’t do all seven of these in one day, but you can certainly get started on them!

1. Create a Name and Logo

One of the most fun things about going freelance is coming up with a business name for yourself. I chose my business name and designed myself a logo when I still had a fulltime job, and wanted to daydream about working for myself.

There are a few important things to keep in mind when choosing a name:

1. It should be memorable – Almost anything can become memorable with repetition, but some names are just more boring than others. For example I would stay away from acronyms – RBC design, HSL programming… it all kind of sounds the same after a while.
2. It should be (relatively) distinct – It’s difficult to find anything totally unique, but try to make sure there isn’t already a company with your exact name doing the same thing as you. You can do this by Googling the name to see what shows up and checking government company registration records in your country. Here in Australia you can do this online and I’d guess most other countries offer the same service.
3. It should be you! – This is your freelance business after all, so make it personal. My freelance business is/was called Good – because my partner and I wanted to do good things for the world! Alas the government here wouldn’t let us register an adjective so technically it was Good Creative.

One choice that you will need to make is whether your business name should include your own name in it. So for example mine might have been “Collis Ta’eed Design” or something like that. There are advantages and disadvantages either way, so you may wish to read more on Naming Your Freelancing Business – To Personalize or Not?

Logo design is of course something that you’ll need a designer for. If you aren’t a designer yourself then you can either hire a freelancer (try posting a job for free on our FreelanceSwitch job boards) or, if you really don’t want to spend any money yet, then choose a nice typeface for yourself, a colour palette and just make sure you always write it exactly the same … and promise me that when you have the money you’ll hire a designer because branding is important and there’s more to it than you might think!

2. Register Your Business

Registering your business isn’t as fun as coming up with a name and a logo, but it’s an essential part of becoming a freelancer. There is also something very satisfying about receiving a letter from the government saying your business is now official.

Registering a business is different in different parts of the world, so the easiest thing to do is to search for ‘register small business your country” in Google and read up. The process is usually something like:

1. Choose a business structure
   Common business structures include sole proprietorship, partnership and company. Generally speaking the first two are easier and cheaper to register but offer less legal protection. A company structure will mean more tax and legal requirements but will limit how liable you are personally for anything that goes wrong. In really simple terms if everything was to go pear shaped in your business and you were being sued, having a company would mean that no-one could take your personal possessions – your house, your car. However a company, at least here in Australia, will also mean you have to do things like have directors, pay (higher) annual fees, jump through more hoops for your taxes and so on. This is of course an over-simplification, and you need to read up on the choices. It’s also a good idea to find an accountant or lawyer to help you particularly if you’re not sure what the benefits and drawbacks are.
2. Fill Out Some Forms & Lodge Them
   Once you know what sort of business you want to register, you will have to get a hold of some forms (here in Australia you can download them off the net) and fill them all out and send them off. Like all government forms, they are usually a bit troublesome but reasonably straight forward.
3. Wait for your Certificate of Registration
   Once registered you should receive some sort of certification, often with a business number. Here in Australia the number you receive is then a number you have to quote on all your bills/invoices when you do work.

(Note: If you’ve already registered your business in your country, I’d be curious to hear if the process is the same as I’ve outlined, so leave a comment and let us know! Oh and my apologies for making everything a bit Australia-centric)

3. Prepare Your Web Portfolio

When you apply for jobs you’re going to need something to show. Although you can get away with just sending samples of your work, it’s best to have a web portfolio. Having a portfolio online means you can easily refer people to your work through email, via a business card or in person. Without a web portfolio you are either using a physical portfolio (mostly only designers will do this) or sending samples via email. While both of these can be acceptable, they simply aren’t as efficient as having a website.

Caution to Web Designers: Although there is a temptation to produce the be-all, end-all portfolio for yourself, it is better to have something than nothing. So start simple and get it out, then you can always complicate and redesign later.

If you aren’t a web designer then fear not because there are plenty of services to help you get a portfolio online without touching code:

• CarbonMade – www.carbonmade.com – Example Portfolio
  It’s quick, it’s free for a small portfolio (5 projects) and it’s cool in a cutesy web way.
• Designer’s Toolbox – www.designerstoolbox.com/ – Example Portfolio
  Unlike the other services here you have to pay for this one. It’s $30 a month which is not a huge sum to pay if you’re getting work from your portfolio, so worth a look.
• Coroflot - www.coroflot.com – Example Portfolio
  I haven’t used Coroflot before, but they’ve been around for a while and have a ton of members so I figure they must be doing something right. The down side appears to be that you have a large Coroflot header on top of your portfolio.
• Behance - www.behance.net – Example Portfolio
  Like Coroflot, Behance is more of a social network with portfolios as the centre piece. Nonetheless
• WordPress - wordpress.com
  Wordpress offer free blogging accounts on WordPress.com which can be customised with themes. Why would you want a blog? Well you can turn it into a portfolio fairly easily, particularly if you’re a writer. Even if you want to show graphics, just use the posts as portfolio items.

Know some other portfolio services? Leave them in the comments!

You might also like to read our FreelanceSwitch portfolio articles – Build a Killer Online Portfolio in 9 Easy Steps, 5 Reasons Freelancers Should Blog, The Secret to Getting a Lot of Web Design Work and Portfolio Zen.

4. Take Some Work on the Side

You don’t need to quit your job to become a freelancer. In fact it’s often better to get a taste for freelancing by taking on jobs after-hours. Here are a few of the benefits of taking on side jobs:

1. You get to test the waters
   Freelancing isn’t for everyone and you may find that actually you quite like your regular job. Taking on some freelance jobs on the side means you can find this out and still have your job to fall back on should things not pan out. And if you do find you love freelancing, then you can still enjoy saying goodbye to your 9-5, with the satisfaction of knowing it’s permanent.
2. You can build a client list
   When you first start freelancing, you are starting from zero. No clients, no income, no experience. Freelancing on the side means you can get a bit of momentum going so that when you do switch to full time you’re already in a comfortable position.
3. It’s less stressful
   When you’re cut off from a regular income source it can be a bit stressful at first, wondering when and if you will get paid. Working on the side removes this stress and lets you get used to freelance income. You can also build up some extra cash to use as a fallback for when you cut off your job.

For many people freelancing on the side is in fact what they want to do. You may find that a few jobs here and there is all you really need for a bit of extra income and a bit more creative freedom. In that case moonlighting is an end in itself.

You can read more about freelancing on the side in our article On the Side or All the Way?

5. Prepare a Mailer

For many freelancers the first question they want answered is ‘where do I find jobs?’

The best place to find your first jobs is through people you know. You can do this by asking around of friends, colleagues, people you used to work with, extended family, and anyone you think might have appropriate connections or work.

A simple way to do this is to create a little mailer to send out, just to let people know you’re available for work. This was something I did early on which lead to my first five jobs. Some were direct contacts and others were the result of people I knew passing my name on to something they knew.

It’s important to make your mailer:

• Brief – Don’t bother your friends and colleagues with an epic email. Make it short and sweet.
• Professional – If you’re a designer, it’s not a bad idea to use a graphic. If you’re not then a well worded email will suffice.
• Contain a Call to Action – Make sure there is a phone number to call, a website to visit or an email to send if the person is interested.

Mailers don’t take long to create and are an effective way to kickstart your marketing. For other marketing ideas check out 101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and for more information about mailout marketing read our article: Harnessing Mailouts – a Complete How-To Guide to Email Marketing.

6. Scour the Job Boards for some First Jobs

Job boards are a great source of early leads when you don’t have that many contacts. As your freelance business develops you will be able to rely increasingly on referrals, but early on, your address book may be a little flat.

You should approach job boards for three types of work:

1. Work to bring in income
   Naturally most jobs you go for are to earn yourself money. Whatever type of job you accept, make sure you are fairly compensated.
2. Work to build your client list
   It’s important to develop a wide range of contacts and clients as these people will help get you work in the future. Referrals are a powerful mechanism for getting jobs, but first you need people to refer you on.
3. Work to build your portfolio
   There are many reasons you might want to build up your portfolio. It may be that you want to go in a different direction to your previous work, it may be that you aren’t permitted to show previous work because of a contract with your employer, or you may simply have not done much work. In all these cases it can be a good idea to take on some early work specifically to build up your portfolio.

There are plenty of job boards around, including FreelanceSwitch’s own Job Board. We also have a giant list of places to look for jobs in our Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites. Finally for a client’s take on job boards, read how not to apply for jobs on a job board.

7. Figure out how much to charge

Pricing yourself is a difficult exercise for any freelancer. There are lots of factors to consider and no common standards. The best way to go about pricing yourself is first to calculate your break even rate and then adjust according to what factors are important.

• Your Break Even Rate
  For every person there is an amount of money that you need to make each year just to maintain a basic lifestyle. Additionally there are a rough amount of hours that you are capable of working in a year. So if you combine these two things you can get your break even rate – the amount of money you need to charge per hour so that you can earn enough to survive. Fortunately we’ve developed a Javascript calculator to help you do the math, just visit freelanceswitch.com/rates and plug in a few numbers to calculate your break even hourly rate.
• Adjusting for Other Factors
  There are many factors to consider in your pricing such as – other people’s rates, your marketing strategy, how much money you need to make beyond breaking even, what kinds of jobs you want to attract – and so on. You might like to read our 9 essential factors to consider when determining your price to help you find a final rate.

At the end of the day though if you aren’t sure how much to charge the simplest thing to do is to talk to other freelancers. Here at the ‘Switch we have some forums with very nice people who can help you along your way to freelance freedom!

Other things you can do

There’s plenty of other things you can do to kickstart your freelancing career: create a home office, sign up to invoicing and client management tools, perhaps even quitting your job – though I’d be cautious with that one.

If you are planning on becoming a freelancer, you might also consider grabbing the FreelanceSwitch book – How to be a Rockstar Freelancer. It’s 212 pages long and packed with the same sort of straight forward advice as this article.

Whatever you do, I wish you luck getting started and hope that the blog and community here at FreelanceSwitch will be able to make your transition smooth and effective!