Building Credibility: 11 Ways to Show You’re a Professional
Winning a job in the freelance world often comes down to who is the more credible and more professional candidate.
It’s a sad fact, but many freelancers are inconsistent with their customer service and underwhelming with the quality of their work. In the several years that I’ve worked with freelancers, I’ve seen both unbelievably good work and unbelievably bad (as I’m sure most of you have as well).
When it comes down to the wire, your potential clients are trying to figure out which category you fall into: the good or the bad.
So how can you show that you’re an honest and hard-working freelancer? A lot of the time it’s the little things that count the most.
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Who Are You?
Almost every freelancer needs some kind of written biography, a small piece that’s shorter than a resume but is more engaging to read. It provides potential clients with not only an idea of what you do, but who you are. The last part is probably what makes bio writing so difficult.
I’ve written dozens of profiles of people, places and businesses, but as soon as I sit down to write about myself, I’m faced with the dreaded “white screen syndrome.”
I’m not sure what it is; am I worried that I’ll seem egotistical if I play myself up too much? Will I seem boring if I try to remain too objective? And of course, the possibility of inserting a little too much of my personality.
While pondering this, I did come up with a few ideas to make the process easier.
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Freelancing 101 – The Basics
So you wanted to become a Freelancer. That’s great! You’re one step closer to more personal freedom and a job you actually enjoy. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind – things I found important to consider when I began freelancing. Of course there are many more, so feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section.
Finances
Your finances are the most important issue to consider when starting out. You’re probably used to getting a pay-check by the end of the week/month/year. Not having that is what many people are afraid of when embarking on their freelancing career. Luckily, you will get used to this pretty quickly. You just have to approach your finances differently. The most important thing is to always have enough money in your bank account to allow you to live for the next couple of months, even when it seems the work is rolling in.
Taxes are an important part of accounting that many overlook in the early days. It’s tempting to spend all the money you get, but it’s important to keep in mind that someday the tax office will want its part of your income.
In order to avoid being trapped in the pitfalls of your tax system, I highly recommend getting an accountant. It’s generally not too expensive and allows you to focus on what you’re good at. At the beginning of every month I collect my bills, drop them off at my accountant’s and wait for her to tell me how much I have to transfer to the tax office.
However, it is possible to take care of your finances without the help of an accountant. If you have the time to spend on your accounts (and a mind that bends well to these things) you can have a far greater control and insight into your financial situation. The most important thing is to be realistic – if you know you’re not the accounting type, get an accountant straight away. Hiring an accountant at the beginning of your freelancing career will be far less expensive in the long run than fines from the tax department and hiring someone to sort out your abysmal records.
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Portfolio Zen 1
I always felt if the world was organised properly I’d be besieged by people asking me to shoot great photographic jobs because of course it’s obvious I’m a cool dude, a knockout creative professional as well as an all round wonderful person – so what is there to worry about? The work should roll in!
Unfortunately for some unknown reason the personal charisma strategy proved to be a total dud in generating work. Clients of little faith or vision have this curious notion I should present a portfolio of some relevance to the job at hand before they will even consider coming across with anything for me to point a camera at.
So, over the years I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what I should include in these portfolios and what I should exclude and how I should structure the flow of images so that clients are inspired and convinced that I’m the guy for the job. The hardest thing of all is getting free of how you think it should work and getting to where you have a handle on how it actually works.
Working For Free – Is It Ever a Good Idea?
Nobody likes working for peanuts… Image from iStockPhoto No Spec recently published an article berating individuals who ask struggling creatives to work for free, and billing it as a ‘great opportunity’. While I could not agree more with the article, it led me to consider if it is ever advisable to work for free.
As an enthusiastic and green graphic design student, I did a couple of free projects with mixed results. From these experiences I came to the conclusion that as a student it can be a great opportunity to work for free with the right people. It can also be an infuriating and upsetting experience to work with the wrong ones. Here are some rules to live by when considering doing freebie projects:
