Stepping into freelancing can be intimidating. Whether you are starting out, or whether you are making the difficult transition to full-time freelancing, the tips below are meant to give you a heads up about what is expected, difficulties you might encounter, and best-practices going forward. These are the pieces of advice which should be considered essential, and they explain where you should invest your time, and how you should go about hedging your bets.
Dip your toes before you dive in
Luckily for freelancers, there is absolutely no reason to commit to the job immediately. Every freelancer should begin securing clients, marketing themselves, and honing their skills at their craft long before they consider quitting their day job.
Assess your needs and your goals before committing to freelancing
Estimate the income you can make from freelancing using the lowest numbers possible – the minimum you expect to make – and base your decisions regarding time invested and risks to other aspects of your life through the lens of that minimum income.
Encourage return clients
One of the best ways to encourage return clients is to communicate in a friendly manner and meet their expectations. You might also consider discounts for return clients or other added value.
Make sure you get paid for your work
This is the bottom line, really. Use contracts. Have the client sign on the dotted line, and follow the correct procedures, especially for larger projects. Ask for payment in two portions: half in advance, half on delivery.
Do some math and give yourself a margin for error
Calculate your income. File your taxes. Most importantly, give yourself a margin of error when you calculate your future income, and assume that you will make less than your estimate – a fair deal less.
Be wary of both discounts and overcharging
Offering discounts is a great way to encourage repeat clients, but they might not be the kind of clients you want. Don't be stingy – there is no way for a client to know your worth as a writer or editor without first seeing your work, but don't be bullied into giving too much away for free, or working for less than you are worth. Check your rates against the rates of your competition. Adjust your rates often at the start of your freelancing journey.
Use contracts to protect yourself and as a method of discovering your client's expectations
You can use contracts to outline how many revisions you are willing to do, how many hours you will spend on the work, and what the client can and cannot ask of you. Seeing this in print helps a client know what they are paying for.
Work a schedule that fits your lifestyle
If you are a stay-at-home parent, your work hours are going to look different than if you are a college student. If you freelance full-time, you'll need to treat freelancing as your full-time job. Give yourself a schedule (at least a loose schedule) and stick to it. You won't make money as a freelancer if you aren't doing the work.
Use a tone to market yourself
This is a bit of a gimmick. Find the tone of voice you want to use to communicate with your clients. My customer service voice is irrepressibly happy, buoyant, and positive. Market yourself as the type of person that your potential clients will want to work with.
Build a website and support that website in a logical manner
Build a website. Everyone should have a website for their professional life. If you can't build a website, hire someone to build it for you. If you can't afford to hire someone, find the tech savvy neighbor kid who knows how to do this sort of thing, and work with that kid until you have something functional: you can always improve it later. Finally: having a website doesn't matter if it gets lost in the sea of Google. Register your domain name. Pay for a domain name. Post content on your website and promote that website's presence online. This second bit is not easy.
Be a specialist and market yourself as a specialist
Your specialty might be a particular type of editing: academic, journals, novels, short fiction; or a particular type of writing: short stories, poetry, blog posts, technical writing. In any case, market yourself as a specialist, but don't turn down jobs outside of your area of expertise.
Network
Make friends with other freelancers. Get your name out there. Seek out opportunities.
Set work boundaries
Set boundaries with friends and family, but also with clients: what won't you work? Don't do work that makes you uncomfortable or which might harm your reputation.
Monitor your reviews and client satisfaction
If you get a bad review, reach out to the person who gave it and offer to fix any perceived problems with your work.
Carve out a place to get work done
Find your workplace. Lock the door to that room if you can. If that room is the kitchen, put the fear of your wrath into the minds of folks who might enter that kitchen, like roommates, or pets.
When to go full-time
Only go full time when you have: a comfortable cushion of savings; a backup plan if freelancing full time fails; an action plan; a few reliable clients.
Set a realistic price for your service
The price for your service should be calculated based on the time it takes to complete the task, and the hourly wage you expect to earn.
Find new clients
Actively seek out new clients online, and in-person. Ask current clients to refer friends, family, and coworkers.
Build a rapport with clients
Do not always be "all business." Talk to your clients. Schmooze. Avoid difficult subjects such as religion and politics.
Set realistic expectations for projects
Limit the number of revisions you will make. State a cost for extra revisions in the contract.
Plan to over-deliver
Do more than you say you will in the contract, but take this into account when you are writing the contract.
Log your hours
Track how many hours you are spending. Measure that against how much income you are earning. Discover if you are happy with your hourly wage. This can protect you by providing a record of exactly what you did.
Ask for reviews, testimonials, and referrals
Here is the wording I use: "If my editing was helpful to you today, please take a moment to rate my work 5 stars and to leave a positive comment. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me and I will do my best to resolve any issues free of charge."
Ask questions
If you are unclear on an aspect of freelancing, search the web but don't hesitate to contact a real live human being. They exist. A phone call can often clear up in minutes, what several hours of google searches cannot.
Finally, one last piece of advice. Freelancing is a fickle work style. A freelancer's income can shift drastically from month-to-month. You will quickly become aware of peak times, and off-peak times, and can work around the expectation of those. Less simple is predicting dips in the market or bad months. Be prepared for these circumstances, and never be afraid to cut your losses, to seek help, or to shift away from freelancing altogether. Remember: freelancers are their own boss. Like any business owner, the success of the business – your success – depends on you.