If you’ve been wanting to start freelancing but do not know where to start, this is the perfect article for you.
Freelancing can be a lucrative so...
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This a great write-up, thanks! I also suggest that when starting out, focus on quality over quantity. Instead of trying to find as many opportunities as possible, find one or two projects and treat those clients well. The most important goal when starting is just building strong connections with a few people, and from there you can then decide whether to expand your audience or focus on client retention.
I recently read a great book called Company of One which talks all about how to start a solo business while avoid the most common pitfalls, I definitely recommend that book to anyone who wants to learn more about freelancing!
Awesome! Thanks for your comment, Luis :)
Great article, but I don’t agree with the “discount for testimonial” advice.
I think asking a client politely to provide a testimonial should work in most cases, especially if you did an excellent job.
Thanks for reading, Silvestar :)
This is only at the beginning phases. Clients are a lot more influenced by price if the experience is not there yet.
I found this to be a good approach at the beginning phases
Thank you for the clarification. 👌
Hi Kyle! Thank you for this post. I recently posed a question to freelancers about liability insurance. Are you using one? If so, which one are you happy with?
Hey Sylwia :) great question!
I live in South Africa, and I do have liability insurance, but it's different to the US, so it wouldn't be helpful for me to provide my insurance information :)
But I do agree with you - every freelancer needs this in place :)
It is a really good and important question!
That's great advice! But for different countries you can have different realities in freelance work. I'm living in Belgium and here around 50-60% of your revenue is going for taxes and you have to pay social security deductions even if you do not have any revenue. So here the tip is to already have a client set for recurrent jobs when you start and an accountant, it makes things more difficult.
Thanks for reading :) and yes, definitely have a good accountant when it comes to taxes
Wow, thanks Kyle for the inspiring post. I was just ruminating on the idea of opening my own shop with all the skills I've got. Your example of combining content and digital marketing with web development definitely hit home. Also, great tips on finding a niche and starting small.
Awesome :) thanks Annie!
Thanks Kyle. I started watching the video you inlined, and I must say, I'm beginning to feel there's a lot of questionable content circulating in youtube lately, built solely with the purpose of income generation from its content creators. (which is fair, but I still want to point it out). For example : First advice in order to be a freelance web developer : "Learn how to build websites". Really? Second advice "promote yourself". Aha? You forgot "buy a computer", "have an internet connection".
It really feels as if there's an "easy money making" market these days (probably because of the increase in remote work, combined with the global financial crisis). I would think twice before pushing someone towards freelance web development without them having any a) theoretical/academical background OR b) some hands on work experience in companies. Alternatively I believe the code quality result would be really sub-par (and I have worked in projects done by freelance web developers of that level which we often had to completely refactor/rewrite or throw away) and, most importantly for these people, they will never manage to reach an income that will be enough for them to live off. (these are generic statements that of course can be argued but you need to consider the big influx of web developers, the competition, the time it takes to build skills in Programming Languages, Frameworks, etc). I do also recommend some of my friends who are seeking alternative careers to go into Web Development, but with a minimum-yearly plan in sight, and only with the goal of landing a first Junior job (as opposed to becoming full-stack developers doing everything themselves). Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but I guess these exceptions won't get much help from videos such as the one inlined. Thank you for the article.
Hey George :) thanks for your comment.
While you are indeed correct with the "internet connection" and all, that's pretty common knowledge, so I don't want to discuss that, because where's the limit here? What about getting the money to buy the computer or choosing a webhost, etc.
All of these things are quite easily available on Google, and our focus has always been to provide nuggets without the fluff.
We've helped many people so far with this type of content :)
Thanks for this write-up. Its like you knew I'm about to venture in freelancing. This will actually help.
Many thanks for reading, Adetoba :)
Thanks for this article Karl. I was looking forward to start freelancing and was in great need of advice. This article provides a lot of insight for me.
Great, thanks Damue :)
Thanks man
Great article! I guess it's time for to take that leap of faith into the writing sea!
Thank you Dieune! :)
Thanks, for the pro-tips it is literally what I needed to hear in order to best position myself in freelancing business as a web developer.
Thanks for reading Beni :)
Yeah, searching for a customer seems to be the hardest. Especially if 3 months are being wasted, and nothing has come.
Thanks @kyle Prinsloo great article, what would you advice a Frontend developer who wish to major in building e-commerce website as a freelancing side gig. Thank you
Thank you Harlin! :)
Which freelancing site should i pickup for starting freelancing..
Thanks for this article. It's really going to help me. Please can I chat privately with you through Twitter DM?
Sure :)
Thank you! This article elucidating the proccess of being an effective freelancer, perfectly that indiscriminatingly what do you do as a freelancer.
Thank you for reading :)
Like always interesting and helpful.