7 Tips for A Thriving Career in Freelancing

Thriving Career in Freelancing

7 Tips for A Thriving Career in Freelancing

Are you thinking of building a thriving career in freelancing? The corporate world is undergoing massive transformations and remote working cultures are at the helm of the paradigm shift. A few years back, it would have been naive to think that virtual working environments could be a possibility. However, today, it is a part of the new normal and as remote working cultures thrive, freelancing opportunities are on a constant rise.

To substantiate, as per Thimble, freelancers represent around 36 percent of the global workforce. This proportion has grown exponentially over the last few years and in contemporary times, freelancing is a booming industry. From content writing to web designing, financial consultancy and tutoring, freelancing trends are thriving in almost every field of career.

The best thing about freelancing is the flexibility and the comfort it offers. As a freelancer, you can dictate the rules on your own and work whenever you want to. Besides, it is also true that freelancers are earning hefty salaries and the demand will only get bigger with time. However, the competition is enormous and not all freelancers earn as much as they would want to.

Having said that, as a freelancer, you need to ensure that you have an edge over others. If it is getting competitive to the core, you need to enhance your competitiveness in an incremental way.  Freelancing careers are undoubtedly fascinating however, they come with no guarantees. The only way to sustain yourself in the freelance market is to plan well and rely on some effective strategies.

This thoughtful blog for freelancers highlights the top career tips that freelancers need to follow for a successful career. With these tips, you create the kind of competitive advantages that put you way ahead of your competitors. So, let us get started without further ado.

Below are foolproof tips on how to achieve an effective and actionable career as a freelancer.

 

7 Tips for A Thriving Career in Freelancing

 

#1. Commit to constant upskilling and reskilling

This is quite self-explanatory as a tactic for advancing your career as a freelancer. Freelancers get hired purely on the basis of their skills and the expertise they have to offer. However, if you look at it from the perspective of modern employers, they want freelancers with diverse skills.

For instance, let’s say you are a graphic designer with massive experience. However, when you also learn UI/UX web designs, the prospects of you getting hired will escalate quickly. In fact, having diverse skills is the key to standing out amid the rising competition in the freelance market. The more diverse your skillset is, the greater will be the opportunities.

This is where effective and timely upskilling and reskilling become so crucial for freelancers. You need to keep evolving your capabilities because the demands and the trends in the freelance market are swiftly changing. With a solid and broad skill set, you can secure your career as a freelancer in a more effective way. To substantiate, as per TalentLMS, 81 percent of employees prioritize upskilling and reskilling in contemporary times. This also includes a large segment of freelancers who are committed to incessant upskilling/reskilling for career success.

In fact, today, you can learn new skills and acquire higher expertise quite conveniently through Professional Learning Apps. Staying on top of your game is much easier than ever before given the prowess of remote learning technologies and methodologies. Are you making the most of it to add value to your freelancing career?

 

#2. Build a great rapport with technology

Freelancing and remote working technologies go hand in hand. As a freelancer, technology is your greatest asset whether it is about tools, software, or gadgets. Having said that, it is highly essential that you build a great rapport with technology.

Besides, investing in the right technology and tools is equally important for freelancing success. As a freelancer, you would need sophisticated tools and equipment which may come for a hefty price. Hence, when you make that investment, you need to ensure that it offers long-term viability.

The bottom line is that the better your rapport with technology the greater will be the benefits of it for you to reap in terms of productivity and precision. For once, you can ignore other strategies, but this is always going to be an indispensable tactic for freelancers. You need to advance your career by investing in the right technology at the right time.

 

#3. Master the art of marketing

Like businesses market their products or services, as a freelancer, you need to market your skills and expertise. You need to build an authority for your name on freelance platforms like Upwork, Indeed, and LinkedIn which will bring great opportunities your way. As a freelancer, you are a brand in yourself and you need to keep creating greater brand awareness.

How effectively you market yourself and create strong networks for finding clients will ultimately define the prospects of your success. The better you market yourself the higher will be the rewards of it. Remember, you are always competing with thousands of other freelancers offering the same skills. To stand out from the crowd, you need to excel in marketing your skills and capabilities and this is where you need to be overwhelmingly innovative.

To dominate the digital space, you are going to work on several dimensions of digital marketing. Social media marketing, video marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO) can be effective digital marketing strategies that can enhance your authority. Master the art of marketing and see how the success dynamics change for you.

 

#4. Work on worthwhile collaborations

Meticulous and worthwhile collaborations can be highly beneficial for success in freelancing. For instance, if you are a graphic designer, you can collaborate with content writers. So, whenever the content writers get a project, they can outsource the graphics to you. On similar lines, when you get a project, you can outsource the content to the writers you have partnered with.

This single example explains the importance of collaborations and partnerships for freelancers. Again, it is a part of your networking and how effectively you weave your own freelancing network.

In fact, you should review your collaborations time and again to figure out which partnerships have worked well and which ones did not yield any returns. Subsequently, you can leave behind the latter ones and look for new collaborations.

 

#5. Monitor your productivity and workflow

All of us are in accord with the fact that time is money. Having said that, as a freelancer, you need to be excellent at time management to keep your productivity high at all times. For enhancing your productivity in an incremental manner, you need to continuously monitor your productivity.

This is where technology can be of great use once again. You can track your productivity with effective time tracking and productivity tracking tools. With these tools, you can keep an effective track of how much time you spend on each task.

Consequently, you can compare it with the industry standards. As a freelancer, you are the king of your own will and have as much as flexibility as you may like. However, you know how competitive it is getting day by day and you cannot be complacent with your productivity. Therefore, monitoring your productivity closely is imperative for your career growth.

 

#6. Learn how to unplug and have a good rest

What most freelancers do not realize is that stress management is a salient skill in itself. While working remotely, most people find it hard to unplug after work and this can make them quite vulnerable to stress and burnout. In fact, perhaps you can already relate to it to some extent, can you?

In your career ahead, the inability to manage your stressors and the high susceptibility to burnout can be major roadblocks to your success. These influences can drain your productivity and exhaust your creative intellect. As per Forbes, more than 50 percent of all workers experienced instances of burnout in 2021.

To prevent yourself from the same drawback, you need effective stress management tactics. Among these, unplugging after work to maintain a healthy balance is of immense significance. As long as you succeed in doing that, you can prolong your career with great efficiency.

At the end of the day, preserving your energy, productivity and looking after your mental wellness is solely your responsibility. You can only give your best to your work when you feel well and optimistic.

 

#7. Ask for feedback from your clients  

Irrespective of whether you are a freelancer or a full-time employee with an MNC, feedback holds incredible value. Like businesses are keen on asking for their customers’ feedback for continuous improvement, you also need to seek feedback from your clients.

Asking for feedback can be a great way for you to assess and manage your performance effectively. Besides, being receptive to client feedback can also help you in strengthening your goodwill among your clients and encouraging return businesses.

If you indeed want to stay ahead of others in the freelance market, you should make the most of the feedback you received. Feedback can help you in setting SMART Goals for adding greater value to your performance for better results and client satisfaction. You need to manifest great openness to learning as a freelancer and for that, seeking feedback is paramount.

 

Wrapping up: 7 Tips for A Thriving Career in Freelancing

To encapsulate, the thought of a freelancing career with utmost flexibility is certainly exciting. Besides, it is also true that freelancing opportunities will continue to rise in the future as the way ahead is remote working.

However, freelancing careers are also surrounded by a few uncertainties and the competition is enormous across each dimension. For a successful and secure freelancing career, it is important that you pay heed to the above tips.

 

Author Bio: Jessica Robinson 

Jessica Robinson 

 

Jessica Robinson loves to write interesting and knowledgeable blogs regarding business management, education and life to satiate the curiosity of her lovely readers. Currently, she is serving as a content manager at the ‘Speaking Polymath’. Every piece of content that she writes demonstrates her immense love and passion for her profession.

Photo credit: Desktime.com

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