Seven Steps To Get Better Freelance Gigs, Have More Fun, And Make More Money Freelancing

By Jen McGahan, My Team Connects

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Careers of the future will be kluged

together from a hodgepodge of interests,

hobbies, experiences, and skills. Workers

will create jobs for which they alone are

qualified.1 They’ll be able to fulfill specific roles and perform tasks on a freelance

basis. Today, people of all ages, from

Millennials to Baby Boomers, are already

offering their creative services on the open

market as freelancers, and studies show

that by 2020, 40% of America’s workforce

will be freelancers.2

With the ramp-up in freelancing, large and

small companies are increasingly likely to rely on freelancers’ work to help with special

projects, or to fill in during periods of high growth and productivity.

Hopefully, you’ve already jumped in and are getting jobs in your field, and you’re off to a good start. As you build a portfolio of work and a list of satisfied customers, this guide will

help you take your gigs to a whole new level.

If you’re just beginning your freelancing career, cheers! This is the guide I wish I’d read over

twelve years ago when I first started selling my copywriting services.

Maybe I can save you some trouble and help you fly higher and faster... sooner! These

lessons were learned from experience — and they stick like a barnacle — but hopefully you

won't have to learn them the hard way, like I did. I’m laying out the basic steps for you to

quickly get better jobs, have more fun and make more money; there are just some things

you’ll learn the hard way, like every freelancer does.

Freelancing is the future of work.

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Maybe you’ve already experienced something like this:

• You underestimated a project and ended up doing hundreds of hours of work for

free.

• A client “forgot,” or simply did not pay you.

• You burned out and got sick because you took on too many stressful deadlines at

once.

• You still find yourself hunched over your computer every night of the week, with no

social life, scant family time, and a couple dozen extra flabby pounds squeezed into

your office chair.

It doesn't have to be like this!

The sooner you put the following seven steps into practice, the more you will stand out

from your competition (heck, you won’t have any competition!), and you’ll become the in-

demand copywriter, graphic designer, web developer, virtual assistant, ghost writer, or fill-

in-the-blank creative, you imagined you’d be.

Anyone can do it, as long as you follow the steps and have the basic skills to do the work you

claim you can do. I’m not going to address how to be a practitioner of your craft. Instead, I’ll

show you the steps that will make you a better freelancer so you can make more money and

have more fun.

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To me, that means doing work I’m proud of,

enjoying my work and my life, and making great

money. This is what I’ve learned over the last

twelve years, and how I added each of these

concepts into my practice/service/business to

allow me to have all three within my freelancing

lifestyle.

By the way, as a single mom with (now) three

teenagers under my roof, this is the only way to

go!

I’m happy to share this information with you

because, like I said, I wish someone had told me this when my kids were little and I was just

starting out. I might have been on solid footing a lot sooner. But there’s another reason

too...

I believe these seven steps elevate the freelancer’s status across the board. When

freelancers are respected and valued in the workplace, we all win.3 Corporations, small

businesses, creative freelancers, and professionals will work better together, create better

work together, and have success together more often.

It’s an upward spiral. So let’s lift off together, shall we?

I’m offering these in an abbreviated form so you can plan your rise to the top of your capabilities, and set your own goals. I’m also putting them in an order that makes the most

sense for new freelancers to follow.

If I were starting out again, I’d tackle each step one by one. But if you are more experienced,

then perhaps you’ve already nailed some of these. It’s up to you how you’ll incorporate the

information according to your freelancing experience.

This guide is about building a freelance business that truly brings you freedom.

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Step 1 : Start a website and blog 5

Step 2 : Network 7

Step 3 : Stay fit, and as healthy as possible 9

Step 4 : Run a business, not a hobby 11

Step 5 : No more job boards 14

Step 6 : Offer value over price 16

Step 7 : Vet your clients 18

Conclusion 19

Contents

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60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers, according to a HubSpot survey.

— Dechay Watts, SproutContent.com4

Besides getting out there and getting gigs, this

sounds like more work, doesn’t it? However,

having a blog is the first step toward getting

better jobs because it amplifies your expertise.

Every post you write or video you produce shows

you know your stuff.

People who are looking for quality are also the

ones with the best jobs and the most money to

pay. They want the best person for their projects and will seek out your online presence to

see how you represent yourself.

A blog is your real estate online. Think of it as your corner office with a view. The work it

takes to maintain and furnish it will pay off because you will attract the right clients. With a

blog, not only do you get a chance to share your views about your industry or business; you

are able to use your content to speak directly to those in a position to hire you.

Take this one step further and you’ll easily see

how keeping a blog, over time, allows you to build

your own personal brand.

You might start a website just to host your

portfolio and gain some traffic; then discover

down the road that you’ve also developed a

following of readers and fans. Exciting! Your

brand could lead to teaching, consulting, and

speaking opportunities that you’d never have as a

solo, “average” freelancer.

Step 1. Start a website and blog

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90% of recruiting firms do a Google search on candidates.

4 in 10 recruiters considering two candidates with seemingly equal qualifications,

would contact the one with a website.

56% of all hiring managers are more impressed by a candidate’s personal website

than any other personal branding tool; yet only 7% of job seekers have one.

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Today’s most valuable currency is social capital, defined as the

information, expertise, trust, and total value that exist in the

relationships you have and social networks to which you belong.

― Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time5

As a creative freelancer, you are probably prone

to isolation. You work alone, for the most part,

which means you may have the tendency to

sever yourself from happiness, health, and prosperity if you don’t take steps to replenish

your life with social interaction. If you focus only

on the work before you, like a horse with

blinders on, circling a field for days, you miss the opportunity to grow your business and network

in ways you can’t even imagine yet.

Make it part of your routine to get out and socialize:

• Find a business group that meets monthly. It could be a freelancing meet-up, but it

doesn’t have to be.

• Invite someone new to lunch every couple of weeks.

• Join a mastermind online or in your community to talk about business.

• Connect with other people in your area who also work from home.

• Start a business book club.

• Join a Facebook group or Linked In group where you interact with others and have a

place to speak up about what’s important to you.

Networking will do amazing things for your career. Not only are social people less lonely and

more productive, people who network tend to have more success, more money, and better

health.

Step 2. Network

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The reality: At least 70% of all jobs are not published, but are filled through referrals

and networks.

The motivation: 22% cite expanding their networks as a top motivator for

freelancing.

The effort required: 10% of each day is recommended for networking activities.

The bottom line? According to multiple, peer-reviewed

studies, simply being in an open network instead of

a closed one is the best predictor of career success.

— Michael Simmons, Forbes.com6

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A study by Jim McKenna, a British researcher, showed that

after exercising participants returned to work more tolerant of

themselves and more forgiving of their colleagues. The study goes on

to conclude, “work performance was consistently higher, and time

management skills improved, as did mental sharpness”.

— Brian Calkins, HealthStyleFitness7

Freelancers are notorious for unhealthy lifestyles.

I can understand how it happens, but in so many ways it doesn’t fit with one of the main benefits of the freelancing lifestyle. With the chance to structure your days as you wish,

there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be as healthy and fit as you want to be.

For example, you can exercise any time that fits into your schedule. You don’t have to battle

a crowded gym before work or squeeze in a run during an assigned lunch hour. You’re able

to buy good food to cook at home, while the unfortunate corporate worker must grab a bite at a nearby fast food restaurant on her lunch break. And because you set your own hours,

you can even take long weekends and go on a three-day hike or bike ride if you want to. No

one’s stopping you from reaping the benefits of your freedom, so enjoy and maximize your

advantage.

Sorry if you think I’m on a high horse, but I want you to feel as good as you can. Your

beautiful body was made for health and movement, so try not to waste that precious

resource!

The result of good health is more energy, a happy

disposition, positive outlook, better looks and vitality,

good sleep, better relationships with others, and a

sharp mind. These things have a tremendous effect

on the quality of your work and your ability to grow a

business.

Good health and career success go hand in hand. Stay

healthy and fit, eat right, drink your water, choose

Step 3. Stay fit, and as healthy as possible

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natural foods and products to put in and on your body, and enjoy a higher level of success

than the average freelancer.

The bad news:

For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as

smoking.

The good news:

People who exercise for at least 30 minutes 3x/week were 15% more likely to have

higher job performance.

The opportunity:

42% of freelancers cite flexibility as a top personal motivation for freelancing. 69% say independent work offers better work-life balance.

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The IRS’s enforcement of hobby loss rules means that if you truly are operating

a side business, you need to treat it like a business, and be prepared to prove

your claim to an IRS representative. Perhaps the surest way to have even a

legitimate business — one that meets eight of the nine criteria for a business

— considered a hobby is to have consistent losses year after year. The IRS

views this as the biggest indicator that a business is actually just a hobby.

— Frank Addessi, The Simple Dollar9

Freelancing is Big Business: It accounted

for $715 Billion in earnings in the US in

2014. There will much more competition soon.

80% of non-freelancers are open to

freelancing to make more money. The IRS takes freelancing seriously. The

minimum freelancers need to make to file

taxes in the US: $400.

As you add new clients and build your portfolio, you’ll quickly find that unless you employ

smart business practices, you’ll start leaking money, you’ll become inefficient at serving

your clients, and you won’t have as much fun doing what you love.

Before things get out of hand, get organized as a small business. Spend a couple hours each

week developing and adhering to basic small biz systems that will grow with you.

While I am not a business coach or accountant, I know from omission how important

business systems are to your overall success. Learn from my mistakes. I neglected some of

these important tasks for way too long:

• Crunch some numbers so you know how many clients you need to hit your goals

each month.

• Know how much cash is coming in and how much you’re spending.

• Keep basic books and records.

Step 4. Run a business, not a hobby

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• Organize your home office with the tools and systems you need for future growth.

• Have terms and conditions, if not an actual boilerplate contract for projects.

• Sign up for an online invoicing system and basic bookkeeping system (I use

Freshbooks10) as well as an online scheduling system (I use Timetrade11).

• Automate tasks when you realize you are repetitively doing the same things.

• Organize your papers, notes, ideas, etc. using some of the many task management

systems out there, many of which are free (I use Trello for projects, Evernote and

Feedly for research and archiving.)

• Delegate tasks where you can easily hand them over. (I use Dropbox, join.me, and

iShowU screen capture software to share things with my team.)

• File stuff before you drown in paper.

• Clean your desk, even if you’re a creative type. (Yep, that was my excuse for the

longest time!)

• Do your most difficult task the first thing in the day.

• Market yourself like a brand.

I know there’s a lot there, but if you start by thinking of your small freelancing business as a “real” business, you’ll go a lot further than your freelancing peers who are just winging it. I

winged it for the longest time and could never really enjoy myself, nor feel confident that I

was on the right track... until I got lucky and started writing for a small business coach.

(Another fringe benefit of freelancing: you learn from your clients!)

Sure, I had piles of receipts and a sketchy way of keeping records, but I never really “got it”

until I started to think of myself as a CEO, delegating tasks where I could, and understanding

cash flow and goal setting. Everything started to turn around after that.

I wish I had done this sooner, but I had all kinds of excuses. My kids were small, I had a lot of

hobbies, I dabbled in different niches, I attended a lot of courses and conferences without

implementing anything.... In short, I made all the usual mistakes that hold small business

owners back.

However, once I stopped dabbling and got serious about building a business, I started to

have more fun and make more money. I battened down the hatches and narrowed my

focus, cleared my desk and discarded things out that didn’t relate to my business goals.

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In hindsight, it was Basic Business Skills 101. I finally put a few things in place and turned an

out of control, messy, time-consuming gig (which people close to me used to perceive as

“Jen’s little hobby”) into a lucrative business.

OK, that was a long section, so I’ll keep this next one short...

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A person whose resume or LinkedIn profile is found via a Google search is 5X

more likely to be considered than someone who applies directly to a job posting.

— Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired18

Yes, you have to start your freelancing business by soliciting your services on job boards.

Almost every freelancer I know does this unless they are coming from a job where they

were working in the same industry in which they are freelancing, and they already have

some jobs and contacts lined up.

But if you want higher quality jobs, your goal should be to stop offering your services on

some of the big boards, as soon as possible.

It’s not because I have anything against these online sites. In fact, I use them myself to hire

non-recurring tasks I need someone to fill. And I search them sometimes when I run into

some slow patches and need a blast of cash.

If you want the really good jobs, though, aim to become an indispensible team member with

other creative folks. If you are building a business and want to win the really juicy, recurring

jobs on high profile projects, you’ll need to peel away from taking precious time

responding to jobs for which you may be

overqualified.

I enjoy building creative freelance teams that

serve clients with truly top-shelf work. That

means understanding how a freelancer’s role

fits in with the client’s business as a whole.

Your definition of your services must showcase

your value, which leads to the next bullet

point.

Step 5. No more job boards

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69% of freelancers agree that technology has made it easier to find freelance work.

Major job boards boast a measly 1 - 4% average response rate. Most applicants never hear

back.

Remember these 5 sources for good gigs:

Word of Mouth

Agencies

Former Employers Online Talent Marketplaces (like FlexJobs)

Social Media

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When you are only selling price you’ll never be able to

sell any degree of high margin sales and that is where

profitability, long term growth and sales success resides.

Kathleen Steffey, Social Media Today19

If you are like me, when I first started out, I was

happy just to get some work. I bid a little lower

than I would have liked because I wanted to land

some jobs and prove that I could do the work. No one knew me except some local charities for which

I’d donated my services for free. I felt I had to win

new jobs solely on price and the quality of my

writing samples.

After a while you’ll be able to discern how your expertise furthers the overall success of your

client’s, business. At least you will if you’re paying attention to all the moving parts, and are

curious enough to discover how your work is being used once it’s delivered!

If you are a business-minded creative, you will soon learn that your piece of the puzzle doesn’t do your client much good unless it fits like a glove with their goals and the strategy

behind the entire project.

Over the years I even asked to be involved in team meetings or participate in phone calls

with other creative contributors because I wanted to learn how to make my writing produce

better results for my clients. I also educated myself on the entire marketing side of

ecommerce, information marketing, and online businesses.

You must stay current on your industry and your customers’ problems. Study blogs, attend

conferences, enroll in courses to increase your skills and understand the fields in which you

work.

Step 6. Offer value over price

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Once you know how your work adds value to the

clients’ goals, then you can truly serve people at a

higher level. You can also charge higher fees and

land projects that result in recurring work. Not

only is it fun to work at this level; retaining happy

clients is a lot more lucrative than finding new

ones.

Always be adding value and learn how to

describe your value.-This is the secret to getting

quality projects and making more money from

fewer jobs.

Value (not price) brings these 3 benefits.

Repeat business:

5 - 20% probability of selling to a new prospect. 60 - 70% probability of selling to an existing customer.

Referrals:

Offer an incentive for referrals that close. Be specific in your ask. Cross refer your clients and friends

in non-competing, but complementary businesses. (e.g. Writers refer graphic designers, and business coaches — and vice versa.)

Better jobs:

enjoyable clients longer projects higher fees

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At some point, most freelancers, consultants, and

executives realize that there are just two types of clients:

1. Ideal clients, and 2. “Less than ideal” clients.

— Nick Reese20

At some point soon, if you’ve taken all the preceding steps, you won’t want to take any old

job that comes along. You won’t need to, either. You’ll be able to interview prospective

clients and decide for yourself if they are people you’d like to work with.

I suggest developing a few guidelines to weed out clients who are not a good fit. Perhaps

you require a minimum monthly retainer, or you prefer to be the sole creative contributor

on the project. (If you’ve ever written copy or designed a website as one of many writers or

designers, you know how frustrating it is to be part of a committee of creatives.) Most pros

require complete creative control.

Whatever rules you decide will actually help you add value to clients’ projects, hold yourself

to them! You may even want to publish your guidelines on your website so potential

customers can self-evaluate the possibility of successfully working with you. Then, don’t

settle for anything less.

Remember, you can’t add value if the client is not the right client. Nor can you add value if

you have to bend too many of your own rules to adjust to their specifications. To save

yourself headaches, poor feedback and a future unhappy client at the end; you’re better off

declining the project.

Tips for finding the right clients:

Make sure the person you’re talking with has the control

or ability to hire you.

Know the customer’s clear goals for the project.

Is there a clear beginning and end?

Does the client understand the work process, or do you

need to educate them?

Does the client have a budget ready for the project?

Step 7. Vet your clients

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I hope you’re beginning to see how fun it can be to control your freelancing destiny. I

believe that freelancing will be a significant segment of the workforce in the next decade

and beyond, as people design careers to maximize their skills.

All the jobs you take now

add to your education,

and I’m 100% behind

your success as a freelancer!

My Team Connects has been my copywriting website for many years, and now I want to

share it with other freelancers and creative teams. To give the community a hub, we’re starting an online group for like-minded freelancers who want to do great things, be part of

amazing projects and bounce ideas off each other.

I envision it becoming a place to meet others and work together on projects, and even put

together working teams from our communication with each other. I’m hoping it will be a place to learn from each other, too. What works, what drives us nuts, a place for safe

kvetching and business-building support, and for celebrating wins.

Just click here to join the forum.21 Not only do we need your voice - we’d love to have you!

Conclusion

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1 Why Innovative Companies Like Google Are Letting Employees Craft Their Own Jobs, Vivian Giang,

Fast Company

2 Intuit 2020 Report: Twenty Trends That Will Shape The Next Decade

3 My Freelancing Manifesto: Supporting Remote Creative Freelance Teams

4 19 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be Writing A Blog, Dechay Watts, Sprout Content

5 Never Eat Alone, And Other Secrets To Success, One Relationship At A Time, by Keith Ferrazzi

6 The No. 1 Predictor Of Career Success According To Network Science, Michael Simmons, Forbes

7 HealthStyleFitness Blog, Brian Calkins

8 5 Tips For Mastering The Human Body Through Movement, Magnus Lomax Bjerke, Agile Existence

9 Is Your Business Just A Hobby? Frank Addessi, The Simple Dollar

10 Freshbooks

11 Time trade

12 Trello

13 Evernote

14 Feedly

15 Dropbox

16 Join.me

17 ishowyou

18 The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired, by Lou Adler

19 10 Ways That You Can Add Value To Your Product Or Service Kathleen Steffey, Social Media Today

20 How To Avoid Problem Clients, Nick Reese

21 MyTeamConnects.com/forum

*This report contains affiliate links. This means that I may receive compensation if you make a purchase using

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Sources