Not having a regular paycheck though isn’t for everyone, but working as a full-time freelancer is much more doable than many people think.

But before you start your freelance business, you need to get very clear on why you want to start freelancing, what are your goals and how you plan to utilize your time. Read on to discover our top tips for first-time freelancers.

1. Define Your Goals

Without clearly defined, easily measurable goals, you’re going to have a very difficult time getting to where you want to go. Regardless of what your ultimate goal is, you need to make it abundantly clear. This is something that all of the world’s top entrepreneurs agree upon when it comes to successfully starting a business.

Make sure this decision is the right move in your progression toward achieving your bigger picture goals. Only after you have the clarity around where you want freelancing to take you, can you start backing into your shorter-term goals and benchmarks that’ll help your freelance business become a success.

2. Choose a Niche

If you’re new to freelancing, you might feel ready to take ANY paid work you can get your hands on. But as you get deeper into your freelancing career, you’ll need to start being more strategic about the types of work you do and the clients you take on.

There are likely to be a lot of competitors in your industry that’ll be willing to charge much lower rates than you, no matter what you do. There are people from all around the world with lower costs of living that’ll always be willing to accept lesser-paid gigs than you. It’s not worth racing other people to the bottom for work from home jobs on a freelance basis, especially when sites like Fiverr, Upwork or other freelance jobs sites already have countless options for low-priced freelancers. 

Instead specialize, become an expert in your field, and then you can charge more for your specialized services. Take the time to find a profitable niche for your freelance business. When you’re in a space that competes on quality, you’ll completely change the ways in which you sell your services. You’ll be competing on value, not price.

3. Identify your Target Clients

Just as important as finding a profitable niche, you’ll need to develop a clear picture of who you’re going to work best with. As you’re just starting your freelance business, it’s fine to take a bit more of a shotgun approach to landing a few clients. Make some initial assumptions about who you want to work with, target them first, and after working with a few of them, you’ll develop a very clear understanding of the type of clients you want to work for. 

To define exactly who your ideal freelance clients should be (and how to start finding them), ask yourself these questions:

• Which businesses will find my services useful?
• Can the business I want to work with afford to hire me?
• What demographic trends can I identify about the decision-makers in the types of businesses I’m targeting? 

4. Create a High-Quality Portfolio

It goes without saying that one of the best ways to demonstrate your technical skills is by having an amazing portfolio of your own. If you want to be taken seriously as a new freelancer, you’re going to need a portfolio that:

• Communicate your specialty & display examples of your work.
• List your contact information & show off your personality.
• Highlight your relevant skills, education, and accomplishments.

An impressive stellar portfolio can really help you out if you don’t have a lot of job experience to prove that you know your stuff. The purpose of your portfolio is to educate, spark interest, and convince potential clients that they’ll want to choose you for their technical needs. That’s why it’s worth investing time into deciding what to feature on your portfolio and how it’s being displayed.

5. Level Up Your Skills

One of the best ways to justify higher rates is to make sure you have impressive skills that are in high demand. Practice using your new skills by building the types of projects that you want to eventually be paid to work on. And remember that while highly trained freelancers can get paid much more for their work, taking online classes can get you on the right track and put you in charge of your education.

6. Determine Your Pricing

Before deciding how much to charge for your freelance services, you need to make sure your rates are enough to make a comfortable living. Most clients won’t hesitate to pay higher rates for a freelancer that gives them an incredible first impression and sells them on the ability to deliver high-quality results.

Always consider the actual value you’d be creating for your potential clients and make sure you’re not leaving money on the table. You can always increase your rates in the future and hope your client stays on board, but if you start at a price point you’re already excited about, you’ll be that much more likely to over-deliver and continue increasing your value moving forward.

In simple terms, freelancing is when you use your skills, education, and experience to work with multiple clients and take on various projects without committing to a single employer. 

People are talking about freelancing more than ever before because there are more freelancers today than there have ever been in history.

Other terms for freelancing

Not everyone uses the term “freelance” or “freelancer” when it comes to work that a freelancer may do. In fact, even many freelancers refer to themselves as “self-employed.”

So other terms you may want to be aware of that relate to freelancing include:

• Contract work: Jobs where you are working to fulfill a short-term or part time contract
• Contract job: Same as above.
• Independent contractor: This is the IRS classification of a freelancer
• Contract consultant: This term refers to a consultant coming in under a 1099 contract for a short period of time.
• Contract-to-hire: Contract-to-hire roles provide a sort of “test period” for a freelancer before they are hired full time.

How does freelancing work?

Freelancers accept payment in return for providing some sort of service. That agreement is generally part-time or short term.

Sometimes people pay freelancers to work a set number of hours per week or per month. That arrangement is often referred to as a “retainer.” A retainer refers to when you retain the services or right to someone’s time. A lot of legal professionals work on retainer. Every month, they bill a set amount of time to the client, regardless of whether that full time is used or not.

It’s really one of the simplest and most pure forms of entrepreneurship: the freelancer provides a specific service or outcome, and the buyer pays them a fee directly.

What type of work can I do by freelancing?

Companies are becoming much more open to and interested in hiring freelancers doing many different types of work. So freelancing has become much more acceptable for a wide variety of roles.

According to Forbes, the best freelancing gigs are:

• Marketing
• Business Project Management 
• Web Development
• Writing
• Accounting 
• Insurance Inspection 
• Teaching/Tutoring 
• Social Media
• Graphic Design 
• Administrative Assistant 

How do I start freelancing?

You can actually start freelancing any time by simply accepting payment to complete a job for someone else.

Most freelancers will want to go a step further though and formally incorporate their company, open a bank account, and create an online presence for their freelance business.

There are three main paths to making money as a freelancer:

• Working with clients directly
• Subcontracting
• Freelancing platforms or websites

Conclusion

Freelancing means to be your own boss. There are many different types of freelance jobs, and more companies are hiring freelancers than ever before.

Freelancing can be an incredible way to earn a living on your own terms. It’s up to you to decide if freelancing is right for you. But if you’re going to freelance especially locally in Trinidad and Tobago, investing in Freelance Trini can help you make the jump quickly.

Here are some tips to help you find great Trini Freelancers and make the right hire for your business.

Why hire a freelancer?

If you’ve never worked with freelancers before, it can be quite daunting and intimidating. Hiring a Freelancer from Trinidad and Tobago though, allows you to work with a professional that you can easily communicate with. The right freelancer for you will be an expert in his field but still likely cost less than hiring a full-time employee. Freelancers usually don’t need any training and can complete both short-term and long-term projects with quick turnaround times and maximum flexibility.

Get clear on your budget

Before you hire any freelancers, you need to double check your budget. Make sure to allocate enough funds to pay the freelancer fairly for their work.

If you’re not sure how much your project is worth, spend some time to research the average rate for the type of work you’re looking to have done. In Trinidad and Tobago freelancer’s rates can vary from $50 to $600 per hour.

Create a freelancer job description

Once you know how much you can afford to pay your freelancer, it’s important to now create a job description for the position you’re looking to fill. A freelancer job description should include a compelling summary of the project, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the required skills for the position.

Your job description should outline:

• Specific tasks you expect a freelancer to perform
• Skills they’ll need to successfully complete the project
• What hourly or flat rate you’re offering
• A simplified description of your company

Find a good source of talent

One of the most difficult parts of hiring your first freelancer is finding a reliable source of talent to hire from. Good options include Fiverr and Upwork. But the prevailing issues with these international platforms are usually the cultural differences, high rates, and bad communication.

With Freelancer Trini however, we take the headache out of finding, vetting, and hiring local freelancers. We go through a rigorous vetting process to ensure that you only hire the best. Click here to check out the talented freelancers on our platform.