For some people, working without anybody to tell them what to do and how to do their work can be one of their lifetime dreams. You need a lot more than mere expertise and technical skills in order to achieve success in being an online freelancer. In general, you need to have basic knowledge on how to carry out branding, manage time as well as your own finance, find clients, and prioritize work and the likes. Even though freelancing offers a higher level of flexibility which you cannot find in a full-time 9 to 5 job, but it also comes with a whole range of extra tasks and responsibilities. You need to master how to work efficiently, to get a larger income while avoiding all the common freelancing issues which may hinder your progress. For that reason, here are some guidelines for you to discover how to really achieve success in being an online freelancer:
If You Are An Online Freelance Designer
A lot of self-proclaimed creative people are giving their best effort in becoming a successful freelance designer. However, without a proper strategy and planning, their creativity will remain an abstract concept in which they may lack of knowledge on how to achieve success while being an online freelance designer. Being a successful freelance designer is basically about several basic things, namely branding, portfolio, personality, networking and fee.
First and foremost, you need to decide about your branding before you actually start your business. You need to contemplate on how would you like to be memorized by your clients or potential customers. Do you want to be remembered as sophisticated and formal by using a classing monochromatic logo, or do you want to be remembered as young and cheerful if you decide to use a logo full of colors and fun accents. Almost all successful companies and organizations have succeeded in establishing a specific image in the public’s mind when it comes to hearing their brand.
After deciding on your brand, your next task in order to be a successful freelance designer would be to create your portfolio. If you want to focus on being an online freelance designer, then you must focus on making an effective online portfolio. Your potential clients and customers would want to see sample of your previous work and it will be very convenient for them to just type in a website link and browse through all of your sample collections. However, if you also want to expand your business offline, it will be beneficial for you to print out your portfolio along with your business card, resume and credentials. Bring an interesting tangible portfolio which you can hand over to potential clients or customers who want to witness your work in real life. Moreover, you can always put your personal logo in various merchandises such as a notebook, pen, keychain, and so on and so forth. If the client is impressed by your portfolio presentation, you will very likely be hired and there is also a high chance that your client will recommend you to their colleagues, friends or families who are in need of designing services. Bear in mind that not only compliments will be spread around; however, rumors and negative comments will be too.
Last but not least, if you are working in the design industry networking is always important. You can achieve your own success by climbing up the mountain all by yourself, but the journey will definitely be much easier if you know people who can give you a small boost or assistance in order to reach where you want to reach earlier. Since design is constantly and rapidly changing, you need to keep up with new techniques, trends and styles and for that reason you need to communicate with your fellow designer colleagues.
If You Are An Online Freelance Photographer
A lot of people claim that working as a freelance photographer is quite difficult. Long hours of photography job are often paid with a little salary. The little amount of payment is also added with its lack of constancy, making the job to lack in stability of a weekly or monthly paycheck. Most of the times, it gets lonely too. If you are a freelance photographer, you would understand this because you know that often time it will only be you and your camera alone. No partner to consult or joke with.
On a similar note, achieving success as an online freelance photographer can be tough. There are several things which you can do in order to maximize your productivity and as a result, become a successful freelance photographer online. The first thing that you want to do would be to create a decent website consisting of your work. Your website is going to be one of the most important elements of your business. It would be the first thing that potential clients will look into, in which it will serve as an initial basis in their consideration with regards to your employability. Avoid making it too complicated and ensure that the photos, which you display in your website, are the best amongst the best.
Giving your website a blog feature would also be a crowd pleaser, as long as you regularly update it with good photos every once in a while. It will be best if you can update your blog every day even with only one photo per day. Through your blog, you will be able to showcase your personal taste and characteristic because most of the time your portfolio will consist of your previous work which had already been conceptualized and designed by another person. Take pictures of the things of people that you love, and keep it exuberant.
Another thing which would determine your success as a photographer (or basically as everything else) would be the money. Pricing can be the most difficult thing to figure out if you choose to become an online freelance photographer. You may not be confident in charging too high of a price, but if it is too cheap it will imply that you are not so professional and sophisticated, in which you may be slaving your hours off. Negotiate with your client, ask them about their budget estimation and then give yourself time to really decide whether you want to take the job with the aforesaid budget or not. Once you have been blessed with a lot of different projects, it would be important to keep lists of the tasks which you need to complete and what your targets may be. By creating a list, you will be able to see things clearly and fresh in your mind, lessening the chance of you missing out a task regardless of how minor it may be.
If You Are An Online Freelance Writer
You have realized that writing may be one of your true passions in life, and you really want to be successful in your career as an online freelance writer. Achieving success as an online freelance writer requires various skills supplementary to your journalism or literary adeptness. However before starting out, you need to really decide on which category is it that you want to write about. If you are highly creative and able to imagine things out of the box, fiction writing may be suitable for you. However, if you have been writing legal or medical articles but you fall deeper in love with writing instead of the profession, then it may be best that you become a non-fiction factual writer.
In completing your writing task, one of the most important things to be done prior to anything else would be researching. You cannot just write random sentences and information without actually studying about it beforehand, even if you are writing a fiction piece. Even top journalists still carry out research before they are writing. Be a member at your local library, and persistently look for different sources of information online. Persistence is required in being a successful online freelance writer, because one of the biggest risks that you will face as a writer would be multiple rejections. Rejection does not mean that you are bad at what you do, and therefore you must be able to handle rejections as well as criticisms and comments well instead of giving up. In relation to the rejection risk, it would be important for you to analyze about your potential client or market thoroughly. It may be the case that you have not paid much attention to their writers’ guidelines and as a result your work gets rejected even though it only needs a simple amendment for it to be accepted.
At the end of the day, if you are lucky enough to get several of your work to be published, you may want to consider about establishing your own website. Your website will be the place where you can showcase your sample work and provide links to the ones which have already been published online. Your website may also display your contact information so that when potential clients or publishers wish to speak to you, they will know exactly where to send their messages to.