All freelancers have to start somewhere. Trust me, you are not alone, and freelancing is totally possible for beginners!
Apply these steps, and you may be well on your way to finding your first customer
1. Build or Start a Website
The easiest way to start freelancing without any experience is to create a website for your services.
Even if you’re not a web designer, you can find templates for pretty much every web platform. All you have to do is change the colors to match your branding.
Some website platforms that I recommend for beginners are Wix and Elementоr. The latter is more economical. If you want a little more freedom, consider moving to a worddress.
One thing to make sure of when building a website is that you buy your own domain name. (ie: www.yоurwebsite.соm)
It looks a lot more professional to your customers, and you can usually get a free email address on your domain just like you can use it.
When building your website, you don’t need too much information that might bother your customers. Focus story writing on your client, what you offer, and how you can help. Make sure there is at least one home page, about the region, about the contact rate and about the services section.
To increase your domain authority, consider starting a blog on your website as well. This is a great way to share information and showcase your knowledge with potential clients so you can start showing others that you’ve been hired.
2. Build A Portfolio
You don’t need a website to build a portfolio, even though it’s best to have your work on your own site.
You can honestly create a presentation using something like Sanva to show off some of your projects and results. Then, save it as a DF and share it with anyone who’s interested.
There is a start, it is possible that you will have nothing to show for now. Don’t worry about it! Instead, check out this article, it may help.
One thing to keep in mind while showcasing your work is to have projects in your portfolio that you really want to do.
For example, maybe you once built an app for a school project, but you want to focus on freelance writing. Obviously, you may not want to have this in your portfolio, or perhaps you may think that you are ready to take on suitable design projects.
3. Use Social Media
If you are wondering how to start freelancing without any experience, know that social media can be expansive to get your services out in the world. I recommend thinking more about your ideal customer and where they might be. Will they be on Instagram or Facebook? youtube?
If you’re not sure where they will be, use the social media platforms you use most often and create accounts with your new business name associated with them.
On Instagram, use reels, create guides, try to post consistently, and show your face on stories. You never know who might come in your area.
Fасebооk can be filled with tons of customers if you look in the right places. Be sure to join Fасebоооk groups filled with the type of person you want to work with. For example, if you want to work with travel bloggers, you can join as many travel blogger groups as you want.
4. Choosing the Right Freelance Idea
Once you join the grocers, don’t self-promote in any way.
Instead, wait until someone in one of these groups asks a question you can answer, and make sure it’s related to your services. I’ve had quite a few clients this way, and it helps to show off the knowledge you have, even if you don’t have any experience.
First we need an idea. Shocking, I know.
If you don’t feel like you have strong work experience, I recommend an idea that doesn’t require years to do well, such as a program.
Instead, something that is easy to learn is lead generation research. We can become good at the first few projects and we will be able to develop this idea into something more profitable.
With a focus on reliability, customers will trust us over time if we do a good job. It’s open to them and lets us try other projects and maybe inspires us to learn.
5. Provide Free Services
I’m not against doing free services once you get more established and it’s important to know your qualifications. But, when you are just starting out, there is nothing wrong with offering some services for free.
Just make sure you limit the number for which you’ll offer this service, and make sure you’re still setting up a contract.
In the end, the final payment should be a testimonial from your customer that you can Show on your website. You should also have the right to be able to put work in your portfolio so that visitors to your site can see some of the work you can do.
6. Find customers where they are
Where you find your clients is dependent on your specific freelance idea because we have to get where they are and we won’t find a place where they all are. We’ll look at this in the next session, so I’ll keep it short.
Don’t waste your time building a presence anywhere like a Facebook group or blog to get customers to come to you.
It will take forever and there’s a fair chance we can give before we can get results. Instead, follow up with customers – as long as we’re friendly and don’t make sales, they won’t mind being asked directly.
Now you know how to be a freelancer without any experience. It’s really not that difficult if you focus on what you’re good at and don’t mind getting paid a little less in the beginning.
One thing to keep in mind as a beginner freelancer is that your pricing can be liquid. If you start to book, raise your rates and charge your value. If you find that you are having a slow month, consider reducing your prices until you get a few more customers.
I hope this guide will help you to start your freelancing business.
