Freelance By Choice

One of the biggest obstacles when you first get started freelancing is figuring out effective ways to market yourself.  You can't call yourself a freelancer forever without picking up some jobs here and there and the more time you spend looking for work the less time you have to actually do the work.

Your first stop should be Facebook and LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is more for professional circles but remember that you need to use both to market your services.  If you are currently a Facebook abuser who tells the world what you had for breakfast and what your toe jam smelled like - stop!  Refocus your posts around your business and positive messages that people enjoy reading.  Tell people stories about how you helped a customer more than they expected and how good that made you feel. Never, ever talk negatively about your job or your industry. Never talk about needing time off unless you combine it with a positive message about recharging your bateries so you can come up with fresh ideas.  Remember that everyone that you have contact with it a potential client or someone that can refer business to you.

Next, get out of the house!  I am a strong believer in person-to-person sales.  I can sell my services online, but I am much more effective when I can actually meet the person. However, I absolutely hate knocking on doors and doing hardcore sales.  I am going to talk about this more in another article, but it fits here too.  Join

If you don't already have business cards order them NOW! They are absolutely critical for getting new business.

social groups that you enjoy.  I joined an off-roading club and a couple groups that met to play poker.  You never know who you are going to meet and you may pick up a referral or valuable advice. If nothing else you get some much needed time away from the house and work so that you are more mentally prepared later on. Also, never go ANYWHERE without professional looking business cards that clearly state what you do and how to get in contact with you.

The previous suggestions are essential for getting higher paying, local jobs.  However, for day to day work that ensures food on the table I often work through various websites.  These websites can be challenging because you are competing against freelancers from all over the world but if you know how to compete with these overseas freelancers you can still maintain reasonable prices and get much more work than you could otherwise.  If you are not sure of what advantages you offer over your overseas competition, take a look at this article that I wrote for employers.  You may even find that you can eventually make more money by finding work and getting overseas freelancers to do portions of it for you.  Sometimes when we are really busy I have overseas freelancers do part of the work for me so that I can still make money and avoid turning away potentially long term clients.  Of course I have to take responsibility for the final output which can be challenging at times and it is not the right solution for everyone, but I find it works well for me when it is necessary.

With the various freelance websites I spend an hour a day or so go through the hundreds of jobs they post everyday.  I find a few that look attractive and make a

These are a couple of my favorite sites for finding work.

bid.  Usually the service is a very low cost or even free for the freelancer and I bid on 10 or so a day.  I am never the cheapest nor the most expensive.  I try to keep my prices reasonable with a short note about how I understand the project and a little explanation about why I am worth the extra money.

As a final note, pick up a couple books that will help your marketing efforts.  My all time favorite is How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  This book is really not just about gaining new business, but a great guide on improving your interactions with everyone around you.  The other book is a quick, easy read and I found it to be invaluable.  It is How to Work a Room, Revised Edition: Your Essential Guide to Savvy Socializing written by Susan Roane.  I think someone originally gave me that book and it sat on a shelf for a year, but after reading it I found it immensely helpful.  If you really need to market yourself or starve, this book shows you how to make contact with a room full of people without making any of them feel like they have just been given a sales pitch.

If any of you have information to add, please write you comments below and share your ideas with us all!