Are you tired of working at your 9 to 5, battling traffic, and feeling unfulfilled?
Do you want to spend more time with your family, or just not have to worry about your boss looking over your shoulder every five seconds?
Then maybe you’ve thought about becoming a freelancer.
You can set your own hours, commute from your bed to your desk (in your PJs), work on what you want to work on, when you want, all while being the boss.
Of course, there are downsides to freelancing, but most people become freelancers because it offers better work/life balance, for more of a professional challenge, to earn more money, or because they’re tired of answering to someone else.
If that’s the situation you find yourself in, then these are the steps you need to take to become a full-time freelancer.
1) Figure Out What Services or Products You Can Offer
First things first, before you think any further about this, what services or products can you offer to people to make money?
There’s a whole list of things you could choose from: video editing, graphic design, writing, IT support, administrative tasks, social media, photography, petsitting, drawing, and the list goes on.
If you’re struggling to come up with something, ask your friends for their opinion. What would they pay you to do? What skills do you have that no one else in your group possesses? What interests and hobbies do you have that you wouldn’t mind monetizing?
You don’t have to go to the extremes with validating your idea, but check around different communities and make sure there’s a market for whatever you want to offer. Competition isn’t always a bad thing, as long as you can add a unique offering.
2) Do You Have Any Experience?
Okay, now that you know what you want to offer to people, you need to work on getting your “resume” together. I use that term loosely because I’ve never been asked for one for a gig, but a few other freelancers have, depending on the field they’re in.
You don’t necessarily need a ton of experience right away to start earning money, but you likely won’t be able to make a full-time living from it right off the bat.
That’s okay. We’re not trying to be overnight successes here!
Think of what you could do to expand or grow your skills. There are plenty of online courses available for just about anything you can think of.
Learn and grow. Apply what you learn to your own projects, so you have proof you’ve developed the necessary skills. If it comes to it, offer to work for free (on a very limited basis) for a client or two to gain testimonials.
3) Launch Your Side Hustle
After you start gaining some experience, it’s time to make serious headway in becoming a full-time freelancer. That means starting to side hustle.
The best thing you can do is set up a website so people can find you and see what you have to offer. I strongly recommend doing this to showcase your work, too. If you write, having a blog can be valuable. If you do video or photography work, then you should have a portfolio.
I got where I am today only because I started a blog. Writing has always been a passion of mine, but I didn’t set out to be a freelance writer. It just so happened that I made connections within our community, and because my clients liked what they saw from my blog, they hired me.
That still blows my mind. So don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, as you never know what may come of it.
In addition to a website, you’ll want to get on some key social media platforms. Go where your customers or clients are likely to be hanging out. You don’t need to master all platforms. Focus on a few, otherwise you run the risk of overwhelming yourself.
Itching to quit your job? Here’s my take on that:
You can go straight from beginner to freelancer without side hustling, if you want. That’s the route I took, and it goes against common advice from those who are freelancing.
However, being that I walked that path, I would tell you to wait, unless you absolutely can’t stand your job or current situation so much, you would do whatever it takes to get out.
Things will go much more smoothly for you if you side hustle first, because then you can learn what you enjoy about a gig, what you don’t enjoy, what kind of clients you want to work with, or you might even discover that you don’t want to do what you originally set out to do.
My first year was a huge learning experience for me. I kept saying “yes” to all the work that came my way because I felt desperate, and because I wanted to experience as many roles as possible.
That wasn’t sustainable, though. While I’m grateful for all the experience I acquired, I had to take a step back and evaluate where I wanted my business and my career to go. It’s a lot easier to do this when you still have a full-time job and aren’t feeling the pressure to earn as much as possible.
4) Keep Your Financial Goals in Mind
Most freelancers will recommend that you don’t quit your job until your side hustle income reaches or eclipses what you’re earning at your full-time job.
That might mean working 50-60 hour weeks, sometimes more, to meet your deadlines and stay at your job.
Be honest and ask yourself if you’re willing to do that. It’s not easy, especially if you have a family that needs your attention.
Sit down and take a look at your budget. Is there anything you can cut so that you can take a temporary pay cut?
Try creating a bare-bones budget to get an idea of what you must earn freelancing so you have a basis for your rates.
I would also highly recommend setting aside enough money in your emergency fund to take care of you if something were to happen – especially if you’re single, and don’t have any other income to rely on.
5) Get a Mentor
Have you tried learning via courses? Was it ineffective? You may benefit from a mentor instead.
I tried taking courses and reading books on freelance writing, but it wasn’t until I took my friend Cat’s freelance writing course, and had her as my coach, that I really started to make progress.
That was because I wasn’t applying the lessons I was learning. I was afraid to put my work out there.
With some tough love and generous connections, I finally made it work, but that was after months of agonizing over everything.
Having a mentor – someone who has been exactly where you are and knows the ins and outs of your industry – can do wonders for you and growing your business. There are a lot of mental hurdles you need to overcome when becoming a freelancer, and it’s much easier when you have someone you can reach out to with questions.
If you can’t afford a mentor, then try reaching out to your network to see if anyone is interested in forming a mastermind group. They can be just as valuable.
6) Ask Yourself What You Want…and Repeat
One of the things I failed to do in my first year as a freelancer was take a breath and figure out where the heck I was headed. That’s not a recipe for success.
As I said, I kept saying “yes” to everything until I found myself completely overwhelmed with work. This is a common problem freelancers face, since we get stuck in that “feast or famine” mindset. And, if you’re anything like me, you generally just hate saying no to people because you want to help.
Unfortunately, inundating yourself with work isn’t a “win” for you or your clients. You need to give yourself space to get your creative juices flowing, and to lessen the risk of burning out.
If you keep going forward at full speed, you’ll never find the time to reflect on what’s been working, what hasn’t worked, and what you want to change (along with how to change it).
You don’t need a full-blown business plan unless you want to form one, but I highly recommend checking in with your progress on a quarterly basis. So ask yourself now why you want to become a freelancer, what your ideal day would look like, who your ideal client/customer would be, what work you want to do, and what you want to earn.
Each quarter, evaluate your answers and make sure you’re staying on track. If something changes, then you’ll likely need to make changes in your business.
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Becoming a full-time freelancer isn’t easy, but being your own boss can be extremely rewarding. Going through the process of becoming a freelancer alone will help you grow professionally, and you’ll form tons of skills that will be useful whether you stick with it or decide to return to the traditional workforce down the road.
If you’re a full-time freelancer, what steps did you take to get there? Are you working toward this path? How are you preparing?
John @ Frugal Rules says
All great tips Erin, we used a fair number of them in launching our business years ago. The other tip I’d add, which you touched on in #3 is networking. You want to know your market and make others aware of what service/product you offer. That could be as simple as telling friends/family what you’re doing or reaching out directly to individuals you’ve identified as potential clients.
Erin says
Yes, networking is definitely important! I know it can be scary to promote yourself and what you do, especially as an introvert, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people want to help. You never know what can come of passing the word along.
Holly Johnson says
These are all good tips! My transition into freelancing happened naturally. I was working full-time and I started freelancing on the side. Over time, I started making more money freelancing than I did from my job. Eventually, I quit. That was 2012!
Erin says
Thanks, Holly! You were definitely one of the people who inspired me to go for it. =)
Amanda @ centsiblyrich says
Great tips here, Erin! Thanks for sharing your journey into freelancing. I’m on the fence at this point on whether to focus more on growing my blog or branch out and do some freelance work. Right now, I’m just going with the flow and trying to learn the ropes.
Erin says
That is a really tough spot to be in. I’ve all but given up on my blog this year because work took all my focus. I never monetized my blog so it just made sense for me to put freelancing first. But it really depends on what you enjoy doing, and going with the flow helps you figure that out!
Michelle says
This is a great step by step list! I started freelancing on the side of my full-time job, it’s something I definitely recommend. I was able to test the waters this way without being too reliant on the income from it.
Erin says
I agree – if I were to do things again, I definitely would have started freelancing on the side first. It’s better to make mistakes and overcome challenges when you’re not in total freak-out mode!
Lorin @ My Story Defined says
I am in the midst of working towards full time freelancing. I definitely agree about asking yourself what you want. The biggest mistake is doing it just for the money therefore you accept every job and get burnt out fast. These are some great guidelines.
Tia @ FinanciallyFitandFab says
Thanks so much for the tips, Erin! This post was right on time. I have been blogging about personal finance for about 6 months now and have been looking to expand to freelance writing! I have considered started a different website just for “freelance” opportunities but I think I can reorganize my current blog.
giulia says
Really interesting, thanks for sharing!!!
Colin // RebelwithaPlan says
Get into the practice of consistently restating your goals to yourself, it’s a great way to maintain focus! Keep writing them down every week. Also, networking is important in the sense of always owning and being confident in your abilities and treating every encounter as meaningful! Not sure if my blog will become my full-time thing but I like testing different things out right now!
Harmony@CreatingMyKaleidoscope says
I’m doing some freelancing on the side right now to speed up our debt payoff. The long-term plan is to semi-retire and be able to live off freelance income. This path feels like the right one for us.
Hannah says
Great tips! I especially agree with finding a mentor… someone who can show you the ropes can be so helpful.
I recently read Do Over by Jon Acuff, and I recommend it to anyone who is about to leap to full time freelancing. He talks a lot about character investments which I found to be especially important.
Beth says
Great Post! Posts like this keep me motivated to keep up on my blog to eventually move into freelancing. Thanks!