Do you ever wonder if you’ll be able to scale your life as a freelancer into a full-blown career?
If so, we’re here to say that your dream is definitely achievable! In fact, many entrepreneurs got their start doing freelance work – and now make a solid living doing what they love most.
Whether you are a writer, a blogger, a digital marketer, or any other kind of online freelancer, there are ways to grow your practice into a full-scale business.
To prove it, we have decided to interview someone who has done just that.
Freelancer to Entrepreneur: Interview with Katia Myroniuk of Search Eva
Katia Myroniuk got her start doing freelance work as a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist, but now runs her own agency, SearchEva. We wanted to ask her some questions about what it was like starting out as a freelancer and then becoming a full-time entrepreneur.
YoungAdultMoney: What made you first decide to become a freelancer?
Katia: I always thought of traveling while working or getting paid without going to office as of something cool. However, I never thought it could happen to me. First time I felt that freelancing is possible when working with freelancers as an SEO of a product company. But I never knew where to start. Things figured out themselves when I decided to go to South America for 1 month and quit my office for that reason. After coming back I never thought of going back to the office, so I managed to live on savings and started to search for online clients. After a couple of months, I found my first client and began to grow my portfolio.
YAM: As a freelancer, where did you acquire most of your clients?
K: Mostly on Upwork.
YAM: What was your favorite part of making money online?
K: Ability to be my boss, set up personal working schedule and choose clients I want to work with. And I used freelancing perks of traveling in its fullest :).
YAM: What was your biggest struggle as a freelancer?
K: I don’t think I had any. I had a certain picture of how it is going to be, and the reality was quite similar to that. Having stable clients cuts off the headache of finding new ones.
YAM: What was the deciding factor in your becoming an entrepreneur?
K: The deciding factor of becoming an entrepreneur was willing to scale. When being a freelancer, you can only work a certain amount of hours. As an SEO, I wanted to have my team whom I can rely on, and deliver better results for my clients. There are certain things you can’t do by yourself. So, I thought I’ll give it a try, and things worked out pretty well.
YAM: How are you able to market your business?
K: Now at SearchEva, we do SEO and content marketing for SaaS companies. The niche is quite focused that is a benefit when it comes to marketing. I want to provide the best results for my clients so at the moment we are not focused on growing the number of clients. Our focus is on the high level of output for each project we have. Thus, having a razor-focused niche and positive feedback helps our company to grow.
YAM: What has entrepreneurship presented to you what freelancing did not?
K: On the first place, it is scaling of efforts. When you have a team, you multiply your abilities. Of course, it comes together with the search for right employees and management. But for me it is worth it, I always wanted to have my own company.
YAM: What would be your advice to someone who wants to move from freelance work to having their own business?
K: Just do it. I’m a person that acts first and then learns on the go. For someone who is already in freelancing, it should be easy to transfer to entrepreneurship.
YAM: What are your next business goals?
K: At the moment I’m working on the launch of my software. It is an entirely different story – every day discovering something brand new. But I like it!
You can find out more about Katia on LinkedIn or on Twitter.
Do you want to become an entrepreneur? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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