I love seeing people become freelancers .
But with that love, also comes more competition.
So, how do you stand out among other freelancers and what differentiates you from them?
There are many things you can and should do, but here are 5 nugget takeaways:
1. Establish a Brand + Dominate a Niche
A brand is what people perceive of you or your business.
You don't want to be known as something generic like a "freelancer from (your place) who does web design."
After all, your 12-old niece does the same thing:
You want to be known as the guy/gal/business "offering [insert niche] clients quality web designs (and marketing services)."
How do you stand out in a room of 1,000 people wearing a black jersey?
Simple: you wear a red one.
When you stand out, people will know you and your work better. When they see what you can do, they will trust you. When they trust you, you could generate more revenue.
Niching down is a broad topic, so read more about it here.
The Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch simply and succinctly conveys what you do.
You can also use it to pique people's interest in a project, an idea, a product, or yourself. A good elevator pitch should last little more than a 20 to 30-second elevator ride, hence the term.
Spend some time developing an elevator pitch for your freelance business.
Use and answer these questions as a guide to craft a great pitch:
- Who am I?
- What do I do?
- Who do I help?
Examples:
I'm Bob, I help SaaS owners grow their business with web development solutions.
I'm Sally, I help Nutritionists get more clients through social media.
I'm Fred, I help e-commerce owners generate more sales online from online advertisements.
Now it's time to improve on or build your portfolio website.
2. Build a Portfolio
Now that you have already established a plan, you know who you are and what you want to be. It's time to showcase it.
The point of having a portfolio website can be summed up as:
Show what you've done - not talk about what you can do.
So, what should go into a portfolio website?
- Who you are
- What you do
- What you've done
- Why a business should hire you
Here's an example:
Read this to learn more about how to create a winning portfolio website.
3. Create an Action Plan
Whether you call that a Business or Action Plan, it doesn't matter.
The point is to at least have a general understanding of what you want to do, how you want to do it, and when you want to do it.
Here's an example:
I want to earn at least $3,500 /mo in 12 months from freelancing.
How:
- Month 1: Learn HTML and CSS
- Month 2: Learn Bootstrap/Tailwind and design fundamentals
- Month 3: Create websites using HTML, CSS and Tailwind
- Month 4: Learn JavaScript
- Month 5: Learn more advanced JavaScript
- Month 6: Create websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript or WebFlow
- Month 7: Create a personal portfolio website and build a personal brand
- Month 8: Reach out to businesses to create websites for them (for free to gain experience)
- Month 9: Focus on improving knowledge and see what I need to work on
- Month 10: Get a minimum of 3 client websites on portfolio
- Month 11: Learn freelancing fundamentals and business essentials
- Month 12: Reach out to prospective clients, promote my work, and get paid clients or apply for a job.
4. Look for Clients
Now that you have your brand, your portfolio, and an action plan, it's time to look for clients!
It's nice to have a pretty logo, but a logo doesn't pay the bills :)
So, how do you get clients?
The 80/20 answer is:
- Family + Friends (the simplest and best way to start)
- Google Ads
- Facebook Groups
- LinkedIn Outreach
- Freelance Platforms
- Manual Outreach
The longer answer can be found here.
5. Have a Winning Mindset + Keep Adapting
The truth is, freelancing can be hard.
It takes a while to establish yourself and you often have to get out of your comfort zone to learn all these business and marketing things.
Almost everything I did was so weird, and I hated the rejections after putting in so much effort.
In fact, my journey looks like this:
'X' is where I almost gave up.
And the sad thing is, MANY freelancers do give up at that point.
I want to encourage you to keep going. Yes, it's challenging in the beginning, but your future-self will thank you for all the effort you're putting in now.
You can do it.
The other thing is to keep adapting and improving.
That could be learning CRO, more coding knowledge or marketing knowledge.
We should all be learning new processes, methodologies, and standards for client work, as well as refining own businesses.
It's important to run your freelancing business, but don't let it run you.
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That's it!
Thanks for reading, and I know you can do it.