How to start freelancing from scratch and without previous experience
Is it really difficult to start freelancing from scratch? Is experience considered a prerequisite for starting any business? This is what I will try to answer, in addition to a group of other questions that are of interest to everyone who wants to enter the world of freelancing from scratch.
We now live in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – a period of rapid change in terms of work driven by developments in automation, but we have a unique opportunity to direct the future of work in which freelancers will play a more key role than we could ever imagine.
This is what Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork (one of the largest online freelancing platforms) and co-chair of the World Economic Forum Council, says in his talk about the future of education and work.
In the previous article “Why should we move to freelancing?.... I talked about self-employment and why it has now become an inevitable necessity in light of the current economy and the unstable conditions that the countries are witnessing in general. Where I tried to answer a number of questions such as how do I get a job? How can the problem of unemployment be overcome? What is freelancing or the freelancing economy? Why is self-employment considered an alternative to traditional work?
In this article, I will answer the most important question that arises automatically, which is: How do I start freelancing? Or how do I start freelancing without previous experience? Where I will summarize the most important tips and steps that must be followed to immediately start freelancing without previous experience.
table of contents
1- Choose the skill you will focus on
2- Focus on that skill and develop it permanently
3- Start volunteering to build a model for your business
4- Build a network of relationships
5- Learn the basics of marketing in general and self-marketing in particular
6- Take care of your LinkedIn account
7- Challenge yourself
8- Have patience
9- Always provide the customer with a free sample
10- Work with high quality from the beginning
11- Think about your potential customers and try to target them
12- Use freelance platforms, preferably English
1- Choose the skill you will focus on
This step is the first and most important step before you start. It is certain that you have at least one skill or even a number of skills, but in the beginning, do not overwhelm yourself with that number, choose one skill to focus on.
Still confused about which skill to work on? Well I can give you a simple equation to help you with this:
The skill I would choose = what I enjoy doing + what I can do with skill + what others are willing to pay for it
2- Focus on that skill and develop it permanently
Have you chosen your skill now? This is good, you have to focus on it intensively in the beginning, until you reach a stage that qualifies you to start working and using it effectively.
You must then follow up on everything new related to this skill, and you must develop it permanently and continuously. It is common knowledge among freelancers that a skill that is not monitored at least once a month is subject to obsolescence. Of course, this is not an inevitable law, but it is logical in light of the constant changes and technologies that can always be exploited to increase productivity and efficiency at work, regardless of the skill that is used.
3- Start volunteering to build a model for your business
The first service is always an obsession for freelancers, as they feel that they need a completed project that can be presented to potential clients as a sample of the work, so why not make the first service volunteer since it is more available than the paid service?
For example, if you work in the field of editing or translation, immediately start translating articles or topics on a voluntary basis and try to publish them on your own blog or on one of the appropriate sites.
Or if you are a designer, start making designs without a request from a specific client. Build an exhibition of your work on the Behance website, for example, in a way that reflects your interest and professionalism in the work.
As for how you can build this business gallery, you can use some free sites and platforms dedicated to that.
4- Build a network of relationships
Build a network of relationships with other freelancers within your field of specialization or outside of it. Try to benefit from their experiences and learn from them work methods and techniques, and try to consult them and take their advice if necessary.
And of course, do not forget to build a network of potential clients or companies that you aspire to work with. Focus on their requirements and needs, study them well, and keep them in mind while providing or presenting your services to them.
5- Learn the basics of marketing in general and self-marketing in particular
In the early stages of work, this skill is considered very necessary. You must present yourself in an attractive and convincing way to potential clients. You must also market your services and convince clients to choose you over many competing freelancers other than you.
6- Take care of your LinkedIn account
Build and organize your LinkedIn account, and support it with live, realistic examples of your work. Focus on explaining your work and experiences, and do not forget the media that expresses them. In short, make your account speak for you, and represent the image you want to show to your customers.
As for me, I got a great job offer two weeks after updating my account well, and it was highly financially rewarding compared to traditional work or even some of the projects I worked on freelance!
7- Challenge yourself
Because freelancing depends mainly on the activity of the freelancer, this may create a kind of procrastination or frustration among some freelancers who fail to deal with their first client or fail to launch strongly within this field.
So set a time period or deadline, for example, to get your first client. This will help you focus, intensify your work, and take the topic more seriously.
8- Have patience
To enter the world of freelancing from scratch, especially in the beginning, requires great patience, as there are many competitors, whether they are professional or not, which forces you to exert greater effort with focus and perseverance, in order to be able to compete with those competitors.
9- Always provide the customer with a free sample
Suppose you have a potential client now, but you do not have previous projects or work models that qualify you to convince him. The matter is simple: provide the client with a free sample of the work. This sample proves the quality of your work, and it avoids possible misunderstandings after the start of the project, as it makes you aware of the nature of the client’s expectations and requirements, and it also provides the client himself with an idea about the style and nature of your work.
10- Work with high quality from the beginning
When you're thinking about freelancing from scratch, remember to build a good reputation and treat yourself as a brand, as this gives the client a good impression of you as a freelancer. Focusing on high-quality work is better than working on several works and projects of lower quality.
Building a good reputation with a suitable customer base is half the battle here.
11- Think about your potential customers and try to target them
It is always preferable to set clear goals and try to reach them. For example, do you want to compete with a professional freelancer within your field of work? Or do you want to be a content creator for a distinguished company? It is necessary to have similar goals, set an action plan with a timeline to reach this goal, this creates an incentive and motivation for you to work harder.
You can create a list of potential clients to focus on targeting throughout your business.
12- Use freelance platforms, preferably English
For people who do not have a network of relationships and want to start freelancing from scratch, there are a number of freelancing platforms, the most famous of which are Fiverr, Toptal, Jooble, Freelancer, Upwork websites for microservices. The advantage of these sites is that they provide you with an entire community of freelancers and clients and thus save you the trouble of searching for your clients alone. All platforms deduct up to 20% of the agreed upon amount in exchange for providing the service or project.
If you have a good English language that helps you work and communicate using it, it is preferable to go to work platforms that use the English language. You may see that the competition will be greater due to the presence of a larger number of freelancers, but in reality, the prices of services there are better in most cases than the prices you find on the platforms.
You may be interested in: How do you convince a client and write your proposal for his project on an independent website?
Some people may think that freelancing platforms are the only or best place for freelancing, and this is of course a false belief.
Let's be realistic, working on these platforms has become very competitive. There are many freelancers who set fantastically low prices for their services only because they do not have any work and therefore they think logically (work with a small return is better than no work at all) or because their work is not of high quality or... It takes them a lot of time or effort that a professional freelancer should put in, or even for other reasons.
As for me, I worked in the field of freelancing for three years before I went directly to these platforms. In many cases, the return I get when dealing with the customer directly is better than the return I get from these platforms.
Other publications
- Why should we move to freelancing?
- What are the areas of freelancing? The comprehensive guide to online services
- How to withdraw your profits as a freelancer? Ways to transfer profits without a PayPal account
- 27 thoughts on “How to start freelancing from scratch and without previous experience - Beginner’s Guide”