How to Gain Business as a Freelancer

Are you looking to generate more business as a freelancer? Freelancing is a great job to have, but sometimes you can get stuck when finding new work opportunities. Here are five tips that can help you create new business opportunities in the freelancing world and make some new connections!

FIRST THINGS FIRST: WHO ARE YOU TARGETING?

So you’re looking to get more freelance work, but you need a starting point. If you haven’t done so already, it’s absolutely essential that you narrow down and define your target audience. This is simple to do if you can find a correlation between your target audience and your goals. Think about what kind of clients you want to have and what kind of work you’d prefer doing. Once you have established this, you can go forward with setting up realistic goals and knocking them down.

TIP ONE: NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK

In order to be a successful freelancer, it’s important to do networking and find multiple outlets to do so. One way you can do this is just by being social and helpful. By encouraging other people to succeed, you will naturally get noticed by your peers and create new opportunities. You can also present yourself as a source of valuable information, which can put you on other people’s radar. Aside from this, it’s okay to become friends with other successful freelancers and will actually help your business! Being able to exchange tips, ideas, and recommendations can only benefit you in the end. You’d be surprised how many other freelancers are willing to talk about their experiences and it can be fun talking to other freelancers who share similar passions with you! Lastly, it’s essential that you attend networking events that can be beneficial to you and your business. Whether that be casual meetups, online groups, or professional organizations, the options are endless and can only help.

TIP TWO: UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE NETWORKS

Social media and technology today makes promoting your freelance business easy! With different outlets like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more you can identify what social media apps compliment your work best and go with it. Be sure to update your pages frequently, and use it as a way to be a good source of information. If you repost or share quality content, your audience will be more interested in your page. Social media also creates a direct channel to get into communication with clients and allows you to respond instantly. If you have the resources, you can also create Facebook or Instagram advertisements to reach out to your peers. The bottom line is you'll be able to promote yourself in the freelancing world quickly and effectively if you optimize your social media presence. 

TIP THREE: CREATE CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS TO BUILD ON

One thing that will aid your freelance business is your ability to create positive relationships with your clients. A client will definitely remember after collaborating with you not only how good of a job you did, but whether or not you created a relationship with them. It’s essential for a freelancer to continuously grow a client base. This means going out of your way to provide great customer service and make your clients feel comfortable and happy to be working with you. Even after you’re done working together, don’t hesitate to reach out to clients when promoting a new product or service. Even if it might not help them directly, they might know someone who could benefit. Plus, you’re more likely to have repeating clients if you create a good, comfortable work environment.

TIP FOUR: GET REFERRALS 

You can find success in your freelance business if you're able to get referrals. Gaining referrals can be a gamechanger for your business because of how effective someone can be when they personally recommend you to their peers. Think of online reviews that people give companies and how influential they can be when you’re on the fence about using a service or product. As a freelancer, providing good customer service and generating high-quality work will most likely get you referrals whether you’re aware of it or not. But aside from this, the easiest way to get referrals is simply asking! For example, after working with a client, send them a thank you email and include a small paragraph at the end of the email politely asking them to refer you to others. Or you can even give a little incentive to those who refer you, like a discount. 

TIP FIVE: PROMOTIONS

This last freelance tip is pretty self-explanatory but can give you maximum results. Everyone loves to get free things, so what better way to generate business than doing giveaways? One way to promote your brand and get your name out there is by doing promotions. You can give away anything from branded office supplies and tee-shirts to free consultants.

There are so many ways you can gain business as a freelancer, but these are just a few key tips you should always keep in mind! As a freelancer, a coworking space is a great place to network and create new relationships with potential clients and other freelancers. If you’re looking to join a coworking space, check out OneCoWork! You can book a tour here to see what OneCoWork has to offer you.

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