Freelancing is an enticing opportunity, especially when you are eager to be independent in your workspace, creative process, and overall operation. It is a rewarding feeling when you are your boss. However, it comes with a price tag.
For once in your life, it might have occurred to you to showcase your skills to a wide variety of clients instead of being limited to a single employer. Associating yourself with different people will give you the platform to assess your expertise depending on who needs them. This is why Freelancing stands out—its flexibility turns into opportunities, which would later turn into profit.
But in setting your eyes on the price, you must first know what you are diving into. Or else, it would lead you to the chaos of misused potentials. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself when starting in the freelancing world:
What can I offer?
This is an essential thing you need to reflect on before becoming a freelancer. The skills you possess and the work you can do with them are your tickets to enter this competitive realm. Yes, your passion is one of the needed ingredients in achieving success, but the services you offer are the ones that get consumed by your clients. What taste can you give them? How different will that be for you to stand out? Ultimately, if you are on the receiving end of the service, will you be satisfied? It would be best if you were firm on what you can do before persuading people into making a deal with you.
What is my vision?
Whether you are a spontaneous individual or a calculated one, you must have a goal. It gets hard to keep track of all the facets of your work when you are your employee and boss. This is why projecting the bigger picture of your venture will give you the upper hand. The way you envision your work in a year will reflect how you act every single day in that span. When starting, you don’t need to have the grandest vision. You can start with the most realistic intention and evolve with it as you tread along.
How much is my service worth?
To prevent the tension of negotiating the price of your service in the future, you must decide its worth now. Contemplating the value of your work must come from your instinct. You know most, of all people, how much effort and time you put in making your services. So, name your price. In the process of doing so, make sure that your clients will be guaranteed quality. See to it that they will get their money’s worth as much as you get rightfully paid for your labor.
What are the additional responsibilities?
Being your boss in the freelancing world takes a lot of weight to it. In freelancing, you need to look for clients yourself, you have to persuade them into availing your services, you get to make the services you offer, and you need to manage your finances.
Have I established clients already?
Establishing where and whom to market your services is a step you want to pursue before officially starting freelancing. Rule of thumb: you cannot make a profit out of your work without your clients. To kickstart your venture, you first need to be assured that you will be getting clients. It doesn’t have to be a hundred of them. You need 1 or 2 satisfied customers, and once you get the testimonials you need, you will be referred to more before you know it!
What are its Pros and Cons?
In freelancing, one of the pros is the extent of clients you get to work for. Also, the mobility it brings gives you the authority to control your job. The autonomy you’re getting gives you the avenue to explore and widen your scope of skill set. It tends to break away from routine, which gives a freelancer freedom.
One of the pitfalls of freelancing is the lack of benefits an employee typically gets from a company. You have to provide your insurance and benefits since you are your employer. Also, there would be a challenging phase in freelancing when you can't find any client. The constancy of having clients is not guaranteed in this type of work as well as its steadiness.
Am I up for adaptability?
Dealing with diversified clients means handling different demands and expectations. Catering to your clients’ requests without compromising the quality and creativity of your work requires a significant amount of adaptability.
These seven questions are just a guide for you in your career exploration. Set your best foot forward, and remember, when the opportunity doesn't come to you, you must make one yourself.
