FAQ: Top 10 From a 20-Year Freelance Veteran

I’ve been freelancing for 20 years, and I can tell you that the best part is being in charge of my future and the projects I work on. The second-best part? Having no limit to my earning potential.

But not everything is rainbows and unicorns when it comes to freelancing, there are some things that can be stressful, so here’s a list of the top 10 questions I get asked from newbies who want to know more about this amazing career path.

Summary

• Freelancing affords your flexibility in your schedule but to be successful means maintaining discipline and structure to your work day. This is especially important if you’re working a full-time job too.
• Finding clients is hard work but finding the right clients is even harder. Building a portfolio of projects (real or just to demonstrate your skill) and asking friends and families for referrals is a great place to begin.
• Don’t go all in on a fancy website and computer rig if you’re just beginning your journey. You can level up your setup as you grow and your budget allows.
• Invest time and energy early on in developing your payment process. Begin every project with an agreement that sets out deliverables, expectations, and payment terms so you’re never chasing unpaid invoices. This is an unnecessary time suck.
• Don’t quite your day job just yet. Unless you are making serious money or have enough savings to hold you over, make sure you have a steady revenue stream from your freelance career before jumping to full-time self employment.
• Don’t worry if you don’t have a plan. Not every freelancer needs a big bold business plan to get started. You can most certainly start out small. Trust me, you’ll know when you need to put a plan together for your future. And if you don’t, get in touch with me.

1. What Does a Typical Day Look Like?

You’ll have lots of flexibility in your schedule, which is great if you’re disciplined and can keep yourself accountable, but for many of us that can be a challenge. Here’s how I kept my day on track:

• Getting dressed every morning instead of staying in my pajamas
• Writing a to do list to stay on target
• Having a specified workspace in the home that didn’t couple with any other distractions – ex: an eating area or play space
• Having set break times

The point is: flexibility is great but getting too comfortable can backfire, which is why structuring your day for success matters.

2. How Do I Find Work?

As a freelancer, you have to be prepared to hustle. You’re not going to get work simply by having a fancy website and hoping for the best. You have to put in the legwork and make yourself known as an expert in your field by networking with people who might have work for you. 

In my case, and I always recommend this approach when beginning your journey, I reached out to friends and family and let them know my new business venture, my skills and how I could help them or their business. Most of the clients I have today are friends, family, and referrals through them that have stuck with me for 20+ years.

I also recommend knocking on the doors of talent agencies (think The Well Creative Consultants, Breef, etc.) because if you’re as good as you say you are, they won’t just go to bat for you, they’ll give you a massive platform to pitch yourself on. They often take 15-20% of the total project price as their fee for connecting you to the client, but this is a small price to pay for securing work early on. This is one of the primary ways I secured quality clients very early on in my freelance to agency transition and I still leverage their abilities to this day.

Generating unique blog content and establishing a presence on social media or YouTube is a great place to start too. YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google which means if you’re putting out quality content your ideal clients will likely have an easier time finding you.

3. What if I Can’t Find Work?

Every freelancer goes through periods of drought when it comes to new projects, and you should expect to as well. If you’re struggling to find any work then you need to do some research and figure out where your target audience is active and how they approach seeking services like yours.

Let’s say you’ve spent months building a budding social media presence thinking this was the key to landing new clients but there’s no work coming in. This may be a sign that your ideal client isn’t on social media looking for services like yours. In this case there isn’t any value investing your time and energy into building your social media presence.

This is not the time to give up though. Finding clients–especially ideal clients–isn’t easy. It’s hard work and it just means that you need to look somewhere else to find them or let them find you. Give some serious thought to those talent agencies!

4. How Do I Build a Portfolio Without Clients?

A portfolio is a selection of your best work that is geared towards showing your target audience that you can talk the talk and walk the walk. Simply saying you’re great at something isn’t enough, you need proof. But don’t stress it if you don’t have any client projects to build a portfolio with yet.

Depending on your niche, let’s say a designer, you could put together fake logo and brand packages, or custom website designs. The important step here is to build a believable product that you can use to demonstrate your skills–the same skills you’ll be using for your clients. And the best part about this is you not only build your portfolio, you also get to practice your skills.

5. Do I Need a Website Right Away?

The short answer is yes. But you don’t need a big fancy website that took hundreds of hours to build. Believe me, that time is better spent working on your processes or trying to find clients. But you do need to start putting yourself out there. How you do this depends greatly on the skills you’re offering but generally speaking, a website featuring your portfolio and a blog with original high quality content is your best bet. When it comes to content, quality is always better than quantity.

6. How Do I Get Paid?

Making jack, stackin’ loot, rollin’ in it – it all means the same thing: getting paid! And knowing how to do that is one of the first things a freelancer should know. Here’s my 3-step process to getting paid on time, every time:

1. Begin every project with an agreement. This should at minimum set out the basic deliverables and payment terms. If you want to get paid 50% up front and the remainder at delivery, then make that clear. It’s also worthwhile to pay for a legal agreement, or draft one yourself and have a lawyer review it, that way you can be sure you’ve covered all your bases.

2. Follow through with everything in the agreement. If you say you’re going to invoice 50% upon signing–do it. If you say you’ll invoice another 25% in 30-days from signing date–do that too. When you stick to the terms of the agreement it shows a client you do what you’ll say you do, it also ensures you get paid when you want and need during the project lifecycle.

3. Stick to your payment terms. And don’t be afraid to pause a project if a required payment hasn’t been made. If your 50% deposit invoice is due on receipt, then make sure to stay on top of it if it hasn’t been paid within a day or two. Do not feel bad asking the client for money. They signed an agreement saying they would pay! Hold them to it. Every time. If your payment terms state late fees (and they should)–stick to those too. Do not let your client dictate payment terms. Remember, this is your business, not theirs, and they hired you!

7. What Kind of Equipment Do I Need?

In order to be a freelancer, you don’t need much. A computer and internet access are the bare essentials. If you want to make a living, however–and this is true even if your goal is just supplemental income–you’ll eventually need some additional equipment.

If your day job has you working with dual monitors, it’s a good idea to at least replicate that set up at home because you’re already used to it. Popping back and forth between windows can be time consuming and ineffective, so why set yourself up for the headaches? I know I can’t do my best job without dual 27″ monitors.

And you don’t need to buy the best of the best up front–unless your chosen field demands it–you can always upgrade as you go. What matters is knowing what you need and setting yourself up for success.

8. How Do I Know if I’m Good at Freelancing?

If you are getting work and making money, then you are probably good at freelancing. If your clients love working with you and come back to hire you again and again, then congratulations – you have a good relationship with them. And, arguably the most obvious, if you’re earning more money freelancing than working full-time, then you must be on the right path and you’re probably ready to ditch the day job and become your own boss permanently.

9. How Can I Make Sure Clients Aren’t Ripping Me Off or Wasting My Time?

Two words – discovery call.

The easiest way to make sure that you and your client are on the same page is by doing a proper discovery call. These calls vary depending on your niche, but generally the concept is to find out if you and the prospective client are a good fit for each other. It’s easy to want to say YES to every prospect, especially in the beginning, but make sure you’re ONLY taking on projects in your wheelhouse.

Once you’ve made sure your prospect understands exactly what you can offer them and that what you’re offering is exactly what they need to solve their problem, it’s time to send a proposal or an agreement. I tend to skip the proposals and head straight to the agreement, but this takes skill and experience, so I would start instead with a proposal outlining the deliverables, price, and project terms, to make sure everyone understands the scope of the project. 

What’s the difference between the proposal and an agreement? A proposal is like an estimate–shows your client everything at a high level and is a tool to be used to guide their internal discussions and help them make the decision to hire you. The agreement is (should be) a legally binding document that contains clauses and protections for both parties and sets out exactly what’s going to happen during the project. You can begin a project without a proposal but you should never begin a project without an agreement.

10. Do I Need a Business Plan?

In short, no you do not need a business plan. But you should have a solid idea of the skills you possess and the services you can offer. Most freelancers will start small; taking a hobby or passion and seeing if they can monetize it. It’s highly likely that most of what you’ll learn will be from actually doing the work and running your business. You can also learn from others (like me) or by connecting with peers and others in the freelance community.

Planning plays a larger part when you decide to jump from your full-time job and become solely self-employed. You’ll need to crunch the numbers and make sure you’re doing everything by the book according to your jurisdiction. If you’re looking to scale using a loan or a line of credit then your bank will absolutely require a business plan.

Conclusion

If you’re ready for a change in your career and looking for more freedom, then freelancing might be for you. Just don’t forget all the things you need to set in place to make sure it’s a success instead of side hustle gone wrong.

There’s no doubt that freelancing is a great way to earn money. You get the freedom to work from home, choose the projects you love and set your own hours. But there’s also a few downsides – like having to stay accountable, knowing what paperwork your clients need and how to get paid on time. 

For more tips on how to build a successful freelancing career and to avoid the mistakes I made, check out my mentoring services.