Freelance work has been on the rise for the past couple of years. While some have made freelancing a side income, others have made it into their main income. Being a freelancer usually involves taking a skill you already have and making it into service to offer others. Freelancing can sometimes be a challenge since you’re responsible for all business operations.
Here are 4 tips to boost your business as a freelancer:
1. Keep Work Coming in
Freelancers tend to get frustrated by insufficient work. To keep work coming in, seek out industry groups to join. Within these groups, you can collect references to find relevant and quality work. These days, social media is likely to be a part of your business plan. Using social media to find online groups and associations is a great place to start to build more connections and see what similar freelancers are doing. This could also be an opportunity to find work.
2. Build Your Network
To keep from feeling like you’re falling behind, stay in the mix by networking. This may be easy for some, but introverts may take some time to get comfortable with it.
When networking, don’t get a contact and forget about them. Even worse, don’t let them forget about you. Keep yourself on track with the contacts you’ve made by creating a spreadsheet of who you’ve connected with. Each week set a goal to reach out to 1 contact a week. Have a conversation with them, see what projects they’ve been working on, and share your projects with them. This will allow a genuine relationship to form.
You can also build your network by helping others. When attending conferences and trainings that apply to your industry, share what you learned to your social media audience to build your authority in the industry.
3. Plan Your Finances
During freelance work, you’ll have busy seasons and slow seasons. Stay prepared for those slow seasons to eliminate financial stress. When the busy season is going on, set aside a certain amount of your paycheck into an account as your safety net. A high-yield savings account can help you maximize your investment until the slow season kicks in.
4. Invest In Your Future
As a freelancer, you don’t have an employer to offer you benefits such as health care and 401(k)s. However, freelancers do have a variety of options when it comes to health care and financial planning.
The Individual Health Insurance Marketplace offers health insurance options for self-employed individuals. You can also look into 401(k) alternatives by meeting with a financial advisor to create a diverse portfolio or retirement options based on personal goals. Simplified employee pension plan (SEP) IRAs are a great way for self-employed individuals to enjoy the tax benefits of IRAs with more flexible limits on annual contributions than Roth or Traditional IRAs offer.
To learn more on how to boost your business as a freelancer check out this infographic from Annuity below.
