Typical Mistakes Novice Freelancer
Freelancing is a very attractive venture and it has attracted lots of attention from many people especially students. However, there is a journey to become a good freelancer earning lots of money in a week either in content writing or freelance editing jobs. Every journey starts with a step and just like baby steps, be sure to expect some falls and crawls here and there. When starting out one gets into lots of mistakes, but having someone highlight what they did wrong and how to avoid them, will be of great help to you as you start freelancing.
Not setting your price tag
Most newbie’s do not know what the clients expect and if what they offer is the right thing. For a start, freelancers let clients set their prices and this leads to exploitation by clients. As a service provider, you also have a say in negotiations with your client. It’s okay to turn clients down if you think they are not fair in their payment methods. So do not be lured by terms such as limited budget or promises of repeat businesses. So do research prior to engaging and make sure that you quote an average service charge.
(consider using a professional looking proposal as well).
Being a master of all and becoming an expert of none
As a newcomer sometimes you desperately need some cash and you apply for any freelancing job that comes your way. You end up with diverse jobs on your portfolio and this is not attractive to your clients. They assume you can do everything and anything moderately well without being a perfectionist at any of them. Specialists earn more on jobs than generalists. So, if you start as generalists do not take much time to find your niche and specialize in it. This will help you attract high-profile clients easily.
Accepting every job that comes along
This would mean you are a generalist, but also specialists could fall into this trap. If you accept whatever job comes your way you might be stuck with several low-paying jobs. This is dangerous because it will cripple down your schedule and you might lose focus on the most important high paying jobs. Take time and carefully assess every job you are offered, consider all the conditions that come with it, is it long term or one-off task? What is your schedule before you accept it? Is it worth having the job in your portfolio?
Treating earnings like salary
When you are employed the story is different because for every check you get you spend as much with the surety of another paycheck on the way. When you are new at freelancing know you are running a business which incurs operational expenses. So with every payment, you earn from the job set aside 30% of the amount to continue operating smoothly. Come up with good payment and spending plan, if you are using any payment platforms set days to withdraw money.
These are just a few mistakes that you can encounter as a new freelancer, but as you continue you get to learn the dos and don’ts that work for you. Most importantly, you should own a blog. This grows your portfolio faster and you get to share links to your live content and clients can assess your blogs and assess your abilities against their writingjobz.