6 Steps to Take to Become a Full-Time Freelancer

Are you tired of working at your 9 to 5, battling traffic, and feeling unfulfilled?

Do you want to spend more time with your family, or just not have to worry about your boss looking over your shoulder every five seconds?

Then maybe you’ve thought about becoming a freelancer.

You can set your own hours, commute from your bed to your desk (in your PJs), work on what you want to work on, when you want, all while being the boss.

Of course, there are downsides to freelancing, but most people become freelancers because it offers better work/life balance, for more of a professional challenge, to earn more money, or because they’re tired of answering to someone else.

If that’s the situation you find yourself in, then these are the steps you need to take to become a full-time freelancer.

1) Figure Out What Services or Products You Can Offer

 
First things first, before you think any further about this, what services or products can you offer to people to make money?

There’s a whole list of things you could choose from: video editing, graphic design, writing, IT support, administrative tasks, social media, photography, petsitting, drawing, and the list goes on.

If you’re struggling to come up with something, ask your friends for their opinion. What would they pay you to do? What skills do you have that no one else in your group possesses? What interests and hobbies do you have that you wouldn’t mind monetizing?

You don’t have to go to the extremes with validating your idea, but check around different communities and make sure there’s a market for whatever you want to offer. Competition isn’t always a bad thing, as long as you can add a unique offering.

2) Do You Have Any Experience?

 
Okay, now that you know what you want to offer to people, you need to work on getting your “resume” together. I use that term loosely because I’ve never been asked for one for a gig, but a few other freelancers have, depending on the field they’re in.

You don’t necessarily need a ton of experience right away to start earning money, but you likely won’t be able to make a full-time living from it right off the bat.

That’s okay. We’re not trying to be overnight successes here!

Think of what you could do to expand or grow your skills. There are plenty of online courses available for just about anything you can think of.

Learn and grow. Apply what you learn to your own projects, so you have proof you’ve developed the necessary skills. If it comes to it, offer to work for free (on a very limited basis) for a client or two to gain testimonials.

3) Launch Your Side Hustle

 
After you start gaining some experience, it’s time to make serious headway in becoming a full-time freelancer. That means starting to side hustle.

The best thing you can do is set up a website so people can find you and see what you have to offer. I strongly recommend doing this to showcase your work, too. If you write, having a blog can be valuable. If you do video or photography work, then you should have a portfolio.

I got where I am today only because I started a blog. Writing has always been a passion of mine, but I didn’t set out to be a freelance writer. It just so happened that I made connections within our community, and because my clients liked what they saw from my blog, they hired me.

That still blows my mind. So don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, as you never know what may come of it.

In addition to a website, you’ll want to get on some key social media platforms. Go where your customers or clients are likely to be hanging out. You don’t need to master all platforms. Focus on a few, otherwise you run the risk of overwhelming yourself.

Itching to quit your job? Here’s my take on that:

You can go straight from beginner to freelancer without side hustling, if you want. That’s the route I took, and it goes against common advice from those who are freelancing.

However, being that I walked that path, I would tell you to wait, unless you absolutely can’t stand your job or current situation so much, you would do whatever it takes to get out.

Things will go much more smoothly for you if you side hustle first, because then you can learn what you enjoy about a gig, what you don’t enjoy, what kind of clients you want to work with, or you might even discover that you don’t want to do what you originally set out to do.

My first year was a huge learning experience for me. I kept saying “yes” to all the work that came my way because I felt desperate, and because I wanted to experience as many roles as possible.

That wasn’t sustainable, though. While I’m grateful for all the experience I acquired, I had to take a step back and evaluate where I wanted my business and my career to go. It’s a lot easier to do this when you still have a full-time job and aren’t feeling the pressure to earn as much as possible.

4) Keep Your Financial Goals in Mind

 
Most freelancers will recommend that you don’t quit your job until your side hustle income reaches or eclipses what you’re earning at your full-time job.

That might mean working 50-60 hour weeks, sometimes more, to meet your deadlines and stay at your job.

Be honest and ask yourself if you’re willing to do that. It’s not easy, especially if you have a family that needs your attention.

Sit down and take a look at your budget. Is there anything you can cut so that you can take a temporary pay cut?

Try creating a bare-bones budget to get an idea of what you must earn freelancing so you have a basis for your rates.

I would also highly recommend setting aside enough money in your emergency fund to take care of you if something were to happen – especially if you’re single, and don’t have any other income to rely on.

5) Get a Mentor

 
Have you tried learning via courses? Was it ineffective? You may benefit from a mentor instead.

I tried taking courses and reading books on freelance writing, but it wasn’t until I took my friend Cat’s freelance writing course, and had her as my coach, that I really started to make progress.

That was because I wasn’t applying the lessons I was learning. I was afraid to put my work out there.

With some tough love and generous connections, I finally made it work, but that was after months of agonizing over everything.

Having a mentor – someone who has been exactly where you are and knows the ins and outs of your industry – can do wonders for you and growing your business. There are a lot of mental hurdles you need to overcome when becoming a freelancer, and it’s much easier when you have someone you can reach out to with questions.

If you can’t afford a mentor, then try reaching out to your network to see if anyone is interested in forming a mastermind group. They can be just as valuable.

6) Ask Yourself What You Want…and Repeat

 
One of the things I failed to do in my first year as a freelancer was take a breath and figure out where the heck I was headed. That’s not a recipe for success.

As I said, I kept saying “yes” to everything until I found myself completely overwhelmed with work. This is a common problem freelancers face, since we get stuck in that “feast or famine” mindset. And, if you’re anything like me, you generally just hate saying no to people because you want to help.

Unfortunately, inundating yourself with work isn’t a “win” for you or your clients. You need to give yourself space to get your creative juices flowing, and to lessen the risk of burning out.

If you keep going forward at full speed, you’ll never find the time to reflect on what’s been working, what hasn’t worked, and what you want to change (along with how to change it).

You don’t need a full-blown business plan unless you want to form one, but I highly recommend checking in with your progress on a quarterly basis. So ask yourself now why you want to become a freelancer, what your ideal day would look like, who your ideal client/customer would be, what work you want to do, and what you want to earn.

Each quarter, evaluate your answers and make sure you’re staying on track. If something changes, then you’ll likely need to make changes in your business.

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Becoming a full-time freelancer isn’t easy, but being your own boss can be extremely rewarding. Going through the process of becoming a freelancer alone will help you grow professionally, and you’ll form tons of skills that will be useful whether you stick with it or decide to return to the traditional workforce down the road.

 
 
If you’re a full-time freelancer, what steps did you take to get there? Are you working toward this path? How are you preparing?
 
 

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