With remote work on the rise, more people than ever want to become a freelancer or start freelancing. Which begs the next obvious question…HOW to start freelancing?
Thankfully, it’s easier to become a freelancer than ever before. More than 57 million Americans freelanced in 2019, and the trend continues to grow with more than 50% of Gen Z opting to start freelancing.
Not only is it more popular to become a freelancer than ever before, but companies are getting more and more comfortable hiring freelancers rather than full-time employees.
A lot of jobs can be done remotely, and companies don’t need to provide the same financial or healthcare benefits to freelancers as they do full time employees.
So maybe it’s time for YOU to become self-employed and start a freelancing business.
Let’s talk about how you can start a freelance business yourself very quickly with very little money upfront.
1. Define your goals for freelancing
It all starts with knowing your goals for starting your freelance business.
You wouldn’t get in your car and start driving if you didn’t have a destination, and you shouldn’t start a freelance business without a destination either.
Without a destination, it’s hard to know what direction to move. Goals provide that destination for starting your freelancing business.
Start with why you want to start freelancing
Simon Sinek is famous for his TED talk encouraging the audience to “Start With Why.”
Every day, you’ll need to motivate yourself to find clients and do exceptional work for them – and the first step is understanding your own “why.”
Why do you want to become a freelancer in the first place?
- To create some income on the side?
- To replace your full time income?
- How much do you want to earn while freelancing?
The reason why you want to become a freelancer will be your north star for whether or not you are successful.
Start freelancing part time or as a side hustle
Freelancing part time or as a side hustle is a great place to start. When there is less pressure to generate income immediately, you can be more thoughtful with the type of work you do and the clients you do it for.
For this reason, it’s actually a great idea to start a freelancing business before you think you need to. Freelancing is often built from trust and client relationships, and those relationships take time to form.
So if you start freelancing part time or on the side, you give yourself time to create the crucial relationships you’d need to make a full-time living freelancing.
Making the leap to start freelancing full time
If you’re set on jumping into the deep end and become a freelancer full time that’s great! It’s never been a better time to be your own boss.
If that’s your goal, you’ll want to calculate how much you need to earn to cover your living expenses. And I mean all of your living expenses, including taxes, health insurance, and even retirement.
This is your freelancing income destination!
If you do have immediate bills to pay or even debt, you need to have a handle on that income goal so you don’t dig into a deeper hole.
You may not be able to hit that number in month one, but knowing what your income goal is will help you get there as quickly as possible.