Freelancing has emerged as a fast-growing industry and has been credited with providing jobs to millions of people around the globe. Almost everyone has thought of becoming a freelancer once in life but not every freelancer is successful but there are many freelancers that are extremely successful and earning thousands of dollars per month. In this article, we have enlisted 7 things that every successful freelancer does. If you want to become a successful freelancer, you should definitely pay heed to the points enlisted below. So, here we go.
Whenever a freelancer applies for a job, the client pays special attention to a couple of things on your profile. The first thing is your portfolio and the second thing is your feedback. In order to improve your chances of getting hired for a project, you got to have a strong portfolio. This is one area that is often overlooked by freelancers and they don’t spend much time on improving their portfolio but this is extremely important.
You should try to put your best on your portfolio. Try to mention all your projects, your expertise, and your achievements on your portfolio with links to the actual resources. Try to substantiate your portfolio with samples and images of your achievements also if you have got any recommendations from some prominent personality or organization mention that with proof which a scanned certificate.
A good freelancer continuously interacts with the client and quickly responds to the queries of the client. Clients don’t like a freelancer who replies late or doesn’t respond to the queries. Clients like to be updated periodically regarding the project. Therefore, as a good freelancer, you should update your client on a daily basis if the project is small or at least once a week in case of big projects. Also, take the pain to respond to client queries as soon as possible, a happy client means, good feedback that is very important and discussed in the later section.
A good freelancer is always honest. In case if a freelancer faces any issues or if he is not able to complete the task he should not hesitate to clearly inform the client about the issues. Some freelancers don’t discuss issues with the client with the hope of finding some solution. This is good for short term time, but in the long run, this approach can be disastrous, therefore if you are struggling with some task you should unequivocally inform the client and should always be honest to him. Clients prefer freelancers who are honest even if they are not able to complete the task.
A successful freelancer asks lots of questions just like a brilliant student. More questions you ask, lesser will be the ambiguities in your mind regarding the tasks and the client will be able to explain the task in a better manner if you ask questions. A clear understanding of the project entails rigorous questioning but results in tasks completed with the highest standards of quality.
You should work on a task like you are enjoying the task. Complete the task as if it is your own task. The more interest you show in the task the more it becomes easier and the quality of the task is certainly improved. Clients prefer those freelancers who focus on details of the project and show deep interest in what they are doing.
Time is important, in fact, the most important thing in every project. A good freelancer makes a correct estimate of the time required to complete the task and then completes the task within an agreed time period in any case. You should also try to make a realistic estimate regarding the time required to complete the task.
Break the project down into small modules and make an estimate for the time required to complete the module and then add up these times to get an estimate of the total time. Also, add some time as a buffer, but once you have agreed upon the time, you should meet the deadline in any case.
As aforementioned, portfolio and feedback are the two things that are reviewed by the client before he awards a job. Good feedback means, you have done the job well and when a new client reviews your portfolio, if he sees good feedbacks and ratings your chances of getting hired increase instantly. Therefore after completing a job, you should ask your client to leave feedback on your work and also rate your work.
These are the 7 things that every successful freelancer do and if you want to become a good freelancer you should also try to implement these strategies in your freelancing career, you will soon see the difference in the amount of money and jobs coming towards you.
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