“I just want to leave it all behind, go on a vacation, and start freelancing,” people around me have been saying more and more in recent years, frustrated by the existing workplace atmosphere and dissatisfied with the corporate career routes they had selected as young adults.
During the previous few months of working from home, the number of people wishing or really deciding to freelance has only climbed.
Freelancing, on the other hand, isn’t only the work-vacation combination that many people think it is. It takes a lot of effort to properly start and run a freelance business.
It might be very appealing to work as a freelancer. Imagine being able to work from anywhere, be your own employer, set your own hourly rate, and choose exactly who you want to collaborate with. You’ve come to the right place if you’re wondering how to start freelancing with no experience.
Since you must figure out everything on your own when working on your new initiatives, the beginning phase can be particularly scary and demanding. It’s all the more complex and tough to navigate as a non-experienced freelancer.
However, the majority of today’s freelancers fall under this category. Corporate professionals who are dissatisfied with their current sectors are increasingly making the daring decision to pursue their aspirations.
Freelancing is the greatest and most practical choice because obtaining a job in a profession where you have no qualifications or work experience is nearly difficult.
A Freelancing Guide For Non-experienced Freelancers
- Invest In Your Passion And See If You’re Any Good At It
Most of us have a hobby that we’ve always thought we’d be incredibly good at if we took it seriously. It’s now up to you to put in the time and effort to find out!
Spend some time thinking about the hobby or interest you want to pursue formally. Determine whether you are objectively excellent at it, whether you can improve your skills at it, and whether the work is something you would continue to be passionate about if you pursued it as a full-time profession.
Check out the essential freelance skills for all experienced and non-experienced freelancers.
- Create A Website
The following step is to The simplest approach to getting started freelancing with no experience is to create a website for your services. Even if you aren’t a web designer, you can get templates for practically any online platform.
Now all you have to do is adjust the colors to match your logo. For novices, I recommend Wix and Elementor as website platforms. The latter is less expensive. If you want a little more freedom, WordPress is a good option.
Furthermore, when designing your website, keep these must-have 15 elements of a portfolio website in mind.
One thing to keep in mind while creating a website is to have your own domain name. This can be done at either godaddy.com or yourwebsite.com.
This immediately makes you appear more professional to your clients, and you can generally get a free email account with your domain, so you won’t have to use Gmail.
To boost your domain authority, consider starting a blog on your site. This is an excellent way to share information with potential clients and display your experience so that you may begin to show others that you are an expert in your field who should be employed because of your skills.
- Freelancing Websites Are A Good Place To Start
There are numerous freelancing websites out there with potential clients looking for someone to complete one-time (and occasionally continuing) assignments for them. Graphic design tasks to authoring blog articles for various websites are examples of these.
Refrens is one of the best freelance websites for beginners, especially when looking for new clients.
So, if you have the talent and the hustle, you can make money even as a non-experienced freelancer.
- Highlight Your Work
Another wonderful method to get the word out about what you do (and start attracting high-paying clients) is to show off your work.
If, for instance, you want to provide graphic design services, use pieces that you developed in college, or in your marketing position at work, and present them.
Even though it’s better to have your work on your own site, you don’t need a website to construct a portfolio.
You may easily create a presentation using Canva to highlight some of your initiatives and their outcomes. Then save it as a PDF and distribute it to everyone who might be interested. Similarly, you can use a video presentation maker such as Pitch to share personalized recordings of your work. Then, share your presentation deck to prospects.
As a novice, you’re likely to have nothing to show off just yet. Don’t be alarmed! Instead, look at item #7 on this list; it might be useful.
Keep in mind that you should only include topics in your portfolio that you are interested in working on while showcasing your work.
For example, perhaps you once developed an app for a school project but now wish to concentrate on freelance writing. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to include this in your portfolio because it can give the impression that you’re willing to work on app design projects.
- Provide a Free Service
People don’t believe in delivering free services once you’ve established yourself, therefore it’s vital to know what you’re worth. If you’re just getting started, though, there’s nothing wrong with giving out some of your services for free.
As a result, make sure you limit the number of people you offer this service to and that you have a contract in place.
Keep in mind that for free services, you should have a signed contract. This is crucial since it safeguards both you and the client if they start to demand more than you originally committed to.
Hence, simplify it so you aren’t giving out too much for free, and then upsell the balance of your services to the client who received free work.
- Within Your Circle, Form a Network
This is the place to go if you want to start freelancing without any experience. When it comes to freelancing for beginners, one of the best pieces of advice is to spread the news in any way possible that you are now offering these services.
Use LinkedIn to contact old bosses and coworkers. Inform them about your new services and pricing, and inquire if they know anyone who would be interested.
Make sure to educate your friends and family about your new offerings by posting them on your personal Facebook page. I received a couple of my first clients through advertising on my own Facebook page, thanks to some family friends who required graphic design skills.
- Make Use Of Social Media
If you’re wondering how to start freelancing with little experience, keep in mind that social media can be a powerful tool for promoting your services. I suggest you consider your ideal client and where they might be.
Would they use social media sites such as Instagram or Facebook? YouTube?
Start with the social media networks you already use and create accounts with your new company name if you don’t know where they are.
Use Instagram Reels, create Guides, attempt to post regularly, and use Instagram Stories to show off your face. You never know who might come across your website by chance.
If you look in the correct locations on Facebook, you can find a lot of clients.
Be careful to join Facebook groups packed with the type of person you want to work with. For instance, if you want to collaborate with travel bloggers, then you’d register as many travel blogger circles as you can.
Don’t advertise yourself in any manner once you’ve been allowed into the groups.
Rather, wait till someone poses a question that you can answer in one of these groups, and make sure it’s about your services. I’ve gotten a lot of clients this way, and it’s a great way to show off your knowledge, even if you don’t have any.
- Make Up Fictional Client Projects
Making up bogus customer projects and posting them on social media and in portfolios is one of the new favorite strategies to gain clients and show off skills.
Instead of lying and saying you developed the project for a client, say you made a prompt and imagined it being done for a specific type of client, and reveal your thought process.
Make sure you’re just doing the job you want to do for your clients when you’re generating fake client projects. If you want to work with course developers, don’t focus on designing for a botanical shop, for example. There is no link between the two.
- Make A Pitch For Your Services
Many freelancers advise that you should only pitch qualified leads, however, It’s recommended cold pitching if you’re new to freelancing and don’t have any experience.
Now, this isn’t something you should do every day, but if you come across a company that shares your beliefs and you believe could profit from your services, send them a cold email introducing yourself.
In your first email, you should never spend a lot of time advertising your services. Instead, focus on the company to whom you’re writing and describe how you share their beliefs and appreciate what they do. Make sure you’re being as specific as possible so that they understand this isn’t a mass email.
Lastly, give a one-sentence overview of your work and say you’d be happy to set up a time to discuss further. Cold pitching isn’t always effective, but sometimes it definitely is.
This article will guide you on how to write the best freelance proposal!
- Find Out What You’re Good At And Work On It
This may seem apparent, but take some time to reflect and determine what abilities you already possess and what you enjoy doing. After that, construct your services around them.
Perhaps you’ve started your own blog and discovered that you enjoy and are good at writing. You could set up a monthly subscription that includes 5 blog posts for a fixed price.
Add to the list when you come up with new ideas. If you discover that it’s something you enjoy doing but aren’t very good at, you’ll know that it’s a skill you can work on improving.
Also, take a look at these most in-demand skills and determine if your skills are in high demand; if so, it’s an indication that you should start working as a freelancer right away.
- Consider Doing An Internship
It is understandable that when you think of an intern, you usually think of someone who works for free or is underpaid for their work.
Believe it or not, many independent business owners recruit interns to assist them with activities they don’t have time for, such as social media management, email answering, and other duties.
Furthermore, many freelancers pay their interns, and they pay them well since they recognize how difficult freelancing can be.
This internship would lead to a long connection with the freelancer you worked with, who has since become one of your business mentors and regularly introduces you to their other clients.
Moreover, Examine Facebook groups and job board websites for internship opportunities.
5 Best Jobs For Non-Experienced Freelancers
Now that you’ve learned some of the greatest methods for landing freelance work with little experience, I’m sure you’re wondering what types of jobs are best for newbies. Fortunately, there are several freelance services for which you don’t require a lot of experience.
- Transcriptionist
You don’t need any previous experience working with clients to become a transcriptionist. All you need is a computer and the ability to quickly transcribe what you hear. While this isn’t a high-paying position, it can provide valuable customer experience.
- Writing
If you went to school, you probably spent a significant amount of time writing essays. As a result, one of your services could be writing. Beginner authors don’t make a lot of money, but as your work becomes more specialized, you can charge more.
Check out this post to learn how to become a professional content writer.
- Assistant Virtual
To work as a virtual assistant, you must be able to follow instructions given to you by your customer. Virtual assistants help with anything from meeting scheduling, emailing clients, and delivering bills to assisting with social media posts.
- Manager of Social Media
You don’t need any experience to be a marketing manager these days, because everyone is on social media. You can work as a social media manager if you know your way around Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or another site. Make use of free templated design tools like Canva, and then come up with a clever caption to go with it. That’s all there is to it.
- Customer Service
There is always a demand for customer service personnel. For internet businesses that sell things, this is frequently freelance remote employment.
Small business owners and bloggers with customer service agents are essentially responsible for staying on top of incoming emails.
Are you able to use a computer? Do you have a knack for explaining things? Customer service, on the other hand, can be an excellent approach for you to gain client experience.
Conclusion
You now know how to start working as a non-experienced freelancer without any prior experience. It isn’t that difficult if you concentrate on your strengths and are willing to accept lower pay at first. Find out how to charge your first-time customer.
As a non-experienced freelancer, keep in mind that your fees may fluctuate. Increase your prices and charge what you’re worth if you’re overbooked. Consider lowering your costs till you can attract a few more consumers if you’re having a slow month.
Moreover, it is One of the most effective ways to earn money online is through freelancing. Every day, tens of thousands of clients post tens of thousands of freelance projects on numerous freelance sites.
If you want to pursue freelancing as a career, whether part-time or full-time, you must first identify a specialization.
Finding freelance employment when you have no experience can be challenging, and securing your first job can be the most difficult of all. When it comes to how to locate freelance employment with little experience, keep the aforementioned suggestions in mind.
I hope you find this advice useful as you begin your freelance career with no formal experience.
All non-experienced freelancers have to start somewhere, so you’re not alone, and freelancing for beginners is completely possible!
Kickstart your freelance career with Refrens!