2021 is the best time ever to be a freelancer. But how can we stand out as a freelancer though? It’s certainly easy to get into the industry. But as there are more and more personnel coming into the game. It’s gonna take work.
However, there are ways you can break free from the usual group. And right after you finish this article and get that mindset right. You’ll see that it’s not that difficult to stand out ,but we will need some of your due diligence and discipline from you.
FREELANCERS ARE IN-DEMAND
Freelancers are becoming more in-demand. It is in fact a challenge on them in order to standout and build their edge over the industry. But don’t lose your self in an “all around job” in the cyber world. Because each freelancer succeeds when they have a set of skills that can help them provide services that are different amongst others.
This is why it is very important that you are becoming someone with a niche in order to avoid being stretched thin and you can also earn more income by serving clients with specific needs.
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But there does exists a pressure for freelancers. Something that drives them to find effective and accurate ways to be able to cope with the changes and risks in the freelancing industry.
To discuss further, here are some things to bear in mind that would help a freelancer to standout and be substantial in the business.
1.) Build your desired brand line
If you are one of the thousand freelancers in the industry, how can you be different? How can you be noticed among them when all you do is same as with them? Well, it is really acceptable that you may have been working the same line with the others, but being different is another thing to consider.
It is very important to know what can you offer best, what can you give the customers, what are you good at, and what you can do best. This helps you to create your own brand into which you are able to create something that is really good, something that lives a mark into your customer and makes them want to have your service again.
Having a specific brand of your own as a freelancer earns more trust and consumer loyalty, and both takes a lot of time before you can have it. Work on attaining consumer confidence in your output. This may be a hard one on the start, but being able to build your brand and meet the requirements of the customer, then you can strikethrough in the market and have more and more.
2.) Maintain your upright personality
In every business, someone’s personality matters a lot. This goes to show whenever you are having a communication and transaction with a customer. The way you speak speaks a lot about your personality.
Every customer is vigilant on how a freelancer approaches them, how well they dwell with the agreement, with the communication and to how inviting he may be in order to have the job.
Choice of words has also impact to the customer. Of course, it is best advised to have decent words in talking and answer correctly and accurate into their queries. Not having a personality that is pleasing enough may drive the connectivity slower with the customer and freelancer.
It just gets a negative effect and both will not benefit, as there is no good approach even from the start. Bear in mind that as a freelancer, we are selling the service that we can do for them, that is why, treating them well is very important, with full respect and decency.
3.) Keep an eye on your professionalism
One thing to maintain as well is your professionalism. It is very important that you stick to your brand and to your business. It should always be consistently regardless of who you do the transaction with. Share only those information that are relevant to your freelancing and never break what you have started.
The foundation you have built as a freelancer should always go with you as more and more customers come to you. In an instance that you got customer loyalty, professionalism will be more measured on how well you stick into what they have loved about your work, your consistency, your approach and treatment towards other customers and on how you have continuously developed yourself in your field in freelancing.
Being professional is a continuous learning process, so always be welcome as well on other vital changes.
4.) Make your pen speak for you
This barely means to open up to your customers into what are you really at. This does not necessarily mean to discuss detail by detail about yourself, but having a blog about your freelance job is a plus point for customers to come to you.
Having a simple blog which contains description or little information about you as a freelancer would be of great help. It can contain the activities you are involved in in order to grow more as a freelancer. This could also help to in constructing your brand and in building something to look up by the customers.
This would eventually help customers to easily know the person who are they working with and it is where trust starts to get built. Your blog should also contain some of your updates that are important for this would show that you are an active freelancer and that you are reachable anytime by the customer.
This would also show your visibility in the business, without worrying if you can be contacted right away. It builds some feeling of safety and security in the part of customers.
5.) Grow through the word of mouth
This may already sound as an old cliché but this is really very helpful tool in freelancing. This goes whenever you have created and finished a job leaving the customer in awe for his great satisfaction for your job.
Coupled with this, there can be a tendency that he will share with his colleagues how satisfied he was on your work and even encourage the others to get you for a specific job. This can be a continuous process and this can help you get a good reputation as a freelancer as you are getting proofs of your good work and satisfying outputs.
To continually have a good business circulation, always focus on your online transactions and customer relations. This helps you build a brand visibility that makes you stand out among others.
Have also a fixed good communication and speaking tone with your clients and co-freelancers as they can be considered as your free endorsers for your job. Yes, in the continuous transfer of words from mouth to mouth, you can be well known in a good way, no matter how complicated your job may be, a satisfied customer would always air out their good experience on your job.
6.) Give the customer what they really want
It is quite basic, we are hired to provide satisfaction, so be it. Be vigilant and good observer as well. In this way, you would be able to identify the needs and wants of the people, and that’s what you can offer to them.
Find out what the community wants, what they need and then finds certain ways on how you can give it to them. Bear in mind that our environment and our social life are continuously evolving and that changes are very vital and vibrant. Knowing the changes and their needs, you will be able to know how can you reach out to them.
You can make use of the social media to gather information about this, and know how to attack the market through your brand line. This goes with the basic explanation of starting up a business, and that is to know the demand on the market and learn how to provide it to them.
7.) Know the other side of the business
For you to be able to improve your brand’s visibility, freelancing also calls for you to check and know the other side of the business. Yes, this is one vital thing that every freelance should know and learn to do. You may be able to know and identify the specific aspect where you are good at, but the market does not demand for that alone.
This does not necessarily shows our safer side in the business as freelancer, but it mainly preserves as well the pride of the brand we have built, and this is very important to take in hold to as this is not the easy part in starting up as a freelancer.
8.) Learn to reach out to your co-freelancer
This may sound a bit weird and questionable to others as it mainly says that you have to help your competitor. But yes, you heard it just right, help to other freelance in the business. There are many advantages that it may implicate, whether to you or to the other freelancer.
Doing this, you can eventually set aside the competition within you and build a harmonious one. This can trigger also as a learning opportunity as you both will learn from each other. You may be in the same line of work, but you both have different skills and talents, and sharing of such ideas is very important and helpful.
Another thing, reaching out a helping hand to other freelancer can also make a big help on you. In the time you’ll be the one to ask for help, you would know that there is someone you can rely on to as you are flooded with jobs that you need to finish thou.
Being able to do this as well can create good commendations for both of you, as you both gets satisfied on how you have helped each other. In the business, it is very important to befriend as well as your competitors.
9.) Create your own voice in the business
This may be implicated also with your unique branding, but this one speaks a lot more about you. Being able to build your own stand on things, your own perspective in life, your own decision in different situations, you become more unique and visible in the market. The more you get transparent in things, the more customers would love to work with you.
There can be cases that through your unique perspective, you may have been the only man offering a specific request from a customer and that makes you stand out among others. Just as how you maintain your good personality in dealing with the all people, having your own voice and unique approach in things will help you be well-known and renowned in freelancing.
10.) Lastly, make it all consistent.
With all the things written, most important thing in freelancing is your consistency, may it be on your attitude towards work, how you deal with your clients and mostly on the outputs you create and provide them. Maintain customer satisfaction and make all your works something to be remembered by your customer.
Freelancing is indeed a very broad and hard business to maintain for years. You need to know yourself more, be creative, assertive, skillful, talented and consistent. As we become members of the workforce in our community, it is very important to know how well we know about our job, how far can we go through this and how good we can be at it.
And in freelancing, these things should always be considered. Standout and be recognized, as you grow your freelancing job continuously.
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