Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................ 7 1. The Basics To Being A Freelancer..................................................... 10 Is a freelance career right for you? ......................................................... 11 What skills do you have? ........................................................................ 11 What interests you? ................................................................................ 11 Most importantly, what kind of work makes you happy?......................... 12 What will your service be? ...................................................................... 12 Freelance work ideas .............................................................................. 12 Who are your clients? ............................................................................. 13 Hidden costs ........................................................................................... 14 Motivation................................................................................................ 14 2. Creating A Business Plan And Choosing Your Goals ..................... 16 Things to consider before starting........................................................... 17 Cost of living............................................................................................ 18 Research................................................................................................. 18 Creating your brand ................................................................................ 19 Where to find clients................................................................................ 19 Once you have a business plan, what should you do with it?................. 20 3. The Legal Stuff; Taxes, Ethics, And Contracts ................................. 21 Legalities ................................................................................................. 22 Business ethics ....................................................................................... 23 Contracts................................................................................................. 23 4. How To Start Working With Little Experience................................... 25 Gaining experience first .......................................................................... 26 Working for free....................................................................................... 26 Work for less ........................................................................................... 27 Gaining clients......................................................................................... 28 Cold contacting and pitching ................................................................... 28 Be confident ............................................................................................ 29 5. Best Places To Find Freelance Work ................................................. 30 Profiles .................................................................................................... 31 Upwork .................................................................................................... 31 Freelancer............................................................................................... 32 Fiverr....................................................................................................... 33 Guru ........................................................................................................ 33 Toptal ...................................................................................................... 33 iFreelance ............................................................................................... 34 LinkedIn................................................................................................... 34 Pitching ................................................................................................... 35 6. How To Advertise Yourself: Creating A Portfolio ............................. 36 First, what is a portfolio? ......................................................................... 37 Building a portfolio................................................................................... 37 What should you put in a portfolio?......................................................... 38 Profiles on websites ................................................................................ 38 Website ................................................................................................... 38 Social media............................................................................................ 39 7. The Importance of Valuing Your Work And Your Time .................... 40 Choosing a niche .................................................................................... 41 Time management .................................................................................. 42 Value your time ....................................................................................... 43 8. The Next Adventure: Scaling Your Business.................................... 44 Full-time freelance................................................................................... 45 Hiring a team........................................................................................... 45 Subcontract ............................................................................................. 45 Niche ....................................................................................................... 46 Building a brand ...................................................................................... 46 New services........................................................................................... 46 Increase prices........................................................................................ 47 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 48