Getting your freelance career off to a good start is critical.

By Henry Brown

Starting out as a freelancer is an exciting and frightening leap to make. There are a lot of things you can do to help you achieve success and take some of the scare out of this new step. You’re going to need to take charge and deal with a lot of different things when you become a freelancer. Check out these ideas to help set you on the right path.

Making a name for yourself

Freelancing is a competitive business, and you need to make sure you succeed in it. Whatever your skill set – whether you plan to freelance as a writer, developer, accountant, or having completed an everyday yoga eugene course plan to teach yoga freelance, you have to get out there and make a name for yourself. You’ve got to be proactive and do what you can to generate interest. Create your own website and order business cards you can use to hand out to people. Use online resources like Fiverr to generate a client base and help you to grow and evolve. You need to develop the right reputation to help you enjoy success.

Sorting out your invoices

When you become self-employed and start freelancing, you will most likely have a pool of clients. You’re going to need to make sure you bill them if you want to get paid. This is a new activity for most freelancers and a lot of people struggle to create a proper, professional invoice and to send it out on time. Well, the good news is that you can create your invoices online at aynax.com. This is the perfect way to achieve a professional invoice and to make sure you always keep up with your billing.

Know the law

It’s extremely important to understand what is required of your new business in terms of federal, state and local laws. Will you need to register with your town as a business for tax purposes? Is there a license or a permit that will be required? Make sure you take time to get all these legal ducks in order because failing to do so could well come back to bite you down the road. Knowing what is deductible and what is not deductible from your taxes is particularly vital, since the tax folks are the last people you want to get in trouble with.

Prepare for an unstable income

One thing that you need to be aware of when you freelance is the fact that it’s unstable income. When you are in full-time employment, you can rely upon a stable wage every month without fail. However, when you freelance this is not the case. Instead, you’re basically only getting paid when you work. You could lose a client on any particular day, and it can be grueling trying to find new ones. You also need to realize that you won’t enjoy any of the perks of employment like sick leave or holiday pay. And you have to make sure you prepare for that so you’ll need to make sufficient savings and be sensible.

Working as a freelancer is the dream of many people, but it’s no cakewalk. You need to understand what it entails if you want to enjoy success. There are so many things you’re going to need to think about when it comes to working for yourself. The first few months are crucial as you try to get your name out there and create opportunities. Make sure you bear the important things in mind to help you thrive and succeed.

_____

Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London; uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.