When making the decision to start working as a contractor or a freelancer, being successful is often a worry. Having enough clients to make enough money to cover the bills isn’t enough; sustaining a great relationship with your clients is also vital. In addition, there are a few other tips you should follow to make sure that you are successful as a freelancer:

 

Get Your Finances in Order

The financial aspect of being a freelancer might be a constant worry for you, particularly if you’ve only just started freelancing. Knowing exactly what you earn and how much you spend is essential. Tracking your total spending, from your monthly groceries, debts, taxes, and all the other spendings will help you to know if you’re earning as much as you need to.

Create a baseline budget through a method such as the 50/30/20; this method allocates 50 percent of your income after taxes for all your necessities, 30 percent for things you want but don’t need, and 20 percent for savings. If you are unsure on how to guarantee that your finances are in order, at ICS our accountants for contractors provide you with a high-quality service to make sure that you are completely aware of the state of your finances.

 

Work on Your Communication Skills

Regardless of your industry, communication skills are required to ensure you become a more successful freelancer. From writing emails, client reports, and invoices, to having face-to-face contact with both current and prospective clients, the way you come across can have a considerable influence on your audience’s decision-making.

Listening is also a big factor in communication, as communication breakdowns can cause your relationship with your clients to fall apart. Making sure that you listen to what your clients want is essential, and you may find that having such a good relationship with your clients can result in furthering your network and accruing positive reviews. Positive reviews can bring in even more clients and work, which in turn increase how much money you receive and it may even influence how you decide on your hourly rates.

 

Build an Online Portfolio

Having your own website is a great way to create an online portfolio, as potential clients will be looking at examples of your work. Whether you’re a freelance graphic designer, web designer, or a content marketer, having an online portfolio is a great way to showcase the quality of your work and the website itself becomes a project you can show off.

In addition to being a collection of your past projects, an online portfolio should provide an easy way for potential clients to contact you, have extensive details of what work you offer, show how you can make your clients’ lives easier, and thoroughly explain the process of the completion of past projects.

 

Learn to Be Okay With Saying ‘No’

Saying ‘no’ to projects and new clients may seem like a bad move to make as a freelancer; you want to impress clients and continuously widen your network. However, you may end up accepting more work than you can handle. As a result, you will become overworked and stressed quite easily, which will lower your work’s quality.

As a freelancer, there are certain things you should learn to be okay with saying no to. Falling into the habit of accepting late payments can put you out of pocket, so make sure to have a policy in your contract for upfront payments. Should your clients ask for small extras that weren’t part of the original brief, make sure to say ‘no’ to completing them for free. Don’t undervalue your time; small extras can add up quickly and result in you not receiving enough money to cover your bills.

 

Take Care of Yourself

Choosing to become a freelancer is a choice often made with well-being in mind, as you can set your own work hours and spend more time with friends and family. Making sure that you take care of yourself will create the right environment and mindset for productive work. Start your day on the right foot: early and with breakfast. When working from home, it can be tempting to put off work, but the sooner you start your work, the sooner you’ll complete it. Your accomplished feeling will, in turn, help you to be even more productive.

Here at ICS, we know how important being successful is for freelancers, which is why we specialise in providing expert advice. Simply get in touch with us to know more about how we can help you.