HOW TO START

FREELANCING
"The Complete Beginner’s Guide"

CREATED BY ALLY MSANGI

 INTRODUCTION

With remote work on the rise, more and

more jobs are being outsourced to
freelancers, and so-called "9-to-5" jobs
are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

As a result, professionals worldwide are

beginning to choose freelancing as their
preferred lifestyle thanks to the
flexibility, healthy work-life balance,
attractive earning potential, and
freedom it provides.

Freelancers are able to set their own

hours, choose what they’d like to work
on, as well as whom to work with.
Indeed, with today’s rising popularity of
remote work, competition within the gig
economy is expected to soar

So, are you ready to embrace the freelance revolution and build the solo
career you’ve always wanted?

This Ultimate Guide for Freelancers aims to equip you with the tools and
advice you need to thrive and survive, because, well, it’s a bit of a jungle
out there!

So, let’s dive straight into the guide that will help you build a sustainable
freelance career and lead you on the road to success.

CREATED BY ALLY MSANGI KIDIGITALI.COM

Thinking about getting started in freelancing but don’t know where to
start? Then this guide is for you.

It's an ultimate guide on how to start freelancing for beginners.

Whether you want to start freelancing as a writer, web designer, or

developer, this guide will help you start your journey in 10 simple steps.

Before you move any further, I need to clarify a few things.

Freelancing is a lot more complicated than you might think. Some

people believe anyone with a laptop and an internet connection can
earn money online. But, it’s not true, and it's not impossible either.

Continue reading only if you’re willing to work hard to achieve your goal
of becoming a freelancer and finding financial freedom.

Now, let’s dive in.

However, bear in mind that this guide only covers the basics. It will help
you get started the right way.
STEP 1: GET THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT
Get the right equipment.

When you're desperate, you make terrible choices and decisions. And
that’s exactly why I always advise you not to start freelancing to earn
money quickly.

Freelancing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It requires a lot of hard

work.

In fact, it took me around 2 to 3 years to earn a steady income as a

freelancer. But, thankfully, today you have more opportunities than I had
back then.

I often receive questions from freelancers asking if there is work they

can do using just a smartphone. The quick answer is that there are
none.

At least not ones that are worth doing.

Smartphone apps are limited in features. You need a computer to run

the software that is required to do the work properly and deliver great
results.

So, before you go ahead and think about working online, go get yourself
a laptop, or even an old computer would do the trick.
STEP 2: FIND A MARKETABLE SKILL

Find a skill.

The next, and most important, step is to find a skill you can offer as a
service.

This can be something as simple as transcribing a podcast or something

more advanced like developing a mobile app. Whatever it is, the key to
winning in freelancing is to find a skill that you’re good at and that has
enough demand in the marketplace.

For example, if you’re good at drawing illustrations or designing product

packaging, go to a freelance marketplace like Upwork or Freelancer and
check to see if there are jobs for that type of work.

If there are enough job listings on those sites for the skill you’re good at,
then you’ve hit gold.
STEP 3: POLISH UP YOUR SKILLS

Polish up the skills.

Once you find a marketable skill, you should make sure you can offer it
as a service. Simply put, you need to be really good at what you do to
be able to get paid for it.

For example, let’s say you want to be a freelance writer for health and
wellness blogs. This category is in good demand. You also have
experience writing about it in school or college.

However, that doesn’t mean you can write blog posts for online
audiences. Blogs and online publications use very different writing
styles and formatting for articles. mainly to attract general audiences.
So now you need to learn how to write blog posts for online audiences.

Learn how to use WordPress or Blogger.

How to make graphics for articles. and more.

It’s the same for every other freelancing skill out there. You can’t just
jump right in without even trying to learn the basics. You must polish up
your skills first.

Read books, subscribe to YouTube channels, and blogs related to your

skills and industry.

Also, taking online courses is the most effective way to properly learn
and polish up a skill.

Developing a skill from scratch takes time. So be patient and keep

learning and practising. It could take weeks, months, or years. Just keep
at it.
STEP 4: BUILD YOUR REPUTATION
Build a reputation.

Being able to prove your skills and work will determine whether you’ll be
a successful freelancer or not.

It doesn’t matter if you have a college degree or years of experience. If

you can’t prove to clients that you’re skilled at what you do, they will
never hire you.

If you’re a writer, you should have articles published on popular blogs.

If you’re a graphic designer, you should be able to point to a brand and
say you designed their logo.

If you’re a web designer, you need to be able to send a link to a website

you’ve designed.

In short, get some of your work out there. Do some free work first if you
have to. Reach out to blogs that accept guest posts.

Do some concept design work. Whatever it is, work on building your

reputation.
STEP 5: CREATE A PORTFOLIO

Create a portfolio.

When you start building your reputation, be sure to also create a

portfolio to bring all your published or live work into one place.

A portfolio can be a website or a webpage where you showcase all your

work.

For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you can create a portfolio

page on a site like Behance to show off all your designs.

That way, when you’re reaching out to a client, you can simply give
them the link to your portfolio to check out your skills.

Make sure to only include your best work in the portfolio.

STEP 6: TRY FREELANCING PART-TIME

Try freelancing part-time.

Freelancing is not everyone’s cup of tea. The process of marketing

yourself, selling your services, and dealing with clients can be
overwhelming.

If you’re not sure whether freelancing is the right career path for you,
just try doing it part-time.

Spend a couple of hours every day working on smaller freelance gigs.

Also, learn the ways of freelancing.

When you feel ready to tackle bigger projects, then you can decide
whether you should freelance full-time or leave your day job.
STEP 7: FIND THE RIGHT FREELANCE PLATFORM

Find the right platform.

This step plays a crucial part in how easily you’ll land jobs and the
quality of the clients you’ll be able to work with.

A mistake most beginning freelancers make is searching for the most

popular freelance marketplace and joining it to get started. Like Upwork,
Fiverr, or Freelancer.com?

These sites are already filled with millions of freelancers from around
the world. And due to the competition, they engage in bidding wars to
win jobs. They will constantly lower their prices in order to land the job.
And it will get you nowhere.

So, the best approach, and the approach that worked wonders for me,
is to pick a marketplace that’s fairly new and join it. It’ll have fewer
freelancers, so you’ll have less competition.

And it will increase your chances of landing jobs.

STEP 8: CHARGE THE RIGHT PRICE

Charge the right price.

Figuring out the right price for your services can be challenging.
Because if you ask for the wrong price, clients will never even consider
hiring you.

In the beginning, the best way to figure out the right price is to go look
at popular freelance marketplaces and see what other freelancers in
your niche or industry are charging.

Since you’re new, it’s not fair to charge the same prices as experienced
freelancers.

Instead, you should try to figure out a middle ground where you can
offer a competitive price over those experienced freelancers without
making yourself seem cheap.

READ:
ROOKIE PRICING: WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO
STEP 9: SEND YOUR FIRST PROPOSAL

Send proposal.

Writing a proposal to a client needs to be done in a careful manner.

It’s not like writing a regular email or writing a social media post.

You need to put serious thought into it and figure out how to persuade
your client to give you the job instead of all the other freelancers.

There are some tips and hacks you can use to your advantage when
writing a winning proposal.

I can’t go into all the details here, so please check out the link below for
more info on the topic.

READ:
HOW TO WRITE A KILLER PROPOSAL ON UPWORK AS A NEWBIE

Here is one of my recent proposals, which got me a long-term job with a

client for the writing gig. Sometimes you just write a simple proposal and
be straight-forward.
STEP 10: DELIVER BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

Exceed all expectations.

Once you land a job, the next step is to make sure that you deliver the
project just as the client has asked.

Or, in this case, I want you to over-deliver the job by going above and
beyond the client’s expectations.

I’ll give you an example.

In the early days of my freelancing career, I used to get jobs for writing
blog articles with a fixed word count, like 1000 words. What I did was
write the article to be about 1100–1200 and also include a unique header
image for the blog post when delivering it. without charging extra for it.

The clients were always happy with my work. and gave 5-star ratings.

So, find a way to do work that goes beyond expectations. And learn to
stand out from the crowd.

That’s the only way to build a lasting career as a freelancer.

What’s next?
You are now ready to tackle the world of freelancing.

With a lot of dedication and hard work, you’ll be able to create a

profitable and prosperous career as a freelancer. That’s a guarantee.

If you want to learn more about freelancing and get insights into some
of the blueprints that I use to land high-paying clients, please check out
the blog at KIDIGITALI.COM.

Get ready for the coming e-book with more details on landing clients,
and earning more as a freelancer.

For everything else from me, I’m most active on Twitter (@ally_eh).

I really hope you enjoyed this eBook and are excited to continue your
freelancing journey. Welcome to the industry.

KIDIGITALI.COM