If you have recently started making the move to freelance work, a popular first stop is the freelance job site. As a beginner these are a great place to pick up work, build your portfolio and establish your reputation. People start freelance work for a number of reasons, some moving from full-time jobs in the same field, other's out of necessity, some as carers, stay-at-home parents or even for extra cash while at university. Each freelancer's background can be as varied as their reason for making the move, but one common thing all freelancers need is a strong freelance profile. The question is what does that include? Well there is no right or wrong answer here, for precisely the reasons I mentioned regarding the range of careers that freelancers pursue.
Here are some hints for creating an online profile that sells your freelance service:
Summarise your education as well as your particular experience and expertise.
When an employer is looking for an expert in a particular area, if it is immediately clear that you have solid qualifications and relevant experience, then this will straight away set you apart from the freelance competition.Highlight more specific projects you've been involved with.
After outlining your education and your general work background, include bullet points outlining specific experience and expertise. If you're an expert at writing direct sales letters, mention that. If you're the best copy editor around, mention examples or times that demonstrate you've had solid experience in that area. Whether you are seeking a job as a virtual assistant, a writer/editor, a computer programmer or in one of the many and growing fields that freelancers work in, make sure you highlight your particular skill sets. Bullet points are a good way to list your skills clearly and coherently, giving the prospective employer an instant overview of your expertise.Focus on the customer.
After highlighting your experience and skills, put that extra bit of effort into selling how these expertise are useful for the prospective "buyer". As a service provider starting out seeking work via the job boards, you may discover it's a bit of a "free for all". Those that are unable to sell themselves well in this environment may move on to other opportunities, those that are great at selling their freelance skills come out at the head of the game. When creating your profile make sure that you not only sell your experience to the world, but that you also tell "buyers" how your service provision and project delivery is second to none.Research rates and establish what you're prepared to work for.
If you are going after your very first job then you may find that you start with very little pay. Many new freelancers will start out in this position too. Use it to get you motivated to pull your work together to move on to other things. It's nearly always unavoidable that you'll trade experience for dollars, especially as you're beginning to build your reputation (this is why you want to sell your experiences the best you can!)
The best advice is to focus your efforts on jobs that will add "value" to your portfolio; this way the dollars that you miss out on in the beginning will recoup themselves over time. Those lower paid jobs that you may need to take in the beginning will be valuable when you bring more to the table with future clients and prospects; the key is to choose wisely. Some people even recommend doing really solid work as "pro bono," so this trade-off is something you have to balance for yourself.
Once you've put all these elements together for your profile you need to move onto the next steps, putting together your portfolio and bidding for jobs. If you do a really great job with putting together your profiles you may even get some invitations to bid up front! The stronger you make this "sales pitch" via your profile, the more success you'll have as you start your new career as a freelancer.
