How to Increase Your Freelance Income This Year
If you want to make more money as a freelancer, I suggest you take the following steps.
First, a little background: I’ve been a full-time freelance writer since 2012. During this time, I practically doubled my income, increasing from $ 35,000 (before tax) to an average of $ 70,000 per year.
As my career progressed, it also changed – I transitioned from one phase to the next, as if I were moving between levels in a video game.
So, if you want to make more money as a freelancer this year, find out what level you are at.
Then figure out how to move on to the next one.
Level 1: Field
If you are in the early stages of your freelancing career, you will not get a job unless you ask for it.
For freelance writers: I’ve written several “how to submit” guides, including one for The Write Life and one for 49Writers . Read both of them to learn how to present a story instead of an idea, how to follow a basic presentation template, and what to write if you’ve never told a story before.
If you work in a different freelance industry, there probably are similar rules for submitting offers. Check them out so your performances are as professional as you are.
Because at this stage of the game, people will not come to you with work. You will have to hurry up with it yourself – and the more work you do, the more money you can make.
Level 2: Build Relationships
Having to rush with every gig you get takes time and effort, so once you find a client or publication that you enjoy working for, it’s time to build a relationship with that client and turn them into a permanent source of income.
In other words: as soon as you close the project, offer again to the same client. Ask for another concert. Let them know how much you enjoyed working for them.
Your goal is to develop a relationship between the client and the freelancer where they can count on you to work and you can count on them to get paid. Relationships in which you are offered more work before you even ask.
Of course, this means that you have to be a freelancer who is easy to work with. Meet the deadlines; Come to work early if you can. Allow clients to edit your work and leave feedback, and treat them with respect. Respond to Slack emails or notifications in a timely manner.
As you continue to build those customer relationships, you will be able to spend more time working and less time promoting new customers (since you will receive a steady stream of work from your current customers). This means that your income will continue to grow.
Level 3: negotiate higher rates
Once you have a list of ongoing customer relationships, it’s time to raise the stakes.
Not right away, of course. Try to spend a year with each client before negotiating rates.
Also, conduct these negotiations wisely – clients have the same budgets as you and generally don’t have much wiggle room. Depending on your industry, this could mean trying to increase your revenue per client by $ 100 per month, rather than $ 100 per article or job.
If you have five regular customers, that’s an extra $ 500 per month or $ 6,000 per year.
Level 4: Build Your Reputation
At this stage in your freelancing career, you will likely find yourself gaining a certain reputation – or, as the writing world calls it, “the bit.”
For example, when I started working as a freelancer, I wrote about everything and everything: personal finance, A / B testing, Harry Potter, how we can prevent humans from contaminating Mars … if I could get a job. I would find a way to write about this.
As I developed long-term relationships with clients, my horizons began to narrow. These days I write mostly about personal finance, with a couple of extra points in the areas of “how to work as a freelancer” and “how to optimize your life.”
I also earned a reputation for being “a writer who is transparent about his income and his processes,” which meant that clients looking for writers in this very specific niche knew who to turn to.
Once you have earned a reputation for a particular type of freelancer, clients looking for your job may also start reaching out to you.
This means that you have moved beyond the stage where you need to promote every job you receive. You are now at the stage where customers are offering you offers.
That’s where the real money is.
Level 5: Use your experience
At this stage in my career, I receive more job offers than I can accept. This gives me leverage — I can refuse work that is too time-consuming or inappropriate, and I can set my own rates (again, within reason) for the work I take on.
If you are also at the stage where clients are reaching out to you, don’t be afraid to say no. If you can say “not now, but maybe later” or “not now, but here’s another person who might be a great fit for this gig,” that’s even better – you just showed the potential client you want to build. relationship with them even if you cannot say yes to the job they offer. (Maybe this relationship will pay off in the future.)
Likewise, don’t be afraid to ask for what you are worth. As I wrote earlier , I am looking for concerts that pay me at least $ 100 an hour for, and when clients ask me to name my rate, I give them a number that slightly exceeds that figure. So when they inevitably offer a little less in return, I still get what I want (and if they say yes right away, I know I need to ask for more next time).
I don’t know what will happen after this level. I haven’t made it yet. But when I do this, you can be sure that I will tell you everything and give you advice on how to get there on your own.
Until then, enjoy the level up and get the extra money you earn.