12 Tips: How to Freelance Your Skills

Transfer Your Professional Experience into a Successful Freelance business 

By Kathryn J. Severance (Sr Content Editor, KSeverance Communications)

In the world we live in today, if you have a laptop, a smartphone, a WIFI connection, and professional experience of some kind, your opportunity is truly as wide as your mind is. 

Out of work and unable to find a worthwhile position in your field of expertise? due to the state of the economy? 

Sit down and channel your prior work experiences and professional knowledge. I guarantee there is something you know more about than everyone else in your personal and professional network. 

1. Put together a list of services you'll offer

Make sure these are things that you are confident you can successfully do in the span of 1-2 hours for folks since consultants typically charge hourly. You'll want to hone in on special skills you know you have that people are in need of right now. You should review your resume to decide which of the high points are things you could provide quality samples of in order to attract clients.

2. Make sure your LinkedIn tagline reflects your consultant status

Even if you're consulting on the side while working at a grocery store to pay the bills while you continue to look for work, you must present yourself on LinkedIn as a consultant in order to find clients.

You can either do a headline that states 'I help people find […]' or, if you have some impressive analytics to back up your services, make a list of all of them below your 'position' at your marketing company (use something awesome...it might also wow a potential employer visiting your LinkedIn profile, on top of bringing in clients)

3. Decide who your market is

Think strategically about the type of companies you've worked for, the educational background that you have, and the knowledge you have about how to network with those types of people.

When developing where your niche will be, you'll want to think to yourself, "Do I want to be targeting individuals, small businesses, start-ups, busy parents, or stressed professionals?"

Are you a mom who has a teaching degree? Consider creating schedules and other items for busy parents currently trying to learn to navigate home schooling and e-learning. You could additionally offer 1x1 Zoom tutoring sessions (my best friend's mom works in a school and is currently doing this - it is something people legitimately need).

Are you a certified CPA who recently lost their job? If you're an accountant who is highly knowledgeable about tax law, offer a service where you answer taxation questions for self-employed folks. You could also create resources for your clients to help them make the most of tax deductions for the self-employed/those who work from home.

For example, with my consulting 'biz', it made sense to target bloggers and healthcare/insurance companies because of my professional experiences as a writer/reporter in the journalism industry and my 2.5 years at a Fortune 500 insurance carrier. Today those types of people are still my target markets because I'm comfortable in the space and I am certain that I know enough in order to help support their marketing strategy.

4. Use LinkedIn's Publisher tool to author industry-relevant articles to attract clients

Establish your credibility through publishing LinkedIn articles that focus on your knowledge so your potential clients will understand your background even before reaching out to you.

In a way, this material both pre-screens to help you find quality clients and it also shows your clients a great example of your professionalism and expertise. If you can position these articles as 'free handy tools' you can craft a captivated audience that (over time) really converts into the kind of clients you'd prefer to work with.

Note: You can only access LinkedIn's 'Publisher' tool on your computer - you won't be able to find the tool using the app.

5. Offer Free Services for 2 Weeks in exchange for recommendations

Do a LinkedIn post sharing your services, advertising that you'll provide a 'select few' clients with your services for free in exchange for a LinkedIn recommendation. This is essentially a way to get some good reviews you can use for marketing later on and give yourself a mini internship before you're ready to determine how to charge your clients, study the taxability issues, etc.

Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into - don't take on a huge project for your free client - be choosy with whom choose to help. Try to find someone who could even potentially convert to a paying client after those two weeks.

My first client was someone who runs a resource site for people who identify as transgender. This was a project that really made me feel like I was giving back to the community while getting experience...it's something that I'm proud to say I was/am part of because it makes me feel like my work is making the world a better place. I recommend finding a free client that is giving back to the community somehow.

6. Offer one-time discounts for client referrals

When a client loves your work so much that they regularly brag about you to their friends - this is a HUGE opportunity that you should be sure and harness. You can do this by creating a 'special referral discount' graphic that you can send to your clients' email/InMail account - you'll want to position this like a 'Sale'.

Be sure this info you send makes them aware that they only get the discount if the person they refer pays you for some type of services you provide.

This is an especially good idea to test out if you provide consulting services to marketing/sales professionals because those types of people are usually very good at pitching (perhaps better than you at the beginning) and they will be excited to bring you more business if they already like your work.

7. Determine your pricing strategy

First, you'll want to analyze how long the average deliverable takes for you to produce. Next, take into consideration how much experience you have at your craft. Then, research what the average consultant in your industry makes per hour. These factors should point you in the right direction for creating a reasonable pricing strategy.

Remember to additionally take into consideration that as a consultant you'll need to pay in afterward for taxes if you earn a certain amount and that you don't get any benefits or health insurance provided by an employer. Anyone accessing your services certainly realizes this as-well-as a matter of fact, many of them are probably interested for those specific reasons. If they paid an employee to do your job then it would be cheaper for them in the short term, but usually in this case they don't have the kind of capital to hire someone full time for your services.

Remember to re-visit your pricing strategy after each client. If you've grown tremendously in your knowledge from working on a particular client project, start charging more with new clients for that service - knowing exactly what you can do for this person. Also, be prepared to back up any type of 'guarantee' you mention to them when you discuss pricing- they'll expect you to deliver on that promise and if you don't you will make both parties unhappy.

8. Consider hiring an unpaid intern in need of professional experience

When you've had a few clients and feel comfortable adding someone to your business your first option for expanding your business should probably be to hire an unpaid intern. Bring in someone willing to work a few hours a week in exchange for the real-world experience they will gain from helping you. A bonus will be that you'll learn what it's like to manage an employee without the hassle of payroll.

Your best bet for populations to target are people who already are experts at managing their time. Search LinkedIn for someone that has the skills to fit your needs and seems on-pulse with your industry. This could be a college student, recent grad, or stay at home parent who is looking for more recent opportunities to list on their resume that fits your needs to name a few.

I know some e-commerce small business owners who hire unpaid interns for help. It has been very successful for them, but they have to train/find new help often since the opportunity is unpaid.

9. Outsource tasks that aren't in your wheelhouse

Shay Rowbottom has talked about this on her LinkedIn live videos before and I really believe in this principle. Obviously, this is a step for when you're ready but there are small ways you can start taking things off of your plate via collaborating with fellow professionals on a client project and sharing the profits, or pulling in a family member to help with a project.

You can also hire other consultants to help you - whether you need an accountant, a lawyer, a virtual assistant, a graphic designer or a marketing professional - you can find all of those folks right on LinkedIn (look into your own network before you start digging around).

10. Look for free tools that make your life as a consultant easier

This particular item is something I am really passionate about. As a consultant, you're on a teeny tiny budget at first. You need to research some handy tools to help you get started without having to reinvent the wheel.

Here's a few of my favorite free consulting tools:

You guessed it- LinkedIn is my all-time favorite. Before you're ready for a paid website, use your LinkedIn as your 'website'. Once you have a few clients, you can look into the WordPress.com free version (your SEO will be terrible with the WordPress.com model but you can leverage LinkedIn to bring leads to your site during this time...plus, nothing beats free when you just don't have money to re-invest). I feel like a lot of people get so caught up in building out this knock-your-socks off website, that they just drag their feed on bringing in capital. Honestly to be successful as a consultant you have to just go out and do it.

Use Google tools like Drive (Organize Client files), Docs (Take notes during meetings), Excel (Business Expenses), plus Hangouts for video conferencing. Everything saves automatically, plus you can access anywhere whether you're on the go, working from home, or needing tools for an in-person client connect.

Download the free Grammarly browser extension to your Google Chrome so you can optimize grammar and spelling in your emails, client projects, LinkedIn articles, posts, and more. Especially if English is a second language, you're not a grammar person, or if you just 'don't have time' for proofreading in your busy lifestyle, you need this tool's help.

11. Put away a portion of every client payment for taxes

Don't be one of those consultants who never consider all you'll have to pay into the state and federal government come tax time. Start putting away a small portion of every payment on day one. This will save you later on from having to pull it all out of your checking or savings account.

Once you are earning more you can get more sophisticated and pay yourself every 2 weeks from a business bank account. If you're in the finance space, you should probably do that from the get-go but for the rest of us, its a benefit of working for ourselves to be able to get paid every day that we complete work.

Note: Self-employed folks using their rented living space to do business from home can use their rent as a tax deduction per the CARES Act, per finance expert Laura Adams (Host, Money Girl podcast).

12. Offer A Number of Digital Products (E-Books, How-To Guides, Resource Lists)

For clients who cannot afford to work with you one-on-one, create digital products in the form of password-protected PDFs with useful tips on them that can be purchased for a very low price as a handy how-to guide. It's a win-win for both you and them...plus, the materials they buy may impress them so much and be so effective that they discover it is worth it to buy an hour or so of your coaching. 

I hope you enjoyed my '12 tips for how to start your own freelance business using the knowledge you already have with just a few basic tools you probably already own'.

Hopefully, if you're out of work and not finding the right position, this piece inspires you to get out there and create your own perfect opportunity.

For more info on how to get started with freelancing your skills, reach out to me on LinkedIn or email me, [email protected].