You don’t need to rely on 9-5 jobs for financial growth. Imagine you’re earning more than your full-time job, pursuing your passion, and living your dream life—all while keeping your current job. How? Start a freelance business that will allow you to explore new sources of income, develop your skills, and help you transition towards self-employment. If things go well, you can turn this passion into a full-time profession. In other words, you can say it opens the opportunity for you to turn from employee to employer.

In this blog, you will learn about 10 tips on how to start a freelance business while working full-time and effectively manage it without frustration.

Here are the 10 tips to start a freelance business:

1. Define Your Goals

Don’t jump to start a freelance business without clearly defining your goal. You’re just wasting your time and effort and probably have to face tough times. So, for the safe side, target your goal first.

Here’s something that can help you decide your goal to start a freelance business:

• Analyze what services you can offer and how you can differentiate yourself from competitors.


• Ask yourself: Will you be able to give committed time and maintain productivity?


• Do you have financial safety solutions excluding the business setup amount?


• Are you experienced in finding potential clients?


• Do you have a portfolio? Clients will believe more in your work.


• Do you have good networking or influencers to promote your business?

Don’t be like – your friend, your colleague, or your relatives are doing it, then you will do it too. Take time to understand why you want to start a freelance business.

To become a freelance writer, designer, developer, or something else? The answer will help you make the right move in your progress toward achieving your goals.

2. Find a Profitable Niche

There are many freelancers available to give the same quality work as you at lower rates. You don’t need to compete with them. By taking time to find a profitable niche to start your freelance business, you will be competing on quality rather than price. Once you’re done with your niche, you’ll have a platform by which you can expand your business in any direction in the future. Don’t be frustrated with how you will reach from 0 to 100; focus on a single step at a time. 

3. Find Your Target Clients

Finding the target clients is as important as finding the profitable niche. If you have a profitable niche but don’t have clients, your earnings are zero. Make some assumptions about who you can work with, connect with them, share your samples, and work for them. After working with them, you will develop a sense of whether you can continue with them or not. If not, change your strategy to find the client.

To determine the best type of target clients, ask yourself these questions:

• Which business can you help with your services?


• Which business can pay the amount you want for services?


• Where can you find their contact details?

When you have answers to these questions, you’re ready to write a cold email, connect with them, and offer instant value through your services.

4. Set Prices for Your Services

Set prices according to your services, but avoid setting them too high or low. Clients can doubt your service quality. If you’re not confident about how much you should charge, go to Bonsai Freelance Rate Explorer, which will help you determine the expected hourly rate of your services. There are tons of great tools available in the market; so approach your pricing strategy with a different mindset.

Don’t keep prices according to your competitor’s prices; price according to the value you deliver in your services.

5. Build a High-Quality Portfolio Website

There are many free and paid website builders available online that you can use to build your portfolio website. You can send that website to your clients to clarify what services you’re providing, their qualities, and their rates. If you’re going to start a freelance business and build it for the first time, make sure to add:

• Your professional introduction


• Services


• Portfolio of work


• Client testimonials or feedback


• Your achievements


• Your pricing or rate information


• Contact information


• Certificates and Skills


• Social media accounts and their reach

6. Give Examples of What You Can Deliver

Your website demonstrates your expertise. Keep publishing new content, images, or videos that your target clients are impressed with. Once you develop skills to understand your client’s preferences, start building the same quality examples as you had been hired to produce them. There is no better way to sell your services than to show clients that you can create exactly what they need.

7. Stay Alert While Choosing Your First Clients

Avoid small mistakes in searching for your first client. It can end your dream to start a freelance business. In the initial stage of a freelance career, you have limited time to source new clients.

Try to get the most from them from both perspectives—financial and portfolio building. The feedback you get in the form of video or text helps in inviting new clients. You don’t need to be frustrated or overthink; just give two minutes to think and then choose.

8. Mention Potential Clients in Your Content

If you’re going to start a freelance business, building your name within a niche could be challenging, especially when nobody knows you. The smart move you can take to build it is to start mentioning the names of brands, companies, or individuals you think can potentially work.

While connecting with other clients, make sure to add these essential elements in your cold email:

• Personalized greetings


• Catchy subject line


• Value proposition


• Add a portfolio and highlight the positive feedback of your potential customers.


• CTA (Call to Action)


• Contact Info


• Signature

9. Read Some Books or Attend Classes To Learn How To Pitch Yourself

Learning how to pitch yourself plays a crucial role in inviting new clients to your services. This works effectively, especially when you’re new to starting a freelance business and have no connections. If you feel you’re not confident enough to pitch yourself. Here is an effective freelance proposal that leaves a positive impact:

• Start with a strong pitch and show how you can help your clients. Keep your tone simple and polite.


• Highlight your strengths clearly and confidently.


• Include relevant work samples or past projects.

10. Don’t Mix Your Day Job With Freelance Business

Working as a freelancer means you’re sitting in two boats at the same time: a full-time and freelance job. There is a higher chance that the first may disturb the second’s performance and your focus may be lost. To avoid this: Set clear boundaries, use separate tools, and organize your schedule to separate both jobs.

Conclusion

You can grow your income and pursue your dream life by starting a freelance business while working full-time. Go through the 10 above tips to start a freelance business that is well-researched and practically implemented for big results.