DEV Community

Cover image for 7 tips for the newbie freelancers
Pasca Vlad
Pasca Vlad

Posted on

7 tips for the newbie freelancers

If you found value in this thread you will most likely enjoy my tweets too so make sure you follow me on Twitter for more information about web development and how to improve as a developer. This article was first published on my Blog

Do you want to become a freelancer?

Everyone wants to do that now

But no one knows how to begin and how to do it the right way

There are a lot of things I wish I knew earlier when I first started my journey

Here are 7 tips for the newbie freelancers

  1. Get a mentor

This is key when you're just starting out

Having a good mentor can save you 6 months of research if used the right way

The goal is to find someone who is just a few steps ahead of you and learn from them

When looking for a mentor, create a connection first

Don't DM someone and ask them to be your mentor right away

This is not how you get a mentor

And be willing to spend money on this

  1. Outreach

This is the action that gets your clients

And this at the same time the most important action in the beginning

If you don't do outreach you don't get clients

If you want to learn how to do it the right way read this thread

https://twitter.com/VladPasca5/status/1460947838729428992?s=20

  1. Work for free

This is one of the best things you can do when you first start freelancing

Because let's face it

You have no social proof

No past work

And no one knows you

You can't expect someone to hire you if you have no experience

This is why working for free is...

the best strategies you can use in the beginning

This is a strategy I'm using (and used) and it works like wonders

If you want to learn more about it read this thread

https://twitter.com/VladPasca5/status/1450801786261020674?s=20

  1. Focus on the things that matter

This is one of the most overlooked things when you're first starting out

Everyone is focusing on creating the perfect portfolio, or the perfect offer, or the perfect outreach script

But in reality, this won't get you more clients

(at least in the beginning)

What will get you clients in the beginning is outreach

This is why you need to create everything as fast as you can and start doing outreach as soon as possible

You will tha

  1. Build a portfolio

Even though I said that focusing on building a perfect portfolio in the beginning is bad, you still need to have a portfolio

Why?

Because you need to have a place where you can show your past work and your testimonials

If you create a portfolio you can...

just redirect all of your potential clients there

Where they can see your:

  • Offer
  • Past work
  • Social proof

And they will be more likely to hire you after that

Also, the SEO benefit is huge

You can literally get clients through SEO without doing anything

  1. Join a private community of freelancers

Another thing that helped me a lot in the beginning

Once you join a community of freelancers you get access to people who are a lot more experienced with you and who can always help you out

And this will save you a lot of time

The price that you'll pay for that community is nothing compared to the time it saves you

The community I joined is Utopia and it quickly became my go-to resource

If you're interested in joining too, click the link below

https://gumroad.com/a/830624883/vHMYE

  1. Stay consistent

You might not see results in the first few months

But that is ok, especially if you're working for free

Your goal in the beginning is to get as much social proof as possible

If your goal is to get results for your clients you will win in the long term

I hope found this useful and if you did please let me know. If you have any questions feel free to DM me on Twitter.

Top comments (0)