Surviving The First Year

If you’ve decided to start working from home as an independent contractor or freelancer, the first year may be a leap of faith. However, if you succeed in establishing your name and your brand of services, being your own boss can be extremely rewarding. The lack of security you experience in the first year can pay off in the end. The following tips can help you to sidestep common mistakes that freelancers make in their first years on the job:

Set Aside Some Savings

Starting out, you’ll need to plan to take time to develop your business. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Attracting good clients is often a matter of putting in the time. Some freelancers even continue working their regular job as they get ready to launch out on their own. There’s a lot of work to be done before you can expect a steady income: building a website that showcases your services, blogging and using social media sites to advertise your services, and getting endorsements.

Charge What You’re Worth

One of the areas that most people struggle with is how much to charge for a particular project. Charging or bidding too high for a project may cause potential clients to overlook you. But charging too low, you may feel you are being taken advantage of. In order to know what to charge, you need to know how much your skill set, experience, and services are actually worth. Some freelancers suggest this formula: double your yearly salary from your previous job and divide it by the number of days you worked to figure out how much you should be paid per day. Getting paid per day or per hour is a good way to work if you run into unexpected snags in a given project; however, some clients prefer to set a per project rate, making it in your best interest to do the work quickly.

Sign a Contract

Even if you’re working for an acquaintance you know and trust, you should always sign a contract. The contract will detail what happens in the event that the client doesn’t like the work or the project is unable to proceed forward.

The clients may put the work on hold, leaving your pay in limbo. When you don’t sign a contract, you risk putting time and energy into a project that may not come to fruition. Signing a contract ensures that you get paid for the work that you do, whether or not the project ends up moving forward.

Work with Companies

One of the most challenging things you’ll find in the first year of freelancing is figuring out the difference between good and bad clients. While it may be hard to land big clients when you’re just getting started, set your sights high. It’s better to work for companies than it is to work for individuals. For one, they’re more likely to pay you. Secondly, they’re more likely to have money to spend on quality work, like yours.

Network

Keeping in touch with old clients, colleagues, and other professionals in your field is a great way to attract clients without having to do too much. When it comes to clients, make sure they remember you for doing good work and always being personable. That way, they’ll be more likely to come to you again with new projects. As for colleagues and professionals in the field, referring or promoting someone else’s services is only going to help you in the long run. Chances are they’ll remember the favor when they need to make a referral of their own.