Freelancing is booming in the market after covid 19, nearly 1.57 billion people in the global workforce are freelancers. Freelancers are making millions of dollars with freelancing which is very hard to earn with a desk job. Most of the people love to work from their home independently without any boundation. If you are one of them then this article will guide you through “start freelancing with no experience in 2024”, managing contracts, finding clients for freelancing, and how to grow as a freelancer.

What is freelancing?

Freelancing is a type of work that an individual can perform from anywhere in the world without any boundation of a boss, it means you can work from anywhere freely, you choose your working hours, working place, project types and many more. No one is there to force you to do a specific task, you can choose projects according to your comfort.

Freelancing gives you freedom to do your work effectively from anywhere, you have flexible working hours, plus many big opportunities, high income that you won’t get in desk jobs.

Steps to start freelancing

Identify your Niche

To start freelancing with no experience, it is very important to understand your interest and skills, always choose the niche that you enjoy doing, do not make things complicated, start with simple things and focus on a particular niche rather than trying hands on too many things together.

Select one category, focus on that category to make a specialized profile. It will help you stand out from crowd. When you select so many categories together, it confuse people if you are perfect in it or not. For example you are a graphic designer, then choose a specific catagory in graphic design that can be Logo design, branding design, t-shirt design or any one.

Narrow down the niche by selecting a specific industry, it will help you reach customers from a particular industry. For example – Logo design for real estate companies.

Example– Graphic design> Logo design, and then narrows down>’Real estate companies’. Once you get some good reviews and projects, You can expand your services for other industries.

Learn skills

Freelancing seems an easy but on other hand it is very responsible career, you have to handle everything about the project, there is no boss or team leader who will guide you through the steps, so you must be skilled enough to handle the project effectively, learn skills properly with Youtube tutorials, online courses from Skillshare, Udemy or any other online courses websites. Keep yourself updated with market trends, new technologies, tools to survive in the freelance market.

Read also- Steps to become self taught graphic designer

Have right tools

Right tools make your life and workflow easier. Always have the right tools for your work , even if it is hardware or software everything must work properly, for example– if you are looking for video editing jobs, then make sure you have the best laptop or computer to perform video editing tasks. Right tools help you boost your performance, produce the best output.

Build a portfolio-

A portfolio is your virtual calling card, to get the first project it is very important to have a compelling portfolio that showcases your best work, your skills and experience. Try to find your first project locally or from your online friends, family to get started, reach out to your friends and tell them about your service, don’t hesitate to ask for work.

If you do not have any previous works to put in your portfolio then take help from Ai tools like ChatGPT to generate a dummy project brief, work on dummy projects or do 3-4 projects for yourself, update those works in your portfolio to showcase your works to clients.

To make a portfolio, You can attach your works in Google Drive, create a pdf file or use online portfolio websites like Behance (for designers) and your own website using wordpress.

Online presence

Social media is a great way to reach out to potential clients, create you social accounts, publish your works on social media regularly, social media can help you showcase your work to the people and may convert you into clients. Leverage social media to connect with industry people, collaborate with creators from your niche, make a good network through social handles.

Find freelancing projects

There are many ways to find freelancing projects such as freelancing marketplaces, social media groups, email outreach, cold calling, but it always depends upon niche and service.

Fiverr- It is a best freelancing platform for beginners, where freelancers can register to offer their service, 

• Create account on Fiverr as a seller
• Complete seller profile
• Create service gig
• Set pricing ( pricing starts from $5 )
• Publish your gig
• Promote your gigs on social media

Upwork– upwork is a popular freelancing marketplace, where you can register as a freelancer and offer your services. 

• Register as a freelancer – Join Upwork and get $100
• Complete your profile
• Utilize project catalog
• Apply for relevant jobs (to apply jobs it charge you some connects)
• Send proposals on jobs you like
• Promote your profile on social media
• Stay active on upwork to reach more people

Instagram– Post your work on instagram regularly, showcase your work by content creation- reels, carousel posts, connect with similar accounts, engage with followers.

• Create social media profile
• Convert it into creator or business profile
• Optimize profile, write good bio
• Follow similar accounts
• Upload reels, carousel posts, stories regularly
• Engage with followers
• Collaboration with similar accounts.

Facebook– Join facebook groups, people post jobs on facebook, you can apply for jobs through facebook groups, at starting quote lower prices to get clients.

• Create facebook profile
• Search facebook groups from your niche
• Upload your works in groups
• Be active on facebook
• Engage in groups, help people solve their problems
• Connect with people with similar interest
• Apply for jobs posted in groups

LinkedIn– it is a great social media to get high ticket clients online. On linkedin you may get big opportunities.

• Create LinkedIn profile
• Optimize your profile
• Make connections
• Keep applying for jobs
• Upload works regularly 
• Engage with similar accounts.

Additionally, there are many other websites where you can find online jobs like- Toptal, freelancer, Discord servers, Twitter, Reddit, and many more.

Use advanced ai tools for Freelancing

ChatGPT– ChatGPT is a text to text generative AI tool, that generates answers based on the prompt you provide, it can help you with many tasks related to freelancing and boost your performance. Let’s see how it can help you with freelancing.

• Guide you create your freelancing profiles step by step 
• Write descriptions for your services
• Proposal writing
• Email writing
• Summarize job postings
• Explain project briefs in an easy way
• Brainstorm ideas for projects
• Write codes
• Write content and articles and many more
• Translate languages
• Proofreading
• Content planner

Midjourney Ai, Dall-e, Leonardo Ai– These are text to image ai tools that allows you create images with text prompts. Utilize these tools to generate Ai images for your portfolio, social media, gig images etc.

Type of freelance works

You can offer various services as a freelancer such as :

Catagory	Jobs
Writing jobs	Copy writing, Content writing, Product description writing, email writing, Proofreading etc.
Design and Development	Graphic design, Branding, Logos, Ui/Ux Design, Website design, Website development, App development etc.
Video editing	Video editing, Motion graphics, Reels & Short videos, Podcast repupose etc.
Ai- Powered services	Ai image generators, Ai book cover designs, Ai avatar reels and videos, Ai chatbots, Ai powered interior designs.
Digital marketing	Social media management, Facebook ads, Google Ads, etc.
Virtual assitant	Become virtual assitant for professionals and business owners.

Tips for freelancers

Setup prices and working hours

Determine your pricing for the projects or set hourly prices based on your experience, You can compare pricing on freelancing websites like Fiverr and Upwork to get an average idea, You can also use ChatGPT to get ideas about pricing for your service.

Don’t ignore smaller gigs

Do not underestimate the low price projects, usually experienced freelancers ignore small projects, so you can hunt for that opportunity and sometimes small projects turn into long term projects, start with small and upsell your services. It will also help you build your portfolio.

Learn from negative feedbacks

In freelancing it is normal to get negative feedback at the start, because you constantly change your style according to each client, do not feel bad if someone puts a bad review, learn from the negative feedback, and update yourself.

Take care of health

Biggest wealth is your health, so the most important thing is to take care of your health and mental peace, give yourself free time, eat good foods, do exercise to keep your mind relaxed, spend time with friends and family 🙂

Recommended Books

The freelancer’s bible– Sara Horowitz, This book will teach you how to setup home office, How to get clients, how to keep them happy and deliver best work to clients. How to make connections whether you are new to freelancing or an experienced freelancer, this book will help you grow your freelancing business.

The 4 hour work week– Timothy Ferriss– Another interesting book for freelancers or independent professionals, author shares ways to work smartly from anywhere in the world as a freelancer,

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have gone through the steps to start freelancing, we have discussed what freelancing is, how to get started with a freelance career in 2024, from identifying your skills, niche to getting clients for the freelance projects, and build connections with industry people through various social media, learning new things and get updated with new technologies, using ai tools for freelancing and many more.

Follow these steps to transform your current job into a free and independent work. Hope you have enjoyed reading this article, let us know in comments, and share with your friends on your social media. Don’t forget to drop a comment, share your thoughts and insights on it. Thank you 🙂

FAQ: Start freelancing Career In 2024