On making the shift into freelance, building your portfolio and thinking of yourself as a 1099 person and not a W-2 person!
This video was made originally for my friend’s lovely daughter who is getting started in her creative career. She contacted me asking about how to break into the world of freelance writing.
I thought that it held value for all of us including me! Now let’s add some tips for making the shift, literally and in your mind…
- Break out of the W-2 mindset. Start thinking of yourself as your own free entity, with talents and skills that people will pay for.
- Make your own website and portfolio. This can be your own name, with a short list of main categories that you serve in.
- Invest in really good web hosting. If you’re dogged by your web host, the whole house falls down.
- Invest in email marketing service, like Aweber. $200 or so per year is just $20 per month and it’s WORTH IT to collect leads.
- You don’t need a certification or formal education to call yourself an expert. Experience counts as expertise.
- Take care of the legal matters – like applying for a DBA (doing business as) in your county.
- Set yourself up to take online payments – with PayPal, Stripe, or a similar service.
- Build your portolio if you don’t have one yet. Save every sample in electronic format and upload to your site.
- Make logging in and posting a habit you do regularly, just like social media except this is YOUR TURF.
- If you desire work in a particular niche or field but you don’t have samples, mock some up.
I have created a guide that teaches freelancers how to build a portfolio website using WordPress. This will keep you focused on the project and give you those missing details. You can also outsource your portfolio creation to me! Contact me here for a quote.