Starting a career as a freelancer can be a great challenge. If you are unsure where to start, rest assured, you are not the only one

Get Started

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CNBC posted this article on the planning to do before making the step to become a freelancer: 
[CNBC: Leaving a steady job to freelance or start your own business requires proper planning](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/18/leaving-a-job-to-freelance-or-start-your-own-business-takes-planning.html)
![Freelancer image](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106976450-1637099205406-gettyimages-1257321221-errf04038.jpeg?v=1637348682&w=740&h=416)

The article starts with creating a business plan and ensuring you have some financial reserves for the first period, as well as making sure you have an accountant, tax advisor and attorney lined up. Finally, the article goes into some tips for managing your work/life balance. 

Although the article is quite US centric, most of it applies to the rest of the world as well. For me, my plan certainly could have been more solid, although my financial reserves made the transition smooth. By now, I have a registered accountant, understand freelancing contract structures and have an attorney that can help me if needed. But, most of that happened only when I needed one. I think it takes time to get settled as a freelancer.

What do you guys think? Did you carefully plan your freelance career or did you just make it work as you rolled into it?

CNBC: Leaving a steady job to freelance or start your own business requires proper planning

Helping you with the first steps of becoming a freelancer

Discuss the best places and strategies to find jobs as a freelancer in order to achieve financial security and to develop your career

Jobs & Career

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My opinion, I wrote on [Medium](https://medium.com/aforceofone/what-are-tips-and-tricks-for-a-happy-freelancer-da8e3665cd1a) this year, about some items that are helpful in finding the next job as a freelancer, and the next….
-	A profile that is as complete as possible
-	To be online present
-	To know what your rate is
-	And  to be passioned about your skills

What applies to you? Any advice or addition?



What is needed if you want to be more sure of your next job, gig or project?

Have you experienced issues with a client?
I think mainly there are 2 kind off problems that occur:
-	Client who do not want to pay (sometimes intentionally) or 
-	Client who want more from you then you agreed upon for the same price

I hear and read more and more about “clients” who want something for free and never had and have the intention to pay, so freelancers get scammed. And clients become more demanding. So how to deal with this and how do you maintain a good relationship with your client?  My tips:
-	Check your client! Does the company or person exist? If you can’t find anything positive online, let them pay by advance (at least for a part of the order, or a down payment) 
-	Let them sign your offer/contract.
-	Always create milestones in your offer/contract, with scheduled reviews. And start with the next milestone, when the former one is paid. If you create manageable amounts for your client, this should not be a problem. And you both stay happy, because the result of the milestone is monitored as well. 
-	Be persistent in what you agreed upon, if the client demands something different or more; make an additional offer. My opinion it that if you give something away, you will not easily get it back. And it also says something about the quality of your work.

And talk to other freelancers about these issues…This really helps in being persistent in the agreement you have made with your clients.

What are your experiences on this matter and how did you deal with it?


How do you deal with clients who do not keep their agreements?

As a freelancer, I think you should be aware of what you’re worth, what the value of your skills is, as well as the value of what you’re offering. To have the highest chance of accepting your quote, your skills and price must be in balance and they will develop and help you in growing financially. I always use an hourly rate (I came across this overview https://clockify.me/average-hourly-rates, location-based of course),  but it depends on the kind of project if a fixed fee works better for you of course. And if you use a fixed fee, how do you manage your clients and projects? Any tips?

I came across this overview https://clockify.me/average-hourly-rates. What do you use?


Calculate your rate

ZDNet posted this article, the [Best freelance websites 2022: Find jobs & remote work](https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-freelance-websites/). Opening the article with high anticipation, it lists the five standard websites: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Toptal and LinkedIn. That was a bit of a disappointment.

What websites do you use to find new work? 

ZDNet: Best freelance websites 2022

Develop your career and a successful job search solution

As a freelancer, it’s really important to stay relevant, keep your skills up-to-date and continue to expand them

Skills & Personal Development

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Just now, I came across [this blog post on remote work by Upwork](https://www.upwork.com/resources/building-trust-remote-teams). It's written for managers of distributed teams. However, I strongly believe that individual team members (including freelancers - regardless of the size of their assignment) need to take their individual responsibility here as well. 
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5ec7dad2e6f6295a9e2a23dd/624b9192faabc4059ae9d805_How-to-build-trust-with-remote-teams.jpg)
As a remote freelancer, do you keep these in mind every day?
- Be transparent, responsive, and dependable
- Schedule regular meetings with your client
- Set expectations / Establish clear goals and objectives with your client
- Be clear on your role and take accountability
- Be consistent
- Use team collaboration tools (and if the client doesn't have any, or doesn't allow you to use theirs - bring your own!)
- Build connections with other team members
- Provide and seek (peer-to-peer) feedback
- Focus on your output, and celebrate successes (also those of others! give recognition!)
- Manage your own work/life balance

Trust in remote teams

Really a new list of upcoming in-demand freelance skills Karla Glatt posted on [Medium](https://medium.com/@karlaglatt/8-top-in-demand-freelance-skills-for-2022-351623ae1c2)

-	NFT art
-	Blockchain developer
-	Video Creation and Editing
-	Scripted Live Chat
-	Lead Generation 
-	Social Media Management
-	Data Science and Analysis
-	Voice Over

Very specific and maybe not all so well known as the more regular skills like Web development, JavaScript, WordPress, coaching, writing, etc. What is your experience as a freelancer? Do you see other new developments? Or still a future for the more regular (remote)  skills? 


New upcoming in-demand freelance skills 

Discuss what you can do and how you can grow as a freelancer

Networks are a great way of finding new clients and work. What channels and tools do you use?

Build your network

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Online networking is just as important as offline, and there are a few freelancers, freelance experts or business accounts out there who have a lot of followers and/or post really relevant items that can help you in your freelance journey. They share their experiences, post job they run into etc. If you have the time, have a look at these accounts on Twitter:
-	[Sara Horowitz](https://twitter.com/Sara_Horowitz), also founder of freelance union, writer
-	[Stefan Palios](https://twitter.com/stefanpalios), he created his own business using his freelance experience

On LinkedIn have a look at:
-	[Scott Luscombe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/creatibly/), he has his Freelance Friday meetings and gives tips (for free) to other freelancers
-	[Jon Younger](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-younger-phd-57a41455/) he is a writer for Forbes and writes about the future of (freelance) work 

Feel free to share other freelancers or freelance experts with good ideas to expand our freelance network 


Online networking, who to follow as a freelancer

Freelancing, especially remotely, can be very lonely, and networking with other freelancers at a personal AND a professional level can be motivating, but also helps you in getting your next job.

Some ideas, if you want to meet other freelancers:  
-	Go to coffee corners where a lot of freelancers work. I live in a city and there are a few in my neighborhood
-	Rent yourself an office in a (small) business area. That’s what I did, to get out of the house and have professional contact with other (small) businesses.
-	Rent a desk in a special flex office, something you can become a club member, and they organize events as well. 
-	And a bit quicker and easier; plan a digital coffee break every now and then, to chat or share professional issues
Any other ideas are welcome


Some ideas to build your network

Meet, share and engage with other freelancers

We are often balancing multiple clients. Plus, we need to do our own admin on top of our work for clients. Efficiency is key, so share your tips & tricks with us!

Work Efficiently

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Do you do your own bookkeeping?
I myself as a freelancer have a personal bookkeeper because I really don’t like it. And because I don’t know what software to use. There is a lot of (free) small business bookkeeping software available, like Quickbooks, Quicken premier, Budget dynamics, Bunni, Slickpie, Zoho etc
What works for you and what are your experiences? Do you have a specific tool?  


How do you do your bookkeeping?

Today, the 22nd of March, is earth day. "How freelancing can save the world (or the earth", is a bold statement. I came across [this article](https://revolancer.com/magazine/earth-day-2022-and-remote-work/) on Revolancer from Una Jones. And as a matter of fact, I agree! It depends of course how you define freelancing. A lot of freelancers work and worked remotely, and after (at the end of) Covid19 a lot of freelancers still work remotely unlike people with a permanent job. Employees with permanent jobs go to their offices more and more, unlike what we all expected to happen. So freelancing in general is more sustainable. Do you agree?

How freelancing can save the earth!

Contracting, Accounting, Invoicing, Timekeeping, Taxes, and so much more…

Freelancers often don't get to go home at 5pm. Our work continues in the evenings, doing our admin, finding new clients, writing blogs, networking. Share your challenges and your tips & tricks

Relax, you are doing great 😊

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I think as a freelancer it is more difficult to keep a healthy work-life balance because work never stops. 
For me, it is important to
-	 set clear work hours. I always get up at the same time every workday
-	 really plan my spare time. Otherwise, I will be stuck to my laptop all the time (especially working remotely).
What works for me (to clear my mind) is to be active in my spare time; a walk in nature on regular bases or a walk around the block in the evening, yoga and to the gym at least once a week.
What do you do to stay balanced? 


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