Freelance careers are gradually increasing in number in recent years due to the benefits it brings to people such as flexible time, independent work, giving employees a second source of income, etc. However, the career is not that ideal like most people think it is. And in order to start your career as a freelancer more smoothly and enjoyably, you need tons of things to notice and prepare right at the beginning.

Below are 5 freelancer tips for beginners to notice in order to build a stable career in the long-term. If you are one of those people, let’s scroll down and find out.

5 things you must do for a stable freelancer career

1. Be honest to yourself and your clients

First thing first, you must be honest with yourself about your capability in the beginning of this journey. This is one of the most essential tips for freelance beginners. Defining your level, figuring out how well you can perfectly finish a task/job within a specific time makes it easier for you to know where you are standing and plan on to improve it. Though it is good to motivate yourself with a positive attitude while working, overpraising your capability, on the other hand, often raises suspicions in clients and puts more pressure on your shoulders to do things out of your reach.

Be honest with your client about your level as well. Just tell them the truth that this is the first time you handle this type of situation, then ask for their understanding and try your best to improve things. That is better than lying to them, than telling them to put their trust in the wrong place because when everything ends up out of control, they will never forgive and get back to you again. By doing that, you are not only showing your respect, you are showing your wish to do things better as well.

Mentioning showing respect, there is one more thing you should always do if you want to build a professional profile and attract your loyal clients, keeping your promise.

Tips for beginner freelancers: A trustworthy commitment starts with honesty

2. Always keep your promise

This is as important as telling the truth to customers. If you tell them you will finish the task by the end of the week, don’t send it on the Monday morning of next week. Tell them you will give them all 3 finished tasks within the day, then make sure those 3 tasks are sent to them before the night.

Too many broken promises not only prove that you are an unprofessional freelancer that has no responsibility for your career, but can also foretell an unpromising long-term future.

Also, be transparent and specific about your rate of pay, calculate it by hours, by projects, by work items and be consistent with it until you have another announcement to adjust the rate.

In order to solve this issue, whenever you feel like you are behind schedule, give them a call and explain the situation, ask for their understanding and try to not step onto this mistake again. If the issue keeps happening and you can’t help to break your promise again, offer them a discount or something similar for causing the inconvenience, Most of client are likely to let that slip away for you.

3. Constantly grow your network

You may think that having a large enough network of freelancers and clients is already good for growing your career as a freelancer. However, there are more and more freelancers stepping into this career everyday, and also more and more job titles that are specialized for a particular task, or new jobs titles that are in demand of freelancers are invented as well. Whether you want to improve your skill and experience for this job only or not, one day, you still have to work with people in other related fields, and that is when you realize having a network of freelancers with various job titles can actually help you in a lots of ways, such as:

• Attracting more client who are in need of being introduced to more than one job titles;
• Being introduced to projects that require more than one job titles;
• Enlarging your knowledge and skill sets in other related fields;
• Keeping up with the new generation / Not being old-fashioned;
• And so on.

Freelancer tips: Having an open mind to criticism helps freelancers improve their skills and enlarge their knowledge.

4. Stop saying YES to everything (Choose your projects properly)

At a point in your career as a freelancer, you will be overloaded by the amount of work you have to handle. And that is when you take a whole look of everything and adjust your schedule. The number one tip for you at this point is to stop accepting any projects that bring you the least benefits, on the matter of health, money, and experience.

You may think, “Saying ‘No’? Well, I clearly know that, if only I had that much work to do.” However, I have missed one thing, that being overloaded does not always mean having no time to do more jobs. It can refer to when you feel exhausted doing repeated tasks over and over again, or handle a task that is out of your control.

By choosing your projects and also your clients properly according to your workload and benefits they will bring to you, your productivity will likely increase and your mental health as well.

5. Stop procrastinating (Plan out everything on a schedule)

Procrastinating habits are not caused by weak time management skills or bad in making priorities, instead, it is a psychological practice pointing out that one is late at submitting what they have promised on time. This psychological situation is worse for your mental health than you can imagine. In fact, a science study in 1997 has shown that Procrastination is a self-destructive behavior for it causes stress, psychological illness, and decreases one’s productivity.

However, to anyone who is stuck in this Procrastinating habit, you can escape by changing your working style one by one. Follow the below freelancer beginner tips to gradually get rid of this problematic habit:

1. Stop the self-blaming and forgive yourself for any sequences in the past;
2. Plan out everything in a schedule with the most detailed time limits as possible and take action immediately;
3. Stay away from social media network - the main reasons that keep freelancers from completing their schedule on time;
4. Focus on and finish the priorities, important, and the hard one first;
5. Give yourself a little treat for successfully finishing one task.

A clean and neat schedule keeps you on the road and supports you from start to finish.

Conclusion

Starting your freelance career as a beginner can be hard at first. Just remember to always put all of your heart and mind into what you do. There will definitely be trials, challenges, and failures all over the path, but with these 5 tips to start freelancing above, we hope your journey will be a little more smooth and enjoyable.