
Gig working can be a wild ride and an intense experience. These 7 points outline the most basic skills you need to make freelancing a success. Get ready for some exciting times!
If you have any more questions about starting your gigster life feel free to reach out to the Fairlo team — we are here to help!
As the gig economy grows around us, many, even those with full-time jobs, are starting to eye freelancing as a new and exciting option. You might consider a side-gig for some extra pocket money, or you might wish for full-time independence while sitting in your cubicle. However, is freelancing the right choice for you? What do you need to prepare for stepping into the gig world?
Believe us — we have been there. Speaking from our personal experiences, we have assessed the things we wish we had known about starting an independent career and making it a success.
In this ultimate list you will find all 7 things you need to consider before you start gig working and set yourself up for an adventure of a lifetime.
- Start small and define your own path
The beauty of freelancing is the immense freedom you can have to choose your own path. You don’t have to opt for a full-time gig career right away, you can just try something part-time.
For example, if you are thinking about starting a jewellery business, you can first try out going to a flea market, or setting up shop for the Christmas period. Similarly with professional services: first you can try to offer your service as a volunteer.
From these experiences you can see what works for you and what does not, and you can adjust your gig career accordingly.
2. Know what you can offer and what people need
When trying to come up with the type of gig you want to do, there are two things to consider: what you like to do and what the market needs.
Always start with what you love to do. The passion brings you joy when you do the work, motivates you to grow your skills and makes you stand out on the market. Then assess the market needs. First, check online job boards for freelance opportunities such as Upwork, fiverr, Guru or general job boards. Secondly, read some studies from sources like LinkedIn, Glassdoor or Upwork about the most required skills. Third, speak to some people who you can imagine as your target customer and ask them what would make their life better.
Do not skip the research — finding the right fit for what the market needs and what you can offer will ensure your success.
3. Be ready to put yourself out there
People connect with people. Whichever business you are doing you will need to connect to new potential clients, actively talk about what you can offer and do this many times to get some gigs. You need to be comfortable to put yourself out there and brag a little bit about all the great things you can accomplish.
This often means having interviews, speaking on podcasts, creating videos, reaching out actively for promotional opportunities or even a professional photoshoot. While this may come naturally to some, others would rather curl up in a ball than hear themselves talking in a video.
The important thing to understand here is that promoting your own gig is not vain, selfish nor disturbing. This is fundamental, as we want to ensure that our message reaches the people who need it the most.
4.Gig working is a business
If you truly want to make the most out of freelancing you need to look at it as a business. You need to assess our expectations and measure your efforts. Consider how much time and money you spend on your gig work, and how much compensation you receive. You may spend half of your day getting your room ready for Airbnb and the other half cleaning after — but you can barely make back the price of the breakfast you offered.
Gig working is not a hobby, it is a business. Set up a structure to actively track your resources, evaluate returns on investment and count profits. If you feel unsure about your business skills, then check out business networks and training online or in your area. Many government organizations offer free business training for self-starters, for example in Sweden you can get help from NyföretagarCentrum.
5. Do things you have never done before
Gig working as a one-man business. From marketing, operations, maintenance or accounting — you will be doing or supervising everything. So get ready to dive into brand new challenges!
Luckily, there are also plenty of tools to help you out with each task. You can use for example free project management boards to manage your tasks, such as Trello or Asana. There are accounting softwares, marketing tools, and sales hubs to help you along the way.
The key is to be open-minded and take each new task as an opportunity to grow.
6. Get ready to ask for help
Although you will be owning many tasks, you might not need to do everything.Some tasks are more reasonable to outsource, especially if they are not up your alley.
So, when is it time to ask for help?
- When you feel overloaded: if you have just too many tasks on your hands and you are not sure if you can deliver quality.
- When asking for help is cheaper than doing it yourself: some tasks, although crucial, like admin, might keep us away from doing actual work. If we outsource these tasks, we can use this time to work on more gigs. For example, keeping a virtual assistant for 2 hours a week might be $50 dollars, but we can earn an extra $100 in those 2 hours.
- When it can bring you future benefits: in today’s tech-enabled world we can do many things ourselves: websites, accounting, newsletters. However, no software can bring years of knowledge and experience applied to your business. Ask help from professionals in areas you are lacking to set yourself up for future success.
7. Can handle stress and uncertainty
- Sometimes gigs come in bulk, and you don’t even know where to start first. Other times business seems to be like rain in the Sahara. This can mean a lot of stress, especially if you are basing a significant portion of your living on a freelance income.
Here are a couple of tips to handle stress and uncertainty:
- Plan ahead: find ways to handle both too much work and too little work. For example, create a network you can outsource to ease your workload in busy times. Use quiet times to do business-building tasks which can help future growth. These can be training, promoting or switching to new systems.
- Manage your finances: while our freelance income might vary, our cost of living is usually more or less the same. Aim to pay yourself equally each month and save the rest of the money for harder times or bigger rewards.
- Practice self-care: gig working should not mean sacrificing your life. Stay strong by balancing your life, taking the time to rest and paying attention to your physical and mental health.
Gig working can be a wild ride and an intense experience. These 7 points outline the most basic skills you need to make freelancing a success. Get ready for some exciting times!
