Starting Your Own Freelance Business (every niche)

Jake Russell
Jul 21, 2017 · 6 min read

It will be hard, but working for yourself is what most dream of. Freedom should be the currency most are concerned with, not money. Over the next few minutes, I want to motivate you to become your own boss.

When I initially wrote this post on my personal blog in 2014 it was geared towards web developers/designers. I want to let go of that limitation and write this post for anyone that wants to take their passion to freelance. Whether you are a photographer, designer, or a balloon twister, I want to give you the tools and guidance to establish a freelance business.

Firstly, I want to reiterate how I got started freelancing. I switched my major to Computer Science a few months into my university tenure, and somehow stumbled upon web development. My grades took a pretty large hit because I began focusing on learning web development at home rather than at school. After a day of programming in Java, I would fire up the laptop and start building some basic websites in HTML and CSS, following tutorials, and reading articles about web development.

I became obsessed. I spent all my free time learning rather than playing video games or watching TV. In 6 months of 60+ hours a week learning web development/programming I knew the following at a novice level:

  • HTML & CSS (including Bootstrap — which was huge at the time)
  • JavaScript/jQuery/Node.js (Express framework)
  • Python (Django & Flask framework)
  • school stuff (Java, C++ a bit, etc.)

I suffered from the opposite of imposter syndrome. Dunning-Kruger effect. I was unbelievably confident in my ability to build websites. Looking back I have no idea why, they were utter garbage. But this gave me the confidence to sell.

If you’ve been sleeping through this post, now is the time to pay attention.

I began running low on cash, so I made the uber quick decision to start freelancing on the side. I created a static website using bootstrap so I could get up and running fast, posted an Ad to Kijiji (Canada’s Craigslist basically), and watched my email. Nothing. I learned very very quickly that freelance web development had nothing to do with talent, and everything to do with salesmanship.

After doing a little research I discovered cold-emailing and the success others have had using the technique. 2 days later I received a call from a construction company nearby. She told me their website needed work and they didn’t have a large budget. Remember, at this time I’m overly confident and knew next to nothing about delivering a site that generated leads. Long story short, I landed them as a client, messed up their site a bit, learned a lot, and made a few bucks.

The radiating confidence during the initial client call got me the close. It wasn’t my talent (because I wasn’t nearly as good as I thought I was), and it wasn’t my portfolio. If you’re experienced in the service you’re offering (1+ years of experience) be confident in your talents. Of course you’re not as skilled as someone who has been doing it for 5 years professionally, but you still know more than you did a year ago. Be authentic, and don’t undersell yourself.

Now, on to the actual advice.

1. Just start.

Honestly, just call yourself a freelancer. I’ve met a lot of developers during my professional career that do work on the side and don’t consider themselves a freelancer. When I told one of these developers that I was going to return to my freelance career they responded with “I wish I could do that”. This unnamed developer would charge $120/hr for his side work.

Now as crazy as this sounds, I know what was holding him back. Fear. He had a family, a child on the way, a large home, and a cute dog. Everyone knows being a freelancer is a risk, and not as secure as a salaried position.

If this is you, great. I’m going to be releasing a lot of content for you in the near future, because some very deep introspection needs to take place in order to conquer this. For example, if you’re in your early twenties, you have time on your side. You can save funds from your full-time position, and use them to support you while you pursue freelancing. Or, you could use your youthful energy to work full-time and grow your freelance business on the side. If you’re 48 with $13 to your name and 4 kids to support, we may need to develop a different strategy.

Either way, if this is the road you want to travel, you better start walking now. Take those first steps towards achieving your goal today. I can’t fit the first steps for each niche in this blog post, but I will cover them in the future. So for now just do some research, a simple google search of “[niche] + freelancing guide” should set you on the right path. You most likely are savvy enough to know what those first steps are, especially if you’ve been planning this for a while.

2. Get in contact with your inner circle.

Probably the easiest route to acquiring clients. My very first recommendation to anyone that is just starting out, is to reach out to your inner circle of connections. Friends, relatives, former colleagues, basically anyone you’ve built a relationship with.

Also, don’t fret if you don’t get any work from this. That’s not entirely why I recommend it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic if you land a big client from a referral a friend gave. But, you can gain a lot more from this process. Think about it like this for a second. You are much more comfortable around people in your inner circle. This gives you the opportunity to develop your sales and pitching skills in a comfortable environment, and receive trustworthy feedback.

When I first started Jailyard Media we used this technique. We landed a LARGE (uppercase because this was our largest client at the time) client from a relatives referral. We brought them through our on-boarding process and everything went smooth. A few days later I received a call from said relative that gave the referral. She told me that they were very impressed, but our proposal was a bit lacklustre compared to what they were used to. That night we completely revamped and expanded our proposal templates.

I could have saved A LOT of time and missed opportunities if I would have used this strategy when I first started.

3. Take a few losses.

This is by far the most important tip I have to give, but it really isn’t something that can be taught. You NEED to have resolve in this business. Things are going to go wrong, leads are going to be hard to find, clients won’t always be satisfied with your work, and sometimes you just won’t feel good enough. Losses are going to come in all shapes and forms, and perhaps the same can be said about life. The ones who bounce back the fastest will make it, and those who don’t won’t make it.

If you’re inherently used to overcoming these “roadblocks” you will have a much easier time achieving your goal of being your own boss. As with everything, this is a hard road, but if you run into issues along the way, please reach out to me on twitter (dm me and we can talk). If you want it bad enough, you will do just fine.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

Thomas A. Edison

Remember, I had really bad social anxiety growing up. Working from home was my only option, I couldn’t have it any other way. There was no plan B. I’ve since achieved that goal of working from home several times in multiple fields. You can too, and I’m going to help you along the way.


If you gained anything from this article please recommend it by pressing the heart.

Also, if you want to accompany me on this journey, follow me on twitter.

)

Jake Russell

Written by

Freelance remote developer, work from anywhere advocate, lover of tea

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade