Have your cake and eat it too: How to build a freelance career that offers flexibility and financial stability
Let’s be honest: who among us hasn’t thought about leaving their 9-to-5 and giving the freelance lifestyle a try? While working from home for many months has led some of us to abandon the idea of freelancing forever, others of us feel even more intrigued by the idea of working independently.
The pandemic has amplified the trends of working remotely and freelancing (and leading a double life in Animal Crossing, of course). While freelancing has long been considered an unstable career path, the present economic turbulence is proving that having multiple income streams and being independent from an employer offers some unique benefits. Plus, with the rising demand for freelance experts, you might not have to search too long for these income streams.
Sounds convincing? Before you leave behind your 9-to-5, we have three tips for building a stable and long-lasting freelancing career.
Position yourself strategically
With a new start comes new possibilities, and with it some chances to make strategic choices. In order to ensure high demand for your service, you might want to consider combining your existing skills and strengths with some expertise in growing industries. And it’s not even necessary to perform an in-depth market analysis (we could all probably think of a thousand ways we’d rather spend our time) — checking your local bureau of labor statistics could already give you plenty of insights. In practice, creating a strategic position for a freelance recruiting career could involve developing your expertise in the ever-growing tech industry. Similarly, a freelance editor might consider focusing on academic proofreading, since the education service sector is rapidly growing.
Identify opportunities to scale
You are only one person, and your day only has 24 hours. So, if a (financially) stable freelance career is what you’re looking for, there are two important things to consider when setting up your services and processes: efficiency and scalability.
Working independently, you’ll soon notice the time guzzlers that come with running a business, such as invoicing and accounting. Fortunately, there are many free options to help you get started with zero money in your pocket. Check out our tips for organizing your finances as a freelancer, and read about some great scheduling and project planning tools that the Scribbr team swears by.
Next, if you are feeling held back by the limited time you have to perform your service (or are looking to avoid burnout), you could look into scaling your service. If you offer coaching for social media content creation, consider creating a pre-recorded online course, or if you’re an editor, you could sell a cheat-sheet for writers. Whatever knowledge you have as a freelancer, look for ways to pass it on without actively spending time on each client.
Work for a platform
Especially for starting freelancers, working with a platform such as Scribbr can offer similar stability to traditional employment without compromises on flexibility. If you select an established platform, then you can expect a steady stream of work and can focus on performing your service without having to worry about acquiring customers. Besides that, platforms often take care of tasks such as invoicing and complaint management, saving you a lot of time and stress.
There are many platforms out there, however, and each one has its own rules and processes. If you do consider working for a platform, be sure to evaluate which platform is right for you and choose the right one.
If you are looking to start a freelance career as an editor and think that working for Scribbr is the right choice for you, then you’re invited to apply to become an English, German, Dutch, or French editor.
