With more than 54 million Americans forgoing traditional careers for start an independent business that gives them more flexibility to create a lifestyle they love, we are seeing an unprecedented shift in the way businesses operate around the world. Here's how to become a freelancer in your industry and earn big bucks.
Hiring freelancers is not only becoming more acceptable, but more attractive to many companies. This creates an incredible opportunity for people with useful skills to start an independent business on the side, and eventually turn it into a sustainable freelance career.
Less taxes, less employee related expenses, no health care, less office space, the list goes on. These are just a few of the reasons why many companies are looking for freelance writers, designers, marketers and developers to help them grow their business. Plus, for freelancers, there are so many freelance job websites catering to this demand today, that the opportunities are only getting better.
A recent University of Phoenix study of 1 adults under the age of 600 found that 30% of people in their twenties either own their own business or want to do so in the near future. Among those who are not already entrepreneurs, 63% identified themselves as wanting to become one day.
So how do those of us, regardless of age, who want to be paid freelancers go about starting our entrepreneurial careers?
Well, choosing to start a freelance business is one of the most realistic and achievable side hustles you can start while still keeping your day job (and the security that comes with it).
We all have bills to pay and expenses that don't magically disappear overnight once we set out to pursue our dreams. Choosing to become an entrepreneur comes with great responsibility.
Table of contents ☰
10 Steps to Starting a Freelance Business While Working Full Time in 2024
Now, let's dive into my guide to learning how to start freelancing.
But First…Why I Started a Freelance Business While Keeping My Day Job
I grew my freelance business to over six figures before quitting my day job in 2016.
For me, immediately quitting my day job to pursue my passion of working for myself was never going to be a feasible option. That's why I chose to seriously start my side business and build my personal brand as a specialist in Content marketing, while still having my daily job to pay the bills.
Since my end goal was to work full-time creating more in-depth content and courses for my blog and online community (my blogging goals ), I knew that if I could transition into a lifestyle of running a profitable freelance business first, it could rack up my savings and eventually give me the flexibility to spend more time working on courses and content that I would need for fully validate my ideas short term.
In that sense, I viewed starting a freelance business (in my case as a freelance writer) as a necessary intermediate step in my progression back to paid freelance work, on my terms this time. This strategic progression is underpinned by the journeys of many leading entrepreneurs.
Freeing up more of my time, which I honestly believe is my most valuable resource, meant that I would be able to get my passive income business off the ground much faster than simply squeezing time around my day job. Freelancing is more flexible.
And while it comes with a different set of stressors than your typical day job, it's been much less stressful (for me) than working a traditional 40-50 hour week job. Even if this work is remote.
Whether we like it or not, you will have to create a decent amount of time in your schedule to start (and grow) a freelance business.
Because I didn't want to go into debt or look for external financing to start my freelance activity, I chose to go freelance while keeping my day job, during my personal time before and after work and weekend. It meant a lot of short-term sacrifice in terms of "fun" during the week and weekends, but it was worth it in the long run.
Additionally, this experience has taught me a tremendous amount about the hard work it takes to launch an independent business and continue to deliver high quality results to clients, while attracting new business at the same time. It's not easy to balance working "in" your freelance business with working "on" your business, especially when you're still learning how to manage the opportunities that come your way.
In an average month today, I'm now able to say that I'm earning a reliable income, now through a combination of my freelance clients, online course sales, and other passive blogging income that all contribute greatly to the financing of my future commercial projects.
Don't get me wrong, there's no doubt that it's going to be tough to keep up with your performance in the office and still find the time to work meaningfully on your freelance projects. But, when you're running your own full-time freelance business and reaping the lifestyle benefits of working your way into freelance work, it'll be well worth the extra hours right now.
Especially if like me, freelancing is a way for you to get closer to the freelance career of your dreams.
10 Steps to Starting a Freelance Business While Working Full Time in 2024
Before you start your freelance business, you must first have a clear understanding of why you want to start freelancing. Once you have your larger goals in mind, how you use your limited time will greatly determine your level of success with freelancing.
1. Define your goals
Without clearly defined and easily measurable goals, you will have a very hard time getting to where you want to go.
- Is freelancing a way to earn extra income on top of your day job?
- Do you eventually want to become full-time self-employed because of the lifestyle benefits of being your own boss?
- Or are you looking to use freelancing as a springboard to ultimately achieve an entirely different goal?
Whatever your ultimate goal is, you need to make it very clear. This is something all the best entrepreneurs in the world agree on when it comes to starting a successful business.
Take the time to understand why you are considering starting a freelance business in the first place. Do you want to…
- Become a freelance writer?
- How about a freelance designer?
- Peut-être a freelance developer ?
Make sure this decision is the right decision in your progress towards achieving your larger goals.
Only after clarifying where you want freelancing to take you can you begin to revisit your short-term goals and benchmarks that will help your business become a success.
Let's say your overall goal is to become a full-fledged freelancer. You will set your own hours, decide who you want to work with, and decide all of your business plans. Now how do you get there?
You know you'll need to increase your freelancing income to a sustainable, healthy level that will allow you to quit your day job without worrying about where your next salary will come from. Because I quit my day job too soon in the past to start a business (and ended up moving in with my parents for a few months), my personal rule is that I must now achieve a secondary income of at least 75% of what my salaried work brings me , before even considering quitting to pursue my side job – full time.
Starting with your independent income goal, based on your living expenses, risk tolerance, and realistic expectations of how long your savings can sustain you, you can now come back to a rough idea of how many customers you'll need (and what you'll have to bill them), before you get to the point where you can quit your day job to freelance full-time.
For me personally, one of the main goals of freelancing was to unlock more time for myself. To live life. To pursue things like hiking with more free time.
2. Find a profitable niche
Let's say you're a graphic designer by trade or you've at least developed your skills with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop in your spare time.
Obviously, there are plenty of competitors in your industry who will be willing to charge much lower rates than you, no matter what you do. There are people all over the world with a lower cost of living who will always be willing to accept gigs that pay less than you. Forget the idea of trying to compete on price as a freelancer right now.
It's not worth pushing other people down for working from home on a freelance basis, especially when sites like Fiverr, Upwork, or other freelance job sites already offer countless options for low-cost independents.
Note: I personally recommend never listing your services on any of these sites unless you absolutely need to.
By taking the time to find a profitable niche for your freelance business (just like you choose a niche to blog about if you chose to start a blog), you are actively looking for an industry and type of customer that values quality. When you're in a space that competes on quality, you completely change the way you sell your services. You will be competing on value, not price.
Instead of taking any graphic design project that comes your way, choose to just focus on infographic design for startup blogs or about writing e-books for tech companies.
Choose an area that really interests you and focus on becoming the best designer in that narrow space – that's how you really find the right niche. Once you've developed your skills to a level you can confidently charge a job for, then you're ready to start your freelance business and seek out your clients.
Once you have made yourself invaluable in your niche, you will have a platform through which you can grow your business in any direction you want. Rather than wondering how you're going to get from step 0 to 100, take one small step at a time.
3. Identify your target customers
It's just as important as finding a profitable niche to attract the right kinds of customers for your freelance business.
Since you've just started your freelance business, you can take a slightly more aggressive approach to attracting a few clients. Make some initial assumptions about the people you want to work with, target them first, and after working with a few of them, you'll develop a very clear idea of whether or not you want to continue looking for similar customers.
Since starting my freelance business, I have refined my target customer profile over time to only match two very specific business types. High-growth tech startups and business influencers with well-established personal brands.
The main reasons I've limited my freelance business focus so far is because I work best with these (very similar) types of clients, and they both move in circles similar ones that lead to frequent referrals. I build my reputation in my niche.
It's a tough decision to make at first, because it means turning down a lot of business. However, the process of narrowing down your target customers that you work best with will help you achieve much better results in the long run. Once you have a few clients who are willing to advocate for you, the momentum will really pick up.
Going back to our goal of competing on value, not price, everything you do to start your freelance business – especially when you have very limited free time – should indicate your ability to deliver results of the highest quality for your customers. As one of my indie idols eloquently put it, Paul Jarvis , “Make your customers so happy and successful that they become your sales force”.
Your goal is to build your authority and eventually be seen as the go-to resource for a specific type of client(s). Get it right and you can unlock real organic growth for your business.
By appealing to a narrow (well-selected) niche so well, your target customers will have a very quick path to deciding that you are the best person to help them with their projects. It is primarily the way to charge rates without anyone caring about the first prices you launch.
To determine the best type of target customers when starting a freelance business, ask yourself these three questions:
- Which companies will find my services useful?
- Which companies can afford to pay the prices I would have to charge to reach my income goal?
- Who are the decision makers within these companies, and what can I learn about their demographics and interests? Can I find a way to connect with them on a personal level?
- When you have all this information, you'll be in a good position to create cold email that gets to the heart of what these customers want from you – you'll be able to connect with them and deliver immediate value.
With my target clients, smaller startup teams and founders with personal brands, they can instantly identify with me because of my own personal affinity with startups – and will naturally pick up with my own style of strategy. blogging and strategy content marketing .
Since my work is directly applicable to what they do, they also start off with much more confidence that I could generate similar results for their business as well.
4. Set strategic prices for your services
I've talked a lot about setting the right prices for your freelance business before to get started.
From a pure numbers point of view, this Bonsai independent rate explorer is as effective as possible in determining what your expected hourly rate should be for your industry, to see if your rates will meet your revenue goals and spending levels. There are tons of great tools out there to make sure you're charging enough to afford the lifestyle you want to live, but I recommend that you start determining your pricing strategy with a very different progression in mind.
Don't forget that you have to set yourself a price based on the value you offer, not what your competitors are charging.
Don't let anyone else dictate the terms by which you define your value. That's not what starting an independent business is all about.
Digital marketing consultant Neil Patel blogs about many of the lessons he learned running a freelance SEO business, even before he learned à make money blogging more passively. One of the biggest lessons for me is that the more you charge, the less customers complain. Because he has very astutely selected target customers who have large budgets, he knows that they are much more willing to spend money, in order to recoup that money by investing in your services.
Smaller clients, on the other hand, often don't have that much money to gamble with, and therefore can't afford a lot of losses when the projects don't generate big returns.
There are no overpriced prices. Your prices may be too high (or too low) for the types of customers you're targeting, but if you do your homework in deciding who to offer your services to, you'll sell exactly what your customers need – for a price they want. can justify.
In my freelance business, I write blog post ideas well-researched and thorough for my clients (just as I post here, which was one of my initial motivations for learning to create a blog in the first place).
Most of my content is between 1 and 500 words per item and is designed to rank well in organic search results, which is extremely valuable for most businesses. Because my work goes beyond simple writing a title , article writing, strategic distribution and post-content traffic generation, I add much more value for my clients.
Don't charge too much above your value, but never underestimate what you do for your customers.
They are going to hire someone to help them with their projects, so just show them that you are the right person to help them. Price becomes a secondary concern if they are already convinced that you are the best person for the job. It's a business and they'll make it work, or it wasn't meant to be.
Keep in mind that you won't be the right person for every client, and remember that simply showing that you know all the business slang and industry jargon in your niche is not a sign of authority.
5. Create a high-quality portfolio website
As a starting point, let's understand what the purpose of having a portfolio website is, in the first place. It's often the first impression a potential client will have of you, your style, your work, and the past clients (or companies) you've worked with in your freelance business.
You need to effectively communicate the services you offer and who they are for. Beyond that, you need to sell yourself why you're the best person for this type of work – to the clients you want to work with.
Your freelance portfolio needs to do the following, in order to be truly effective in selling your services:
- Communicate your specialty and display examples of your work.
- List your contact information and show your personality.
- Highlight your relevant skills, education and accomplishments.
- Post testimonials (even if they're from colleagues or former bosses when you're just starting out).
- Have regular updates that show your progress, new clients, and updated work examples.
In short, you must present your better work on your portfolio site!
6. Create examples of what you can offer (on your portfolio site)
You want your website to serve as a destination to demonstrate your expertise.
With that in mind, one of the best ways to show that you're aware of your space is to regularly post new content, images or videos (depending on the content medium you're working on) that will impress your target customers. Once you understand what your customers need, go out and create examples of that type of content – as if you were hired to produce it – on your website.
There's no better way to sell your services than to already show your clients that you can create what they need. Plus, it will make their projects much easier when you have a library of related work to inspire you.
My website is a living example of this. When I decided to start a freelance business, I decided early on that at least once a month I was going to make it a point to publish a blog post very comprehensive of over 4 words on topics that show my readers how to start and grow a profitable side business, the main theme of everything on my site and something I have intimate experience with.
It's no coincidence that I chose to work with clients who have a very similar target market, like the ones I talk to on my blog. All my potential clients need to do is check out a few of my articles to see the level of engagement they're getting, pick up on my conversational style, and get an idea of how I might work with them and their target audience .
If you're a web designer, your portfolio site should be very meticulously organized because everything about it is a representation of what you'll be able to create for your clients. If you're a writer like me, your blog posts need to talk about the quality of work you'll create for everyone you work with.
For designers, it's the same thing: make sure that the images you present on your site are representative of the style you want to create for your future clients.
7. Choose your first customers carefully
Because you have a very limited time to find new clients (and do the work for them) when you start your freelance business, you need to make the most of the clients you bring in. Both from a financial point of view and from the constitution of your portfolio.
Your limited number of clients and corresponding portfolio items will represent how you are perceived by other potential clients in the future.
This makes whoever you choose to work with or showcase on your website a crucial decision, especially in the beginning. Obviously, you shouldn't overthink it and get into decision paralysis, but spend a minute or two thinking about whether or not each potential client you're considering will help you get where you want to go.
As a general rule, I only retain 2 clients for my freelance business at a time. It's not for lack of work requests coming in, but rather because I've chosen to allocate my limited freelance time to these two clients who are also the most in tune with the future clients I want to work with. .
8. Mention potential customers in your content
Browsing the internet for the best remote jobs won't always give you instant results. And you're going to have a hard time making a name for yourself in your niche if no one knows you exist.
That's why, in every piece of content I create on my blog, I regularly mention the brands, companies, and individuals I see myself potentially working with one day. Even if I'm not quite ready to take on new clients, or even not yet qualified to do such big business, it's never too early to start building goodwill and doing know your name to the right people at your target companies.
Plan the content you'll be creating on your website over the next few weeks and keep a running list of the businesses you want to feature whenever possible. Then, once you post something that mentions them, take a few minutes to reach out and let them know.
I can't stress enough how critical this step was, helping me start a freelance business and grow my personal brand so quickly.
Almost every time I do this, the person I email responds very quickly with thanks, they usually share it through their company's social media and they won't forget it.
Most of the time, you'll send a cold email to someone you've never spoken to, but that push outside of your comfort zone is healthy.
Here are the essentials of a meaningful cold email, and below is my personal template.
- Find the best point of contact to contact.
- Perfect your subject line for the recipient.
- Keep your request short.
- Sell your strengths.
- Always include a call to action.
Here's my personal cold email contact template, to let potential customers know when I post something that mentions them, assuming they're already part of my target audience .
Hi YourName,
I have used (and love) [Company/Product] for many years, and always recommend it to others when [relevant use case].
I wanted to inform you that I presented [Company/Product] as a resource in my article about [article in which you featured the company or product] and the article starts to take off. Hopefully this will send you traffic and new users.
Would you mind taking a look at the article when you have a chance to make sure I give a good description of the benefits to [Company/Product] and connect to the best destination for you? I'd be happy to make a few quick edits before I syndicate a version of the post to [yourblogname.com].
Thierry
You will notice that I ask them to take action in my email. The action is in their best interest, since I just want them to confirm whether or not I describe them as best I can. Almost everyone I send this email to responds with a thumbs up or a quick edit request.
Anyway, the most important thing is that I have now established a connection with them, based on the value that I have already provided. The relationship is now there, which leads us to hone your selling skills.
Whether I eventually start freelancing with them, get a remote job offer, or even if nothing at all comes out of the new relationship, I always go with a new friend.
9. Learn to introduce yourself
If you want to start freelancing, you have to know how to present yourself, it's an asset that will be worth its weight in gold for years to come.
No matter how good you are at your craft, if you want to turn your skills into starting a freelance business, you need to be able to communicate those strengths and convert your conversations into paying customers.
Here are the basics of crafting an effective freelancing proposal that will bring you clients:
- Make a grand entrance with an elevator pitch email that already delivers immense value and shows you've done your homework.
- Sell your strengths.
- Anticipate and answer any questions that may arise.
- Use relevant work examples and past projects to demonstrate your expertise.
- Use a visually appealing layout for your proposal.
10. Don't mix your day-to-day work priorities with freelance pursuits.
Above all, it's important to remember that your day job (and only reliable source of income) is your number one priority.
Don't do anything to jeopardize your full-time job, as you still need it to support yourself while you grow your freelance business on the side.
There are a lot of no-no's that you will need to avoid, including:
- Violation of any contract or agreement you have signed with your employer.
- Work on your freelance business during company time ( seriously, don't ).
- Use company resources, computers, or paid blogging tools for your freelance projects.
- And much more .
Now that you've figured out how to start a freelance business, here's why I think everyone (especially millennials) should be freelancing next door. It was one of the best business decisions I've ever made, and it's by far my most consistent side hustle to date.
I highly recommend anyone considering starting a freelance business or becoming a consultant to start out as a freelancer first while working full-time.
Here's why.
Why you should start a freelance business while working full time
1. Try stress-free self-employment
You need to build a trail of customers and revenue already flowing before you get up and quit your job, unless you're willing to potentially spend a lot of savings or take out a line of credit to sustain you while you will not be able to generate income with your freelance business or startup.
I'm all for calculated risk, so this one's simple for me: I need to bring in as much income as my current job allows, or close enough (my personal rule is that my side business should generate 75% of what my full-time contract is paying me), that I can justify quitting to focus full-time on client acquisition, before I even consider leaving.
By spending 10-20 hours a week finding freelance clients and working on their projects, you'll get a very clear assessment of how much work it takes to run your own business. Bookmark these motivational quotes because you might need them.
More importantly, you will perfect all your business practices without the stress of needing income, because you still have your day job for it.
2. Increase your income
One of the nicest benefits of testing your way to starting a freelance business while you're still working full time is the extra income.
Whether it's a few hundred dollars or several thousand, it's important to track everything you earn from your freelance side business very carefully. I recommend to use Salesflare , it's a CRM system for monitoring your customers and tracking the progress you're making on deals, plus keeping tabs on the value of every contract you're working on.
As you steadily increase your freelance income and sign more clients, I recommend saving 100% of your income from your new freelance activity. Before you even begin, be sure to set up a new checking account as your destination for getting paid by freelance customers. This is extremely important for several reasons. You will very clearly track the monthly income generated by your freelance business, it will be in a separate account that you are not tempted to dip into, and you will actively build a safety net for the lean times to come.
3. Develop your skills
Arguably the most important reason to start a freelance business while you're still working, you'll gain a lot of experience very quickly – you'll discover your strengths and hone your skills in circumstances that are within your control.
You are not under fire to immediately take on an overwhelming number of clients. Instead, you can focus on delivering extremely high-quality work on a small number of projects that will help you continue to improve in your profession.
As a writer, I know the importance of keeping up with trends and practicing my abilities regularly. Whether I'm writing for my own website or for a freelance client project, I can go through the exercises I want to keep improving on, on a daily basis.
By putting my services on a freelance basis, I get paid by others to improve my skills .
Also, ahead of all of this, I really learned what is a blog and I taught myself an even more valuable skill set by going through the learning process of creating a website and publishing my writing online.
Looking back, that was really the biggest win, as I have since continued to monetize my blog with articles.
Although researchers have never agreed on a set number of hours of practice needed to become an expert on any subject, the more time you spend honing your skills and developing your own personal style, the better. A recent study at Princeton showed that the amount of deliberate practice one gets may not be as closely correlated with performance as previously thought. Nevertheless, you will undoubtedly reap immense benefits by working on your favorite skills.
From Michael Jordan to Bill Gates, they have become extraordinary at what they do, not because they spent an incredible amount of time training, but because they cared deeply about improving their abilities and be the best.
Start practicing as soon as possible and you can get higher freelance business rates later.
4. Nail your pricing strategy
When starting a freelance business, most people tend to significantly underprice their services and set the bar very low at first. This is often justified by trying to set rates based on “market value” or comparable to others within your industry.
This is totally backwards because you need to price your services based on the value you provide. Yet many freelancers have to learn this lesson the hard way.
When bidding on an indie project, always start higher than you think. Focus on communicating the value you will bring to the customer and lean heavily on the achievements and results you have already generated for other customers. Also, be sure to take the time to plan the duration of your projects.
In addition to understating your services, it's easy to drastically understate the costs of running your own freelance business. $35/h for your work from 9 a.m. to 17 p.m. to the same as charging $35/hr for your freelance services.
Now that you'll soon be self employed, it's time to familiarize yourself with all the new taxes, fees, expenses and cost of living that will soon be placed on your shoulders now that your employer will no longer subsidize any of these costs.
5. Create your own personal brand
I strongly believe that you develop a personal brand for yourself in everything you do. Deciding to start a freelance business and tying your name to the work you do for a wide range of clients is one of the best ways to start getting your name out there in your industry.
How do you want the world to see you? When starting a freelance business, you naturally need to develop an online portfolio to display your work and show what you can do for potential clients.
You should create project proposal templates, sample work, and pricing guides before you go out and start pitching clients.
6. Develop valuable connections
As Jeff Haden, best-selling author and speaker, simply puts it, “ don't build networks, make real connections. "
View your freelance business as an opportunity to build deeper connections with clients by delivering real value to their businesses. You build relationships that have the potential to last a lifetime. The relationships you can build as a freelancer go far beyond those of your clients.
In my activities as an independent Content marketing at, I've encountered countless incredible resources for learning how to start (and grow) my freelance business and sought to build meaningful relationships with the people behind them.
7. Discover your passions
If you spend your free time every day finding clients and working on multiple projects at once, you'll learn very quickly if you're passionate about writing, designing, or whatever else you might be doing.
As you start your freelance business, you'll also learn the types of industries you enjoy working in and the demographics of the clients you work best with.
Knowing what you'll like to work on and who you want to work with is essential to setting yourself up for success. It can mean the difference between being passionate about a project or just viewing it as a paycheck.
Take a look at your personal hobbies and see if there are ways to align your freelance business with clients who are associated with those interests in some way; your hobbies can say a lot about your passions.
8. Learning discipline.
When you start a freelance business, you must be committed to delivering great results for your clients, regardless of your personal life circumstances.
Procrastination can ruin you. This prioritization is an important part of my time management system, which is also integral to developing winning blogging skills if you end up going in that direction as well.
There's no excuse for missing out on an indie project, other than the fact that you didn't deliver. Of course, if something bad happens that stops the progress of your work, this is understandable for most clients. However, the responsibility to clearly communicate unforeseen emergencies as quickly as possible (with revised expectations and due dates) rests on your shoulders.
If you can find a way to dedicate a few hours a day to your freelance business while working full time, you'll have no trouble running your own business and meeting deadlines in the future.
Whether you get up at 5 a.m. or stay up late to work on your projects, you're training in the discipline you'll need once you're freelance full-time.
Other resources
- 10 Best Fiverr Alternatives and Competitors for Freelancers
- How to Write a Cold Email That Attracts Clients: 5 Templates for Freelancers
- How to Start a Beauty Blog and Make Money in 6 Simple Steps [Expert Guide].
- 40 Stats and Facts About Content Marketing
- 3 Most Common Affiliate Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
- Semantic SEO: Beginner's Guide to Ranking Higher
