[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Nowadays Freelancing is a fantastic way for Web Designers to get rid of the monotonous work environment, dirty office politics & also of your nagging boss.Yeah! Certainly it is. But getting success as a Freelancer isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Working as a Freelance Web Designer for 14 years, I have gotten both the taste of success & failure. My freelancing journey began not because I decided to quit my 9 to 5 job & wanted to start my career as a Full Time Freelancer. In fact, the Freelancing world favors me success because I was preparing myself from the very day of my job to become a Freelancer.
You are already a skilled Web Designer, you’ve dumped your 9 to 5 job, left the security of your monthly salary thinking that it will be easy working on your soft bed, in your comfortable loungewear, with a cup of hot coffee in your hand & clients will easily come with projects & success is gonna knock at your door!
Is it as Simple as that? Of course not!
Is it absolutely Impossible? Again I’m gonna answer the same, No. But in this scenario, the process is a lil slow & steady.
Curious to know, How?
Well, here are the 6 Most Effective tips that will help you to get success as a freelance web designer.
- Self Discipline
- Consistently Upgrade Yourself
- Secure Your Income Source
- Value Your Efforts, Charge Enough
- Have Source of Passive Income
- Make A Team, Grow Your Success
Based on my decades of experience, I have seen people picked them over the years & kissed the peak of success. So am I (working on). With a bit of determination, using these pace, You can also.
But Wait! Before I dive into the main topic, let me confirm that you are already a Freelancer, freelancing with sufficient designing skills but not getting success in a way you want.
If not, then immediately Stop here! & first go through the topic How to become a Freelancer?
(So, you are going further with me & still suffering with that 1 question: How to get success!
Well! Not needed. Have your attention, let’s go..)[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Self Discipline” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Success of freelancing isn’t immediate, it starts with Self Discipline. Here I’m not talking about some sort of school-college life discipline or office discipline maintenance rather it’s about creating a mentality to develop your business.
Maintain a Proper Schedule:
Now just because you don’t have the rush to reach your office within time, so you are putting yourself on the bed till noon, expecting that tomorrow you’ll make it up. Or to put it easier you’re working all the time. Is it? No Buddy, this is never gonna happen!
Get up, make a proper time-table. If you’re managing your work from a home-office you need to fix when to start & when to stop. Remember, when you are working from your home you need to balance two difficult things at the same time i.e. your work & your Family. So Make it flexible by dividing your working hours. Like, if you’re working 8 hours a day( which is necessary at least ), you can make it 4 hours in the morning & 4 hours in the evening or night-time. Your time table would be the roadmap of your business, make it your best buddy, it would be fun & efficacious.
Client Management:
Building a healthy relationship with clients & how u maintain this correlation is an important part of having success. The key of good client management is- You must be Punctual, very much punctual.
Do respect client’s time. If you have issues, be verbal instead of avoiding the situation. Trust me, it’ll work best. Interaction is definitely needed. When you get free, open up, allow them to fix appointments.
When a client gets used to you he expects you to response whenever he wants, even at midnight, when you’re probably having a dream of a long drive in your Audi with your beautiful wife. Who wants to wake up & ruin such a beautiful dream!
Nah! Then manage your clients more efficiently & set a time boundary when you both are available to talk without any hassle.
In fact, It’s our natural human tendency to forget the old & get busy with the new. Satisfied clients are assets, nourish your old client relationships. Stay connected with them through Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, or through any social media, make your relationship healthy & strong, make it last long.Handling everything single handedly isn’t that easy. To house all your client activities, communications,tracking & meetings, use Client management Tools like :
Trello
Usersnap
ProofHub (provides you a 30 day free trial and a free demo to understand the tool )
Dubsado ($35/month and $350 for yearly plan. Flawless for solopreneurs)
Asana ( It comes with a free plan and offers more effective features than Dubsado).
Project Management:
Project management is a big factor when you’re working as an individual. You should never ever miss your deadline.Therefore initiating, planning, organizing, managing & executing the project in a disciplined way is necessary. In a way, if your project managing performance is on point you’re 4 steps ahead towards Success.
You may check out the top featured project management tools & discover the best solution fit for your business.
TeamWork (Project Management, Help Desk & Free Chat Software)
Troop Messenger
IPIX TMS
Wrike
Project & Time Management System
NutCache ( Agile Project Management For Businesses)
Forecast (AI-driven Project and Resource Management Tool)
ViduPM (Cloud based Project Management Tool)
Account management:
Further, I would add that whatever you earn, save 20% of it for your future team & business growth planning. If you don’t mind it, it’s natural you’ll spend all your income which in future can fix your success in one place.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Consistently Upgrade Yourself” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]As Charles Darwin said:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the Most Adaptable to Change.”
In this constantly growing freelancing market, to accomplish your ultimate goal, you have to be accustomed with constant Changes. Web designers are no exception to this. You need to always upgrade yourself with new web designing trends & skills, never stop learning in this industry. Otherwise you won’t be able to survive because the competition is high, literally Too High!
So, Take a deep breathe. Store enough energy & courage to do a lot of homework.
Start reading & gathering latest information in your niche. Spend at least an hour a day watching or learning something new to enhance your productivity & understand the demands of Web-visitors.
[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Work On Different Platforms” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]You are working from one freelancing platform, you have skills, you have one good client, you have a source of quality income, in a way, you may be able to spend your daily day comfortably, but yet you don’t have the tag “Successful”. How to get it?
Simple! you have to increase your chance of being hired. Make strong accounts, at least on 3 to 4 freelancing websites. I’m not asking you to stay everywhere, but to specify some platforms where you have to manage all the things, from sending proposals to client interaction, everything.
I know, I know handling them might be a bit challenging. Well, You have to remember your zeal, have to take the challenge up. Trust me, I did too, it’s tough, but not impossible.
Here I would advise one thing, not to have multiple or duplicate accounts on the same platform. 10 years ago I faced a terrific trouble when Odesk merged Elance & Upwork, my duplicate accounts were been blocked along with the original. I did have strong accounts on both the platform, I was earning a good amount there. When it was gone, that time I blacked out! Because I didn’t have any other source on other platforms!
Don’t you guys dare to commit the same mistake. Always secure your income source from multiple platforms, make your strong presence, manage staff cause you can’t let your success to show you red light.
[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Value Your Efforts, Charge Enough” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”
-The Joker
When you are confident enough of your skills & capabilities, you’re providing quality work, you know that you’re best at it, never undersell yourself. Remember, you’ll not only have to pay your restaurant bills or personal expenses, but also you’ll have to pay your own taxes, invest in better tools, courses & all. So, you have to charge more than you overhead in order to have a profit.
I have seen people with great skills get scared to bid high just because they fear of losing the job chances. When you’re setting your prices lower, you’re actually attracting bargain hunters that shows your work isn’t valuable enough. To be honest, in the beginning of my freelancing career, I also was no exception to this.
But trust me, I am saying it from my experience, if you are able to provide standard work & service, quality clients don’t really care about high pricing.
Figure out the true cost of your work & time. You can even manage your preferable pay structure by hour or by the project or by some kind of package prices, whatever you want.
[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Have A Source Of Passive Income” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]You want to be a Successful designer, right? You want to make more money, isn’t it? Of course, it is. But you can’t always spend your hours working & working!
Passive income is an inclusive way that can give you wings. Doesn’t it sound awesome that you are earning money with no ongoing effort while you’re sleeping or bathing or working out in the gym?
Before discussing so far, it’s needed to make sure that Passive income isn’t that money which you can earn without doing anything. You have to find a significant amount of time between your website designing gigs to invest your little bit of effort . But the result isn’t instant. It can go months or even years to earn from your passive income deeds. However,mind it, you so want to gain the status of a millionaire (or billionaire, who knows). Come out with some time, have some amazing strategies, build source of passive earnings, have patience & fall asleep with a dream to come true. With 1 click find out 5 insanely efficacious passive income strategies.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Make A Team, Grow Your Success” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]If you ask me, then.. It’s a No! Staying Successful is even harder than getting success.
A complete project involves many criteria to look after, like designing the website, designing logos, content writing, blog writing, development, advertising, marketing, managing & so on.
When you’ve a balanced control over your web designing business, it’ll be hard maintaining them individually, staying competitive further. To maintain your success, you need an in house team, a team of skilled freelancers or full-time employers.
Along with the right persons, strong communication, right plans it will be easy for you to stay focused towards Success.
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