Even more than 30 percent of the entire working population of America has now switched its career to freelancing. So, in this highly competitive scenario, how would you be able to stand out in the crowd? I have been in freelancing for more than 5 years now and the journey hasn’t been so easy for a guy like me who didn’t have any mentor to guide. I learned from the mistakes I made and tried not to repeat them again.
Now I am a Level-2 Seller for my blog writing services on Fiverr (one of the most popular freelancing websites) and have had hundreds of happy clients as a freelancer. How did I do that? What helped me to stand out from the competitor freelancers who were more skilled and experienced than me?
Below I have shared the most important things that I think are the core secrets behind my freelancing success and I also recommend you to do the same too:
1) Improve Your Communication Skills As Much As Possible
When it comes to communication with clients, making your messages and emails personalized while addressing the clients is the very first thing you should consider to make your communication effective. And, it is recommended to keep a sufficient balance between being too casual and too formal. So, rather than writing “Sir” or “Madam”, you should address your client by his or her first name.
There are times when some clients don’t fairly judge the work done by you. You may be asked by some clients to start again from the scratch in revisions. In such cases also, you should be nice and polite to your client, respecting his views on the work you have done. Work again and try to satisfy the client by delivering him what he is expecting from you. Being nice and polite to the client in all such situations of wrong judgments is also a crucial part of good communication.
2) Avoid Bulk Pitching
I would recommend you to pitch only to the jobs that you think are the ideal ones for you and are suitable for the specific set of skills you have got. In your initial days after switching to freelancing, you may get tempted to apply for multiple jobs at once. But trust me, the bulk pitching approach brings less success rate when it comes to landing jobs.
So try to be as specific as you can, while selecting the jobs you are going to pitch to. It will help you to present yourself as a specialist in your areas of expertise. Then you can easily convince your client by writing a killer pitch.
3) Offer Something Extra as A Bonus
Clients always love and appreciate free bonuses. Offering surprise bonuses to clients not only helps a freelancer in getting good ratings and reviews from the clients for the service offered by him on a freelancing site but also keeps the clients coming back over and over again.
No matter whether you are a freelance writer, freelance graphic designer, freelance web developer, or a freelancer in any other field, you should plan to deliver your clients something extra in addition to the committed amount of work.
Just an example of my own bonus strategy:
In the service description on my best seller gig (for a blog writing service) on Fiverr, I have nowhere mentioned that I will provide any plagiarism report of the content that I will deliver. But most of the time, I surprisingly provide my clients a Copyscape premium report (showing that the content is original or plagiarism-free) with the delivery of the content and that too without any extra charge.
It works as a great bonus strategy and eventually helps in motivating the clients to appreciate my service by leaving good ratings and reviews.
4) Make And Maintain Your Unique Style
Your unique style and standards can help you stand out in the crowd of competitors. In each piece of content that I deliver to my clients in the field of blog writing, my presentation style is standardized and comes with my own uniqueness.
For example, from the font style, color, and font size of the title of the blog article to the font style, color, and font size of the sub-headings, and the font style, color, and font size of the general text, everything is standardized and reflects my own uniqueness of presenting the content.
Such a unique and standardized approach helps me to present myself as a professional and formal freelancer who is always serious about his work. This kind of professional approach can help you in establishing credibility and proving yourself as an expert in the eyes of your clients.
5) Always Give Your Best
No matter how much you are being paid, no matter whether the client is old or new, no matter whether the job sounds easy or difficult, if you are doing a job for your client, always do it in your best way. It will not only bring you good reviews for the jobs you are doing but also will make the clients place orders for your service repeatedly.
It’s a great way to make long-term relationships with clients. I have made numerous repeated clients with this single strategy. I always deliver the best I can and have never compromised with the quality of my work.
6) Stay Active and Organised
If you are someone who has just left his/her 9 to 5 job and switched to freelancing, you might be tempted to work at your own convenience. That’s absolutely fine but that doesn’t mean that you should get rid of making and following work schedules. It is always recommended to make a proper work schedule and follow it seriously.
In addition to it, always stay active in responding to the queries of your existing as well as potential clients.
Final Words
Being a freelancer might seem to be a piece of cake for you but it actually demands being self-motivated and self-disciplined. So, being your own boss is not as easy as it may seem to be without proper guidance, especially for those who are just starting out as a freelancer.
The 6 tips that I mentioned above will help you to easily grow and become an exceptional freelancer in your field of interest.
Also Read:
How To Become a Successful Freelancer in 2024 (Step-By-Step Guide)