How to Start Freelancing (& Get Your FIRST Client!) #Best Education Page #Online Earning

- Hey, what's up guys, Pat here,

and today we're gonna talk about how

to get started as a freelancer.

I feel like freelancing is the best way

to get started when you're trying

to build an online business,

because although it's not passive, not passive at all,

it's active work that allows you to enter a space,

to provide value, solve problems, and get paid quicker.

And to help us out today, because I wasn't a freelancer,

I've brought one of my favorite freelancers in

to talk to you about how you can get started, too.

This is Charli Marie, and we're also gonna talk about how

to get your first client as well, so stick around.

Alright, so here we got Charli Marie the house,

or in the studio at least.

You can find her at CharliMarieTv on YouTube,

go check her out, we actually did a really cool video

talking from my perspective in terms of

who I would hire as designer, because you're a designer.

- I am a designer.

- And that's how you got started.

Tell us about how you got started with freelancing.

- I think that every designer

at one stage wants to try freelancing,

that's the exciting thing is being able

to have your own client.

My first client came about, actually,

from a part-time job I had working at a baby store,

like selling kids clothes.

The guy who was doing the emails quit suddenly

and they had no one to make their email newsletter,

and so I was like, "Hey, I'm studying design,

I could do this for you."

Just put my hand up, and yeah, started doing it from then.

- So you just saw an opportunity and you're like,

"I'll do it." - Yeah, that's it.

- You've never done anything like that before, though?

- I'd never worked with a client before,

I was in design school at the time,

so I was studying design, but yeah,

had never worked on a client project,

only university briefs.

- So in your head at that time,

what was freelancing to you in doing this work,

how was that structured, what did it really mean?

- I think, as a student,

what it meant to me was earning money from my craft, right,

and doing this thing that I was

gonna be good at eventually, studying for it.

Before then I'd only had part-time jobs working in stores,

you know, retail, and paper run, things like that.

And so it was really exciting to me to start

earning money from using my skill, yeah.

- Was this something that you were

planning to do for a very long time,

or was it kinda a short-term thing,

what was your approach to this new work

that you were doing?

- I don't think I had a plan, really, to start with.

It was mostly like, I'm so excited to be being paid

for doing something that I love,

and being paid for working on my skill.

I definitely wanted to start building it up, though,

so I wanted to use this first client

so that I could have a client project in my portfolio

that I could then hopefully attract other clients with.

- And I love what you just said there,

you have this first client,

and I think that's really important to focus on.

A lot of people, when they're freelancing,

they're like, "Okay, I need to get 10 people."

- Yeah.

- You should always start with one, so that, like you said,

you could start to build out your portfolio.

So what was that experience like working with that person?

What were some things that went well,

what were some things that did not go so well?

- I think the main difference for me,

working with a client as opposed

to the university briefs that I'd been doing at the time,

or like personal projects, you know,

when it's only myself to consider,

the main difference was figuring out

what questions to ask them to get the right brief,

and to fully understand their problem,

because when you're working for yourself

you already know the problem inside your head.

When you're working on a university brief,

they give you all the information up front

that you can start on.

When you're working with a client,

you kinda have to pull it out of them,

you have to know what questions to ask

in order to figure out exactly what they need.

- Cool. Make sure you stick around

because we're gonna talk a little more

about getting your first client,

but I also want to talk about, okay,

after you have that first client,

how do you best provide that service,

and how did you even know to go through that?

- It was a lot of trial and error, I'm gonna be honest.

It was a lot of figuring things out along the way,

and doing something, realizing that I had gone

off a completely wrong track,

and I should have asked this question

of them instead to start with.

- So, best practice is for somebody

who is starting this freelancing work,

and they're just kind of worried about

what that experience is gonna be like,

how do you make sure that when you get your first client

it's gonna be a great experience?

- First of all, make them feel comfortable,

and make them feel confident in you

that you're gonna do the job right,

even if you are new to it, that's okay,

there's a little bit of fake it till you make it

that you can have going on there, you know?

Ask them the right questions.

I've go a list now of questions that I ask clients

to start with to get that all out.

- Can I ask what some of those questions are?

- Yeah. Well, first of all,

you want to ask them who their audience is,

who are they trying to attract,

and who are they trying to serve

with this thing you're gonna be designing or creating,

whatever it is that you're freelancing with.

Try and figure out what their problem is.

A lot of people will come to you with the solution,

like, "Hey, I need an ad for this"

when really what they might be better off with

is a social media campaign, and a set of images,

that sort of thing.

So figuring out exactly what the problem is

so that then you can provide the best design and services,

is something I've learned along the way.

- I love it. Do you structure yourself as a business owner,

in terms of just legally, and how does that all work out?

- Well, that's going to be different

depending on different countries,

so I feel like I don't want to give legal advise.

- You're from the UK, very smart of you

to have that disclaimer.

You can start out in the US as a sole proprietor,

and just kind of do work for yourself.

- Okay, good, that is the same as the UK.

- But, if this is something you're

gonna consider doing more full-term,

it might be worth starting a corporation.

- Yeah. I have a LLC now,

so I'm a limited liability company that I work under.

- Lets see, getting paid.

Do you get paid up front,

or how does that deal work with a person?

- I have a series on my YouTube channel, actually,

about getting paid on time, because this is something that

I'm super passionate about as a creative--

- You're passionate about being paid on time.

- Yeah, I'm passionate about helping

other people get paid on time, too.

(laughing)

So, I always ask for money up front,

at least a deposit up front,

and what I recommend to freelancers is to

not provide the final product until

you've been paid in full.

So, perhaps it's like 50% deposit,

or whatever you feel is right.

- Is that usual, 50%?

- Yeah, that's usually where I start with it.

If it's a bigger project going over a longer period of time,

perhaps you start with 30%, or something like that.

Yeah, always make sure the client pays in full

before you hand over the final assets,

because that's like that exchange

of the rites to the work as well comes with,

when they've paid for it, then they own it,

so then they can have it.

- I love it.

Now, we are going to continue some more conversation

in the upcoming videos in this series about

how to do things like just make sure

you are well structured in your work flow,

and your process, how to make sure you get

repeat customers as clients, which is great.

We're also gonna do a video on certain paths

that you can use freelancing as a stepping stone for,

so there's a lot of cool videos coming up.

But to finish off, I wanted to talk about

getting that first client.

I think that's one of the hardest things,

because you don't have a portfolio yet,

how do you even get a first client?

- I think that it comes down

to your network and who you know.

What I always recommend to people who are getting started

is to think about their family, think about their friends,

surely there is someone in your network

who could use some design work.

Maybe you can do it for them very cheaply,

maybe even for free,

just to get that first project where you've got a

freelancer/client relationship going on,

and you can start to build the process.

And I think another benefit there is

that if it's someone you know,

there's a bit more room to be flexible

and to learn as you go,

and you're not feeling quite so awkward

about not having asked the right question,

or you know, you can go back to them

and know that you're gonna work it in in the next process.

- When you say friends and your

existing network, I like that.

Is it literally like a tweet, or a Facebook message,

how do you frame that message such that

a person might want to work with you?

- I think that you should do the work here,

and not just put it out there, be like,

"Hey, I'm looking for work"

and expect people to come to you.

I think that you should reach out

to people directly, like,

"Hey, I noticed that you've got this blog, friend of mine."

- So individual work, not like a broadcast.

- Yeah, I think that's smart,

because people sometimes don't know what they need

until you're offering it up,

especially when you're trying to get this first project,

and get this first client underway.

So, reach out to them if you see somewhere,

in friend, family member, a business you frequent often,

like a local coffee shop or something,

maybe they can use their menu redesigned.

Offer up that service to them as a first project.

- Okay, let's say you do that,

and even one of your friends says,

"You know, I'm interested in that, that's cool.

Let me see your portfolio,

let me see what other work you've done,"

but you haven't done any work yet.

How do you address that?

- I think you should've done some work, to be honest.

I think that you can always do projects for yourself.

You can always create things that show your skills,

set yourself briefs, there's lots of

websites online as well that offer up briefs.

Briefbox is one, where there's, like,

someone has created briefs for you to answer as practice,

essentially, so then you have some proof of your skills,

because it's hard to expect someone to hire you

when you've got nothing to show for it.

It's always good to have other client work,

because that better shows that you can work with a client,

and understand their problem,

it's not a project you've just worked on for yourself.

But having the work in there for yourself

will help you get that first client.

- Would you recommend doing some work for free

just to get that experience and build up that portfolio

of client work versus just working on your own stuff?

- It depends on the company.

I don't like creatives to be taken advantage of,

that's another thing I'm very passionate about,

and so I think if it's like a non-profit, perhaps,

there's a local charity that you really like and respect,

and that you could offer up your services to,

that's a great way to do work for free

in a way that's gonna benefit your

community and also your portfolio,

and it means that no one's taking advantage of you as well.

- I love it.

And final question would be something like,

"Alright, Charli, I'm interested,

I see your portfolio, it's great,

but you know I'm just not, I don't know."

Tell me something that's gonna convince me to work with you.

How do you respond to that?

- I think that it's not all about the work sometimes,

it's about who you are as a creative and your process,

too, and what you're passionate about.

My passion is always gonna be to try

and bring out your message and your values in the design,

and so saying things like that,

whatever your passion is, whatever your craft is,

will help the client feel confident in you,

even if you don't have the work to back it up,

that you're talking the talk, you know,

and then you're gonna show them that you can walk the walk.

- I love that.

Okay guys, thank you so much for watching this video.

We've got some more great content coming up

in this series to help you as a freelancer

and side hustler, so stay tuned, and again,

make sure to check out that video on Charli's channel,

CharliMarieTV, we'll link to it below in the description.

Any final tip for the brand new freelancers out there,

based on your experience as one?

Let's motivate them to actually do it,

because I know a lot of people are excited,

but also scared right now.

- Yeah, it is scary to get that first client,

but you've just got to go out there and do it.

Have some confidence in yourself,

there is a bit of the fake it till you make it,

just go out there and approach that first person,

and do that first bit of work.

- 'Cause the truth is, nothing's gonna happen

unless you go out there and try.

- Exactly.

- Awesome. Thanks, and continue on

to the next video if you see it.

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