Freelance In 30 Days: Get The Skills And Knowledge You Need To Be A Successful Freelancer
By Ben Matthews
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About this ebook
Do you want to build the confidence to finally go freelance?
Do you want the freedom and flexibility that comes from being your own boss?
Do you want to be a creative and productive freelancer?
Freelance in 30 Days is the book to give you the confidence to go freelance – and freelance successfully.
Every year, thousands of people have the confidence to start their freelance career. You can do it too.
You can have the flexibility and freedom that comes from running your own freelance business – and enjoy it.
You can make a decent income from your freelance business – often much more than your previous job.
This book aims to get you excited, inspired and absorbing insight into what it takes to go freelance, attracting your first clients, standing out as a high-profile freelancer, and building a valuable pipeline of new business for your freelance consulting business.
With over 200 pages of practical advice, Freelance in 30 Days is the book to give you the confidence to go freelance – and freelance successfully.
Ben Matthews
Ben Matthews is a freelance digital consultant and author. In the last few years, he has freelanced for clients including London 2012, American Express, the World Wildlife Federation and Harper Collins. He runs the freelancing blog How To Go Freelance and has been featured in the Huffington Post and the Guardian. Sign up to Ben's Freelance Mailing List here: bit.ly/brmlist (Simply cut-and-paste that address into your browser, your email will never be shared and you an unsubscribe at any time)
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Reviews for Freelance In 30 Days
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Book preview
Freelance In 30 Days - Ben Matthews
Introduction
The Freelance Dream
Becoming a freelance consultant is a dream for many.
The dream of being your own boss.
The dream of working when you want.
The dream of working where you want.
The dream of working for who you want.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a successful freelance career for the last few years.
There’s been some bumps along the way, but advice and encouragement from a wide range of people enabled me to go it alone and have a good time while doing it.
Going freelance will probably be the most liberating experience of your career. You now don’t have to do the 9-5 or the rat race and can theoretically work where and when you want.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s all networking lunches and working in cafes. Theres a lot to do that you normally take for granted when working for a company. You are the be all and end all of your business, so your success depends on nothing else but your hard work.
The pieces of advice contained in the book are coming from the perspective of my experience as a freelancer. My experience will differ from others and most certainly differ from yours. So take the lessons I’ve learned and apply them to your own situation.
There’s a lot of work out for guys like us at the moment and there’s certain ways of doing things in the UK for freelancers. As such, I can’t vouch for other lines of work or other geographies – but feel free to take or leave these ideas as you like.
Please bear in mind that I am providing these observations from my own personal experiences and I am not providing legal or tax advice.
You need to pay somebody for that.
Go hire someone good.
Lastly, freelancing is one of the most rewarding, enjoyable experiences you can have in your work.
You’re thinking about freelancing because you’re good enough and you want the lifestyle it brings.
But perhaps you’re not sure where to start, how to make the transition from a full time job to freelancing. What about finding clients? What about getting paid? What about taxes?
Follow the advice in this book and you’ll be able to go freelance in just 30 days.
Go for it!
You can always go back to a boring 9-5 job if things don’t work out…
Why I wrote this book
Getting started as a freelance can be hard, but I’m here to help you.
Every year, thousands of people have the confidence to start their freelance career. You can do it too.
You can have the flexibility and freedom that comes from running your own freelance business – and enjoy it.
You can make a decent income from your freelance business – often much more than your previous job.
This book aims to get you excited, inspired and absorbing insight into what it takes to go freelance, attracting your first clients, standing out as a high-profile freelancer, and building a valuable pipeline of new business for your freelance consulting business.
This is what I believe in. I believe you can make it as a freelancer.
At the end of this book, if you believe you can make it as a freelancer and decide to take the jump, then you’re who I believe in.
I wrote this book for you.
What this book will teach you
While Freelance in 30 Days does contain plenty of tips and tricks, guides and advice, it has been my intention when writing this book to equip you with the mindset of a freelancer.
Do you have the confidence, the tools, the work ethic, the network, the relationships to make it as a freelancer?
You might not yet, but Freelance in 30 Days will help you learn the freelance way beyond the individual lessons contained in the book.
More than individual lessons, it is the approach you take to your freelance business that will determine whether you are successful at freelancing or not.
Once you start putting these lessons into practice, you will see for yourself how the mindset is as important as the method for a freelancer.
You will learn not only what steps it takes to be a freelancer, but how to think and act like a truly professional freelance consultant.
This is what will set you apart from other freelancers in your field.
How this book Is structured
Freelance in 30 Days is is split into six sections, each of which cover a different area of freelancing:
1. The New Freelancer: Getting the confidence to go freelance, Setting up as a freelancer, How to set your rate, How to find your first clients, How to win clients, How to network, How to promote yourself online, Set yourself up to work remotely.
2. The Financial Freelancer: Private Company vs Sole Trader, Accountants and Bookkeeping, Dealing with the tax man, Annual returns, Self-Assessments, The issue of free work.
3. The Productive Freelancer: Time management, Managing multiple clients, Learning to live without a boss, Planning for holiday and sick pay, Work life balance.
4. The Technical Freelancer: Using software and apps to run your freelance business, Get yourself a freelance website, Using social media to promote your freelance services, Online freelancing job sites, How to win at freelancing online.
5. The Valuable Freelancer: Personal development as a freelancer, Being taken seriously as a freelancer, Being seen as a ‘consultant’ rather than a ‘freelancer’, How to be more valuable, less disposable, Finish freelance projects on a high with these client pleasers, How to get rid of a client.
6. Interviews with a Freelancer: Q&As with 10 freelancers, looking at what stripes they took to go freelance and what they wish they’d known before they made the transition from full-time to self-employed. Professions that the freelancers belong to include PR, Digital Marketing, Web Development, Design, Social Media Marketing, Copywriting and Journalism.
How to get the most value from this book
The best approach to get the most of Freelance in 30 Days is to read through the whole book at least once. This will give you a full overview of what it takes to go freelance.
From there, you can go back to the sections that you wanted to find out more about and reread those parts to get a better idea about that area of freelancing.
Once you actually make the transition to a freelancer, you’ll be able to come back to Freelance in 30 Days again and again as challenges appear in your daily freelance business.
New situations will crop up all the time, many of which won’t be covered in this book. As I mentioned before, the key is to get into the freelancer mindset.
Achieve this and you’ll be able to handle anything that comes your way, whatever the challenge.
Ready?
Let’s get to work…
The New Freelancer
The freelance economy in numbers
Freelance statistics are a great way to show you how you’re not alone in wanting to go freelance, how others are finding the freelance environment and how freelancers contribute to the overall economy.
I’ve pulled together freelance stats from the US, UK and further afield for you to get an idea of how freelancers are faring across the world. Arm yourself with these stats if anyone asks you Why would you want to go freelance?
and show them that you’re not alone!
US Freelance Statistics
The Freelancers Union 53 million
report contains data results of the most comprehensive survey of the U.S. independent workforce in nearly a decade. Here are a few of the main stats from the report:
There are 53 million people doing freelance work in the US – 34% of the national workforce
People who freelance contribute an estimated $715 billion in freelance earnings to the economy
Twice as many freelancers have seen an increase in demand in the past year as have seen a decrease - 32% experienced an increase versus 15% who have seen a decrease
80% of non-freelancers say they would be willing to do work outside their primary job to make more money
Earning extra money (but not financial necessity) and schedule flexibility are the top drivers of freelancing
Finding work and, correspondingly, income stability are the top barriers to doing more freelancing work
69% of freelancers said technology has made it easier to find freelance work
77% of freelancers say the best days are yet ahead for freelancing
65% said freelancing as a career path is more respected today than it was three years ago
36% of moonlighters who have a primary job have thought about quitting to work completely independently
UK Freelance Statistics
In the UK, the Professional Contractors Group estimates that:
There are 1.4 million British freelancers working across all sectors
This has grown 14% in the past decade
The flexibility offered by Britain’s freelancers is worth £21 billion to the UK economy in added value
78% of the UK public think that freelancing and flexible working help promote a good work/life balance
72% think freelancing has a positive effect on family life
According to a report by freelance job site, Elance:
In 2013, the number of businesses hiring freelancers online increased 46%
Payments to freelancers increased 37% year on year
The average hourly rate for UK freelancers increased 6.7% in 2013
IT and Programming (at 41% of all hires); Design and Multimedia (24%) and Writing and Translation (18%) make up the majority of freelance jobs online
A February 2014 report on Gen Y and Freelancing looked at the transformation of UK graduate career aspirations and what this means for businesses
. Here are the key stats from the report:
Freelancing is now seen as a highly attractive and lucrative career option by 87% of students with first or second class degrees
This compares to 77% of those with lower class degrees.
21% of graduates with first class honours say they have already chosen to work as a freelancer, suggesting that the freelance economy’ is beginning to take hold among those graduates with the strongest degree results
29% of all graduates say freelancing is part of their career strategy for the next five years, a fact that suggests the freelance economy will continue to gather pace in the UK
The flexibility offered by freelancing is cited as the biggest career draw, with over two thirds (69%) of all graduates saying they feel independent work offers them a better work-life balance.
The opportunity to work on a variety of different projects and across sectors is also appealing, with over a third (38%) saying this is a significant pull
Respondents are also attracted to the earning potential of freelance work with 38% saying they feel they can earn as much, if not more than they could in a traditional job
Elance data shows that the average hourly rate for UK freelancers increased 6.7% in 2013
The Labour Force Survey, conducted by the Office of National Statistics, showed a breakdown of the self-employed by sector:
Senior Managers – 15% self-employed
IT Professionals – 13% self-employed
Engineering Professionals – 12 %
Associate Professionals’ in Design and Media – 40%
Skilled tradespeople’ in construction – 56%
European Freelance Statistics
According to a report called "Future Working: The Rise of Europe’s Independent Professionals", the European freelance economy looks like the following:
Freelance numbers have increased by 45% from just under 6.2 million to 8.9 million in 2013, making them the fastest growing group in the EU labour market
According to the Professional Contractors Group:
Spain and Slovakia have both have 13% rates of self-employment
Italy has a 21% rates of self-employment
Wherever you are in the world, you are not alone in wanting to go freelance.
Meet the 5 new types of freelancers
There are many different variations on how freelancers are working and defining their work today.
According to the Collins English Dictionary, a freelancer is a self-employed person, especially a writer or artist, who is not employed continuously but hired to do specific assignments.
Seems fairly straightforward to me.
But a new report argues that is there are now 5 different types of freelancer and that there are more than 53 million Americans are doing freelance work - a sixth of the U.S. population.
The 5 Types of Freelancer
Starting with the general U.S. workforce, each survey respondent went through a series of questions that qualified their employment status and income in order to definitions of freelancing that might otherwise go unrecorded. Here is how the report breaks down the new types of freelancers.
1. Independent Contractors
(40% of the independent workforce / 21.1 million professionals)
These traditional
freelancers