If there’s one good outcome that the 2019 pandemic had, it was the gift of remote work. For many, the ability to work from home is a huge win. While freelancers aren’t always remote workers, there is a considerable overlap that exists.

However, you have to realize that the challenge of WFH freelancing is that you are going to face some tough competition. If you want to have a shot at making your stint at freelancing last and be successful, you need to prepare the right way.

In this article, we’ll look at three key steps that you should be considering from day one. Let’s begin.

#1. Assess What Your Marketable Skills Are

The thing about monetizing a skill is to first realize that not all skills are monetizable. Well, that’s not really accurate; there’s a market for everything, but if you are hoping freelancing will become an income source, then it’s somewhat true. The number of marketable skills is not infinite and only a few of them pay the big bucks.

According to Upwork, the highest-paying gigs are in the fields of tech and marketing. These include cybersecurity developers ($40-90/hr), blockchain developers ($30-$59/hr), and digital marketing consultants ($30-$75/hr).

The good thing about freelancing is that it’s not always directly tied to what you graduated college with. Thus, what you really want to ensure is that you have the practical skills to complete projects at the level that employers are expecting.

There are tons of freelancers with degrees in unrelated fields who have made successful careers via freelancing. You too can be one of them if your first priority is identifying those skills and building them up as much as possible.

2. Put Extra Thought into Your Portfolio

It’s natural to want to jump right into your first job and start earning money, but hold on for a moment. Just like how conventional office jobs have interviews where your past work experience comes up, the same occurs with freelancing. The only big difference is that rather than talking about your experience, you’re showing it.

Portfolios are essentially your ‘I know what I’m doing card.’ You build a website, which is easy enough today. According to Hocoos, with AI builders, you answer a bunch of questions and you’ll have a website up in minutes. When you do this, ensure you go for a clean and professional design and then post your best work samples to it.

Now, you’ve probably not found your first freelancing gig yet, so you can go ahead and simply give yourself a job. This is where ChatGPT can be super helpful. Try the following prompt: “I want to create a portfolio for my ( insert freelancing job title) profile. Can you give me four unique projects that employers typically hire freelancers for in this niche?”

It may feel weird to do work with no pay but think of it as an investment. That said, there are some niches, such as copywriting, where you can contact websites and see if they’ll accept contributions for publication. This is a great way of also getting your name out there on third-party websites, which can be better than self-hosting them.

There’s one more key tip to keep in mind for any portfolio. According to Indeed.com, you should also be creating a ‘personal statement’ where you outline your short-term (1-2 years) and long-term goals (5-10+ years). Follow these steps, and you’ll be making yourself quite attractive to potential employers.

3. Never Stop The Climb

Unlike conventional jobs, career growth is entirely up to you. A lot of freelancers realize this only after spending years in the same role. No one can promote you as a freelancer except yourself, and that’s where upskilling comes into play.

According to McKinsey, work experience contributes anywhere between 40% and 60% to your overall capital value. Their research also found that bold and frequent upskilling can expand your earning opportunities considerably. So, how do you do that?

Well, one of the best ways is competitor analysis. Say your niche is video editing, and so far, you’ve had moderate success. You have a few clients and some good reviews, but you feel like you’re stagnating and could earn more. If that sounds like you, simply switch to a hiring profile on a freelancer website and peruse the offerings.

You should be confronted with the top video editing freelancers for hire right on the first page. Go ahead and take a closer look at their services and skills. You might find that they offer several services that you never even considered.

For instance, drop-shipping video ads, corporate content, or certain styles like rotoscoping. Once you’ve identified a few such skills and services, it’s just a matter of committing the time and effort to learn them. There are so many resources you can find online for this. It just takes a little proactiveness from your side, and you’re set.

Freelancing can be a wonderful and rewarding career experience. Gone are the days when earning an income required locking yourself into a conventional office job or working the trades. Of course, freelancing doesn’t mean free money.

There’s a lot of competition, and you’re often dealing with employers who might simply choose the person with the lowest fees. How you manage to overcome and thrive despite these challenges will be up to your determination and hard work.