Freelancing

No Freelance Job? Here’s What You Need to Do

If you don’t have a freelance job at the moment, you might be wondering what could possibly get you a freelance job. Some starters desperately look out for the jobs and end up trying something that they aren’t good at.

A lot of freelancers reach out to me through my personal blog, Facebook profile, and YouTube channel – they know that I often talk about freelancing and share my learning experiences with others. Most of them contact me because they don’t have any freelance job or they want to get started with freelancing.

So this blog post doesn’t teach you what freelancing is. If you have no idea what freelancing is, then I’d highly recommend reading my blog post on how to start freelancing.

You can also buy my two eBooks on freelancing to find out my secrets:

These eBooks will help you start off on the right foot.

The essence of this blog post, however, is how you can get a freelancing job to get going. I’m going to share some techniques and methods that will help you portray your expertise in a better way so that you could get hired by the clients.

Here are a few simple things you should do:

No freelance client?

Write a blog about your interests

You don’t have to spend money on launching a blog if you aren’t trying to become a pro-blogger. But if you can, then you should definitely go for it. Otherwise, go to Medium.com and set up your account. Medium is a content publishing platform where you can set up your account to publish content.

Once you’ve created your Medium account, start writing blog posts related to your expertise, experiences, or passion – make sure that everything you’re writing is somehow connected to your freelance career. For instance, I’m a freelance content writer. So I often talk about either freelancing or content writing so that I could connect the dots and the others could know about it. See, I just told you about my job and I did a little bit of marketing right there. That’s a lesson you should learn.

The next point is even more important.

Use your bio to market yourself

Bio is a short introduction on the social media profiles, websites, and blogs which tells about the particular user. Some websites and social media platforms allow users to include a link in the bio. Anyways, the point is that you must be using the bio properly to introduce your freelancing job.

For instance, I tell about my freelancing job through Facebook and Twitter profiles. In the social media world, bio is one of the most underrated things at the moment. People don’t realize that they could use the bio to get hired. You’d see rants, jokes, and all types of strange things in the bios; some people don’t get it.

If you’re a freelancer, you must be using the bio to tell people what you can do for them whether it’s your author bio on your blog or social media bio on Facebook and Twitter. When you’d start telling people through your bio, you’re likely to get in touch with some of the people who might want to hire you.

Make videos on your expertise

Some of you might be scratching the head right now and thinking how on earth someone can make a video on their expertise. Let me explain this so that you could grab your phone right now and make your first video.

You don’t have to make a video on any complex thing. Instead, all you need is to share what you know about your specific expertise, interest, or niche. For instance, if you’re a freelance graphic designer, talk about the softwares you use, teach people how to use graphics designing softwares, and educate people on the things you’ve learned so far. Similarly, whatever your freelancing area is, make sure you’re talking about your industry and niche so that others could get benefit from it.

What happens is that people stumble upon on your videos and you never know who watches your next video. You may get hired just because you made a video and your next client sees that.

Comment on social media platforms wisely

Commenting is one of the most underrated growth hacks of our time. Newbie bloggers use it incorrectly all the time. You don’t have to sell a product or gain a subscriber through your comment, but instead, you have to say something sane that makes others check out your profile, content, and website.

I once attracted a couple of clients just because I left a comment on their Facebook posts. Later on, they checked out my profile, reached out to me, went through my blog posts, and the rest is history. The secret to winning a client through commenting is that you have to utilize the opportunity of giving something valuable that nobody else is giving – it could be your past experience, a lesson you learned, or something you know.

A lot of people get confused while commenting; all they need to do is SHARE what they know or something they went through — it humanizes the communication.

Develop your portfolio to showcase

I always tell newcomers to build their portfolios. It often confuses them that how they can develop portfolios when they’re starting out and nobody is hiring them at the moment. Here’s the catch: I’m a big advocate of working for free. If no one knows you, then it’s mandatory for you to build relationships with others. And, working for free sometimes could help you build relationships with professionals.

By working for free, not only will you be able to build relationships, but you will also be able to develop a portfolio to showcase. When freelance writers ask me for advice on how to get freelance clients, I always tell them to write their blogs on a regular basis. What happens is that they improve their skill as well as use their content to market their service.

Put out content to get attention

If you’re looking for freelance jobs but not putting out content, then it’s a huge mistake. Your content whether it’s articles, videos, podcasts, images, or infographics would allow you to reach to the new eyeballs.

Don’t be so hard on yourself while creating content. My number one medium is written content; I also put out Instagram posts; I rarely upload videos to my YouTube channel too. I know that I sell my writing service so my blog writing does the job for me.

You have to choose your mediums and try to put out as much content as possible to attract, engage, and convert the visitors into paying customers.

A little piece of motivation at the end

I’ve learned all these things the hard way. I practically tried a lot of things and failed at many things. The ideas I shared with you are the things that worked for me. It may not work for everyone, but it’s my duty to share with you so that you could try out a thing or two.

It’ll give me immense pleasure if something I share works for you. I always say that I might have failed at freelancing if it wasn’t for the consistency. I never gave up; it made a lot of difference. My first 3 years in freelancing were horrible. Maybe, your first 5 would also be like that, or you may not have to go through any difficult phase in your freelancing career.

Nothing matters if you want to do it. If you want to win, you will win.

If I could win, anyone can win.

What did you get from this blog post?

Let me know!

 

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12 Comments

  1. Awesome bro <3
    You just wrap the points beautifully. Keep posting!

    1. Hello,

      Noor bhai,

      Thank you so much dear!

      I’d love to check out your blog too. See you soon!

  2. Hassan,

    This is an excellent post, full of advice! Too often, I give the same advice to anyone who reaches out, and ask for freelance opportunities. Everything starts by doing something and what I see is that people are fast to quit, and are lazy to start. Starting a free blog, creating social media bios and writing for free are all practical steps to get started with freelance writing career and none of these steps require a single penny.

    Arfa

    1. Arfa,

      Thank you so much for taking your time out for reading and commenting on my blog. I always appreciate your comments.

      I liked what you just said, “people are fast to quit and lazy to start.”

      I so much agree with that.

      I believe that most of my success was the result of just keep going forward; somehow people find that difficult to pull off. I’m sure that it has to do something with the choices they make. That’s why I emphasize on finding the strength and capitalizing it along the way. Do you agree?

  3. Umar Ahmed says:

    Hey Hassaan!
    Once again an awesome post.
    I like your blog because you always suggest practical solutions which are helpful for people like me who are trying to get into the writing world.
    You mentioned about working for free to get known by professionals and to build a portfolio.
    I would ask a silly questions then, how to get free work. I mean do you know any proper platform through which one can work for free?
    Also please advise, is it a good way to start through freelance sites like Fiverr? Did you work for any of these when you started?
    Thanks

    1. Thank you so much for your comment. I always appreciate it.

      I’d answer your first question in the comment and the second one through my next blog post. When I say “work for free,” I mean reach out to people/brands that seem ahead of you. It doesn’t happen so quickly. You might have to follow and share their content on Twitter and Facebook for some time so that they start noticing you. And, then you could ask them to write an article for their blog, at some point.

      Blog commenting and content sharing (on social media) are by far the best outreach strategies to build relationships with influencers and brands.

      For instance, you should find 25 companies (in your relevant industry/niche) that have official blogs. Then, you should reach out to each and everyone and ask them to write a guest post for their blogs. If one of them says YES, then it’s worth it.

      I often receive emails from guest posters and companies to collaborate just because I have been doing it for a while, and somehow I have developed an authority in the blogosphere. I don’t think that I’ve made it, but when I look into my inbox, I understand how far I’ve come.

      I always say that “doing” is the answer.

      All the best.

      1. Umar Ahmed says:

        Hassaan,

        Thank you very much for putting out your time to answer my question.

        I will try my best to follow your advice.

        Now I am waiting for your next post….. 🙂

        Thanks again

  4. Asalam-o-alaikuM, Hassaan bhai!

    Some very crystal-clear tips you shared!
    It is really the easy ways we have gotten to market and promote ourselves in this time of the digital world.
    Let it be the social media profiles, YouTube, blog, and anything; these online avenues are reached to the more eyeballs day by day.
    What I found out that, freelancing takes some good preparation in the background to start seeing the good results coming in your way.
    Just starting without doing enough preparations, it is the total waste.
    Networking has the true value to move forward with your freelancing starter and the career.
    Thanks for the wonderful share, Hassaan bhai! 🙂
    ~ Adeel

    1. Walaikum Assalam,

      Thanks so much for your comment.

      I’m glad you’re back.

      .co domain looks cool too.

      All the best for your freelance writing venture.

      1. JazakALLAH, Hassaan bhai!

        InshALLAH, see me too often. 🙂

        Thanks,
        Adeel

  5. Bro I like your writing and method of explaining things.
    I am a beginner to freelance even I didn’t done a single freelance task yet..Have some tips and advice for me?

    1. Saad,

      Figure out a skill/passion/talent or something like that to sell online.

      It’s not difficult to get started with freelancing, but it’s tough to go through this initial phase of starting it.

      Once you know what you’re good at or you can do for others like graphic designing, web designing, content writing, or something else, you can use that to sell online.

      Here are two blog posts that will help you:

      1. https://www.hassaankhan.com/blog/2019/07/31/market-your-freelancing-business/
      2. https://www.hassaankhan.com/blog/2019/02/24/should-you-start-freelancing-on-fiverr/

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