To earn as a freelancer, you need to be hardworking and dedicated to updating your skills regularly.

Being a freelancer is good, although it requires you to possess a skill that is of high demand in the market as well as discipline and be hardworking if you want to succeed.

One of the benefits of being a freelancer is that it affords you the convenience to work at your time and from anywhere. Also, there is no boss to order you around and you do not need to wake up early to get to work and all of that. However, if you don’t want to go hungry at all times, you need to start engaging yourself through getting paid projects from clients. It is very important to find a means of getting those clients if you wish to earn as a freelancer.

Do you possess any IT skills, there are various steps you need to take if you want to earn as a freelancer.

• Join a Reliable Freelancing Website

One of the steps you need to take after acquiring the necessary skill and you are certain you can carry out tasks in the field beyond a reasonable doubt, you will need to join a job freelancing website. Below is the list of some of the freelancing websites you can get clients for your freelance business

i. Upwork

Upwork is popular and one of the best sites where you can see a lot of freelancers in different fields including web and graphic designers, SEO experts, and other professionals. It is very easy to set up your profile and upload your past projects or job experience and a lot of clients search for freelancers.

ii. Freelancer
Freelancer is a very robust platform integrated with great features to allow you sell your skills to great brands and earn as a freelancer. This platform is being patronized by great companies including Google and Amazon, if you possess a great skill set such as programming, it offers your great opportunity to excel as a freelancer

iii. Fiverr

Fiverr is a popular and one of the oldest freelancing websites around. The idea of this website is to be able to offer petty IT services for $5, hence the name Fiverr. Just like the other platforms, Fiverr allows you to register and upload your profile for free and it also integrates Paypal as its official payment gateway to receive service funds from clients on behalf of the registered freelancers

• Create a Facebook Group

At times, you need to offer tips or solutions to problems for free before getting actual job projects. As a freelancer, another way you can get projects from clients is to open a group for a community of people in a similar field. For instance, if you are an SEO expert, you could create a Bloggers group with the aim of assisting and giving tips and solutions to SEO problems. Even as you give the tips for free, not every one of them would be able to fix and at some point would need professional assistance. This is where your charges come to play, helping you earn as a freelancer

• Create a LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is a popular social platform for professionals, just like other freelance platforms, it allows you to create a profile and portfolio of past projects. Companies also see professional services on LinkedIn. Also, because it is a social platform, it allows for interaction among users and it also has a feature where you can post status, helping to create awareness about your professional lines and capabilities

• Create a Website

If you want to earn as a freelancer, another way you can achieve that is to create an SEO-friendly website such that it is easier to find when some searches for your service on Google. Having a website that succinctly defines what you do and how to contact you will easily get your clients

• Create a Sponsored Campaign on Facebook

I have come across different adverts on Facebook with the advertiser telling people to come and build websites for their businesses at cut-down prices. With the Facebook sponsored campaign, you can reach potential clients and get job offers if your service is really good. You really need to let people know what you do, if not you will not receive any patronage for your service.

• Print Stickers

You can as well go offline and resort to printed media in trying to get clients as a freelancer. Stickers are somewhat better than fliers especially if you could strategically distribute or stick them at public places or transportation. Sticker lasts for a long time and reaches a lot of people. Do not forget to put your contact so you are reachable when someone becomes needy of your service

• Hold a Seminar

This is another great means of getting clients for your service so quickly. If you are sure of the knowledge you possess in your field, you can as well decide to sell the knowledge via hosting a paid seminar. A lot of people are so keen to acquire more knowledge and upgrade their skills, holding a seminar with a promise to showing them the secret to your successful career in your field, people will buy into it. For example, you want to hold a few days seminar to show aspiring graphic designers the software and its application that will help in creating professional graphics, you would get a lot of positive feedback and this could fetch you some money.

This is a freelance social network where a large number of people with different kinds of talents and skills can come together, share their portfolios and look for some online work. There are a huge number of job categories ranging from creative writers, sculptors, and music composers to accountants and programmers.

• Request Reviews

As a freelance, always request reviews from your satisfied clients, this will create more trust in other potential clients in seeking your services. For instance, most of freelancing platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr, and others have a review and freelancer’s rating section that would give a potential client insight on how good or bad the service is. It is therefore important to always get positive reviews from your satisfied clients as this would ensure more patronage from more clients.