Thinking of Going Freelance? Before Leaving Your Job, Follow These 8 Steps

I remember when I accidentally became a freelancer. It wasn't planned. Something happened at the website design company I worked at and, suddenly, it meant that I and 20 of my colleagues were inadvertently no longer employed.  

My strategy was to try it all – get freelance work, do contracting, get another job.

Strangely the freelancer approach seemed to be the most secure – I was in charge of my own destiny. I could go out there and meet people, tell them what I could do and hope to be hired. The first six months were certainly hit and miss – I didn't know how I would match my previous salary and make my mortgage payments!

But slowly I learned all about networking, new business development and concisely explaining what I do. Imagine if I had had the foresight to learn this and set this up before I lost the security of a paycheck? 

If I knew then what I know now. 

So, you've got a certain skill – whether it's consulting on the topic you're an expert on, writing copy, graphic design or cake making – and you want to go out on your own and earn a living from doing what you love (hopefully). You'll need to convince customers you're a safe bet and get them buying these services or products.

It takes time to build up a customer base and lead them to a close. It takes longer when you don't have a portfolio or track record. Before you take the big leap into the freelance world, there are several things you can do to prepare – and it's safer to do so when you are still getting your normal salary for your job!

Note: I don't recommend that you use your working hours to do this prep; it's got to be done on your own time. And in a way, the double shifts you need to do to get everything in order gives you some semblance of what life is like as a freelancer and business owner. 

Here are eight steps to help you prepare for your freelance career. 

1. Hone your personal bio and brand. It seems obvious but it's still important to consider. In your freelance business, what will you name yourself? Will it be your own name or a brand name? What will your tagline be and how can you make that clear? How do you define your personal brand? What's your "I do what for who" sentence? Getting this right means when you introduce yourself in the future, you can tell people clearly these basic things. When people are given this clear basic information in a simple sentence, they are more likely to ask questions and start to consider if they or someone else needs your services.

2. Build up your LinkedIn skills. Even though LinkedIn is widely respected as the professional social network, so few people even do the basics, which includes a proper summary written in the first person and a good professional photo. Some people are cautious about updating their profile in a very obvious way – they don't want to raise suspicion from their employer. But there are still things you can and should do – explaining in full sentences what you achieved and learned at each of your previous roles (if done well, this tells the story of your career and helps people understand how you got to where you are), and connecting with the people who you've met or corresponded with so you can reach 500 or more connections. Even recommending others on LinkedIn will serve you well in future when you need to reach out to your contacts and tell them about your new freelance business.

3. Determine your social media strategy. You may or may not already be active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. But when you are running your own business, there are different behaviors to adopt. You could possibly harness your usernames and set up professional channels. You can preselect images and prewrite captions (ensuring the images are high quality and well designed) with clear typography. You'll need to plan your content and create a good rhythm, decide whom to follow and devise strategies on how to connect with them, and create effective articles/tips/images and share these. Before you quit your job, read up on this beginner's guide to social media, download e-books, watch YouTube videos, start doing setup and content creation.

4. Devise a system for money in, money out. Unless you're planning to be a freelance bookkeeper/accountant, chances are the financial part of running a freelance business will be new to you. You'll need to work out a system for recording outgoing expenses, raising invoices and tracking your income growth. You'll also need to work out what your initial overhead will be and how you will make sure you cover it. And you can interview three or four different accountants to see who would be the best fit for you – the accountant for your freelance business should ideally be a trusted adviser, and many accountants enjoy working with startups and freelancers.

5. Network. Yes, it's a skill, and I am lucky it's something I enjoy. But I did have to learn all the different nuances – how to introduce myself, what to listen for, how to follow up. There are many options in the business networking world – I like to mix it up. Breakfast events where you get to do an intro speech for 60 seconds about your business mean everyone in the room can hear what you do and vice versa – meaning you can really focus on who you want to meet. Open networking events are similar to parties but for business, while learning events usually have a speaker or a workshop – and you can mingle after and/or before. In the freelance world, the No. 1 way you gain new clients will be because you met someone who liked and trusted you enough, or you were referred by someone. So getting some networking events under your belt even when you're still employed means you have a head start and some new contacts to connect and follow up with on LinkedIn.

6. Develop your "productizing" and pricing strategy. Whatever you do in your business, sooner or later you'll need to learn the art and science of pricing and how to package your services into products. This is something I probably took far too long to learn, and I still continue to tweak and adjust how I present the products my business sells (even though they're services, it's helpful to consider them as products so you can list exactly what's included and how to communicate their value). The first iteration is never the final one, but working on this while still employed will help clarify things in your mind. Further, you can get feedback from your wider network to refine these products so when you do launch, you are more ready to confidently market to your audience.

7. Balance realism with optimism. I have seen talented and likable people start freelance businesses and then get cold feet and go back into the safe (but unfulfilling) world of the corporate job when they could have made it work if they had only given themselves more time to prep. The reality is that it usually takes longer than you think to make the money you need, and to match or exceed your previous salary, plus you need to be consistently motivated to put the work in. You'll need to form good discipline and working habits – how will you do all you need to develop the business, find your clients, write articles, product sheets, and proposals even if at first you're working from home? Considering these and even following these habits on a weekend/days off from work will allow you to test out your working habits and stress test the risk of lack of self-believe/lack of motivation. If you can clear those cobwebs out of the way before you quit your job, you'll have an advantage.

8. Conceptualize your ideal client. While this is something that will evolve as you gain experience in your freelance business, it's worth writing up all the characteristics of your ideal client. Make sure you include the demographic information (for example, with B2B businesses, it would be industry, location, growth stage and business size), but also the attitude and personality you want your customers to have. Writing up this wish list will make it easier to spot those potential clients when you meet them and if you share your wishes with friends and contacts, they can look out for those people for you.   

Some of these things (No. 1 and 8 in particular) require sitting down for a couple of hours and brainstorming, then talking about this to friends and contacts in your normal interactions (those who are able to keep a secret, of course) to gauge how easy it is for people to understand what you'll be doing, and, from there, refining your message.

Other steps are simple to incorporate into your normal working week, and some require more study time. Regardless, getting your head fully wrapped around these new habits will certainly set you up for a successful start in your new business. Good luck, and see you on the other side!

Social media is perfect place to promote your business during the holidays. People are looking on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter for gift ideas and great deals. With the right social media marketing strategy, you can boost holiday sales, engage with potential customers and spread holiday cheer. 

We talked to social media experts about how businesses can use social media to boost sales this holiday season. Here are four tips. 

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Social media platforms are constantly updating and adding helpful features. From Instagram questions to Twitter polls, there are a range of ways to easily engage and connect with your followers online. 

Chelsea McDonald, senior social media strategist at DEG Digital, recommends using those features to identify pain points and then provide a solution. 

"Another great tool to use is Twitter Polls," she said. "If you can identify a problem your customers are facing and solve it for them, you will create customers for life." 

Twitter can boost sales by monitoring the competition and certain keywords as well. 

"We have a designated keyword stream on Hootsuite set up primarily to Twitter-butt into conversations when appropriate and let folks know that we have the products or blog posts they may be interested in," said Jason Myers, senior account executive at The Content Factory.

"It's a tad more aggressive than we usually operate, but all's fair in love and holiday shopping." [Interested in finding the right social media management and monitoring tools for your small business? Check out our top picks.]

McDonald suggests hosting Facebook Live videos to give your followers the scoop on your deals for the holidays, what new products you have or what services you're offering. Along with Facebook Live, you should also use Facebook's events feature. 

"Create Facebook Events for any in-store events you might be hosting during the season," McDonald added. "The sooner you get these out the better, and as people begin indicating interest or attendance, more people will become aware of the event and see it in their feeds." 

Once you've hosted a live video or created an event, be sure to continue to post all your promotions on your social accounts.  "Post regularly to increase stay top-of-mind, and if you have a paid social budget, be sure to reassess your strategy for holiday," she said.  

Another great way to engage and connect with your followers is with a giveaway contest. "People can use a little help this time of year and the chance to win a big gift that someone on their wish list may appreciate is a very attractive prospect," said Myers. "For the cost of one prize and some shipping, you can also work up a frenzy among your followers as they comment and enter for their chance to win."

Introduced in 2016, Instagram Stories quickly became a popular social media tools and marketers need to take advantage of this feature this time of year.

"Stories have nearly taken over the Instagram platform with their temporary availability and features that allow for product-feed integration and swipe-up to shop, simplifying the purchase experience for users," said McDonald. "And don't forget about Highlights. Your temporary content can be saved to Highlights on your profile for the duration of the holiday season and removed come January." 

While focusing on Instagram stories doesn't mean you should forget about posting regular picture, it does allow you to supplement your content and post more frequently, McDonald suggests.

While you use social media to market your business, your followers use it to have fun and engage with their favorite brands. Eileen McGovern, search coordinator at Efferent Media, suggests being creative on social media such as running a contest, creating a holiday playlist for your business on Spotify or offer holiday tips. 

"Tips for the seasonal holidays or winter season in general make excellent social media posts," McGovern said. "Whether you are discussing holiday safety or decorating tips, the holidays are a great time to give your business a personal appearance and voice. 

When you're creating your company's social media strategy, it's important to keep in mind why customers are on the platform and avoid being too salesy. 

"Maintain some humility and gratitude," said Myers. "Be the type of business customers 'know, like and trust' and have fun with it, after all, if you're not enjoying the process others likely won't either."

Gone are the days when traditional celebrities were the exclusive sources of online influence for brands. Today, if you hang around Instagram long enough, you're bound to see brands promoting their products through "regular" people, often known as Instagram influencers.

Instagram has made it easier for brands to tap into "people with influence." Brands can now use influencers to target specific audiences that might only be accessible through Instagram.

Understandably, more brands are lining up to associate with popular social media personas. After all, for each dollar spent on influencer marketing, marketers see an average of $7.65 in earned media value returned. Plus, according to Forbes, influencer marketing is growing faster than digital ads.

While those stats speak for themselves, that still leaves us with two main questions: Why are influencers so powerful, and how do we find the right ones?

Instagram influencers are usually people who have a passion and aren't afraid to tell the world about it. By putting their passion on Instagram, they're able to shape and influence the opinions of their audience through blog posts, videos, pictures and so on.

Since modern consumers rely more on influencers' recommendations than on traditional forms of advertising, it makes good sense to find people who your prospects follow and trust, to create an audience around your brand.

In this post, we'll discuss how working with Instagram influencers can help your business see long-term returns and how to find the right influencers for your brand.

Basically, influencers on Instagram are power users who can help your potential customers make a buying decision. People usually see these people as trendsetters, experts in their niche or trusted sources of information.

The total number of followers a user must have to qualify as an Instagram influencer is subjective. It all boils down to their niche and the level of engagement (likes, comments, shares and views) they receive on their Instagram page. A brand would rather have an influencer with 5,000 engaged followers than one with 100,000 followers and little to no engagement.

Instagram influencers can be found in almost any industry or niche. They focus on food and cuisine, travel, fitness and health, sports, fashion and entertainment, business, and other popular categories. Some great examples from food and cuisine are Jamie Oliver, a popular British chef, and Kevin Curry from Fit Men Cook. In fashion and style, we have Nicolette Mason, who works with Gabi Gregg on the plus-size line Premme, and Mariano Di Vaio, a stylish Italian blogger.

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As we all know, Instagram is great for sharing photos and videos with our friends and family, but it's also become a powerhouse for influencers. In fact, it is the highest-performing platform for influencer marketing, beating out other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. With an average 3.21 engagement rate (as opposed to 1.5 percent across all social platforms), Instagram is undoubtedly the king of influencer marketing.

What's more, a recent study revealed that Instagram influencers in the U.S. earned $1.07 billion in 2017. This is projected to more than double to $2.38 billion in 2019. Also, keep in mind that Instagram boasts over 1 billion monthly active users. Enough said.

All things considered, Instagram eliminates the need for traditional advertising. In doing so, it introduces you to a new audience through a more trustworthy source – your influencer partner.  

We've established who influencers are and that your business needs an Instagram influencer marketing strategy. But you may still question why. Why are brands and online marketers so eager to work with influencers? Why do their opinions matter so much?

Instagram influencers are experts at marketing on this visual platform. Using their personal brand, products or a corporate brand, they have managed to build an audience who finds their posts engaging and eagerly consume their content on a daily basis.

These influencers also know how to tell a story, rather than just selling to their audiences. In fact, some influencers have established relationships with their followers with their stories. When an influencer is willing to share your brand's story, their followers will be ready and willing to listen.   

Considering that average people like you and me value influencers' opinions nearly as much as our friends' and families' opinions, it's easy to see why you should use influencers to get the word out about your brand or products.

Here are several reasons why Instagram influencers are so powerful.

Influencers often have a targeted following in the same demographic as your brand. Once you partner with the right influencer, you can gain access to a new audience that is otherwise difficult to reach. Some Instagram influencers have already built and established trust with the audience you're probably looking for, who are likely to be interested in your content.

Why do you think so many brands are hopping on the influencer marketing bandwagon? It's because influencers generate sales, from the moment they talk about your brand, product or service. Depending on the engagement rates of the influencer and the length of the campaign, you can start seeing upward spikes in sales almost immediately or over a few weeks. According to a study on Adweek, brands on average make $6.50 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, with the top 13 percent earning $20 for every dollar spent.

As mentioned above, consumers are more likely to trust the opinions of their peers than traditional advertising. In fact, 92 percent of people trust recommendations from individuals over brands. So, it's a no-brainer to partner with an influencer to communicate your brand message to your target audience.

It's super important to drive traffic to your website, online store or social media channels. Why? Because you want to create a profitable business. Collaborating with influencers on Instagram can drive more traffic to your platforms, which could lead to more paying customers. From the moment a potential customer sees your product on an influencer's page, they become more curious about the product and want to learn more, then possibly make a purchase.

When you decide to partner with an Instagram influencer who knows their followers, you can understand the type of audience you will reach. Whether it's fashion-driven teens, stay-at-home moms or business-minded folks, you can gain insights into the influencer's following and how to engage with them. 

Instagram influencers thrive in the digital space. As they've built their audiences, they've developed strong digital communication skills. They know how to communicate your brand's vision and message in a way their audience will engage and connect with.

Now that you know why you should be working with Instagram influencers, let's discuss how to find the right ones.

Finding the right influencers for your brand can be a challenge. The trick is to start looking among your fans. Who knows? You might find influencers who are already familiar with your brand and actually love it. Remember, the type of influencer you're looking for depends on the goals of your campaign.

Here's how to find the right Instagram influencer for your brand.

There are many different influencers on the market with different personalities and attributes. Therefore, it's important to know the exact type of influencer you are searching for.

A quick and easy way to find a list of influencers is to go straight over to Instagram and search relevant hashtags associated with your brand. Not all hashtags are created equal, so I recommend starting with ones that have a high post volume. I use a hashtag generator to find the top posted hashtags and from there will start searching the most popular posts on Instagram to find influencers who have high engagement for those posts.

You can always rely on Google as well. Just type "[your niche] influencers on Instagram" into the search bar (for example, "fashion influencers on Instagram," "top food influencers on Instagram" or "best travel influencers on Instagram").

Create a list of 10 candidates, then use the following steps to narrow it down even further.

Once you've found an influencer you're interested in, don't reach out just yet. Instead, search their names or usernames on Instagram. Ask yourself these questions:

A high engagement rate means that their followers are paying attention and acting on their content. Ideally, you want to see an engagement rate of 2-3 percent on the influencers' posts. A rate of 4-6 percent is great, while those in the high teens and 20s are considered viral.

Now that you've identified the right influencers for your brand, it's time to make contact.

As soon as the conversation feels natural, take it a step further. Take the conversation off social to an email setting. Here, you can discuss expectations for the collaboration and work compensation.  

There is no set price to work with influencers on Instagram. However, you can estimate what an Instagram post will cost by looking at various factors. According to Adweek, a general rule is to estimate the cost of one post by calculating $100 per 10,000 followers. Considering the different factors, though, your cost could be more or less.

Pricing estimates could increase based on these factors:

These are some other factors to consider:

Now that you have an idea of the costs, you can start creating your Instagram influencer marketing budget right away.

Influencer marketing on Instagram is an important tool for brands and marketers. It increases brand loyalty, trust, sales and your Instagram following. As this trend continues to grow, it's time to get involved and take your brand to the next level.

The best salespeople know they’re the best. They take pride in their art form. They separate themselves from the rest of the pack regardless of circumstance. So how do they do it? What’s their secret? Are you one of them?

I’ve spent 16 years in technology sales, with most of that spent in sales leadership at Salesforce and other technology companies. I’ve had the luxury of observing great sales professionals in tech and beyond and have observed that the top performers share some of the same patterns, habits, and characteristics. I’ve distilled them down into five major categories and have begun integrating them into my work life — practicing them, honing them, teaching them. As a result, my teams have finished consistently at or near the top of the leaderboard year in and year out. Here’s what I’ve observed:

The best salespeople own everything. I used to give a speech to new salespeople, earlier in my career, titled the “It’s your fault speech.” It was very raw and full of overconfidence (chalk it up to leadership in your twenties) but the point was simple: Your success depends on you. The sales profession exists within a meritocracy. Statistically, it is not a coincidence that the same people are at the top of the leaderboard year in and year out. Some may think it’s because certain people have it easier, or are given this, or fall into that. We all have our starting points. Regardless, the most significant difference between perennial top performers and everyone else is attitude. Elite salespeople approach their goals with a total ownership mindset. Anything that happens to them, whether or not it was their doing, is controlled by them. It may not be their fault, but it is their responsibility. In the research, psychologists call this the internal locus of control. That’s a fancy way of saying that you think the power lies inside of you instead of externally. And you know what they found? Having an internal locus of control correlates with success at work, higher income, and greater health outcomes.

https://www.tampabusinessconsulting.com/2018/12/thinking-of-going-freelance-before.html