Freelancing Fundamentals: How to start a freelancing business from scratch

1. Intro: Hi, Welcome to my class, freelancing fundamentals, how to start a freelancing business from scratch. In this class, you will learn what is freelancing. What you need to start a freelancing business from scratch. How to overcome your fear to start freelancing. Actually, when you are a newbie, when you want to just start freelancing from nothing, then it's your fear that hold you back. You don't know what to do. You don't know what you need. You don't know how to talk with clients. So this fear can hold you back and can never let you start your freelancing business. So in this class, I'm going to show you how you can overcome this fear. And I'll also show you how to select your niche and what are the different freelancing online business models. And finally, I'm going to share my own five-step financing method that I used for years to get clients. Okay. So I hope you will enjoy the interclass. By the way, I'm shower sugary if freelance presentation designer and graphic designer by profession and educated by patient. As a freelancer, I have worked with organizations like the World Bank style is security MAC Institute. He's a JBB. What this VIP and minimal. And I'm still a top-rated upper freelancer. So whatever I have learned in my freelancing career, I'm going to share it with you so that you can build your own freelancing carrier from nothing. Okay? So that's it. If you have any query, if you want to know more about me than you can visit my website, www.digitallygrow.com. Okay, so that's it. I hope you will enjoy the inter-class. See you inside 2. 002 What is freelancing: What is freelancing? Probably the first written evidence for the word freelance comes from sir Walter Scott's book, Ivanhoe, in which a load refers to his pay the army as freelancers. It was used to refer to a medieval mercenary or warrior who fight for whichever nation or person paid them the most. The word free means independent, and Lance means a weapon, a long one with the wooden shaft and a pointed metal head. So at the time, a freelancer was a worrier without a king. But we're not here to fight, isn't it? So what does freelancing mean to us today? At present, a freelancer means a person who is self-employed and it's not necessarily committed to a particular employee. For the long term. Freelancers work independently and are sometimes represented by a company or a temporary agency that provides freelance services to clients. So in a nutshell, freelancers are self-employed. They work independently or they work for an agency on a contract basis. And the most significant thing is that freelancers have the choice to decide what to do, with whom to work and under which conditions. Sounds awesome, right? Are you feeling excited and rushed off? I need to learn to fill us now at any cost, what do I need? Are you thinking like this? Okay, Let's answer your question. 3. 003 Know your purpose: There are three obvious elements you must have for freelancing. First is skill. Without any skill, what are you expecting to sell to your clients, right? So skills are necessary. The second thing is equipment or tools. Without any equipment, how can you do your work? You need a computer and internet connection, different software, various hardware gadgets should willing to meet with your clients a payment method to receive money and so many things, okay? And finally, you need a proven way or method of freelancing that tells you how to set up how to get clients, how to complete the project successfully, how to get payments, etc. But besides these three elements, there is one more hidden element, which is the most important one. And without this element, you will not get success ever. And what it is? It's a very simple question. You need to ask yourself even before you start thinking about freelancing. And the question is, why should I start freelancing? Or what should be my purpose for freelancing? Yes. First, you need to understand the goal of freelancing. Otherwise, there is no meaning to waste your time and effort. In my experience, I see the three most common answers to these questions. And there, I need money urgently to support my family. Or I want to start freelancing for a side income. Or I'm tired of my nine to five job and I want to get a remote job. I'm not saying those answers are wrong. And obviously it can get money or remote work by doing freelancing. But should it be your true purpose for philosophy? We will be happy forever if you get a remote job or a side income. Now, for now, this may be enough to make you happy, but with time, you will find that there are not enough in a way. Well, let me tell you. First start with the first onset. That is, I need money urgently to support my family. So where's the problems? If your goal is Argent money? Well, the truth is, you cannot earn quick money from freelancing. If you still find a way to earn quick money, you cannot do it for a long time without proper skills, dedication, and planning. I know that's the sad truth, but it's the truth. You may have seen on social media and on the internet that people start earning one to two lakh per month within a month or a week by doing freelancing. As a freelancer, you can consider me a successful freelancer. I have personally talked with many successful freelancers and none of them achieve success within a week or a month. So you have to admit that freelancing will not give you quick money. Obviously, it will make your life much easier if you can do freelancing smartly and in the right way. But if you're starting from scratch, you may need even a whole year to build a single honorable skill. Then you need to build your clients and authority. And these all require time, effort, and sometimes money also. Obviously, you can minimize the time, but that doesn't mean you can do it in a week. If you habits, skill, immune need, at least three to six months on average to get the first client. But if you have no skill at all, then it may take more time. Okay? Now, let's start with the second answer, which is, I want to start freelancing for a side income. What is the problem? If your goal is a side income? Basically, it means that you have a job already and you want to experiment with freelancing to create a new earnings source, right? There is a possibility that he could take it Caswell in that case. And that's why you may not give your full attention or time to developing the necessary skills because you already have a source of income. So why should we bother to change? Most people feared changes and most people don't want to get out of their comfort zone. It's human nature. So there's a chance that you will return to your comfort zone within a few days or months. But if you are an exception, you somehow managed to give your full attention and a lot of time to freelancing. As you are putting your maximum effort into freelancing, it may harm your current job. So your performance at your current work may fall day-by-day, which can harm your finances and religions as well, isn't it? Moreover, you will probably not earn anything quickly from freelancing. I already told you that. So you are giving you a force and time here and that you are getting nothing result, probably you will quit. Yes, it's true. People quit. You may say it's not true shower. I see people doing their jobs and freelancing successfully. Yes, it's also true. But how many people have you seen triad and how many of them finally made it? Trust me, it's very few people. I'm saying, again, the most people quit if they have a job. And do you know why? Because it's the time that people can't manage. Think you are spending eight to 10 h on jobs. You are spending five to 6 h on freelancing. What is the time for yourself and your family then? Moreover, unit time to eat, sleep, and entertain yourself, right? So if you don't know how to manage the time that can balance your jaw, family life and your efforts to learn freelancing, then you will mess up. And finally, width. I'm not telling that if you have a job, you can't freelance. Yes, you can. I also started freelancing alongside my job and I didn't quit if I could do it, you can do it too. Moreover, don't even consider quitting your job until your fillers becomes your primary source of income. All you need is a bigger goal and a better time management skills will tell you about that soon. So in short, if you have an existing job and you want only side income, your probability of failing is high. Now let's see. The final answer. That is, I'm tired of my nine to five job and I want to get a remote job. So what is the problems if your goal is to get a remote job? Well, the word job itself is a problem here. It doesn't matter whether you are doing a nine to five job or you are doing a job from home, it's still a job. And you still report to your boss, like a nine to five job. A remote job also comes with its own rules and regulations. You are just a salaried employee of the company here. The only difference is you are doing the work from your own home. Still, you need permission from your boss if you are planning a vacation, Isn't it? Furthermore, if you are doing it remote job, you usually do not receive other benefits like health coverage, PPA if bonuses, DAs, etc. Compared to a traditional job. Generally, the salary of a remote job is higher compared to a traditional job. Why? Because the company saves a lot when they hire someone remotely. They can save on offish expenses, device and accessories expenses, health coverage, and other beneficial expenses. So it's easy for them to give the remote freelancer a cut of their extra savings. And obviously, the remote freelancer will be happy as well as he or she gets more than a regular job. Many of my freelance or friends do remote just for international companies and they earn a lot more than traditional nine to five jobs. That's true. But I personally don't feel this should be the purpose of freelancing. If I'm still working under someone else's rules, then what's the point of freelancing? Even if I get better salaries? So even if a remote jobs pay is higher than a traditional jobs pay, I, as a freelancer, do not consider a remote job as the purpose of freelancing. So here comes the question again. Why should I start freelancing? Or better state? What should be my purpose for freelancing? Well, the purpose of freelancing should be to create a sustainable business. Now, what I mean by sustainable business, this means the business must run for a long time and becomes irregular income source. You are the man here who decides how to do the work with whom and under what conditions you set the price. You said the method of working, and you said the timeline. In short, you are the boss here. And the funniest thing is, as your business grows, you don't have to do all the work by yourself. You can outsource most of your workload and still make a huge profit. This means you can automate the business by equalizing people and systems. So that's what I mean by sustainable business. Long-term, regular income, full control, and business automation. As you can see, we have changed our view from an argent earning side income or remote job to a sustainable business that is profitable. Now, when you see freelancing from this perspective, perhaps there is a negative thought that comes to your mind. Oh my gosh, this is tough. It will take too much time. There is still no security and I need money to learn and develop. Maybe all my money will be wasted. Let me do what I'm doing and let's quit. Obviously, you can think that. But I'm here to tell you how you can overcome this mental barrier and start creating your freelancing business from scratch. 4. 004 Set your freelancing goals: The very first thing you need is to set your freelancing goal. You know why? Because without knowing where you are aiming, it will end up nowhere. Well, let's see how you can set your freelancing goals easily and effectively. Every time you set a freelance goal, or really any goal for yourself, you should divide it into three layers. And the very first layer of your goals should be the big one, your long-term goal. Now, what's your long-term finance goal here? Obviously, to create a sustainable freelance business, right? But if you write your goal like this, I want to create a sustainable freelancing business. Believe me, you will never reach your goal. Remember one thing. Whatever your goal is, it should be very specific. Otherwise, it is just a wish statement. Let me explain it. You wrote your goal like this. I want to create a sustainable freelance business, right? But when you read it, can you see a clear picture of what you want to achieve? Possibly not. But if you write it like this, I want to create a sustainable freelancing business so that I can earn one lakh rupees per month from January 2027. Now you see you have a clear goal. You know, what you want to achieve, that is one lakh rupees per month. You know, when you want to achieve that. That is by January 2027. And you know how you want to achieve that. That is by creating a freelancing business. Clear. So your every goal should have three aspects. What, when and how, and as long as you are extremely specific about these three aspects, no one can stop you from reaching your goal. The first layer of your goal may seem unrealistic compared to your current circumstances. Maybe your earnings that have very limited now. Maybe you live in a pathetic environment, then maybe hundreds of reasons out there and to your friends and relatives, your big goal may seem like a joke. It happens every time with everyone, I guess. And it hurts when you get humiliated by your loved ones. I'm from a very lower middle-class family, so I know how it feels when you have limited food, limited medication, limited resources, and moreover, people are always ready for Lake pooling. Let me share a story of my life. Back in 2015 when I submitted my resignation letter to my corporate job, my HR told me, where are you leaving the job? Lock command again means will earn one lac per month after leaving that job. And I'm very, very thankful to that HR today. Do you know why? Because it was that men who set a very specific word in my head, even though he probably humiliated me that time, that I vowed to earn a lac per month. This means I found my work that day. It took me three more years to find the how which is freelancing, but that's a different story. Anyway, I would like to emphasize that your family and friends can make fun of you if you tell them about your big goal. So it's better to write your big goal in a diary, notebook or whatever you think it is safe, and read it at least once a day to remind yourself what you want to see yourself after 35 or ten years and until you reach your goal, don't share it with others. That can save you from a lot of mental torture. Trust me. And I truly believe what Nelson Mandela said. It always seems impossible until it's done. Anyway. Now, let's check the second layer of your freelancing goal. To achieve you're almost impossible. Big goal, you need to set a realistic short-term goal, maybe three months, six months, or a year, then choose only one task that will help you achieve that. Be cool. And no matter what happens, you must do the task for the next three months, or six months, or one year until the task is completed. And once it is done, move on to the next desk. And trust me, once you complete one task, you will feel energetic, confident, and it will just be amazed. This is me. I can't even believe that I could do that. That's an amazing feeling. Okay, now, let's create your second layer of freelancing goals based on this idea. That is, doing one task at a time. Think properly about what you can do for the next three or six months or a year that can help you to earn one lac per month by freelancing. It may be a skill you need to learn first. It may be a business setup you need to do. It may be planned for cold calling, whatever it is, set the task, and start working on that. E.g. I'm assuming that you need to learn a skill first. So right here, go like this. I want to learn, say, PowerPoint presentation by 31st, March 2023, using a CAD program and clearly like you'd be good. Your short-term goal also has the what, when and how hear PowerPoint presentation Learning is your what? 31st, March, 2023, easier when and ACT program, easier. How? Clear then comes the last layer, which is your daily activity. This is the toughest part. The reason for that is you have to motivate yourself everyday and you have to work hard every day. So that one day, maybe even years from now, you will achieve something that seems impossible at this moment. So how can you do that? Here comes the concept of time management. You need time to do the extra work and you don't want to disturb your current job if you have one or your family life either, isn't it? So how much time do you need everyday to achieve your first short-term goal? Now, there are different theories on that, but to be honest, you don't have to spend seven or 8 h per day. If you can spend only 15 quality hours a week, that is three quality hours a day into five days. That will be enough. By quality hours. I mean, hours without distraction, without TV, without social media, without noise and chaos. I mean, anything that can distract your focus. Personally, I have been using this formula, the 3 h into five, this formula for a long time. And it performs like magic. When I started my business, I also worked for a very long time, sometimes 12 to 15 h a day. At the time, I was not organised and didn't understand the magic of tea or some quality time per day. Once I realized its power, it changed my way of working and life as I have sufficient clients and regular earnings from freelance work currently. So I blocked 15 h per week to learn a new skill or create a course for you. And I try my very best to string those 3 h at the beginning of my day so that I can enjoy the rest of my day. Now, you may not have that much time per week. Maybe you are extremely busy. Okay. In that case, try to work at least 10 h per week and 2 h a day is a very possible time block without disturbing your other work. Now, you may say, No, I don't have 2 h per day. Please don't give me any excuse. Probably e-waste more than 2 h a day on social media only? Yes, it's true. On average, people in India spend 4.5 h or more on smartphones. Want to test how much time you spend on social media for nothing. Okay, let's do it. Open your smartphone. If it is Android, then there will be a wide get called digital well-being. It will show you how much time you spend on your phone on a daily basis. It also shows which apps you spend the most time on. If you don't find that we'd get. You can download and install any app that tracks your smartphone activity and then check your last report. You will be shocked. Anyway. Now, you know how much time you need per day. I suggest 15 h per week, if not possible, then at least 10 h per week. Once you've set your time, then ask this question to yourself everyday before starting your work. And the question is, what is the one thing I can do today to achieve my second layer goal? So that by doing that, I will ask my first layer and your answer may look like this. I learned 3 h of presentation design today to become a master presentation designer. And by doing that, I will earn one lakh rupees per month by January 2027. And before you go to bed, ask yourself, did I do my one thing today? Maybe you can't make it every day. Missing one or two days occasionally is okay. But don't lose the track. That's why I target 15 h per week so that if I miss a day, I can do double work on any other day of that week. I suggest you practice this time block method for the next one month. Initially, it will be difficult. For the majority of the week. You probably won't reach your target, but day-by-day, you will get used to it. And the day or week, you complete your task, you will feel excited, accomplished, and full of energy. Trust me, you feel confident and amazing. So that's it. This is how you can set your goal and make a balance. If you still have a job, you just need ten to 15 h a week. That is two to 3 h a day. And if you can spend that time today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, you can simply quit your job one day and do what you love to do. So we have learned about the hidden element of freelancing, and that is knowing the purpose of freelancing and how to set goals 5. 005 Finding a demanding skill: Now let's take three obvious elements, which are skills, equipment, and method. Let's start with the skill first. There is no point in going out for freelancing without having any skill at all. You don't have any skill, so you are not ready to do anything. Now, MAC thousands of videos on YouTube or social media about making money from freelancing. Most of the videos have catchy titles like on $8,000 per month from Upwork or I made $100 in an hour from freelancing or how to earn $1,000 per month by doing only copy paste jobs and so on. To be honest, most of the videos are literally nonsense talking. And many of the video creators don't have any experience in this field at all. Thus, if you think that without skill, you can earn enough money from freelancing, it won't work. Actually. There is no shortcut. It never was. Yes, it is possible to earn money from freelancing even if you have no working experience at all. But it doesn't mean you don't need any skill. You must have some skills to be a successful freelancer. If you don't develop a skill first. And to develop a skill, you don't need years. As I said earlier, by spending two to three quality hours daily, you can learn a skill up to beginner level within a few weeks. And with this skill, you can start your freelancing journey as a fresher. Now comes the obvious question. Which skill should I develop to be a freelancer? Well, you can choose anything, but you need to check two things while selecting any skill for learning. First thing is, do you like the subject or skill? And this skill be in demand five or ten or 15 years from now, you start learning something you don't like. You will probably quit very soon. But sometimes it becomes a really difficult to pinpoint 40 really like. So in that case, the easiest way is to write down as many skill as possible on paper. And then you can choose one from that big list. Now the shorting process may vary on different factors. I usually use a method which you can apply to find that right skill for yourself. And to do it, you need to answer these four questions. Number one, for the last 30 days, which topic they do search on the internet or talk to others about the most. Number two, are you talking or searching for the topics only because you heard you can earn good money if you can develop that skill. Number three, are you talking about searching for the topic because you want to do great work influenced by someone else who is already a muster up that particular topic. Number four, does your education or existing qualification relevant to your selected topic? Well, the answer to the first question will help you narrow down your long list, which shorter one? The second question is a bit tricky. Sometimes we hear or see someone else who aren't a lot of money. And without thinking is thinking, we start learning what he or she is doing. Even we don't have an interest in that subject. In that case, we are totally money driven. And when you are only thinking about money, it is likely you will fill and be disappointed soon. It happens. I have done it myself several times and every time I did something driven by money or grid, I failed. I lost thousands in stock markets, millions in the restaurant business, lacks in the real estate. And the list is pretty long. It all happened because I didn't love those areas. I just tried to become rich quickly or was influenced by someone else. Each time I tried, I failed. Finally, I figured out what I truly love and I have stuck to it since 2018. And when I choose what I love, the magic happened, what I could not make it. 12 years happened in the past three to four years in a blink. So whatever you are doing, make sure you are enjoying it. Otherwise, it will have been in vain, okay? Anyway, the answer to the third question can identify your interest. And finally, the fourth question. Test your sprint. Though. The fourth question is optional. Now, let me give you an example of how you can find a valuable skill for yourself. Suppose Tina is a recent pass out and have subject was economics. And she has an interest in various aspects of a business. And she wants to be a freelancer, but she doesn't know what skills she can develop for freelancing. So she writes down, all had interest on a page. And suppose it is like this business proposal, writing a resume, writing business plan design Dig design, digital marketing, digital specialist, business analysis, social media marketing, business final design, affiliate marketing, and copywriting. So Tina has a list now. Now she checked out his YouTube search history and browser history. And remember what she talked about with our friends the most in the last 30 days. And based on that, she chose five skills. Those are the resume writing, business plan design, pitch deck design, digital marketing, and affiliate marketing. Then she examined what topics she viewed due to some influence or claiming they would lead to a lot of money. And she finds out to skills. And those are digital marketing and affiliate marketing. So she cuts these two topics from a list as those are many different thoughts and activities not driven by her own interest. And she also find that in the last 30 days, she searches how to videos on copywriting and business plan design the most. Also, she found that she had some special classes on business plan making, which means she's familiar with it. So finally, she selects business plan design and she starts developing skills on that topic. You can do the same process to find your own skill. Now here comes the question. Is it necessary to match the topic with your academic qualification? Dancer is a big no. If you don't love your academic studies. I am personally from a mathematics background, but I do presentation and pitch deck design as a freelancer. And I did not choose this only for money. I remember when I did my job in my leisure time, I mostly spent my time watching video tutorials on business presentations and graphic design. That is what I love. As a matter of fact, I switched from one needs to enter the several times, but all of them are somehow related to design and business. Therefore, it does not matter what background you came. The only thing that matters is whether you love the subject or not. If yes, then you are good to go. One of my friends is a successful 3D animator from an engineering background. And other friend also became a watercolor artist, but he's subject to as literates. Yet. Another friend is a web developer, but was a student of electrical engineering. And I know it's 3D texture artist from my old office who worked as a service stuff in our company. He learned 3D texturing just by seeing each other's work, standing over their shoulders and later became the team leader of that texturing department. So interest is the most important factor, whatever you are choosing. And remember, in freelancing, you have complete freedom to change the subject anytime. Sometimes you will find a niche that seems very interesting to you at that time. But after some time, it may feel very dry to you, so you can skip and go for the next one, okay? And once you finally choose your skill based on your interest, check if the skill will be in demand in the next five or ten years or not, don't learn something that can give you a long-term business. Obviously, you can learn any low-demand topic only for fun or as a hobby. But we adhere to build a business. So you must consider the demand as well. Here is a list of long-term demanding skills you can develop as a freelancer. I hope this list will help you a lot. Talking creative field, you can select Graphic Design, presentation and pitch deck design, branding, website design and development, UI and UX design, product design, explainer, video design, whiteboard, animation, voiceover, artist, Fashion Designing and photography. If you like, business and marketing, then you can select digital marketing, social media manager, virtual assistant, project management, data analyst, facebook or Google ad Specialists, lead generation, funnel building, business automation, accounting and bookkeeping. And if you love to write, then you may choose content writing or copyrighting or business plan and report writing. Well, besides the list, there are hundreds of demanding skills you can find your own based on your interest. Okay. Now, here comes the protein for you. Try to be a specialist rather than a general freelancer. E.g. it's better to be a WordPress website developer. Then it will say development. It's better to be a specialist than a graphic designer. It's better to be click funnel specialist then digital marketer. Because becoming a specialist always help you to get more fees compared to a general freelancer. Now here comes another pro tip for you. As you are planning to work with international clients, you need to develop your communication skills and there is no exception or alternative to that. You must have to develop your English skill. It doesn't mean you need to learn an American accent or a British accent. No You need to understand what your clients are saying. So develop your listening skill. You need to understand your project briefs. So double up your reading skill. You need to communicate via e-mails and texts. So develop your writing skills. And finally, if you are a virtual assistant or project manager or something else that requires a lot of talking with customers and clients, then you need to develop your speaking skills. You can develop your listening and speaking skills by watching English movies series a, news. You can develop your reading skills by reading English books, articles, and newspapers. And for writing skills, you need to practice writing. Also, you can use an app like Grammarly that can correct your spelling and grammar mistakes. I personally use grammarly for years. It is an awesome app for good writing. You can download the grammarly air from their website. That is www.grammarly.com. It's free. It has a premium version though, but free version just work absolutely fine. Or you can just use a Chrome extension for Grammarly. I personally use the Chrome extension. Anyway. We have a brief overview of skills. Now, we're about to check the next necessary element, which is equipment or tools. Now, as we're going to do online freelancing, so we must have a laptop or PC and an Internet connection, preferably broadband, high-speed. Now, what type of laptop or PC do need? What should be the configuration? It depends on what you are planning to do. If you are a 3D artist, then you need a high configuration PC to run SAP the like, pretty Max, Maya or ZBrush. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to render elements. Same thing for video editing or video compositing. For web development or programming, you may not need that high NPC, but for coding to monitors, preferable one is a vertical monitor and the other is a normal horizontal monitored for writing or digital marketing. Normal configuration PC will do just fine. So it completely depends on your work. But if you have a tight budget, you can start with a digital computer with minimal configuration. As your earnings grow, you can update your computer parts. I suggested desktop computer because the parts of a laptop or competitively high in price, okay? Besides the PC and Internet connection, you may need various harder gadgets, software subscriptions, websites and other services. But right now, you don't have to worry about all of those. As your business grows. It can bind is three things, one by one when needed. Okay, So that's it. Now, we are about to learn the final element, which is a proven way or method to start freelancing 6. 006 Undersatnding online freelacing business models: There are two popular and proven ways to do online freelancing. Number one, doing freelancing, freelancing marketplaces. And number two, doing freelancing via your own funnel or website or social media by cold calling or cold emailing or cold messaging. Oh my gosh, I need a website. I need to learn marketing. Please. Don't get scared. You don't need a website, or you even don't need to learn marketing. A basic understanding of marketing is sufficient to attract clients. I'm about to tell you that. But before going through those steps, Let's take a look at how you can get clients from freelancing marketplaces. So what is a freelancing marketplace? If freelance marketplace? Is it two-sided platform where companies are clients can find and hire individual or specialist or freelancers for specific jobs. And in turn, finance specialists can apply for those open positions if their skill match requirements. Okay. In short, this is a place where clients post a job and freelancers apply for that job, then the client selects one or sometimes multiple freelancers for the job. Freelancer does the job and gets paid by the client. Simple. But as the freelancers and clients are connected by the freelance marketplace. So the freelance marketplace gets a commission from both parties. Clear. Now, there are many legit fillers marketplaces online, the two biggest and most popular marketplaces or Upwork and fiber. Besides these two, there are also many online marketplaces where you can get class. Here are some examples like freelancer.com, people per hour.com, 99 designs.com, guru.com, free up dotnet, top tilde.com. Every website has its own rules and regulations. If you want to work with any of them, you need to follow its rules. Okay? So if you want to work via marketplaces, go to their website and create a profile as a freelancer, don't create your profile as a client and then start finding your clients. Now, you may ask how to create a profile. Well, as I said before, it's different for different sites. So it's difficult to show you how to create a profile for each and every site. You will find hundreds of free how-to videos on YouTube about this topic, okay? But before creating your profile on any freelancing marketplace, make sure you follow these three rules. Otherwise it will be difficult to withdraw your hard earned money from those websites. Okay? So first rule is use your name, date of birth, and other information as per any of your government issued ID like a passport, motor id, other car driving license, PAN Card, etc. Why? Because most freelancing marketplaces verify if freelancers identity via a video call or by taking a deep groups. And if you fail to verify yourself, all your payments will be blocked and you may even be blocked by the marketplace, okay? So do not use any fake name or do not give any fake information. Number two, make sure your bank account has the same name as per the government issued ID you submit to the marketplace. It's a very common problem even today, I see the name of a man on his voter ID, say bunkers Kumar rye, and his bank account name is only pumpkins die. Probably you also know about this kind of problem. So makes sure your bank account name and your ID name are the same. Because if they're not, you can't link your bank account to your profile to withdraw your money, okay? Now, rule number three, make sure you have a pen card. If you don't have a pen card or ten number, you may be charged an extra ten per cent. As tedious. You can get your money back after you submit your IT written. But you can avert this hassled by creating a packet at the beginning. Now it is, making it PAN Card is very easy. It may cost you rs200-500 if you pay some agency or shop that helps people to make a new packet. So make sure you follow the three rules while creating your profile on any marketplace. Now, let's check out how the marketplace works. I already said that it's difficult to show you all of the marketplace one-by-one. Here we will have a very quick tour on Upwork. Okay, so let's start. Here is the upper side, upwork.com, you see. And to create a profile or to work as a freelancer, you need to sign up. So just click on the Sign Up button here. And you see here is a option called, I'm a client hiring for a project and I'm a freelancer looking for work So you need to select this one and click on apply as a freelancer. Now, you need to put your name, first name, and last name, make sure that your real name as per your government issued ID, then your e-mail and set a password, and then it country. Okay? And once it is done, then click on Create My Account, or you can just continue with your Google account. Anyway. When you put all these information here and click on Create My Account, then Upwork will give you another faced with a very long list. There, you will have to put your name, your address, your skill, what you want to sell to your client, your portfolio items and everything. So you have to put all this information, actually the right information. And once you are done, then you have to submit your application for approval. Upwork will check your profile and if they feel you are eligible, then they will approve you and you can work on this marketplace. Okay? I actually also started freelancing via these marketplace Upwork, losing everything in a restaurant business in 2017, Upwork become my main source of income. It saves my life and so I'm thankful to Upwork anyway. I already have a account here. Let's enter to my account. So you see here is my Upwork profile. Upwork profile looks like this. Now, if I click here on my name, is C. This is how my profile looks like. Okay. So here is the preferred title. What I do, This is my hourly rate and this is all about my bio. So what kind of work I do and everything, what kind of service I provide, everything is there in this middle section. Then comes the work is to miss whatever job or project I did in upward, it will show in this section. And you see, this is a job I completed. And here is the client's feedback, and here's the amount I aren't from this job and how much dollar I charge per hour for this project, etc. This is another one, this is another one. And then comes my portfolio section. Here you will find all my portfolio items and then my skills. Now, here comes the product catalog. It is actually Alexa gigs means I already created some offer. So when client CDs, gigs, if any client, like any good, suppose one client need a poster, and if he or she lives this gig, then he or she can buy this gig. So in that case, they have to pay me first and then I'll start the work. Okay. So that's it. And then some certification and then my employment history and then other experiences. So this is how you need to create your profile. But when you are very new, obviously, your work history will be empty because you haven't any work done yet with any client. So this will be empty. This is okay. But you can put your portfolio, you can put your skill. You can put some project catalog, you can put some certificate if you have any. You can put employment histories. You can put other experiences. And most important thing is you need to put the title very carefully. You need to Sit your bio very carefully. And here you can set your languages and education, etc. You see my phone number and ID is verified, as I told you earlier, marketplace verify your ID. So my idea is verified here. And here are some talent clouds options. These are actually optional whenever new, you will not find this. Now, if you are very new, then this talent cloud is not for you. Actually, Upwork has some enterprise clients means very big companies like 500 Fortune companies, like companies that makes billions or millions years. When this kind of company highest you, then you will get a talent cloud batch. So I worked with 1234 big companies in upper. That's why there are for talent clouds here. One is Stanley Black and Decker Company. One is, you know, he touchy energy anyway. And you see here comes my total earnings, total jobs, total hours I have worked with, and so on, so on. So whenever you are submitting your profile for approval, make sure you put your title, you put your bio, you put your profile image, and your Portfolio items skills very carefully. Because if you miss any of this, even if you don't put your portfolio items or if you don't put your skills, maybe your application will reject, okay, and you will not get the chance to work inside upward. And whenever a new comer, then you will not get any kind of badge. And day after day when you get clients. So when you get earnings, then you will get different kinds of batch. Now, you see I made top-rated Upwork Freelancer. This is my batch. And there are different types of they're like uprising talent, like expert baited, like a top rated plus, etc. Okay, so that's it. That's the general overview of your profile. If you want to work in upward. And now let's see how to find your client. So go to find work and click on Find Work. Now you see there are a hundreds of jobs posted by different clients. So select any job. You feel you are eligible to apply for the job, e.g. suppose select this one. And if you think, yes, you can create a website, you read the job description first and if you feel is I'm confident I can do that work. Then click on submit a proposal, and then you have to submit the proposal. You can put your bead here. Client's budget is $1,500. You can put more or less whatever you want. Say $1,300 is your bid, and then it's your cover letter or your proposal. And here, clients ask you some questions, you need to answer all of the courses. Also, you can put some attachment or portfolio samples if you want to. And when you are done, then you need to click on Send button. Okay? So that's it. That's how you can apply for a job inside Upwork. Okay. Actually, I use Upwork very rarely at present, but still I aren't a reasonable income from Upwork. Let me show you if I go to my stats option. If say, this is my job success score, 100% job success score. And this is my last 12-month earning, $4,166. Now let me calculate it. So 4,166 upper carnivorous takes 20 per cent from your earnings. But most of my clients are long-term clients. So in my case, it is ten to 12% on evidence. So let me -12 per cent from here. So I will get 88 per cent on average. So it will be 88 per cent equals to $3,666. Now, the dollar to Indian rupees conversion rate is average 75 if I take it. So it will this amount and if I divide it by 12, so it is almost 22,900, almost 23,000 per month, even if I'm not working on Upwork very much. Okay. So yes. You can also earn a good amount from freelancing marketplace, okay? Anyway, you know, understand that the freelancing marketplace can be a source of income, right? Obviously, there are some significant advantages if you freelance via a freelancing marketplace. Firstly, you don't have to search for clients randomly. Clients are already in the marketplace and searching for freelancers, all you need to do is beat and get the job. Secondly, you don't have to worry about the payment. Freelance marketplace companies handle Payment processing various smoothly. All you need to do is link your bank account or any other withdrawal method to your marketplace profile. Previously, clients had the option not to pay before the work was done. But fillers, marketplaces like Upwork, now take the money from the client first. So even if your client becomes silent or things go south, you will get your payment. Okay? Thirdly, you don't need to create a website. You can use your freelance marketplace profile as your portfolio. And finally, you can convert your freelance marketplace clients to your own clients later. But there are also some advantages you need to consider. The first one is financial. Most freelance marketplaces take ten to 20 per cent on average of your earnings as their fee. That's a huge amount. If you can build your own clients, then you can easily save this ten to 20 per cent earning, isn't it? Secondly, any freelance marketplace usually connects you and your clients, right? Remember, freelance marketplace, like Upwork or fiber or whatever it is, you are just it third party. It's obvious. They're getting commissions from your runnings, but still it is their own business. So they have their complete authority to change their policies at anytime they want and they can throw you out anytime if they feel you are not obeying the rules. Throwing you out, maybe done for no reason at all, or for political reasons as well. E.g. we can take the Russia, Ukraine, war that began on 20th February 2022. We humans still fight in the 21st century. That is unbelievable. Anyway, upward made the decision to suspend all business operations in Russia and Belarus. And the full effect of the suspension to force by May 1, 2022. It means all Russian freelancers who are completely or partially dependent on Upper have lost their business and their income. Now the filibuster did not violate any of our purse rule directly, right? But they have still been suspended because of the political decisions made by their country's leaders. So it may happen to you any day, anytime it may be cast out for any reason. So my suggestion is, never depend only on the freelance marketplace ever. It may cause you heavy loss. You must build your own clients and business alongside your freelancing marketplace business. Clear. Now comes the most interesting part, and that is how to build your freelancing business from scratch using social media or a website by cold calling or e-mailing. Okay? 7. 007 My 5 step freelancing system for getting clients: Well, I personally use the five-step model for my freelancing business. Did I invent this modal window? No, obviously not. I didn't invent this model. I just modify it as per my requirements. And basically, most solar freelancers or freelancing agencies somehow use that same model. Yes, there may be some additional layers and some different approaches, but the basics are almost the same. So first the model, well, the very first step is to create an offer. An offer about your surfaces, what you can do for your clients, and once you offer is ready, then put a CTA on it. Now, what's the CTA? Ct stands for? Call to action. It means telling your prospective client what to do exactly and what is the exact thing here. You need to tell your client. It is to schedule a meeting with you. That's simple. So in short, the first step would be to create an offer with a CTA so that your prospective clients can she do the meeting with you? Okay. Now comes the second step, which is to find your prospective clients and drive them to your offer page. Now the question is from where you can get the prospective clients. Obviously, you cannot tell everyone about your surfaces. You need to find some people who may interested in new services and may need your service. So where do you find them? You can find them on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. I personally use LinkedIn for my prospective clients. And if you have an agency or if you have enough money, then you can run some ad campaigns on Facebook, YouTube, Google, or Bing to get your prospective clients. But if you are new, I never suggest you to run any ad campaign. I personally never use ad campaigns for finding any of my clients. Anyway. Now, think what happens when you drive your prospective clients to your offer page. Some of them will see your offer page and skip. The very natural. However, some will follow your CTA and she do a call with you. What you need to do is to attend the discovery call, which is step number three. And in that call, you have to prove that you are worthy. You need to give you a prospective clients some real reason to work with you. So in short, the third step is to attend the discovery call she told by your prospective clients and persuade them to buy your service. Okay. Now comes step number four, which is sending the client your final proposal. Here you need to explain how it will work, when it will deliver the project. How many divisions will you do? What will be the cost of the project, how we want to get paid, etc. Now, here comes two possible outcomes. One, the client accepts your proposal and wants to hiring. That's what we want, isn't it? Anyway, if the client accept your proposal, then you need to send invoice and contract, then start the work and complete it, and then get the rest of your payment. And finally, ask your client for feedback, okay? But many will not accept your proposal. You may hear no directly from your prospective clients. It is very natural, don't get disappointed. It happens. But sometimes your prospective clients do not respond to your proposal. Then what? In that case, you need to send them three to four follow-up e-mails are usually sent three follow-up emails. Rarely it is for but no more than that. So if they still don't respond to any of your follow-up emails. It means this is a no. So stop following up and go for the next one. But if the answer then DPDT the top section. Okay. I mean, sending invoices and contracts, doing the work, getting paid and asking for feedback. So that's your step number five, which is finalizing the deal. That's all my friend. This is the model I have used for years and it helped me to scale my business 0-6 figures per month in just three years. And I know I will scale up to seven figures a month, and I have no doubt about that. Anyway. I hope you understand the model. Please remember this diagram strongly because this is the base of your future business. The stronger your best is the most sustainable will your business B? Now let's check each step a little deeper. So the very first step is to create the offer with city. Offer means what your services are and how they can help your clients. When you're new, you're offer maybe a simple message you sent via LinkedIn or Facebook. It could be a simple e-mail or it could be your website where you describe your offer and whatever media you are using. Linkedin, e-mail, or a website, makes sure there is a CTA. And what's the city again? It is simply asking the client to shoudl a discovery call with you. Discovery calls or meetings where you and your prospective clients can know each other before starting work together. I personally prefer video calling so that the clients can see my face as well as I can see them. Talking face to face on video calls builds more trust compared to an e-mail or message. Because people often get fake emails and message, even the profiles people see on the internet, maybe fake. But when you are on a video call, your prospective clients start to trust him. They think, yes, it's a real person I'm talking with. That's why I always prefer video calling and I suggest you to do so. Let me show you quickly what an offer with a CTA, it looks like. Well, this is a screenshot from my LinkedIn message. You see, I sent an offer to the prospective client like this. Hi Cynthia. A quick intro. I help people creating powerful presentations and graphics for their businesses. Would you be interested in a free design consultation with me? You can check out the link if you want. And then I put a link to schedule a call with me. Then I wrote either way heavy created, that's it. Very simple. And in answer, Cynthia said, please contact. And then she gave me her e-mail ID and set up an appointment. Thank you. Okay. And then we proceed via e-mails. So that's what an offer may look like to your clients. And you don't need a fancy watch that for that, your LinkedIn profile is sufficient for a start. I also started where social media, mainly LinkedIn, up to two years of freelancing. I created my website when I thought is I can now afford a website because, you know, creating a website and maintaining it is costly. Okay. Now let me show you what my website offers looks like. On my website. My offer is like this. Design, engaging and impactful presentation plus compelling visuals for your business. Then there is a prominent green button that displays book a free consultation, which is actually the CTA that tells prospective clients to schedule a meeting with me, simple and offer with a city. Okay. So let's go to the next step. Now. It's time to find prospective clients. And how can we do that? I already told you that you can do it using social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. Or you can do it through at campus or e-mail campus, or you can hire professionals to generate leads for you. Here, leads refers to your prospective clients. Remember, running an ad campaign or hiring professionals, requests money and expedience. Think for a second. You had some professionals to generate leads for you or you run an ad campaign and you get 100 possible lists within three days, you experienced enough to manage 100 clients at once. Can you make ten to 15 final details after talking with those 100 people? So before spending your money, makes sure you have the required skill and experience. So my suggestion is to start small, such manually for prospective clients daily. I suggest you do it by yourself. You will gain experience this way actually. And as your business grows, you can let it create a website or an ad campaigns, hire professionals and everything you want. But if you want to start solo, then start small and do the work yourself. Personally, I have not run any heirs or hired a professional for generating lists. Maybe I will do this later in future. Anyway, let me show you real quick how you can use LinkedIn for searching for perspective clients, okay, well, when you open your LinkedIn profile, there is a search box. Just type here what kind of clients you were looking for. Suppose you want to work with coaches. So type your coaches and press Enter. And you see here are some filter. So select people first. There are different kinds of options, jobs, post companies, we are looking for pupils. So obviously, you need to select people and click on All Filters. And from here, you can filter your search, e.g. if you want to work only with the United States client, then select United States from location. And if you want to target any particular industry, then you can select it from here. E.g. I want to select the coaches. So this one, professional training and coaching, this one. And select the language, English. And you can select any categories from here. Suppose consulting, coaching and mentoring leadership development. And then put a keyword in the title section. Maybe you want to talk to the CEO of companies or the hiring manager or the owner. So type the title here, say C, E 0 in the Q&A section, and then click on Show results And you see, this one is a CEO and executive and Katie or coach. This is founder and CEO, executive and leadership coach. This is President and CEO executive coach at MDI Consulting and so on, so on. So now if you think any of them, maybe your prospective client, then just click on that title and check what are they doing actually. So you see, this is the details. Ceo, coach help private practice owners scale their practice for gold sustainability and profit and statistics. So here you find an email id or website, or Instagram profile and Facebook page. Everything is there. So you can mail her your offer. You can Mrs. your offer via LinkedIn, you can miss it. Your offer by Facebook, whatever it is. So this is how you can search your prospective clients via LinkedIn. Okay? So let's go to the first step. The step three is very crucial. The prospective client has already schedule a call with you. You just need to add in the call with full confidence. The more confident you are in this step, the greater your chances of getting the job. You have to prove to your prospective client that you are confident, you know your work very well and you have the ability to solve the client's problem, okay? So that's the most important step. Anyway, I use Calendly as my shielding app and June for video calling. The most interesting part is that you can link your Zoom with Calendly. Clients will receive an automatic June link when they book a call with you. Awesome stuff. You can create a Zoom account from zoom.us, this website. And you can create a calendar icon from calendar.com website. You can use Zoom and Calendly for free, free versions of these two apps are absolutely fine. And you can use your Google account for creating both Calendly and do macros. Let me show you real quick how Calendly shuttling works. Okay. Well, this is my shuttling page. And you see the left side, I put the title 30 min three design consideration, whichever. And here is the steps, how the client can, there should be links. So select a date from the calendar, then select a suitable time you want to talk and click on the Confirm button. Now, fill up the details in the best way possible so that we can keep the discussion definitive and to the point and hit the ship live in button. That's it. I'm super excited to talk to you soon. So this is an instruction to the client how to children the call. Now, you see the right side, there is a calendar. You see there are 1234 days in September month, if any, client, what bouquets she told me, the client need to click on any debt like this and then select a time slot from here. And then click on Confirm. And then the client should put the name here, e-mail ID here, and then the client need to answer the following questions, okay? And once the questions are answered, then the client can click on shuttle event. So this is how you can create an event using Galilee. Okay, now comes the step number four. Step four is the easiest step. Based on your discovery call. You did in step three, send your client a detailed proposal. In your proposal mentioned how we want to work on the particular project. What do you need from your clients to start the project? How much time it may take, the price, how your client should pay you, how to sign the contract, etc. Remember, you don't need to include all the points in your proposals. You may use some of them or all of them based on your discovery call. Let me give you an example. So here is a proposal. I sent you a prospective client based on our discovery call. I wrote it like this. Hi, Dennis. It was lovely talking to you over Zoom dated April 2022. To recap, here are the main points we discussed. You need a one-page Insight paper that describes your quality and service as a speaker. You need it for both print and digital media. To start the project. I need the falling from your rent, your brand guideline, your company logo, high-risk PNG or the vector file, the copy, the rap copy will also work for quotation. Some examples to like, once I get all the information from you, I will send you a code. And if we agree to work together, I will send you a PayPal invoice for 50 per cent of the project. Once this is paid, I will start your work and send you the files within the deadline decided by us. The rest amount will be paid by you. Once the project is completed So if you have any follow-up questions, then please feel free to ask them in this email thread, I'm always here to help looking forward to working with you real soon. Thanks. I didn't get enough information about the project on our discovery call. I could not give her an exact code. However, I mentioned what I need to start and how I wish to be paid based on your discovery call, you need to customize your own proposal. Okay? So let's go to the final step. Now. If your prospective clients gives you the green signal, means the clients accept your proposal, then send the client that contract paper. You can use hello sign for sending e contracts. I used to sign contracts at the beginning, but now I stopped doing that because I see a lot of clients stay back to read the long contact paper and that's why many times they don't want to proceed. So now I leave it to the clients. If they want me to sign a contract or India from their end, I do it. However, I do not propose the client sign a contract from mind. Instead, I take 50% upfront before beginning the project and then take the rest 50 per cent when the project is completed, but before the final Pfizer delivered. So it's up to you if you want to send the client contact paper to sign. If you don't, I personally feel it boring for clients to read a very long legal contact paper and assign it? My intention is to make client's life easy, not complicated. Anyway, you should ask for some money upfront once the deal is done, I always recommend taking a percentage before beginning the project. I usually take 50 per cent. But if you are a newbie, clients may not want to pay you upfront. In many cases, they don't even want to give you the project. So to build trust and authority, I suggest you do some free projects, maximum three projects, not more than that. In exchange for positive reviews from your clients. Once you have some review to show, stopped doing free work. I know starting is always difficult, but it's not impossible. So that's it. Now you get your project. Do more than your best so that the end results make your clients so happy, so happy that they can't think of anyone else for similar projects. Remember, your quality of services holds your clients for a long time and if they're happy, they will bring more clients to you. You don't even have to search for clients. Anyway. Now, what if your prospective client doesn't respond to your proposal? Well, in that case, sent him or her a maximum of three to four follow-up emails, then move on to the next prospect if you don't receive a response. Well, so that's all about the five-step freelancing business model. I hope you have an idea now about freelancing and how it works, right? Okay, my friend, That's all for now. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best. Take care.