Last Updated on Apr 15, 2020 by James W
There’s a big difference between deciding to become a freelancer and building a successful business for yourself. In fact, more than half of all freelancers fail to grow their independent business and often struggle to make ends meet throughout the year. Why do they fail to make it work? As surprising as it might sound, the primary issue doesn’t relate to your investment abilities, but more to your business acumen and branding. So if you are looking for the best way to transform your freelancing activity on the side into a performing and successful business that can help you to maintain regular cash flow, you need to give yourself the time to become the best entrepreneur you can be. You will need to build up your competences, your network and your expertise! Starting from scratch? You can give yourself up to 2 years to succeed. Here’s how to do it!
Boost your skills
Ultimately, nothing happens overnight. Building up your business acumen and learning the skills you need to succeed can take a lot of time. According to the online MBA site, most students finish their studies within 2 years. While it might sound long, students have recorded on average 64.5% increase in their earnings. However, when you start at a freelancing level, it’s likely that you will be able to double this figure as you can immediately apply your skills to improve your existing business. Ultimately, you don’t have the luxury of taking a gap year to focus on your studies. So you need to make time during your day-to-day work. Students who choose to learn and work like to get up early in the morning to make the most of the peaceful early hours of the day. Besides, it helps your mind to be alert when you actually start working!
Build up your network
You can’t meet new clients or partners if you don’t nurture a healthy professional network. It doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do. If nobody knows you, you’re not good enough! You can use the local alumni club of your MBA studies, for example, to get to meet new people with common interests. Reaching out to LinkedIn connections in a job-searching mindset can also rapidly increase your network and get you in contact with larger groups. Finally, if you’ve already identified a person of interest, you can directly ask a common contact to put you in touch, while including a blurb about yourself in the request.
Become the expert everyone wants
Blogging is the quickest way to get noticed in your area of expertise. However, quick still doesn’t mean overnight. You need to develop a professional blogging attitude to showcase your expertise. Ultimate, self-confidence is key. If you don’t write confidently, your readers will notice it and not take your words seriously. Additionally, your blog design, while it doesn’t have to be one of the most creative websites out there, should look the part. Make it neat, user-friendly and supportive of your content. And get blogging!
Two years is the time it takes to finish business studies, establish your expertise online and create a professional network to launch your independent career. So, where do you see yourself in 2020?
