How To Start Freelancing With No Experience: A Beginner’s Guide

How To Start Freelancing has become an increasingly popular question many want to learn about. It’s because people desire work-life balance and the flexibility that freelancing brings. It also allows people to dictate how much time they want to allot for work, where, and when they want to work. And how much they want to earn on a monthly basis.

People who have been freelancing for quite some time can earn between $2,000 to $8,000 per month. The pay depends on how many hours they put in every week. It also depends on the number of clients they have and the complexity of their tasks or skills.

In the Philippines, $2,000 is more than enough to live comfortably. Filipino’s monthly minimum wage is only close to $300 (PHP15,000). In reality, young professionals won’t be able to earn as much as $2,000 per month in the first five years of their career in the corporate world.

So, gone were the days when freelancing was only recommended to single moms or full-time moms with kids. Even young professionals want to know how to start freelancing. Many want to shift from corporate to work-from-home jobs. The demand for a more flexible work life, the congestion, and the inflation rate push Filipinos to work from home. It’s more economical and less stressful. Many millennials also prefer freelancing because it allows them to pursue their hobbies without sacrificing the chance to earn more.

It’s the same in the US and other first-world countries. Startups, freelancers, and home-operated businesses are now dominating the jobs sector. In 2017, a survey conducted by Freelancers Union and giant freelance platform UpWork predicted that by 2027, 50% of the US population will be freelancing.

So, if you’re interested in kickstarting your freelancing career but don’t know where to start, read on. I will answer the basic questions about how to start freelancing. We will clarify the common misconceptions about the freelancing industry.

Am I qualified to freelance?

Yes. Everyone is qualified to do freelance work. The complexity of finding the right job/client can discourage some and make them quit. But as long as you have the skills and the willingness to work hard, you can absolutely work from home or be a freelancer.

Most clients don’t care about which university you graduated from as long as they have the necessary skills. And you don’t even need to have technical skills. I, for one, started my freelancing career with only my English skills backing me up. Yes, I did have work experience, but those years I spent in the corporate world didn’t count much.

You have to make your clients feel they can count on you 100%. Show them you’re willing to step up and do what it takes to care for their business. I should say that the key to being a successful freelancer is having the right attitude and a positive mindset. You can learn the skills you need along the way. But having a great attitude is what will help you get more clients.

I don’t have a computer, can I work using my mobile device?

You can in very rare cases, but I don’t think it will hurt if you invest in a laptop. Just think of it as an investment when you’re applying for office-based jobs (fare and allowance). Many want to learn how to start freelancing but are unwilling to invest in the right equipment. Learn to accept the fact that choosing the right weapon is vital to the success of your freelancing career.

This is why I always recommend saving enough money on a laptop. Always ensure you have spare cash to pay for a reliable internet connection before leaving your corporate job.

If you’re currently jobless because you decided to give up on your toxic boss or if you can’t take one more hour stuck in traffic, then I’d assume you have friends or family members whom you can borrow a laptop from or who’d be willing to lend you money. If there’s a will, there’s a way, right?

I started my freelancing career using a 7-year-old desktop, but I couldn’t stand how it froze up every minute. Because of this, I asked my sister to pay for my laptop. I paid her after saving enough money and that’s within 6 months.

Can you give me a job? It’s hard to find clients.

No. I can’t. Unless my client asks me to find someone with similar skills, I cannot give you a job.

This is what’s great about freelancing. Most people you will work with are trained to find solutions to problems, even if that means they must go the extra mile. Don’t decide to become a freelancer if you expect people to spoon-feed you. You have to figure things out on your own. If you have an internet connection, do a Google search. Your questions are just a few clicks and a few taps away. Be resourceful; it will greatly help you learn how to start freelancing. There are lots of job ads you can apply to. I guarantee you won’t run out of jobs to apply to, even if you only have one marketable skill.

There’s nothing wrong with asking people to give you a job if you really need one. But don’t rely on your fellow freelancers to look for a job that suits you or refer you to their clients. You need to also exert extra effort in finding clients of your own. Doing so will help you grow and communicate confidently with potential clients.

Reputation is critical when you’re a freelancer. We wouldn’t dare refer anyone who isn’t skilled enough to do the job just for the sake of helping someone out. Unless the work is as basic as data entry, we cannot trust anyone to do the job at the level we want it to be done. So again, I can’t give you a job. I can guide you on how to start freelancing and share some tips to boost your career, but the rest is up to you.

Where can I find clients?

There are a lot of platforms you can join to find clients to work for. The most well-known platforms are UpWork, Onlinejobs.ph, Peopleperhour, Fiverr, and Hubstaff. Freelancers can join sites like Toptal, Craigslist, and Guru. You can read this post for more information about each platform.

In my personal experience, I found most of my clients through Facebook and referrals. I didn’t join UpWork until two years after I started freelancing because the 20% fee was a big deal for me back then.

UpWork also recently updated its policies and suspended freelancers’ accounts if they fail to earn money within a specified timeframe. The platform is also congested, and competition is very stiff. Newbies aren’t allowed to apply to jobs if they don’t meet a certain number of UpWork hours or Job Success scores. But, in all fairness, I got all of my high-paying clients from UpWork, so I will still vouch for the platform.

I’d also recommend that you join Facebook groups for work-at-home workers because job vacancies are occasionally posted by other freelancers and others who want to subcontract work if they can no longer take the load.

I don’t have the skills that most clients are looking for. What can I do?

Study new skills through websites like Udemy, Lynda, and even YouTube. If you can’t afford to go jobless for a very long time and have no resources right now, then start applying to jobs related to your most recent job roles. For example, if you have worked as a call center agent before, apply for customer service-related jobs. If you worked as an admin assistant, look for jobs that require the same tasks you’re confident with. Try looking for jobs you can execute perfectly or to the best of your ability. Update your portfolio and create an impressive cover letter for your application.

Most skills needed in the virtual world are acquired when you do the job, not by theory or reading books. You can upskill by stepping up and volunteering to take the extra load when possible. I was a project coordinator for an Australian digital marketing firm; it was my first work-from-home job. I often volunteer to do tasks I’m unfamiliar with, and from there, I learned a lot of skills. Even if it lasted for only 6 months because I shifted to a better-paying gig, I can say that it was the foundation of my freelancing career. This experience taught me a lot about how to start freelancing.

I wouldn’t be where I am today if I stayed within my comfort zone and if I decided to give the bare minimum. I remember pestering my coworkers to give their tasks to me in exchange for teaching me how each task should be done. When you decide to become a freelancer, you need perseverance, hard work, and more perseverance.

If you can get away with not pulling your weight, chucking a sickie, or showing up only when you feel like it, I guarantee you you cannot do that when you’re freelancing. Show results for every hour you bill your clients. You can’t get away with mediocre work unless you don’t want to get paid for the hours you invested in a task.

Don’t expect anyone to check your work for you because almost everyone you’ll work with has a different set of tasks that can’t overlap with yours.

I’ve been trying, but I really can’t seem to find a client who will trust me. What can I do?

You can try building your portfolio. Put up a WordPress blog; it’s free. You can practice writing about anything under the sun. You can also network and ask other freelancers to outsource some of their work to you. The pay might not be that good, but you’ll learn new skills at least.

Just a piece of advice: if anyone invested time to train you, make sure you give back value to that person. That way, when they need someone to fill the role you just played for them for free, you’ll be the first person they will contact.

I have trained a lot of freelancers, and I pay them. I know how tough life is; that’s why I don’t ask anything to be done for free. Every dollar they earn can help their kids get to school and feed their families. When it comes to training people, I give them the freedom to apply for freelance jobs, and I let them go when they finally find their own clients.

It doesn’t matter if I still need them or if there is still work pending because my mission is to help others get started and not make money from them. I always try to be fair and give my trainees the skills they need to be successful.

You can find a lot of resources that will serve as your guide to freelancing. And when you start to work from home, it’s important to be physically, emotionally, and mentally prepared. It requires discipline and a strong will to make things work.

I hope I got to answer all your questions. If there’s anything you want to ask me, feel free to comment below or send an email to angel@dollarmize.com 🙂

Cheers to our freedom,

Angel

Angeline Licerio

Angeline Licerio is the blogger behind Dollarmize.com. After working online as a writer and SEO strategist, she decided to start this blog to give advise to people who would like to earn money online. She is also the founder of SEO Tutorials for FREE, a Facebook community that helps aspiring freelancers and SEO specialists to kickstart their work from home journey.