When you first get started as an independent freelancer business can be slow and manageable, a few projects here and there to tide you over while you explore additional skill-sets and build up your online presence. However, as you put more time into working independently, you won’t always notice growth and it can be difficult to develop or maintain a business without a justifiable career similar wage.
In the independent working world, there is a common problem where freelancers quit their fulltime jobs too early in the process of setting up by themselves or do not give themselves enough of a safety savings net should the work quiet down at any point. This leads to a lot of freelancers having to return to work, giving up on their independent dream as they were not able to bring in enough money to pay the bills.
Don’t let this happen to you! If you are a freelancer or independent worker, for example, a blogger, digital artist, online content creator or someone who works solely for themselves; here are some helpful tips to encourage business growth rather than stagnation:
Market Yourself Effectively
Simply having an online presence is not enough, especially considering the number of websites is soon to reach 3 billion. While your website is important if it doesn’t offer anything of value to your potential customers, you aren’t likely to see your traffic increase over time. Ensure you have industry related information available whether through a regularly updated news feed or blog and include comprehensive content providing helpful advice or tips and tricks that relate to the sorts of search terms your customers are likely to use.
Tie your web presence into your social media accounts. Using social media is advantageous for your business growth and creates plenty of opportunities for you to connect with potential customers who might require your services or products. Set yourself a social media strategy that allows you to schedule time for networking and gaining all-important connections with individuals, remember it’s not just about selling all the time, become an authority in your industry and offer advice and guidance for anyone asking on social media platforms. You could look into strategies like how to buy Instagram likes or paid promotion links if you really need a boost.
Create a Passive Income Stream
A passive income stream doesn’t require you to constantly be working and instead generates income in the background by itself, this could be anything from a physical asset marketplace such as Redbubble or Teespring to affiliate links in your lifestyle blog. While it’s difficult to guarantee a monthly amount as it will always fluctuate depending on the number of users that come across your store or links, it doesn’t require any more resource investment than the initial set up or occasionally creating new products to list.
Other passive income streams can include; writing an eBook on a topic you are well-versed in, creating an online tuition video, developers selling helpful code snippets or packages or creating art and font asset packs for sale.
Collaborating with Others or Small Teams
Sometimes it is the increase in business that can prevent your growth, especially if you start getting more inquiries than you have time for or that can be completed within the client’s requested timeframe. While this is excellent and a sign your business is doing well, it can quickly become frustrating and lead to you turning business away which can have negative implications in the future.
If you are part of a network of professionals and you know individuals you can trust, you might benefit from reaching out and creating a small collaborative working team. Teams that work together on individual projects are becoming more common and offer more freedom than hiring in staff. You can work together over distance using collaborative programmes like Slack and Discord or alternatively meet somewhere and hire space to co-work together during the project, for instance, short-term office space in Manchester, which is an industrious city with excellent travel links by road, rail and air.
Freelancing and independent working are difficult but not unreachable and with hard work and dedication; anyone with a skill or service to offer can make it. Although it’s important to remember to give yourself some downtime; otherwise freelancing can quickly lead to burn out which can cause your work quality to fail and even lead to missing deadlines. With this in mind, good luck with growing your independent business!
