How to succeed in freelancing without work experience. And earn 2x more.

TL;DR

• You can literally start freelancing whenever you want to.

• If you’re spending more time on your CV or portfolio than talking to people, you’re doing something wrong.

• Learn to explain what you do in a sentence.

• You don’t need lots of savings to freelance; you need to charge the right amount to the right client (price value, not time).

• Outsource what you can, as soon as you can.

• And don’t listen to me (or anyone else). Always find out what works for you. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Briefly, my context

• I left uni with a Journalism Hons in Communication Design

• Then worked for a tech startup for two years: First, as a copy-editor for a few months; then, producing and hosting a podcast

• I did as much creative design stuff on the side and in my free-time as I could, until eventually my boyfriend asked me two very simple questions:

  • “What do you want to spend most of your time doing?”

  • “What are you waiting for?”

• So, I resigned and started freelancing!

• And I’ve been successfully freelancing for about 24 months

• I earn 2-3 times as much as I did when I was a full-time employee, and I work half as much

What makes freelancing hard / scary / challenging

These are the kinds of questions that made me nervous about starting. But these are also the questions that I realised weren’t as real as they felt at the time:

• “Do I have enough experience to freelance?”

• “How do I get any clients to hire me?”

• “How do I have a portfolio to show clients, without clients to build a portfolio?”

• “What happens if I don’t make money?”

• “What do I work on first?”

My lessons in freelancing, 24 months in

1. Attitude and network trump experience

Ye, everyone says you need experience to justify being a good enough freelancer. I only had two years of work to show for, and not even in graphic design. So, I felt this one hard.

But the thing that really flipped the switch for me was meeting other freelancers. Some started freelancing 10 or even 15 years into their careers, and were still asking the same question as me: “Do I have enough experience to freelance?”

Lol.

Here’s the thing: I don’t think you’ll ever have enough experience to do freelancing with 100% confidence. I think 20% confidence is enough. The other 80% is attitude, network, and skill.

Which leads me onto…

2. Don’t make a CV before you’ve spoken to 20 people

First thing most people do (myself included) when starting out as a freelancer is update their CV and build a portfolio website.

Well, I think it’s a waste of time. Initially, anyway.

In the 24 months I’ve been freelancing, I’ve probably had two people ask to see my portfolio. And I’ve had no shortage of work.

Why? Because I talk to people. A lot of people. And that’s often enough for them to want to work with me.

Number 1: Talking to someone builds trust. It’s how I show them that I know what I’m doing. Sure, I may not have the “right amount” of experience on my CV, but I damn well know how to listen to your problem, hear what you need, and show you that I’m able to make this an epic collaboration.

(Or not, and people respect you telling them that this isn’t the right job for you more than you think.)

Number 2: Meeting people is the single-most powerful way of getting work. Everyone says network is everything. But seriously… Network is everything.

A simple but powerful trick is to ask each person you meet to introduce you to two other people. Tell them something like this: “I really value your insight, and trust the people you interact with.” (champion them.) “Who are two people in your network that you think I should be talking to?” (not a yes-no question)

That being said, talking to people requires something else. Cue segue number two…

3. Learn how to say what you do in a sentence

It’s the 80-20 rule again: 20% of what to say to someone is 80% of the sales pitch. In the first 20% of meeting someone new, they’ll be 80% sure of whether they want to work with you or not. And you, them, probably.

Here’s the trick: Figure out what you do uniquely. And fit it into one sentence.

It sounds so obvious it hurts, but try this with anyone: Ask them what they actually do. You’ll notice that most people waffle a lot.

I wrote a really useful, in-depth post on how to do this, but here’s the condensed version for now:

The key is to figure out what you do ("the guide"), for who ("the hero"), and what you help them do ("the hero's purpose").

And the formula for that is: "I [do something] [for someone] [to help them do something]."

Here’s mine: "I challenge people to clarify their story for themselves."

• Challenge: It can be uncomfortable, but that’s part of what I do that makes me different. I like leaning into that, and it means the work we do together is more meaningful.

• People: Mine isn’t specific, but yours might be “kingergartners” or “freelancers without work experience.” Point is: Know who specifically you’re helping.

• Clarify their story for themselves: Make sure you know what your hero can do once you’ve worked together. It doesn’t help elevating yourself; your clients care about what they’ll be able to do.

Price value, not time

Chris Do taught me this early on, and it is one of my non-negotiables as a freelancer now: For any project, I do not quote for hours; I quote for value, and I quote the project itself.

As a freelancer, if you price hours, you’re doing two “meh” things:

• You’re undervaluing the impact of your work

• And you’re incentivising slower output (ie. you get punished for being good at what you do, and working efficiently)

The reason clients ask for hourly rates is because they like knowing where their money is going, and being able to measure what they get. Pricing for value still achieves this, even if its not intuitive.

So, here’s how I pitch it to clients:

Bonus: Outsource quickly

Every minute you spend doing something that isn’t your unique skillset, or what makes you happy, is time and energy you’re wasting.

Here’s a shocking realisation: I made a list of the work I do as a designer and 90% of it is stuff anyone else could do, without my clients noticing a difference. Only about 10% of the work I do is uniquely me.

The most common pushback I hear to outsourcing is the expense. But did you know it’s often more expensive to not outsource someone? Check this out:

Imagine cleaning my flat takes 4 hours, hiring a cleaner costs $15/hour. And that I earn $50/hour for design work. If I don’t spend $60 hiring a cleaner, I lose out on $200 of work time. But if I spend $60, I get 4 hours of time back, and earn $140 profit… not to mention I’m hiring an expert cleaner instead of my amateur cleaning, giving someone else a job, and saving my energy.

It’s a no-brainer: Outsource whatever you can, as soon as you can.

Here are the things I outsourced in the first 3 months of freelancing. They gave me back 8-10 hours a week, for a fraction of the cost:

• Cleaning my house

• Grocery shopping

• Doing my taxes

• Mental health (ie. therapy)

In closing

Firstly, as always, don’t listen to me (or anyone else). Always find out what works for you. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Secondly, freelancing isn’t that scary. It just takes grit. And a little smarts in your approach.