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Freelancing comes with many perks: the freedom to work wherever, whenever you want; the ability to set your own rates and be your own boss; the flexibility to juggle your personal creative endeavors with your professional ones… BUT, with that power comes great responsibility (yes, I am quoting Spider-Man).
There are many things you need to nail before you start freelancing: rates, services, marketing. In this post, I’m focusing on three critical pieces that may not be the sexiest part of the game, but will help set you up for long-term success.
From what I could find, there really isn’t a good roadmap on how to start freelancing. Every industry has nuance, every contract is different, and every person has their own way of working—but there are basic business fundamentals that can be implemented for any niche.
Before we get into any of that though, I think it’s important to clarify what freelancing is and how it is not solo/entrepreneurship.
Freelancing: You are an independent contractor. This means selling your individual labor and time to clients. You are the service and typically work on a project-by-project or hour-by-hour basis. Technically, you have a “boss.”
Solo/entrepreneurship: You are a business. This means selling scalable products, services, and packages that don’t necessarily depend on your direct involvement to bring in revenue. You are the “boss.”
Now, how to start freelancing? Here are three core foundations you can’t skip:
1. Laying the legal groundwork
I know, I know, you didn’t embrace a flexible, creative life to manage your tax documents and spend your precious time filling out forms. But these things will provide the foundation for your self-employment—and fortunately, they’re fairly easy to knock out.
W9
A W9, by its official name, is known as the Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification. This form is never sent to the IRS! It’s actually requested by the client during the onboarding process for verification. In the corporate world, this form is specifically for those business-contractor (another word for freelancer) agreements.
You can snag a PDF version of the W9 directly from the IRS website here. Download it, fill it out, and have it on standby!
DBA
Many freelancers start as sole proprietors. As a team of one it’s the easiest, most straightforward route to pursue, in that it doesn’t require any official paperwork or filings to launch. There is one consideration that could add a layer of complexity though: what—who—you will formally be doing business as (DBA).
If the answer is yourself, there’s no formal action you need to take. And, by the way, a lot of freelancers operate under their own name—because clients are hiring the person, not the company, and people build trust, not organizations. Plus, with this route, it’s easier to leverage your pre-existing personal and professional connections without having to build a reputation from scratch.
All that said… you might want to establish a brand separate from yourself. You might even have a badass name and a logo designed. That’s cool too! Just note you will have to file a FBN (fictitious business name). The steps aren’t complicated, but they vary from state to state. I recommend using government websites as your first and main source of information, such as your county’s website.
COI
This one actually threw me for a loop. Which is funny, because when I worked full-time in tech I used to ask our freelancers allll the time for these. COI stands for Certificate of Insurance. While it’s not part of employment law to have one, it’s becoming increasingly required by companies (especially big ones). It works the same way as insurance does for a car or a home: it protects you and your company from any claims against it, or if you get hurt on the job. It also adds a layer of credibility in showing you’ve taken that extra step to run a solid and trustworthy business.
There are a few different types of policies for freelancers.
- General Liability: Protects your business from claims such as bodily injury, property damage, libel, and slander
- Cyber/Media Liability: If you handle any customer information, this one’s for you. It covers cyber attacks, data leaks, and claims of IP infringement
- Professional Liability aka Errors and Omissions: Covers negligence and claims of bad work/advice
If you already have insurance, I recommend reaching out to your agent to see what type of liability insurance they can include.
2. Setting up back-end systems
Your back-end systems are the behind-the-scenes tools that keep your business operations running smoothly. They’re essential for organization, reporting, and day-to-day tasks. What you put in place is ultimately dependent on your services, but here are three essential components for any freelancer.
Business Management
A business management platform is exactly what it sounds like: a tool to manage everything regarding your business so you’re not scrambling trying to keep track of every file, invoice, proposal, and project. There are tons of options out there (too many, really), but here are three that are best suited for creative and/or service-based small businesses and freelancers.
When making a decision on what platform to go with, here are some things to consider:
- How intuitive is the interface?
- What features are nice to have vs must have?
- What is the pricing model? Are there tiers? Is there a free trial period to test it out?
- What are the core foundations of your business, and what is the bare minimum you need to operate successfully on a day-to-day basis? For example:
- Do you need to send contracts?
- How customized do your invoices need to be?
- Do you need to collect payments through the system or are you working with a client that issues POs?
- Do you need to manage leads? How detailed are we talking?
- Is a generic profit and loss statement good enough for your accounting, or do you need to get more granular?
- Are there any important integrations you might require?
- Do you need a built-in scheduler for client meetings, intro calls, etc, or do you have a separate process for that?
Dubsado is super robust and I have friends who use it and love it. My business is strictly referral-based, so I don’t need all the extra features focused on proposals, direct email, and lead capture, so I went with Honeybook. It’s intuitive, has a basic PDF invoice option, allows me to track revenue, offers amazing templates, and has options for integrations, should I need them.
If you want to try Honeybook out I have a special 30% off discount code just for my community!
Separate Email
Creating a secondary email is one of the simplest but most important steps in building the foundation of your freelancing career. Think about it: if you worked for a corporation, you wouldn’t be sending anything through your personal account, you’d be given a professional email address that ties back to the business.
This is the same concept.
A free service like gmail is totally fine. The point is to keep your personal messages, receipts, spam, Taylor Swift news, PTA announcements, etc. separate from your client communications so you never miss an important or time-sensitive email.
To take it one step further, you could use Google’s paid email service and have your email address end with your business name vs something generic i.e. @gmail.com. Their service starts at ~$6/month and comes with stronger spam filters, custom branding options, and more storage. While you don’t need to have a full-on website, this route does require a domain (i.e. saltandstarspress.com). Namecheap, GoDaddy, and Squarespace (a great platform for website hosting, too) are popular options. Domains run around $10-$20/year.
Time Tracker
Whether you charge per hour or project, a time tracker is essential for you to get an understanding of where your working hours actually go: realistic time spent on tasks, what you prioritize, and how to shift your schedule for maximum efficiency.
I’ve had a lot of success with Toggl: you can set up different projects or workstreams and color code your calendar for a great visual representation of where your time goes, it tallies up your hours for you, and best of all, it’s free!
3. Building your unique brand
When we think how to start freelancing branding probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But first impressions are everything, and you are being assessed before you even say hello. So how do you stand out in this over-saturated, digital-first world? By building a unique brand.
Brand Foundations
You have the power to shape how you are perceived. Visual identity is important (more on that later) but there are two under-the-hood components that will drive everything. Before you start working on the fun stuff, here’s your challenge:
- Identify your values, offerings, and positioning: What do you stand for? What exactly are you offering? What unique skills do you have that complement your experience?
- Define your niche: Get super specific. If you don’t know who you’re serving, how are you going to position yourself to be the best choice? There’s a famous saying, “When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.”
The two answers above will act as an undercurrent to your design identity: company logo, fonts, voice, tone, color scheme, etc. This is the “fun part” but it can also be overwhelming. If this task is starting to feel like a Cheesecake Factory menu, start with an adjective dump. Set a time for 1 minute and scribble down key words that feel like your brand—colors, moods, seasons, vibes, etc. You can start piecing the design elements together from there.
If you’re a visual person like me, Canva has a variety of templates you can choose from to create your own mini “brand kit”.
Tailored Resume
Make your resume stand out! Have multiple versions depending on the type of client you are pursuing an opportunity with.
First, put together a standard resume that you can repurpose. Word and Canva have free pre-built options, or you can purchase a more experimental template from Creative Market.
Then, create 2-3 different versions you can use. NOTE: This doesn’t mean giving that original resume you worked so hard on multiple overhauls—but there are different skills and experiences that align with certain niches and should be highlighted depending on who you are talking to.
For example, when I’m approaching a tech client that’s looking for a freelancer to support their events, it’s more important for me to position my marketing career vs the milestones I’ve achieved in self-publishing. And if I’m reaching out to a lifestyle brand about a potential copywriting opportunity, I’d focus on my indie books, blogging, and creative expertise in the opening statement and might even add a section that covers professional development to highlight the writing workshops I’ve done.
LinkedIn Profile
If I could only be present in one online space for my freelancing career, I’d choose LinkedIn. I’d even go as far to say I’d prioritize it over a website, over a newsletter. It’s truly a foundation I don’t think you should skip, and here’s why:
- LinkedIn makes you findable. You can have the best portfolio, a jaw-dropping list of previous clients, top-tier references, but if people can’t find you… you’re a bit SOL.
- Google would be the appropriate avenue if someone was searching for a new agency to work with—but clients hiring freelancers are seeking people not companies, and they’re usually overwhelmed and short on time. LinkedIn is easy, reputable, and streamlines the search for them.
Building out a LinkedIn profile is actually quite easy, it just takes a little bit of time and organization. For the most part, you can simply transfer your resume over to the platform, but here are a couple extra tips to really make it shine:
- Upload a high-quality headshot. LinkedIn itself says profiles with photos receive 21x more views and 36x more messages.
- Incorporate your brand foundations into your profile. Use the tagline to share who you are and what you do in a punchy, digestible way. The about and experience sections are great places to showcase your values, offerings, and unique positioning. Put your design identity to use! Tell your story though the vibe, word choice, and tone of your writing.
- Use SEO! When it comes to search optimization, it all boils down to this: what is your client typing in the search bar? Creating engaging experiences that elevate and celebrate the biotech community is beautiful, but a busy hiring manager who hardly has time to eat lunch is going to be much more to the point: Freelance designer. Biotech copywriter. Event Marketer. Find 2-3 key phrases and weave those into your profile.
I hope you learned a little bit more about how to start freelancing! If you want more insight into building a personal brand, check out this blog post (even though it’s written for authors, the insights can be applied to most niches!).
