Where to start freelancing: tips for beginners
In short
Start freelancing by choosing a direction and preparing a portfolio. We look at where to find your first orders, how to price your work, why a prepayment is needed and when it is better to turn a client down.
Where do you start freelancing if you have no experience and no customers yet? First of all it is worth choosing a direction of work, understanding the skills needed and preparing a portfolio. Then you can move on to looking for your first orders, pricing your services and discussing the terms of cooperation.
These tips will be useful for those who are just starting out in freelancing or thinking about moving to self-employment.
How to choose a direction for freelancing
The most important thing at the start is to decide on a specialization.
Design, programming and other fields cover many separate professions.
For example, in design there are UX/UI, graphic design, interior design and other specializations.
So it is better to choose not just a general field but a specific direction in which you want to develop.
What to do if you do not know what you want
Go to hh.ru and study the available vacancies.
See which specialists are in demand, which skills are required and which tasks employees of different professions perform.
Choose several interesting directions and study them in more detail.
On the internet you can find information about the knowledge needed, the specifics of the work and possible drawbacks of each specialty.
This will help you make a more conscious choice.
How to build a portfolio without experience
Lack of commercial experience does not mean you will not be able to find an order.
A portfolio plays a big role at the start.
A portfolio introduces you to a potential customer, so pay attention not only to the works themselves but also to how they are presented.
Beginner specialists usually have two questions:
- Where to find an idea for a project?
- How to present finished work properly?
Where to get tasks for a portfolio
If you have enough ideas, you can write the technical brief yourself.
If not, use websites that offer practice tasks for specialists.
Another option is to study vacancies on hh.ru and use the tasks described in them as the basis for a practice project.
If necessary, the task can be adapted to yourself.
This approach helps you practice and gradually fill your portfolio.
How to present works
Do not limit yourself to ordinary screenshots.
It is better to present finished projects as full cases.
In a case you can tell:
- What task you faced.
- Which stages of work you went through.
- What exactly was done.
- What the final result looks like.
One presentation option is a slide deck that is convenient for a potential customer to browse.
Where to look for your first orders in freelancing
There are many exchanges and platforms where you can look for orders.
Their lists are easy to find through search engines.
The original article separately recommends the service Yandex Uslugi.
It states that the platform provided seven free responses a day, had a large audience and regularly published tasks in different directions.
At the initial stage the author recommends avoiding platforms where you have to pay for the chance to respond to an order.
The idea is simple: you are looking for work that will pay you, not the other way round.
In addition, the original article notes that fake tasks may occur on such platforms.
How to set the price of your services
One of the main questions of a beginner freelancer is how much their work should cost.
If you do not yet have an idea of prices, study other specialists’ offers.
Find performers of roughly your level and see how much they charge for similar tasks.
At the first stages these values can serve as a guideline.
The scout method
The original article offers one more way to study prices.
You can imagine yourself as a customer, post a task and see what sums performers offer.
However, the author separately warns: do not use this method on platforms with paid responses, so that other specialists do not spend money on a nonexistent order.
As you gain experience it will be easier to set the price of your own services.
Why it is important to take a prepayment
The author strongly recommends agreeing on a prepayment before starting work.
This is because of the risk of running into customers who refuse to pay for services rendered.
The original article suggests taking from 30 to 60% of the total project cost.
The size of the prepayment should be discussed in advance, before starting the order.
When it is better to turn down an order
Not every project is worth accepting only for the sake of earnings.
If serious difficulties arise already at the stage of discussing the brief, pay attention to that.
For example, the customer cannot explain their requirements, communication causes constant discomfort or you cannot agree on the terms of work.
In such situations it is sometimes wiser to turn the project down.
A bad experience of cooperation can affect your attitude to freelancing as a whole.
So it is important to consider not only the price of an order but also how comfortable it will be for you to work with a particular person.
There may be other projects and customers ahead. Do not agree to any terms just out of fear of being left without work.
Questions on the topic
How do I choose a direction for freelancing?
Study the available specialties, employers’ requirements and the skills needed. Then choose a direction you are interested in.
How do I build a portfolio without work experience?
You can invent a practice project yourself or complete a task based on a real job posting. The result should be presented as a full case.
How do I set the price of my first orders?
See how much specialists with comparable experience charge and use those values as a guideline.
