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How do you increase income without increasing hours spent working? That’s the eternal question of freelancing.
Freelancing is tough! There’s a lot of competition out there, and most of the time the competition is on price.
Too many people looking to hire a freelancer make a decision based on price. There’s a lot of work to be had, but unfortunately clients are unwilling to pay a premium mostly because a lot freelancers don’t spend any time differentiating themselves from the herd.
In my days as a translator I would often educate clients on the value I brought to the table with my skills since the business owner or manager couldn’t appreciate why a professional was needed to do the job.
They thought that someone on staff like their bilingual receptionist or admin could do the job just as well at no additional cost…
Increase income with the same number of hours
Recently Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income interviewed Charli Prangley a design freelancer based in London asking her what she does to increase income without working more hours.
These are all great tips that apply to ANY business by the way. I have to say that the underlying principle that isn’t voiced in this interview is that you need to treat freelancing as a real business if you want to increase income.
- Build a brand around yourself and your services. This will distinguish you from your less professional competitors. Communicate consistently throughout all your media, ie website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, press releases, etc. This means that your messaging, company colours, logos, need to be the same throughout. And be sure to have a portfolio of your work for prospective clients to browse.
- Blogging: Be known as an educator. The more quality information you provide to your audience, the more you build your reputation as a solid source for your particular services. As it also makes your work more desirable, you can also command higher fees.
- Create a process for dealing with clients. This also builds consistency in your business so that you’re not reinventing the wheel every time to pick up a new client or start a new job. Make sure that you have your procedures written down. Whenever you meet with a new or existing client share your process with them so that there are no surprises for either of you.
- Do more work with existing clients. Make sure that you keep your eyes open to new opportunities with them. Also let them know up-front what additional services you provide. There’s nothing more frustrating for a freelance than to find out your client is dealing with someone else for a service you provide just because the client didn’t know that you offer that service.
- Increase your fees! Typically you’ll do as much work, if not more, for low paying customers – the price shoppers. You can choose who you work with.
Marie Watkins is the creator & author of FreedomLab, a resource site where we do the research for you and find the best tools and methods for you to grow your online business.
This is where you’ll find advice on the following:
- Solopreneur Home Business
- Online Marketing tools & strategies
- Software to automate processes & streamline your work to free up your time
- Courses to guide you in applying the above so you can increase your customer base.