When beginning your journey as a freelancer, build off of what has already worked
One of the most daunting aspects of working as a freelancer is that you are responsible for everything. When you become a freelancer, you become responsible for filing your taxes, creating invoices for your clients, making contracts, and more. Yet, with the internet, there are ways to make the first few months of your new freelance career more manageable.
There is a template for everything. If you need an updated resume, you can find a template. Need a new website? There are templates for that too. You can find a template for all of the essential documents that every freelancer needs, such as:
- Pitch emails
- Proposals
- Portfolios
- Questionnaires for clients
- Contracts
- Invoices
- Payment reminders
- Tax documents
- Business cards (yes, these are still useful)
The reason why you should use templates for all your documents when you begin your career as a freelancer is that these templates save you time. Why try to create something from scratch when other seasoned professionals have created stuff that works? By using a template, you focus on the stuff that really matters—providing stellar services to your clients.
Just don’t forget to personalize these templates in your own words. There isn’t much that needs to be changed when submitting an invoice besides adding your own logo and business information, but a cold email that begins with “Dear <First.Name>,” will get you zero leads.
The point is, make sure you leverage the work of others. You don’t need to be 100% original with the formalities. After all, it is already difficult enough trying to get paid as a newbie.
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