By applying the following principles down below, you can ensure you put yourself in the best position to find new opportunities and take advantage of them. As they say... Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!

1. Set Up Your Foundation
2. Provide An In-Demand Skill or Multiple Skills
3. Create Multiple Sources of Recurring Cash Flow
   

Before you become a wildly successful freelancer, it’s important to set up your foundation first, because those that go out there and try to start a business without a solid foundation fail within their first couple years of business. In fact, according to Investopedia:

“In 2019, the failure rate of startups was around 90%. The research concludes 21.5% of startups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year."

Whether you're freelancing on the side or you want to start a business and make it your full-time source of income, then you need to ask yourself what you can do that can be treated as a long-term business? You also have to develop a strong mindset and understand that the business that you start is not going to kick off in a week or a month, or maybe even a year. It all depends on how much effort, time, and dedication you have to making it work.

If you try to go do something for a week and it doesn't work right away and you think that's a failure, then the reality is that you're quitting on yourself. That is a poor mindset to have and it will not get you far into the world of entrepreneurship. This is why it’s important to make sure you know what business you want to start and which platforms to go on to establish credibility when you do so. There are platforms such as Upwork.com where you can build your portfolio, earn reviews, and open the door to building relationships with clients.

Also, it's worth noting that you should be aware of the words ‘side hustle’ and ‘get rich quick’ schemes that are being thrown around. People who are genuinely looking to find a way to make a profitable side business are receiving misleading information. While some of these side hustles are a way you can earn some money, many of them are not going to be able to build a profitable stream of revenue for you for the long-term or replace your current income.

The types of "side hustles" I suggest avoiding are those that do not provide a substantial return on time invested, such as filling out surveys, watching video advertisements, selling your old clothes, etc. These side hustles are a weak foundation to invest your time and energy into. To build a profitable business, whether you’re freelancing or going into business for yourself, you need to first think about what is predictable and can generate recurring cash flow and not invest your time and energy into quick temporary money solutions. Building a profitable freelance business takes time, consistency, dedication, and passion. Once you hone in on what you want to provide as a freelancer, that's when all your hard work starts to be shaped and molded into a strong foundation.

Providing An In-Demand Skill

When you go into business for yourself, the first thing you will want to do before you start building yourself a logo or a website is to go back to the basics and find out which in-demand skill you want to specialize in. Picking the right skill to develop is crucial if you want to have a long-lasting freelance career or side hustle that is profitable. When it comes to providing different services, ask yourself what are you going to sell, and what is the skill that will allow you to have the life you dream of? Find a skill you best resonate with and can see yourself doing for a long time. In another Profitable Freelancer blog we revealed The Top 5 Profitable Freelance Skills which you can read here. 

Start to look at what's in-demand in the freelance marketplace and what services you are able to provide. If you want to be a freelancer and provide your services or consulting to different businesses you need to ask yourself:

"What services are in-demand in the marketplace?"

and "What knowledge or skills do I have which I can use to provide a service?"

Oftentimes new freelancers will adopt the false mindset of "If I offer it, people will buy it". The harsh reality is this could not be farther from the truth. People will not come to your site and you will not automatically get sales in your sleep just because you decided to list your services or build a freelance profile or website. This is because people only buy services or products if they solve an actual problem, provide tangible value to them, and most importantly have trust in the person providing them.

When you are looking at what new skills and online services to provide as a freelancer, make sure to keep this in mind so you can always have high-paying clients at your disposal. Once you build your side hustle up to a point where it's bigger than your current job, that’s when you have some room where you can leave that first position if desired to continue building additional online flows of income. If you want to become a wildly successful freelancer in 2021, it's important to continue learning and adapting your skill set so you can put yourself in the best position possible to succeed.

By increasing the value you can provide you are also securing future streams of income which is the foundation of any healthy business. When you dedicate yourself to the advancement of your learning, you will be in the best position to make the most amount of money, so I encourage you to look at which freelance in-demand skills you can add to your tool kit right away!

Recurring Cash Flow

The most effective way to build a profitable freelance business is to focus on building recurring monthly cash flow from your services. Obtaining streams of cash flow every month all comes down to the relationships that are built with clients. Once you have worked with a specific client and proven that you provide value over time, that's when they begin trusting you and the services that you provide them. At that point you can introduce a monthly retainer based fee system where you charge clients a flat-fee every month for your services, which can be anywhere from $500 all the way up to $5,000 on the high end.

The whole goal as a freelancer is to deliver as much value and gain the most trust as possible with the client so all that work pays off in the long-term. Once you get recurring clients it opens up a door for additional opportunities as well. For example, your happy customers will start to recommend you to their other business owner friends and other people in their community. That is the most powerful way to build trust, through word of mouth marketing.

To encourage that type of organic promotion, you want to get in touch with people and businesses that you can truly help with your freelance services. Another way of adding immense value is to bundle multiple services and skills together to solve the clients problems in a broader light. For example, instead of solely focusing on website design, you could also learn the art of copywriting. That helps separate you from the competition because you have more value to offer and can accomplish tasks that may have required 2 or more people previously.

Wrapping It All Up

In conclusion, once you built your foundation, you tapped into an in-demand skill and you built multiple streams of recurring cash flow, you will surely be on your way to becoming a wildly successful freelancer. A lot of times it's easy to only focus on what the new trend is or what's the easiest way to make money or what's that next investment opportunity. But once you stop trying to 'hit the lottery' or 'get rich quick' and you actually put your head down and focus every single day and show up consistently, that is when you will have the most freelance success that may even greatly exceed your expectations.

- Paul Mendes

 Founder of Profitable Freelancer