How to start your freelance career with no experience

Do you want to start your freelance career without any sort of experience, portfolio, or network? It is complicated, but not impossible. We all know the freelance market is competitive. However, with the pandemic limiting workers' mobility, remote work has become increasingly appealing, thereby putting even more emphasis on freelance work, opening at the same time a new realm of possibilities for companies, agencies, or recruiters looking for fresh talent.

Back in 2020, during the early weeks of the pandemic, the freelance industry lost traction since many businesses stopped offering their products and services. However,  they re-organized their operations and realized all they could get from the digital world. The COVID-19 pandemic opened a window to new opportunities for freelancers by empowering everyone to go digital.

Technically, anyone can be a freelancer, so what an individual needs to do so is a set of skills and motivation. There is no age, gender, or geographic requirement to become a freelancer. Over 57 million Americans freelance, including almost 50% of millennials — more than any other generation. Also, based on economic trends, the majority of the workforce is projected to be freelancing by 2027. By embracing innovative technology and freelancing, companies can better remove the biases and geographic constraints around hiring.

What questions should I ask myself as a beginner?

One of the most difficult aspects of becoming a freelancer is putting yourself at the starting line. But even if you have no prior experience with freelancing, there are many opportunities if you have the patience and perseverance to learn.

Your freelancing strategy should answer the following questions:

• What services will you offer?
• How much will you charge?
• How do you plan on marketing your services?

For this reason, it’s a great idea to start freelancing as a part-time job whether you are interested in getting into freelance graphic design, or if you are looking for freelance writing jobs for example. Freelancing is often built from trust and client relationships, and those relationships take time to form.

Some freelancers will want to go a step further and formally incorporate their company, open a bank account, and create an online presence for their freelance business. Your skill, experience, academic achievements, personality, and level of professionalism are all part of your brand. From sorting your taxes to negotiating your pay rate, freelancing brings a lot of challenges with it. However, with a little bit of work and a lot of hustle, there's a world of opportunities waiting for you in the freelance arena.

Freelancing tips for beginners

Working as a freelancer is primarily about working on your terms and conditions, getting paid for providing high-quality services, and interacting with clients. If you're a newbie in the industry, here are some tips regarding how you can become a freelancer.

Evaluate your skills

As the gig industry continues to grow in popularity, clients are looking for freelancers with specialized skills to perform important tasks.

Choose a specific niche you’d like to work in. Maybe it’s app development. Or you want to be a creative content writer for startups. But pick something. And write your new copy with the person seeking that service in mind. Tailor it to them specifically.

Choose your freelancing niche

Finding your niche as a freelancer may have a huge impact on your freelancing career and is one of the best ways to take your business to the next level.

What’s important to understand is that the highest-paid freelancers are the ones that provide the most value to their clients. You also want to have an online presence on social media so people will be able to find you when they click around.

Set your rate

Like most things, it takes practice, trial-and-error, and research. Consider consulting freelancer forums and discussion boards peppered with questions about how much should the quote for a potential gig can be.

Freelancing rates are flexible, depending on the time involved, the freelancer`s skills, the project, and the client.

Freelancing allows you to work at your hours and projects and choose the people you want to work with. You can create your schedule as a freelancer, which means you can take a day off whenever you like, however, you won't be paid for that time because there is no such thing as paid leave.

What type of platform should you choose?

As a beginner freelancer, you would feel inclined to register on a traditional freelancing platform. However, you should know that platforms like Fiverr and Upwork have huge fees. The two leaders in the freelancing space both take a 20% commission per gig, which is huge for a beginner freelancer.

There is an alternative, though. Now that the crypto space is having a moment, the workforce industry is an early adopter of blockchain technology and there are some major benefits to this global movement. Especially for freelancers with a taste for digital transformation and an eye for innovation.

What are the advantages of blockchain-based freelance platforms for freelancers and hiring businesses?

Fairness: Blockchain establishes a decentralized platform that is equitable to all freelancers because it`s the ultimate peer-to-peer network.

Lower cuts: There will be no large cuts in freelancers' wages because there would be no intermediaries. Furthermore, transaction fees are far lower than those charged by traditional banks.

Global outreach: It can revolutionize the current freelancing industry and make it more secure and efficient.

Decentralized dispute resolution: The dispute resolution system renders disputes in a fast, inexpensive, reliable, and decentralized way.

Faster returns: Blockchain transactions are significantly faster than bank transactions, especially when dealing with remote work, which is very common in the freelancing industry. The use of tokens and smart contracts will give new incentives for a better overall experience.

HYVE – a new non-traditional freelancing platform

HYVE is an autonomous ecosystem that solves the current problems in the global freelance and workforce market, leveraging the power of decentralized technologies while adding features that are non-existent on any traditional freelancing platform. The HYVE Ecosystem will leverage the strengths of various blockchain technologies and bring new and well-desired functionalities to the workforce industry.

We take the hassle out of marketing your freelancing services. You have the chance to access a task marketplace with close to 0 fees.

Freelancers can create a profile on HYVE, display their work portfolio, and have access to various gigs. Each gig is characterized by several aspects: the price, which is often just an estimation of how much a service will cost; a detailed description of the service, the necessary skills, etc. There are no borders when it comes to fulfilling different jobs, as every person that joins HYVE can make use of any skill - you do not have to be a guru at a specific skill, but you have to be willing to work, to earn some money.

Businesses can look up freelancers based on experience, skills, and other relevant characteristics, with a clear purpose: delegating activities. As a result, businesses can outsource labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks and focus on their core activities.

P.S. HYVE just launched staking incentives to earn APR on your $HYVE.

That being said, we encourage beginners in the freelance industry to step into this world by creating a draft plan and choosing wisely the platform you want to set up your portfolio.

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