Working as an employee, you can get work very easy, indeed. Unless something major changes in the workplace, you never have to worry about not having anything to do and thus not having a way to make money. When you’re self-employed, it can be quite a different equation. In many cases, you have to put as much work into finding work as actually doing it, for the first few months (or longer.) But where do you find that work?
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Working with agencies
You might have the skills to provide the work but, initially, you may have no idea how to actually deliver the work to clients. To that end, you might want to rely on the infrastructure, marketing, and networks that others build up. There are plenty, especially in the online marketing world, who will ostensibly work for an agency, be it by supplying them with content to share with their clients or by working directly with those clients on the behalf of the agency. The one issue in working with an agency however if that if you don’t also look for other ways to find clients, you can become over-reliant on them, effectively becoming an employee but with none of the perks an employee gets compared to a freelancer.
Using job boards
A lot of freelancers get started by looking at the many job boards that are on the internet. There is a growing number of these boards that specialize in helping workers connect with opportunities for workers, and helping those who need freelancers find the skilled workers that they need. However, a lot of these boards are generic, meaning they will advertise work of all kinds, and it can be hard to find the specific kind of work that you do. There are more specialized tools out there like Load Board for freelance delivery drivers, however. Make sure you find the right place you can rely on and start finding clients and making relationships using these online boards.
Building your brand
If you want to become truly self-sufficient, then it might be important to you that you reduce your reliance on outside agencies and companies that would do the work of finding work for you. After all, they will get a cut of the money that you should be making and it’s not impossible for you to take charge of your own workload and build it yourself. Building yourself a website with tools like Squarespace, you can start to spread your online brand, ensuring you’re active on social media and networking consistently. It can take a while for the first customers to roll in but there are plenty of marketing methods to reach, from advertising to social media optimization. Good work can then lead to more work via word of mouth. This is the slowest way to find work in most cases, but it’s also the most stable in the long-term.
The methods you’re going to rely on for the bulk of your income are going to depend on the type of work that you’re doing, as well as how you prefer to do that work. Hopefully, the tips above help you get some ideas of where to look.
Jobs for ex teachers
If you are an ex teacher then you may also like to check out this list of jobs for ex-teachers that I put together highlighting some of the transferable skills you have that can help you find a job away from the classroom if you need a change of scenery.
Where to find work as a blogger
If you have a blog then you can find work in a number of different places including those already mentioned. However if you are looking for more ideas then check out this list of specific ways to find work as a blogger as well as this list of ways you can monetise your blog.
As a side note, and a word of warning, now you are self employed make sure you are careful about what you put on your social media channels, personal an business related. Lots of clients will not employ the social media screening method before they hire someone as they want to ensure they are reliable, hard working and have the same moral and ethical beliefs as they do, lots of pictures of drunk you on nights out may put potential clients off.