How to become a FREELANCER in 2024 - The Ultimate Beginner Guide To Freelancing - Full Course
Summary
TLDRThis comprehensive guide offers beginners a step-by-step tutorial on freelancing, covering everything from understanding freelancing, finding a profitable niche, learning required skills, to setting up a business and managing taxes. The speaker shares personal success stories and offers resources for further learning, including an ebook and a course. The guide also explores various methods for building a portfolio, setting rates, finding clients, and scaling the business from a freelance to an agency model, emphasizing the importance of solving problems for clients and the potential for financial freedom.
Takeaways
- π Becoming a freelancer can significantly change one's life, offering the opportunity to earn a living, move to a desired location, and achieve financial freedom.
- π The first step to freelancing is understanding what it is all aboutβbeing self-employed, offering services on a project basis, and having the flexibility to work from anywhere.
- π― Identifying a niche or a specific service to offer is crucial; it should be something you're passionate about and can solve a significant problem for clients.
- π οΈ Learning the necessary skills for freelancing can be done through various online platforms and courses, many of which are free and can provide certifications.
- π Building a portfolio is essential for beginners to showcase their capabilities to potential clients, which can be done through free work, discounted services, or creating mock projects.
- π° Setting rates as a freelancer involves researching the market, understanding what others charge, and starting with lower rates to attract clients initially.
- π€ Finding clients can be done through both inbound and outbound marketing strategies, including freelance platforms, email marketing, social media outreach, and networking events.
- π Communication with clients is key, and setting boundaries for work hours and project feedback loops can prevent burnout and ensure clear expectations.
- π Managing a freelance business includes setting up SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for daily activities, client communication, and project delivery.
- π³ Receiving payments as a freelancer can be facilitated through various payment platforms like Stripe, Wise, Payoneer, and PayPal, depending on the client's location and preference.
- π Transitioning from a freelancer to an agency setup involves building systems that allow the business to run without the need for constant personal involvement, scaling the business by hiring others to manage clients and projects.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is a comprehensive beginner's guide to freelancing, covering everything from understanding freelancing, finding a niche, learning skills, to managing a freelance business and growing a freelance career.
How long has the speaker been making money online through freelancing and other methods?
-The speaker has been making money online through freelancing and other methods for about 7 years.
What significant life changes did freelancing enable for the speaker?
-Freelancing enabled the speaker to move from being broke to living in Cape Town, South Africa, buy their first car, and reach a point where they no longer have to worry about money for rent, food, or family care. It also allowed them to travel and do anything they want.
What are the initial steps the speaker suggests for someone starting in freelancing?
-The initial steps suggested by the speaker include understanding what freelancing is, finding a profitable niche, learning the required skills, registering a business, dealing with taxes, building a portfolio, setting rates, finding clients, and managing the freelance business.
What are some common freelance jobs mentioned in the script?
-Some common freelance jobs mentioned in the script include graphic design, video editing, website design, and copywriting.
What is the importance of choosing a niche when freelancing?
-Choosing a niche is important because it helps you focus on a specific service or skill that you are passionate about and have experience in, making it easier to market your services and attract clients who need solutions to problems within that niche.
How does the speaker suggest finding freelance job ideas?
-The speaker suggests finding freelance job ideas by exploring freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, and using AI tools like Chat GPT to identify problems businesses are willing to pay for solutions.
What are some of the resources mentioned for learning new skills as a freelancer?
-Some resources mentioned for learning new skills include freeCodeCamp, HubSpot Academy, Google Garage (Google Skill Shop), Udacity, Mailshake's Email Masterclass, Addison.com, and using AI like Chat GPT or YouTube for tutorials.
What is the speaker's advice on setting prices for freelance services as a beginner?
-The speaker advises starting with lower prices compared to others offering the same service to attract clients, and then gradually increasing prices as the freelancer gains experience and builds a portfolio.
How does the speaker recommend finding clients for freelance services?
-The speaker recommends finding clients through a mix of inbound and outbound marketing strategies, such as creating a personal brand on social media, using SEO, building an email list, and leveraging freelance platforms.
Outlines
π Introduction to Freelancing for Beginners
This paragraph introduces a comprehensive beginner's guide to freelancing, aimed at those looking to start making money online. The speaker shares their personal experience of successfully earning income through freelancing for seven years and emphasizes the transformative impact it has had on their life. They outline the topics that will be covered in the tutorial, such as understanding freelancing, finding a profitable niche, learning required skills, registering a business, managing taxes, building a portfolio, setting rates, finding clients, and managing the freelance business for financial freedom. Additionally, the speaker mentions their YouTube channel as a source of proof and inspiration, and they introduce the structure of the video with chapters for easy navigation.
π― Identifying Your Freelance Niche and Skills
The speaker discusses the importance of identifying a niche or service to offer as a freelancer. They suggest choosing something you're passionate about and have skills in, using personal experience as an example. The paragraph also covers the concept of solving problems for clients as the basis for getting paid, with the larger the problem, the more you can charge. The speaker provides common problems businesses face, such as digital marketing, social media growth, and technical issues, and suggests using freelance platforms like Fiverr to explore service ideas. They also introduce the use of Chat GPT as a tool for generating freelance business ideas based on common business problems.
π Learning the Skills for Your Chosen Freelance Service
In this paragraph, the speaker provides resources for learning new skills needed for freelancing. They mention several websites, including freeCodeCamp for coding, HubSpot Academy for various online courses, and Google Garage (formerly Google Skill Shop) for Google-related tools and skills. The speaker emphasizes the importance of selecting a single skill to focus on and becoming an expert in it before expanding to other areas. They also provide a brief overview of the courses available on these platforms and how they can help in the journey to becoming a successful freelancer.
π Building Your Portfolio as a Freelancer
The speaker addresses the challenge of building a portfolio as a beginner freelancer without prior work experience. They suggest several strategies, such as doing jobs for free or at a discounted rate to build a portfolio and gain testimonials. Another suggestion is to create mock work for fictional companies to showcase one's capabilities. The speaker also recommends using real content from potential clients to make the portfolio more convincing. The paragraph concludes with advice on how to approach clients with the portfolio and the importance of visual proof in securing freelance work.
π° Pricing Strategies for Freelancers
This paragraph focuses on how to determine pricing for freelance services. The speaker advises researching what others in the same field are charging and starting with lower prices as a beginner. They discuss the importance of adjusting prices based on client feedback and market research, and emphasize not letting pricing prevent you from starting your freelance business. The speaker also touches on the idea of solving bigger problems to command higher rates and suggests starting with a set price and adjusting as necessary based on client interactions.
π€ Finding Clients Through Inbound and Outbound Marketing
The speaker outlines methods for finding freelance clients, dividing them into inbound and outbound marketing strategies. They discuss freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, which are competitive but can be used for research and hiring. The paragraph also covers email marketing, using templates to reach out to potential clients, and the importance of cold DMs on social media. Networking events and door-to-door marketing are mentioned as traditional outbound methods, while the speaker prefers inbound methods, suggesting the use of platforms like HubSpot for email marketing.
π Inbound Marketing and Building a Personal Brand
The speaker emphasizes the power of inbound marketing, where potential clients come to you, often through establishing a personal brand on platforms like YouTube or social media. They provide examples of individuals who have successfully attracted clients by creating content related to their services. The speaker also discusses the importance of SEO and building an email list for effective inbound marketing. They conclude by offering their own resources, such as a freelance blueprint ebook and a course, for those seeking more in-depth guidance on freelancing.
π Business Management and Scaling as a Freelancer
This paragraph discusses the importance of setting up standard operating procedures for managing a freelance business. The speaker talks about the need for setting boundaries with clients, working in portions to avoid extensive revisions, and establishing daily activities for consistent business growth. They also touch on the challenges of repetition in business and the transition from a freelance business model to an agency setup, where others are hired to perform the work while the business owner focuses on acquiring clients. The speaker recommends the book 'The E-Myth Revisited' for further insights on business structuring.
πΌ Payment and Escrow Process in Freelancing
The speaker explains the different payment structures in freelancing, including full payment upfront, part payment, and payment after completion of work. They discuss the use of escrow services on platforms like Fiverr and the importance of receiving some form of payment before starting work to avoid potential scams or clients disappearing. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the speaker's own experiences with these payment structures and the importance of using the appropriate tools for sending invoices and receiving payments.
π Expanding Your Freelance Business to an Agency
The final paragraph focuses on expanding a freelance business into an agency model. The speaker describes the process of hiring others to take on client work, allowing the business owner to focus on acquiring more clients. They discuss the benefits of systems and structure in growing the business to a point where it can run without the owner's direct involvement. The speaker also recommends a book for further reading on this topic and invites viewers to ask questions in the comments for additional guidance.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘freelancing
π‘niche
π‘portfolio
π‘rates
π‘client acquisition
π‘inbound marketing
π‘outbound marketing
π‘digital marketing
π‘SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
π‘financial freedom
π‘E-Myth Revisited
Highlights
This beginner's guide offers a comprehensive tutorial on freelancing, covering everything from understanding freelancing to achieving financial freedom.
Freelancing has the potential to change lives, as it did for the speaker, who moved to Cape Town, bought a car, and now enjoys financial stability and travel.
The importance of choosing a niche for freelancing is emphasized, suggesting finding a profitable niche to ensure income generation.
Learning the necessary skills for freelancing is vital, and various platforms are suggested for skill acquisition, such as Fiverr and Upwork.
The tutorial covers how to register a business and the considerations around paying taxes, advising not to register until the business is proven profitable.
Building a portfolio is crucial for beginners, with suggestions to do jobs for free or at a discount to create a body of work to showcase to potential clients.
Setting rates for freelance work is discussed, with advice to start with lower rates and increase them as the freelancer gains experience and a client base.
Finding clients is a key aspect of freelancing, with methods including inbound and outbound marketing strategies, and the use of freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork.
Email marketing and social media outreach (cold DMs) are highlighted as effective methods for reaching out to potential clients.
Networking events and door-to-door marketing are traditional methods suggested for finding clients, alongside modern techniques like Google Maps prospecting.
The power of establishing a personal brand on platforms like YouTube and TikTok is underscored as an effective inbound marketing strategy.
SEO is introduced as a critical skill for ranking on the first page of Google, making freelancers more discoverable by potential clients.
Building an email list and using it for marketing is another inbound strategy that can lead to a continuous stream of clients.
The transition from freelancing to an agency setup is discussed as a way to scale the business and remove the freelancer from the day-to-day work.
The importance of setting boundaries and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for a freelance business to prevent burnout and ensure professionalism.
The tutorial provides options for receiving payments as a freelancer, including various platforms like Stripe, Wise, PayPal, and Paystack, depending on the freelancer's location and client base.
The E-Myth Revisited is recommended for further reading on building a business that can operate without the constant involvement of the business owner.
Transcripts
so you're thinking of becoming a
freelancer this year this is the
ultimate beginner guide that you can
follow step by step that will teach you
everything that you need to know about
freelancing now this is going to be a
full beginner tutorial or course so it's
going to be a bit long but if you are
really serious about making money online
through freelancing you're not going to
worry about the length now personally
I've been making money online through
freelancing and various other ways for
about 7 years now in fact I've got a
whole YouTube channel where I actually
show all the different ways that I've
been earning income online but the best
way that I've been earning income
consistently is through freelancing
freelancing totally changed my life it's
the first opportunity that I got to earn
income that helped me to move from being
someone who was broke I moved to the
city of my dreams I live in Cape Town
South Africa I was able to buy my very
first car and actually get to a point
whereby I now don't have to worry about
money not worrying about how you're
going to pay rent how you're going to
buy food and take care of your family
I'm now able to travel and do anything
that want and the main thing that has
helped me to do this is freelancing so
if you want real legit proof of whether
I know what I'm talking about or not you
can just go through my channel there are
tons of videos that show you real proof
and Real Results that I've got but here
I just want to jump straight into
helping you to become a freelancer in
this new year so if you stick around and
watch this video here are the things
that you're going to learn first and
foremost I'm going to walk you through
what exactly freelancing is so that you
can get an understanding of freelancing
then I'm going to help you find the
right Niche helping you find a
profitable Niche so that when you start
freelancing you're actually going to be
making real money from it then I'm going
to show you where you can actually learn
the skills so that you can become a
qualified freelancer then we're going to
talk about how you can register your
business and the issue of paying taxes
and then we're going to talk about you
actually getting a portfolio or building
your own portfolio especially if you're
a new beginner and you don't have any
work that you've done before this is
something that's going to definitely
help you to get a portfolio that will
get you clients then we're going to talk
about setting your rates or how much
exactly you are meant to be charging
your clients and then we're going to
look at finding your clients I'm going
to give you different methods that I
personally use that have helped me to be
able to find clients easily and then I'm
going to give you a few tips and tricks
that are going to help you to actually
manage your freelance business you want
to approach this as a business not just
something that you're just doing by the
side but something that you can actually
grow and help you Achieve Financial
Freedom and then we're going to talk
about invoicing and receiving payments
from clients and then lastly we're going
to talk about how you can actually grow
your freelance career now as I earli on
this is a free course that will help you
to get started with freelancing so
anything any question that you probably
have about freelancing I'm going to try
and cover all the beginner questions
that you guys normally ask me in the
comment sections of my different videos
but to help you even further what I'm
going to do is that I'm going to put
chapters on every topic that I'm going
to cover in this video so that if maybe
there's something specific that you want
to learn you can check in the
description below you'll be able to see
the chapters of the different topics
that I'll cover in this video but also
because this video is free you can learn
from it but then if you want want some
more advanced trainings I can help you
in three different ways firstly I've got
an ebook which is called the freelance
blueprint which is a step-by-step guide
which gives you all the links it gives
you all the websites everything that you
need to know and get started as a
freelancer this is like the Playbook
that I personally use to help me to grow
as a freelancer going from 0 to earning
over 10K per month through freelancing
in US Dollars now this ebook is going to
be available in the description of this
video you can get it just for $15 only
or also depending on when you are
watching this video you can actually get
it at a discounted price the second way
that I can also help you is that I'm
going to be launching a course in the
near future depending on when you watch
this video the course might be available
or it's still something that's coming up
but you can just also register there
just to be notified when the course is
going to be available in this course
you'll be able to get step-by-step video
tutorials as I show you how to do the
whole freelancing process and then
lastly this is something that's already
readily available there'll be an option
for you to book a call with me and I'll
help you on your freelance Journey but
obviously this is not going to be for
free but if you feel that you need help
with actually getting started as a
freelancer or growing your own personal
business just click the link to book a
call with me all the details will be
there and then you can choose whether
it's something that you want to do or
not so what exactly is freelancing
freelancing is essentially being
self-employed and offering skills and
services to clients on a project basis
so unlike a traditional job freelancing
allows you to choose from different
clients that you can work with you can
set your own rates and the best part is
that you can work from anywhere and you
can work at whatever time that you want
to work now the most common freelance
jobs that everyone knows about are
graphic design video editing website
design and copyrighting but there are so
many other different types of jobs that
you can do as a freelancer that are
available to you and just keep watching
this video I'm going to show you where
you can find ideas of different types of
freelance jobs that you can do the next
essential step that you need in your
freelance journey is to identify a niche
or a service that you're going to be
offering the reason why someone is going
to be willing to pay you money is
because you're going to be offering them
a service that they either don't have
the time to do themselves or they don't
have the skill to do for themselves so
I'm going to show you different ways
that you can actually approach this by
just a few guidelines that you might
want to use when choosing your Niche you
want to choose something that you know
that you are passionate about because
here you in it for the long run you're
not just doing this thing just to make a
quick bu but financing is something that
you can do for years and years and years
and so you'd rather do something that
you enjoy doing than something that you
just forced to do just make a bit of
money another way to go about it is to
look at the current skills that you have
for example in my first job I was doing
sales for a computer company and one of
the skills that that job taught me was
graphic design how to talk to people and
a bit of website design So eventually
when I decided to become a freelancer
those were the three skills that I
focused on that I already had because I
had a bit of experience in the past
working with it so what you want to do
is that you want to do a bit of research
to see the different paths that you
might want to take then you make a
decision and then you just focus on it
consistently and then eventually you're
going to see the results now one major
factor that you need to know and
understand is that the reason why people
are going to be paying you is that you
are they're going to be paying you to
solve problems that they have and the
bigger the problems that you're able to
solve for them the more money that
they're going to be paying you for
example you can take time to learn
graphic design as a skill and maybe you
can want to focus on something like logo
design but you notice that most people
that need logos are normally people who
are starting up companies and so most
startups don't normally have a lot of
money in their budgets so you making a
decision to say that I want to become a
millionaire through freelancing but I'm
going to be focusing on logo design for
startups it might not be a good idea
whereas compared to you looking for
bigger problems that you can solve for
example a lot of companies don't know
how to find clients and you can learn a
skill like for example maybe let's say
Facebook advertising and don't worry I'm
going to show you a way you can find all
these different skills so that you can
make a decision on what skill set you
want to develop but once you've got that
skill set of doing maybe Facebook
advertising you can charge more money
because you're going to be helping
companies to get clients and what that
means is that you're going to be helping
them to make money anyone will pay you
more money as long as you help them to
make more money than they than they
actually paying you so solving problems
is how you actually get paid now some of
the most common problems just to mention
a few are that most companies are
struggling with making more money the
next one most companies are struggling
with growing for example their social
media most companies are struggling with
not having time in the day there's just
so many things to do so they don't have
time time to really run their business
most individuals struggle with tech
which is an advantage for us younger
generation because we grow up in Tech so
it's easy to reach out to this older
generation and offer to help them with
things that have to do with tech in
running their business not knowing how
to write good copy or how to present or
how to use the right words online for
example on their website or their social
media not knowing how to grow an email
list not knowing how to present their
brand visually and here I'm talking
about graphic design and so there are
two ways that I recommend that you
actually find ideas of what service
should I offer the first one is to find
a freelance platform for example
fiverr.com another one that I talk about
a lot is upwork but for this video I'm
just going to show you Fiverr if you
just go to fiverr.com you will be able
to see all the different services that
people are already offering for example
if I just come here you see there's
programming in Tech there's graphic
design there's digital marketing writing
translation video animation um AI
Services music and audio business
Consulting and if I scroll down again
it's going to show you all these
different services and these are the
most popular ones but if I just scroll
down to the bottom and I click here
where it says sit map it's going to give
me a full list of every single service
that you can find on this website so you
can just simply just go through all this
and see different things that you might
be interested in offering it's quite a
long and extensive list but remember the
guidelines that I gave you earlier on
look for something that maybe you're
passioned about look for something that
maybe you've got some experience in look
for something that you are interested in
and just simply choose one of these and
choose to learn it so after going
through this whole list here you cannot
say that I don't know what service to
offer all these are different services
that people are offering and they're all
earning money on this freelance platform
by just offering to people who don't
have the time who don't have the energy
they don't have the know how to actually
tweet for themselves the second way that
you can get freelance ideas is by using
chat GPT chat GPT is a tool that anyone
can access for free you just simply
search for chat GPT you create an
account and then what you'll be able to
do is that you be able to come and ask
CH gbt questions and basically chbt is
AI meaning that it's artificial
intelligence it uses all the information
that it finds on the internet to give
you specific answers but the nice part
about chbt is that it just accelerates
the learning process in that it's got
access to all the information that is
there on the internet so if you ask it
something now it's going to give you an
answer now you don't have to spend
countless hours trying to find the
answers for example I just wrote here
and said I want to offer freelance
services to businesses what are the
biggest problems that most business
owners struggle with that they are
willing to pay a lot of money for that I
can provide as a freelancer so if I just
click on enter there it's going to start
listing out all the different problems
that people are struggling with and then
it's going to show me opportunities or
different skill sets that I can learn
that I can offer as a freelancer so as
you can see here it's typing out and the
first one that it mentions there is
digital marketing and SEO and as you can
see there says many businesses struggle
with online visibility and reaching
their target audience service offering
comprehensive digital marketing services
including SEO content marketing social
media management and paid advertising
can significantly enhance their online
presence and their attractiveness and
attract more customers so it listed a
whole lot of different ones if you're
going to be doing social media marketing
or social media management I suggest you
pick one in that category and focus on
it then as time go on you can develop
and do more what I mean by one is for
example just focus on SEO alone or focus
on content marketing or content creation
right because you want to learn skills
you want to develop your skill set one
by one and then get clients make some
money then when you are growing your
business it then turns into what we call
an agency an agen is now when you're
able to offer more different services
and you're not the one who's going to be
doing the work you actually can build a
team with other people will actually be
coming in and actually doing the work on
your behalf but as as a freelancer when
you starting out just focus on one thing
so you can see here there's a whole list
of so many different things that it's
mentioning here it cyber Security
Solutions Financial Management business
Consulting there's a whole lot of
services that I can offer remember the
guidelines choose something you're
interested in something that you know
that um okay you are passionate about
this thing and you're willing to do it
for the long term now for some of the
things that might be listed out here you
might have got no idea but it just
sounds interesting to you what I
recommend that you do is that maybe you
just take a a title for example just say
maybe SEO and then just go to Google and
type and say how to start an SEO agency
or even better just say what does SEO
agency do so that it Google will give
you descriptions of what exactly that
agency does or even you can just ask CH
GPT and say what does an SEO agency do
or an SEO freelancer do and then it's
going to just give you a brief
description of what exactly you'll be
doing inside of that job as you can see
here it's typing and then I'm just going
to go through whatever answer it gives
me so that I can get more clarity on is
this something that I want to do or not
now once I've decided on what Niche I
want to offer or what service I want to
offer the next question is where do I
learn the skill or how do I learn the
skill for some of you watching this
maybe you have already developed the
skill you might want to jump onto the
next chapter or the next topic that I'll
be covering in this video you can see
the topics by looking at the chapters in
the description of this video but if
you're someone who wants to learn a new
skill and you don't know where to learn
the skill this is what you need to do
I've already shared a lot about this
topic in another video on YouTube and
I'm going to link to it up here but to
save your time from going to watch that
video you still can watch it if you want
I'm just going to extract that video put
it in here and then you can learn some
of the important points the first
website is called three code camp and
I'm going to put the link in the
description to the website and so
basically it's a website where you're
going to be learning how to Cod for free
you're going to be building projects and
then you're going to be earning
certifications and so for you to get
started you're just going to click on
this button here it says get started for
free and as you can see since 2014 more
than 40,000 free cold camp.org graduates
have gotten jobs at tech companies
including Apple Google Microsoft Spotify
and Amazon and I'm sure there are many
other companies so you're basically just
going to come and click on the get
started for free button and then you're
going to be getting access to the
different courses that they have as you
can see they've B some testimonials from
different people here but these are the
courses that you can actually find the
for example there's responsive web
design certification there's JavaScript
algorithms there's front end development
there's relational database
certification and a whole lot more and
as you can see also they've got direct
certification working with Microsoft and
it's titled Microsoft certification over
there website number two is hopspot
Academy and this is Academy where you
can go and learn different types of
courses uh from HubSpot HubSpot is
basically a platform that helps you to
manage and organiz your online presence
so what they've done is that they've
come up with their own Academy of
courses that you can learn for free that
will help you to be able to be effective
online with the hope of you potentially
using their software as you can see here
is you can sign up for the free courses
but if you want to see the most popular
courses you just scroll down here and as
you can see they've got courses like for
example email marketing the social media
marketing certification there is
powering your business through WhatsApp
and I I particularly find this one quite
interesting in fact it's one of the
courses I want to do next because more
and more people are starting to use
WhatsApp for business um WhatsApp now
allows you to actually market and
advertise to people on WhatsApp so this
is one of the courses that I'm going to
be doing next I've done a few other
courses here like including the email
marketing one and then you can just keep
scrolling down to just see the other
coures another important one that I
think is quite important is inbound
marketing optimization uh inbound simply
talks about helping you to get customers
to come to you a lot of business has
struggle with getting customers so if
you're actually an expert in this it's
going to help you to um be someone who's
highly in demand digital marketing is
another highly in demand again uh skill
that you need to know so that you can be
relevant in this digital age that we're
living in there's SEO there which is
helping websites to be found or
businesses to be found on um platforms
like Google so that you the website
actually ranks and people actually uh
find it and then there's YouTube I
specialize in YouTube I do a lot of
YouTube and if you want to get started
in YouTube years of course that's going
to teach you how to do YouTube marketing
like running some ads and stuff like
that and for you to just get started
with any one of these courses you're
just going to click like for example
this one on the YouTube you're just
going to click where it says start
course and then it's going to ask you to
create your Academy account and as you
can see it's 100% free I can continue
with my Google account or I can actually
register with a new email the next
website is what's called Google garage
which is also sometimes called Google
skill shop now this is um a top top
level platform that helps you to learn
most of the courses or tools that I used
on the Google platform so if these are
courses that are actually created by
Google you know Google the web browser
that you use to Google anything they
actually create the courses to teach you
how to effectively use their platform
and so there are different courses as
you can see for example there there's
improving your online business security
which is quite important when hackers
see that your business is actually
making money they can just get into your
website and divert your money to go
somewhere else which is um which can be
very tragic there's fundamentals of
digital marketing I spoke about digital
marketing and its importance earlier on
but here you're going to be learning it
from Google you're going to understand
the basics of code so maybe you can use
the first website that I spoke about or
you can come to this one they teach you
how to code as well make sure customers
find you online which is super important
a lot of people have got websites but we
can't find the website or we can't find
what they're doing online it's business
communication there's get a business
online is connect with customers over
mobile and there's just a whole lot of
other courses and also when I come here
and I click on certifications though all
these courses they are certifications
you will but when you click on get
certification you'll come to this
section here and then they're actually
going to test you based on the knowledge
that you have learned um there's going
to be like some form of like a test that
you just go through and then if you
qualify you then get the certification
website number four is what's called
audacity or Udacity depending on how you
want to pronounce it but then you can
basically learn skills to improve your
potential right and then looking at the
different types of courses that they
have here courses on data science
programming and development artificial
intelligence now unless you're living
under a rock the most trending topic on
the internet at the moment or this past
year has been artificial intelligence or
AI people are learning how to integrate
artificial intelligence into their
businesses so this is one of the ways
that you can actually become someone who
is certified and actually knows about
artificial intelligence and how to use
it you can actually approach businesses
and be someone who is highly in demand
as you helping them to integrate
artificial intelligence and then there's
business there's uh autonomous systems
autonomous systems means maybe you're
helping companies there's say for
example Frankin companies to have less
of physical workers but they use more of
automation it's it's it's a bad for in
terms of people might lose your jobs yes
but it puts you at a point of Advantage
if someone who's actually leading um and
showing them how to actually go about it
you'll be someone who's highly in demand
uh product management and then there's
cloud computing and then there's a whole
lot of other courses you just scroll
down you'll be able to see all of them
you just simply choose the course that
you want to do and then you start doing
the course and so to use the platform
you're just going to either use this
button at the top or just scroll down
and you see where it say Stu free you
just want to click on that then you're
just going to enter your details and
start using the platform then the next
website is what's called mail Shake
mailshake is basically a platform that
helps people to do email marketing but
they have created their own course which
is called the called email masterclass
that helps people to learn how to do
email marketing now a lot of companies
pay email marketers to do email Outreach
for them this is when you are reaching
out to companies who don't know about
you in your business and you're offering
them your services using what's called
hold email Outreach and they basically
have got this master class that teaches
you exactly how to do that now you won't
find many other courses are on this
website for now but this one course can
be a game changer for you especially if
you're someone lers to uh work in lead
generation or in email marketing as this
is a highly s after service if you can
prove that you actually qued doing this
a lot of people will be willing to pay
lots of money to do it for them because
for example let's just say that maybe
you are approach a company and then you
charge them $5,000 to do this for them
they'll be willing to pay it because you
can help the B generate 50,000 to about
$100,000 more from the work that you
actually do for them through this C
email market then the next website is
addison.com this is a platform where you
can get free online courses with
certificates and diplomas so there are
so many courses here that you can also
learn again but then there are different
options as compared to the previous ones
there's it for example there Health
there language there's business there's
management there's teaching in academics
as you can see these are just different
types of courses that you can actually
do so you just simply come here to the
website and choose the type of course
that you want to go ahead and get and as
you can see there are going to be
options for you to do the popular
courses you get top diplomas or top
certificates and there also new courses
that are available and also when you
talk about doing courses lots of people
think about okay this is somewhere else
going to take maybe the next two or 3
months but as you can see here some of
the courses here they are like 4 to 5
hours they 6 to 10 hours there's 2 to 3
hours just depending on which course you
choose to do that's what will determine
how long the course actually is and some
of the people who be teaching you on
this platform are people who work for
companies like Google University of
Cambridge Stanford uh Microsoft and many
others and then to sign up you're just
going to Simply click on the sign up
button choose the course that you want
to do and then you start learning so one
of the other ways that you can actually
learn any skill for free without you
having to actually pay anything is that
you can use chat gbt that we have been
talking a lot about for example I just
came here and I wrote I want you to give
me a full beginner training or course on
how to do SEO as a beginner I intend to
offer this to businesses as a service so
you can just word this differently but
I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say
here I just wanted to train me how to do
SEO and I'm just going to click on enter
so as you can see here it's done there's
a conclusion over here and there are
nine mod JS that is presented to me
about how to do SEO so what I then can
do is that I then can just scroll back
all the way to the top and it says what
is SEO I'm just going to read through
this if I if it does not make sense to
me I can just copy this writing here and
I can come back to the chat option here
and say can you please expand on this
and then it's going to expand and give
me more information so it can teach me
everything I need to know as long as I
know how to ask it the right questions
and then the other way that you also can
learn which is another way of learning
for free is that you can just come to
YouTube and say something like SEO
course for beginners like if I want to
learn SEO right I'm just going to search
for that on YouTube like this and as you
can see there are other YouTubers like
Marshall or other people out there who
actually have created video tutorials
like can you see this one is 1 hour 57
complete SEO course for beginners learn
to rank number one in Google so if you
want to watch this video you can watch
this video or you look for other videos
so you can do this in any Topic in any
Niche you could always just come and
write the name of your Niche here and
then just say course for beginners and
it's going to show you the different
courses that are there then the other
way which is the most effective way of
actually learning any uh topic or any
Niche is by actually looking for Content
creators like I've just shown you here
some of these content creators have got
courses that they're actually selling
that if you do the course you will learn
how to get the same result that they get
faster some of these methods that I've
showed you they're quite broad because
they'll just introduce you to the topic
but the thing I like about content
creators and their specific courses is
they help you to get a specific outcome
fast for example someone might have a
course that teaches you how to start
freelancing in make your first 10K in 30
days I'd rather buy that course than
just buy a course that is completely
about maybe everything to do with maybe
just freelancing or everything to do
with uh search engine optimization or
whatever topic I'd rather buy something
that gives me a specific result and so
once again just to let you know I also
have got like an ebook that you can
actually get it's for $15 it's called
the freelance blueprint but depending on
when you are watching this video you
might be able to get a discount on it if
you want to know step by step you want
an article one article that will show
you everything that you need to do to
become the freelancer that's earning 10K
or more per month you can just click on
the link that's in the description of
this video for you to just get that
ebook it's just going to be for $15 only
option two there's going to be a course
that's going to be coming out if you
want more details about the course which
I personally will be presenting to you
just click on the second link that
you're also going to see there so that
you can get access to the course find
out all the details about it or option
number three if you want me to train you
one onone and help you to start your own
freelance business or to help you to
grow your current freelance business
helping you to get to 10K and above in
US Dollars then just check out the links
that are in the description of this
video book a call with me we'll talk
about it and we'll see if you're a good
fit the next step is for us to talk
about registering your business and
paying taxes now I thought it was very
important for us to talk about this
because this is one mistake that I made
as a beginner now this is not Financial
advice I'm not a financial advisor I'm
not a text consultant but these are my
views do not register your business
before you actually have a business what
do I mean by that a lot of people waste
time trying to register their business
before they know that they actually have
got a working business meaning that
you're going to have to learn how to
register your business or you're going
to have to remove money to pay someone
to register your business for you and
the problem with that is first and
foremost is you are taking a lot of time
trying to get registered number two once
you have registered your business you're
now obligated to start paying tax paying
tax for a business that might not work
yes you're hoping for the best yes
you're hoping that your business is
going to start making a lot of money
suddenly but you are actually allowed to
run a business start making money first
and then eventually or at a certain
point then you register your business
now I live in South Africa right and if
you go to Google and you actually search
or you just go directly to the website
for company registration South Africa
which businesses must register for tax
in South Africa this works differently
for different countries so please do a a
search in your country but you notice
here you must register your business for
value added tax or but if the total
valuable or taxable goods or services is
more than 1 million Rands in the 12month
period was expected to exceed this
amount and then it goes on to say a
business may also register voluntarily
do you see that word there voluntarily
if the income earned in the past 12-
month period exceeds 50,000 R in other
words if you're earning less than a
million rents within onee period you can
choose whether you want to or not
register your business for tax now like
I said I'm not a Tax Advisor this
doesn't mean that you should never pay
tax this doesn't mean that you are not
ever going to pay tax but what this
means is that you can start your
business and start making money first
and then after you know that okay this
is a business that is actually making
money then you can go to a you can then
you can approach maybe a text consultant
or an accountant or someone to help you
to get registered to start paying for
tax so don't worry about okay I've just
made a few dollars I get in trouble for
not paying tax no you're not going to be
in trouble because your business has not
yet proved itself yet you still have a
bit of time make sure that your business
is actually running first it is actually
profitable and then you go and start
registering for tax now ear on I
mentioned that I made a mistake because
I went ahead and registered a business
and then I was now obliged to start
paying taxes for a business that
ultimately failed and then I found
myself now owing taxes for something
that I no longer was doing because the
business had failed so you want to try
and avoid that once again I'm not a text
consultant you need to do your own
research so let you make a decision by
yourself on what approach you want to
use the next thing that you're going to
need to have is a portfolio so a
portfolio is simply something that you
present to clients as evidence that you
are capable or you are able to do the
job that they want you to do for them
and then they're going to pay you for
example if you're a website designer you
need to have some websites that you have
designed before that you can show
clients that okay if you work with me
potentially your website can look like
this if you're a graphic designer you
want to have some posters and websites
that you've designed so what do you do
if you're a complete beginner and you
don't have a portfolio you don't have
any clients like you know that qu that
thing that always happens when you're
going to look for a job and then they
say they want someone with 5 years
experience how do you have 5 years
experience if you've never been given
the opportunity before to work so if
you're looking for experience or do
you're looking to build your portfolio
this is what you need to do number one
you might want to start doing some jobs
for free so that you can build your
portfolio for example if you're a
graphic designer you look for different
companies that don't have logos and you
design logos for them for free you go
and present them and say hey I'm a new
graphic designer and I just wanted to do
this logo for you you guys can use it
for free I'm just doing it for my
portfolio I would appreciate it if you
give me a testimonial then they can give
you a great testimonial now you've got
some what some stuff that you can go and
present to another client and say I did
for them this logo you don't have to
mention that you did it for free only
thing that they want to see is that you
able to do the logo so number one you
might want to do some jobs for free
number two you might want to do jobs at
a discounted price most people charge a
certain amount of money and you need to
do the research to figure out okay how
much do people charge what you want to
do is that you want to find people who
maybe need the same service but you're
going to charge at a lower rate if you
know people are charging $100 maybe you
want to charge $50 or $30 it's just an
example why because you just want to get
the job and you want to build up your
portfolio and at least this way it's
nicer because at least you get get a bit
of money into your pocket for doing the
job don't worry later on you're going to
increase your prices but for now you're
just focusing on building your portfolio
option number three you don't have
businesses that you can work for for
free you don't have businesses that you
can maybe give it a discounted price
option number three is for you to make
up businesses or to make up ghost
companies and do the work for them
example once again if I'm a logo
designer I can just make up some company
name like I can just say malawa
Enterprises that's my surname Plus the
world Enterprises and I design a logo
for that I I just create this nice logo
and then I put it on maybe on my website
or some way where I can display to
people in show of that these are the
types of logos that I have made I'll
just find five or six different
companies with different names that I've
just made up and I will design for them
why because when I present these in
front of a potential client they don't
care that these are not existing
companies I don't even have to mention
that these are not existing companies
all they care about is that these things
look good and you know what you are
doing if you're a website designer you
can do the same thing make up a company
name or find a company that you know
doesn't have a website and go ahead and
create a a a nice simple website for
them so that you can use that for your
portfolio if you're a video editor
trying to look for video editing clients
what I recommend that you do is you look
for some YouTubers who seem to be
getting traction for example a YouTuber
like Marshall maybe you see that
Marshall posts good videos but you can
improve his video editing you take his
video which is the before you edit it
it's now an after then you approach
Marshall and say hey Marshall um I'd
love to become your video editor here's
an example of what I can do this is the
video that you posted on this day this
is what it looks like after I finished
editing so now Marshall can say yes to
you or he can say no to you it doesn't
matter you can take the same example and
go to another person and say hey this is
what I am doing for Marshall you don't
have to mention that Marshall said no
you just mentioned that Marshall this is
what I'm doing for Marshall and they can
see the before and the after and you
keep approaching different people
showing them using that approach and
then some are going to say yes to you
and they're going to give you the work
to do just an expert tip make sure that
you include their logos and their
company details basically using their
own content or using stuff that
represents them to show them what you'll
be able to do for them people usually
respond to what they can see and they
can feel in other words if they can
actually see and feel the value that
you'll be providing to them they're more
likely to say yes to you because they
can visually see it as compared to you
just coming and saying hey I can build a
website for you where's the proof and
now when your portfolio is done and
you're ready to actually reach out to
clients you are showing them your
portfolio and then they want to work
with you the next big question is how
much should you charge sometimes pricing
can actually be something that's very
tricky to come up with so so basically
you need to do your research and the
best way to research is to see what
other firstly Freelancers are charging
out there and what other companies are
also charging if you notice sometimes I
use the word agency instead of
freelancer they kind of do the same
thing but an agency refers to a business
that is now established and they usually
became agencies after starting out as
Freelancers so you want to identify
agencies or businesses that are out
there that are already offering the
service and check out what exactly are
they charging then you go to freelance
platforms like Fiverr and upor and see
what Freelancers are also charging out
there now depending on whether your
clients are international clients or
their local clients if they're local
clients I want to see what other people
in my industry are also charging so that
I don't overcharge or I don't or I don't
undercharge and then if it's
International clients depending on where
I'm going to be finding clients I want
to see what people who are using the
same method that I'm using to find cents
are actually charging now what I
normally recommend as a beginner is that
you start off under charging as compared
to other people who are doing the same
thing as you why because it's easier
especially when you're starting out to
just offer to do a certain service at a
lower price because some people actually
look for the cheapest option then once
you've built up your portfolio having a
few clients under your belt you then can
start increasing your prices don't just
jump out and say that no maybe I did a
course that cost me maybe $3,000
therefore I need to charge a lot of
money to get my money back you need to
be very realistic and consider okay this
service that I'm offering to people and
the type of clients that I'm attracting
as a beginner are they going to be
willing to pay and just an expert tip to
throw in there like I mentioned earlier
on if you want to get paid more you need
to find bigger problems to solve you
need to identify big problems that
people are struggling with in their
businesses and solve them and then
therefore you'll be able to charge as
much as you want but like I said I
recommend that you start off by charging
low prices and then as you gradually
grow and get more clients you just keep
increasing your prices and now one thing
that I've noticed that happens to a lot
of Freelancers is that we really get
stuck on this pricing thing you spend
weeks just trying to figure out what's
the right or perfect price to charge
just set a price and reach out to
clients if the price is too low you do a
job for one person and then you increase
on the next if the price is too high the
client will let you know they'll they
will tell you they will give you
feedback and then you make decisions
based on that don't use pricing as a
reason to why you're not starting to
just simply start and then you'll be
able to adjust just your pricing
whatever pricing you decide on today it
doesn't mean that you have to stick to
that pricing for the rest of your life
you can always change your pricing for
the same type of website I can approach
a client and charge them $500 and then
for the exact same type of website I can
approach another client and charge them
$2,000 why because clients are different
and I'm still learning myself I'm still
learning the market so don't be scared
to charge just set a price and just
reach out to people out there there are
so many people out there that need you
help with the service that you're going
to be offering so now let's talk about
how exactly you can find these people
that need your help let's talk about how
to find clients now there are many
different ways that you can actually
approach getting clients but they
basically fall under two categories
there what's called inbound marketing
and then there's outbound marketing
inbound marketing means that clients
come looking for you the same way that
if you think of maybe companies like uh
maybe uh Gucci or Louis Vuitton that do
clothing normally if you want their
clothing you need to go to the mall
nearest to you and look for their
particular look for the store that's
nearest to you because they've done a
lot of marketing that gets you to know
about them and then you come searching
for the store to see what's now
available so that you can buy something
for yourself whereas outbound marketing
is normally done when people don't know
about you so you are the one who is
actually reaching out to clients to
advertise yourself to get them to buy
your products to get them to buy your
services now want talk about both
inbound and outbound marketing but I
want to start off by talking about
freelance platforms there is Fiverr
there's upwork there's freelancer
there's people per hour in fact there
are thousands of platforms out there
where you can simply sign up as a
freelancer and then you can potentially
start getting clients now personally the
websites that I use the most are Fiverr
and upwork I've mentioned them multiple
times in this video but I personally use
them for research purposes and also for
hiring people to help me with whatever
task that I have I don't necessarily use
them to get clients for myself why
because mainly these platforms you're
not the first freelancer to go and sign
up there there are thousands of
Freelancers who are offering the same
thing that you're going to be offering
so they are very highly competitive
platforms also when you're starting out
as a as a beginner you need to really
make your prices low so that like people
can just give you a chance but just know
that your first few jobs and Rec earning
a lot of money then the more jobs you
get then maybe you can then start
raising up your prices when people start
getting to know you I try to avoid
competition so I prefer to use inbound
methods and I'm going to show you how to
actually do them so so star off with
outbound I'm just going to give you a
couple of examples in the same way that
I mentioned earlier on that you can
learn these different freelance uh
skills that you can offer out you also
can learn these different methods you
can find courses you can find videos
that will teach you how to implement
this for yourself the first one is email
marketing where you gather people's
email addresses and then you reach out
to them offering your service for
example let's say that I want to do
maybe video editing or I want to do
graphic design design thumbnail design
for YouTubers I can just simply go to
YouTube and I can look for YouTubers who
are creating content maybe about a
specific topic or in a specific Niche
that I want to work with but just to
just show you a random example there
this one as you can see here the name of
the channel is sem rush I'm just going
to click on that then I'm going to come
to the YouTube page here and now you're
going to see this Arrow here which is to
the right if I click on that arrow is
going to show me this about option where
I can find out more details about this
business but now if I scroll down there
are a couple of options there the first
one is their website I can go to their
website and then I can then look for
their contact details there like for
example in in particular I'm looking for
their email address they might have a
contact us page and then I can just send
an email on the contact us page or I can
just keep scrolling until I find where
their email address is for this one I
can't see any email address here so I'll
just look for another example if I come
back to YouTube and I just look for
another random example like this guy
here if I just click on his YouTube name
there so that I can go to his channel it
brings me here then if I click on that
Arrow there you'll notice that there's
this option that says view email address
if I click on that I can then come here
it says I'm not a robot I'm going to
click on that and then I'm going to
click on submit I'm going to click on
this Arrow again here and then you see
where it says view email address if I
click on that I'll be able to view his
email address you see here it's asking
me I'm not a robot I'm just going to
tick on that click submit and then I'll
be able to see his email address I'm
able to copy that email and then I'll
send him an email using email marketing
now just in case you want to do email
marketing or you want to specialize in
email marketing I want to put a link to
this website here which is called
hopspot you can sign up and get 25 free
sales email templates these are
templates that you can use for that will
help you to write emails that people
actually open up and just to show you
what this actually looks like as you can
see 25 proven sales email templates they
are just different templates that you'll
just be coming in here and then you'll
just be editing them and using them as
your emails can you see there's an
option here to the left for the menu I
can click on that to take me to the
first email land a meeting with anyone
email that works 9 out of 10 times and
then here is the template here High name
I'm writing in hopes of finding the
appropriate person who handles whatever
Department I media also wrote to person
X and person Zed in that Pursuit if it
makes sense to talk let me know how your
calendar looks so these are just
templates that you can just copy and put
in your email provider and then you'll
be sending out emails to the different
people that you're going to be uh
wanting to reach out to to offer your
service now I'll probably talk more in
depth about email marketing in another
video or if you really want me to do
that just let me know in the comment
section below but I just want to go into
the next way of getting clients The Next
Step which is similar to email marketing
is that you'll be doing hold DMS hold
DMS means that you'll be doing the exact
same thing that I explained in email
marketing but you'll be doing it on
social media for example on Instagram on
Facebook or LinkedIn you'll be reaching
out to people that you feel are a
potential Feit to your business and then
you're going to be offering your
services to them so you can still go
ahead and use the same templates here
but then obviously if you're doing it
maybe like for example on Instagram you
have to find you have to make the
message just slightly a bit shorter but
you just send out the message to them
and you're just pitching to them and
hopefully they will bite and they will
give you the opportunity for you to do
sell work for them another form of
outbound marketing is when you are
attending networking events like for
example in my area sometimes there are
Tech events there are AI events or there
is a local BNI it stands for business
Network something but basically people
who do business they all come here they
meet we have meeting sometimes we have
someone who speaking talking about
business and then afterwards we get the
opportunity to NWI and talk about okay
what do you do for your business and
sometimes you can actually find some
clients who want to work with you the
other more traditional way of doing
outbound marketing is just by doing door
Todo marketing where by for example if
you're website designer and you see
different companies that need website
design you simply walk up to them ask to
talk to the manager or the business
owner and then offer to do the web
design for them just to show you another
expert tip this works for some
Industries for example website design or
maybe graphic design you can actually
use Google Maps to find clients like for
example here I've just searched and say
the air salons near me and what it's
going to do is that it's going to show
me a map of all the different as salons
that are actually in my location so now
if I'm a website designer I'm going to
be looking for the ones that either
don't have websites or they have got
lousy websites for example I'm seeing
this one which is called aav house and
you notice that all these other ones
there's something written website to the
left here but this one doesn't have a
website so I can just simply find their
address as this is Google Maps as you
can see here I can click on directions
to see exactly where it is and then I
can just approach them and say hey I'd
like to do a website for you for the
other on I already have got websites
I'll just go ahead and check whether the
website is modern whether it's fresh
whether it's something that needs
Improvement if it's a good website I'll
just leave them alone so depending on
what your Miss is you can actually use
this method to find some clients near
you and then you're just going to be
approaching them door too and then the
other way of actually doing inbound
marketing is by doing Cod calling Cod
calling simply means that you pick up
the phone and then you call people and
you start pitching your services to them
using this example that I just showed
you here of Google Maps you can easily
find people's numbers on Google right
depending on what you want to offer them
then you can just call them up and say
hey can I speak to the manager hi yes is
the manager speaking hi sir I noticed
that you don't have a website I'm the
best website designer in this country I
want to build a website for you what
time can I come and see simple as that
now let's talk about inbound marketing
inbound simply means that these people
are are actually going to be looking for
you you are not looking for them and
just to give you examples of this the
first one is establishing a personal
brand like for myself I've got a whole
YouTube channel where people come and
learn from me about different ways of
create of earning income for themselves
I don't have to look for clients who
want to learn how to create income
people are always messaging me saying
hey Marshall can you help me I want to
start something I want to start a
business and then depend what I have to
offer I can easily find clients like
that and then here's another guy that I
follow his name is Pon Clark Smith and
he's a website designer he gets all his
website clients by simply creating video
content on YouTube that content that has
to do with website design so you'll be
showing the designs that he has made
he's showing designs uh he'll be showing
clients that he's actually working with
he's showing how to actually make a
design a website for yourself and people
come to him and learn how to do website
design people come to him to hire him to
actually build websites for them so he
finds it very easy and because his
videos are just there on YouTube it's
very easy for him to get lots of clients
as you can see some of his videos have
got 16,000 views 17,000 views 7,000
views 2,000 views there are so many
different people around the world
watching this content and reaching out
to him asking him to help them with
their websites another example is this
lady who is using Tik Tok so he doesn't
have to be on YouTube but this lady her
name is Becca Luna she's also a website
designer and she just basically just
creates content talking about website
design and showing the designs that she
has made so if a lady watching this this
thing is not only for guys but as you
can see ladies are also killing it out
there here's another guy who's doing the
exact same thing but he's doing it on
Twitter and he focuses mainly on helping
people to do Amazon KDP some people hire
him to create products that they can
actually sell some people hire him to
show them how to do the whole process
and so he's getting a lot of clients by
him simply creating a Twitter account
creating content on on Twitter and then
clients just come to him they reach out
to him they ask for his help just by him
creating content now personally I think
this is the best way to actually get
clients is better than the previous
methods that we spoke about for outbound
marketing where you have to look for
clients and convince them this way
clients are always see you active on
social media every single day and they
it helps with the no like trust Factor
they easily trust you because you are
very visible on social media and they
reach out to you this way you never run
out of clients the other way that you
can also approach this is by doing SE o
SEO stands for search engine
optimization this is when you have got a
website and you optimize it in a way
that people will see it now if you
search for anything on Google you notice
that there's page one of Google page two
page three no one goes to check page two
and Page Three everyone only checks for
stuff on page one so SEO is about
helping websites to appear on the first
page so if you can learn SEO or you can
figure it out you can get your website
to rank on the first page so that people
know that okay if I'm looking for
graphic designer you pop up and then
they'll be easily just reaching out to
you like here's a quick example if I
just search for website design you're
going to see that there are lots of
websites here that pop up say sponsored
right because these are companies that
are paying Google to appear on the top
of the Google results but if I keep
scrolling down all these companies that
are are popping up here they have used
SEO to appear on this front page of
Google as you can see they are saying do
COA because Google is recognizing that
these are companies that are near to me
and I'm might interested in working with
it do COA is like the Doom that we use
but specifically for South Africa so all
these websites that you see on the front
page they are examples of websites that
have done SEO well and then the next
example that I'll give is building an
email list for example maybe you just
run some paid advertising and then you
get people maybe to download something
for free that's a guide that shows them
how to do something once you've got
their email addresses you then can start
marketing to them as much as possible as
many times as you want because you now
have got access to their email address
address so now when you send out all
these emails and then you are giving an
offer that you know that people are
interested in they start reaching out to
you they start coming to your website
because you send out those emails and
then that's one way that you can start
getting clients now you some a couple of
guidelines that you need to also
consider when you're reaching out to
clients the first one is that you want
to focus on clients that have got the
ability to pay you you don't want to do
work for clients that you're going to be
struggling to receive payment something
that took you maybe a day to work on but
then it takes them 3 months for them to
pay you because they are facing money
issues number two you want to focus on
people that are taking their business
seriously not someone who's just doing
something part-time but it's something
that they are serious about and they
really trying to make some progress with
their business and then next you want to
focus on businesses that are not too big
and they also at the same time not too
small what I mean by this is that if you
are targeting companies that are too big
probably they already got people that
are employed or some people that they've
been working with for years therefore
they're not going to give you the job
but you want to find people who are
maybe they've been in business for 2 or
3 years and they want to expand but
they're not those huge corporate
companies like let's say that maybe
you're going to approach uh YouTubers
you don't want to find those you want to
approach those Youtubers with millions
of followers you want to approach the
ones with maybe have got 5,000 to about
100,000 followers and then you reach out
to them offering to their thumbnail
design their video editing or whatever
service that you want to offer once you
start getting clients through the door
the next thing that you have to figure
out is how to start behaving like a
business or the process of actually
managing your business what that means
that you need to set up Sops or standard
operating procedures this basically
means how you work on a day-to-day basis
this includes like the daily activities
that you need to do and how you work
with clients like one thing that you
need to set as a boundary is clients
should not just reach out to you
whenever they want every single time
every single minute of the day if you
don't set these boundaries early
sometimes you receive messages from
clients asking you to make some changes
on something on a Sunday evening when
you should be spending that time Rel
taxing or with your family but there are
just a couple of things that you need to
think about how exactly do I want to
work in relation to my clients and then
also the daily activities that you need
to be doing for yourself and your
business so make sure that you're
setting boundaries otherwise you're
going to be burnt out and you're going
to be talking to clients or times and
periods when you shouldn't be and then
also let's say for example you are doing
a website for a client don't go ahead
and build the whole website then you
come back to the client and say hey
here's the website and then they start
making revisions learn to do things
maybe in portions for example maybe just
start off by build in the first page and
then you show them and then they approve
it if there any changes at least you
know how the rest of the pages should be
because you're getting an insight into
how the client thinks if you're editing
a 30 minute video just edit the first 5
minutes and then show them and then they
give you feedback on whether they happy
with it or not that way it prevents you
from spending countless hours doing the
wrong thing because it's very important
for you to receive feedback from your
client and then also consider like your
daily activities what are you supposed
to be doing on a daily basis like how
much time are you going to spend
reaching out to clients if you're using
outbound methods or how much time are
you going to spend creating content if
you're using inbound methods how many
emails are you going to be sending out
how much content are you going to be
creating how much content are you going
to be researching how much time are you
going to spend researching content ideas
and also you need to be very aware that
especially when you're beginning you
need to spend more time looking for
clients than actually doing the work so
you need to set outside time like let's
say maybe if you've got an 8 hour day
you dedicate 5 hours of that time to
looking for clients and then 3 hours to
doing the work for the clients why
because you want to build an influx of
clients to a point until you get to that
point where but you have you don't have
to be looking for clients but then you
can just spend that all that time
focusing on getting clients work done so
these are things that you just need to
think through and then you are going to
be doing the same process over and over
and over and over again until your
business gets to a point where but it
can run without you one of the biggest
challenges that makes a lot of
Freelancers fail is the issue of
repetition people always want to do some
new exciting work and they don't realize
that business is all about repetition
doing the correct things all the time
and then that's what's going to get you
the results now once again just to
mention I have got a freelance blueprint
that you can get access to that will
show you step byst step with the links
and and guidance on everything that
we're talking about here but more in
depth on how to get started with
freelancing I'm going to put the link in
the description of this video make sure
that you check it out you can just get
it just for $15 if you want my course
just make sure that you register or be
on the waiting list or maybe it's
already available you can also check the
link in the description below or if you
want direct access to me to get
oneon-one coaching it's all going to be
there in the description below so that
you can get more in-depth training from
me now another question that you might
have is okay how do I receive payments
or how do I do invoices how do I handle
the money aspect of freelancing so you
just need to find what works for you in
your country and what works for your
business now there are different methods
that I recommend personally I use stripe
stripe is like one of the simplest
payment providers uh for doing
International payments but stripe is not
available in most countries like for
example in South Africa it was a
struggle for me to get striped but
because most of my clients are US based
and the UK based I had to get strip if
you can get strip it will be a bonus for
you but basically do what works for you
other alternatives are the ones that I
recommend and I want to put links to
them in the in the description below
there wise a nice part about wise is
that you can receive payments from
anywhere you can receive payments from
any bank account around the world they
also give you bank accounts like I'm in
South Africa but I've got an American
bank account I've got a UK bank account
I can open a bank account in Jamaica
through stripe and then with stripe you
can send you can get you can send
invoices you can receive payments it's
just it's just the best way for you to
receive payments from anywhere around
the world a similar alternative is
pioner payer is also great in that it
gives you accounts in all different
countries I just prefer wise to it more
but it basically does the same thing and
then the another the one of the most
popular ones out there in the world is
PayPal though personally I'm trying to
run away from PayPal because the more
money you make on PayPal they sometimes
put a hold on your account wanting you
to explain what this money is for so it
becomes a newsense every single time if
you have to explain what money is for
and yet they know that you a freelancer
so yes I receive PayPal payments
sometimes but I prefer using the other
options that I've already mentioned but
and yes PayPal is a good option but but
I'd prefer using other methods that I've
already mentioned an alternative to
stripe in Africa is paystack paystack is
striped but the S but the African
version so you can also try and use that
one and then the last one if you
specifically if you're in South Africa
you're going to need to get pay fast pay
fast is like a payment processing tool
that we use in South Africa so if you
want people to pay on your website you
need to have pay pass it allows you to
receive money in Rand payments once
again all the links to these different
websites are going to be in the
description of this video and it's
really up to you on how exactly you're
going to be receiving the payments
basically there are three ways that you
can approach it number one someone can
send you the full payment upfront before
you do any work normally people will do
that for you when they know that they
can trust you meaning that maybe you've
done jobs for them before and then they
hire you for another job most cases
they'll send money up front if you're
using a platform like maybe upwork or
FIV what happens is that the client pays
the platform and then that money is held
in escrow meaning that the client no
longer has the money but you also can
access it until the job is done when the
client says yes you did the job and
they're happy with it that money gets
released the second way that you can
approach it is a part payment meaning
that the client pays maybe 25% 30% 50%
down and then they pay the rest when the
job is completed that's another way to
approach it and sometimes I would
actually recommend that because
sometimes you can spend so many
countless hours on a client who then
disappears they might disappear because
maybe they were a scammer though there
ways to make sure that you're not being
scammed or they might disappear because
something happened and they can't get
back to you meaning that you countless
hours working on something and then
you're not going to get paid and this
has happened to me before so I always
recommend before you do any work just
try and get some form of payment and
also before you submit the completed
work make sure that you get the rest of
the payment and then the last way is for
you to actually just do the work and
then they pay you later like uh like I
mentioned I don't normally recommend
this but sometimes you need to do it
especially when you are building a new
relationship with maybe some CES like
just to give you another example
sometimes I get paid by companies to
create content on YouTube some companies
pay me up front because they've they
feel they trust me based on all the
content that I've been sharing then
there some because maybe they their
first time paying maybe an influencer
they are scared to pay me up front so I
just go ahead create the video then but
then before I publish it for everyone to
be able to see it they then make the
payment just an expert tip try and send
invoices using the tool that you want
paid through for example if I want them
to pay me using wise I'll create an
invoice in wise if I want them to pay me
on stripe I'll send an invoice using uh
stripe same thing with PayPal or paystep
or whatever once you have got a steady
stream of clients coming in the next
thing that you need to be thinking about
is how can I expand my business to make
it run without you being there and then
that's what we call the transition from
freelancing to an agency setup okay just
to give you an example of what I mean if
you look at the structure of of a
freelance business it includes you
finding clients to work with and number
two actually doing the work and
delivering it to clients as your
business grows as you start making money
you can just focus on maybe getting
someone else to do the actual work for
you so that you spend more time on
finding clients now think about it if
you have got the capacity to work with
five clients per month but then you hire
someone else to take care of those five
clients of yours it means that you can
do five plus another person who does
five as well now your company is
servicing 10 clients per month then if
you hire another person again it becomes
15 another person becomes 20 but then
eventually you just want to remove
yourself from the process so that you
can hire as many people as possible so
that your focus is only on getting Cs
and then eventually you want to remove
yourself from the process of getting
clients as well you're now hiring people
to run adver for you you're hiring
people to do cold Outreach for you
you're hiring people to create content
for you until you get to a point whereby
you can just go on holiday for 30 days
without even looking at your business
but your business is running because you
managed to set up the systems for
yourself one book that I'd recommend
that you read is this one which is
called the E myth Revisited I'm going to
put a link to it in the description
below it will teach you how to actually
build and structure a business in the
way that I've just explained and also in
the future I'm going to be doing some
reviews about different types of books
and I'm going to talk about this one if
there's something that you're interested
in let me know in the comment section
below so now if you follow all the steps
that I've mentioned so far you have got
everything that you need to start a
freelance business and start succeeding
you don't have to look for more
information out there this is all the
information that you need the only thing
that's going to stop you from getting
the results that you want is you not
doing the work period but let's just say
that you do have some questions that
maybe I didn't answer in this video make
sure that you leave them in the comments
below and I'm just going to get back to
you with um all the answers
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