If you want to be taken seriously as a freelancer, then you need to get serious about what you are doing and treat it like a real job, not just something you do on the side. But, of course, that is not the only thing you need to do if you want to be treated like the professional you know you are, as you will see below.
Update Your Resume
Before you do anything else, you are going to want to take some time to update your resume. Yes, as a freelancer, you may well have a portfolio of work you can use to showcase your skills, but many employers want to see a resume too, and if you have a good one, and you know what to include on a resume to gain attention and impress the people you want to impress, you will get further and give off a much more professional aura, guaranteed!
Polish Your Online Presence
Your online presence is a bit like a digital storefront for your business, which as a freelancer, is you, of course. So, it needs to be professional, impressive and as uncontroversial as possible if it is going to do its job of attracting paying clients.
That being the case, if you have not always been as careful about what you post online as you (hopefully) are now, you might want to stake some time to delete anything that could reflect negatively on you, or hire a company who can take care of repairing your online reputation for you.
Speak the Language of Results
When discussing projects with potential clients, don’t just talk about what you can do—talk about what you’ve achieved. Results speak louder than promises. Instead of saying, “I can write blog posts,” say, “I wrote a blog post that increased website traffic by 20%.” It’s like showing up to a duel with a cannon instead of a sword. Boom! Instant credibility.
Never Stop Learning (And Show It Off)
It sometimes feels like the world changes faster than the blink of an eye, and this being the case (well I may have exaggerated a little) if you want to be truly taken seriously as a freelancer, you need to keep up with it, which means constantly learning and improving your skillset. Of course, you need to put that knowledge into action, so you can show potential clients what you can do too. Sure, this might take more effort than stagnating, but it will get you more clients and futureproof your career as a freelancer too, so it’s totally worth it, right?
Testimonials
Collecting as many testimonials as you can from as many satisfied clients as you can will go a long way to showing you in a professional light and convincing more people to buy your services, for sure.
So, now you know a little bit more about what you can do to be taken seriously as a freelancer, what’s stopping you from getting out there and making serious money?
