We all have dream lives and dream careers. What constitutes a great career to you, may not be what another person sees as perfect. And that’s okay. Because we’re all individuals in this world, and it’s great to be able to choose what sort of things make you happy. After all, if we all liked and did the same thing, the world would be a pretty boring place, wouldn’t it? And so, you’re going to find that it’s great to embrace the things that you’re good at, and the things that you love – despite the opinions of others.

So, if you’re someone that has always wanted to go freelance, then perhaps now’s the time for you to do that. Because if you’re a creative, or you have a business idea that you know will work out for you, then this could be the perfect career choice for you. Do expect criticism from others, and don’t just assume that this will be an easy ride – it won’t. When you decide to become a freelancer, you have to put the work in. But that can be a lot of fun. And you may also find that you don’t have to struggle because you get to where you want to be when the time is right.

However, one thing’s for sure. When you’re used to set working ways, a regular salary, vacation time, and other benefits, it can be a shock to go freelance. So it’s also a great idea to have all of that covered. Let’s tackle a look at what you should do when you’re looking to go freelance.

Believe In Yourself

So the very first thing that you need to do here is make sure that you believe in yourself. Because if you’re always hard on yourself, you may not be in the best possible place to make this all work out. Trust your talents, welcome your success, and then get to work.

Start Early

When you’re ready, you just need to start. Not leave your job and just hope for the best, but start working on your freelance business on the side. In the mornings, at lunch, in the evenings – whenever you can. Write, build your network, pitch, and just put yourself out there. Aim to build this up as much as you can.

Save Up

As you’re doing this, you’ll then want to save up some money. Because if you’re going to leave your full-time work and go freelance, it’s important for you to have money behind you. Ideally, you’ll have six months’ worth of bills – or more if you can. Because then, there’s less pressure on you to earn. Let yourself get excited about this because when you have the money and work are going well, you can make the leap.

Exhaust Your Options

From here, you’re also going to want to add to that in as many ways that you can. Because you’ll want to have the money you need to support yourself as you’re doing this. Maybe you can sell things you no longer need, cut your expenses, or switch expensive bills for cheaper ones? You may even want to look for personal injury attorneys who are highly rated in the legal field to help you get funds you’re due. Just be sure to exhaust all of the options available to you.

Know Your Client

Then, you need to get a lot more serious about this. To do that, you need to know who your ideal client is. When you know that it’s a certain type of editor, business owner, or other professionals that you’re targeting, it’s much easier for you to then target them and produce the work that they need.

Master Your Marketing

And now, you need to market. Don’t do too much here. Instead, find one or two platforms that you trust, find your feet with each marketing format and see what results you can get. Keep going, and refine as you start to see things happen.

Perfect Your Pitches

As a step on from that, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re able to perfect your pitches too. Because when you’re looking to get work, you absolutely need to be sure that you can send out the best possible pitches – and lots of them. The more you pitch, the more work that’ll come your way. But, you need to make sure that your pitches are getting better so that you can impress editors and owners.

Get Creative With Your Ideas

From here, you’re then going to want to try and be as creative as you can. It’s easy to let yourself get stuck and set in your ways. However, when you can start to come up with great story ideas, you’ll find that it really does inspire you to keep going. When you’re passionate about what you’re doing and drafting new, interesting, and different stories, it’s exciting. So have fun with it, and write about your dream subjects.

Enjoy The Process

But then also, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re enjoying the process because that’s what this is. It’s easy to see that your dreams are what you’re working for, but this is it. The work that you’re doing today, is essentially that end goal. Everything that you’re doing today – the pitching, the story ideas, marketing, and writing. It’s all part of it, so enjoy it. Make it fun.

Be Consistent

And finally, you’re then going to want to make sure that you can be as consistent as possible. It is important to be patient and to wait for the levels of success that you really want. It’s important for you to be persistent because it could take years for you to get there. But if those two things are going to work out for you, then you need to make sure that you’re being consistent with your work. Doing something every day, rather than once in a while, is really the key to success for you.