Bryan Connor - Young and Freelancing

How To Find Freelance Work and Save in Today’s Economy

All the news reports are telling us that there are less jobs to be had. Blood is in the water as freelancers compete for fewer and fewer jobs. Even the big job boards are seeing a drastic drop in job postings.

But don’t despair, the jobs are out there. The work doesn’t go away in a bad economy. These financial woes don’t have to affect us freelancers. Use this list list of 15 good-cents habits to get you through tough times.

Get Work

Refine Your Pitch – According to Wired, jobs are scarce for the freelance community. At times like these, your pitch has to be sharp and to the point. Practice on your friends and if they are disinterested, a potential client will be too. `

Do Some Guerrilla Marketing – I read a great article on the Bootstrapping Blog about 50 Guerrilla Marketing Techniques You Should Be Using and I wanted to share it. Some highlights are the airplane chauffeur sign, temporary tattoos, and money stamping. They are all quick and dirty ways to get your name out there for cheap.

The Job Boards – There are still plenty of jobs to be had on the job boards. I encourage you not to stop looking because you are being told no one is posting. However, there is an increased likely hood of less than optimal rates for freelancers so beware.

Work Well

Be Efficient & Time Yourself – Time is money in freelancing and the more efficiently you can complete a project, the quicker you can move on to another. I mentioned using Active Timer in my post about to-do lists and getting things done and I’ve been using it with good results. I think being timed makes me work more efficiently and it helps me be more accurate with time estimates. I highly recommend it.

Adjust Your Rates Accordingly – If you find yourself getting faster in completing your projects it probably means that your rates should be adjusted. Speed is a commodity in the freelancing game and adding more speed adds more value to your services. It also means you will be charging fewer hours at your current rate so make some adjustments to your rate or pricing structure to compensate.

Network

Partner Up – In a tough economic period freelancers need to be able to handle whatever comes their way. Find a friend who can do what you can’t and set up a partnership or work-share deal. If your a programmer or designer, check out Programmer Meet Designer to find your freelance foil. Make a post on a forum or job board advertising your search for a work mate. Then get together and offer something new to clients.

Look for Overflow – Take a shot in the dark and email the bigger design firms and even corporations and ask them if they have any overflow design work. This can be an important source of work for some, especially if you find another freelancer with too much on their plate.

Contact Past Clients – Look back at your client list and send a few emails inquiring as to whether they need any more work done or know of anyone who might be seeking your services. Referrals are becoming a large portion of my freelance work so don’t hesitate to ask for some from your clients.

Cut Back

Sell Some Stuff – Either create a product and sell it or sell some of the products you have. Use the old craigslist to get rid of that old monitor or the guitar you swore to pick up on the weekends. Any extra cash can help you out.

Website Trimming – If you are a freelancer working with the web, chances are there is some cleanup you can do to your hosting account. Get rid of unused domains and trim sites that aren’t earning their keep.

Internet Phone – There are lots of small ways to save during tough times even down to the details of your phone service. Skype is a great and fairly excepted mode of getting in touch with clients and communicating over the Internet. The phone bill can add up so use Skype when possible.

Magazines & Books – Take a look at your other freelancer expenses and evaluate whether you really need to be subscribed to Print and Communication Arts or whether the book of Pentagram’s Marks is really a good buy right now. Eliminate your unnecessary expenditures.

Improve

Learn a New Skill – If work is a little slow use your down time to learn a new skill. Now is the time to dip into WordPress and PHP or maybe fine tune your HTML/CSS skills. Then you can use that skill to get more jobs and market yourself more effectively as the complete package.

Create Streams of Passive Income – Not all of your income needs to come directly from your freelancing hours. Create a few streams of passive income by monetizing a website with ads or affiliate programs, selling and e-book, or by selling some stock art. Steven Kovar has written an article about the effects of the economy on freelancers and has great tips regarding passive income and stock art sales.

Create Your Own Work – If nothing promising is coming your way don’t miss the opportunity to create good portfolio work. Start a personal project with potential for driving traffic and ad sales to you. Take the opportunity to create high quality promotional material for yourself and then use it to get jobs.

Are you freelancers feeling the effects of the economy’s current state? Do you think the economy will effect the way you run your freelancing business?