You have the freedom to set your own hours, choose your own clients, and do work you truly love.

You can take time off if a loved one is sick, work from the comfort of your own home, and achieve the kind of work-life balance everyone dreams of.

But having a freelancing career isn’t all about flexible time-off and working on fun projects. A freelancing career is a real business venture that needs constant attention and care if you want it to be sustainable over the long haul.

If you’re serious about making your freelancing career a lasting business, we’re here to help.

In today’s article, we’ve put together five best practices to help you make the most of your freelancing career.

Ready to learn what they are?

Let’s begin.

1. Make the most of your new perks

You got into freelancing for a reason, so don’t forget to make the most of your perks, too.

For instance, now you have the freedom to work from anywhere. You can choose to move to a different state or city, try the digital nomad life, or stick around locally and try out different coffee shops or coworking spaces near you.

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In other words, don’t feel limited to your current home base. If you need a change of scenery, take the opportunity to switch up your workplace

Here are some other ways to make the most of your new perks:

• Work during your peak energy hours: Who says you have to work the standard nine to five? If you’re a night owl or thrive in the afternoons, adjust your schedule accordingly.
• Build in buffers for flexible time off: Add in buffer time before and after meetings, deadlines, and project milestones.
• Work on projects you love: Aim to fill up your schedule with meaningful work.
• Place an extra value on work-life balance: Build-in work boundaries that support a healthy work-life balance. For instance, commit to heading to lunch or signing off your computer at a set time every day.

2. Diversify your income streams

We can’t stress how important it is to diversify your income streams as a freelancer.

Remember, you want to treat your freelancing career as a legitimate business. That means putting in the work to create a wide, revolving client portfolio.

If your outreach efforts lead to an endless supply of clients, consider hiring subcontractors to take care of some of the workload for you.

In other words, never depend on one or two clients, no matter how solid you may think they are. Build in time every day to pitch to and nurture new clients.

Learn how to negotiate and upsell your services so you can keep your clients around long-term. It’s also essential to work with clients that are aligned with your business values and work style, so you’re an equally healthy match for each other.

You might also consider having a few other backup gigs up your sleeve, such as virtual receptionist work, flipping online businesses, or affiliate marketing work.

3. Build your brand image

Building your brand image is a pivotal stepping stone toward becoming a memorable business.

In other words, your image counts. Clients pay attention to details, such as your headshot, social media content, website, and of course, your portfolio.

To create a consistent brand image across your marketing channels, be sure to:

1. Take a professional headshot

Opt for professional headshots or find some good natural light and use a selfie stick to take your own. Then, remove your image background and replace it with a solid color that represents one of your brand colors. This is one of the latest trends and a super simple way to create a professional looking headshot.

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Use your headshot as your email avatar, in your social media profile images, on your website and portfolio, and at the top of your resume.

2. Have a professional portfolio site, website, and blog

Feature your best work on a professional portfolio site, create a website featuring your products and services, and post on your blog consistently. If you don't have time or have writer's block, you can rely on AI text generator to produce new content for your blog frequently.

Take this tip up a notch by creating a guest posting strategy and collaborating with other businesses in your industry.

3. Have a consistent image across your social media profiles

Show up consistently on social media to build meaningful connections and nurture your audience. Pay special attention to your bios as well. Make sure each bio explains who you are, what you do, and how you can help your target audience solve a key pain point.

If you are a creative freelancer you may feature much of your work on social media. Include an instagram logo vector on your business card with your username so potential customers can see your work.

4. Systematize your business

Setting daily operational standards and systematizing your work is key to creating a scalable business. It’s also one of the most important methods you can use to support a healthy work-life balance.

To systemize your business, start by outlining your daily operations into allocated time blocks, like this:

• 10am to 11am: Client pitching and outreach
• 11:15am to 12:15pm: Checking and responding to emails
• 12:30pm to 1:30pm: Posting and engaging on social media
• 1:45pm to 2:45pm: Lunch time
• 3pm to 5pm: Work on Project One
• 5pm to 7pm: Work on Project Two

Then, choose which tools, templates, and apps you can use to create efficient workflows. If at all possible, try to automate redundant tasks, such as deadline reminders and work order processing.

For instance, you might choose to use Trello for task management and Basecamp for project management. Or you might choose to use Active Campaign for email marketing templates and Planable.io for social media management.

We also recommend time tracking your work so you can get a clear idea of how long it takes you to complete specific projects.

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Use this information to set more accurate work estimates going forward and as a benchmark you can aim to continuously improve.

5. Take your work contracts seriously

And finally, always know what you’re getting into when you start a contract with a new client.

Be sure to set healthy parameters you’re both comfortable with, such as:

• Exact monthly deliverables
• Specific timelines and project milestone due dates
• A reasonable contract length
• Contract cancellation terms
• A privacy clause
• A copyright clause
• Mutually agreed upon project terms (i.e., work expectations, project quality, etc.)
• Payment due dates, pricing, and invoicing expectations

To take this tip up a notch, consider hiring an attorney to vet your contracts for you prior to signing.

Wrap up

If you’re serious about making the most out of your freelancing career, we hope the five tips we’ve shared today will help you create a business and life you love.

Remember, be sure to:

1. Make the most of your new perks
2. Diversify your income streams
3. Build your brand image
4. Systematize your business
5. Take your work contracts seriously

And that’s it for today, friends. Now go forth and bring your business dreams to life! 😊

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Author Bio: Ioana Wilkinson

Ioana is a freelance content writer and SEO strategist for B2B and B2C brands specializing in Business, Digital Marketing, SaaS, Tech, and Mental Health. Born in Transylvania, raised in Texas, and transplanted to Barcelona, Ioana’s most recent move has taken her to sunny Mexico.