Building your freelance business can be hard work. It takes time to establish yourself in the field and build rapport with clients. Even if you are successful, there’s always the reality of knowing that you could lose a client on a whim.
Even so, it’s nice to get to a place where you have solid client relationships and lots of referrals so can actually pick and choose which projects you want to work on.
When new opportunities to arise, it can be exciting and seem like Christmas. However, before you say yes to any and everything, you want to ask yourself these 4 questions freelancers should ask themselves before accepting a gig.
1. Does This Align With the Goals For My Business?
This is one of the most important questions. Freelancing can often seem like feast or famine and from that mindset, you need to accept whatever comes your way just to keep afloat. The problem with doing this is that you could wind up with a bunch of gigs that you don’t like.
Freelancing can provide freedom and flexibility, but it can also weigh you down and make you feel trapped if you’re not doing purposeful work. This is why it’s best to set goals for your business and consider your vision.
What types of projects do you enjoy or are you good at? Is there a specific industry you wish to serve in? When your freelance assignments align with your goals and vision, you can build a more sustainable business.
2. Will This Be Good For My Portfolio or Exposure?
Freelancers should always be looking to add quality work to their portfolio. As you pitch for new jobs, you’ll need to update your samples and demonstrate how relevant your work and skills are.
If you are presented with a project that sounds like it would be something you’re interested in, decide whether it would be good for your portfolio or exposure as well.
For example, writers might want to get on high-traffic websites while a graphic designer may want to work on a logo project for a well-known business.
3. Is It Worth the Pay?
This may sound like a superficial question, but time is money and freelancers deserve to get paid too. You don’t want to be stuck spending hours to finish up an assignment that doesn’t pay well.
If you’ve already determined what your minimum rate is, you’ll have a good idea of whether the project will pay well enough to justify accepting it. You also might want to consider negotiating on the price to ensure you earn a profit to help cover other expenses related to freelancing like taxes, admin costs, etc.
4. Do I Have Time To Do This?
Even if a freelance project pays well, you need to ask yourself if you have the time to complete it. You don’t want to take on too many freelance assignments. Some freelancers have a bad habit of taking on too many clients and the quality of their work suffers as a result.
Even if the opportunity sounds amazing, you have to make sure you can make room in your schedule to dedicate time to it. If I find that I don’t have time to take on a new client, I always try to recommend them to someone in my network instead.
Summary
Finding new freelance opportunities can be exciting, but you never want to jump in head first without asking yourself these crucial questions. The best thing you can do to grow your freelance business is to make it more stable by establishing ongoing client work. This can only be done when you choose to work on projects that are right for you, meet your compensation needs, and fit into your schedule.