Getting Started

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As a freelancer, the most frequent questions I get are surrounding how I got started. Where I got this job. How I knew where to find clients. I love to have these conversations: the way this career change has blessed my family is something I don't want to keep to myself.

But sometimes I wish my answer was more helpful, or more encouraging to someone with a background different from mine.

See, by the time I was ready to make the leap, I had an unfair advantage that led to a fairly smooth transition, at least as far as my workload goes. I'd been working for five years in both the industry and discipline that I intended to create my own career around.

But what if you didn't have that? Is it possible to start from scratch?

Yes. It 100% is. The world is going the way of the freelancer. As more small and local businesses pop up, large companies go through layoffs and rearrange their budgets, and agencies are looking for a specialized skill to fill a gap, the demand is only going to go up.

Not only is a freelancer an attractive option for many other businesses to hire, but the lifestyle that freelancing can create is also pushing more and more full-time workers and stay-at-home parents into this self-employment world.

So since we know the supply and demand are both there, back to that question: how do you start freelancing?

The best resource I've found - no matter what industry you're working in - is a course that a teacher-turned-freelancer has created. It's geared towards women and moms and it does a fantastic job of laying out the reality of the income potential, paired with hours worked.

The course helps you assess your skills, determine what you can charge, create your portfolio and share it with prospects, and it offers a robust job board that you can access as a graduate of the course.

I have not taken the course myself, but here's how I know it's good.

In 2022, I hired a virtual assistant. Out of more than a dozen people that reached out to me to fill my 10-hours/week job description, she required the least back-and-forth in those beginning steps. I didn't have to spend time asking about her rates, how much availability she had, what programs she could use, or follow up for different kinds of project samples.

It was all right there in the PDF portfolio she had sent me. So when we did get to talk, we were able to dive right in to some of the deeper details of the tasks I had in mind. I could tell that kind of efficiency would flow into my projects, too.

It was later I found out she had taken Micala Quinn's course. I've now dug into it quite a bit. Her message for moms is so relatable, and I'm so glad to be able to share this as a resource for others to get started!

She has several paid offerings, but even grabbing the free crash course will really help get you on your way.