Intro
Want the freedom to work from home or from anywhere you want to set your own schedule and choose the type of work you actually enjoy. That’s what freelancing can offer. And the best part, you don’t necessarily need any experience to get started. I will walk you through exactly how to begin freelancing as a complete beginner step by step. And near the end, I’ll share one of the most important skills freelancers need right now to stay relevant, even if you’re just starting out. Plus, I’ll tell you how I landed my first real gigs through local opportunities and how you can do the same to get faster results.
What to expect
In case you don’t know, my name is Mikael and I have tested hundreds of ways to make money online and freelancing is one of the best ways to start making money online because you don’t need to invest anything and you can begin with the skills you already have. But getting started can feel overwhelming. What should you offer? Where do you find clients and how do you get noticed with no experience? That’s exactly what we will cover. I’ll show you how to pick the right skill, find beginner friendly platforms, and how to potentially get your first freelance job, even if you’re starting from scratch. So, let’s jump in.
What is freelancing?
So, first, what exactly is freelancing? In simple terms, freelancing means getting paid to offer your skills or time to clients, usually online. You’re not tied to one employer.Now, here’s the part that most beginners overthink. But I don’t have any skills. How can I freelance? Well, the truth is you likely already have something you can offer or you can learn something surprisingly fast. So, let’s now go over some easy ways to find your first freelance skill you can sell.
How to choose your freelance skill
Start with what you already know
So, here are three easy ways to choose your first freelance skills. And number one is to start with what you already know. Think about your current or past job experiences, hobbies, or what friends usually ask you for help with. Can you write, organize things, translate, do basic video edits, manage a social media page? Even skills and knowledge about topics like fitness, food, etc. is something you can get hired to help people with online. Also, simple skills like data entry, transcription, or customer support are in demand, and they are great starting points.
Pick an in-demand skill you can learn fast
Number two is to pick an in-demand skill you can learn fast. Some skills don’t require months of training. For example, basic graphic design with a tool like Canva, short videos with free tools or some virtual assistant tasks. Also certain basic AI tasks like certain simple prompt writing or editing AI-generated content. Simple tasks like that can sometimes be learned very quickly. So you don’t have to be an expert. You just need to know enough to help someone who’s too busy or doesn’t know how to do it.
Use AI to speed up learning
So the third tip is to use AI to speed up learning and delivery. And this is where it gets really exciting because now you don’t have to start from zero. Tools like XhatGPT or Claude etc. They can help you deliver faster and look more professional even as a beginner. In fact, one of the most valuable things you can do as a new freelancer today is to learn how to work with AI instead of fearing it. I’ll talk more about that skill a little bit later because it could be the edge that gets you hired even if you are competing with more experienced freelancers.
find freelance jobs
So where do you then find freelance jobs? There are a ton of different platforms where you can find it. Some of the most popular is for example Fiverr.com or Upwork. PeoplePerHour and Freelancer.com are other great freelance platforms but there are a ton of them. These are just examples. You can also go for example on Facebook and go into groups, niche specific groups if you have a very specific skill you are offering. And there are also job boards for example Flexjobs and We Work Remotely which are great platforms if you’re looking usually for a little bit more long-term remote jobs.
So, there are plenty of places you can find this and it’s a great idea to sign up for at least a couple because that will increase your opportunities and chances of finding work, but also do not sign up for too many because you also didn’t do need to put in a little bit of effort to actually find your jobs there. We’ll talk more about the best approach for that in just a bit. I actually do have a list of some of the best freelance platforms that I have come across on my website.
how do you then get your first freelance gig or job?
Well, there are some really important things you need to do. So, first of all, you need to take time to fill out your profile. Make sure to include what you do, who you help, why they can trust you. It does not have to be fancy. But it has to be clear what you are offering. So take some time to write a proper profile and description. And if you do it properly, you can also use the same one for several platforms if you sign up for several platforms and then just adjust it if it is a platform with a certain focus or something like that.
Secondly, what you need to do definitely is to focus on delivering value first. So for example, you can offer a sample. You can offer a test task or even small free gigs to build a portfolio because that can be very challenging if you don’t have any portfolio if you don’t have any past experience to get hired. So this can be a way to slowly start building that up and that will help getting more clients.
Leverage Testimonials
And that brings me to the third tip is to leverage testimonials. So that means get testimonials. Many of these platforms, they allow you to also or they encourage people that have hired you to leave these testimonials. But when you’re first starting out, then you can also look, for example, from testimonials from people that you have helped for free or friends or family. Of course, they can’t go in and leave reviews on these freelance platforms, but on certain platforms or if you’re going into, for example, specific niche groups on Facebooks or other social medias and things like that, then that can potentially help because reviews are very important to get traction.
how can you then stand out?
But a lot of people are doing this. So, how can you then stand out? Well, there are some great things you can do to stand out. First of all, you need to start outreaching. And that means inside the platforms actually reach out to people relevant suggestions, relevant offers you given them. Avoid just copy pasting generic text because I have for example myself tried to hire on freelance platforms many times and you can just see sometimes you publish a job and then within a minute somebody just sends you a long description one page and you just know this is just copy pasteed and you read it or you probably don’t read it. Usually I just quickly skim it and you can see it’s not relevant at all. Avoid that you will just waste your time. You will annoy people also.
So instead start by addressing their need. So for example it can be I saw you’re looking for someone to help you with and then you go into the details of that. Show them that you understand the tasks. I have done something similar. I’ve studied this and I can help with and then go into an explanation of that and end with a simple CTA call to action. It can for example be I’d love to help. let me know if you’d like to chat more. So that’s an important part of making the outreach successful.
Portfolio
Then number two is to create a portfolio. You can use free options like notion or Google drive or a simple one-page website where you can showcase your skills. And thirdly is to be professional and communicative. And I have myself hired quite a few people and communication is one of the most important things when I hire people. So they respond quickly. They actually respond to all of my questions. They respond in great language. So I can clearly understand and that I can see that they clearly understand what I am looking for. If you can’t communicate in a professional manner, you should not expect to get hired.
And the fourth tip is to make sure you overd deliver on your first jobs because as mentioned, getting the first reviews, 5 star reviews are extremely important to build up traction and to eventually get more clients to make sure you really overdeliver rather deliver too much, take too much time on the first few jobs so you really build up and make sure that you get these great five-star reviews and deliver great service. But no matter what your skills are what you do and how you do it then there is one skill that you definitely need to make sure to also learn so let’s talk about that next because this can be the edge that can put you in front of others.
How AI can help you
So whether you are brand new to freelancing or already doing small jobs, there’s one trend you cannot afford to ignore because AI is changing freelancing fast. Now I know that might sound scary at first. But here’s the truth. AI won’t replace freelancers who learn how to use it. It will replace the ones who try to ignore it or who think it will do all the work for them. So if you want to stay competitive or even stand out, learning just a few basic AI tools can give you a real edge. And the best part is that you don’t need to be technical. Most of these tools are designed to be easy and beginner friendly.
So, let me just quickly share how that worked and how you can do the same to build confidence, gain experience, and start earning faster even without competing on crowded platforms.
How I land my first freelance jobs
So, when I first started an online business, as with all other businesses, you don’t start making money right away. So, I started freelancing and looking for freelance jobs to pay the bills and to also make some money to reinvest into building an online business. And what I found was that the best opportunities and the highest paying jobs that I found was actually local opportunities. So that meant I actually found clients in my country and some of them even in my city. Sometimes yes I actually had to go to the office but most of it could be done from home.
But I started getting real experiences that I could put on my resume.But many then forget to look at local opportunities. This can for example be to check out local Facebook groups. It can be business directories. It can be networking events. And there can also be local job boards for example. And getting jobs here that builds confidence. It builds skills. You get your first testimonials and you have something to put on your resume. and sometimes it can even pay better than online gigs at first and it is often a lot less crowded. So that’s something I recommend you definitely also look into when you are first starting as a freelancer.
Final thoughts
So starting as a freelancer can be a little bit overwhelming, but I hope this has helped you with some actionable steps to get started. Now you just need to make sure to actually take action.
What skill would you want to start with as a freelancer and how would you approach this? What is the first step you want to take and when will you actually take it?
And if you in general have any questions or any experiences with freelancing, I would also love to hear it. And as mentioned, I also do have a list on my website of some freelance platforms where you can find different freelance jobs. I also do have some information about how you potentially can start building your own online business.