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Confidence is such a crucial component in putting yourself out there and landing clients.
But it is super hard to be confident when you have never done this before, right?!
Now I have not always been a super confident person, but I have grown a lot in this area.
And from my experience and from listening and learning from others experience confidence is something you can nurture, cultivate, and develop in.
In this episode, I share concrete steps and things you can do in order to increase your confidence when you are in the very beginning stages of launching your business.
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Lack of confidence is TOTALLY normal!
First, let me just say that lack of confidence is 100% totally normal for just about EVERYONE in the beginning. Why? because it involves doing something different, getting out of your comfort zone, and if you are listening to this, you probably have not launched a business before or if you did maybe it did not go so well… and this is a NEW adventure, a new business, and maybe that brings uncertainty and fear.
Fears are normal in the early stages of starting a business, but what I want you to realize is that fear is not necessarily a bad thing.
Fear shows that you care about your work and the value you provide to your clients or potential clients.
Fear is what drives you to prepare and research and land awesome clients.
But fear can become a BAD thing when you let it control your life and prevent you from trying new things or opportunities because you’d rather be safe.
^^^This was literally me throughout my WHOLE entire life until recently, that’s a story for another episode, but I really do just want you to know you are not alone in being scared, questioning if it will work, wondering what if …
So in my experience here are 5 strategies you can implement now to build confidence in the early stages of launching your business, but these strategies will also help build trust and credibility with potential clients! Double Whammy!
5 strategies to increase your confidence as a freelancer
1. Do some free work in order to build your portfolio
So free work is great for people starting out. But you need to rethink the value of offering free work – it really isn’t free work. Instead of being paid an hourly or package rate – you are paid with experience, a testimonial, work for your portfolio, and possibly even referrals.
How: Reach out to people you know (or even strangers) to see if there are small tasks you can offer help with.
Wanting to get into virtual assisting? See if someone needs help uploading, formatting, and scheduling their blogs or repurposing content.
Wanting to get into graphic design? See if someone needs a logo refresh or a mood board.
Wanting to get into social media management? See if you can help someone create a weekly plan or one week’s worth of content.
Why: Not only will this help you build up a portfolio and hopefully help you with referrals and testimonials, but getting actual hands-on experience is the #1 way to boost your confidence in your skill set!
Bonus Tip: Treat it like a paying gig, overdeliver, have a contract in place.
2. Build a portfolio of work you can do, but not necessarily have done for clients
Portfolios are a great way to showcase the work you have done or the work you can do for potential clients. They can glance at your work and see if they like your style before scheduling a call, which leads to getting on calls with more qualified leads!
How: Don’t just limit your portfolio to work that you have done, but use it as a chance to highlight the potential of what you CAN do. You can create 3 different “fake clients” and create a sample of work you created for that client.
Why: This helps to make you not look like a super beginner to potential clients AND helps you be more confident in what you can do because you have a little experience!
Bonus Tip: When creating your portfolio of what you can do – create fake clients that would be your ideal client, so when you do eventually start talking with your potential ideal clients and they ask to see your portfolio – they feel like you are the perfect fit for their business!
3. Be clear on how your past work translates into the experience for this role
Just because you may be new to the online business space, does not mean you do not have any relatable experience that would be pertinent for the potential client.
How: Reflect on your biggest strengths or accomplishments from your current job and brainstorm how and why that translates into the online space.
Why: This will be a huge confidence boost and make for a great talking point (or few) on discovery calls or pitches to potential clients.
Bonus Tip: Keep this list handy, write it out, print it, and review it often! If you want my Ultimate Freelance Guide… you can grab that at https://micalaquinn.com/freelance-guide and I will link to it in the show notes, but it can help walk you through that process…
STOP focusing on what you don’t have and focus on what you DO have!
4. Understand your value
I don’t want you to get caught in this space of thinking you need your clients more than they need you. That is simply not true. The relationship between freelancer and client is a symbiotic relationship. They need you just as much as you need them…
How: This ties back to tip three… with knowing your strengths and what you bring to the table… But you have to take it one step further and get clear on the problem you solve for this business…
Are you an expert and filling in on a topic they do not know?
Are you a VA and just saving them a whole lot of time
Spend a few minutes, get some clarity, and figure out what problem you solve for your clients… This will help you uncover your value…
Why: Because I don’t want you to be stuck in a place where you undervalue your services, your time, and where you sell your self short.
5. Take action. Afraid action. Imperfect Action.
The first time will be FREAKING scary!
Do not wait for everything to be perfect. Do not wait until you are 100% confident and have no fear.
How: Just do it. Nike style. Try. Put yourself out there
Why: because if you wait for no fear that will never happen and you will never putt yourself out there and you will continue to be stuck wherever you are now whether that is a job you hate, feeling unfulfilled because you want to work, but also want to stay home, or feeling miserable because at the end of the month there is never enough money for your growing family and their needs.
I want you to create a life that you love, that works for your family and if you desire to be both a working mom and a stay at home mom I want you to be able to choose both on your terms.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
I hope this episode on ways to increase your confidence as a freelancer was helpful and if it was, I’d love to hear from you below! What tips are you going to implement? What else would you add?
