Going freelance - getting work

Brian Holmes, author of Successfully Going Freelance In A Week, recommends generating work leads by spreading information about how potential employers can benefit from using you. He suggests the following pointers:

• Get business cards printed up and distribute them to former employees and colleagues, friends and, if possible, current clients so they can pass them around on your behalf.
• Ask satisfied clients to recommend you to others within their organisation or industry. Word-of-mouth recommendations are incredibly valuable.
• Ask clients if they can put you in contact with any relevant members of their professional network.
• Include your contact details in anything that is being distributed to large numbers of people, where possible. This is particularly useful if you have been involved in a project that is going to be printed.
• Go to relevant industry events and wander around the exhibitors' stands to network with contacts and clients.
• Prepare a portfolio of work and include recommendations from satisfied customers.

Successfully Going Freelance In A Week by Brian Holmes is published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Where can you find freelance work?
Many industries are suitable for freelance and contract work. Areas that have skills shortages are always happy to employ freelancers, but equally some oversubscribed sectors benefit from the input of freelancers. Many media roles, for example, are occupied by workers who are on either freelance or fixed-term contracts.

Areas that lend themselves to freelance working include:

• web design and development;
• writing and editing;
• administration including book keeping, phone support, word processing, data input;
• graphic design;
• business consulting;
• sales, PR and marketing;
• language teaching and translation;
• financial - tax and VAT;
• secretarial.

Further information
There are helpful websites that put clients and freelancers in touch with each other. These include:

• Freelancers.net contains details on people looking for work, as well as freelancing job opportunities.
• Smarterwork.com will help you check if your skills are marketable and pinpoint freelance opportunities.
• CWjobs.co.uk for contract IT opportunities.

Joining a professional association will also help to keep you up to speed with developments within your area of interest.

More on going freelance.