Some people aren’t meant to work in offices. They aren’t lazy, just more creative and independent. In this modern age, with so much dependence on technology and workplaces becoming remote, it’s the perfect time to start a freelancing career. Following is a listing of the most common types of freelancing jobs.
- Bookkeeping
- Ghostwriter
- Graphic Designer
- Photographer
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Virtual Assistant
- Web Developer or Web Programmer
Freelancing is on the rise. To stand out among the thousands of freelancers, you need superior personal branding. Freelancers may benefit from establishing their brands because they get recognized. If you want to become a skilled freelancer, you should brand and package yourself in a special way to stand out from the competition.
The benefits of creating your own personal freelance brand
Your brand will separate you from the many competing freelancers out there as this can help you make a memorable impression in the minds of your customers or audience.
If you cannot create a brand that appeals to your audience, it becomes very challenging to build a sustainable and profitable business. Here are some of the benefits you can gain from building your personal brand:
- Authority and trust
Having your own personal brand would help develop trust with your target audience. It also gives you a sense of authority or leadership in the industry. With a personal brand, it’s easy to make your pitch and get discovered by the media. They are constantly on the lookout for innovative people who have insights to share.
- Grow your network
Your own personal brand should clearly articulate what you do, who you are, and how you can help others. This is particularly important to entrepreneurs as your brand shows your value to your clients and the advantages, should they decide to connect with you.
Use your personal brand as leverage for growing your network, both offline and online, effectively and quickly.
- Attract bigger audiences
When you have an effective personal brand, people would think that you’re an authority who they can turn to when they have issues. This could help you attract more clients. When your audience sees you as an “expert,” it becomes easier for them to refer other people to you as well.
Tips for creating a perfect personal freelance brand
Becoming a freelancer gives you more space for creative thinking and it paves the way to make a name for yourself on your own. One great way to accomplish this is to have a memorable personal brand. But creating your personal brand requires following some rules.
Remain true to yourself and always remain professional. Don’t include anything in your personal brand that makes you uncomfortable when read in front of others. Here are more tips for you that actually work:
- Know your niche
Always stick to a well-defined niche in your personal brand whether it’s in reference to winning high-quality clients or submitting bids for jobs online. Many freelancers avoid committing one niche for fear that it might “leave money on the table.” Good freelancers don’t have this fear.
You can make more money when you decide that you’re the perfect solution to a particular problem. Therefore, the first step toward branding your freelance service is committing to a niche. For example, content writing is a vast domain. You need to assess your skills carefully to know what suits you best. It could be blog writing to custom essay writing for assignment services.
Freelancing sites like UpWork and Fiverr fall in one category and college and university writing services like Assignment Man in another so make your choice carefully.
- Build a strong foundation
After finding your own niche, the next step when creating your personal brand is by laying a groundwork you can authentically and confidently build upon. Authenticity is key.
Your personal brand shouldn’t depict yourself as someone that you’re not. Rather, it should strategically and purposefully showcase your true self to your target audience. A personal brand must be a reflection of your passions, values, beliefs, and skills.
- Find your target audience
When creating your personal brand, make sure that you don’t spread yourself too thinly. This is one pitfall that many commit when building their personal brand – trying to appeal to everyone. But not everybody can be your client.
You can separate your perfect clients by willingly repelling those you don’t want to work with. You only have to cater to a specific target audience and build a brand that’s attractive to them.
- Know what sets you apart from the competition
The next stage involves a degree of introspection where you examine yourself to determine how you communicate your persona to your target audience and inform them what you can do for them.
This may sound very basic but your brand should have an extra quality – that of being unique. Often, this step becomes a stumbling block for many freelancers because they resort to quirkiness to stand out. But quirkiness is never enough, especially if it’s irrelevant to your audience’s needs or problems.
- Create a website with a distinctive look that matches all your social media platforms
Another great way to create a strong personal brand is to have a cohesive look across your internet footprint including your website, social media platforms, headshots, signatures, and so on.
Design an appealing logo with matching color schemes. Make sure that everything coordinates so that anybody who finds your social media profiles will immediately recognize that it is you.
Mistakes to avoid when creating your brand
Even when your goals are the same, no two personal brands will ever be the same. Here are some of the most common mistakes that might make you stand out in the wrong kind of way:
- Unnecessary or excessive swearing
Adding cuss words to your personal brand is a popular way to spice up its uniqueness. Unfortunately, in general, the use of swear words, especially in excess, just makes your personal brand look and sound cheap.
- Using too many slangs and emojis
Most personal brands resort to using slang and of late, emojis. Slang has been culturally ingrained in us that we don’t even notice that we use them. But using popular slang would be like dating your work. For instance, if you use the year’s hottest words or phrases throughout your work, this makes your work frozen in time.
Although emojis are a lot of fun, practice moderation when using them. The use of emojis gives your brand a fun and playful image while adding an element of humanity. Just don’t use them in excess as this makes your work look unoriginal or juvenile.
- Using paragraphs with a single sentence
You can break your thoughts into paragraphs making them easier for the eyes to keep your readers more engaged. However, a whole page composed of such paragraphs isn’t recommended. This is only good for writing blogs – not your personal brand.
Conclusion
Hopefully, the steps we have discussed can help you evaluate your situation and apply the same principles of branding so your freelance business becomes more memorable. Always put 100% of yourself into your business to make your clients feel that there is a real person at the other end of the business deal.
Author Bio:
Michael Gorman is a UK-based renowned writer, editor and proofreader currently working as a college paper writer for online writing services. His main interest is in dissertation, thesis and term papers. When he’s not at work, he spends time reading autobiographies, playing golf and producing vlogs for aspiring writers. You can reach him via Facebook or his Twitter.
Author: Fabien
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