the complete beginner’s guide to freelancing in 2025

this is the complete beginner guide to freelancing I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars as a freelancer worked with 40 plus clients and if I had to start from scratch today this is the exact checklist I would follow to do just that all right here's our table of contents of what we're going to cover today level one we're just going to focus on earning that first dollar and we have three tasks under level one level two we're going to talk about earning your first $100 how to do that there are two tasks to do

this and level three we're going to talk about how to earn your first $1,000 and we have two tasks here as well and if you pass all three levels we'll talk about our bonus level which is earning your first $10,000 as a freelancer so this is our little game of freelancing we're here at level one and we're going to advance via our first task so let's start the level so the first task of level one is we have to choose your are character choose your character so there are three components to choosing your character one

we have to pick your superpower two we have to pick how much you want to charge and three we want to pick your target clients your target bosses basically one of the biggest things I learned about freelancing is freelancing is just about solving problems and solving problems is exactly how you make money so it's a really good mindset to keep Forefront when you are diving into the freelancing journey is what kind of problems am I going to be solving and that's exactly what we're going to talk about when it comes to your super P what

problem are you going to solve here are some very common problems that business owners have not making as much money as they want not growing on YouTube Instagram Tik Tok X LinkedIn the way they want not having enough time in their day huge problem being overwhelmed by technology not knowing how to write good copy equals not knowing how to make sales not knowing how to grow an email list not being able to design things to look nice 99% of coo problems tend to fall into three big buckets time money and energy they do not have

enough of it or they want more of it so use that to orientate yourself as you begin to dive into what problem exactly am I solving another question to ask yourself is do you already have experience if yes use it that's easy good for you no then you're just like me when I started freelancing I had absolutely no relevant work experience but that's fine just solve for the problem I don't have enough time to do everything almost every single business owner has this problem so just solve there that problem if you don't have experience you

can take things off their PL give them their time back you can essentially just be an assistant to start and help with any small bits and pieces that they throw your way that is actually also the best way to gain experience as a freelancer and learn how things work behind the scenes if you work behind you know a seven figure business as an assistant you are going to understand very quickly exactly how that machine turns and over time then you'll be able to use that experience to promote yourself ask for rate raises that is like

the lowest risk way to learn ESS another extremely important question to answer as a freelancer to earn money is what is your competitive advantage and if you're like d I don't have a competitive Advantage I challenge that because back in 2016 I didn't think I had competitive advantages but looking back now I definitely did for example I had a lot of time again business owners do not have time to do everything I had time I had time I could sell them I am very type A and very detail oriented so I could help them with

a lot of granular things and double checking things I was really great at Googling do not underestimate your ability to figure things out because most business owners again again don't have time and they don't have time to be Googling a bunch of things and figuring out how everything in their business works I was a huge people pleaser which meant I was always over delivering huge ad ad huge ad ad huge value ad and of course the best competitive advantage of all I was very cheap my prices were extremely cheap as a freelancer do not underestimate

that competitive Advantage so if that looks like your list of competitive advantages now that's awesome that's all you need to start and to give you a little bit of aspirational stuff you can achieve this is my list of competitive advantages now I have six plus years of experience with project team Ops management for digital businesses I'm really great at systems and processes hiring project planning Ops because I offered those little soft skill competitive advantages learned a lot then gained the experience and now have this right I have really strong soft skills clients love working with

me I love working with them that was so cheesy and I've helped clients properly scale from six figures to seven figures in a way that doesn't make them want to burn down their business which is very hard to do and I also started a course business of my own and it grows six figures in its first year again I'm still very typ eight very detail earned it's still great at Googling still a people pleaser here's some quick tips do not start out too specialized I see that sometimes when Freelancers start out they're like nich n

n when you try working with a lot of people you learn very quickly because you're getting that data of who you like who you don't like and who you ultimately want to be supporting long term in your freelance business so give yourself permission to try absolutely everything and if you're still not sure like I don't know what Niche to start with just pick an assist role that's a little bit specialized like for example I want to be a Tik Tok assistant YouTube assistant and if you're still really struggling with it I will link a video

below where I share the top 10 best niches and four of the worst niches of freelancing this year so you can just pick one from that list because I picked relatively easy niches for you to get started with I will also link a few other videos that may be helpful in helping you figure out what exact skill or Niche you want to start off with offering all right now the second thing we want to get clear on for your character is who is that tardy client who is that person you want to serve so here

what we want to ask ourselves is who has this problem that I've chosen to solve right so so the problem of not having enough time basically every single scaling stof business owner has this huge problem they don't have enough energy probably scaling business owner who has started hiring and is managing a team of like five plus people and is exhausted by having no processes no systems everything lives in their head and it's exhausting to go to work every day that's a humongous problem the problem of not growing on YouTube Tik Tok Instagram X LinkedIn the

way that they want probably any business prioritizing organic traffic strategies such as those platforms so really have a think about that problem I've picked who has that problem get clear on that because that is how you're going to be able to sell yourself to them to make money another question that might be fun to ask is who are you curious about or interested in helping I would ask yourself like what type of content do I already watch and consume all of the people running those forms of content are small business owners that you could help

bloggers YouTubers Tik tokers podcasters they all have workflows they all have things that you can probably assist them with also also think about what are your hobbies because there are people running small businesses in those reals as well if you're really into Health they are Fitness content creators if you're really into video games you could help streamers if you're really into vegan desserts and you can't say no to a piece of vegan carrot cake then check out vegan food bloggers they need help they pump out a lot of content that you can for sure be

helping them with all right now here's a little checklist of things to keep in mind very very important make sure that your target client one has the money to pay you okay two is taking their business relatively seriously beginner business owners are fine but they have to be committed to some level you have to see some commitment it's also really important that the target client isn't too big or isn't too small too big I mean they have millions of followers on Instagram that's probably not where we want to start out with we want to start

out with smaller fish that's more realistic to catch versus go for like a whale on day one right and also isn't too small by isn't too small I mean it looks like they're just getting started and they're in that phase of business ownership where they're doing everything themselves because they have no money to spare we don't want that person now we want to create our tagline this will just help us know what the heck we're doing so this is the formula I use I help blank do blank so they can blank okay so for example

my thing is I have small business owners with project team and operations management so they can get more of their free time back while still scaling their business Revenue it's important here to use language that your target client would be using so they get what you do ASAP do not try to like corporate fluff your I help statement just make sure you use something where somebody heard it like your target person heard it they'd be like bam I want to talk to you I need to know more what exactly are we doing here awesome all

right now let's talk about getting paid and how much exactly to charge now the first thing I need to share here is unfortunately if you're just getting started as a freelancer especially if you have no experience you are extremely risky of a hire for a business owner to make which means your mindset going into this is not how much money can I charge it needs to be how can I make it as easy as possible for this client to give me a chance AKA how can I reduce the risk for them to say yes to

me as much much as possible and one of the easiest ways to reduce risk for a business owner is to be cheaper which is why I have this piece of advice for beginner Freelancers that if you have no experience just start low because again you are not marrying this rate right just because you start at $15 an hour does not mean you're going to stay at $15 an hour even for a year right because my biggest advice is you start low so you get those first few clients who give you the trust and then you

slowly increase your pricing you'll increase your pricing 5 to 10% with each additional client this is not like corporate you're not going to be stuck with this rate for one or two years okay so just start low get your foot in the drawer get the right clients in incentivize them to say yes to you and then we will grow another really good mentality to have is a paid internship mentality you know so many people are willing to do completely unpaid internships but they're not willing to take on a low hourly rate with a client with

a temporary client and just treat it as if they're paying you to learn that's essentially what those first few freelance clients are doing they are paying you to learn so focus on the learning part because I swear that is what's going to make you big bucks where's my voice so focus on the learning because that is what's going to make you big bucks in the long run don't stay short game like look at the long game and a huge warning here do not get stuck on pricing I see this all the time Freelancers are like

oh no I don't know what to charge I don't know what to charge just pick a random number and just try to sign one client with that one price point you're not announcing to everyone I am $15 an hour and I'm going to be $15 an hour forever no you're just going to try that pricing with one client that's it you do not have to marry this rate again so just don't don't take it too seriously it's not that deep right let's just do it with one client and then we'll increase from there all right

we're moving on to task two now that we have our character our second task is to collect your gear your portfolio is the only real gear you need as a freelancer so make it a really strong one notice I didn't say you need a website you need a logo you need your full branding kit you need whatever 15 colors picked out for your brand theme you don't need any of that okay those are fake hurdles that you're creating for yourself all you need is a really really strong wrong portfolio a portfolio is how you show

clients hey I know what I'm doing look at times when I have done this for other people okay and if you're asking D but I haven't done things for other people that's okay okay that's okay those are called ghost projects those are projects that you do as a sample and you put in your portfolio even if you didn't do them for other people and you're not lying you're not saying I've had worked with clients before and this is what I've done you're just saying here's an example of what I could do for you clients don't

care if it's a good sample they don't care if you did it for a real person or not quality over quantity in portfolios all the way so all it really takes is just one really great project so really dedicate some time to making a really great project and make sure that it's really indicative indicative make sure it's really the most relevant sample you could give to the person that you have picked to Target and of course I have a video that breaks down exactly how to build a portfolio in notion I will link it below

as well and the template is free as well so don't worry I've got you going so ideally you would make two to three samples of different things showcase different skills within the realm of what you want to offer but again if you can just make one really great one that's fine too so here's some examples if you want to be a Tik Tok assistant then make two to three sample edits for a Tik tocker another sample is you could come up with 10 to 20 really cool content ideas for your Target person right and a

secret little trick here what I would do is if you've already identified somebody that you're like I would love to work with them they're not too big they're not too small they have the money they are scaling I can totally solve the problem that they are having then go take a piece of their content and cut their piece of content up into Tik Tok videos and then you can pitch them with it of like hey I had some time I'd love to work with you I did some samples for you here they are do you

like them if you want to be a YouTube assistant you can do some research and draft up like two to three video pictures for your favorite YouTuber of like ideas that you think they should really do like come up with some title ideas come up with some thumbnail ideas and that would be a super cool portfolio item right you could also write a script sample of like a cool video it doesn't even have to to be a full script it can just be like 500 Words so someone can get a taste of like your tone

of voice and how you write and if you're a good writer and that can go in your portfolio as well done so do not get stuck on the portfolio I know it seems daunting but really just focus on making one really great sample use the free notion template that I mentioned and you'll be well on your way all right now task three we're going to officially go and try to land your first gig as a freelancer your only focus here is your that just that $1 okay just that $1 I don't want you to think

and overwhelm yourself with I have to make $100,000 I want to be a sixer fcer you're just trying to make $1 you can convince someone to give you $1 I believe in you all right and remember your unique selling proposition remember your competitive advantages now your only goal here is to get out there at least 20 to 30 times okay I want you to get that repetition in of getting out there so your checklist join a freelancing platform of your choice like Contra upwork Fiverr I want you to send at least 5 to 10 proposals

then I want you to watch my cold pitching series and send your first five to 10 cold pitches then I want you to tell five to 10 people in your network whoever can be family friends acquaintances anybody that has a small business you could go downstairs to your local cafe and tell them about it just pick 5 to 10 people that could potentially use your help other options here you could C pitch via email via a voice message via short video on LinkedIn via X Twitter whatever you want and I know this seems super overwhelming

and super intimidating but I promise if you take it one at a time you will be able to do it if you need help with freelancing platforms I will link my relevant freelance platform videos below if you need help with cold pitching I will link my cold pitching series below if you need help with how what to do and how to land clients in communities like Facebook groups or Discord I will link that video below as well and also I will link my video on how to handle getting rejected as a freelancer because you might

need that I'll just be totally honest I don't want to set you up with the wrong expectations you will probably be rejected a lot I have been rejected every which way a billion times it is normal once you do that it's time to unlock a reward because duh what's the point of doing anything if we don't get little rewards and treats so your treat is you can go get your favorite drink at your favorite local cafe has a huge pat on the back don't worry more rewards are coming and bigger rewards are coming once you

start earning the bigger bucks now it's on to level two congrats we're leveling up I love it all right level two is all about earning your first $100 so let's talk about that your first task is to do all of your weekly quests what are your weekly quests your only focus here is to make $100 your first $100 here's your dailyweekly checklist it kind of depends on what you have going on if you're super busy then make this a weekly checklist if you're not super busy and you want to get going freelancing ASAP that make

this a daily Quest that you try to achieve every single day all right so every single day send five proposals on the freelancing platform of your choice send five really good cold pitches tell five people in your network of what you're doing and other options here you could also throw in some cold pitching via email via voice message via X LinkedIn whatever your choice is the point here is just to get out there as often as you can and make contact with as many people as you can the biggest issue that I see the biggest

roadblock that I see that keeps Freelancers from actually becoming Freelancers and getting paid properly is that they come up with all these other fake tasks that they have to do to avoid trying to get out there and just talk to the people that could potentially use their help and again if you did level one properly then you will know exactly what problem you are solving you know exactly some types of people that you might want to reach out to and talk to and you will know what your competitive Advantage is that's all you need to

convince somebody to give you money and here's some like real talk freelancing there's no magic solution there's no magic shortcut to making $100,000 as a freelancer you do this checklist over and over again until you have a steady base of clients and then you won't have to do this list anymore I did this list less and less the longer my freelance career went on because as I started getting those clients especially good clients those are just long-term clients right like if you get one long-term client that pays you 1 to 2K a month you're set

imagine I told you for every 100 times you get out there you will land three mindblowing ideal amazing clients that will be with you for years that is the kind of conversion rate we're talking about when you're just getting started let's move on to task two task two is to get good just like if you play a video game you have to get good you have to get the practiceing I've played hundreds of hours of World of Warcraft and I'm still now just trying to get good so how will you create the best character ever

if you think of yourself as a separate video game character how are you going to upgrade the shiz out of this character what skills will you add on what upgrades can you buy for them what mentors will you learn from because remember how in level one we talked about how freelancing is solving problems and solving problems is how you make money here's something for my level two people that I didn't say in level one I think you're ready for it now when you solve small problems you make small money when you solve big problems as

a freelancer that is how you make big money so as much as possible you want to focus on how can I upgrade my character to solve bigger problems for my target people so examples of how I did this I noticed a lot of my clients did not have project management tools and everything in their business was chaotic and nothing was getting done so I watched a bunch of free YouTube videos on Project management tools like click up a sauna and then I offered clients to help them set them up and solve a huge headache a

huge problem in their business that nothing was streamlined and the tasks were not finishing I also paid for skills training strategy workshops so I could offer more strategic value to my clients and I also followed a lot of experts in funnel strategy and online courses so that I could offer upto-date value ad to clients to be like hey I noticed that this is something that a lot of people are doing this year like let's try this let's try that so think about how can you upgrade your character and part of that is also just being

on the lookout the scanning of what's going wrong in your clients's business why are they not making more money what are they getting stuck at what is a huge problem why are things not getting done why is everybody unhappy why is everything on fire see those things and then be like how can I solve that problem and if you solve that you plug that hole that's all I'll say is this like ASMR and a little side note tidbit here the most underrated thing as a freelancer is soft skills I hate that it's called soft skills

because they are the coolest radest skills you could possibly ever have and offer as a freelancer hard skills may get you hired but soft skills are what retains your clients and gets them to refer you out to everyone that they know and be obsessed with you and love you so here are some soft skills that I would keep in mind overd deliver everything under promise overd deliver always you want people to be like oh my gosh I got so much more than what I paid for when I hired de she's absolutely amazing be client Centric

right like don't just be what's in it for de how do I make the most money what would be great for me what would work for me no and that's also lowkey why I think empathy is one of the biggest competitive advantages so if you're empathetic use that be a crystal clear Communicator set clear expectations this is one of those like it's so overs said but still underdone be hella organized and detail oriented be a good figure outer which means when you run into something you don't know you're not up to running up to the

CL I can't I couldn't figure it out you figure it out I couldn't decide you decide this is my typing no banned we're going to Google what is RO what is a sign up what is clickup watches a video figure it out that's what we're doing also be proactive be e proactive wow she's so good at talking all right l two l two that's not the word feel like once I've recorded for 30 minutes I get hilarious all right level two it's time to earn your rewards so unlock them first you're going to get one

per from my c I'm going to insert it here if you achieved it your other reward is a piece of your favorite type of cake it can be whatever cake you want just pick a piece of cake get it once you finish level two and the task there because I'm really proud of you all right let's dive straight into level three level three is all about earning your first $1,000 oh my gosh so exciting so again here you're going to really notice the trend here I'm always going to be talking about how you upgrade your

character because I didn't tell this to level one and level two people but I'm going to tell you now because you're here in level three remember how we talked about solve small problems make small money you solve big problems make big money well here's the final evolution if you solve even bigger even more painful problems the money it will rain from the sky so the way to solve bigger problems to make that mad money is to upskill and get more advanced skills training solve bigger problems you generate bigger value the more the client hates a

problem the bigger a problem it is the harder it is to learn to fix that problem the bigger of a problem it is the more tied to a business's income and goals and the freedom of a business owner the bigger of a problem it is so once you solve those problems and you're increasing your value ad that's when you increase your rate and then you will do this on a cycle you will continue pitching and Outreach maybe a little less depending on how many clients you have now and adjust that pitching schedule to focus again

on more and more premium platforms because smaller clients they tend to be in like free communities and stuff like that premium clients the ones that are pay paying the big bucks chances are they're imp paid communities so if you think about the ideal six to seven figure business owner chances are they don't have time to be in a free Facebook group digging for a bunch of answers looking through post chances are they're in higher paid Mastermind so and make sure that as you're going through you're going to trade out your bad clients for better ones

you're going to create maintain your boundaries like your life depends on it do not roll your eyes when I say the word boundaries you need them if you want to make great money for a long time as a freelancer always be looking for opportunities to add more value and solve your problems I will say this over and over until I'm blue in the face that is how you make good money as a freelancer so make sure that's part of your daily routine to always be scanning for those things and then just keep increasing the amount

of money you charge if you do this on a cycle you will be at six figures before you even know it now the second task here is to build your guild so find your peeps right like Facebook groups Discord communities YouTube channels hey Instagram accounts and create referral Partners out of those leads if you're a copywriter make friends with a graphic designer Des ER and refer each other when a client needs a new site build you're a business manager make friends with an online course strategist or an online course Builder and refer each other whenever

a new client wants an online course built so level three let's talk rewards what are they one one giant congrats from me via comment if you've made $1,000 tell me below I will give you the biggest congrats ever because that is such a huge win for both you and me that is so awesome and you have to go play laser tag or book a spa day those are your two options you can pick which one but you have to do one of them and I give you permission to watch Netflix for 2 hours during the

middle of the work day if you complete level three because that is what you've won that was like the biggest win for me once I started making great money as a freelancer I would watch like an hour of Netflix during the day and be like this is what I worked so hard for I know you've won the game the ASMR clap now here's the bonus level if you want to earn your first $10,000 as a freelancer then I'm going to link this video where I talk about my biggest Lessons Learned getting to 10K month as

a freelancer I hope to see you over there and as always thank you so so much for watching and I hope to catch you in the next one okay bye