7 suggestions to succeed as a self-employed worker

Posted On: May 29, 2019
Posted By: Jhonney
Comments: 0

How should you organize to have a solid career working as a self-employed worker? It’s not the first time you hear about self-employment, but now more than ever, is not it?

This is a phenomenon that is occurring more frequently now: the increase of people who work on their own.

In addition to economic and social issues, people have opted for this way of working because they can decide their schedules and have a workplace away from the pressures of corporate environments.

However, despite appearing to be an excellent option for anyone, self-employed worker or freelancer has advantages and disadvantages, like any other job.

One of the amenities is that you can develop your activities in your own home or other environments that you choose and have time for your personal tasks.

Among the disadvantages, certainly, financial instability is the main one, although many celebrate the financial independence that self-employment can provide.

Even so, it is necessary to organize yourself to have a solid career working on your own.

In this text, we want to help you with 7 suggestions to be successful in this style of self-employed worker.

Let’s better understand what it is to be a self-employed worker

Self-employment is nothing more and nothing less than working on your own, without exclusivity for a single client or company.

The professional does not have any employment relationship and assumes on his own the risks that a career like this demands.

The self-employed have the flexibility to negotiate their salary, hours and place of work.

How to succeed in working in this style?

Here are some tips where I will explain to you how to make money at home working as a self-employed worker.

1. Organize your time well

Wake up early, fall into traffic or a crowded bus, mark your ticket … all that is rare, if not non-existent, in the life of the self-employed.

Having your own time is one of the most celebrated things in this work model, but it can also be a trap.

You need to learn to reserve time to do your professional tasks as if you were in a company.

Although you will not have someone pushing you or watching you all the time, you still have to give the best of yourself in terms of quality and how you execute your activities.

Choose your schedules and meet them with discipline. Do not leave anything for later so that you do not run the risk of not being able to deliver a job to a client or worse that you lose some time that you had dedicated to some commitment.

Although you flexibilize your routine, do not stop working every day so you do not accumulate anything, even for a shorter time than normal.

Procrastination is, perhaps, the worst enemy of autonomous work. And believe me, he’s on the prowl. Therefore have discipline!

2. Choose a place to work

Maybe you do not like the business environment, like an office environment. But having your own place to work is essential.

Even in the comfort of home, think of a place that is a room or a part of it to be your office.

Choose a place for the people who live with you to know that if you are there it is because you are working as a self-employed worker and they do not bother or distract you.

Make sure that the environment is organized and allows you to perform some tasks remotely, with good Internet coverage, for example.

Leave your work objects nearby and avoid things that can distract you, such as television. Treat this place as if it were a real office.

All this helps to maintain the professional position within the house, which contributes to your performance.

3. Disseminate your work

Regardless of the area in which you act, you need to disclose your work. And what is not missing are ways to do it.

One trend today is digital marketing. Create profiles in social networks, for example. Disseminate your work there with creative strategies and content that may interest the public.

Although the digital world is not your area, always think about the possibility of maintaining, at least, a page on Facebook to disclose what you do. Another interesting network is LinkedIn because it is almost exclusively used for professional and work issues.

But do not forget the traditional word of mouth, either. Make networking, talk to your neighbors about what you do, create a business card and always keep some in your pocket.

4. Learn how to calculate the price of your services

This is one of the most important suggestions we can give you. Because surely at this moment that many people have doubts, and if you do not define well the cost of your services, this will greatly hinder your autonomous career.

The value of your service may or may not be enough to keep you, or it may be so high and so out of market standards that your clientele will be frightened.

How to achieve a fair balance with the price of your labor?

There are some ways to counterbalance this equation. The first is to conduct market research.

Make a study of possible competitors or other professionals who act in the same field. Create a price list of each service that they could offer, to serve as a basis when calculating the price of your work.

You must maintain a price band within what you consider fair with the value of your work, without fleeing much from the values you researched.

If you made an investment or had to buy material to deliver a product to your client, do not stop counting that value, even if it leaves a little of what the market offers – but be careful not to overdo it!

In case your work fits into some category that has a union, investigate the lists of prices they offer. This is another good parameter to take into account when putting a price on your service.

5. Do a financial planning

Here attention!

As we already told you, one of the biggest disadvantages for a self-employed worker is financial instability.

Therefore, you should prevent yourself by planning, knowing what expenses to cut when necessary.

Have a thorough plan of all your expenses and everything you will earn.

If things are going well and there is a lot of work, you will be able to take advantage of your financial security later or also overcome without major dangers the times of more shortage of work.

Keep in mind that your earnings, for better or for worse, will be different every month.

6. Learn about legislation

Another important detail is knowing what the law guarantees you by being autonomous.

There is no law that is the same in all countries. Each country has guidelines and regulations that regulate this work. The most important thing is that you adapt your work to the legal norms so that you always take care of yourself and keep a job in the best standards.

Not to mention that being aware of the legislation can protect you from some problems that you may eventually have with customers or even with suppliers.

Here we suggest a document with general rules of Europe and Latin America that can help you think about the legal aspect.

You can also create a company – usually in the Individual Micro Entrepreneur mode, or MEI – which also allows you to have some privileges that as an individual you would not have.