When you are working for yourself, you are often in a position where you want and need to be able to earn as much as possible. If you are not working, you are not earning. It is often difficult to get enough work when you are first starting out in the self-employed world.
Equally, when you have been running your business for a while, you may find that you are going through a period of instability.So, you need to work out how to fire on all cylinders to ensure that you are using every available means of getting work. Here are a few top tips that can help you out in your goal.
1. Work Out Your Availability
Before you head out pitching for work, it is more than worth making sure that you have a clear schedule in front of you that is all ready to be filled up. This means that you can tell potential clients how many hours you have to dedicate to their projects.
At the same time, you are also getting your current projects in order, which can help to focus your mind and may even make you more efficient when you are driven by the potential of getting more work. Ultimately, the world of self-employment is one that is very much driven by staying organized at all times.
2. Look in the Right Places
While there are plenty of job boards out there, many of them may be too generalized and not especially suited to your line of work. Therefore, you need to uncover the places that are more useful to you. A big part of this can come down to using specific boards. For example, if you are seeking out shipping work, you can always head to https://www.shiply.com/us/hot-shot-trucking.
At the same time, you could also look into the various forums out there, as well as social media groups of people in a similar industry. There is simply no point in wasting your time looking for work in the areas where it is not readily available in the first place.
3. Set up Your Own Website
If you allow potential clients to come to you rather than having to seek them out all the time, this is bound to make your job a whole lot easier than it otherwise would be. The best place that people are going to be able to visit is a website of your own.
At the same time, you also need to ensure that it is a professional-looking site, as you do not want it to reflect badly on the services that you are putting out there. You should also think about displaying former examples of your work in the style of a portfolio if you are working in a creative industry of any description.
Also, you need to put on your contact information and give people a few different means and methods of being able to get in touch with you. Perhaps you may even want to put your calendar on there as a way of allowing people to book your time directly. Once you have this site in place, you certainly need to push people towards it.
4. Stay Active on Social Media
Maintaining an active presence on social media is certainly going to be worthwhile as it means that you are then getting your name out in the industry that you are working in. At the same time, you can also use it as an invaluable promotional tool that will allow people to come to you and make inquiries.
Think about the specific social media platforms that are going to be most useful to you. For example, if you are running a business that operates in a highly visual space, it is certainly going to be an advantage to use an Instagram account as you are then going to push people toward what you are doing.
5. Go Along to Networking Events
Beyond everything else that you have the potential to do, it is also going to be worthwhile ensuring that you are attending any and all networking events that may be relevant to your industry and could also help in drumming up some further business. Ultimately, it all comes down to putting yourself out there and ensuring that your name is at the forefront of people’s minds.
You should also work on your elevator pitch so that people know exactly what you are all about and you can get business in the shortest amount of time possible. Remember to have some business cards on hand so that people have something to take away with them.
At the same time, you also need to make sure that you are following up after the networking event, as this is where the advantages can certainly come. Otherwise, you give people the opportunity to forget and never actually get in contact with you.
6. Get Repeat Clients
The easiest way you are going to be able to fill up your schedule is by having a group of repeat clients who keep on coming back to you time and time again.
Therefore, it is certainly worth doing a great job in the first place. Beyond this, you then need to ask them if they have work coming up that needs doing and establishing the type of close business relationship that will stand the test of time and be mutually beneficial for everyone involved.
Getting regular work when you are self-employed is often an uphill battle that requires careful management to ensure that you are doing it successfully.
The more effort that you put into it, the more likely it is that you will start to notice the returns coming in. You also need to take the time and effort to work out which methods are bringing the best results, ensuring that you focus heavily on these ones and move away from the steps that are not working quite as well for you. Bear in mind that it is always a competitive environment and you should be ready to manage it as best you can.