Freelancing is a great way to earn money: you take on projects based on your capacity and comfort. Many people are so impressed with the idea of being a freelancer that they make a lot of money with this gig. Freelancing allows you to be your owner, but you will have to convert this hustle into a full-time business if you want to own a team.
Turning freelance hustle into a full-time business can be challenging and take a lot of time. A couple of things you need to consider before doing that. The essential thing is your client base. You can create your own team if you have a large number of clients. Of course, you must have some projects to assign them.
Tips to turn freelance hustle into a full-time business
First off, you need to evaluate the status of your freelance career to figure out whether you have reached the level where you can make it a full-time business. Just because you have a number of clients who keep sending you projects, it does not mean that you have come to that level. Various factors are out there that you need to take into account to decide whether it is the right time to do so.
The number of niches you can handle
When it comes to converting your hustle into a full-time business, you need to check how many niches you can target at a time. Of course, your team will work under you which you will assign projects based on their specialised niche.
For instance, most freelance writers think they can write on any topic, but you will have to check their specialisation if you want to provide quality content to your clients. Likewise, web designers think they can make the desired and suitable design for any website hosted on any platform. You should carefully examine the specialised niche of freelancers if your projects are gone beyond your capacity.
Build strong network
You just do not need to build a strong network to grab new clients but you need it for reaching out to other freelancers. LinkedIn is the best platform where you can build connections with other freelancers. Preparing a team for you will not be too difficult if you have already a lot of people in your connection list.
Once you have built a lot of connections, you can invite people to take an interview so you can assess skills. One of the best advantages of having connections on LinkedIn is you will be able to shortlist the best candidates for your team.
Grow your long-term clients
You cannot convert your hustle into a full-time job if you do not have long-term clients. Try to grab those clients that can provide you with many projects in the future as well. You cannot run your business if you do not have a constant supply of projects.
As far as it is about growing your team, it depends on the project. In future, when you get more projects, you can hire more freelancers. However, make sure that at the outset, you have enough projects that you can manage on your own and provide some of them to other freelancers.
Promote your services
Even if you have a great number of clients, you cannot stop to find more of them. You never know when your current clients stop you from sending their projects. This is why it is essential to keep spending money on the marketing of your services.
It can be quite expensive, but it will pay you off in the long run. In case you do not have enough money, you can take out loans for people on benefits. These loans can help you fund your marketing campaigns.
However, you do not need to choose expensive marketing methods. This is because you can promote your services on social media platforms, and LinkedIn is the best one. It is a great platform to build a brand. Use Fiverr, Freelancer and UpWork for promoting your services to get clients.
Prepare a budget
Budgeting is crucial because now you are going to have your own team. You have to decide how much you can pay them. Prices vary from freelancer to freelancer. You will choose those who fit your budget.
You may also raise your price if you are not left with enough money after paying your freelancers. If you can maintain the quality, you should shy raising your prices. Your clients will never mind it.
Make sure that you prepare your budget considering marketing expenses. You may not be able to cover these expenses if your budget is not large.
Register your business
Once you have built your team and think that your work is going smoothly, you should register your business. You will need capital to register your company. One of the great benefits of having registered as a company is that people will trust your services, and this will give you a lot of benefits to your business.
Summing up
If you are planning to turn your freelance hustle into a full-time business, you will have to consider many factors. You must have a lot of projects, build a team of freelancers, invest in marketing, register your business, and above all, you have the potential to do it.
