4 Steps to Create a Digital Nomad Income as a Freelancer
Part II of Income for GenX Digital Nomads
“I wasn’t enjoying my work. It felt like I was missing out on doing something that really makes me happy.”
Everyone thought that Ari Zelmanow had the dream job. But something was missing.
He made a great salary, but was chained to the clock.
He always had to be doing what someone else wanted him to be doing, when they wanted him to be doing it.
He was completely out of control of the moments of time that mattered to him.
Here was the guy who’d made all the “right” choices in his life… He went to college, then moved on to get advanced degrees.
He’d had a “good, stable job” at a “good, stable company” for more than a decade.
But now he felt that his “dream job” was more of a nightmare. And, he was looking for a way out.
He was looking for a way to make a living on his own terms. To have the freedom to work how and when he wanted… And to be in control of his own destiny.
Then, Ari discovered freelancing.
It took a while to get there, but eventually he replaced his old income as an employee.
In fact, he exceeded it.
Working 40–50 hours a week, he started pulling in a six-figure income.
But most importantly, Ari gained control. As long as he had a connection to the internet and his laptop, he could work where and when he wanted to.
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From One Boss to Many
So what exactly is freelancing?
When you freelance, you have a skill that’s in demand. This may be the exact skill that you used in your job as an employee. Or, you may choose to learn a new skill.
These skills may include things like social media management, graphical design, copywriting, web design, or coding.
However, instead of working as an employee for a specific employer, you work as an independent contractor for a number of different clients.
The Pros of Freelancing for Digital Nomads
Freelancing can be a great fit for digital nomads. For the most part, it is completely location-independent. As long as you have your laptop and a connection to the internet, you can earn your living from anywhere in the world.
Freelancing isn’t quite time-independent, but it is time-flexible. You have a lot of discretion over when you work. You may be able to schedule your work in the late evening and early morning, so that you can see the sights during the day.
You also have a lot of discretion over the gigs you decide to take on. If either a gig or a client don’t seem to be working out, you have the flexibility to end the gig.
The Cons of Freelancing for Digital Nomads
Probably the biggest disadvantage that freelancing has for digital nomads is that it may take a while to ramp up to where you have enough clients and enough gigs for freelancing to meet your income needs.
Your initial jobs will probably be pretty small. So, you will likely spend a large part of your time (at least initially) writing proposals — as many as 20 per day.
Although freelancing is time-flexible, you will still have some constraints on your time.
You may need to interview with a couple of potential clients each day. And, once you accept a gig, you will have a deadline to meet. This may consume your time for several days or weeks until the job is delivered. You may even have regular status meetings with each client.
As a freelancer, you are self-employed. This means that you don’t have any of the kinds of benefits packages that remote employees likely have. You have to pay self-employee taxes, and paid time off doesn’t exist.
Succeeding as a Freelancer
Many digital nomads find that the flexibility and control that freelancing can bring far outweighs the disadvantages.
And, once you have a large enough client base and a strong enough freelancer reputation, you may find that your income is more reliable than even a remote job can be.
Everyone talks about the importance of multiple sources of income, eh?
So, how do you succeed as a freelancer?
Let’s look at two phases: Getting Work, then Building Momentum.
Getting Work: 4 Keys
The biggest part of the learning curve and ramp-up to success as a freelancer is in getting work to start with.
It may take a while to get your first gig. And, your first few gigs may be pretty small. You can speed up the ramp-up process by following 4 keys.
1. Choose the Right Freelancer Platform
As I write this, there are nearly a dozen web sites that serve as a marketplace platform for freelancers. Although it’s possible to freelance without using one of the platforms, it’s nearly always better to start by listing your services on one or more of the web sites.
These web sites serve as a marketplace for freelancers to list their services and for clients to find and hire freelancers.
They also serve as a platform that allows you to track and record your time, for you to invoice your clients, and for you to ensure that you get paid properly and timely.
But not all of the freelancer platforms are created equal. Some are better than others. Some have difficult rules and regulations about getting started. And, some are crowded with low-priced, low-quality services from people in emerging markets.
You want to carefully pick one or two platforms to start with, and focus your efforts there.
2. Create an Awesome Profile
Your profile kinda looks a lot like a resume.
But’s it’s a lot more than that.
It is your sales page that convinces prospects to take a second look at if they want to hire you for their jobs.
Many freelancers’ profiles look just like a resume, and are about as boring to read as well.
Your profile needs to highlight your skills, but it also needs to sparkle and catch attention. It should sell YOU and make YOU stand out.
Additionally, your profile needs to be specialized to a particular niche. Take a look at the most-searched job descriptions on your freelancer profile. Find the most in-demand job description that matches your own skills, and build your profile around that niche.
Finally, take as many skills tests as you can that relate to your niche. Especially as a new freelancer, potential clients will be looking for clues that you can actually deliver on your jobs. Skills tests increase clients’ confidence level in you. And, they may even increase your ranking in the search results.
3. Hustle!!: 10–20 Proposals per Day
Once your profile is in place, you need to put yourself in front of potential clients.
On many of the freelancer platforms, clients will create a posting for the job that they want to hire out. You can search for those postings that match your profile niche and send out a proposal.
Until you have a good track history on that freelancer platform, it may take a while to find a potential client who is willing to take a chance on you as an unproven freelancer.
When you are just starting out on a platform, you may need to send out 10–20 proposals in order to find 3–5 potential clients who express interest in you. And, of these 3–5, you will perhaps get 1 gig!
So, especially in the first few weeks, plan on sending out 10–20 proposals per day.
It’s best to send the proposals earlier in the day, rather than at night (according to the clients’ time). If possible, you want to have your proposal be one of the first 5 proposals on the job.
Most clients won’t meticulously examine EVERY proposal that comes in. As quickly as they see a proposal that catches their eye, they’ll usually reach out. If you are in the top 5, that gives you the best chance of visibility.
That’s not to say, “don’t send a proposal if you’re not in the top 5”. It’s simply that the top 5 gives the best odds.
4. Send Awesome Proposals
It’s not enough to just send out a bunch of proposals every day. You also need to make sure that the proposals that you send are AWESOME.
Let’s face it… most of the proposals that freelancers send out are completely snooze-worthy.
YOUR proposals have to be interesting and engaging so that they stand out from the rest.
First, ditch copy-and-paste proposals — clients can spot these from miles away.
It’s OK to start from a template, but you need to customize each part of that template to the specific job you are bidding on.
Second, make sure that you are addressing the requirements of that particular job as specifically as possible.
This means that you need to actually read the job description completely and fully answer any questions that may have been asked.
You also want to address how you can make life better for the client by fulfilling this job for them, and that no one else can help them out quite like you can.
Third, be interesting and personable. The more you can connect on a personal basis with the client’s business, the more likely that the client will want to work with you.
Building Momentum
When you start out in freelancing, a majority of your efforts are in actively submitting proposals for jobs.
But there’s a sweet spot that you can hit where potential clients start seeking you out.
Eventually, you can reach a point where enough clients seek you out that you no longer need to submit proposals.
This usually has to do with how your profile comes up in search rankings when clients search for the specific type of job they’d like to hire out. Each platform handles this a little differently, but your search rankings are typically based on a combination of the number of jobs you’ve completed on the platform, your client satisfaction ranking, and your response time.
Quality Work
The quality of work you do for your clients is kinda the baseline for everything else.
To start with, you need to make your skill set remarkable. As a freelancer, you need the same types of digital skills that you might need as a remote employee, which I talked about in Chapter 3.
If you do quality work as the foundation, then you can layer things on top of that to get repeat work and to increase your search result rankings.
If you do not do quality work, then nothing else you do will help you out.
Quality Communication
The better you communicate with each client, the more smoothly each job will go.
Here are some key places to communicate.
1. Immediately after you receive the order.
Some of the freelancing platforms measure your average response time. So, even if you haven’t had a chance to review the order, you should respond immediately and let the client know that you’ll be back with them in a couple of hours.
2. Once you review the order.
Once you’ve had a chance to review the order, you’ll know if you have all the information you need, or if you need additional information.
Either way, send a message to the client and either say that you have all the information you need, or else specify what additional information you need. When you have everything and are set to go, include an estimate of when you’ll get back with them for the next step.
3. When you make a milestone delivery.
Some freelance projects will have intermediate milestones. Each time you make a milestone delivery, send a message and review what you are including. Also, describe what the next set of steps will be, and the expected date for the next milestone.
4. At the end of the entire project.
When you’ve completed all the milestone deliveries, or when your single delivery is complete, send a message to the client that clearly states:
- that you’re delivering the complete deliverable,
- that clearly describes what you are including in your deliverable,
- and that lets the client know that their satisfaction is important and to let you know if there is anything preventing them from being completely satisfied.
5. A follow-up a few days after the project is accepted.
Send a quick message to the client anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks after the project is completed and accepted. Ask if the client has any questions. And, you can take this opportunity to let the client know of additional services that you offer that may compliment the service you just completed. You can also ask for a referral.
Consistency
The freelance platforms generally all reward consistency. You will do much better if you put in a consistent effort each day, rather than if you cram a ton of work once or twice a week.
- Be logged on to your freelance platform for a consistent period each day.
- Submit a consistent number of proposals each day.
- Do a consistent amount of work each day.
And there you have the steps to create a strong freelance income that can support you and your family as a GenX digital nomad. Although some con’s exist, there are some pretty strong pro’s to letting a freelance income support your laptop lifestyle. And, just maybe, you can be like Ari and earn $10,000 a month as a freelancer.
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