How to increase your freelance earnings today!

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It can also be a vehicle for exploitation where you are offered ridiculous prices in exchange for your expertise.

From writing $1 articles, to pay-day-vanishing clients; I have personally tried out a few of the so-called tips to increase freelance earnings. Below is a list that may actually be worth your effort.

Be aggressive in your marketing

Post a job ad and renew it from time to time to keep it fresh. While this may seem overly simple, you will be surprised how many potential employers search through job ads and career platforms for potential candidates.

Show and tell

Ask your existing clients for references that you can use. Add them to your online portfolios on various platforms and even include them when applying. Word of mouth travels fast and it sure does help to have someone else you have worked with tell others how awesome you are.

Download trusted apps to cut costs

There are many awesome Apps that can save you time and money. Some make it easier to plan your day, organize your schedules, generate and follow up on invoices and so forth.

This in turn can cut down costs and help you make more money because they help free up your time to carry on doing what you love... freelancing off course.

Guest blog and write opinion pieces

At the end of the day, you can position yourself as an industry expert and get your work seen by potential employees looking for someone like you. Freelancers often overlook such opportunities to contribute, especially when they are not paid.

However, these can get you out there by awesome industry folks who may not have otherwise not have read your work. Take you, for example - you are reading this now.

Nobody is coming

The sooner a freelancer stops depending on aid to come from out there and someone to call with a great proposal, the better. So often we think by guest blogging, advertising and setting up websites, people are going to come flocking in.

This is unfortunately not always the case. You need to get out and make it happen. Approach that company you have always admired and offer to do the work better and for less. Don't wait for a vacancy to be advertised.

If it comes to a push and you can, offer to give them one of your services for free/at a big discount in exchange for a by-line in a blue-chip, world acclaimed publication or company. Once you get your foot in the door, the world is your oyster. Go for it!

Consult

Go online and compile or simply get a list of your prospective employers/clients, see what they do and send them a proposal of what you can do for them as a consultant. How many businesses out there would turn down an opportunity to save costs and maintain quality?

Broaden your horizon

Sometimes it is tough selling ice to an Eskimo. However, that same ice will sell for so much more to other places who don't have so much ice. Use the internet to market your skills to the global village.

Think creatively, like never before

After several failed attempts at covering President Nelson Mandela's funeral for local industry publications (because they already had people there), I cast my net wider.

A big Australian TV news agency got me onboard as their freelance news correspondent to provide telephonic and LIVE studio coverage of the event. As a freelancer, you need to apply yourself creatively and not fear going a little deeper to venture to less populated areas.