20+ Proven Tips for Freelancing Successfully on FreeUp

You can get a lot out of being on the FreeUp Marketplace as a freelancer. Here are the top FreeUp freelancer tips for making the most out of your freelance business right here, right now.

I.  Use Available Free Resources

There are a ton of free sources of information and tips on FreeUp. Below are some of these resources that you can tap into to gain knowledge to help you grow and thrive as a freelancer.

VA Central Amazon Course

VA Central was a very good resource for VA skills. Grabbing the Amazon course that they opened up for freelancers was actually one of the first key FreeUp freelancer tips given out during initial onboarding to the marketplace. They recently shut down, but you can still get access to this course through FreeUp if you’re interested.

The VA Central Amazon course is composed of an Introduction and eight training module. It contains detailed descriptions of Amazon and Seller Central tasks and instructions for how to use the various functions that you’ll need. There are also video links and transcription resources that you can refer back to in case you need a refresher.

Free Online Hiring eBooks, Templates and Videos

These resources were created for clients, but although they are all done from the client’s perspective, they are still great for freelancers. Each of these resources contains valuable information on mistakes to avoid, tasks you can perform that add value to clients’ businesses, setting expectations, how to communicate with clients, getting through interviews, and so much more.

The Outsourcing and Scaling Show

Listen to the weekly Outsourcing & Scaling Podcast hosted by FreeUp CEO and founder Nathan Hirsch. Learn what clients want to up your game as well as advice from seasoned entrepreneurs on how you can build and scale your freelance business. You can bootstrap a business from the ground up just like Nathan and Connor did and scale without relying on any outside funding.

Take advantage of shared step-by-step processes and proven business systems that you can apply to your business today. Just as you work completely remote, you can run a collaborative freelancing business or agency by hiring remote freelancers and leveraging online assets such as influencer marketing, content creation, financial management, company culture, and so many other business tips.

The FreeUp Blog

The blog is a great place to get a ton of FreeUp freelancer tips along with business tips that can help you establish and grow. There’s a wealth of free information on the different categories that you can certainly use to your advantage.

Handling Difficult Clients

Check out our list of compiled FreeUp freelancer tips on the best ways to handle a difficult client.

Free Marketing

One of the more recent FreeUp freelancer tips is doing interviews for and leaving reviews on the marketplace. For just a few minutes of your time, you can talk about your personal experience on the marketplace and get free exposure in return.

YouTube

FreeUp is looking for freelancers to interview for their YouTube channel.  If you want to share your freelancing experience, all you need to do is book a time with FreeUp on Calendly.  These interviews are very informal and focus on your experience freelancing and using the FreeUp platform.

YouTube is a great way to get in front of more clients to encourage them to hire through the marketplace. They will see your face and hear you speak from the heart about what you do and why you work through FreeUp. More clients on FreeUp means more potential projects for you and everyone else, and more client referrals to grow the marketplace’s client base even more.

Reviews

When you leave reviews for FreeeUp, it encourages both clients and freelancers to join the marketplace. As above, this means growth for FreeUp and your freelance business on the platform.

II.  Maximize Your Earning Potential

The best way to do business is to always make sure that you are making the most out of each opportunity. Here are our best FreeUp freelancer tips on maximizing your FreeUp earning potential.

Tap FreeUp Assistants

FreeUp has an amazing group of assistants willing, ready and able to help you grow your freelance business. If you haven’t met them yet, we highly recommend adding them on Skype. Introduce yourself and your business. This way, you have an abundance of resources to turn to when you need help. Interact with the assistants on the Skype group chats as well to get to know them better.

You can also reach out to the FreeUp chat that is manned by an assistant around the clock for any urgent issues you face. If you need specialized help, like how to get set up as an agency on the marketplace, you can reach out to Jane or Leiden, the lead assistants, and they will direct you to the solutions you need. They have been with the marketplace since the beginning and they know FreeUp inside and out

More than helping you with any questions or issues that you have, the assistants are available to serve your freelance business. You can message them anytime with your skillset and rate and they can check the board for any matching tickets that you may have missed. They are here to make it easy for you to find good projects.

Earn Referral Income

FreeUp pays out hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral money every year. This all goes to clients and freelancers – including freelancers running agencies through the marketplace. One of the best FreeUp freelancer tips we can share is making passive income while working through the marketplace. The FreeUp referral program is a great way to start.

FreeUp is always looking for both new clients and talented freelancers to join the community. You can invite outside clients and freelance associates to FreeUp and earn from $0.25 to $0.50 for every hour they bill, forever. If you also hire through FreeeUp, your referral earnings are discounted from your weekly invoice, so you can actually pay for hires with referral earnings. Just give your referrals the unique affiliate link found on your FreeUp account dashboard or direct them to fill out the application.

Promote FreeUp to other business owners and freelancers through your website and social media channels. While earning passive referral income, you will also be helping to grow the FreeUp community and all the opportunities that come along with working through the marketplace.

Offer Fixed Pricing

FreeUp started out billing based on logged hours, but the software has recently been upgraded to include fixed pricing. Freelancers could always quote a number of hours to simulate fixed pricing, but now it’s a whole lot easier with the function build into the software.

Offering fixed prices can be a much easier way to put a tag on your services – for both you and your clients. To do this on FreeeUp, discuss the fixed price you are offering with the client. Remember that your freelancer rate is generally 20% lower than the client rate, so reach out to an assistant for help if you’re having trouble computing this. If the client agrees to your offer, reach out to an assistant to make any necessary modifications to the ticket and get everything set up for you to start working on the project.

You can also send an email to FreeUp Accounting, copy the client, to confirm the agreement so that they can set up the fixed price billing.

Sell Recurring Packages

If you offer a specialized skillset or specific area of expertise, look for opportunities to sign a client up for monthly recurring packages. It’s a great way to manage multiple similar projects and scale your freelance business at the same time. You should never pressure clients into accepting a recurring package, but it’s a good thing to offer. Accounting can easily set up this arrangement for you and answer any questions you have about how this is billed.

Scale Your Freelance Business

FreeUp is a great place to find top talent to help you grow your freelance business or agency. You can hire other pre-vetted freelancers for FreeUp or outside clients to reap the same stellar advantages that the marketplace offers to all its clients. You’ll be able to take on more projects to scale your earnings beyond what you can personally handle.

To hire, create a client account and Request a Freelancer. If you want to set yourself up as an agency on FreeeUp, reach out to Nate. There are plenty of advantages to setting up your freelancing as a company, so make sure to look into that beforehand so you’re prepared to make the best decision. Check out BizFilings, a service that helped FreeUp a lot when it launched, to help you with related freelance business services.

Once you’re set up, you can use your official freelancer business email and arrange to have all your weekly invoices sport your business name so you can present a more professional face to clients.

III.  Maintain Proper Communication

Communication is one of the cornerstones of the FreeUp Marketplace. One of the most important FreeUp freelancer tips is, therefore, maintaining proper communication at all times and in all situations.

Be Prompt

Always reply to any communication as soon as possible, and never wait more than 24 hours. This applies to the intro email for any ticket you apply for and moving forward, any client or FreeUp Skype chats, emails, or any other mode of communication that you have made available or that you have agreed to use regularly (e.g. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Trello).

If you are not going to be able to respond to communications within the prescribed 24 hours, make sure that you let clients and FreeUp know beforehand, and when you will be back in touch. Don’t ever leave things hanging.

Email Tips

When replying to ticket introduction emails, make sure you have the client’s email in the “To” field and keep FreeUp in the “CC” field. It’s a small thing, easily forgotten, that can have grave consequences. It instantly signals that you are not careful, so make that simple switch to signal that you are keen and aware and will apply this level of detail to your work for that client.

Make sure that you have prepared a great pitch, but don’t just paste a form letter as a response to every ticket you grab. You must customize your email (or Skype message, depending on how you are introduced,) to make it highly relevant to the freelancer request you’re reaching out about. If you don’t make perfect sense and hit the client’s needs right on target, you’re not likely to make the cut. Clients actually expect a custom introduction and will use how well you address why you’re a great fit for the specific posting as a way to find the best candidate.

If you have a profile set up on Timeclock, let the client know to look there for more information. If you don’t have one yet, get that done ASAP! Click the Profile tab on your dashboard to fill out the information then click “Save”. Accurate, complete and compelling marketplace profiles tend to encourage clients to make a hiring decision. If you invest a few minutes in your profile, it could lead to more client conversions for your business.

Include examples of relevant work experience in your FreeUp profile and introduction, even if the client hasn’t specifically requested it. Clients tend to pass on freelancers if they get introductions and see profiles that have nothing to do with their tickets. You can send clients a profile that you’ve created outside of FreeUp, but make sure that your published offering is comparable and relevant.

Follow Up

If you don’t get a response to your introduction within one business day, follow up using one of these methods:

• Send a new email, outside of the original introduction email chain.
• Use your non-FreeUp email and resend your introduction with a background on the ticket so the client doesn’t get confused.
• Add them on Skype and send them your introduction there.
• If you don’t get added back on Skype with a response, ask a FreeUp assistant to connect you with the client on a group chat.
• Text or call the client / leave a voicemail once – but make sure that you know what timezone they are in so you don’t bother them at crazy hours.

If the client still doesn’t respond, don’t keep calling and sending them messages. You can wait for them to respond, but you aren’t expected to give up other opportunities if they aren’t ready to hire you. Go ahead and grab pother tickets while you wait, and if they respond after you’ve taken on another project, just politely reply that you are no longer available.

Social Channels

Go ahead and connect with clients on professional networks like LinkedIn, but don’t go looking for them on Facebook or Twitter (more informal, personal channels) unless they initiate this form of contact. Also, remember to keep your pricing aligned on your different channels. Clients often do searches as part of the hiring process and they will be discouraged if they see vastly different price offerings on other platforms.

IV.  Keep Clients Happy

One of the best FreeUp freelancer tips for keeping clients happy is making the hiring process even easier. FreeUp has gone a long way in creating a hassle-free hiring experience, but you can do even more from your end, for instance:

1.  Are you a good fit for the ticket?

Don’t request a ticket unless you have the right experience and can fulfill the requirements 100%. Applying for projects that you aren’t well-suited for often leads to disappointed clients and a bad reputation for both you and FreeUp.

2.  Are you comfortable with the offered rate?

Don’t take tickets that offer less than what you’d be happy with. You will not give your best or be productive unless you know that you’re getting what you know you’re worth. It’s also not a good idea to apply for a project then ask the client for more than they are willing to pay. In addition, don’t request the maximum freelancer rate on every ticket you apply to. It’s a huge turn off for clients to keep getting responses in the uppermost range for every ticket they submit because it looks like FreeUp and freelancers are just trying to squeeze as much money out of them as possible. Know your rates and remain consistent with your pricing so you’re not tempted to price higher when a client has a wider price range.

3.  Is a client looking for multiple skillsets?

Suggest freelancers that you’ve worked well with on the marketplace to help them find a good fit faster.

4.  Does the client want to negotiate?

Always talk with clients in terms of the rate that they are paying, not the rate that you’re getting. It pays to know how to compute client rates to make negotiations go faster and more smoothly.

5.  Is a client ready to hire you?

Immediately give them the direct ticket link so they don’t have to dig through their email or navigate their account.

V.  General Work Tips

Below are more FreeUp freelancer tips specific to the marketplace.

Skillset Groups

There are optional Skype group chats for every skill set. If you want to be added to a certain group, just ping the assistant on FreeUp and let them know. There you will see open tickets specifically for that skillset so you don’t have to read through all the available projects to find the one you want.

There is a freelancer network Skype group where interested freelancers can suggest topics and join discussions on various subjects as well as ask random questions. The chat also has a scheduled weekly meetup – ping the chat to learn more!

Managing Multiple Clients

We serve clients on a first-come, first-served basis on FreeUp. Often, clients will ask freelancers to work on new projects at random times. In this situation, you may not always be able to take on more than one new project at the same time. As a general rule, it’s always best to remind clients that you work on a first-come, first-served basis and that you cannot keep work hours open for them indefinitely.

You are, of course, entitled to take on as many clients as you can to fill up your desired work hours, but how do you deal with several clients assigning work all at once? Here are a few sample situations:

1.  A past client from FreeUp comes back with more work but you don’t have enough time to commit to that project right away.

Don’t fret. You can tell them when you can start on it and block out those hours. You can also offer to introduce them to a different freelancer if they are unwilling to wait, then ping an assistant to help out as needed.

2.  A new client hasn’t given you a specific date when work will start, and a different client assigns work.

You are free to accept the work that is ready to go. The same goes for when a client pauses you on their account without giving you details. It’s best to inform the client immediately that you are entertaining other offers so that they will know when you will again be available to work with them.

3.  A client that did not respond to your introduction suddenly wants to hire you and you have taken on other work instead

Politely inform the client that you are no longer available for the number of hours originally on the ticket. If they are willing to hire you for whatever hours you are available, then you’re good to go. Of course, if you’re no longer interested in the project, it’s best to simply tell the client that you’re no longer available.

Negotiating Rates

Freelancers are discouraged from discussing rates with clients because it can get confusing for both parties. Clients have the option, however, of requesting to negotiate a freelancer’s rate on their ticket. If this happens, a FreeUp assistant will reach out to the freelancer and ask them what they are willing to offer.

You should never feel pressured by such negotiations. If you are not happy with a lower rate, simply decline the request. Freelancers set their own rates on the FreeUp Marketplace and are never forced to accept lower rates. Of course, not lowering your rates can mean that a client passes you over, but accepting lower rates also means that you are not making what you want, need or are worth. Either way, you lose. It’s best to wait for the right fit so that everyone wins.

Final Tips to Keep in Mind

It is against the FreeUp terms of use to:

• do anything illegal or against another company’s terms of use. This includes giving fake reviews, creating fake or fraudulent accounts, using unpaid versions of software, etc.
• accept payment outside the FreeUp platform from a client you were introduced to through FreeUp. If a client asks you to accept payment outside FreeUp please contact the internal team right away.  This protects you against scams and makes sure you get paid for your services.

Give Us Feedback!

The marketplace is always open to suggestions and actually loves feedback. Fixed pricing was suggested by a freelancer and as you can see, has been implemented. FreeUp is interested in whatever ideas you have on how they can help make freelancing better on the marketplace. In this way, feedback is one of the most useful FreeUp freelancer tips we have shared since it has played a crucial role in making FreeUp the marketplace that it is today.

FreeUp wants to help you scale and grow your freelance business. If you’re facing any struggles that are not addressed here, please ping Nate on Skype – he is always happy to help with good advice and suggestions that he has learned from years of experience running businesses and working with remote freelancers from all over the world.