The wonderful thing about freelancing is that it’s a lifestyle that is open to anyone. When you freelance, it does not matter what industry you want to work in, you can develop a portfolio and promote your services to a broad range of clients. But can you freelance and continue working in your current day job?
Yes, you can! And Here’s How:
Step One: Decide when you want to freelance
Your first job is to ascertain how many hours you want to commit to freelancing and when you would like to develop your side hustle. Let’s say you work in a 9-5 job and want to start a gig to supplement your income. Do you really want to use your evenings up after a busy day at the office? Or do you value your rest and relaxation?
It might be that you are happy to work a whole day at the weekend and keep the other day to spend with your family. As such, you may decide that you can dedicate eight hours every Saturday to freelancing, and you can proceed with planning your schedule from there.
Step Two: Set your prices and availability
As soon as you have decided when you want to freelance, you’re ready to set your prices and availability. If we continue with our example, you have committed to working eight hours every week on a Saturday as a freelancer, so you will need to set your availability to reflect this. And then you’re ready to price your gig.
A great way to do this is to consider how much you want to earn per week from your side hustle. If, for instance, you wanted to earn an extra $160 bucks from your labour, you would have to charge $20 per hour. You can play around with the numbers so that it works for you, but it’s a good idea to do this at the start, so you know what you need to earn from the hours that you have available for freelancing.
Step Three: Consider if you need to adapt your current working schedule
The nature of freelancing means that you don’t have to work set hours every week; you can mix things up, providing you meet your deadlines. But you need to be careful with your time if you decide to maintain your day job. After all, you will struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance if your side hustle eats into your family or relaxation time.
So, depending on the nature of your day job, you might be able to negotiate with your boss to change your pattern slightly to accommodate your side hustle. For instance, you might be able to compress your working week into four days, freeing up the fifth day for working on your side hustle and leaving your weekend free. It’s amazing how flexible bosses can be if you’re delivering results, so it’s worthwhile asking.
Step Four: Look for clients in your current professional network
When you’ve decided upon your capacity and allocated your working schedule, you’re ready to dive in and look for some clients. An excellent place to look is in your current professional network, but of course, it depends on the type of side hustle that you’re involved in. You need to be careful that your side hustle isn’t regarded as a conflict of interest by your current employer, so bear this in mind before tapping into your professional network.
If your side hustle is unrelated to your day job, then feel free to use LinkedIn and other professional networks to your advantage. You can also communicate your new side hustle with your family and friends to see if they’re keen to take you up on your offer.
Step Five: Setup on RadialHub and launch your freelancing career
Last but not least, it’s time to set up your freelancer profile on RadialHub so you can connect with clients and look for projects that you want to take on. No matter the industry that you’re operating in, you will be able to connect with clients who are looking for freelancers to engage with.
If you’re in employment when you start freelancing, you’re actually at an advantage as you don’t need to put unnecessary pressure on yourself. Focus on optimizing your RadialHub profile and reach out to clients that you’re keen to work with. In no time at all, you will have grown your side hustle and will be earning consistently alongside your day job.
Final thoughts
Because there is no right or wrong way to be a freelancer, you can enter the gig economy via several avenues. So, if you love your full-time job and don’t want to give it up, you can follow our five steps above to slot seamlessly into a side hustle, which will enable you to supplement your current earnings with some freelancing income.
