How To Get Into Freelancing – A Personal Perspective

In the previous article we looked at why you would want to own a job…

…why you would want to become a freelancer.

We then looked at how to approach freelancing strategically in the event that you still wanted to do it.

Here’s my story…

So, in the mid 1980s, I returned to the UK from Jamaica.

My mother had instructed me to go see her brother and let him know what was happening.

After his family had recovered from the initial shock of my arrival, I was quickly integrated into their system.

Signing up for “the dole”

The very first thing I needed to do was register for “the dole” (US read: unemployment benefits).

Do you know how soul destroying that is?

The atmosphere in that office was depressing.

It didn’t matter that I was a British citizen and I was, thus, “entitled to it”, the family told me.

Maybe I was. Maybe I wasn’t.

Half of that money was given to my aunt to help with the shopping.

Signing up to college

The next thing I needed to do was sign up to a course in computing at a local further education college.

Computers were the way to go, they said.

So I signed up to do a certificate course in Computer Technology at Sandwell College.

Subjects I had to get to grips with included Math, Economics, Micro-electronics, and so on.

I dropped out after the first year because I was itching to work.

So I signed up with a recruitment agency and was sent to work in a bank, doing data entry.

I fell in love with it. The ambience, the technology, the sandwiches(!)…

It was so new and exciting, you see…

Back up a little! Did you see that one?

Just about all the websites you go to that talk about freelancing urge you to go out and get clients and they teach you how to get your first client.

What if you are still in “employee” mode, like I was?

I had done a year in the National Youth Service, followed by doing casual work as a nursing assistant at the Princess Margaret Hospital in St. Thomas, Jamaica.

Being an employee was what I knew.

Here comes the tip

Sign up with an agency that specializes in what you’re good at.

In my case, I had some experience using a keyboard.

Oh, did I mention that my mother had bought me a Remington typewriter as a birthday present?

I think it was my 8th or 9th birthday.

Shortly after my first assignment, I got another one with a different bank to do data entry.

Within about an hour I was taken off the computer.

I recall the words of the manager.

She kept thinking out loud (and I am paraphrasing here):

“Now, what work can you do that does not require a computer?”

It was frustrating. However, I remained calm.

She eventually assigned me to filing duties. Which, of course, I found I was good at filing. I had never done it before.

I learnt later from the agency that I was too slow for data entry.

The minimum requirement was about 50 words per minute (how many impressions is that? I forget).

My typing speed was somewhere between 40 and 45…

Office work was quite enjoyable. And I got much better at data entry.

At some point, I completed certifications in Word Processing and Telex & Switchboard Operations with Pitman Training via distance learning.

And, guess what? I was even working throughout the recession of the late 1980s.

General considerations of how agencies operate

With agency work, you are on call, and you need to be ready to go wherever they send you. Of course, you can say no (just not too often).

Also, it is useful to know that there are remote working options now with the current public health crisis.

If you must say no, do let them know when you will be available, if at all possible.

You do not have to say you are working with another agency (for example), if that is your situation.

As with going out to get clients you need to define your parameters with agencies.

These parameters can now be set online.

You also need to make sure that you adopt the same kind of professionalism as you would if you were going to get your first client.

Not to mention familiarizing yourself with the agency’s terms and conditions.

Back to my “temping” experience

Some years later, I moved to London to do an associate degree in printing management, followed by a publishing degree. I got work with an agency to support myself.

That agency offered help in upgrading my skills, including increasing my typing speed.

The variety of working with different types of clients within different working environments was invaluable.

Over a period of ten years, I worked with government departments, transport, construction companies, legal, finance, non-profit, further and adult education (for teaching), real estate…

Having that kind of experience can help you to understand your potential future clients better.

So, if you decide to sign up…

With recruitment happening online now, you need to be extra careful not to fall for scams.

If you are OK with putting your resume/CV online, make sure the site is secure as well as reputable.

Be careful about opting into certain sites. I think these are web-scrapers that “scrape” jobs from reputable sites and then make these available to you.

You end up getting junk messages with job offers that you have no interest in or that are irrelevant to your goals.

Stick with reputable companies, such as Pertemps, Reed, Brook Street, Manpower, Ranstaad, etc., that have a track record.

Of course, there are others. However, these are the ones that I have worked with.

Brook Street (UK) is my favorite. Pertemps was my first.

If you are in the US and have a LinkedIn Premium account, this makes it easy for recruitment agencies to find you.

If you get an offer from a company you are unfamiliar with – DO YOUR RESEARCH.

FlexJobs, for example, is a company that focuses on remote working and all employers are vetted. The company is also very good at alerting you to scams.

Wow, I got a little carried away with this one. I will continue with another way of getting into freelancing in the next article.

In that article I share two sources of information for getting into freelancing via a side hustle.

To a better, wiser, stronger YOU.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay