I created a blog during my college days, from which I was also generating a side income. Now, many of you must also be in college. And who doesn’t want to be able to pay their college fees themselves? So, I wanted to write an article in which I explain to you, in 5 very easy steps, how to start a freelancing journey so that you can start earning at least ₹20,000-25,000 per mont
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Step 1: Finding Your Niche
Let’s discuss the first step, which is called “Finding Your Niche.” Niche means a specific area of interest. For example, when I was in college, I had knowledge of MBA, knowledge of the CAT exam, and knowledge of resume building. So, these are some areas in which I was interested and which I can call my niche.
Identifying Your Niche
So, what is your niche? I know that answering this question can be a bit difficult, especially during college time. So, I want to share an Ikigai model with you. Through this, you can easily answer this question. Simply ask yourself which area you enjoy, in which you are also good, which is also needed by others, and which can also pay you. For me, MBA ticked all these four criteria.
Step 2: Exploring Freelancing Methods
Once you have identified what your niche is, the next step is to explore the methods of freelancing. Now that I know my niche is MBA, the question arises: In what ways can I earn money related to MBA? It’s possible that I create thumbnails for a content creator who produces MBA-related content. It’s possible that I teach at a coaching institute. Or I write a blog post for an MBA college. These are different ways through which I can earn within the same area.
Step 3: Determining Freelancing Services
After finding your niche, the next point is to determine which freelancing services you would like to provide. For this, you can use the 3C Model: Competencies, Comfort, and Cash.
Competencies
Competencies refer to the skills that you already possess or that you can easily acquire. For example, I was already proficient in writing because I used to write on a website named Quora. But if someone told me to become a graphic designer or provide design skills, it would be very difficult for me because I had never done that before. So, my competency was in writing.
Comfort
The second aspect is comfort. I was in college, so I didn’t have much time to devote to it. Secondly, I didn’t want to reveal my face. So, I couldn’t make videos, and I couldn’t do much designing either. But writing was possible for me because it doesn’t reveal any face, and secondly, it doesn’t take much time.
Cash
Third is cash. What is the earning potential in that method? If I were doing graphic designing, I could earn a certain decent amount. If I were making videos, I could earn a much larger amount. But writing falls in between. How much cash can you earn from that particular method? These three things – competency, comfort, and cash – will help you determine which method of freelancing to use.
Step 4: Setting Up Your Base
Carrying out this exercise led me to the conclusion that I should provide writing services. Now, the next step is setting up your base. For example, if I want to do writing, then my base would be a website. There are some steps for me which are part of the base, such as hosting a website, purchasing a domain name, setting up a blog, writing posts, designing the website, and so on. Whatever field you choose, whatever your freelancing area is, you can watch some tutorials on how to set up your base platform. Like graphic designers need to learn tools, similarly, those who want to make videos will need to learn about YouTube or Instagram.
Setting Up a Blog
I’ll give you an example of blogging to show you how I set up my base. First of all, I am going to host my website. For this, I am going to use the services of Hostinger, who have also partnered with this video. Their plans are quite good and affordable. Another great thing is that you can set up your website with their “AI Website Builder” within a minute.
Choosing a Hosting Plan
Now, to set up a blog, I’ll first need a “Web Hosting Plan.” So, I go to Hostinger’s website, I’ll also add its link in the description. They are showing different types of plans here. If you’re just a beginner blogger and you also want your own custom domain, then I will recommend that you select the premium plan because that is sufficient. Now, whatever plan you select, you also need to bind it with a time limit. How long do you want to take that plan for? When I set up my blog, I had taken that plan for a complete 12 months. This means that for the entire 12 months, you get that plan at a discounted rate as a package deal, as you can see here as well.
Discount and Money-Back Guarantee
On top of that, if you want an additional 10% discount, you can also use my code “SHWETA.” By spending around ₹3000, which is let’s say ₹8 per day, you can set up your own website for 12 months. Plus, you will also get a custom domain like “www.shwetaarora.in.” So, in this way, you can get a website with any name for an entire year. Personally, what I find really good about Hostinger is that they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you feel that this plan is not suitable for you or you are not satisfied, you can also claim a refund within 30 days.
Creating a Website
Now, our base is ready. Now we will set up our website like if you are a YouTuber, you might be setting up your YouTube channel. In the same way, if you are a designer, you might be experimenting with different design tools and starting to work on a particular tool. So, to set up the website, we will click on “Premium Web Hosting.” Skip this and now we will create a new website. Here you will see two options. You can either use WordPress or you can also use Hostinger’s AI Website Builder. Since we are beginners, we will use “AI Website Builder.” Here, I need to give a very brief description of what this website is about, and then I can give my brand name. I can also mention what type of website it is. We’ll write in the description that we want to write content around MBA and this is a blog. And we’ll give the name MBA Decoded. Let’s see how this AI Website Builder sets it up completely. According to whatever we mentioned, it has provided an introduction section, added a blog, and the images are also related to MBA. So, our website template will be ready.
Step 5: Building Your Portfolio
Now, our niche is also ready, our method is clear, which is writing, and we have also set up a base. The next step is building your portfolio. A portfolio means showcasing the work you have done. For example, if you go to any client and want to provide your writing services, you will show which articles you have written previously. Similarly, if you are a graphic designer, you will showcase your design templates. Likewise, if you are a YouTuber, you will share links to your videos. A portfolio means a repository of your work, along with your contact details, so that any client can reach out to you.
Creating a Portfolio
Like when I created my blog, my blog itself was my repository and my portfolio because it contained all my written articles. So, any client who wants to work with me can reach out to me from there and also see my work. So now, the website we have taken, we convert it into a portfolio. We have built this website using the AI Website Builder. If you look at the left-hand side, you will see an option for the blog. We will add this. Then, we will go to the blog and start writing a new post. Now, you can write on any topic. As our niche is MBA, let’s think about which are those MBA colleges whose fees are low but the packages are high. So, let’s start writing a blog post on this topic.
Writing Content
First of all, you can use either ChatGPT or BARD to create a base structure for your post. I would personally recommend that you never write a complete article using such a tool because it’s testing your writing services. You can definitely use it as a framework but build upon it. Similarly, Hostinger also has its own AI writer tool. For example, if we type that we need an introductory paragraph on this topic. And let’s see what it comes up with. Now, we have got a very good introduction. We will now modify it in our own terms and then complete it. You can also add some images to it if you want. For example, since we are talking about high packages or MBA, we can show a graduation ceremony or some money-related images related to fees. For the basics, just focus on writing and complete this post and publish it. Once we have written several posts like this, our portfolio will be ready.
Step 6: Finding Your Clients
The final step will come, which is finding your clients. Now, where you get clients will depend on who your exact clients are, which will depend on what services you are exactly providing. It could be an MBA coaching institute, for example, Unacademy or PW; all have their own blogs. We can write for them. It could be an information aggregator like MBA Universe or College
Dunia. We can write on their platforms. Or there could be MBA colleges with their own websites and blogs. We can write content for them as well.
Reaching Out to Clients
If you want to reach out to any of them or provide any service, chances are that if you directly reach out to them, meaning if you write them an email or message, you won’t receive any response. So, for this, the technique we will use is called networking. What we will do is, suppose we want to write content for an MBA institute/MBA college on their website or blog. So, first, we will reach out to one of their students. It could be on LinkedIn or social media where you found them. Then, by networking with those students, you will get references to various club seniors or leaders who can hire you as content freelancers.
Networking and Referrals
So, in this way, by networking and getting referrals, you reach your clients. When you have your first few clients, finding them is a bit difficult. Converting them is challenging. In that case, you can offer your first 1-2 posts as a free sample because the work you do for those clients will start getting you subsequent offers. So, when you talk about finding clients, it’s not just through Upwork or other freelancing platforms. You also get them through networking and referrals. In fact, that is a much better method of doing it. You can ask any freelancer; this method of reaching out always works.
Conclusion
So, these are the basic 5 steps of how you can start freelancing. If you had no idea about this particular journey, you can generate a stable side income method from it. But along with that, you can also establish a future career prospect for yourself, which many youngsters are doing today.
