Maggie Morrissey joined the Office of Career Development in July 2016, as a Graduate Assistant Career Advisor. She recently became a full-time Career Advisor for Experiential Education and Learning as of July 2017 and is passionate about education and student success. Maggie is also completing her Master’s in College Student Affairs at NSU.
Freelancing or starting your own side business can be a great way to make an income while taking classes. Not only does an opportunity like freelancing offer a unique experience to showcase to future employers, this could lead to the potential of developing a startup business. It can be difficult to start developing a client base when you are starting from scratch so here are some ideas and strategies to try out freelancing.
Assessment
Before jumping into attempting to gain your own freelancing gigs, assessing your own interests, values and skills is the first step. If you are value innovation, flexibility, and taking risks this could be an area for you to explore. Taking career assessments and meeting with a Career Advisor to discuss how your personality aligns with different work environments and cultures can help with this assessment and exploration phase. Discussing what your passions and skill sets are can help hone in on your area of freelancing. If you determine freelancing could be a good fit, the next step is benchmarking what services are already out there.
Networking
Although networking is key to any career field, in freelancing it is critical to develop your network. Networking can help lead to new client referrals and provides and an avenue to gain advice from successful entrepreneurs. Conducting informational interviews and considering interning or working at a startup company can help you to gain the skills and background to launch your own freelance gig. Hearing information straight from a professional who went through the process and ended up successful, is one of the best sources to gain dos and don’ts from.
Research
Researching the industry you are interested in and different avenues to start gaining freelance gigs is important. Upwork is one of the well-known platforms for finding freelancing opportunities remotely. Fiverr, Freelancer and Ebyline/IZEA are additional sites to explore. In addition to finding gigs, promoting yourself is key. Developing a professional online presence through sites like LinkedIn, creating your own website and social medial accounts, and using Portfolium (an online portfolio available free for NSU students) can help build your business. Students and professionals sometimes start out on a freelancing as a part-time basis. Remember to be strategic and have fun with it!
For more tips on how to strategically network and gain skills to help become successful in your field, schedule a career advising appointment today!
