Freelance Work as a Sideline - Part One

There's a whole lot of advice out there about starting up your own freelance business and becoming self-employed. There are many articles on running a home business, managing your time and how much work you have to do in order to stop your small business from going under. But there aren't quite so many posts on freelance work as a sideline. What if you're happy in your day job? What if you don't want the stress of running a full-blown home business, working for yourself and having to deal with all the issues that brings? What if you're just desperate for a bit of pocket money? Running a freelance business as a sideline is remarkably simple and need only take up as much time as you have spare.

Setting Up
One of the hardest yet most important parts of setting up any business is finding your first clients. With freelance work, this can often be difficult as people will either be using their own in-house employees to do the job you're offering, or they'll already have a team of freelancers they're happy with. Your task is therefore to persuade these businesses that you are a viable alternative should they be looking to change things, and to encourage businesses who aren't bothering with the service you provide that it's worth their investment.

My own freelance work involves proofreading, translation and writing. Many companies reply to my emails with messages along the lines of: 'We don't need a proofreader, it's an unnecessary expense.' My goal is then to talk to them about why proofreading is important for a business - which it really, really is. If you have a website, some company documents, posters or leaflets that contain any writing at all, it's really important that the grammar and spelling are correct and that the phrasing conveys your company's message in the best possible manner. People generally know when they need translators and writers, but sometimes they have to be persuaded to consider a new provider or hire a professional rather than giving these tasks to their latest influx of interns.

So how do you approach businesses? There are a few basic guidelines that apply across the board:

• If you're emailing people, be friendly. Of course you want to sound professional, but you don't want to sound like a robot. 
• Always check what you've written before you hit 'send'. Is the recipient's name spelt correctly? What about grammatical errors? How does the email or letter look on the page? Is it spaced out or bunched together? Is there too much 'white space'? All of these are important points that will add to the overall impression a business receives. 
• NEVER BCC. And absolutely never CC. People know when you're sending an email to 300 others, and it won't go down well. Even if you think you've been clever by BCCing, you haven't. The address line of the recipient's email will say something like 'Addresses not disclosed', which will make it obvious that you've sent it to more than one person, and you won't be able to personalise the email properly. Sure, it might take you five times as long to send individual emails, but it'll probably get you five times as many clients. 

Those are probably the top three things I'd think about when contacting businesses with your services. Remember too that, even if you're only just starting out in your field of freelance work, you do have other experience in something. Make the most of the experience you have. Do you volunteer at a local home for the elderly? Did you write for your college paper? Do you have a blog that you keep up-to-date? Include it in the email. People like to know who is contacting them and what your interests are, and there are many transferable skills between different types of work. Think about what your skills are, consider possible examples of them and include these in your email. 

Having said that... don't make it too long! 200 words is enough for an initial introductory message. Businesses will be receiving hundreds, possibly thousands, of emails per day, and they're unlikely to want to trawl through an essay about how well you can potentially do your job, no matter how interesting you are. If you send 300 emails, expect to get five replies. Sometimes you'll have more, but often people just won't bother replying. After a few days, send a follow-up email, gently reminding them about your previous email and asking whether they received it and if they have any questions. 

So, you've drafted a beautiful email, sent it out to some clients and received some replies. Perhaps a couple of people have even expressed interest. Then the questions start rolling in: 'How much time does it take to do X?' 'How much do you charge per X?', and so on. These can be the hardest part of starting a business. If you're new to your field, you'll probably have to start off with relatively low prices, gradually raising them later on when your reputation grows stronger. 

But how do you work out how much to charge? Be realistic. Think about what the client is asking you to do. How long will it take to complete the job? How long will it take to check your work? What specialist skills are involved? What are other people in your industry charging? Work out a basic rate per hour, per day or per page, then stick with it for a while. If you decide it's too low or too high, you can always change it later. 

Work out which methods of payment you can accept, and be clear about this when speaking with the client. Also clarify in writing exactly when you expect payment to appear. Clients sometimes need a bit of a nudge to remind them to pay you, but most of the time it will happen. Don't immediately panic if the money isn't in your account at the exact time you specified. 

Once you're up and running, keep looking for new business. Spend at least as much time scouting for new clients as you spend working for your current ones. In the initial stages of business, it's probably good to spend three quarters of your dedicated time looking for new work. Keep a record of who you've contacted, when you spoke with them and what they said. Microsoft Excel and similar programs are excellent for this kind of thing. 

Setting up a business - whether it's a full-time thing or a sideline to your day job - will be difficult and tiring, but if your services are good and your clients are happy, it'll be worth it.