When you’re new to freelancing, you often look at more experienced or established freelancers and wonder exactly how they got there. Although you should never look to compare yourself, you have to be able to look to those freelancers for inspiration.

Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Well, you can because they’re not actually secrets, they’re just tried and tested approaches to the world of freelancing. Let’s take a look at some of the things you need to know if you want to get on the right path to success as a freelancer.

Fake It ’Til You Make It

This is something that can apply to any business, and many other areas of life too, and it’s to fake it until you make it. You’re not going to know everything when you first start out because you’re brand new. But at the same time, you’ll only ever learn because you’ve had to do something, or because you’ve worked on it.

So fake it for now and trust that you can learn the skills and pick up the knowledge you need when you’re required to. And guess what? As you go along, you will soon become the expert that you’ve positioned yourself as. This is my biggest secret to success. Now I have a successful writing career and 20 years of experience. 

Determine Your Worth

Now let’s talk rates, because you know you want to be earning say $100 an hour, and not $10 - right? Read as much as you can about setting your rates like https://www.freelancewriting.com/freelancing/how-to-set-your-freelance-writing-rates/.

You have to really realize that you get to set your rates and you get to determine what your time is worth. 

1. First, figure out how much you want to earn per month.

2. Figure out how much you want to work, in hours, per day.

3. Multiply the number of hours by 30 to find how many hours you will work a week.

4. Divide the amount you would like to make by total number of hours . This is your per hour rate.

5. Time how long it takes to write an article in hours.

6. Multiply that by your hourly rate. This will be your per article rate.

This is how I determine my rates.

Show, Don’t Say

This is a biggie! It’s just far too easy to say that you’re great at this or a pro at that. But if you can show that you are, with your work or portfolio, clients will be more impressed. So start a blog or build a portfolio that sells your work for you.

Take a look at these free videos. I think they'll help you build a great portfolio.

Time is Money

Remember, time is money. The more time you spend on things that don’t make you money, the less time you have to make money. So outsource the things that others can do, such as IT with http://www.qoverage.com/services-solutions/it-consulting/, admin and social media. Then, you can get on with the actual money making stuff.

Systems Are Everything

Finally, you’re going to want to get yourself a system. Because as a freelancer, and an accomplished one, you need to be organized. Motivation can be tough, so you need to make it easy for yourself. With a system of doing things, even when you’re lacking in inspiration or feeling unproductive, you’ll be able to stay on track.

Want more tips? My book teaches you how I make $100 to $200 an hour freelance writing with real, actionable tips.