Career, Knowledge Sharing|

5 Ways to Refresh Your Freelance Business

group of people sit along table-lined windows while remote working, overlooking pine trees and Deschutes river in Bend Oregon
Remote workers focus on their freelance business at The Haven Coworking.

With over 70 million freelancers in the U.S., it’s clear that remote workers are choosing autonomy and personal brand over bi-weekly paychecks and nine-to-five schedules. However, working on your business as well as in your business can get overwhelming. If you’re hitting a proverbial wall or simply struggling to gain new clients, you might be due for a freelance business refresh.

You may wonder what you can do to refresh your brand as a freelancer. A good brand refresh is essential to any freelance business. Why? Because it allows customers to see that you are constantly updating and improving your services.

Whether you’re a seasoned freelancer or just starting a business, taking the time to spruce up your brand can also be a great way to reach new audiences that are a part of your target market.

Start with these five simple ways to refresh your freelance business.

1. Update Your LinkedIn Profile

Whether you’ve just started your LinkedIn or have been slowly updating your profile for years, a polished and professional profile is essential for any freelancer.

LinkedIn is a great way to expand your audience, get new connections, and showcase your skills and expertise—especially as they change and grow over time. Your LinkedIn profile should reflect this journey and feature frequent updates. Regularly updating your profile shows your connections that you are continuing your professional journey and helps the LinkedIn algorithm to help you find new connections and build your network.

Additionally, leveraging LinkedIn to either grow or show off your skills can give you more credibility with existing and potential clients. Consider taking video courses through LinkedIn Learning or taking a quiz to potentially earn yourself a Skills Badge when you score in the top 20% of users.

2. Spruce Up Your Email Signature

If you do not already have an email signature, it is time to make one. A consistent, clean, and simple signature is crucial to helping you maintain an air of professionalism and legitimacy in your freelance business.

With so much interaction being handled online, most businesses do not get much use out of their physical business cards (if they still have them). Instead, they use their email signature to get their brand across.

When creating a custom email signature, consider these elements:

  • An updated photo or headshot
  • Your job title and company
  • Email address spelled out
  • Link to your Calendly or best ways to schedule a meeting

Places like HubSpot offer a free custom email signature with links to your social and business networks, email address, photo, and even a custom call-to-action. And, if you need some help updating your current email signature, consider using these perfect email signature tips to better stand out.

3. Create a Landing Page for Your Business

A landing page is a great way to get more leads for your freelance business. Here, you can create a stronger online presence. Typically, a landing page is used to collect a visitor’s contact information in exchange for a resource — such as an eBook. While not all landing pages are used as lead generators, they are great for showing off the type of work you offer.

Landing pages can play a crucial role in converting website visitors into reliable leads and even customers later on down the line. When you start a freelancing business, a website or landing page should be one of the first tasks on your list.

And, you don’t need a web designer to get started. Sites like Square Space, ConvertKit, and Canva offer simple landing pages to show off your freelance work.

4. Leverage Software as a Service

Running everything entirely on your own can be an absolute nightmare. Even freelance business owners like yourself can use some help now and then—and hiring more freelancers to help might not yet be feasible. One effortless and effective way to get help so that you can spend more of your time focusing on your business is to use software as a service— also known as SaaS companies.

SaaS companies offer a wide range of services, from search engine optimization to website building and appointment scheduling. So, if you find yourself spending too much time on any one part of your business, a SaaS solution might be an excellent choice for you.

Consider these top SaaS companies to “work” for your business to get started.

  • ConvertKit: Easy-to-use email marketing platform that allows users to create email newsletter templates, schedule email blasts, create email sequences for tagged subscribers, and even create multiple landing pages for target audiences and opt-ins.
  • Trello: Your new project manager! Trello is great for creating lists and tasks while storing important information within each “card.” And users can choose to view their tasks in calendar view, list view, or by topic.
  • HubSpot: This is the go-to CRM for many freelancers. While learning all of the platform’s features can take a while, it’s consistently the most-used CRM among small and freelance businesses. Plus, the free version of the site works well for many users.

5. Run a Social Media Audit

In today’s world, consumers can strongly influence how a brand or product is viewed through social media. But, because of this, it is essential to know what consumers or influencers say about your brand. This is where a social media audit comes in.

A social media audit is essentially an in-depth and systematic review of social data that can help you discover, categorize, and evaluate all of the chatter about your business. While these can be time-consuming to complete, they are essential to helping you find out what you need to work on to better appeal to your audience.

A good social media audit can show you:

  • How many of your followers are engaging with your brand
  • Your demographic, including age range and geographic location
  • Monthly impressions of your content
  • Top engaged users
  • Which types of content perform best

You can use a platform like HootSuite or Later to run these statistics. Or, leverage tools from Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to see how your content is performing.

Coworking for Freelancers

While it’s not easy to run a freelance business, the perks can offset some of the pressure that comes with being your own boss. You get to set your pricing, set your own hours, and choose which clients to take on. Whether you’re noticing a plateauing of customers or you simply want to give your freelance brand a refresh, these tips can make a difference.

It is also important to remember that just because you are freelancing does not mean you have to do all of your work alone. The Haven Coworking offers more than just a space to run your virtual small business or freelance full-time. Coworking spaces offer community and inspiration. Try coworking for just $149 your first month with a trial membership and start connecting with local remote workers and freelancers.

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