This was a response I gave to a enquiry from one of the members of my list.  It’s so good to hear that people are earning their first money online through freelancing, and if you have any questions I encourage you to drop me an email - I don’t bite.

First develop yourself a really nice looking site for your freelance services.  We know that online flashyness does not necessarily equate conversion, but to the offline crowd a site with a little eye candy can be a great sales tool.  If you look at mine www.gumptionfreelance.com you’ll see that it is just a template from css templates which I have adjusted to suit my own needs.  The samples section was a tricky adaption of Article MS script, but everything else is nothing you wouldn’t be able to do yourself.  Getting freelance web design work is not that easy online because quite frankly - there are people who can do much more than you or I for much less than we would be willing to accept.  But if you are prepared to put yourself out there in the local community there are still a lot of people who would love a fairly simple site ad are willing to pay a few hundred dollars for it.

I mentioned that I approached local businesses in my mailout, but let me tell you a great strategy for how I did this.  I walked into the local information center and looked through all the fliers and promotional pamphlets and picked out half a dozen that looked quite nice but didn’t have a web address on them.  These guys probably spent four figures on their fliers between design and printing costs.  Then I found out who the head of advertising was in each case, rang them up and said “I like your flier, is there any reason you don’t have a website?  I can have all the information on your flier on your flier online for you, looking fantastic for under $500.”  The first time I did this I got 4 jobs out of 6, the second time 3 out of 3.

It’s a little scary to talk to these people who are quite successful in their own business when you don’t feel like you are successful in yours.  Just remember that you are talking to them as an expert in your field.  When they indicate that they are willing to meet and talk then set up a time and place, dress nicely and do a little research on their industry and needs.  Don’t go in underprepared, have all your pricing information prepared and don’t be scared to quote high.  Listen to what their needs are and then tell them how you are going to deliver them.

I actually pass most of my web design jobs off to a friend now.  We live in a touristy area, and he has added booking into his websites.  He now has just under two dozen local operators who we have designed websites for and he manages a booking service for them all, taking in between 10 and 40% per booking.

The important thing is to conquer the initial fear and get out there and do it.  Once you have a couple of sites under your belt it becomes much easier.