Like most freelancers, you constantly work at getting better at everything you do, but at times you seem to hit a plateau. If only you could find a way to increase your productivity, improve the quality of your deliverables, or both.
This may not be as difficult as you think. Half of the freelancers questioned in a recent study, expect their income situation to improve this year. And a third of them reported an increased demand for the type of work they do.
The truth is, this is a great time to be a web design freelancer. The demand for web freelancing services is growing, as is the number of prospective clients who are willing to pay more.
You can try to emulate what seems to work for others, but what works for someone else won’t always work for you. A better approach is to take the time to understand how it is possible to work less for more income. And once you’ve discovered how you can do it, go with it.
Here are some suggestions to help you do just that.
Pre-Built Websites Will Get You Off to a Running Start
Finding time-saving tools and techniques is a great way to start, but that’s only half the battle. If you want your income to keep moving in an upward direction, you also need to improve the quality of your work.
Greater productivity. Higher quality? Is there a tool that offers both?
The answer is yes.
Start using pre-built websites, like these:
A cool homepage like this one will delight almost any client.
Why should you use pre-built websites?
- Your final deliverable will look different once you’ve finished customizing, but some of the design work has already been done for you. You’re off to a fast start.
- When you want to give your client a preview, one based upon a pre-built website is far superior to a wireframe or mockup. You will be giving your client something of definite value to review and comment on.
- UX principles are already embedded. This can save you a ton of time, and you can focus on what you love most and do best – design.
Be Theme has 210+ of these pre-built websites. It’s easy to find a great starting point for building almost any type of business – like these three:
Be VPN
Clean, Crisp, and Professional
Be Cars’ Smooth Effects
The Selling Power of Images
Be Minimal
Elegance – Befitting of a Gallery
Don’t Neglect Passive Income Opportunities
Although most of the money you make comes from the services you provide to others, you can also apply your freelancing skills and knowledge toward generating passive income. Passive income has its good points; like making money 24/7 – including when you’re asleep.
Passive income also enables you to free up time for other pursuits, whether they are devoted to making more money or not. Having a source of extra income can also allow you to be a bit choosier as to which freelancing assignments you are willing to take on.
- You might consider affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing can be a reliable source of income; plus, you already know how to design a money-making website.
- If you create some of your own design elements, consider selling them, and designing and selling even more icons, vectors, or markups, on your own website or through another.
- Write an eBook. Take stock of your knowledge, skills, and experience. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about web design or freelancing.
- Quality photos can be money makers, but only consider this approach if you will have professional-grade photos to sell. If not, apply your graphics skills to t-shirts, coffee mugs, and similar items for sale online through the online store you’ve created using a pre-built website.
Like this one below:
Since You are in Business, You Need to Lower Your Risks
If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do too much of it. If you want to realize the potential money-making benefits from your freelancing, you have to know what you are doing – from a business perspective.
When you are running a business, time is money. Take stock of your current work habits, see where you can improve, and where you can eliminate any habits or procedures that are time wasters.
Working smarter exposes you to far less risk than working harder does. Working harder increases your chances of making mistakes, especially if you find yourself multitasking.
A great example of working smarter is to base your website-building projects on pre-built websites. Customizing and tweaking involves far less risk that starting from scratch.
Working on a long-term assignment can give you a sense of security, and put you in a comfort zone. If you truly want to improve, you need to be nimble and be willing to prepare yourself to take on new challenges. This may require adding to your skillset and/or using productivity-enhancing tools to their full advantage.
The best advice of all? It’s already been touched upon, but it’s worth emphasizing:
Acquire a business mindset.
Increasing Your Day-to-Day Productivity
Taking stock of your work habits, and searching for the best tools to work with, are too good ways to increase your productivity. Working harder or longer are two of the worst.
If you want to work hard at something that will improve your productivity, and your income, it’s this – discipline.
One of the nice things about freelancing is that, more often than not, you can set your own schedule. You can, and probably do, work from home – another nice thing. But not everyone is disciplined enough to do either, and succeed in their work. You may already have the discipline needed, or you may find some areas where you could improve.
- It’s important to establish a routine, and stick to it; or better yet, keep working to improve on it.
- Avoid multitasking, even if you feel you’re good at it. Nine times out of ten, multitasking is a productivity killer.
- If organizing your time or your work is a challenge, study up on the subject. Try the “touch things only once” approach. It may not be easy at first, but it’s a great way to keep everything under control.
Avoid working when you should be devoting your time to other things, or others.
If you made a New Year’s resolution to find ways to increase your freelancing income, 2016 is a good year to make that happen. If you are willing to seek them out, there are plenty of gigs that pay well, both long- and short-term.
Low-paying work is easier to find; but that is always the case. If you’re willing to work at it, you should have no trouble finding work that pays well and keeps you busy. If you take some of the recommendations discussed here, and treat your freelancing activities as a business, you should see your income start to increase.
Couple a business mindset with the right tools, and you will do well. You can get yourself off to a fantastic start by taking a good, hard look at all of the benefits Be Theme, with its huge selection of pre-built websites, brings to the table.
Take extra time to view this Be Theme video and pre-built websites. You’ll soon become convinced that you’ve come across a tool that will not increase your productivity, but put you in a better position to take on those tempting, and more lucrative, assignments.