Roles for freelancers aren’t only talented people who work on whatever field they’ve chosen to specialise in. They aren’t just independent designers, developers, authors, and bloggers. They run a business.
When someone falls a business, they are essentially a one-man operation and must deal every aspect of the operations that keeps a business running. They manage everything, including finances, marketing, and customer service.
Here’s a heads-up on what else you will need to occupy yourself with if you are considering becoming a freelancer or are just dipping your toes in the water. I’ll also provide you a few useful hints that might be helpful.
It can be very advantageou’s to work as a freelancer, and many designers and developers who… More info
1. Accountant & Finance Manager
Responsible roles for freelancers are in charge of managing their own business money. They handle their own accounting, submit their taxes, agonise for hours over 2 cents they can’t locate in their ledger, and suffer a price if they fail to file their taxes on time.
You’ll find a lot of freelancers acting out around tax time since they typically ignore their taxes and have a terrible filing procedure.
To prevent headaches and fines in the future, take the time to look for and invest in a competent accounting system.
2. Human Resources Manager
While you get to make the exciting choices, such as which clients to accept and which ones to reject, you also have to motivate yourself to go to work when you’re sick. You don’t receive paid sick leave, after all.
The HR department is also responsible for handling picky clients, hiring independent contractors to outsource your work, etc. It’s all up to you.
Advice: You can’t get out of this one. Human resources problems won’t arise frequently enough if you treat your customers fairly.
3. Public Relations Manager
The PR staff for freelancers is themselves. Nobody else will extol the virtues of their business or line of work. They are in charge of bragging to potential customers about how awesome they are, how they assist their clients in achieving success through their work, and how easy it is to work with them.
They also deal any fallout from displeased clients or other issues that may arise.
Advice: A freelancer’s preferred PR weapon is social media. Fortunately, getting your PR done should just take a few minutes every day if you use social media effectively.
4. Marketing Executive
It would be nice if work would just fall into our laps because we are skilled at it, but that never happens. Freelancers must constantly and persistently market their businesses to attract clients, not just when they require additional work or clients.
No matter how awesome our work is, if we don’t advertise ourselves, clients won’t learn about it or us. One of those regular tasks that can take as much time as the real work itself.
Advice: Identify a few quick-and-easy marketing strategies that don’t take up a lot of time, and use them frequently rather than concentrating on time-consuming marketing initiatives.
5. Customer Service Team
You probably believed your days of conversing with clients, responding to their inquiries, and taking in their concerns were over. Think again. A freelancer’s top job is to satisfy a client.
Your customers will leave you like burning coals if you don’t take their problems seriously.
Advice: Your freelance business depends on getting clients. Treat them like gold, go above and beyond to make that they are pleased with your work, and you will reap the benefits of a fruitful client-freelancer connection.
6. Admin Manager
There are certainly days when you feel less like a freelancer and more like a secretary if you’ve been freelancing for a while. Meeting, deadline, and interview scheduling can easily consume a half-day if you are not careful.
Your calls and emails cannot be screened by anyone. It almost feels like you have a job other than freelancing when you add filing and organising your files to the mix.
This is the lot that many independent freelancers, if they can afford it, hire virtual assistants. While they cannot buy you coffee, they can organise and schedule your work without a problem. As an alternative, be sure to make all of your filing, scheduling, and organising as the need arises. Don’t put things off.
7. Debt Collector
The hard reality of the freelancing is unpaid invoices. Fortunately, they won’t happen frequently if you’re selective about who you work with. But when they do, you must be the one to pressure the client to make the necessary payments.
Advice: make that your contract specifies the terms of payment. Send your invoices on time, and if they go unpaid, impose a late fee. Time-tracking applications can be useful in various situations.
8. Sales Team
Freelancers don’t market or sell goods. They market and market their own services. They put on their salesperson hat each time they speak with potential clients.
This complements marketing but ultimately it is this team that closes the transaction.
Advice: It is their job to persuade the potential clients to hire them. It’s not a easy job but consider the benefits. Additional work and income from a new client. Worth the effort without a doubt!
9. IT Technician
If your computer fails or your printer stops working for no apparent reason, there is no one you can call and yell at as a freelancer. Ownership of one’s own equipment falls to responsible freelancers.
Get assistance with the setup and always retain a backup if the thought makes you uncomfortable.
Advice: Ensure that you regularly backup your files and that you have several backups. Have backup plans in places for anything that might malfunction just before a deadline.
10. Quality Control Personnel
When there is a surplus of work and deadlines are pressing, freelancers may become more concerned with time deadlines than with producing high-quality work.
Since you are an independent contractor, you are the only person who can guarantee the quality of your work.
Reminder: Schedule deadlines a few of days in advance. You will have ample time to review your work and make that the quality is still there as a result. Observe the requirements of clients and their creative briefs.
Conclusion
Last but not least, if you’re not a multitasking pro, don’t worry. Let me tell you an little secret: the majority of us weren’t great multitaskers when we first started out either. You will learn everything on the job just like we do. Don’t give up; just keep trying!
