A straightforward and fairly obvious way to increase your freelance income is to raise your rates. Having said that, it may not always be viable for some current clients (for example, if you’ve already recently increased your prices or only just taken them on at an agreed rate), but you can certainly increase your rates for future new clients.
Charging more means that you don’t have to be consistently overworking to reach your freelance money goals, can achieve a better work-life balance, and avoid freelancer burnout.
But what are some other things you can do to increase your freelance income? Here are 3 strategies to consider:
1. Reach out to past clients
Reaching out to clients you’ve previously worked with is a great way to potentially land new work (with your newly optimized rates!). Your previous clients may not be aware that you are available for work, new projects may be in the pipeline, or new teams may have emerged. Your contact may even work somewhere else and wants to take freelancers they already know and trust with them to their new venture.
It’s easier for previous clients to work with someone they already know can get the job done, rather than hiring an unknown and the associated risks that come with it.
Likewise, they may know someone they can refer you to, so don’t be afraid to reach out, see how the land lies, and offer your help if needed and/or politely ask for a referral if you haven’t done so already.
Another benefit of this approach is that you’ll hopefully be the first person to spring to mind when an opportunity arises. And, where applicable, you can refer reliable freelancers in your network to them should they need a skill or service that’s not in your wheelhouse.
2. Make paying you easy
Client onboarding (and offboarding) and good communication throughout the project are all important aspects of freelancing.
But one aspect of freelancing that can be overlooked is making it easy for clients to pay you. Not having efficient invoicing software (or paying too much for it), sending invoices late, and clunky manual processes can be a real headache for you and your clients, and could even be a barrier to hiring you.
For example, you may have retainer clients who require recurring invoices or international clients who can only pay via a specific payment gateway or currency. In any event, it would be easier for your clients to pay you effortlessly online with just one click! Making the whole process seamless for everyone.
With Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoicing software designed specifically for small to medium-sized companies and freelancers, all this and more is possible, making you the easy option to hire!
We offer a range of payment gateways, allowing your clients to pay you with just one click, without leaving their client-side portal. You can choose from multiple currencies and languages for overseas customers, set up automatic reminders for late payers, and transform quotes into invoices at the click of a button.
You also get professionally designed invoice templates and a personalized dashboard, plus much more.
See all our features here and try Invoice Ninja for free here.
3. Productize your services
One way to have a more predictable income is to productize your services and sell them as standard packages at a set price. If you can create and sell recurring service or subscription packages, this is a great way to provide client deliverables on a regular basis. You can also offer different packages at varying price points, depending on the package’s deliverables.
For example, social media managers often productize their services, offering clients a set amount of social media posts per month. They can add to or subtract from this core package by adjusting the price and deliverables.
The benefit of productizing your services is that both parties know exactly what they are getting. For the freelancer, it’s a repeatable process that can be improved on and scaled if needed. You also know how much you’ll invoice each month. For the client, it’s a set of known deliverables at a fixed price.
To come up with package ideas, think about past projects, what’s one thing that clients struggled with, what’s something that’s missing that your core competencies could fill? Chat with clients and ask them if your idea is something they’d want. Look at what other freelancers and agencies are offering. Can you add to this? Is there something they might have missed?
Some clients may prefer to hire you for a smaller task first before subscribing to a bigger package, so you could also create introductory one-off services. For example, if you are a web developer, you could offer an introductory website audit before they subscribe to your package for ongoing website maintenance.
And of course, when it comes to invoicing, Invoice Ninja’s recurring invoice feature is perfect for automatically billing long-term clients with recurring invoices. Find out more here.
