How to find freelance missions - Being self-employed

Did you know that prospecting is the first difficulty for freelancers, whether they are junior or even more experienced in their business? You are not alone in facing this major challenge but creating a good routine will allow you to simplify this step quite naturally. In fact, we must not forget that the search for missions requires impeccable regularity and organization. Your prospecting will be all the more effective and you will acquire automation that will save you time and energy. Here are tips from Beager to find freelance missions that really suit you.

Define your project

Before starting your search, it is necessary to take stock of your situation, your goals and your ambition for the coming months. By doing so, you will frame your project and focus on the mission offers that are most likely to accomplish you.

Identify target businesses

First, you need to focus on your ideal target. Indeed, it is useless to define your offer without having identified the companies you want to prospect with. Your expertise must respond to their problems in a concrete way. To do this, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

What values are you looking for and that inspire you in your prospects?
What role do you aim for within the company? Is it a supporting, operational or managerial position? What would be your perimeters, your responsibilities?
What is the ideal business size? Does she have the means to afford your services?
What would be your client's main field of activity? What would be the corporate culture that could best resonate with your values, allow you to thrive and perform in your mission?
Depending on its location, what time of presence on site will you be able to offer to the client company?

This list is not exhaustive but will undoubtedly allow you to identify some essential points in your prospecting. Once you have answered them, it will be easier for you to identify target businesses. You probably already have some leads in mind so don't hesitate to focus your search on similar businesses.

Define your offer

When you launch your business, you must of course define your offer. But in reality, it lives and must be adjusted very regularly, according to the development of your expertise and changes in the market.

In the same way, you can structure your offer using the following questions:

What are the business sectors in which I want to use my skills?
What services do you excel at? Which ones do you want to offer as a priority? Are you planning to develop your field of expertise?
Are you positioning yourself in a niche market or are you facing strong competition?
What rate are you considering? Do you prefer to bill in the form of TJM or deliverable? Can you adapt your rate according to the profile of the company or sectors of activity? (Download our freelance invoice template)
What type of mission is best for you: long mission or short mission? How do you envision your business in six months?

In summary, your offer must be consistent with the market, differentiating and provide a solution to a concrete need in order to build a clear positioning.

Be proactive in your research

Communicate with your hot prospects

As a general rule, prospecting does not have a single methodology and must be adapted for each profession. On the other hand, there is one step on which it is more than recommended not to miss: check that your nearby network does not already need your services. Indeed, you will save time talking, at first, with your loved ones as well as your former colleagues, customers and professors. Among them, there may already be a potential customer.

A self-employed person always saves time in prospecting through word of mouth. Talking about your situation around you is a good way to indirectly prospect and identify the potential needs that surround you. This is also how your former customers and professionals who trusted you will be able to recommend you to their network.

Make yourself visible on professional networks

This practice is becoming more and more democratic and we are seeing more freelancers speaking out on social networks to share their experiences with their community. In particular, LinkedIn has very strong potential for freelancers who want to gain visibility. Many independent consultants thus share customer cases, respond to concrete problems and build their reputation as experts.

But other networks exist and would benefit from being exploited more by professionals such as forums (e.g.: Quora) or even youtube which values more technical content.

Get support from experts

Calling on recruitment experts is ideal to better define your goals and identify customers that will really correspond to your project. This approach has the advantage of promoting your skills and soft skills with potentially inaccessible customers. By seeking the help of a third party in your prospecting, you will save time to focus on carrying out your business.

On the other hand, there are freelance platforms which can be a good way to find your next freelance assignment. On the other hand, they are not always adapted to your specialization or field of expertise. It is therefore necessary to identify the ones that will best value you to your potential customers.

Adopt an expert posture

Selling yourself versus being bought

Your state of mind will clearly determine the direction of your search and the speed with which you will find a mission. Indeed, your posture is of paramount importance during your exchanges with your prospects. By having defined your project and your differentiating points, you have certainly built a positioning that gives you an advantage over your competitors. You will then be in a strong position to offer your services to companies in demand of your specific expertise.

Thus, you no longer need to sell yourself but on the contrary you must convince companies that your support is essential. To get closer to this mindset, it is entirely possible to follow coaching sessions to learn how to position yourself as an expert who must be integrated into your team. These courses are sometimes an opportunity to test your approach in contact with other freelancers who have the same problems.

Building a TOP 5 positioning

Finally, to ensure a constant flow of activity, you must offer an offer that is particularly sought after by your target audience. By exploiting your potential and your area of genius, you will be able to position yourself as a rare expert on the market.

To do this, you need to pay particular attention to these three points:

build your reputation thanks to your personality (e.g. your great sensitivity or your frankness in all circumstances)
process your working method so that it is clear and fluid for your customers
develop and refine your niche expertise

By following these three points, you will stand out from your competitors. The more you develop your uniqueness, the more your customers will appreciate collaborating with you for your expertise and for who you are.

Finding missions that suit you can be trickier because it requires some initial introspection. In particular, you will need to define your goals to understand what type of mission you would really like. It is only after this first step that you can launch your prospecting. Do not hesitate to use these tips to adjust your positioning and your search: there is no miracle recipe, it's up to you to find the one that will work for you!

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