When you become self-employed – whether as a contractor, limited company or sole trader – your livelihood suddenly becomes dependent on your ability to make yourself in demand.
For many people, the idea of marketing themselves is an uncomfortable one and many don’t know where to start.
However, to get work people need to know you’re out there and that you have the skills they want.
The good news is that getting noticed isn’t hard – something that’s clear by the sheer volume of successful freelancers out there.
Here are four easy ways to get noticed when you’re self-employed.
1. Find an accountant
If you’re a contractor, the simplest thing to do is become an employee of an umbrella company. This means the hassle of administration completely away. The company will provide everything you need, such as payroll, help with claiming expenses and – crucially – help sourcing your next opportunity.
A specialist contractor accountancy company can also help you with a Limited Company service, or Sole Trader service to take away all of the administration, whilst maximising your income through tax planning measures.
2. Memberships and professional accreditation
By becoming a member of a professional affiliated body, it’s possible to access networking events, new opportunities, legal and political representation, protection from lobbying, training and advice.
Importantly for the self-employed, professional bodies host plenty of meetings, conferences and events where it is possible to identify potential clients. Certain vacancies are also made available through the organisations.
Meanwhile, by seeking accreditation it is possible to demonstrate to would-be clients that you have the skills they need – automatically putting you on their radar.
Getting accredited may require you to sit an exam, while others are fee based.
3. Getting on the web
If a company needs to access highly-skilled professionals, one of their first ports of call is likely to be the internet. After all, we use the world wide web to source everything nowadays.
Consequently, it pays to get yourself online once you become self-employed and become comfortable with the principles of content marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO).
According to the Content Marketing Institute: “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
Translated, this means that you need to create content that demonstrates your skills, background and value, in a bid to get hired.
You also need to do this in-line with SEO – i.e. the techniques that help you move up search engine rankings.
There are plenty of guides and courses out there to give you an overview of how to market yourself on the web and the knowledge will be invaluable during your self-employed career.
4. Be social
Being self-employed is a way of life and needs commitment. It’s not enough to simply get up and go to work each day. To be successful you need to work on developing your skills, attend industry events to stay up-to-date and – importantly – network.
By making sure you’re going to events and socialising, you’re going to become a recognisable figure and create a bank of contacts that could provide you with your next opportunity.
You also need to get onboard with social media – particularly LinkedIn – which will help you establish your professional profile.
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I am a chartered tax advisor with a specialism in the freelance contractor sector advising contractors on how to structure their affairs and recruitment businesses and end hirers on the effective…
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