How to Start Freelancing in 2025

If you’re someone who would like to set your hours and use your skill sets differently, you should consider freelancing. These are some of the perks that you will get as a freelancer, whether it is full-time or a side hustle.

As you get started as a freelancer, you may take time to build a portfolio or even find yourself a client. However, this is why freelancing has its pros and cons. In this article, we’ll explore more about what freelancing is, how to start a freelancing business, and how to make money as a freelancer.

What is freelancing?

Freelancing is a way of working where you can offer your skills and services to clients on a project-by-project basis rather than being employed by a single company. This gives you the freedom to choose your projects, be able to work with a variety of potential clients, and set your schedule.

If you’re wondering how to start freelancing (or even become a digital nomad), as we’ve mentioned, we’re going to outline it in more detail in this article; however, it typically begins with identifying your skills and deciding which services you want to offer to your clientele.

Steps to Starting a Freelance Business

Starting a freelance business can be an exciting but equally challenging journey. Whether you’re looking to transition to freelance full-time or you’re looking for a side hustle alongside your current job, laying a solid foundation will help you achieve your goals. However, remember that if you’re doing it as a side hustle, you need to learn how to balance your time and job with freelancing.

Whether it is creating an online presence or joining freelance platforms such as Malt, each step helps you play a role in reaching potential clients that match your skill set. Regardless of your journey so far, below, we’ve given six steps to help you start your freelancing business.

1. Define your service offering

The first step to building a successful freelance business is clearly defining what you’re able to offer to your future clients.

When defining your service and offering, take time to reflect on your strengths and consider your current experience, even if it is limited to personal projects or pro bono work. From this work, you can identify the services you feel confident delivering and think about how companies benefit from your services.

2. Understand your ideal client

Once you understand your service offering, the next step is to understand who your ideal client or customer is. Knowing your ideal client is crucial to being able to make freelancing successful. Understanding your target audience will enable you to craft a message that resonates, focus your marketing efforts, and attract jobs that align with your skills.

When understanding your ideal client or customer, start by defining the characteristics of your ideal client. Are they small business owners establishing their online presence? Are they large companies needing specialised freelance work? Consider different factors such as industry, business size, budget, and pain points.

Another way to refine your ideal client profile. When optimising your profile for the ideal client, you can look at industry-specific forums, LinkedIn groups or niche group boards. Understand what they are discussing, and their pain points, and this will help you understand how you can position yourself as their solution.

Finally, learning to qualify before taking on projects will save you a lot of time and help refine your perfect client. This will take some time. Not every opportunity will be worth your time.

3. Understand your pricing structure

When understanding and setting your pricing structure, your rates should reflect three things: the value of your services, your level of experience, and the expectations of your industry. Striking this balance is the most important thing, but without experience, it is sometimes a difficult thing to prove.

Pricing too low can make it difficult to sustain your freelance career, while pricing too high without justification may drive away clients.

There are a few different pricing models based on your services to choose from. You may decide to charge hourly rates, project-based fees, or even retainer agreements for longer-term projects. You could offer introductory rates or do pro bono work if you are new to freelancing and want to establish credibility and attract clients.

Additionally, as you’re understanding your pricing structure, you can also view the Malt average freelancer rates to help you understand how your prices compare to the average. This might even show you that you need to increase your rates.

4. Create a portfolio and show your experience

Your portfolio backs up everything you’ve done so far. You understand what your skill set is, you understand your ideal client, and you even know how much you should charge them. Now, you need to show what you can do—this is where your portfolio comes into play.

Whether you’re a writer, designer, developer, or social media manager, a structured portfolio or your freelance CV enables you to demonstrate your experience and the value you bring. For your portfolio, it is also important to know that with Malt, you can upload your portfolio directly into your profile. Once you’ve done this, potential clients can browse your work and inquire about your services.

Also, remember, as previously mentioned, that this doesn’t need to be freelance experience; this could be volunteer work or work you’ve done in your spare time. And from this, if you don’t currently have experience, you could consider doing pro bono work to build a strong foundation.

5. Find your first client

When you win your first client, this is one of the biggest milestones as a freelancer. It is something that you’ll always remember. But, with this being said, how can you find your first client?

You should start by signing up for Malt and include your skill sets and information about yourself. Once you’ve done that, you should leverage your network and contact your friends, family, and professional contacts, as they may know someone who needs your services.

Once you’ve found someone who you think can be your client, you should tailor your proposal to each opportunity to show how your skills align with what they’re looking for.

6. Create client relationships

Although you now know how to find clients and start making money as a freelancer, there is something more important. Maintaining and keeping clients. Building long-lasting relationships ensures steady work and potential referrals from your clients.

So, what should you do to create client relationships? There are three main rules that you should follow; these are: communicate clearly, meet deadlines, and consistently deliver high-quality results. If you do this, your clients will be happy with your work.

Popular freelancing roles

Clients are constantly searching for skilled professionals like you, to help solve their problems across different industries and expertise levels. Businesses are embracing more freelance talent as a core part of their strategy.

With thousands of new opportunities emerging daily, freelancing continues to grow as a flexible and rewarding path—regardless of whether it is full-time or as a side hustle.

Below are some of the most popular freelancing roles, which offer you an exciting opportunity to help you scale as a freelancer.

Social Media Manager

As businesses prioritise their online presence, especially with continuous waves of growth across TikTok, Instagram, Bluesky, and new channels of social media, social media managers help brands grow by creating content.

Freelancers in this role are establishing social media profiles, scheduling posts, tracking analytics, and even sometimes implementing paid advertising campaigns to reach potential customers effectively.

Customer Service Representatives

Companies benefit from freelance customer service representatives who handle customer enquiries, resolve issues, and enhance overall customer satisfaction. If you want to do this role as a freelancer, you need to be able to have strong communication skills, patience, and experience with customer support software.

Many businesses outsource customer service to freelancers to improve response times and maintain an overall high service quality.

Graphic Designer

Visual branding is one of the aspects that makes a business stand out from the competition, making graphic design one of the most in-demand freelance jobs. In this role as a freelancer, you should create logos, website designs, promotional materials, and digital content.

With this role, you need to establish a strong portfolio to attract clients and help you stand out, especially as the field is continuously getting more competitive.

Content Writer

Regardless of the industry and field, written content is essential for your business. As marketing is a big part of your client’s business, content writing is something that is always in demand.

Writers create blog posts, website copy, product descriptions, and marketing materials for businesses across different industries. Additionally, if you have strong writing skills, SEO knowledge, and the ability to create engaging stories, this can become even more lucrative for you as a freelancer.

How can you pitch through email?

Pitching your freelance business through email can be one of the most powerful ways to secure freelance jobs and reach your potential clients directly. However, before we get into this, remember that you won’t receive a response every time; this is about patience, but don’t give up, and continue to personalise the pitches.

With this being said, to write a successful pitch through email, you need to ensure that you are clear, engaging, and bringing value to the client. You need to separate yourself from the tens or even hundreds of emails that they receive daily.

Start With a Strong Subject Line: Your subject line is the first thing a potential client sees from your email. You need to ensure that this is compelling. Remember to keep it short and to the point; highlight the value you can add.
Introduce Yourself Clearly: At the start of the email, in the opening lines, introduce yourself and your experience. Ensure that you position yourself as the problem solver for their needs.
Make Sure You Pitch to the Correct Person: When you’re sending an email, ensure that you have the person who can make the decision. Whether this is the founder, editor, or someone else.
Keep It Short & Professional: Clients are busy; keep it concise and free of fluff. Ensure that your message is no longer than 3–5 paragraphs.
Follow-Up: If you don’t get a response within a week, send a polite follow-up email. You’ll find that you’ll secure more work because the follow-up was at the right time.

Make money as a freelancer

As with any business, making money as a freelancer is arguably one of the most important elements and something you always want to improve. To do this, you require a mix of smart pricing strategies, effective client management, and growth as a freelancer.

Here are some of the ways to help you improve your money management as a freelancer:

Monitor Your Earnings

Keeping track of your earnings is essential for maintaining a successful freelance career. This might include using time-tracking software and financial management tools. However, this depends on the industry and companies you work with as a freelancer.

This helps you meet your financial goals. Understanding your income allows you to set competitive rates, balance your freelance time, and make informed decisions. Also, remember that you need to monitor your earnings, as each year, you will need to pay your taxes—understanding your income and deductibles will enable you to know what you need to pay.

Set the Right Rates for Your Services

As previously mentioned, pricing your services appropriately is so important. If you charge too much, you could lose clients, and if you charge too little, then you’re missing out on potential money that you could earn.

You must research your industry standards and assess your freelancing experience to determine your rates. These factors such as the complexity of the work, the value you bring to potential clients, and the time required to complete tasks. If you’re setting competitive rates, this ensures you’re being paid adequately while also positioning yourself for high-paying jobs.

Offer Add-ons When Possible

If you’re looking for ways to increase your earnings, you can do so by offering add-on services that complement your core expertise and services. For example, if you are a social media manager, you could provide additional services such as creating branded content or managing paid campaigns.

These additional services will enable you to boost your income, enhance your reputation, and help companies benefit from more services. If you increase your service offerings but keep offering the highest value, then you could be referred to other people for these services, too.

Raise Your Rates as You Grow

As you gain more and more experience and your portfolio gets stronger, especially as you continue to get busier, you should raise your rates to reflect your expertise. To do this, you should look at your current demand, workload, and quality of work. If you deliver high-quality work and you’re constantly in demand, it would be reasonable to raise your rates.

However, before you do this, ensure that you inform your current clients of the pricing changes. Do this in a professional manner and showcase the value that you’re already bringing them.

Freelancing FAQ's

To start freelancing, you need to identify your skills, define your services, and create a portfolio to showcase your work. You can use freelancing platforms such as Malt to reach potential clients. In addition, you need to set competitive rates and pitch effectively, which will help you secure your first freelance job.

If you’re new to freelancing and have no experience, you need to find a way to showcase your skill sets. You could consider pro bono work and low-cost services to build portfolio samples. Joining the freelance platforms and taking on smaller projects can help you gain experience. Learning new skills and networking will improve your chances of improving as a freelancer.

Similar to freelancing, generally, you need to use freelance project platforms, send email pitches, and understand your skill set to offer to potential clients. The only difference is the tax system—this will be different in each country. In the UK, you need to choose your business structure, register with HMRC, and set up invoice systems.

If you’re a student, you can start freelancing with the skills that you’ve picked up through your studies. You can leverage writing, graphic design, programming, or something that matches your university subject. You can use the university job board and networking opportunities to find freelance work.

Of course, even as a beginner, you need some experience to be able to showcase your offerings to clients. However, you should start with a freelance job that requires minimal experience, such as data entry or virtual assistance. These roles allow you to build experience while working on smaller projects.

Finding your first client involves networking, joining freelance platforms, and establishing your social media to showcase your skills. Reaching out to potential clients directly with a strong pitch, offering pro bono work to build credibility, and asking for referrals if you’ve already got a client they can also help you secure your first freelance job.

How to start Freelancing