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The Freelance Bible: How to Be a Freelancer in Any Industry

Become a successful freelancer as you learn tips and tricks from the author of the Freelance Bible to thrive in any industry.

The Freelance Bible's author Alison Grade working from home with her laptop computer.

Successfully step into the role of a freelancer

The world of work has changed, and freelancers are becoming an increasingly significant part of the workforce. Freelancers provide talent, expertise, and additional support for busy periods without increasing overheads. Because of this, there are more freelance opportunities than ever before.

On this five-week course, you’ll learn how to flourish as a freelancer and thrive in a modern work environment.

Based on the bestselling book from Alison Grade and published by Penguin Random House, you’ll develop the skills to find your freelance identity, win customers, and deliver outstanding work.

Develop the skills you need to master freelancing

Freelancing has its own set of skills that can be taught and learned. In many ways, it is akin to running a small business, and this course will provide you with the tools to excel as a freelancer.

You’ll learn vital freelancing skills such as the importance of research, finding a work-life balance, and being self-disciplined – all of which will help you develop an effective freelance psyche.

Learn what it takes to become self-employed and win customers

You’ll gain essential knowledge to help you in your journey to becoming self-employed.

Learning how to value yourself and articulate your vision, you’ll also explore ways to leverage your network and win customers.

Deliver your first piece of freelance work with confidence

As you source customers, you’ll learn tips to help you prepare and manage your workload as it increases. You’ll also learn essential skills to help you manage your finances as your career develops.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become a successful freelancer.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds Hello I’m Alison Grade I’m the author of The Freelance Bible and I’ve been a freelancer for most of my career and I’ve hired a whole bunch of freelancers too I’m going to take you through the steps you need to become a successful freelancer and distill those lessons I’ve learned along the way especially the hard ones and we’re going to look at throughout the course how do you work on your freelancing it’s not enough just to work in your freelancing doing the work that you do great freelancers work on their freelancing. What do I mean by that? you’ve got to be the CEO of your freelance career you’ve got to manage them finances the marketing the operations organizing what happens when.

Skip to 0 minutes and 47 seconds We’re going to look at what your skills are this is what I can do and then importantly translating that into why me why do I add value to a client what money do I need to live on how am I going to make the money work how am I going to manage my money and we’re going to look at marketing getting our message out there getting in front of clients and my favorite bit why freelancing is like dating finding clients today in the modern working environment freelancing is absolutely a necessity much more it used to be a stop gap or a personal choice increasingly it’s a necessity this course will show you how

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    It all starts with research

    • Introduction

      We begin week 1 by exploring what research you can conduct to better position your freelance business.

    • Research and analysis

      It's time to conduct a SWOT analysis.

    • Identifying your customers

      Who are your competition? What is your ideal customer like?

    • Networking

      Your business is going to rely on networking. Let's consider how and when to do this.

    • Wrap up

      Reflecting on the week.

  • Week 2

    Freelancing - it's all about you

    • The benefits of freelancing

      What are the benefits of freelancing and how does it differ from employment?

    • Freelance mindset and boundaries

      What are the components of a freelance mindset?

    • Your freelance skills and brand values

      What values do you want customers to associate with your business? Which skills do you need to improve?

    • Wrap up

      Reflecting on the week.

  • Week 3

    Valuing yourself and pricing your services

    • Introduction

      Let's explore the five factors to consider when valuing yourself

    • Cost of living and business expenses

      How much do you spend on living costs and transport? What are your total outgoings? What about taxes? What do you need your annual turnover to be?

    • Charging for your services

      Learn about the different ways you can charge for your work, benchmarking, and over/underpricing.

    • Wrap up

      Reflecting on the week.

  • Week 4

    How will you market yourself?

    • Introduction

      What do you already know about marketing?

    • Marketing your freelance business

      Let's tackle segmentation, targeting, and positioning.

    • Promoting your business

      How can you promote your business online and offline?

    • Wrap up

      Reflecting on the week.

  • Week 5

    Winning customers, and completing the work

    • Before winning a new client

      Closing that deal!

    • After winning a customer

      Contracting and preparing for work.

    • Delivering work and closing a project

      Deliver your work and close the project.

    • Wrap up

      Reflecting on the whole course!

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Produce a list of boundaries and action plan for the future
  • Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your freelance business
  • Explore your competition, both direct and indirect
  • Assess your cost of living and business expenses
  • Explore factors and models of charging for your work
  • Evaluate the relative value of online and offline promotion
  • Identify networks and their types
  • Explore how to win a customer and prepare for work

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone interested in turning their talent or skill into an independent livelihood.

You may be already working as a freelancer and wanting to improve, have found yourself freelancing as a necessity, or need to be a freelancer in order to do the work you love. This course will help remove the unsettling feeling of going freelance and help you on your way to pursuing this liberating career choice.

Who will you learn with?

Alison describes her key skill as transforming creative ideas into a business reality - that's why clients work with her. She is the author of The Freelance Bible, published by Penguin.

Who developed the course?

Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished is a West Midlands based training and consultancy headed up by CEO Alison Grade, author of the Penguin bestseller, The Freelance Bible.

FutureLearn

FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform and has been providing high quality online courses for learners around the world over the last ten years.

What's included?

This is a premium course. These courses are designed for professionals from specific industries looking to learn with a smaller group of like-minded individuals.

  • Unlimited access to this course
  • Includes any articles, videos, peer reviews and quizzes
  • Certificate of Achievement to prove your success when you're eligible
  • Download and print your Certificate of Achievement anytime

Still want to know more? Check out our FAQs

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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