How to become a marketing freelancer (seriously)

A recent study by CNBC and research firm Catalyst found thats over 75% of American workers want more flexibility and remote work options — hallmarks of freelance life.

A fifth, or roughly 22%, of those workers plan to leave their full-time jobs and open up their own businesses or become freelancers.

Even people who don't quit their jobs want to freelance. A quarter of Americans plan to stay at their full-time jobs while freelancing on the side, according to a Zapier study.

But getting a freelance career started — and ramping it up — can be intimidating. You have to find your own clients, pitch your own services, and set your pricing.

Without a strong network, solid cold email game, and a firm sense of what you’re worth, you can run into serious problems.

Here's how to start off on the right foot, according to three active freelancers who've made it work — and made mistakes along the way.

Meet the experts:

• Darius Glover, a marketing program manager at Amazon Web Services and a freelance growth marketer
• Austin Sandler, director of brand partnerships at Circuit, and a freelance performance and growth marketer
• Sam Omidi, a freelance growth strategist and founder of Brave Media

Here’s what they had to say about preparing for the freelance lifestyle, structuring your first client interviews, and managing existing gigs while also taking on new ones.

Three ways to become a freelancer

Becoming a freelancer doesn't have to mean becoming a full-time freelancer.

Glover works a full-time job in addition to freelancing. Sandler first started freelancing while he had a 9-to-5, and then negotiated his contract down to part-time so he could freelance more. And Omidi freelances full-time.

They’re all freelancers.

So, whose path will work for you? Our experts talked us through the benefits and drawbacks of each arrangement.

Work a full-time job and freelance as a side hustle.

Over a third of Americans had side hustles at the start of 2021, Zapier found, and nearly 25% more planned to start side hustles before the end of 2021.

Why? Zapier found that...

• 38% said they wanted to do something they enjoyed
• 33% said they wanted to diversify their income
• 28% said they wanted to develop new skills

The upside: Holding onto a full-time job often means holding on to benefits like 401K matching, reliable base pay and health insurance. “I’m a bit of a hypochondriac,” Glover said. “So I like to have [medical] benefits and things like that.”

The downside: If you use your LinkedIn profile or other social media accounts to advertise to potential clients or collect testimonials, “you do have to be careful,” Glover said. Your full-time employer will be able to see those, too. He recommends checking in with your manager to make sure freelancing doesn’t break the rules of your contract.

Renegotiate your full-time job to accommodate more freelancing.

When your freelance business takes off, a full-time job can feel unmanageable.

That’s why Sandler re-negotiated his full-time role to a part-time consultant role and kept freelancing.

“I can still have all my benefits through them, which is great,” he said of his former full-time employer.

Because of the scale of this Great Resignation, your employer may be willing to cut a similar deal, as financial planner Roger Ma told CNBC.

The upside: It’s a nice blend of stability and autonomy.

The downside: Part time roles don’t always command health benefits, and you might have a tricky time when tax season rolls around.

Diving into full-time self-employment.

This is the most traditional way to think about becoming a freelancer, and it’s a great option for people who feel burnt out from working on someone else’s schedule, or for people whose lives aren’t compatible with 9-to-5 work.

The upside: You get diverse, hands-on experience more quickly than you could as a full-time employee. “I’m working with a variety of different clients in different industries,” Omidi said. “I’m learning from each one and bringing that knowledge into the next project.”

The downside: It takes some time to build enough client pipeline to sustainably diversify your freelance revenue. And clients can take a long time to pay invoices — sometimes up to eight months.

And waiting for freelance clients to pay can be unpleasant.

More lessons learned and what to do next to make $100K or more as a marketing freelancer here.