If someone were to ask me now, how to set up a successful freelance editing business – I would have to say, I have no idea!
It’s been over three-and-a-half years since I quit my office job and went freelance (though it was actually the other way around) and I couldn’t really tell you how the development of my business has come about since then. A lot of luck, a lot of hard work, a lot of unpredictable apparent randomness…
I was definitely very lucky when I started out. A few weeks in, I signed up for an online freelance bootcamp, and one of the first things that was drummed into me was: “Never use the online job boards! There will always be people willing to work for less than you and you’ll always end up underselling yourself. So it’s not worth the bother!”
But, by then, I’d already tried them all and discovered that Upwork has a (mostly) user-friendly interface, good fee protection and a range of jobs I was willing to do for the proposed fees. To be fair, I was only trying to match my hourly rate from my office job at the time (so I could justify quitting), which wasn’t very high. I’ve since realised I can charge quite a lot more than that (four to five times that, in fact) for my editorial services – but it was a good way to get started, get my foot in the door, build up an impressive profile and get some great testimonials.
In my first year of freelance editing, 90% of my income came from projects I found on Upwork. So, I can say with absolute certainty that, if I hadn’t started out there, I would still be processing complaints in a central London office…
In the time since, I’ve met other editors, both online and face-to-face, and that’s made a massive difference to where my work comes from. A lot of them refer clients to me, when they are too busy or it’s not the kind of work they offer (I offer nearly everything, so I’m a great go-to editor to pass people on to). Either that, or they have become my clients themselves – I would say I specialise in editing for other editors and they are often my favourite clients (because they pay decent rates, on time, and know how to receive feedback on their writing).
Other avenues of work come from meeting other writers who might need editing services, or know other writers who do.
I also now have a lot of repeat clients, both from Upwork and not. And that’s a great endorsement of the quality of my work.
In the last twelve months, only 52% of my income has come from Upwork projects. And, within that, only 20% was for new clients.
And all the work I’ve got booked in for the rest of the year (enough that I don’t have to pitch for more work until January, which is awesome) is for repeat clients or is from non-Upwork sources.
It’s good to know I can still pitch for projects on Upwork and get new clients if I need to. But it’s wonderful that I’ve managed to build a portfolio of people who value my services and choose to come back to me with new work. And I love the fact that I’m not wholly dependent on one site for my income now, as it feels a lot less precarious!
That said, I still have no way to predict when or where new projects will come from…
But, going from 90% of my income coming from new Upwork clients to 90% of my income coming from rebookings, referrals and reciprocation (in 3.5 years) feels like really good progress.
And, while I am fully aware I’ve been very lucky in my freelancing career so far, I think I can also claim that there’s been a lot of hard work that’s gone into it, and that my current standing is also based on me building a great reputation for excellent, reliable and speedy work at reasonable rates.
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