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How To Become A Freelancer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a freelancer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Louise Bodenheimer

A freelancer is a self-employed expert who is not in a long-term contract with an employer. Freelancers can work in various sectors from marketing to communications, information technology, and creative arts. They earn their income by selling their services to clients rather than being employed by a business. They formulate assignments in line with agreed specifications. They edit projects to ensure they are accurate and well-presented. Additionally, they store and file copies of all completed assignments. Freelancers ensure that their work equipment is in excellent working condition at all times.

When hiring for a freelancer, most employers consider their experience. However, it is essential to have a relevant educational qualification. You must have a portfolio of completed projects. Essential skills include communication, organization, interpersonal, and time management skills. Freelancers can be found online. They earn an average salary of $26,438 per year, which is about $21.67 per hour. They have a flexible working style.

What general advice would you give to a freelancer?

Louise Bodenheimer

Professor of Graphic Design/Illustration, Southeast Missouri State University

Hopefully, they have had internship experience like that makes any transition from school to the profession more seamless. I recommend that they pursue as many open positions as possible, even sending resumes to places that may not have openings but may have something later. Follow up with their contact and HR person after applying, in about a week to 2 weeks. There are graphic design needs in various places: government, in-house design facilities for multiple companies, advertising agencies, marketing firms, etc.
Be willing to relocate. Some past students have moved to cities they want to live and work in, and have taken less desirable positions while working on connecting to the community of designers in those cities. Some take advantage of freelancing opportunities. Don't be shy to reach out to previous mentors and other designers for information. The primary key is not to give up applying and always continue honing design/concept skills in the interim time. Review available positions on various job websites and social media professional platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, etc. Create a professional website with the variation of programs available to get started showing your design capabilities in a digital portfolio.

ScoreFreelancerUS Average

Salary

4.6

Avg. Salary $59,367

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.2

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 10.42%

Black or African American 3.42%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 4.99%

White 70.17%

Gender

female 52.28%

male 47.72%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a freelancer

Explore freelancer education requirements

Most common freelancer degrees

Bachelor's

69.4 %

Associate

11.6 %

Master's

11.0 %

Start to develop specific freelancer skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	32.32%
Web Content	17.28%
Video Production	5.57%
Adobe Photoshop	3.74%
Photography	3.03%

Complete relevant freelancer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New freelancers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a freelancer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real freelancer resumes.

Research freelancer duties and responsibilities

Manage the instagram account to create a trend and increase the numbers of followers and likes.
Manage and develop a stream line Intranet site for better communication purposes and quicker access to documents and company information
Implement and customize several websites using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and WordPress.
Design and develop the website for SoftProjector (http: //softprojector.org/) in HTML, CSS and PHP.

Prepare your freelancer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your freelancer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a freelancer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable freelancer resume templates

Build a professional freelancer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your freelancer resume.