How to Increase Your Freelancing Income — Right Now

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a freelancer who wants to make more money. Welcome to the club!

In this post, I’m going to show you the three main strategies “regular” businesses, such as retailers, use to bring an immediate surge of additional income. These methods can be used by freelancers as well. And they aren’t as hard as you may think, even though it may involve zombies. Relax, read on and you’ll understand why.

3 Ways to Increase Your Income Fast

1. Get more clients.

The first way retailers increase their sales is by selling more stuff.

Likewise, freelancers can earn more by getting more clients. However, because we trade hours for dollars, this is my least favorite way of increasing my income. Besides, acquiring new clients tends to be very costly, so this is probably the most difficult income-building strategy of all.

But if you’re in a bind and need extra cash fast, then this is the method for you. How can you find new clients quickly?

One way is by making a special offer on your services. For example, for a limited time, give clients a 50% discount on your service. If you’re smart, you can do this in such a way that you will get something in return for the discounted rate.

Johnny B. Truant does this in a savvy way. He offer WordPress site setups at rock-bottom prices — as long as his clients get their web hosting through his affiliate link. This means recurring affiliate income for him, long after he has completed the projects. Pretty cool, eh?

You could ask for testimonials and/or referrals in exchange for the deep discount.

If you choose to go this route, make sure to accept only the number of clients you can realistically handle. Otherwise, you might find the quality of your work decreasing, and your clients’ satisfaction diving along with it.

By the way, if you’d like to learn how I actually get new clients, join my free webinar tomorrow, March 23rd, 10 am Eastern. Sign up here:

Another way to get a surge of clients is to “revive your zombie clients.” Zombie clients are past clients who’ve hired you previously but didn’t hire you again.

They’re probably already convinced that you’re good, so it won’t take a lot of effort to encourage them to work with you again. Feel free to call or email them, ask how they’re doing, and find out how you can support them in their current or future projects. You can combine this approach with a special offer for best results.

I did this zombie revival thing when I had all of four past clients, and two of them ended up hiring me again. So this method really works!

Now let’s move on to my preferred methods for earning more….

2. Increase your fees.

I’ve talked about increasing freelancing fees several times on this blog, and it’s because this is something more freelancers should be doing, but few do so.

Let me assure you that increasing your fees will cause you to lose some clients. However, on the other hand, you could make the same amount of money, if not more, while doing less work. Plus, you’ll find as your fees go up, the quality of your clients increases as well.

Clients who are willing to invest in good freelancers are those who are:

• already earning a good income and can therefore afford you

• understand the value of working with talented people

• easy to communicate with

• connected with other people just like them (meaning potential referrals for you!)

A drastic increase in your fees will require you to adjust your marketing methods. After all, you’re after a different market now. You may have to network with other groups, try different promotional strategies, and improve your branding.

All this takes time, of course. If you need to increase your income quickly, then increase your fees by a small amount, say 10-15%. Most of your existing clients are bound to accept this small increase without complaint, so you would have increased your income by this much without any effort.

Definitely, increase the rates you quote for new prospects coming your way.

3. Do more projects for each client.

Another super simple way to bring in more income is by guiding your clients to do more projects with you.

Notice how, when you go to McDonald’s and place your order, the person at the counter is always encouraging you to order more? They’ll ask, “Would you like to supersize your drink?” Or “Would you like fries with that?”

It’s called upselling and freelancers can do that too. You may worry that it’s sleazy to upsell, but it really isn’t. You can upsell in a thoughtful way by thinking of what’s best for your clients. Find out what your client wants to accomplish, and think of how you can help him or her reach that goal.

For example, let’s say a client asked you to give a quote for a website header. She wants an attractive header that will communicate her product’s USP, attract readers, and encourage them to read her website. What other graphic elements does her site need for her to accomplish all this? Would she be better off if she also had a logo, favicon, and social networking buttons — all of which coordinate with her website header?

You’ll be surprised how many prospects will take you up on your “enhanced” offer, especially if you’re able to show how the additional elements could help them reach their goals.

You can read more about my thoughts on upselling here.

Are You Ready to Earn More?

Did this post inspire you to do something today to increase your income? If so, what can you do immediately, right now, to start earning more? Let me know in the comments below.

Of if you’ve tried any of the above methods, let us know what results you’ve gotten.

Also, if you liked this post, then “like” it (the button is below) and retweet it (the button is on top).

I love hearing from you!

photo credit: doviende

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