Freelancing is fast becoming a popular and lucrative home business option. Jo Han Mok offers some solid and sensible advice for freelancers just starting out.

One of The Ways To Make Money Online - Freelancing
By Jo Han Mok

Freelance entrepreneurship can be one of the most rewarding
approaches to working for yourself. It can also be the most
scary, with no "job security" and depends totally on your
reputation, repeat business and client testimonials. If you
have the necessary risk-taking temperament, going it alone
can be your path to stardom. If you loathe risk, partner
with others so you can spread the risk or seek out a
broker/manager who'll supply you with steady work, at a
reduced return for you.

Don't be too eager to promise the world, just to get
started. It's very easy to offer too much for too little
return. You may end up with more work than you can handle -
that will hurt you in the long run. Having to pay another
freelancer to pick up your overflow may be more costly than
you can afford. Dropping the ball altogether will turn your
fledgling business into a flop you may never recover from.

Get to know the particulars of your niche. Take the time to
visit your competition's offerings and figure out how you
can position yourself in the marketplace. There's no sense
in you trying to reinvent the way business is done in your
area of expertise. Remember that those who have gone before
you ironed out all the wrinkles and kinks. Don't assume
that your great, new idea hasn't been tried before, and
found wanting, when it came to getting customers to pay for
it. Again, this depends on your tolerance for risk and
ability to survive a prolonged period of no income.

Your personality and presence will be the main selling
point of your freelance services. In a world where
"perception is reality", freelancing means attracting and
keeping like-minded customers. This is one case where your
USP (Unique Selling Point or Proposition) is you. In most
cases, what you do is being done by others, perhaps even
better than you can do on your best day. That's where a
strong, personal connection that is sensitive to the needs
of your customer will pay off. Don't let your ego push away
potential business because you appear to be too much of a
fat head!

Prompt delivery of your product or service is your number
one priority. "Perfectionism" is deadly for the freelancer.
If you delay your customer's plans because you feel you
must "tweak" things a bit more, you'll kill your future
relationship. Nobody wants to hear how great the finished
product WILL be. Everybody wants to hear the sound of
incoming email that announces you've completed the work
early. Don't let your personal foibles slow things down -
get the product out the door!

Along with general knowledge about your customers, you need
to find ways to add value to whatever you do that matter to
them. There's no point in sending them something "extra"
that you think is cool. Find out what is "cool" to them and
add it in. Even better, be ready to add something they will
need, but did not know the needed (or anticipate that you
could supply it). Writers who supply Web content can add in
SEO optimization, LSI-friendly content and titles that add
to the value of the finished product. The bottom line here
is to underpromise and overdeliver.

Finally, you need to protect yourself. The more highly you
value yourself, the more your customers will value you. Get
a deposit up front for any project you begin. Make sure you
have specific, well-defined limits to your
responsibilities. Avoid open-ended commitments that allow
your customer to chew up days of your time, with no
additional payment due for "revisions" or other time
wasters. Set an hourly income goal and shape your business
practices accordingly.

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Jo Han Mok is the author of the #1 international business
bestseller, The E-Code. He shares his amazing blueprint for creating million dollar internet businesses at: http://www.InternetMillionaireBlueprints.com