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How To Create A Freelance Business Plan – Guide + Template

Having a solid freelance business plan is crucial for achieving long-term success. While you may not have the same traditional structure as a brick-and-mortar business, it’s essential to have a roadmap that outlines your goals, target audience, and financial projections. In this article, we’ll discuss the key components of a business plan for freelancers and offer tips on how to create a plan that sets you up for success.

• Purpose of a business plan
• Benefits and advantages

The Business Model Canvas

Value proposition, customer segments, customer relations, key partners, key resources, key activities.

• Revenue Stream

Cost Structure

The lean canvas.

• Freelance business plan template + checklist
• Executive Summary
• Company and Strategy
• Products and Services
• Market Analysis
• Competitors
• Marketing and Sales
• Organization and Resources
• Risk Analysis
• Action Plan
• Common mistakes when creating a business plan

Purpose of a freelance business plan

A business plan forms the foundation of your company. It records the business idea and all the important components that contribute to its success or failure. Therefore, a business plan not only helps to get an idea of what the chances of success are for a plan, but also serves to keep an eye on the development of the company after the start-up, and to make target-actual comparisons and counteract negative changes in a timely manner.

In addition to its internal purpose, a business plan also fulfils external tasks. When starting a business, it especially serves as a basis for evaluation by external capital providers.

A good business plan can already be helpful in the start-up phase to convince potential investors, banks, authorities, as well as potential sales partners, customers or suppliers of the business idea.

However, before diving straight into the creation of a business plan, one should first engage with their business idea in order to illuminate it from all sides. This not only helps to avoid early failure, but also makes the creation of a freelance business plan much easier.

Why use a business plan? Benefits and advantages

Before you start creating the perfect freelance business plan, let’s take a look at the benefits and advantages that it can offer:

• Increased clarity: A business plan can help you get clarity to your decision-making process and helps you put your end goal at the core and work towards it.
• Provides clear structure: A business plan provides structure and allows you to define business objectives. When consulted regularly, it can help measure and manage your areas of focus that are of the utmost priority.
• Creates a marketing roadmap: A business plan allows you to create an effective marketing roadmap, which in turn can help you define things like target market(s), target customers, schedules, timeframes, etc.
• Improved financial decisions: Planning for expenses effectively is crucial when it comes to freelancing. A business plan gives you the information needed to make better decisions financially.

To analyse the potential of a business idea, one can use a variety of methods. One of the most comprehensive tools for this is the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder. In this method, a business idea is placed at the centre and related to 9 dimensions – the so-called building blocks:

Revenue Streams

During the development and analysis of the business idea, all fields are filled with the corresponding contents. Plan to spend two to three hours working on these fields. It is important to take enough time to consider the thoughts for each building block, but not to plan every field in detail. Remember, the completion of the Business Model Canvas should only show whether the business idea is feasible and serves as a guide for what needs to be considered.

The Value Proposition defines the extent to which the business model brings benefits to the customer. The following questions help to define the promise of performance:

• What problem am I solving?
• What exactly am I offering?
• Why are customers looking for my service specifically?
• What makes my offer better than the competition?

Next is the definition of the target audience or customers. It is important to define customer segments that will buy your services or products. Potential customers are grouped together based on their characteristics. The group characteristics can be traditional demographic factors (age, gender, location, etc.) or can focus on purchasing behaviour or reasons for buying.

Next, the channels through which you want to inform your customers about the product or service are defined. It is important to find out where and how potential customers shop. Here are some questions to answer:

• How and where do customers find out about the offering?
• How do customers become aware of my product or service?
• How can customers buy my products and services?
• How do I provide the service or how does the service reach my customers?

To capture all relevant touchpoints between customers and your business, it is recommended to record the so-called customer journey. Here, you put yourself in your customer’s shoes and document every step he or she takes from gathering information to making a purchase (and possibly beyond). This will help you identify the channels that you need to establish and manage for your business.

If you have already thought about the customer journey, you’re halfway to defining customer care. It is not only important to consider how to attract and win customers, but also how to keep the ones you already have. Consider the following questions:

• What options do you have to communicate with your customers?
• Is there a customer service hotline, a contact form, an email address?
• How do customers learn about your new offerings?

In the next step, you will think about possible partnerships and how you and your business depend on them. This includes suppliers and vendors, as well as technology partners or regulatory bodies that you need to work with. Focus on the really relevant partners without whom you couldn’t do your job.

The same applies to Key Resources. Here, the resources needed for your work are listed, including:

• Employees or roles that need to be filled
• Financial resources and capital
• Intangible resources such as licences, brands, patents, etc.
• Material resources such as laptops, office equipment, company cars, etc.

Of course, not every pencil you need to buy for your business needs to be listed here. The focus should be on the critical resources for success.

The definition of Key Activities is one of the simpler tasks in the Business Model Canvas. Here, all activities that contribute to the success of the business model are listed. The other components of the business idea also contribute to this, which is why it is worth deriving the Activities from them.

In general, you need to ask yourself what activities need to be performed to fulfil the value proposition, win customers, and maintain day-to-day operations.

Next, it is important to define how you make money with your business . For freelancers, this means defining their hourly rate or considering other revenue models to generate income. Are there perhaps special contracts that bring recurring revenue or are only the hours billed each time? Define all essential sources of revenue and how they work.

Lastly, the cost structure is defined. The most important variable and fixed costs and their causes must be identified. These may include:

• Production costs
• Marketing costs
• Licence costs
• Personnel costs

As a further development of the Business Model Canvas, the Lean Canvas became known in 2010. It is specifically adapted to the fast-paced and limited resources of a startup and focuses on the problem to be solved and the solution to be provided, as well as the so-called unfair advantage and the core metric. In the Lean Canvas, these elements replace the Key Activities, Partners, Resources, and Customer Relations.

Often business ideas fail because they don’t solve a relevant problem. Therefore, this component was added to the Lean Canvas.

Once the problem to be solved has been identified, the focus shifts to providing a corresponding solution quickly and easily. The Lean Canvas approach involves using an MVP (minimum viable product). The MVP represents the minimum version of the solution – the raw version. This is launched on the market as soon as possible and then further developed in collaboration with customers.

The unfair advantage essentially describes the competitive advantage. For startups, it is important to know this very well or, if it does not exist from the beginning, to define it.

Young companies often lose themselves in the masses of numbers and metrics that define the success of a business. To prevent this, entrepreneurs who choose the Lean Canvas approach should first define only one metric from which they can measure success and failure. At the beginning, when the survival of the company is paramount, this could be profit. Later, when it comes to growth, other metrics come into play.

How to create a freelance business plan – Template + checklist

For those who have thoroughly considered their business idea beforehand, writing a freelance business plan will be easy. The elements of the Business Model Canvas or the Lean Canvas often overlap with the elements of the business plan and only need to be worked out in more detail. The planned size and complexity of the business idea also determine the content and scope of the plan.

The following elements provide a guide for creating your freelance business plan:

1. Executive Summary 

The Executive Summary is a brief overview of the business plan. The business idea is explained briefly and concisely, usually along with the purpose, objectives, and goals of the business. The industry and growth potential of the market are described, and finally, the key investment and financial data are presented.

Write the Executive Summary at the end of the business plan. It serves as a compact overview of the business idea and as the first evaluation criterion for the potential success of the business model and its financing for potential investors.

The chapter, which should be no more than one and a half pages long, includes:

• Business idea
• Offer – products & services
• Industry / Market
• Growth potential of the market
• Financial requirements

2. Company & Strategy

In this section, the foundation for the company’s concept is laid out. The approaches for a successful implementation are presented in detail. It is also important to highlight the arguments and strengths of the idea and the planned company. These can be supported, for example, by a SWOT analysis.

The following sub-chapters are included:

• Founding history
• Milestones, capital, and shareholder structure
• Business goal
• Business purpose
• Vision and strategy

3. Products & Services

This section of a freelance business plan contains all information about your products and services. Define them precisely, describe their unique selling points, and think about pricing segments. 

The subchapters include:

• Products or services
• Product or service advantages
• Pricing segments

4. Market Analysis

For a successful business, the appropriate market potential must be present. Therefore, the selected market must be analysed in detail. Identify customer groups and define strategic business areas. The topics to be addressed include:

• Market volume
• Market position and market shares
• Growth potential
• Framework conditions (economic and legal factors)
• Entry barriers
• Competitive analysis
• Customer groups (segmentation)
• Strategic business areas (product per segment)
• Market objectives
• Outlook on potentials and future.

5. Competition

Here you take a look beyond your own company and get an idea of who your direct competitors are, who your market companions are, and how the situation can develop in the future. The following points belong in the competition analysis:

• Direct competitors
• Their products and services
• Their strengths and weaknesses

6. Marketing & Sales

For a business idea to succeed, the right marketing and promotion of the product or service is crucial. Here, you describe the marketing concept and your marketing mix, where you define what you market where, how, and at what cost. Common models for processing are, for example, the 4 or 7 P’s. In addition, the marketing concept should include all important key points for the timeframe of market entry. The sub-chapters for this chapter include:

• Sales and distribution strategy, distribution channels
• Pricing, price policy
• Communication strategy, channels, advertising, PR

7. Organisation & Resources

For the successful development of a company, resources, management, and employees play an important role. Therefore, this part Organization and Resources describes everything that is important for the organisation of the company, production, or service provision. This includes points such as:

• Production process (location, technology, capacities, etc.)
• Inventory management
• Research & Development
• Legal situation
• Patents/licences
• Responsibilities
• Development/expansion potential

8. Risk Analysis

In this section, possible opportunities and risks are described, as well as measures to counteract the risks. In classic risk analysis, risks and their consequences are listed and classified according to the likelihood of occurrence.

The risk matrix provides information about which risks are critical. For risks in the high and extreme categories, measures to limit or remedy them must be defined. Potential risks can be found, for example, in:

• Management / personnel

9. Financing

A business plan for a planned self-employment cannot be created without detailed financial planning. Create the financial plan in the business plan for a period of 3-5 years to increase planning security. The following topics belong in the financial plan:

• Cost structure
• Revenue cycle
• Cash flow plan – comparison of expenses and revenues
• Profit planning – profit and loss statement
• (Planned) balance sheet – overview of asset ratios
• Required capital / investments

10. Action Plan

No matter how detailed your business plan is, it won’t help if it doesn’t lead to a structured and realistic action plan. Define all the steps that need to be taken until your product or service is on the market. You can use the chapters of the business plan as a guide. The next steps need to be defined, for example, for:

• Product/Service
• Business start-up/Company
• Resources/Partners
• Marketing/Market entry
• Location/Business premises

11. Appendix

In the appendix, documents can be included that would exceed the scope of the respective chapter. For example, the following can be included:

• Resumes / Founders’ Profiles
• Financial planning (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow)
• Operating permits / Patents
• Organisational charts

📌 Business Model checklist ➯ DOWNLOAD

Common mistakes when creating a business plan (and how to avoid them)

When it comes to such a labour-intensive process as creating a business plan, it can be frustrating when errors creep in. To help you with this, we’ve identified the most common sources of errors below and provide tips on how to avoid them:

Lack of knowledge (e.g. in the area of finance)

• Scrutinise the areas where you are unsure, especially critically.
• Acquire any missing knowledge if necessary.
• Seek out partners and advisors who have the expertise you lack.

Missing structure in the business plan

• Pay attention to the logical structure of the business plan. The chapters and subchapters can follow a different order in your plan if it makes more sense for your business idea.
• Focus on the important components of your business plan, which may vary depending on the purpose of the plan (investor pitch, business planning, etc.)
• Various organisations offer consulting services to entrepreneurs, some of which are even subsidised by the states.

Insufficient differentiation

• Even if your idea seems incredibly unique to you, a comprehensive competitor analysis is necessary.
• This is the only way to define a convincing unique selling proposition (USP) – which is also essential for the success of your business idea.
• Not only does the business idea need unique selling propositions, but each product and service also needs to stand out in the market. Therefore, define a unique value proposition (UVP) for your products and services as well.

Underestimating risks

• Nobody becomes self-employed overnight without careful consideration. Therefore, inform yourself carefully about the risks of self-employment and choose your approach consciously.
• Use various analysis tools to minimise risks.

Poor planning

• It’s easier to take the next steps if they are specifically planned and written down. A dedicated action plan of the individual steps is therefore essential to make the business plan a reality.
• To avoid suddenly facing insurmountable obstacles, a secure risk planning is needed. Make sure to think this through thoroughly before embarking on the adventure!

These articles might be interesting too:

• Client Acquisition: Tips to Acquire Clients & Set Up Your Strategy
• Freelance Profile: What to Include, Tips and Examples
• Self-Marketing Tips And Tricks: How To Promote Yourself As A Freelancer

Stefania Volpe

Stefania joined the international team at freelancermap in 2020. She loves marketing, the digital world, foreign languages and meeting different cultures. She moved from Italy to Germany thanks to an exchange program at the university and worked as marketing manager for several startups. Now she focuses on helping freelancers and IT professionals to find jobs and clients worldwide at www.freelancermap.com.

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Guide to Building a Successful Freelance Business

Having a freelance business can afford you the freedom, choice, income, and independence you need to live a fuller and a more satisfying life. To help you get there, we've put together this go-to guide to building a successful freelance business online. We'll talk all about freelancing , from finding your niche to taxes and business options. Before you take the plunge into freelancing full time, ask yourself the following questions:

What are your motivations to go freelance?

Motivation is different for everybody, but some of the more common reasons are:

• You want to escape the mundane 9-5 rat race
• You need more flexibility in your daily schedule
• You want to have a better work/life balance
• You want control of your finances and career options
• You need the freedom a remote working environment affords

What's your motivation to freelance?

Are you making a considered decision or not?

So you've been not getting along with your boss, or you didn't win a particular account--both of those are unfortunate scenarios, but they aren't solid reasons to quit your steady job and decide to freelance. Think about it: becoming a freelancer isn't a decision to be taken lightly—we're talking about your career here. Remember, this is your long-term future and your personal finances, so a snap decision based on a few bad days or general job dissatisfaction isn't a smart move. Freelancing is very rewarding, but getting started is a lot of work, so it's important your motivation is strong enough to hold you steady while you get started. 

Whatever your motivation, take the time to think things through:

Create a brainstorming board with wants, needs, pros, and cons, and find out whether freelancing is really what you want, or whether your needs might better be served by another strategy entirely. If being a freelancer is the right path for you, then read on.

What Services Can You Offer?

As a freelancer, you aren’t locked into one role or position. While some choose to specialize in one field, or even one niche of one field, such as travel writing, others use their multi-passionate natures to freelance in several fields. There are so many types of freelance jobs online, that you'll be spoiled for choice. Consider freelance roles in: 

• Graphics and Design
• Web and Mobile Design
• Digital Marketing
• Writing and Translation
• Video and Animation
• Music and Audio
• Programming and Tech
• Business Services

Perhaps you are good with Adobe Photoshop , have a beautiful voice that would be good for voice-overs , and you can also create an amazing presentation in Powerpoint . There are so many options for freelancers looking to do business online that you can build a career with plenty of variety, whatever your skills.

How to Uncover your Freelance Potential

Analyze competitive offerings.

Let's say that you're a designer looking to get your freelance design business off the ground. The first thing you should do is look at others with successful freelance design businesses to gather insights into their competitive offerings. Take, for example, these Fiverr marketplace listing for designers.

You can see, even from this small sample, that there's a lot of variety in the services freelancers offer. From the insights you gain from your competitor research, you can establish what services you can offer, and if you can compete or carve out your own niche within the freelance marketplace.

List Your Skills

Start by listing all of your current skills. Write it all down. Don't obsess over making it perfect or only writing what you consider to be marketable. Answer the following: 

• What do you do, or have you previously done, for work? 
• Break down your current and previous roles. As part of your current job, do you find yourself writing reports? 
• Does your job require you to edit other people's work? 
• Do you run meetings? Organize schedules? 
• Were you involved with sales? What are your work-related skills? 

However insignificant they may seem, write them down. Next, list everything you're good at outside of work. Do you like to program simple applications or WordPress plugins in your free time? Do you edit photos? Make videos? Design digital art? Are you a calligrapher? A fitness fanatic?

Once you've got your list, eliminate any of the items that you really did not enjoy and would not want to do on a regular basis. While it's important for a freelancer to make a livable income, it's difficult to thrive doing things you really dislike - it'll quickly take the shine off freelancing. 

How to Be a Freelancer: 105 Tips to Achieve Success

Defining your skills helps you “zero in” on what you’re truly good at, and what can really help you thrive in the freelance world. (read article), research your marketable skills.

Now get down to research. Which of the remaining skills are marketable? The key is to find the "sweet spot" between what you're good at and what makes you the amount of money you need to live comfortably. Your time is valuable, so you need to establish which skills are worth pursuing. Eliminate the ones that you don't feel pay enough to be worth your time. 

Now you should have a nice defined list of items that fall into that "sweet spot". These are the core skills you can use to start your freelance business. From here, you should be able to start building services or packages to offer potential clients.

Key Takeaway: Do your research if you want to become a freelancer.

• List all of your skills (both from work experience and hobbies or interests)
• Eliminate all those skills you don't really want to do for work
• Start researching to establish which skills are marketable
• Establish which skills pay well enough to help you build the income level you need and eliminate the others
• Take the remaining skills as the foundation from which to build your freelance business

Study Up: Get Additional Education and Certifications

Whether you want to hone existing skills or learn new ones, self-education is perfect for those who want to freelance. It's not just about the skills you gain - although that's obviously the key factor, it also shows potential clients that you're serious. Serious enough to have invested time and resources into your continued professional development. If a client is considering who to hire between you and another freelancer, and everything else is equal, they're going to choose the candidate that demonstrates they're committed and invested in their freelance career. And, given that we're in the Digital Age, you don't even have to go to school to gain those skills. 

Fiverr, for example, has a section dedicated to freelancer education with all types of training courses, ranging from storytelling to technical SEO audits. Here’s an example course from Jon Youshaei about, “ Stories That Sell: 7 Secrets To Create Killer Content. ”

With Fiverr's courses, you aren't locked into a monthly subscription. Each course is a single purchase, and you retain lifetime access to it, so you can revisit and refresh your skills whenever you need.

Key Takeaway: Invest in yourself and your freelance business by honing existing skills and learning new ones.

• Look at the skills you'd like to learn, and prioritize them
• Take a relevant course in the one new skill that you identified as your highest priority
• Add the skill to your freelance profile and start practicing that skill, building your experience and portfolio in that area

Building and Testing Your Idea

Its time to formulate a clear plan to freelance success . 

Scope and Price Your Projects

Start with one or two services that you can excel at. Flesh out what you're prepared to offer and at what price. Keep your offering simple, but make sure you are very clear about the scope of what you're offering. Don't leave any room for misunderstanding. If you're building a content writing business model, for example, you may decide you want to offer a blog article service . 

• How much are you charging? Review competitive price points, and do your research on what you should be charging. 
• How many revisions are you prepared to do?
• How many days will it take you to deliver?

Identify what the scope of work, and budget range is that you are willing to work within.  You want to make sure that you are comfortable the that range.

 Test Your Project

Before you dive in, you should test your freelance project ideas. Don't just rely on a single test - run several with different people. Here are some simple ways to test your ideas:

• Offer free services to friends and family.
• Offer heavily discounted rates for your first 5-10 projects, or do the work at cost.
• Donate your service to a non-profit or cause of your choice to get started. 

You get a few other benefits from the multi-test approach, aside from finding out if your service works:

• You get samples for your portfolio
• You get on-the-job experience
• You find out how long it really takes for you to complete the job to the best of your ability.

Identify and Locate Your Target Clients

If you're wondering how to get freelance work, the answer is simple: It's knowing who your clients are and where to find them. One of the most challenging aspects of your freelance startup will be finding clients. But not just any clients. You need the right clients.  

It's time to put together your primary client persona - that's the ideal person who wants your service. This way, you can narrow down and only focus on clients who fit your buyer persona. 

The persona should include as much information as possible, such as:

• Pain points/needs
• The solutions you can offer to solve those needs
• Where they do business
• Online presence

Whether you're doing client outreach or listing your services on Fiverr, make sure you keep your customer persona right at the front of your mind. 

Key Takeaway: Finding new clients is challenging for freelancers, but you can make it easier.

• Create a customer persona for each of your services
• Establish how best to make contact with that persona, and do it
• Make sure you have a robust Fiverr account with strong service packages and upsells
• Do plenty of competitor research using tools like SimilarWeb
• Use FollowerWonk and email finders to reach out to prospects directly

Create a Strategy for Your Freelance Startup

It doesn't matter whether you're starting to freelance on the side while working your regular job or jumping in feet-first and aiming to go full-time right out of the gate - you still need a rock-solid strategy. Assuming you're following the steps in this freelance guide you are off to a good start. You already have the answers to some of the key components of your strategy.

Strategy Foundations

A good freelance business strategy will start with the foundation and basics of your business model. So far you should have documented:

• Service offering overviews
• Pricing of your services
• Test project results and insights
• Your buyer personas for each service

Resource Planning

Now it's time to add those components to your freelance business plan and round it out with the other essential factors, which include answering questions such as:

• What timeframe are you looking to become a freelancer within?
• How much do you need to earn per month or year to comfortably meet your financial needs? How many gigs or hours of billable work does that require? Can you be competitive?
• How many orders can you comfortably accommodate in a week or a month?

Key takeaways:

• Establish a foundation of your business (personas, pricing, project overviews)
• Establish long-term goals for your business (timeline to becoming full-time, incoming revenue goals, etc.)

Keeping Yourself on Track

Productivity is a crucial element to success in your freelance business, so you need to incorporate it into your overall strategy. It's easy to get lost in the minutiae of being a freelancer or in all the little distractions that occur when you start to work from home. You can lose focus or have so much to do that you dither and procrastinate and end up achieving very little. 

Set Working Hours

Get yourself on a tight schedule, just as if you were going to work at a brick and mortar job. Set strict working hours, whether that's 9 to 5 or 6 to 10, then 2 to 8. Make sure it's a realistic and achievable schedule. 

Then, within that schedule, pencil in specific times for particular tasks. For example, set aside an hour on Mondays and Thursdays for checking and responding to emails. You know you need to network on a regular basis, so maybe set aside two hours on a Tuesday morning just for that. Punch in the times you'll be working on client gigs, the time you'll be spending researching new potential clients, and time for learning. Obviously leave some room for flexibility, as the most successful freelancers are agile as well as well-organized. Using a calendar and strict timetable will help you stay on track and help you avoid overwhelm. 

Use Project Management Tools

Another great freelance tip to avoid overwhelm is to use project management tools and systems to keep yourself on track. You might prefer a whiteboard, or a pen and paper journal. There are also a number of great project management tools digitally to tap into for digital to-do list creation such as Asana, or Trello.

Include Break time

Don't forget to schedule in breaks. It's all too easy as a freelancer just to burn right through the whole day, but that isn't healthy for your body or mind. When you're setting up your timetable, make sure you include regular breaks to get away from your desk, get up and walk around, get outside, or just to go make a drink and some food. You need to get up and move around regularly throughout the day, and your eyes and brain need regular digital breaks.

Start Your Freelance Business

So now you've got a solid plan. You've identified your goals and established how you're going to get there. Now the real work begins - starting your freelance business. Building your brand as a freelance startup is crucial, just like any business. 

Yes, you can build a freelance website, as it's a great branding tool, but it's costly and time-consuming, particularly if you don't know how. That's one of the reasons Fiverr is a great place to start freelancing. You don't need any coding or web development skills - all you need to do is  sign up and create your seller profile . Then you can create your first gig and start selling. See our how to start selling on Fiverr help article for more info.

A freelance marketplace like Fiverr makes freelancing easier for beginners are career-long professionals in a number of ways:

• Clients come to you, specifically looking for your service
• Reduces the cold pitching you need to do
• Lets you showcase your best work
• Lets you set a clear scope of work up front, right in your service offering, so there's no misunderstandings later
• Allows clear upsells
• Shows verified reviews and feedback to establish trust
• Lets you send custom offers
• Lets you easily add video to your gig

And that's not all. In 2018, Fiverr acquired And Co to help freelancers manage the administrative side of their businesses. Services and features include time tracking, invoicing and payments, customizable proposals, contracts, expense tracking, income reports, and more. This helps you free up valuable time that you can invest in securing more gigs, engaging with clients, and learning new skills.

Do I Need an LLC to Freelance?

Whether a freelancer should form an LLC (Limited Liability Company) or not is a personal choice. The biggest benefit is that it may limit your risk to the amount of capital you've invested in your business. Sole proprietors have unlimited liability, you are your business, and your personal assets and funds may be at risk if you encounter legal trouble. If you decide you do want to form an LLC, remember to factor the state fees and filing fees into account when pricing your services. You'll also need to keep different and more thorough business records.

Key Takeaway: There's a lot to think about when you launch your freelance business.

• Building a freelance website is a secondary consideration, given the marketplace options available
• Make it easy on yourself to establish yourself and find clients by signing up as a seller on Fiverr
• Set up your Fiverr seller profile
• Create your first Fiverr gig and start selling
• Sign up to And Co to help run the administrative side of your freelance business
• Decide whether you need to form an LLC or whether you want to wait until you're more established

How to Win  Freelance Work

There are a few different strategies you can employ to help you win your first clients. 

1. Really work on your Unique Seling Point

Your unique selling point is how you differ and/or offer more value than your competitors. Don't drop your prices - you've already established how much you need to charge to meet your needs. 

Instead, focus on what you can offer that other people don't. Maybe you can include two images in your blog post offering. Perhaps you could do a time-limited offer of an infographic with a blog post. How about a free printable calendar? If you're bilingual, you could offer a free translation of your blog post. A free upgrade to a higher-quality image file? A free content health analysis with your SEO service? Or perhaps your USP is your demonstrable expertise in your field. Perhaps you only work on one project at a time, so your client gets your absolute, laser-focused attention. 

Whatever your unique values are, emphasize them when you sell. 

2. Leverage Your Social Networks

You may be surprised at how many people in your existing social network need your skills, so it's a great place to start to attract clients. And you can ask family and friends to share, too. This kind of self-promotion is invaluable, whether you're just starting to freelance or you've been doing it for decades. 

On LinkedIn, for example, make sure you create a strong profile that showcases your skills and get involved with relevant groups and conversations. And don't forget to use Fiverr's social sharing functionality to showcase your available gigs. 

3. Win Clients With Your Knowledge

You can show you have industry expertise, help people at the same time, and expand your brand trust and reach. The easiest way is to use sites like Reddit and Quora to answer questions in your niche. Just make sure your answers are accurate and offer real value, otherwise, you'll get yourself a bad reputation instead of a good one. Read our guide to freelance marketing with Quora for more info

4. Use Paid Ads

If you have the budget, you can drive targeted traffic to your freelance offerings with paid ads. Choose from social ads like those for Facebook or LinkedIn, or go with search engine ads. Just remember to make sure you target your ads specifically to your primary customer personas, or you'll be throwing away your money.

Key Takeaway: Winning your first freelance gigs isn't as difficult as it may seem.

• Define your unique selling point and use it
• Leverage your social networks
• Showcase your knowledge on sites like Quora and JustAnswer
• Use paid ads if your budget allows
• Bring existing customers to Fiverr to expose them to your other services

Find more strategies and tips on how to succeed on Fiverr as a seller with this free ebook.

Deciding to become a freelancer may one of the biggest decisions you ever make. It takes dedication and commitment to achieve success. There's an awful lot to wrap your head around as you get started, too, from trying to decide what services you can offer to taxes and retirement plans. This guide breaks down what can seem like a gargantuan task into manageable chunks, guiding you through the process. We've included plenty of actionable insights and useful freelance tips to get you started the right way. At Fiverr, we love to help freelancers win, so you'll find lots of other help on our blog .

The best option is having options.

Freelance Social Media services. Built for teams.

Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Business Plan Consultants

Toptal is a marketplace for top business plan consultants and experts. Top companies and startups hire freelance business plan consultants from Toptal for their mission critical projects.

No-Risk Trial, Pay Only If Satisfied.

Trusted by leading brands and startups

Watch the case study

Hire Freelance Business Plan Consultants

Aleksey N. Krylov, CFA

Aleksey served in CFO roles of public and VC-backed private companies. As an investor, he contributed to 25+ private equity deals that have deployed $500 million. He has advised 50+ clients on raising $1.6 billion in equity in the healthcare, consumer, media, software, energy, and industrial sectors. Aleksey enjoys working with officers of early-stage and mature small-cap firms, and he freelances because it exposes him to a wide range of companies.

Previously at

Ftera Advisors

Josh Chapman

Josh is an investment banker turned VC who lives in Denver, CO. At Morgan Stanley, he covered the world's top hedge funds and sold over $5 billion in IPOs for companies like Alibaba, LendingClub, GrubHub, and more. He also has experience in M&A, startup fundraising, and as a founder. Currently, Josh is one of the managing partners of Konvoy Ventures, a VC firm focused on esports and video gaming.

Konvoy Ventures (VC Firm)

Gary Calnan

Gary is a serial entrepreneur with CEO and CFO experience. Before co-founding an aerospace startup in 2017, Gary was the director of finance at a $120 million revenue SaaS company, where he was responsible for the financial management of multiple departments and supported three mergers. Gary leverages his unique blend of finance and entrepreneurial experience across early and growth-stage businesses to add value to Toptal clients.

CisLunar Industries

Marc Howland

Marc is a Harvard Business School graduate with honors, a former investment banker from Goldman Sachs, and private equity investor at The Carlyle Group. He has helped execute more than $70 billion worth of global M&A and financing transactions in the tech, media, telecom, infrastructure and sports facility finance markets. Marc enjoys freelancing to contribute his knowledge and skills to others while working on his own early-stage ventures.

Keyturn Pbc

Travis Borden

Travis was part of the founding team at Moelis & Co., a $2.5 billion global investment bank, and has 18 years of experience advising clients on $40+ billion of M&A, capital raising, and restructuring transactions. In 2015, he founded a socially responsible advisory firm, Keene Advisors, named "Best for the World" 2017-2019. Travis joined Toptal to expand his network and share his expertise advising companies from startups to Fortune 500 firms.

Keene Advisors

Andy Vietor

Andy was recognized twice as an All-Star Analyst by the Wall Street Journal. He has been a strategist, operating executive, financier, and top-ranked industry analyst. As a freelancer, Andy advises a range of companies—from early-stage and middle-market to large caps—delivering customized solutions including effective investor presentations, dynamic financial models, and project finance structuring.

Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital, Inc.

Bertrand Deleuse

Bertrand is a 25-year finance veteran with a true 360 experience, honed as an investment banker, venture advisor, project developer, CFO, and expert witness consultant in international arbitrations. He has advised and partnered on over 100 transactions and investment initiatives totaling over $16 billion. Bertrand is a seasoned problem solver and decision-maker with expert facilitation skills. Bertrand advises on M&A, corporate development, venture growth, project development, and financing.

Quadrant Economics

Olivia Passoni

Olivia has over a decade of advisory experience, specializing in valuation, financial and business planning, M&A, capital raising, and due diligence. She has advised business owners globally on financial planning and strategy optimization during the fundraising and exit process. Olivia also works with investors for portfolio valuation work, the development of fund models, and due diligence. She is a Certified Valuation Analyst and is specialized in early-stage valuations.

Valithea OÜ

Andrew Grigolyunovich, CFA, CFM

Andrew ranked fifth at the 2017 Financial Modeling World Championships. He served as CFO for Latvia’s leading retailer for seven years, navigating the firm through the global financial crisis and executing a turnaround that led to profitability and international expansion. He went on to freelance consulting, growing his client base to 250+ in 17 countries. Andrew joined Toptal to work with clients on FP&A, financial modeling, and M&A.

Toptal Clients

Discover More Business Plan Consultants in the Toptal Network

98% of Toptal clients choose to hire our talent after a risk-free trial.

Toptal's screening and matching process ensures exceptional talent are matched to your precise needs.

Get Additional Expertise

Our clients frequently pair these additional services with our freelance Business Plan Consultants.

A Hiring Guide

Guide to hiring a great business plan consultant.

Business plan consultants have the industry knowledge and expertise to develop a business plan that maximizes your company’s potential and attracts investors. This guide to hiring business plan experts offers insight into best practices, skill requirements, job description tips, and interview questions and answers to help you identify the best candidate for your needs.

... allows corporations to quickly assemble teams that have the right skills for specific projects.

Despite accelerating demand for coders, Toptal prides itself on almost Ivy League-level vetting.

Pete Pellizzari

Romy Parzick

Doug MacKay

Founder / CEO

Chris Pozek

How to Hire Business Plan Consultants through Toptal

Talk to one of our industry experts, work with hand-selected talent, the right fit, guaranteed, find experts with related skills.

Access a vast pool of skilled finance experts in our talent network and hire the top 3% within just 48 hours.

How do I hire a Business Plan Consultant?

To hire the right business plan consultant, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect business plan consultants for your project.

What do I need to look for when I choose a business plan consultant online?

Do not hire a business plan consultant online without interviewing them at least once, ideally via video conference so you can evaluate your rapport with them. It’s critical to ask them questions about your industry, their industry-specific experience, and their thoughts on current trends—all elements you can’t gauge from an online résumé. In addition to evaluating their experience and knowledge, it’s important to validate it through examples of work products and references.

How do I choose between two quality business plan consultant candidates?

When you have two highly qualified consultants vying for an engagement with your company, compare their skills with your internal capabilities and select the consultant who best complements the skills you and your team have. You’ll also want to consider their interpersonal skills and general fit with your preferred ways of working. Your objective should be to hire the consultant who rounds out the most capable team you can create to develop your business plan.

Do I need to hire a business plan consultant?

You should strongly consider hiring a business plan consultant. Business plan professionals offer significant benefits through their expertise and unbiased point of view. They’ll stress-test your current plans, identify potential risks and growth opportunities, provide a market analysis and industry insights, and ensure that your business plan is credible, positioned to maximize your company’s potential, and appealing to investors.

Who are business plan consultants and how do they add value?

A business plan consultant is a highly qualified individual who combines the skills of a management consultant and a CFO to advise and assist management teams of businesses of all sizes. Beyond creating business plans, they can assist with a number of projects, including market sizing; go-to-market and customer acquisition strategies; pricing and monetization planning; and fundraising strategy. Additionally, they can help you produce a pitch deck, board presentations and presentation materials, research and market reports, financial models, analyses, forecasts, and more.

How are Toptal business plan consultants different?

When you hire a business plan consultant with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched business plan consultants ready to help you achieve your goals.

By  Nicholas Piscani

Nicholas is a corporate strategy and FP&A expert who works with businesses to optimize their operations and execute high-priority strategic initiatives. He has helped entrepreneurs raise more than $600 million.

How to Hire Business Plan Consultants

Every company needs an effective business plan to maximize its potential.

A comprehensive business plan details a company’s present and expected future status and needs in order to guide strategic decisions and resource requirements. Research has shown that, historically, companies with business plans have grown 30% faster than those without them and that companies with business plans have been nearly twice as likely to receive funding. That’s because potential investors and investment banks often won’t take your business seriously without a comprehensive business plan.

While business plans are proven to maximize potential at all stages of maturity , many business leaders fail to develop or execute them. They may believe it isn’t worth the investment, or they may be overwhelmed by the number of steps involved and the amount of information required to get started. Other business owners may attempt to develop such plans without external assistance.

However, many company owners do recognize that specialized skills are required to maximize the impact of a business plan and to develop a complementary pitch deck for potential investors. These executives typically hire a business plan consultant to guide them through the entire strategic and business planning process. This hiring guide offers insights into how to select and hire a business plan consultant who can advise and collaborate with you to deliver the business plan you need.

What attributes distinguish quality Business Plan Consultants from others?

Above all else, quality business plan consultants have business planning and industry-specific experience. Typically, more experience equals more expertise, but don’t get caught up in thinking about experience only in terms of years. Once a professional business plan consultant has five or more years of experience, other factors, such as the number of business plans written and the number of successful funding rounds they’ve been involved in, are more important.

When selecting a business plan advisor, it’s important to find someone who develops complete business plans frequently, has a strong track record of success, and has specialized industry experience relevant to your business. For example, the core components of business plans in healthcare and construction may be similar, but industry-specific knowledge adds significant credibility when detailing the organization’s strategic direction, financial plans and models, and resource requirements.

Quality business plan professionals provide clear and concise guidance, and work with you and your management team to develop primary and contingency strategies. The consultant should be able to collaborate effectively during the planning process and illuminate potential shortcomings and pitfalls of an existing or new plan. While they may use a standardized template for creating business plans, the consultant should be willing and able to customize the plan to meet your organization’s specific needs.

How can you identify the ideal Business Plan Consultant for your business?

The ideal business plan consultant will possess a mix of hard and soft skills across multiple business areas so that they can skillfully craft a successful plan and pitch deck. The best business plan consultants have these complementary skills:

Industry knowledge – The business plan consultant best suited to help your organization will have solid industry knowledge and significant experience working with other companies in your sector. Understanding the industry, its competitive landscape, significant trends, and market segments is critical to developing an effective business and marketing plan.

Market research and analysis – This skill is required to establish accurate estimates of the total market, total addressable market, serviceable market, and obtainable markets. Business plan consultants need to gather and analyze significant amounts of data, interpret the results, and derive target markets and market-share goals for your company.

Financial modeling and forecasting – In addition to validating existing financial plans, the business plan consultant should be able to provide insight into current and alternative pricing strategies for revenue growth, understand whether capital and resource assumptions are valid given industry-average and best-in-class capital efficiencies, and confirm that margin expectations are reasonable given other operating assumptions. In-house financial analysts may be able to help fill this need with guidance from the expert business plan consultant you hire.

Data analysis and visualization – A quality business plan consultant should be able to compile and analyze all the inputs your organization provides and use them to create the components of the plan. This should include a go-to-market strategy that highlights your value proposition, identifies how you’ll reach your target market(s), and convinces investors that your organization has significant growth potential.

Presentation skills and storytelling ability – An underrated but essential value that a business plan consultant can bring is the ability to take all the individual components of the plan and weave them together into a compelling, original story that creates stakeholder buy-in and investor interest.

In addition to the aforementioned important capabilities, the best business plan consultant for your company should demonstrate the following soft skills:

Communication – The consultant should be able to distill complex ideas into accessible concepts to ensure understanding among stakeholders, investors, and employees. They should also be willing and able to ask hard questions and challenge assumptions.

Organization – The business plan expert needs to gather, analyze, and organize extensive data and other inputs from multiple sources. This requires impeccable organization and attention to detail.

Critical and strategic thinking – A quality business plan professional can consider threats, present alternatives, and stress-test the business plan to ensure it is sound and considers all possibilities.

A business plan advisor who possesses these complementary soft skills is more likely to be highly effective and deliver a plan that generates a high ROI.

What criteria can hiring managers use to match Business Plan Consultants to their specific industry or business needs?

Hiring managers should consider these three critical criteria when matching business plan professionals to their specific industries and needs:

• Industry experience – Each industry has a unique environment, with unique relationships between the hiring company and its customers, suppliers, competitors, etc. Navigating different compliance requirements and barriers to entry requires specific knowledge. While there is no set requirement for years of industry-specific experience, three years is a sufficient minimum threshold.
• Financial acumen – The consultant should be able to build detailed, dynamic financial models that drive the business plan. Experience with three-statement modeling is ideal, as the consultant will need to understand how investment and operating plans impact cash flow, the balance sheet, and the income statement. The hiring manager should prioritize credentials such as advanced degrees and certifications pertaining to corporate finance, valuation, and modeling financial projections when evaluating candidates.
• Leadership experience – Hiring managers should look for a consultant with a demonstrated history of leading teams and stakeholders through strategic initiatives. At a minimum, consultants should have reached a managerial level with a focus on strategy and business planning. Director- and VP-level experience, along with a track record of successful consulting engagements, becomes more important as the scope and scale of the project at hand increases.

How to Write a Business Plan Consultant Job Description for Your Project

First, define the use case for the business plan and identify the industry in which your company operates. Clearly identifying the sector will help candidates self-select, minimizing the number of irrelevant résumés to review.

Next, specify the experience and any specializations you require. Some technical expertise may be optional: For example, it may not be as important for your business plan consultant to have in-depth financial modeling expertise—as long as that’s a strength of your internal team. On the other hand, your business plan consultant must have extensive knowledge about your industry and market segments.

Your job description should also take into account how far along your organization is in the strategic and business planning process. If you have many of the pieces in place and simply need a business plan professional to ensure you have a cohesive and compelling plan to present, you’ll require a different skill set than if you need a business plan expert to research, analyze, define, and document the strategic path forward.

What are the most important Business Plan Consultant interview questions?

As you prepare to interview your top candidates, you should already have a basic understanding of their experience and skills. During the interviews, it’s important to ask questions that get to the heart of what your organization needs and whether the consultant has the expertise to deliver an effective plan. These questions will help you evaluate and select the best business plan consultant for your situation:

How would you approach this project?

With this question, you’re looking for the consultant to explain how they would use internal and external resources to gather relevant information and craft the story that the business plan will tell as it relates to your specific case. Ideally, the consultant can identify external resources that will provide industry, competitor, and market insights, including potential environmental, regulatory, or legal hurdles and risks.

Can you share your thoughts on the industry’s current state and future outlook?

The consultant you hire should be well versed in your industry, its present state, and the key factors influencing its future. The success of a business strategy hinges on the quality of the market information, data, and insights the expert has access to, and how they will use that information to guide the plan. A qualified business plan professional will be able to discuss total market size, growth rates, key competitors, and significant trends. Their answer should leave you confident that the candidate has the industry experience and knowledge you require.

Can you share specific examples of successful business plans you’ve developed?

The answer to this question should demonstrate how the candidate has applied their expertise in previous engagements or corporate roles. Although the consultant may be able to effectively explain their approach, specific examples will confirm they have the experience and capabilities to deliver what you need. Ask them to define the qualities of a successful engagement to be sure your expectations are aligned.

How do you ensure that a business plan is adaptable and remains relevant?

The last thing you want to do is lead your business down a path that reduces or eliminates agility. The consultant should highlight specific tools, such as scenario and sensitivity analyses, that can be used to develop contingency plans should the primary strategy shift because of changes in the market. The most qualified consultants should be able to identify gaps and trends in the market and suggest potential strategies and technologies to address them.

Additional questions to ask include how the consultant would communicate with you and your internal teams, how they handle disagreements among principals about the strategic direction the organization should pursue, and what, if any, special research and analysis they might perform for this engagement.

A well-rounded business plan consultant will answer your questions in ways that leave you feeling confident in their ability to successfully execute the project and deliver an effective custom business plan that maximizes your company’s potential and attracts investors.

How can a hiring manager ensure the confidentiality and security of sensitive information during the hiring process, especially when sharing business plans or proprietary data with candidates?

Hiring managers and recruiters can take decisive actions to protect their company’s confidential information during the hiring process. These include:

• Requiring candidates to sign nondisclosure agreements before they receive sensitive materials.
• Conducting thorough background checks to verify candidates’ credibility, trustworthiness, and adherence to data security protocols.
• Using secure document-sharing platforms or virtual data rooms with access controls, encryption, and audit trails.
• Using secure communication channels, such as encrypted email services or secure messaging platforms, when sharing sensitive information.

Why do companies hire Business Plan Consultants?

Business plan experts can deliver tremendous value to companies that are developing business plans to guide strategic decisions or pursue funding. While founders and employees may have a significant grasp of the company, its strategic direction, and its business goals, they may not have the expertise to craft a compelling business plan and pitch deck that attracts investors.

One of the quickest ways to lose the interest of potential investors and partners is by presenting a business plan that comes across as disorganized and fragmented. Business plan advisors with extensive experience dealing with investors solve this problem for their clients. They have the well-rounded business background and skill set to contribute and add value to the entire strategic planning process. They have the capability to propel a business forward by weaving a company’s market data, industry trends, business strategy, business goals, and resource requirements into a compelling story for stakeholders and potential investors.

While many business owners develop business plans without external assistance, hiring a business plan consultant can significantly increase the quality and credibility of a business plan, its likelihood to maximize business success, and its ability to attract investors.

Featured Toptal Business Plan Publications

5 Key Tips for Smarter Sales and Operations Planning Implementation

Creating a Narrative from Numbers

Small Business Resources for COVID-19: Loans, Grants, and Credits

Top Business Plan Consultants are in High Demand.

What is a Freelance Business Plan? (+ The Easiest Way to Create One)

Does trying to start or scale your freelance business ever feel a bit like trying to navigate without a map? You’re venturing into a whole new world, but where do you turn? How do you know if you’re on the right path? These are questions you can answer by freelance business plan.  (+ you can grab a free template at the end of the post!)

What is a business plan? 

A business plan is a written document that guides you through the process of starting and managing your own business. They vary in length, depending on which details you choose to include.

Do freelancers need a business plan?

If your goal is to work for yourself full time, you have to think about yourself as a business owner. Writing out this plan one way for you to step into that and it will help you start thinking about freelancing in a new way.

If you already have a freelance business, you may have parts of your plan figured out, but you can still benefit from filling in the missing pieces.

Doing so allows you to get really clear on what your goals are. It also helps you think through the things you’ll need to do to reach those goals and the systems you’ll need to support you.

Why create a freelance business plan?

If you’re the type of person that loves lists and documenting your goals, a business plan may make perfect sense to you. If you’re not that type of person, you may need a few more details about how this fits into building a real business and finding success. 

Here are three different reasons to consider creating a freelance business plan:

Get your goals out of your head

There are several studies that show the power of writing things down. This simple action makes it more likely that you’ll reach your goals. The same is true with creating a business plan. One study of more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs over a six-year period found that those who created a formal business plan were 16% more likely to achieve success.

Understand your vision

Freelancers are looking to accomplish something specific, usually to work for themselves or to bring in more money. These are great goals, but they aren’t the only goals. There are many other considerations that you should keep in mind about what you want your business and life to look like. Go behind the “be your own boss” or money goals.

Track your progress

There are a lot of moving pieces to keep track of when you’re a freelancer. Honestly, it’s difficult to keep any of your business goals and processes top of mind if you don’t document them. That’s why creating a freelance business plan is so important. It makes it easier to get intentional about what you want to achieve.

What are the elements of a well-written business plan?

These are the elements we’ll walk through to create your business plan:

Part one: The basics

Part two: Your offer

Part three: You + your market 

Part four: operations.

Part five: What’s really in it for you?

Now, let’s jump into creating your plan, step by step.

Think of these first four steps as the foundation of your freelance business. 

Choose a name

You may choose to go under your name or to develop a unique name for your business. Both of these options have pros and cons. 

Using your own name for your freelance business

This is the simplest option for most people. It’s easy for clients to remember and it can grow with you as your business evolves. If you end up changing the types of services you want to offer, you won’t need to rebrand. Everything can happen under one virtual umbrella.

Coming up with a business name

Going with a name other than your own adds a new level of complexity, but if you want your business to have its own identity, this is the best option for you. It’s also wise to start here if you see yourself growing a team or building an agency in the future.

In the section of your business plan, talk about why you’re starting the business. Look at all the reasons you want to start this venture and include that in your business description. How do you want it to impact your life and the lives of the clients you’ll serve?

Next, make note of the location for your business. This could be as simple as where you live, or you could make it a little more complicated if you want to become a digital nomad. 

Part two: Your offers

Next, you’ll want to get into what services you’ll be selling to clients, and why they matter. This is the section where you’ll really dig into your entrepreneurial experience (or entrepreneurial spirit, if you don’t have experience yet.)

Products and services

What type of service will you offer for clients? There are dozens of options to choose from. Start by thinking about your interests and talents. If you’re having trouble figuring out what you want to do, this blog post on gig jobs can help.

Benefits of your product/service

Now, consider how your product or service will benefit the people that you’re offering it to. For example, I’m a copywriter and I know that I help overwhelmed marketing managers create the assets they need to showcase their ideas and support their campaigns. Other writers may focus on helping companies create content with the right tone, or keep up with their content calendar.

If you want to be a graphic designer that supports small companies, a benefit to your service might be that you’re providing assets that make your client’s brand feel visually cohesive. This section will look different for everyone, but it’s critical to understand why someone would need what you have to offer.

Target market

If you’re just starting out, this could be as simple as websites that need blog posts or small businesses that need logos. If you know what types of clients you want to work with already, include more details about your target customer. Remember: You can always do more research into potential customers as you figure out who you like to work with. You don’t have to worry about who your dream clients would be right away.

What problem you’ll solve 

This aspect of your plan takes a little more thinking. Some people confuse the problem they solve with the service they deliver. The problem is deeper than that. Think about why your customers will come to you. This could be because:

• They don’t have time to do the tasks that you’ll complete 
• They don’t have the necessary skills to deliver what you can
• Their team is small, and they have overflow work

These are a few of the common reasons that people work with freelancers, but do some digging to find out what some of the pain points are in your industry.

At this stage, you’ll be doing some market analysis to see how you compare and how you can set yourself apart from others offering the same services.

Your competitors

Spend a bit of time doing research on people offering services similar to yours. This way, you can get a sense of their pricing, the packages they offer, and how they are presenting themselves to clients.

What makes you unique

Once you know what your competitors are doing, think about your competitive edge. How are you going to stand out from them? What can you offer your clients that is special? How is your approach or process something that sets you apart?

Marketing strategy

How are you going to get the word about your services out there? Will you use social media channels, go to events, or pitch your clients directly? All of these methods can work, but you need to determine what you’re comfortable with and what your target clients will most likely respond to. 

This is my favorite section of the plan. You’ll turn your ideas into an online business that works and decide exactly how you want to run it. 

Tools you’ll need

Consider any processes, software, systems, and tools you may need to do your work. This doesn’t mean you have to go researching specific solutions but it’s good to get an idea of the types of things you will need to do your best work. 

For me, this is a word processor, an email client, and a computer with Google Chrome. The tools you’ll need might look a little bit different depending on what type of freelance business you want to have.  These are some of my favorite tools for freelancers.

Next, think about what expenses you might encounter in your business. You can run a freelance business and without spending money, or you can invest money in your new venture to get going. This will depend on the tools and systems you have and what you may need to acquire. 

When I first started my freelance business part-time, I didn’t have any expenses. However, one thing I did need to account for because I was freelancing on Upwork , was the fee that they would take out of my earnings. I consider that a business expense. If you plan to take payments via credit card, a small fee will be taken out of those payments as well.

These are just a couple of examples of expenses you may encounter. Be aware of them and how they may impact you. Cash flow management is key. You have to know exactly where your money is going. 

Part  5: What’s in it for you?

It’s also important to go beyond just what you’re going to offer and how you’re going to offer it. You need to think about how your business is going to serve you, allowing you to meet your goals live the life you want.

Your financial goals

It’s no secret that all of us are in business because we want to make money. Wanting to make bring in cash is one thing, having a clear financial goal in mind puts you on a whole different level as a business owner.

I thought about this in two different ways when I first started freelancing. My first financial goal was to make enough to cover my expenses each month. Not just my business expenses, but all of my bills. 

Then, I had a number in mind that I wanted to reach that would allow me to save, invest and spend a bit of money on luxuries. That was my financial stretch goal, and I would encourage you to have one as well. 

Your lifestyle goals

We’ve all heard different ideas about what the freelance lifestyle is. Use this section to define it for yourself. What do you want your day-to-day life to look like? How many hours do you want to work a day? When do you want to start work? 

Bonus: What happens when you reach your goals?

This section is optional, but it’s good to project out and think about what you’ll do when you reach the goals and milestones in your freelance business plan. This document is not meant to reflect the way you approach your business forever. It’s a starting point, and it should evolve with you. Keep an eye on your plan as you make progress as a freelancer, and it will help you determine the right time to take these steps.

Raising your rates

Once you reach the goals that you lay out in your original business plan, it’s almost certainly time to raise your rates if you haven’t done so already.

Check out this post to learn more about how to increase your rates and get a free price increase letter template.

Team members

You may also want to consider adding people to your team to help you with tasks that you don’t need or want to do. You can hire help to free up your time to focus on more revenue-generating activities. 

New business model

This is the time to think about it you are still happy with the business you’ve created. Will you continue offering the same services once you reach your goal? Or do you see yourself wanting to get creative and expand into other areas? Don’t get ahead of yourself here, but think about whether or not you are the type of person who will want that change.

Ready to create your plan? Grab this freelance business plan template

Putting this document together takes time, but this is an investment that will pay off for you in the long run. If you get stuck on a section, don’t stress. Use these insightful questions as a guide and create the roadmap that will get you closer to where you want to be. You can always add to or edit the plan.

Freelance Business Plan Template

Get your free copy now!

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Starting a Freelance Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Updated: June 16, 2021

Published: February 13, 2020

So, you’re in the business of starting a business.

You’re looking for the freedom and flexibility that comes with only answering to yourself.

You’re planning to take life by the reins and your industry by storm.

In other words, you want to get your ow n freelance business going.

What Is a Freelance Business?

A freelance business is one that’s started and run by an individual who works for themselves — generally through independent contract work. Freelancers are responsible for handling aspects of their businesses that typical employees would not, including setting their own hours, determining pricing, pursuing contract work, and paying business taxes.

Starting a freelance business is an exciting prospect. Perks like setting your own hours and pursuing your passion are certainly attractive — but a lot of effort, strategy, and planning goes into earning those benefits.

It’s a tough road with a lot of confusing twists and turns, so it helps to have a map.

Let's explore some key points you’ll have to address using a roadmap to starting a freelance business.

How to Start a Freelance Business

• Understand what you want out of your business.
• Have a solid picture of your personal financial situation.
• Make sure you’re really in it.
• Set measurable goals.
• Sort out the business-end of the business.
• Start figuring out your buyer personas.
• Determine pricing.
• Create and maintain an online presence.
• Network, network, network.
• Market yourself effectively.
• Maintain relationships and boost your reputation.
• Stay persistent when unexpected difficulties arise.

1. Understand what you want out of your business.

Before you set your big freelance business plans in motion, you need to know a lot about yourself and why you’re starting your business in the first place.

Ask yourself some of the following questions — Why are you doing this? Is it to be your own boss? To set your own hours? To pursue your passion? All of the above?

And how much time and effort are you willing to put in? Is this going to be a side hustle? Are you going to keep your day job?

You need to know the answers to all of these questions — and quite a few more — before you can really commit to starting your own freelance business. You can’t actually know what you’re doing if you have no concept of why you’re doing it in the first place.

2. Have a solid picture of your personal financial situation.

The idea of dropping everything to pursue your passion on your own terms is starry-eyed daydream material. That’s why you need to be careful.

It’s easy to romanticize the image of you walking out of your office with a big smile on your face, knowing that you’re about to do what you’ve always wanted without anyone to answer to.

It’s a lovely concept, but you can’t get carried away. You need to ground yourself, and understanding your personal finances is a crucial part of that.

Familiarize yourself with personal and business-related expenses and understand how long your savings can sustain you. Take a good hard look at your financial situation, and identify a point where you might jump ship if things don’t go according to plan.

Take all of that into account and use it to set a monthly income target. There are a lot of helpful resources online — like the Boundless Freelance Target Income Calculator — that can walk you through the different factors you must consider when calculating how much you’ll need to make.

Understanding your personal finances will help you get a clear picture of what you can expect going forward, and give you a concept of how to handle the issues that are going to arise.

3. Make sure you’re really in it.

If you want to succeed as a freelance business owner, you have to be all the way in. You need to find and maintain a special kind of motivation.

You have to ask yourself some burning questions, including — Am I ready to commit as much as I possibly can to this? Is this exactly what I want to do? Do I have a comprehensive plan? Do I genuinely believe in that plan? Am I willing to fail?

When it comes down to it, you have to believe in yourself, believe in your business, understand it might not pan out, and know you’re willing to stay the course to successfully start a freelance business.

4. Set measurable goals.

You’ll need to set benchmarks to make sure your business is making progress and that you, personally, are staying the course. It’ll also help your confidence to know that you’re consistently reaching milestones you’ve set for yourself.

Make sure the goals you’re setting are SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Also be sure to set different kinds of goals — specifically short-term, long-term, and ongoing.

A short-term goal may be something like getting your website up and running with a certain number of monthly visitors within three months.

A long-term goal could be reaching a target in annual revenue within three years.

Lastly, an ongoing goal might be dedicating a specific number of hours to client outreach each week.

Make sure these goals are reasonable and outline a solid trajectory for your business. Keep careful track of them to have a better understanding of what you’re doing well, and what you could be doing better.

5. Sort out the business-end of the business.

You’ll want to handle the nitty-gritty administrative and legal ends of your freelance business before really getting started.

That could mean taking steps like formally organizing a business entity, getting a picture of your tax exposure, and familiarizing yourself with what your business contracts might look like.

You should also have a plan in place for cash management. How and when money comes can be unpredictable in freelancing. You should have some concept of how you intend to maintain enough cash to stay afloat.

Additionally, consider building infrastructure that helps you manage your sales, marketing, and customer service. A CRM is a great way to do that. Consider adopting one and letting it serve as the backbone for a lot of your business operations.

The main point I’m getting at here is that there’s a side to starting a freelance business that isn’t particularly fun or exciting. But you won’t get to enjoy the fun and exciting stuff without addressing it first.

Be sure to work out aspects like accounting , how your business is going to function on a day-to-day basis, and how you’re going to save and manage your money before really launching into your freelance business.

6. Start figuring out your buyer personas.

As per HubSpot’s own definition , a buyer persona is “a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

In other words, it’s the kind of person you think you’ll be selling to.

You’ll want to start by conducting general research about your target audience. Get a feel for who your customers and prospects are. You should consider reaching out to those people for surveys and interviews. This will help you understand what kind of buyer is right for your business.

From there, you’ll want to whittle down your base a bit. Pick out commonalities among the potential buyers you’ve identified. This could include considering factors like demographics, how they like to be contacted, behaviors, and interests.

Once you’ve identified trends within your audience, develop personas based on the different patterns you see. For instance, if you’re a caterer, you may notice that 40-to-50 year old women booking their childrens’ birthday parties or other family events make up a significant portion of your business. Use that information to develop a buyer persona specific to those qualities.

Give that group a name and boom! You have a buyer persona.

That’s a very high-level overview of the process, if you’d like a more in depth perspective on how to go about developing one of these personas, check out this article.

7. Determine pricing.

When determining pricing, it’s important to consider how you plan on charging clients.

Will you be hourly? Will you charge a flat fee? Will you use project quotes? It’s important to settle on how you’ll be making money before you start actually making it.

Once you’ve landed on your pricing structure, start figuring how much your services are going to cost. You can start by researching industry averages. You should be able to find some solid figures online. Sites like Payscale and Glassdoor are good places to start.

Additionally, take a look at How to Calculate Hourly Rate for Freelance Marketers & Consultants for some initial estimates.

It could also help to reach out to other professionals in your space to see what they charge and how those price points are working out for them.

Bear in mind, this isn’t an exact science. Finding the right price for your services will probably take some trial-and-error. You should keep experimenting until you get it right.

8. Create and maintain an online presence.

You’re going to need to get a website up and running as soon as possible. That’s going to be your first point of contact with a lot of your customers.

Having a great-looking website that’s easy to navigate assures potential customers that your business is legitimate and professional.

A well-structured, visually appealing website can also distinguish you from other freelancers in your space. You can use it to give your prospects a picture of your services, portfolio, and pricing.

Additionally, you’ll want to establish a solid social media presence. Outreach through social networks is becoming essential to any kind of business — and freelancers are no exception.

A robust social media presence is incredibly important when it comes to engaging with existing customers to keep them interested in your business.

Create and develop profiles across a variety of social networks. The more likes and followers you can gather, the more trustworthy and established your business will look.

9. Network, network, network.

You can’t conduct business without contacts. That’s like trying to drive a car without gasoline. But networking is much easier in theory than in practice.

It takes a lot of energy, and it’s often difficult to know where to begin. There’s no doubt it’ll be tough, but the success of your business could hinge upon whether or not you put in the effort to network effectively.

You should start by identifying where your target buyers are hanging out — both online and offline. Then, you can use that information to develop a marketing and networking strategy that meets them where they are.

Attend local meetings relevant to your industry to make personal outreach to potential prospects and fellow professionals in your space. It also helps to stay active on online forums about the areas your business covers.

Be sure to use social media to keep consistent contact between you and your potential buyers, as well as you and your fellow professionals.

Like I said, you can’t conduct business without contacts, and it’s not easy to establish those relationships. It’s also difficult to maintain those connections once you have them, but don’t get discouraged.

If you make smart, dedicated efforts to reach and connect with prospects and fellow professionals, you should be able to establish a productive network for your business.

Take a look at How to Master Non-Awkward, Effective In-Person Networking for more networking tips.

10. Market yourself effectively.

You should develop a solid content marketing strategy . Blogging is an essential part of that process. When you do, be sure to write content that is generally relevant to your field — not just specific to your own business.

You want to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. That can give you the kind of credibility your business needs to stand out.

You want to show that your business is legitimate. The best way to do that is to demonstrate that you really know what you’re talking about when it comes to your area of expertise.

You’ll also want to write up content offers to attach to your blogs to convert website visitors into leads. A content offer is an asset like a whitepaper or an eBook with information relevant to your field.

You can use content offers to attract and log contacts. In order for a reader to download your content offer, have them fill out a contact form . In doing so, you’re identifying that reader as a potential lead.

You should also be actively promoting content on social media — and it doesn’t always have to be your own. You can actively post other thoughtful content from other outlets in your industry. By doing this, you can let your followers know that you’re staying educated about and on top of industry trends.

Your content marketing strategy can shape your reputation. If you create and promote enriching content that your readers will get a lot out of, you’ll stand out as an authority in your industry.

11. Maintain relationships and boost your reputation.

One of your first priorities will always be preserving the client relationships you establish. You have to do everything in your power to delight your customers and keep them close.

This means keeping consistent contact and providing exceptional customer service.

Positive word of mouth can be a huge boost when starting a freelance business. Happy customers can provide that, and even happier customers will go out of their way to offer it.

If you can, get testimonials from those kinds of clients to display on your website.

And it should go without saying, but everything on this means nothing if you don’t do your job well. Do good work. Put in as much effort as you can. Be professional and consistent with what you do. And keep your customers happy.

12. Stay persistent when unexpected difficulties arise

You must be prepared to stay the course, if you want to make it. Odds are you won’t see stellar results right away, and it will probably take a lot of time and effort before you do.

You have to set yourself up for success and do everything you can deliver on the goals you set for yourself. You’ll hit snags. Some things won’t go well. You’re bound to deal with at least a few hard times.

In spite of all that, you have to be professional, persistent, and do all you can to best serve your customers. That’s going to put you in the best possible position to make it.

It’s not going to be easy. But if your head and heart are in the right place, it’s going to be worth it.

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Freelance Business Plan Template + Guide

BIG NEWS! We just released The Freelance Files , a collection of professional done-for-you email scripts, contracts, invoices, and more for smarter freelancing. The first 50 customers, save 50% with this link .

Step-by-Step Freelance Business Plan

What is a freelance business plan, who needs a freelance business plan, benefits of a freelance business plan, now, go make yours.

A freelance business plan is the ideal way to make quick progress as a freelancer.

Sure, you already feel like you know exactly what you need to do — find more clients, deliver high-quality work within deadlines, send invoices and recover payments. But freelancers who want to grow their business understand the importance of a freelance business plan.

A well thought out and structured freelance business plan helps to craft your strategic and tactical approach, defines tasks and budgets that you can track, and increases your chances of success.

So today, I’ll share my 14-point freelance business plan template along with a guide for creating your ideal freelance business plan.

Let’s dive right in, then we’ll cover some of the basics after. My freelance business plan template for you consists of 14 questions.

Take some time off work when you are working on the freelance business plan for the first time, and try not to take calls until it’s done. You could review your plan every week and this will only take a few minutes. You could also do a monthly review when you enter your revenue and expense figures of the month, but this should not take too long either.

Let’s take a look at the freelance business plan steps below and the guidelines for answering the 14 questions. Download a copy of the template below and follow along as you fill yours in.

1. Company name

We start with the company name – pretty straightforward.

Question 2 is about your purpose , or why you started your company. It may seem that every business starts with profit as a motive, but when you really think about your own motivation you will find a purpose above profit. Did you start your brand design business because you are passionate about helping entrepreneurs create a distinct identity? Or did you start a video content studio to help more brands get the power of video easily?

3. Target Market

We now come to your target market . If you are in the B2B market then you should define the profile of organizations that you target as well as the specific roles within those organizations who make decisions to purchase from you. If you have done a user persona exercise, you could describe the personas here. If you’re not sure about who your target audience is, The Magic of Choosing a Target Audience will be helpful here.

4. Location

The fourth point refers to the geographical areas where you operate.

5. Products/Services

Next we come to a description of your products or services. Do you work on a project basis – with the scope defined by the client? Or do you have any standard products or packages? What is included in your offer? For example, do you offer freelance video creation as a service, and price depending on the scope of each project? Or have you created some standard packages, such as $350 for a 30 second video, with a 200 word script and incorporating 2 rounds of customer reviews?

6. Competitors

The sixth question is about your competitors . You should research before you answer this question because competitors are not always those who provide similar products or services, rather they are those who help users to solve the same problem. This means that your competitors could be from completely different product categories. You will find these insights by speaking to current and potential users.

7. Differentiation

Question 7 is about your differentiation . If you have not articulated this before, then it’s an excellent outcome of working on your business plan. As you clearly write your differentiation, you will be able to communicate it much more strongly during sales pitches or in your marketing material.

8. Problems

Now we come to the problems that you solve for your users. What were they doing before they started using your products or services? This knowledge helps you to find more users with similar challenges. What’s keeping them up at night? They may not say that it’s graphic design or creative needs, and you need to understand how your work helps them. My course is helpful here.

9. Benefits

Question 9 is about the benefits that your product or services deliver. It is extremely useful to articulate this and lends clarity to sales and marketing communications.

10. Marketing

Next we come to Marketing . How does your target audience get to know you? Are you doing anything to reach out to potential customers? You can mention meetups, events, social media, advertising, email campaigns, SEO, or anything else that’s working for you, here.

The next question is about your business goals for the next 6 months. I have suggested 3 goals but you can make a longer list if you want. One of your goals could be related to the new business that you want to generate. You may also have the goal of adding a revenue stream. Goals could be related to expansion, for example, launching in new geographies or adding new products. You may have sales or marketing goals such as creating a branding package , or a product to sell online. You may also have operational goals such as implementing a project management tool or better bookkeeping.

12. Milestones

In point 12, list the weekly milestones that you must complete in order to achieve your goals. You should review this every week, and refine as needed.

13. Targets

Question 13 is to define your monthly revenue targets . I have said 3 months, but you can set targets for a longer-term if you want. This is a good time to consider, are you charging enough to reach your goals? If you charge $1,000 for a logo, how many logos do you need to do to meet your revenue goal?

14. Expenses

Question 14 asks you to put down your budget for expenses . This helps you to be more conscious of how you are spending, and when you think about revenue targets and expenses together, you can manage your profitability better. It’s all about profitability. If your expenses are higher than your sales, you’ve got a problem!

Let’s back track for a quick minute. A freelance business plan is a document that lists your business objectives, targets, milestones, timelines, and budgets. Think of it as a roadmap that provides direction to your efforts, shows you the landmarks along your route and helps you avoid roadblocks.

Every business needs a business plan but most freelancers never get around to creating one. I have worked with many, many creative freelancers, and I know that some of them are aware of what a business plan is, but believe that only large businesses need it, while others are just not fully aware of the advantages of having one.

A freelance business plan is created with the specific requirements of freelancers in mind. I strongly believe that the template of the plan should be simple and should not consume too much of your time when you need to create, update or modify it.

Business plans of shorter timeframes say 3 to 6 months, are usually most suitable for freelancers. The work environment for most freelancers is just too dynamic to be able to plan ahead for the next few years.

I’ll share my preferred template for a freelance business plan here, and take you through the steps. But first, let’s see who needs a freelance business plan and what are the benefits of creating one.

Is a business plan essential for all freelancers? Maybe not, so take a look at the list below and decide whether you need one.

You will benefit from having a business plan if:

1. Freelancing is your main source of income

A plan may not be important for someone who has a job or another primary source of income and is freelancing as a side gig. But if you depend mainly on your freelance business, then the business plan should be a high priority for you.

2. You want to grow your business

If you have the ambition to grow your business, possibly planning to create more bandwidth when you get busy or build a team , then a business plan will help you to achieve that growth.

3. You plan to seek external advice or funding

If you are considering discussing your business with potential mentors, investors or consultants, a business plan is a good starting point.

The time and effort that you invest in creating your business plan will yield a variety of benefits.

Clearer direction and focus

The process of listing your goals and the steps that you must take in order to achieve them brings tremendous clarity and a sharper focus to your efforts. You will consciously pursue business relevant to your goals rather than respond to every opportunity that comes your way.

Prioritize better

If your working days are a blur of meetings, deliveries, and firefighting, chances are that you don’t have the time to do tasks that are important rather than urgent. Once you list these tasks down as weekly milestones that must be achieved for your goals to be realized, you are much more likely to make time for them. Maybe you need to attend networking events in your vicinity in order to attract talent, or maybe you need to spend time creating marketing collateral. Putting these tasks down in the plan makes it much more likely that they will get done.

Track your financial performance

Your business plan helps you track whether you are achieving your revenue targets and keeping expenses within control, or in other words, manage your profitability.

Builds the confidence of external stakeholders

When you need to discuss your business with investors, mentors or other external stakeholders, the business plan will inspire confidence in them and show them that you have thought things through.

Although my template is a little longer than some others, I have seen that it works really well for freelancers. It takes some time when you do it for the first time, then regular reviews and updates are pretty quick. I’m confident that you will find this time well worth it, for the direction, focus, and clarity that you gain from your freelance business plan.

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Best Freelancing Growth

Written by Rhonda Page

Contributor at millo.co.

Rhonda is an international speaker and published author. She began as a graphic designer and evolved to brand strategist and business development professional, bringing hundreds of thousands in new business to the various design firms she worked with. She's worked with the biggest global brands such as Kraft and Coca-Cola and been client side too. Her  Business Accelerator Program  teaches freelancers how to spend less time on pitches and close new business more easily.

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• Freelancer Business Plans: How to Create One and Use It to Build Your Business

Make A Living Writing

8 Things to Include in Your Freelancer Business Plan

1) company overview, 2) industry analysis, 3) customer analysis, 4) competitive analysis, 5) marketing plan, 6) operations plan, 8) financial plan, don’t skip this step.

One of the biggest mistakes freelancers make is failing to recognize they’re running an actual business. And because you’re running a business, you really should have a business plan in place. 

A freelancer business plan will help you identify your goals and the best strategies to grow your writing business, laying out the best strategies for you to follow and giving you a precise roadmap to make money writing .

But what does a freelance business plan look like?  

Below I will walk you through each component of a business plan and give your guidance and questions to answer to quickly and easily complete your plan so you have a roadmap to follow in succeeding as a freelance writer.

In the company overview section of your plan, you need to include answers to two questions:

What type of freelance writing business are you operating?

What accomplishments have you achieved to date? 

Here you want to give an overview of your business and the services you offer. For example, do you offer copywriting services , article writing, white papers , press releases, etc.? Describe the freelance writing services you currently offer and/or want to offer in the future.

Here you will document accomplishments you have already achieved in your business. Perhaps you’ve published 500 articles to date, or your writing has been featured in a major publication. Or perhaps you’ve served over 100 clients. Or have been freelance writing for over 5 years.

Documenting your accomplishments serves two purposes.

First, it will give you confidence that you have a lot to offer prospective clients.

Second, use what you write here when bidding on new jobs; since the best indicator of future success is past success, showing off your accomplishments will help encourage new clients to work with you.

In a traditional business plan, the industry analysis section discusses the size of the market and trends within the industry.

According to Technavio, the content writing industry generates annual revenue of $412 billion. This proves the market is massive.

But it’s important to research and think through industry trends.

For example, while the U.S. market is stable and slightly growing, foreign markets are growing even faster. And clearly, there’s a trend towards more online and SEO-friendly writing than in the past.

By understanding relevant trends, you can make better decisions on your growth strategy. For example, you may want to complete an SEO course and market yourself as an SEO content specialist and charge higher prices.

In this section of your freelancer business plan, you will identify the customers you want to serve.

For example, do you want to write for magazines? Or business sites? Do you want to write about health & fitness or science ? 

Think about the types of customers for which you’ve written in the past and what you have liked/disliked, and brainstorm new customers you’d like to attract and serve.

Once you have this list, identify the wants and needs of these clients. For example, clients may require things like:

• Deep domain knowledge
• Fast turnaround times
• Ability to conduct in-depth or original research

Knowing who your ideal clients are and what they want/need, will make attracting these clients much easier.

Here, based on the services you are offering and the clients you want to work with, document your key competitors. Most likely, these will be employees at client companies and/or other freelance employees.

Importantly, you must then think about and document your areas of competitive advantage in your freelancer business plan. These areas might include:

• Your unique expertise in certain areas
• Your experience and track record
• Your ability to develop great proposals
• Great customer testimonials you’ve amassed
• Your social media following

Importantly, think through how to make this list bigger and better than others. Building these areas of competitive advantage will ensure a steady stream of clients for years to come.

The marketing plan section discusses the “4Ps” as follows:

Product/Service : Here you will reiterate the freelance writing services you offer

Place : Here you will document the geographies within which you will offer your services. For example, will you only work through the internet? Or, are you located in an area where local companies, who might prefer to meet on occasion in person, could benefit from working with you?

Price : In this section, you will discuss your pricing. Do you want to be a premium service provider and charge higher prices? Do you want to have average prices? Or be the low cost provider?

Promotions : The promotions section is where you will list all the methods you will use to attract prospective clients. Will you try cold-calling? Email? Direct messaging via social media sites? Will you use freelance job sites like Upwork? Will you find freelance jobs on LinkedIn ? Document all the promotional methods you will use to attract new clients.

Your operations plan includes two sub-sections:

• The list of ongoing functions you must complete and how
• Your future milestones

Ongoing Functions

In this section, document the key functions you must perform like completing writing assignments, prospecting for new clients, freelancer invoicing , etc.

Also, list tools you will use to streamline these functions so you are most efficient. For example, employing the best accounting software can make your freelance business more efficient .

In completing this section, think through what work you will do yourself, and what work might you want to outsource to others. For example, maybe it’s worthwhile to hire someone to do your outreach to find new clients. Or to build your website.

Future Milestones

Your future milestones document the accomplishments you’d like to achieve in the future. For example, perhaps in the coming year you want to secure 100 new clients and generate $100,000 in revenue. 

To begin, the very act of setting and documenting goals improves your chances of achieving them. But also, after setting them, think through what you need to do to accomplish them. For example, maybe you need to hire someone to do invoicing or prospecting. Or maybe you need to complete a course.

Figure out what resources are needed to attain your milestones and then document them too. For example, you might say that within the next 3 months you need to complete an SEO course and in the next 5 months you need to hire someone to do your invoicing.

Essentially this section lays out your growth roadmap to follow.

The team section of your freelancer business plan documents what other team members you have or will need to achieve your goals.

It’s fine if your team is just you. But there are countless other individuals from other writers, social media marketing experts, bookkeepers, etc., that could provide expertise and value that you should consider.

Your financial plan should present your profit and loss projections for the next one to three years.

These projections can be easily completed in a spreadsheet.

For example, multiple the number of new clients you hope to serve by the average revenue per client to figure out your sales. Then subtract costs including platform fees (e.g., Upwork fees), software you must purchase, fees you pay to outsourced personnel, etc. The result is your expected profit.

Change your assumptions to see best and worst case scenarios. And use the financial projections to see areas in which you might want to invest.

For example, you might determine that you can work on 2 extra projects worth $2,000 total if you freed up 20 hours. And that purchasing a $1,000 piece of software would free up those hours. In this case, buying the software would be a great investment.

Creating your freelance business plan forces you to answer key questions and think through the best strategies to employ. 

Unfortunately, most freelancers don’t create a plan and suffer from lack of focus and profits. They think simply being a good writer is enough — IT’S NOT!

Armed with the information above, you can create a business plan for your freelance business, follow it, and start to achieve your dreams.

Dave Lavinsky is the president and co-founder of Growthink where he has helped over 1 million entrepreneurs and businesses write business plans to start and grow their ventures.

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The Ultimate 2023 Freelance Business Plan

By jena kroeker.

Creating a freelance business plan for 2023 is like planning a trip with an uncertain itinerary. Even if you know where you want to go, the journey could be full of twists and turns.

But you may remember the encouragement we offered in last year’s blog post titled “ How to Prepare Your Business for Your Best Year Yet ”:

“While we can’t predict exactly what 2022 will be like, the future is bright for freelancers. You can take comfort in the fact you’ve made a great choice of career.”

And the same is true now. Although the world is full of economic challenges and uncertainty, we’re part of a growing freelance and virtual assistant industry that’s demonstrated resilience and adaptability. For example, in his article, “ The Freelance Revolution Is Ahead Of Schedule ,” Jon Younger shares the following statistics:

“40% of full-time employees in the US have a side-gig. 90% plus of corporate leaders in a recent global survey said they utilize freelancers and say they will increase their reliance. During the current recessionary period, almost 80% of employers say they are increasing their use of freelancers as they suspend full-time hires.”

So, let’s face 2023 with confidence and optimism!

Creating a Freelance Business Plan

In our Business Planning Success workshop , Freelance University co-founder and instructor Craig Cannings unpacked a “10-Step Freelance Business Plan.”

These 10 steps are all part of the journey you’ll be taking next year. And as you prepare for this winding road, don’t forget you’re armed with experience and potential. However the year unfolds, you can keep adapting and building skills to help you navigate it.

In particular, you’ll benefit from developing your soft skills. As Craig explained in a recent Facebook Friday event on the “ Top Soft Skills for 2023 ,” both technical (hard) skills and non-technical (soft) skills contribute to your long-term success.

While the hard skills help you perform marketing and service-specific tasks, the soft skills enhance your client relationships and your business planning. And, as you’ll see below, they help you create the ultimate freelance business plan.

Are you ready? Okay, imagine you’re going on a trip and need to organize five important elements before departing.

Preparing for the Year’s Journey

1. your destination.

Although you’re traveling through uncharted territory, you can create a map of where you want to go. In other words, determining your destination involves defining the vision and goals for your business.

As Craig Cannings explains in the workshop above , it’s important to start with a “Big Why Statement”:

“I would like to build a Freelance Business so that I can _____________________.”

Next, spark your imagination by envisioning what you’d like to accomplish, and then turn those visions into specific goals to reach at specific times in 2023.

For example, in her article, “ Steal My Freelance Writing Business Plan ,” Elna Cain recommends deciding what you’d like to accomplish by the end of December. Then, break your goals down into quarters (groupings of three months at a time), starting in January. She says, “Knowing what you want to accomplish during a three-month period will help you determine what you should be working on each month!”

Important soft skills for this step :

• Creativity to imagine the possibilities for you and your business • Adaptability to changing circumstances

According to Craig, “The willingness to change is a superpower for any virtual assistant or freelancer .” As times are changing, you may need to adapt to new circumstances and adjust your goals along the way.

2. Your Budget

Since all journeys require funding, financial goals are a crucial part of your freelance business plan. To plan your budget, start by asking yourself three questions:

• What are your desired annual/monthly revenues? • What is the specific monthly income you need to make ASAP? • What are your current (or potential) monthly business expenses?

In this time of economic uncertainty and rising prices, you may need to adjust your budget at certain intervals. But for now, outline your one-time and recurring expenses, including fixed costs and monthly costs.

Decide when you’ll revisit your budget to check whether the numbers are still lining up. For instance, you could examine it at the beginning of each quarter when you reevaluate your overall business goals.

• Attention to detail as you calculate your income and expenses • Adaptability in the face of a changing economy

3. Your Transportation

Instead of planes, trains, and automobiles, your freelance business plan relies on your niche and pricing to move it forward. These two elements are the vehicles that help transport your business toward fulfillment and sustainability. Fortunately, you can adjust them to suit your preferences and increase your speed as you navigate the road ahead.

Specifically, it’s important to plan both your audience niche (Who will you serve?) and your service niche (What will you offer?). For example, maybe you’ve decided to serve fitness professionals by offering them social media services.

Once you’ve determined your niche, plan your pricing by asking yourself these three questions:

• Are you clear on how to price your services and packages? • Are you comfortable with your current rates or will you consider a price increase for the new year? • Any service packages to add or remove?

To ensure your pricing transports your business effectively, try to avoid going too high or too low.

An article titled “ 7 Freelancers Mistakes to Avoid ” warns,

“Think about the adage: ‘Pay peanuts, get monkeys’. Yes, clients generally are on the lookout for affordable, good-value products and services, but this doesn’t mean that you should undervalue what you can provide. “Particularly, very low fees might make a potential client feel suspicious of you. They might wonder whether you do, in fact, have the right experience or expertise, and whether you will be able to return a timely and professional project.”

It also recommends including sick pay, maternity or paternity leave, healthcare benefits, and vacation allowance in your fees, amounts that are normally included in an employee salary.

• Empathy toward your clients’ circumstances • Clear communication with clients • Exceptional service • Proactivity to anticipate necessary changes • Collaboration/teamwork skills to enhance your services

4. Your Accommodations

Now consider the online accommodations that house your business presence and make it visible to your target audience of potential clients. For example, imagine you have a main house (your website) and a number of mobile homes or motorhome RVs (your social media, freelance profiles, digital content, and email).

As you create your freelance business plan, ask yourself the following questions about each accommodation:

• Website : What are your plans to create or optimize your website? • Social media : How can you optimize your social media presence? • Freelance profiles : Will you set up profiles in other platforms (e.g. FreeU, Upwork)? • Digital content : What content will you create to attract your audience (e.g. blog, podcast, YouTube video)? • Email : What lead magnets will you create to build your email list?

• Creativity as you think of new ideas to enhance your business presence • Proactivity to anticipate necessary changes

5. Your Supplies and Resources

The remaining parts of your freelance business plan are essential supplies and resources that will power your journey through 2023. Here’s what you need to include in your plan:

• Business systems (e.g. email inbox system, bookkeeping system, etc.) • Technology (e.g. web platform and host, project management tool, etc.) • Marketing (e.g. plans to reach your audience via referral marketing, content marketing, and other channels) • Learning plan (e.g. courses and learning time so you can develop necessary skills heading into the new year) • Productivity (e.g. efficient use of time so you can accomplish priority tasks and track your progress)

Forgetting some of these supplies can cause inconvenience or discomfort. For instance, project management is cumbersome if you lack the proper technology to streamline it. But forgetting other elements can threaten to derail your business. Consider this advice from the article above regarding productivity and time management:

“Think about it: when you were working for a company, you probably had days when your workload was very low, which meant you might have done nothing, or very little, for a whole day. “Still, at the end of the month, you would get your salary and all your benefits, and that would likely remain unchanged. However, things are different as a freelancer. Generally speaking, if a freelancer doesn’t work, they don’t earn.”

Therefore, make sure you pack all the above supplies and resources as you get ready to travel through 2023.

• Project management so you can manage your plan and resources • Organization so you can balance your personal and professional life by blocking out time for clients, marketing, and learning

Final Thoughts and Encouragement

How do you feel now? More equipped to face the new year with confidence and optimism? As you can see, the ultimate freelance business plan for 2023 includes space to move and adapt to the road ahead.

As the article above  says when describing a freelance writer ’s business plan,

“Nothing is set in stone, especially when it comes to business writing and coming up with a plan. You should be prepared to make changes as necessary to help you reach your goals.”

So, pack your suitcase, head out the door, and look forward to a year of learning and growing!

And now we’d love to hear from you. How’s your freelance business planning going? Do certain parts of your plan need special attention or further development? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Business Plan Writer Moscow

A well written business plan is an essential component for any company seeking to raise capital. Our team at Prospectus.com has over 20 years of experience writing business plans and structuring business models for start-ups, later stage and expansion companies, those seeking venture or angel financing all the way to mezzanine and 144A funding, spanning a wide range of industries across the globe. We have been involved in thousands business projects and assisted with business planning, offering and private placement setup, feasibility studies, drafting financial projections, both for private companies and those seeking initial public offerings or listings on a stock exchange.  Our team is a recognized leader in business plan development. In fact, our CEO is the Chairman and Founder of  Borders.org  ( Business Plans Without Borders ), a not-for-profit 501c3 organization which assist low income families as well as refugees and immigrants with business plan writing services and grants.

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Most business plans are written with eye towards raising money for their venture. In a business plan that is written for investment capital, the structure of the business plans and therefore the most important point of the document will be the value-added benefit. Information on the products, services and the market will play central roles in the development of the plan, as well as various payout or exit strategies for the investors. Most business plans will focus on either selling equity or debt to investors.

• Equity : In an equity business plan the company seeking funding will sell an ownership stake. If the company is a corporation, they will sell shares or common stock or a variation of them. If the company is a LLC or a Limited Company (which is popular worldwide) interest or units in the company would be offered. Both a form of ownership, just with a different name for each entity. In additional, there are other sweeteners one can add into any business plan offering, including warrants or preferred shares or preferred units or convertible debt.
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Meta's median pay for employees is $379,000 a year

• The median employee at Meta earned over $379,000 in 2023, according to a recent filing.
• This figure is significantly higher than many tech jobs, though on par with rivals like Google and Amazon.
• Meta has laid off workers and is spending billions on AI.

If you're a tech worker at Meta, you probably make out pretty well for yourself.

That's according to a recent SEC filing , where the company stated that its median employee made just over $379,000 in 2023.

Meta employs around 67,000 people, according to the filing, so there's bound to be considerable variation.

Related stories

An Insider analysis previously found that higher-level software engineers and researchers at the company tend to make more in base pay than product designers and user experience professionals.

Nevertheless, Meta's median figure is substantially higher than the average tech position, which tends to fall between $35,000 to $120,000 depending on the role, according to data listed by one recruitment firm.

But within the world of Big Tech, Meta's median salary isn't as eye-popping as it might seem . Industry giants like Google and Amazon also have positions that regularly offer well above $300,000 in compensation.

The same filing noted that CEO Mark Zuckerberg 's total compensation in 2023 was $24.4 million.

Most came from security and logistical costs since the Facebook cofounder took home a salary of just $1 last year. (Of course, most of Zuckerberg's $157 billion net worth is tied up in his stock options .)

Even with such attractive compensation, it doesn't mean that working at Meta is becoming any easier.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg told employees that, going forward, the company will make its so-called "Year of Efficiency" — the drive to maximize productivity by stepping up performance reviews and layoffs — the permanent state of affairs .

The company has cut 22% of its staff since 2022 with no end in sight . Meta reported strong earnings in its latest quarterly call , but also doubled down on Zuckerberg's plan to spend billions more on AI, spooking investors.

Watch: How tech layoffs could affect the economy

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Gladstone city commission looks at city’s master plan.

GLADSTONE — A lengthier-than-usual city commission meeting in Gladstone on Monday included discussion on a revision of the city’s Master Plan, a resignation, two public hearings and several orders of new business.

Before any business began, Greg Styczynski, who was first appointed to the commission in September 2019, announced his resignation, stating that because he and his family were moving outside the city limits, he was no longer eligible to hold the seat. Styczynski thanked the citizens, mayor, fellow commissioners and city staff for the opportunity and support he’s felt while serving the city, calling it “an educational experience, humbling at times, difficult at others — but it’s always been an honor and a privilege,” before exiting.

At least every five years, any community in Michigan that has adopted a Master Plan is required to review it. The intent of a Master Plan is to guide future policy decisions by government based on the specific community’s character and desires for development. It identifies objectives, strategies and timelines for land use, infrastructure and more by way of making recommendations, but the document itself is not law.

The City of Gladstone’s current Master Plan was first adopted in 2015. Review by a subcommittee of the city’s Planning Commission following 2020 census data showed that while much of the plan is still relevant, the city has evolved. After working internally on updating the document, city staff presented an amended Master Plan.

Downtown Development Authority Coordinator Patricia West, who had taken the lead in coordinating the special project to revamp the plan, first called attention to demographic changes. While Delta County as a whole saw a population drop between 2010 and 2020, Gladstone saw a population increase of 5.7% — a relatively large number, considering the only other community in the county to experience an increase at all was Escanaba Township by 0.4%. In the past, and certainly in 2010, it was noted that Gladstone’s residents were older, but the most recent census data revealed growing numbers in younger generations, with a 230% increase in the 20 to 24 age range and a 30% increase in the number of people between the ages of 25 to 34 (as of the year 2020).

“It makes sense that we do want to make sure we continue to focus on catering towards an aging population, but we should also be considering how we can support upcoming generations as well,” said West.

Other notable numbers from the census that were touched on included:

≤ It was estimated that of about 10% of the housing units in Gladstone sit vacant, but an exact quantification is not known.

≤ The median annual household income in Gladstone exceeds that of the City of Escanaba by $18,355.

≤ The poverty rate, however, is higher — 17.7% — indicating a range of incomes.

When discussion progressed to land use, “with this master plan revisit, one of the things that we were able to do was update our current zoning map,” Community Development Director and Zoning Administrator Renee Barron said, adding that she was grateful because the map had not been updated since before it came into her hands 16 years ago. “This map was originally done through CUPPAD, and they no longer even have the files for it.”

Working with Coleman Engineering, the city has been able to draw up a new map depicting current land use. Barron said that a lot of back-and-forth was required with Coleman in the process, looking at zoning changes that have been made parcel by parcel over time.

Regarding the future land use map — which, like the Master Plan as a whole, is to be referred to as a guide — “some of the major changes that we looked at for the future is preserving that park area along the North Shore property, and then looking at having what we’re calling a flex zoning district, again in the North Shore area and then up towards the Kipling area,” said Barron, explaining that “flex” zones are to allow for a mix of uses rather than being prescriptive and limiting.

The implementation portion of the Master Plan identifies a number of goals and strategies for Gladstone. The city aims to work with MDOT to encourage safe and slow access along U.S. 2 and 41; promote businesses and events; expand the range of housing options; improve accessibility, including rebuilding sidewalk curbs that are not yet ADA compliant; ensure development of outdoor recreational opportunities; market Gladstone as a reputable housing community; build tourism and more.

Commissioner Robert Pontius pointed out that pickleball was absent from the plan, and others agreed it had been mistakenly left out but should be mentioned.

The commission approved to move forward with distributing the document, which is 45 pages in entirety, to the necessary bodies, which include other local governments, railroads and utility companies which may be affected. Those parties have 42 days to comment, after which point the Planning Commission will again review the document and then set a public hearing. In the meantime, said West, public input is still welcome and all feedback will be considered.

Also at the meeting:

≤ After a public hearing on the matter, the commission authorized the Water Department to apply for federal financial assistance in the form of a loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development office for a project to improve the water distribution system by replacing water intake piping and crib assembly and installing a new water main. The majority of the work was deemed necessary by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

≤ Michael O’Connor, who has questioned the city’s motives on numerous occasions in the past, took to the podium at three points — during both public hearings and one general public comment. The first time, he asked whether all the work proposed by the Water Department was necessary; he felt there should be a vote. Superintendent Rob Spreitzer said that it was important the work be done, and that to his knowledge they were following proper procedure. City Manager Eric Buckman pointed out that even if the people voted against the work, EGLE may still overrule them and require it.

“Your interpretation of the charter is totally different than our attorney and what the charter actually means,” Buckman said in response to O’Connor’s statements. “We’ve seen that already.”

≤ The second hearing was about the appropriation ordinance for general fund expenses for the fiscal year of April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. Since there were not enough commissioners present to pass the ordinance — Styczynski had vacated his seat, and Commissioner Judy Akkala was not present — action was tabled until the next meeting, which is scheduled for May 13.

≤ It was announced that campground rules would be amended following a potential liability issue created by the discovery that some people had been sub-letting campsites as Airbnbs. Buckman said that the Recreation Board was looking into how to address it in the rules.

≤ The commission moved to accept a bid for a new work truck from Fox Motors in Marquette.

≤ It was proposed to establish a land-based mooring field, revenue from which would go towards the sail school, on the south-facing sandy beach near the sail school shed. Commissioners asked for a revised proposal to include a size limitation on boats.

≤ The Department of Public Works requested and was granted permission to resume issuing permits for working in the public right-of-way. The requirement is in the city’s Code of Ordinances and has not been enforced for years, which has created issues when poor work by contractors or homeowners needed to be fixed afterwards. Obtaining the permit will include a $25 fee unless the work is required by the city.

≤ A special event application was granted to the American Legion Riders Post 71 to block off 8th Street from Delta Avenue to Superior Avenue on June 20 for Hot Rods and Harleys, a fundraising event that has taken place in Rapid River for the past few years but was newly handed off by the previous organizers, Heads Motorcycle Club, to the American Legion Riders. Club Director John Van Brocklin said that in addition to June 20, they also intend to have two more cruise nights on July 18 and Aug. 22.

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Whirlpool Slashing 1,000 Jobs as Part of Cost-Cutting Plan (1)

By Leslie Patton

Whirlpool Corp. , the owner of the Maytag and Amana appliance brands, is cutting about 1,000 salaried positions worldwide to reduce costs as slow US home sales limit demand.

The company has completed its first wave of layoffs of office staff and is planning to start another soon, Chief Financial Officer Jim Peters said in an interview. Earlier this year, the company said it was cutting jobs without saying how many. Whirlpool employed 59,000 workers worldwide as of the end of 2023.

Whirlpool stock sank as much as 9.6% in Thursday trading, the biggest drop since October. The company’s shares ...

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Solar firm SunPower to cut jobs, wind down most of residential direct sales

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Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Sourasis Bose and Roshia Sabu; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shailesh Kuber

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Blackstone outbids Concord in $1.6 bln takeover battle for Hipgnosis

Blackstone has agreed to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund for about $1.57 billion, after the private equity giant outbid rival suitor Concord in the takeover battle for the music owner of artists such as Shakira and Red Hot Chili Peppers.