How to Build Confidence—The Key to Successful Freelancing

How confident are you in your work and your business?

How do you feel when you first talk to a prospective client? Nervous?

Are you sure when you talk about pricing?

Showing confidence inspires trust from clients. They feel comfortable when it’s apparent that you know what you’re doing.

Confidence Comes From Practice—It’s Like Riding a Bicycle

Some people seem to be born with the confidence gene. They project certainty and conviction no matter what. This is “fake it till you make it” in action.

But that doesn’t work for most of us. Whether pitching a new client or presenting your work to an existing one, you’ll be nervous the first few times. I’ve only found one way to calm the nerves: practice.

You have to practice your pitch. Rehearse it. If possible, role-play with a friend or colleague. Get them to ask questions, to challenge what you’re saying. Make changes as necessary.

Personal example: When we presented our new-business proposals at my agencies, there were often time limits. So, for example, we were given 30 minutes.

Even though we had years of experience with these types of presentations, we rehearsed with a stopwatch. We critiqued each other and edited, fixing any bumps or dead ends.

When it was presentation time, it flowed smooth as silk. We were completely confident in what we were saying and how we were presenting. We were ready to answer questions at the end.

Take the time to rehearse your pitches and presentations.

Think about this: even professional sports teams hold practice sessions. These players are the best of the best, getting paid millions a year, and yet they show up to keep going through the fundamentals.

There’s no magic. It’s just practice.

How to Build Confidence in Your Craft

For this example, let’s say you’re a writer. You’ve been writing blog posts for two years for a few small companies. You’re confident in your writing and your interactions with clients.

But, these clients have relatively modest budgets, and you’d like to charge more. That usually means bigger, more sophisticated clients.

How do you get there? Ideally, you should start thinking about writing within a niche. Why does that make a difference? It builds your confidence to allow you to pursue leading clients in your niche.

So, if you’ve been writing for small companies in the organic food sector, you’ve built niche expertise. You’re comfortable writing in that niche, which makes it easier for you to approach the top clients in the industry.

But here’s the thing. You should genuinely aim to be an expert. Pretend you’re a heart surgeon. You know everything about the heart. You keep up with research. You attend conferences. You consult with others in your profession.

Aspire for that same level of professionalism, so that when you’re meeting with more prominent clients, you know your stuff.

Subject matter experts get paid more. Double down on your expertise.

I wrote about how to pick a high-paying niche here.

Making Decisions Builds Confidence

Look at life as a series of decisions you make every day.

Whenever you decide to move forward, you build confidence. You’ve taken another step.

Consider this: you’ve been thinking about pitching a client for work. You’ve thought about it for ages but haven’t taken action.

One day, you decide to send an email and, within an hour, get a positive response. Yes, they would like to hear more about your services.

Small things can be big. One email can change the course of your business, in fact, your whole life.

And now that you’ve succeeded once, you’ll have the confidence to do it again.

If you’re ever in doubt, don’t dither, don’t overthink it. Do something. Nothing comes from nothing, but something always comes from something.

Make decisions, gain confidence, move forward.

Need Help Making a Decision? Call It an Experiment

Scientists run experiments to gain new knowledge and prove theories. Some experiments don’t work out as expected.

Scientists don’t see these results as failures. They look at them as getting one step closer to success.

So, keep making decisions. Think of them as experiments. Monitor the results and move forward.

The key is to “keep your eyes on the prize”. Stay focused on your goal, on what matters most.

The more you do this, the faster your confidence grows. You won’t be destroyed when one of your ideas doesn’t work out. You’ll be strong enough to pick yourself up and try something else.

Speaking In Public Builds Confidence

Have you ever had the opportunity to speak in public but declined it? Why? Probably because you’re not a confident speaker. You’re afraid you’ll freeze, choke, maybe make a fool of yourself.

This holds true even in meetings with clients. How easily you speak is an indicator of your confidence.

Consider taking public speaking courses if you need to improve your speaking ability.

Pro tip: Make sure you can speak well, but most of the time, you should be listening. Your job is to ask the client questions and listen to the answers. Listen carefully, and where appropriate, ask follow-up questions.

Again, it takes practice to do this well. You don’t want to speak too much, but you don’t want the client to feel that you’re interrogating them.

You should aim for an easy back-and-forth conversation, mostly centered on the client and their goals.

I wrote how to ask clients questions here.

Ask For Feedback to Build Your Expertise

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from clients, colleagues, or mentors. Listen to the good and the bad.

As appropriate, absorb the feedback into your work and processes.

BTW, getting instant feedback is one of the benefits of working with others, either in a loose arrangement (read my take on creating a virtual agency) or in a small agency.

It’s much easier to bounce ideas around when you sit next to each other or share screens.

Two Areas You Need the Most Confidence—Your Craft and Your Fees

It’s critical to have confidence in your ability to do an excellent job for your clients and demand appropriate fees for your work.

It’s your job to hone your skills, but just as importantly, to prove to clients that you have these talents.

That often comes down to the strength of your portfolio and demonstrating how your experience relates to your prospective clients’ needs.

Tip for your portfolio: If you’re creating a leave-behind portfolio, in addition to showing the actual work, include pages such as a brief company profile, how you work, and your approach to your work. In other words, create a complete presentation.

On the actual sample pages, include information such as a project description, project scope, results, and any awards won.

All of this shows confidence in your work.

Having a professional presentation of your work also helps justify your fees. You should be confident in telling prospects how much you charge, how you bill, and when you expect to get paid. Again, this will take practice to talk about your fees without hesitation.

This is all part of money talk. I wrote more on how to talk to clients about money here.

Choose Courage 

There will be times when your confidence wavers. You’ll feel unsure of yourself. You’ll want to avoid making a decision.

But overcome your fear. Tell yourself that you’ve come this far. You’ve made it despite some setbacks, and here you are. Now it’s time to move to the next level.

Make the courageous decision. Be brave. You’ll discover that luck favors the brave. 

You’ll find more confidence building tips in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.

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