Take a seat, Corporate America. Today is the day to celebrate a trend that almost half of all U.S. employees are shifting to, away from the traditional workforce.
Happy National Freelancer Day!
LinkedIn recently shared some insights on the modern day freelancer – with intriguing data on trends among freelancer educational backgrounds, career motivations, job satisfaction, and more.
LinkedIn and the Gig Economy
LinkedIn has become a one-stop-shop, moving beyond its core offerings (finding an employee or posting a job opening) and moving more deeply into the global, online-driven marketplace so many professionals now call home.
In fact, I’ve spent the past 48 months studying the world’s largest networking platform for professionals from a distinct perspective: How to use LinkedIn to find (and sell to) the exact people who would benefit from your products or services.
With 500 million users all over the world, the pool of freelance opportunities is vast and wide – as long as you understand how to set yourself up for success.
LinkedIn in fact, has its own freelance marketplace you can take advantage of.
Where So Many Get it Wrong
Despite all the opportunities available on the platform, I still think 95 percent of people are using LinkedIn the wrong way.
What I mean by that is many people are continue to utilize LinkedIn as little more than a glorified online résumé – where you went to school, where you work, your job duties, etc.
There’s just one small problem with that approach: IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!
The harsh reality is, people care far less about you and your accomplishments than you think.
What they DO care about is this: Whether or not you are someone who can solve their biggest professional problems or challenges with your products or services.
The LinkedIn Secret: Craft a Client Facing Profile
If you are a freelancer or looking to move into that space — even if you’re just looking to attract more business on the world’s largest platform for professionals — the key is creating what I call a “client-facing” profile.
It’s a way to restructure your LinkedIn profile as a freelance or solo gig type, which appeals to your ideal audiences that would love to utilize your services.
Every single sentence of your LinkedIn profile should aim to answer that question. How does what I’m writing or sharing right now help my ideal clients or customers? How does it solve one of their problems? How does it make their lives easier? How does it make them more money?
Important tip: Before you start, use LinkedIn’s Search tool to see what the most popular keyword searches are related to your industry. How are people finding the products or services you offer? What search terms are they using? Try to think like your prospects – If I were in their shoes, what would I type into LinkedIn Search to find someone offering what I do?
How to Connect with Your Ideal Customers
Because of its treasure-trove of user data, LinkedIn is able to quickly and easily show you the best prospects for a freelance project or an ongoing service you offer based on keywords, categories or search terms.
LinkedIn can even filter search results based on your network (who you’re already connected to at a 1st or 2nd degree level), recommendations those professionals have, their physical location (if that matters) and more.
LinkedIn’s Freelance Marketplace – ProFinder
LinkedIn also launched their “Pro-Finder” service last year, modeled after popular “freelancer-for-hire” sites such as Fiverr and Upwork, which matches customers looking for a specific type of product or service with a qualified professional.
For professionals looking to land more clients via LinkedIn, ProFinder offers the ability to get direct, warm leads delivered into your inbox each day.
It’s a great “passive” lead generation method you can pair with daily, organic efforts to find and engage your ideal prospects on the network.
Final Thoughts
We live in an incredible era where anyone can take advantage of his or her skills, passion and experience to do more of what you love.
No matter what kind of freelancer “persona” you fall into — from the side gig to the career freelancer — the opportunities to make money using LinkedIn are ready and waiting. So get after it!
