Becoming a B2B freelancer - a mini-guide
Advices from a B2B freelancer making about 6k/month
11/7/20263 min read
This article is primarily for freelancers and agency founders, especially those who are thinking about taking the leap.
I've been freelancing for two years, earning between €4k and €8k per month, and my ambition is to reach €15k–€20k per month within the next few months.
Here is my advice before taking the leap — and what I believe it takes to succeed.
1. Make Sure You Have Enough Financial Runway Before You Start
Your stress levels are directly tied to how much money you have in your bank account.
If you don't have at least six months' worth of living expenses saved up, I wouldn't recommend quitting your job just yet.
Personally, I was a bit reckless when I started. I only had one to two months of expenses saved, and I would reinvest pretty much everything as soon as I had some money left over.
The result? An unnecessarily high level of stress.
If you have at least a year's worth of living expenses saved up, you'll be in a much better position mentally and financially.
2. Make Sure You're Motivated Enough
Becoming a freelancer means thinking about your business 24/7, seven days a week.
You'll probably end up working much harder than you did as an employee, without necessarily earning more money — at least in the beginning.
There will be plenty of ups and downs. If you're not sufficiently motivated, there's little point in embarking on this journey. You're likely to fail.
You almost have to feel like going back to a regular salaried job would be unbearable.
Personally, I couldn't stand the passive-aggressive atmosphere between colleagues, incompetent managers, the absurdity of internal politics, or the instability of organizations constantly relying on funding rounds to stay afloat.
In short, failing as a freelancer simply wasn't an option for me.
If you actually enjoy your job but simply want to earn more, you could always try freelancing on the side while keeping your current position. I think that might be a much better fit for your personality and circumstances.
3. Productize Your Expertise
If you don't have any marketable skills yet, you could consider working for companies for free until you've developed the necessary expertise and built up some case studies or social proof that you can leverage to win paying clients.
But even if you're exceptionally good at what you do, that doesn't mean you'll find clients easily.
You could completely fail as a freelancer despite being incredibly talented from a technical standpoint.
That's simply because making the transition to freelancing requires business skills. You're no longer just the person doing the work — you're now the CEO of your own company.
Above all, you need a clear, tangible offer.
For example, you could offer a package involving one or two days of work per week, at a fixed price, with clearly defined expected outcomes.
Selling yourself on a day-rate basis alone makes things much harder. Focus on recurring revenue instead.
4. Don't Let People Take Advantage of You
In case you haven't figured it out already, the business world can be pretty brutal.
You'll probably come across plenty of people who want you to work for free or agree to payment strictly based on results.
The problem is that, as a freelancer, you can't realistically assess how financially reliable your potential clients and partners are. The tools that would allow you to do so are simply too expensive.
On top of that, even if you have a perfectly drafted, legally binding contract with a client, taking legal action over an unpaid invoice of less than €5,000 can cost you far more in time and money than it's worth.
Years of legal proceedings over €5,000, additional legal fees, and all the hassle that comes with it... It's simply not worth it, and everyone knows it.
If you want to avoid getting ripped off by shady people (and there are plenty of them), you need to get paid upfront, at least partially.
Personally, I require 100% payment upfront.
5. Prospect, Publish, Close
According to Alex Hormozi, there are four main customer acquisition channels:
Organic content: LinkedIn, newsletters, Instagram, and other social platforms.
Cold outreach: email, LinkedIn, and cold calling.
Paid content: advertising and paid campaigns.
Warm outreach: the same channels as cold outreach, but targeting people you already know or have an existing connection with.
Personally, I'd recommend using all of them except paid advertising.
I'm specialized in cold outreach. If you want to learn how to generate 1–4 sales opportunities in your market every working day through cold outreach, check out this page: