GUIDE

How to become a freelancer: what to know before you start

Grow London LocalMatching London small businesses to support

Posted: Tue 2nd Jun 2026

Freelancing has a certain pull to it. And for many people, it starts with simply wanting more control over their work.

If that's you, it might mean choosing your own clients, deciding how your week looks, working from home more often or moving away from a job that no longer fits.

That appeal is real. Freelancing can offer flexibility, independence and a closer link between the work you do and the money you earn.

This guide explains how you can make that shift successfully.

What does it mean to be a freelancer?

A freelancer is someone who works independently and is paid for providing a service, usually to more than one client over time.

Instead of one company employing you on a salary, you sell your skills directly. You might:

Work on short projects.
Provide ongoing monthly support.
Complete one-off pieces of work.
Do a mix of all three.

That's the basic difference between freelancing and employment.

As an employee, your employer finds work for you, your pay arrives on a set date and many of the admin jobs sit elsewhere.

As a freelancer, you take that on yourself. You're not just doing the work, you're running the whole operation around it.

Is freelancing right for you?

Wanting more freedom doesn't automatically mean freelancing is the right next step. It can be a great fit, but it suits some personalities and working styles better than others.

You don't need to be ultra-confident, endlessly outgoing or born to be an entrepreneur. Plenty of good freelancers are fairly quiet people who simply do strong work and communicate well.

What matters more is whether you can cope with the realities of working independently.

The pros and cons

Pros

You may have more flexibility over your schedule.
You can shape your work around your strengths.
You can choose clients more carefully.
You may feel more ownership over your career than you have in a traditional role.

Cons

No paid holiday unless you build it in yourself.
Sick days have a cost.
Less separation between "doing the work" and "keeping the work coming". Some months feel steady, while others feel wobbly.

Female freelancer working in quiet, comfortable space, typing on a laptop and looking up towards the ceiling in thought

Preparing to go freelance

Identifying your skills and services

It usually begins with one question – what, exactly, are you offering?

Many people answer too broadly. "Marketing support" or "design work" isn't wrong, but it isn't particularly useful.

Clients need to understand what you help with, who you help and what kind of outcome they can expect.

A better starting point is to look at your existing skills and ask:

What am I already good at?
What do people already trust me to do?
What problems can I solve well enough that someone would pay for help?

That should help you shape your services into something more specific.

Setting up the basics

Once your services are clearer, think about the basics.

What are your working hours?
How available do you want to be?
How quickly will you reply to clients?
What sort of projects do you want, and which ones do you already know you'd rather avoid?

Freelancing can become messy quite quickly when you leave everything open. If you don't set boundaries early, clients will often set them for you.

Sorting out the legal side

You also need to decide how you're going to operate legally. For many freelancers, the simplest route is to work as a sole trader.

In practical terms, that means you're self-employed, you keep your profits after tax and you register for Self Assessment with HMRC once your self-employed income goes over £1,000 in a tax year.

It's straightforward and popular for good reason, but it also means you're personally responsible for the business's debts.

Other options do exist:

If you're going into business with someone else, a partnership may make more sense.
And if you want more separation between your personal finances and the business, a private limited company may be worth looking at, though it comes with more admin and reporting requirements.

You don't need to go deep into every structure on day one, but you do need to choose one.

Grow London Local's guides to "How to register as a sole trader" and "Organisational structures and registering with HMRC" are good next reads here.

Pricing and financial planning

A lot of new freelancers choose a number based on nerves rather than maths.

They look at their old salary, panic slightly, then pick a day rate or hourly rate that feels just about acceptable. That usually leads to undercharging.

Your freelance rate has to cover more than your old pay. It also needs to account for:

Unpaid admin time.
Gaps between projects.
Tax and pension contributions.
Software and equipment.
Holidays.

And the simple fact that not every hour of your week is billable.

Preparing financially is just as vital as preparing your service. Look hard at your monthly outgoings and ask what you actually need to live on. Not the ideal number, but the real one.

If you can build up savings before you go freelance, do it. If you can lower unnecessary fixed costs, even better.

If you can start freelancing while still employed and use that time to test your pricing and build a buffer, that can make the whole transition less stressful.

Finding your first freelance work

This is the part many people worry about most, and rightly so. Freelancing only works if work turns up and keeps turning up.

Early freelance work often comes from places that feel quite ordinary. That might be former colleagues, friends of friends, old clients or someone who's seen your work online a few times and gets in touch.

Using existing networks and platforms

That's why your existing network matters more than you might think.

Don't worry about having to make grand announcements or become a relentless self-promoter. Just concentrate on making it easier for the right people to know what you do and that you're available.

That might mean:

Updating LinkedIn.
Telling trusted contacts you're taking on freelance work.
Emailing a few people in your network.
Putting together a simple portfolio website.

Freelance platforms can help too, especially at the start. In the UK, there are sites such as PeoplePerHour, Upwork, Bark and YunoJuno.

They can be useful for finding early opportunities, but they work best as one source of work rather than your whole plan.

They can be useful for experience, confidence and the first few paid projects. They can also be crowded, price-sensitive and tiring if you rely on them alone.

Getting paid properly

One area that deserves a bit more attention early on is invoicing.

It sounds basic, but it matters. If you don't invoice promptly, clearly and with the right details, getting paid becomes harder than it needs to be.

A good invoice should include:

Your business information.
Your bank details.
A clear itemisation of the work.
Agreed payment terms.

Grow London Local's free invoice template is a useful, straightforward starting point, and our invoicing guide has a helpful rundown of what good practice looks like.

It's also worth thinking about late payment before it happens, not once you're already chasing.

Set payment terms clearly from the start, make sure invoices go to the right person and keep records of what was agreed.

If a payment goes overdue, deal with it quickly. Our guide to tackling late payments is a practical next step if you want help handling that side of freelance life with a bit more confidence.

How to get started with freelancing

Learning as you go

You might be tempted to treat freelancing as a dramatic all-or-nothing leap. Sometimes that's how it happens but, more often, a steadier start is wiser.

You can begin with one client, one service, one afternoon a week, one test project or one version of your offer that'll almost certainly change as you learn more.

The first few months are useful for more than earning money. They show you:

What kind of work you enjoy.
What clients actually ask for.
How long tasks really take.
Whether your pricing makes sense in real life.

They also show you where the strain is.

Maybe the work is fine but chasing invoices is wearing you down. Or, perhaps you enjoy project work but hate being permanently available.

Whatever you feel will be completely normal. While early freelancing is about proving you can do the work, it's also about learning how you work best.

Reviewing progress after the first few months

After three or four months, it's worth stopping to review things properly.

Are you getting enough enquiries?
Are the projects profitable?
Are you working with the sort of clients you want more of?
Are you still glad you made the move?

Freelancing becomes more stable when you make deliberate adjustments along the way. And confidence tends to build in a quieter way than people expect.

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