When you’re building your freelance practice, it’s important to find opportunities to get people to know you. You could turn to advertising in freelance directories or the like but a great way is to engage your local community.
On the weekend, I spoke at a local Mac user group called AUSOM. As someone who writes about technology, I often talk at user groups and community events. This serves two purposes.
1. It’s a great way to support local organizations in a meaningful way.
2. It’s a low cost way to increase your profile.
From a business point of view, increasing your local profile can be useful as potential clients are likely to be close by.
Your direct skills and those that you’ve collected in addition are all valuable assets. There are photography groups, writing workshops, computer users, schools, churches – lots of places looking for quality speakers.
Seek some groups out. Go to a meeting or two and offer your services as a speaker.