When I first began freelancing I had no clue what it took to land a client, so I tried all the popular advice I could find out there. My theory was that the more often it was said the more likely it must be true.
Boy, was I wrong. It turns out that those two things have nothing to do with each other.
In this article, we’ll look at 3 freelance resume examples and some counterintuitive tips to landing freelance clients. Let’s go!
3 great freelance resume examples you can steal
Example 1
Download by clicking here: freelance resume and then click FILE > make a copy inside the document.
Example 2
Download by clicking here: freelance resume and then click FILE > make a copy inside the document.
Example 3
Download by clicking here: freelance resume and then click FILE > make a copy inside the document.
These are all free templates within Google docs. For a freelance resume, this is all we need to get started.
4 effective tips for freelance resumes
1. Should you add an image to your resume?
It’s a hot debate and in my experience, it depends on the culture and country.
It is recommended in some countries and not in others. If you are qualified I doubt anyone is going to reject an awesome candidate because they added a photo to their resume. Business owners have enough trouble finding good talent as it is, so don’t worry about that too much.
2. The best resume advice I ever got
The best resume advice I’ve ever gotten has been to focus on the narrative of the resume instead of the design and formatting.
That even means leaving things that aren’t relevant. Instead of telling our entire life story, we can add only the things that are relevant to the client and craft a story of how we are a great fit for their project.
3. Translate your experience into client results
See if you can figure out a way to translate your work experience into how it can help your client such as the results it can help them get.
A simple example is e.g. “I have 3 years experience with online marketing” might be translated into “I can help you get more sales”.
With some projects like sales or marketing campaigns, it will be easy and obvious because there is a direct result like increasing sales by 56%.
But how about those less obvious projects like video editing or graphic design?
It’s important to remember that while sales, leads, and cost are great metrics, they are not the only value we can provide to clients.
Other meaningful things could be to save time, making a process easier, look good or avoid looking stupid.
Not all of them will be relevant for all clients, so it is a good idea to brainstorm what might be relevant for the clients you work with.
For example for medium-sized lifestyle businesses, the owner might want to spend as little time as possible on the business rather than focusing on growth, so if you can find a way to save them time that might be attractive for them than more sales.
If you are a video editor, you might be able to show how the thumbnails of your videos translate into more clicks on YouTube or social media, or perhaps build a deeper relationship with better engagement with the audience.
If you work as a designer, you might be able to create a beautiful brand or website that the owner is proud to show off to family, friends and in important business meetings. It can avoid them from looking or feeling like they look stupid.
As a developer, you might be able to create an app or website that can showcase a specific project for the client that they need for a meeting.
The better we understand our client base, the better we know what they value and so it is easier to create a relevant resume.
4. Another approach that works
Use a freelance resume to land clients is a good approach but I’ve found that another potentially more effective approach is to impress the client before it even gets to the stage of showing the off our resume.
This is an advanced strategy and for a charge chunk of freelancers this isn’t a good fit because it requires a lot more work up front. In exchange, the results will be more than worth it.
With this approach, it’s rare that I have to share freelance resume, testimonials, case studies or even portfolio. Usually, clients will say wow! No one has ever done that before!
..and that’s probably why it works.
If you are interested, you can see the exact steps in this comprehensive guide to freelance digital marketing (you don’t need to work with digital marketing for this to work but it helps).
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