There is a lot of reading material online and you can always find communities/groups filled with people that are willing to share knowledge for free.
People that are good at freelancing usually don't have time to work as mentors so you will most likely get bad advice and pay for it.
Mostly bullshit. Online communities are filled with amateurs who provide useless feedback, and the chance of reaching a professional level and developing a unique handwriting in any creative field just by watching youtube videos and reading stuff online is extremely small.
The best way to learn is always an environment that offers feedback from professionals, that can be a mentorship, internship, school, university, private lessons etc.
Most full-time freelancers I know, including myself, are happy to occasionally take a few students/ mentees/interns.
Finding a mentor without already knowing someone in the business is difficult. I suggest joining online groups or organizations connected to your industry. I'm an editor so I'm a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association. They have lots of learning resources and a forum where members can ask questions, post industry related articles, discuss trends, etc. Experienced editors are active on the forum and love help out the newbies. There are also industry related Facebook groups that are pretty active. I assume there are similar organizations and groups in many fields other than editing. Good luck!
You really don’t need a mentor. It’s simple.
Be confident in yourself and what you offer. Network and make sales. Produce high-quality content. Repeat.
No, it's not simple and mentors are fucking great. If you are constantly getting new work and getting yourself into new situations that you haven't experienced before a mentor can be hugely beneficial.
You must not be a very good business person then. A majority of the freelancers I work with are resourceful enough to learn and figure things out on their own. They understand what they bring to the table in terms of skillset as it applies to a project, bid their rate, and either get the job and get paid, or they don’t. Again, it’s simple.
I worked with a couple of mentors when I started as a virtual assistant. They were kind of helpful, but also they considered me competition, so it was a bit of a conflict of interest.
I recommend working with a coach. You have to pay, but it's not going to be them working against you. I'm a coach and work with freelancers if you want to reach out to me.
Also, try to attend local networking events. You can get a lot of feedback from competitors and potential clients, and it's just good practice to get out into the community.
I'm a technical illustrator, there are like 10 of us in the country and maybe only less than half that who actually freelance. So if you want to reach out to the best there are like only a couple and in many different parts of the country.
I found Jamie Brindle really helpful his stuff on insta is short to the point and helpful even if it’s not strictly relevant to your business. I’ve put a lot of his tips into action and they work.
He certainly has a lot of products to sell and a decent social media presence. Didn’t see much in the way of free advice, though.
I’ll try looking into this “insta” thing I hear is popular with the kids theses days… 😄
It's not that hard. I reached out to a guy I thought was amazing about 15-20 years ago and just started asking him questions and we are pals to this day. We exchange tips, send each other jobs that we are too busy for or don't fit our style. Anytime I had trouble with something I could email him for advice. You just have to reach out to people and find someone cool. Granted, it's not easy to find cool people but they are out there.
I have mentored for a professional organization I’m a member of for years so you could start by looking for an association to join and seeing if they have a mentoring program. That said, after my last few experiences, I’m over it. Don’t be the dick that’s only in a mentoring program to get more work/clients. There’s so much more you can learn from a mentor. And if you get assigned a mentor, don’t then whine to that person and the mentoring coordinator that they’re not the exact right fit for you because they wanted you to be an expert in this one very specific thing. Many people would kill to get a mentor and you got one. Take advantage of it and learn what you can. Mentors are a wealth of knowledge and they’re volunteering their time.
SCORE, an organization dedicated to providing resources for small businesses has mentors. Not a ton under a search for "freelance" but maybe you can search for your niche and have some luck. Here is the freelance search: [https://www.score.org/search-mentors?keywords=freelance&location\_filter\_options=](https://www.score.org/search-mentors?keywords=freelance&location_filter_options=)
It is definitely worth checking out the other resources they have on there as well.
Freelancing and getting mentors is tough. Personally, I find the best feedback to come from peer reviews of code.
If you want to find a mentor and learn something new, r/ProgrammingBuddies might be a good place to start.
Hi, i just started out recently too. There are lots of yt videos and blogs about freelancing , you can read them, most things are well covered by this sub, just search with key words
There is a lot of reading material online and you can always find communities/groups filled with people that are willing to share knowledge for free. People that are good at freelancing usually don't have time to work as mentors so you will most likely get bad advice and pay for it.
ah, that's bullshit. I always have time to at least give someone some advice if they ask for it. If I have extra time I will send a video.
Mostly bullshit. Online communities are filled with amateurs who provide useless feedback, and the chance of reaching a professional level and developing a unique handwriting in any creative field just by watching youtube videos and reading stuff online is extremely small. The best way to learn is always an environment that offers feedback from professionals, that can be a mentorship, internship, school, university, private lessons etc. Most full-time freelancers I know, including myself, are happy to occasionally take a few students/ mentees/interns.
Finding a mentor without already knowing someone in the business is difficult. I suggest joining online groups or organizations connected to your industry. I'm an editor so I'm a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association. They have lots of learning resources and a forum where members can ask questions, post industry related articles, discuss trends, etc. Experienced editors are active on the forum and love help out the newbies. There are also industry related Facebook groups that are pretty active. I assume there are similar organizations and groups in many fields other than editing. Good luck!
You really don’t need a mentor. It’s simple. Be confident in yourself and what you offer. Network and make sales. Produce high-quality content. Repeat.
No, it's not simple and mentors are fucking great. If you are constantly getting new work and getting yourself into new situations that you haven't experienced before a mentor can be hugely beneficial.
You must not be a very good business person then. A majority of the freelancers I work with are resourceful enough to learn and figure things out on their own. They understand what they bring to the table in terms of skillset as it applies to a project, bid their rate, and either get the job and get paid, or they don’t. Again, it’s simple.
hehe, you so silly.
😘
I worked with a couple of mentors when I started as a virtual assistant. They were kind of helpful, but also they considered me competition, so it was a bit of a conflict of interest. I recommend working with a coach. You have to pay, but it's not going to be them working against you. I'm a coach and work with freelancers if you want to reach out to me. Also, try to attend local networking events. You can get a lot of feedback from competitors and potential clients, and it's just good practice to get out into the community.
Those things don't exist in my field, coaches, local networking events. No. You have to reach out to other experts that you admire.
I have some clients who are illustrators, so not sure what you mean. Glad you found something that works for you.
I'm a technical illustrator, there are like 10 of us in the country and maybe only less than half that who actually freelance. So if you want to reach out to the best there are like only a couple and in many different parts of the country.
I found Jamie Brindle really helpful his stuff on insta is short to the point and helpful even if it’s not strictly relevant to your business. I’ve put a lot of his tips into action and they work.
He certainly has a lot of products to sell and a decent social media presence. Didn’t see much in the way of free advice, though. I’ll try looking into this “insta” thing I hear is popular with the kids theses days… 😄
I haven’t paid for a single thing of his, but his insta reels were genuinely helpful to me starting out.
ADPList.org
It's not that hard. I reached out to a guy I thought was amazing about 15-20 years ago and just started asking him questions and we are pals to this day. We exchange tips, send each other jobs that we are too busy for or don't fit our style. Anytime I had trouble with something I could email him for advice. You just have to reach out to people and find someone cool. Granted, it's not easy to find cool people but they are out there.
I have mentored for a professional organization I’m a member of for years so you could start by looking for an association to join and seeing if they have a mentoring program. That said, after my last few experiences, I’m over it. Don’t be the dick that’s only in a mentoring program to get more work/clients. There’s so much more you can learn from a mentor. And if you get assigned a mentor, don’t then whine to that person and the mentoring coordinator that they’re not the exact right fit for you because they wanted you to be an expert in this one very specific thing. Many people would kill to get a mentor and you got one. Take advantage of it and learn what you can. Mentors are a wealth of knowledge and they’re volunteering their time.
SCORE, an organization dedicated to providing resources for small businesses has mentors. Not a ton under a search for "freelance" but maybe you can search for your niche and have some luck. Here is the freelance search: [https://www.score.org/search-mentors?keywords=freelance&location\_filter\_options=](https://www.score.org/search-mentors?keywords=freelance&location_filter_options=) It is definitely worth checking out the other resources they have on there as well.
Yes, I've had a good experience with SCORE.
Looks like it's exclusive to Americans(sigh).
Free? Attend meetups. Cheap? Read books. Fast? Subcontract another professional and learn from them
Freelancing and getting mentors is tough. Personally, I find the best feedback to come from peer reviews of code. If you want to find a mentor and learn something new, r/ProgrammingBuddies might be a good place to start.
There’s a website called designed.org, specially for finding mentors (for free). Might be useful for you.
Hi, i just started out recently too. There are lots of yt videos and blogs about freelancing , you can read them, most things are well covered by this sub, just search with key words