Most people do freelancing for extra income, but when there is a recession, the competition for freelancing increases as there is uncertainty everywhere. During the recession, it’s challenging for all small businesses and consultancies too.
Impact On Freelancers:
When freelancers have huge competition in the market, they need to be cautious during a recession. Here is my advice to freelancers for keeping business booming while everyone else hunkers down.
1. Be an expert:
The transformation never happens overnight; the reputation and perception you need to earn and build with every client. Nothing is more critical. In a downturn, it's critical to differentiate yourself from the competition and prioritise your clients.
Being truthful and reliable to each team you join is a major key, because it earns confidence from the client , which keeps you at work.
2. Work on critical tasks:
Freelancers cancel the projects at an uncertain time or when they have critical tasks. You need a solid reputation as an authority if you want to secure assignments that are too crucial to postpone or clients that are too powerful to back out. Their projects are too essential to fail, so you want to be the go-to resource for solving issues. Turn the uncertain situation into an opportunity.
3. Work on own business:
If your work slows down, don’t accept it as a failure and don't jump into other unknown fields or online freelancing websites. Invest in yourself. Use your time in building your own business and improve it.
Try thinking about what all you need to do to increase the number of clients. Try doing marketing and research on trending skills and learning new skills. You should always have the next option when client work slows down. So at that time, focus on self-business improvements that give new clients and new projects.
4. High-Paying Clients Are Attracted by Effective Marketing:
Successful freelancers aren't more intelligent or talented than unsuccessful freelancers. The distinction is that they don't wait around and hope that clients come to us. We don't rely on content mills and websites with high competition and little remuneration for freelancing work. Instead, we use our marketing to go out and recruit the dependable, well-paying clients we deserve.
Impact On Consultants:
Consultancies usually recruit employees for mostly software development companies, where job losses will occur during the recession in software companies, which will have an impact on consultancies. So, here are tips for consultancies during the recession.
1. Appoint a quick response team:
A crisis response team should be organised by the clients. This group will be in charge of promptly making important choices. In order to continue being quick and nimble, it must be small.
Keep in mind that your clients would probably want you to move quickly, but not hastily. You should suggest executives that are decisive but meticulous enough to carefully evaluate the data available before acting.
2. Act as a mentor and advisor:
During a crisis, tensions may rise. This is your moment to assist and supply information to your clients.
Assume a mentoring and guiding role. You are there to support your clients in developing a shared plan, making difficult hiring decisions, and weathering the storm to become stronger. Maintaining customers on the right path is important at a time when anger and blame-laying can undermine good intentions.
3. Be present for your clients when they need you:
Spend some time protecting what you have while so much is uncertain. Instead of scaling and expanding, businesses should instead concentrate on keeping loyal clients.
Try to maintain your flexibility throughout these trying times. Even if it doesn't fit within your normal range of services, try to serve your clients in any way you can. Clients will value the work you're doing right now to help them through this. They'll remember the gesture for a very long time.
(Author: Praveena Battila is a chirpy & inquisitive digital marketing executive at TechDoQuest.)