Entrepreneurship isn’t just about startups or tech giants—often, it begins with freelancing or carving out a path as a solopreneur. As a freelancer or solopreneur, you’re not just offering a service. You’re building a brand, managing a business and navigating the freedom and responsibility that come with being your own boss.
With so many gig-based opportunities, freelancing is one of the most accessible and flexible paths to entrepreneurship. It allows you to transform your skills into a source of income, take control over your work and create a schedule that fits your lifestyle. For those seeking independence and balance, becoming a solopreneur can be a powerful way to build a business that aligns with how you want to live. Along the way, you’ll gain hands-on experience in planning, critical thinking, budgeting and leadership. Both freelancing and solopreneurship offer practical, low-barrier ways to step into entrepreneurship and start building something of your own.
What is freelancing, and why is it important?
Freelancing is an important type of entrepreneurship. Spanning across industries, freelancing is the act of “working without long-term commitments to one employer,” according to Merriam-Webster.
Whether you’re providing goods or services for one client or many, you’re actively contributing to the broader economy and helping shape the success of startup ecosystems. Freelancing is often rooted in providing specialized services to businesses or individuals, making it a flexible entry point into entrepreneurship. Common areas with freelancing opportunities include writing and editing, graphic design, photography and videography, event planning, performance and visual arts, marketing, legal support and accounting. Freelancing allows for greater flexibility in choosing the type of work you take on and tailoring your projects to align with your interests and expertise. This autonomy can lead to a fulfilling career path because you can control your schedule, prioritize work-life balance and diversify your skills by engaging in a variety of tasks and industries.
Navigating the Online Marketplace
Getting started as a freelancer often begins with one key step: finding work. There are many platforms that help you navigate the world of freelance work. Gone are the times of newspaper ads and Craigslist. With the advent of platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, freelancing has become more accessible to both the client and provider. By joining platforms like these, you are able to maximize your potential by setting upfront pricing and clear expectations for potential clients. These platforms also provide you with more exposure for less ad spend, and word of mouth marketing can be time-intensive.
By joining one or more of these platforms, you have more time for project management and open the door to taking on more work.
Project Management Skills
Freelancing is more than just writing a blog post or creating a video for a client — it’s about running your own business. Core project management skills like planning, critical thinking, budgeting and leadership are essential for freelancers to stay organized, deliver quality results and grow sustainably. Developing these abilities early on sets the foundation for success in any entrepreneurial path.
Planning and Organization
Planning and organization skills are the basis of what good project management requires. As a freelancer, you are responsible for managing your time and resources, which includes — but is not limited to — both physical and monetary resources, to achieve goals by the intended deadline. By staying organized, you can streamline work, avoid unnecessary delays and maintain a clear vision of the project’s objectives. It can be tempting to keep all your tracking in a spreadsheet, but that typically won’t scale with you. Look for tools like Airtable, Trello or Asana that can help you track projects and tasks.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking skills help you process information and make rational decisions. They help you observe, analyze and evaluate patterns that help you move forward with your idea. For freelancers, who often wear many hats and operate without the safety net of a larger team, critical thinking becomes an essential tool for navigating uncertainty. It empowers you to negotiate confidently, assess risks and rewards, solve problems with creativity and identify underlying issues that others might overlook. Critical thinking is also imperative in reacting to market changes and maintaining a growth mindset.
Budgeting
One thing most entrepreneurs share in common, whether freelancers or not, is how do you fund your business? Starting with a budget is crucial for small business owners because it helps ensure financial stability, plan for growth and avoid unnecessary debt by providing you with a solid foundation.
A well-structured budget allows business owners to track income and expenses, allocate resources efficiently and prepare for unexpected costs. It also provides a clear financial roadmap, enabling informed decision-making and helping to set realistic goals. Without a budget, businesses risk overspending, cash flow shortages and financial instability. One of the most critical skills in budgeting as a freelancer is learning the going rate for your skills. Compare within the market, define your niche and develop a cost structure that will allow you to remain competitive in the marketplace, but also show the benefit of your expertise and skills. Don’t sell yourself short. Someone is going to be looking for you if you get yourself out there.
Leadership
When thinking about leadership, there are four key elements to social and emotional intelligence in leadership: Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. As a freelancer, excelling in these skills will set you up for success as you hope to grow. Long term, your goal may be to scale beyond being a freelancer. Building a team requires more than simply choosing familiar faces. It means aligning yourself with mentors and other individuals who believe in the mission and vision of your venture and goals. If you’re looking to learn more about how to become a better leader, check out this module!
From Freelancer to Solopreneur
Being a solopreneur can be the ultimate gig. After spending some time freelancing, many entrepreneurs feel ready to take things to the next level. Solopreneurship can be that next step—a more professionalized and intentional path that often involves personal branding, automation and strategic planning. Solopreneurs typically adopt a CEO mindset. They think in terms of marketing funnels, customer experience and long-term scalability.
While they may still freelance, solopreneurs often layer in passive income streams or productized services, giving them greater control over pricing and growth. Many consultants also fall into this category, offering specialized expertise as a one-person business while building a brand around their knowledge. At this stage, managing client relationships becomes even more important. As you’re now seen as an expert, elevating your professionalism and the client experience is essential.
Everything You Need to Start Is Already in You
There’s no time like the present to start a business and starting by yourself is common. As a subject matter expert, you have to leverage your education, experiences and skills to further legitimize yourself as an entrepreneur, but even if you’re just starting out with a great idea and the drive to make it happen, you can carve your own path too. There are so many resources at your fingertips to help you leverage these skills, so take advantage of them. At Edson E+I, we always say, “Just start”—because if you never try, you’ll never know.
