Well I’m guessing you’ve already started your freelance career. You might even have a couple of Catholic freelancing clients who are keeping your business afloat. Freelancing is a fascinating job, but its alluring flexibility and freedom only exists if you manage to grow and maintain your freelancing business.

It’ll be necessary to maintain high quality if you want to build self-brand credibility and attract many Catholic freelancing clients to work with on a regular basis.

Here are some sure-fire methods that you can use to find and keep new Catholic freelancing clients.

Professional Development

If you want to grow your network, often you’ll need to start with yourself. Professional development is crucial as a freelancer, because your clients have many contractors to choose from. If you want to attract new Catholic freelancing clients and keep the ones you already have on board, you should constantly work on your skills. You want to stand out from the crowd. There are two key perspectives to keep in mind:

Self Analysis

Whether you just started out as a freelancer or you’ve been doing this for a while, there should always be time for you to take a step back, analyze what you’ve done so far, and find your strengths and weaknesses.

While reviewing your work, ask yourself: What am I best at? But also, what are the things I need to change to improve my services? Use this information to evaluate your lows and your highs, and make a list of things to improve in the future. You obviously want to provide the very best service you can.

The longer you are in this business, the more hands-on experience you’ll get, however regular self analysis will speed up your progress.

Client Feedback

As you evaluate your own work, it’ll be crucial to ask clients for feedback about what it is that they like about your work and where they think you could improve. Use their positive and negative feedback to focus your services on what you do best, and then pay close attention to mend the areas where they suggest improvement.

In the Catholic world, humility is an attractive thing. When you recognize your own weaknesses, and ask for feedback, your Catholic freelancing clients will appreciate it and surely be willing to offer kind advice.

Service Optimization

When you start doing freelance work, you usually focus on what you already know. After a while there may come a point where you’ll need to discern how to grow in order to optimize your services. There are two directions you could take.

Specialize

Specialists are those who know more and more about less and less. That is, your scope is more focused, and that allows you to be better at what you do, and usually you can also charge more for your services. Expertise comes naturally as you gain experience, however dedicating regular time to update your knowledge with the latest best practices will set you apart. Today there are many resources at your fingertips that can help you to improve regularly. Make sure your bedside stand has a good book or two on your areas of expertise, or find online courses that can keep you up to late on the latest developments in your field.

Grow Your Services

Sometimes the very fact that you are working forces you to learn about related fields. As this happens, you can increase the number of services you offer based on what you’ve learned since you started the career. If you’re a content writer, you can collaborate with book editors or graphic designers to offer a full package to clients. If you’re an e-book writer or editor, you can also work on your SEO skills and establish yourself as an SEO expert. 

Marketing

Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Referrals are a freelancer’s most powerful tool in attracting new Catholic freelancing clients. It doesn’t hurt to ask clients to talk about you, but the most powerful tool for referrals is to actually care about your clients, and to do everything possible to make sure they know that, I would almost say, that they feel it. If they are impressed, it will not be because you did what you promised, but only if you go beyond what you promise. You have to break their expectations if you want them to be surprised and to talk about you to their friends.

Testimonials

Most people don’t have the natural habit of leaving comments or providing feedback, even if they worked with an amazing freelancer. Get in the habit of asking your Catholic freelancing clients to give you a quick testimonial or review and make sure that your new clients can find these easily on your portfolio or website.

Work on Your Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve built a portfolio, you can show people what you can deliver by providing them with actual proof of your capabilities. Figure out where your target clients hang out and get your work out there. Create a LinkedIn profile, pay for ads on Facebook and Instagram, and join websites like Upwork and Freelancer to find work. 

Technology, online marketing, and social media give freelancers many opportunities to widen their reach. As a Catholic freelancer, you can look for clients on many different websites, place ads on social media, and even ask for assistance from marketing professionals.

Make Connections

Connections open doors you didn’t even know existed. Networking should be one of your top priorities if you work as a freelancer.

Set up a profile on Catholic Professionals to let people know what you can offer them. Scour platforms like LinkedIn to find people with similar interests, as well as potential clients that might want to hire you.

Don’t just reach out to people that can become your Catholic freelancing clients. Work on your connections with other freelance writers and professionals. Join groups for freelance writers and Catholic professionals, write on forums, and share your expertise and portfolio with other experts in the field. You never know where an opportunity can come from.

If you leave an impact on people simply in your interactions with them, they are much more likely to remember you and possibly reach back out in the future, or even share your work with a friend.

Final Thoughts

Building your clientele takes time, effort and a long term strategy.

If your heart is in the right place, then you will begin with yourself and strive to become better and better at what you do. You will also genuinely care about your Catholic freelancing clients and will put their success as your top priority.

These two strategies alone will bring you to stand out, and with time, people will notice your heart, and your efforts will be rewarded.

Submitted by the Editor

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1. Hone Your Professional Development by Reading

It sounds basic, but reading is a great form of professional development. Whether it’s brushing up on your theology, finding inspiration from Church leaders, or learning new technical or leadership skills, you can find just about anything in your local library or bookstore.

Take a little more time when reading these books than you do when you’re reading your favorite novelist. If you’ve purchased the book, grab a pencil and take notes in the margins. Underline your favorite tips or insights, and bookmark them to return to later. A reading journal is also a good way to keep track of what your learning, and give you access to it later.

You might even start a book club at your church for the other staff and interested volunteers. That way, you can learn from each other’s experiences and perceptions of the book–plus, the simple act of talking about a book will help you remember what you’ve read.

2. Take an Online Course

There’s a lot to love about the instant access of information online, but it can also be overwhelming to search a keyword or phrase and find thousands of hits. Fortunately, the internet can also help you find free professional development courses, and many of these providers only charge you if you want a certificate that proves you took the course. If you’re just taking it for your own development and don’t need validation, they’re often completely free!

Here are a few things to look for in an online course to make sure you get the best bang for your … time, if not your buck:

• The instructor: Make sure the instructor has some form of qualification, whether it’s an advanced degree, teaching experience at an accredited institution, or experience as a leader in the Church or in your field.
• The provider: What company or organization is offering the course? Does it have a relationship with any accredited universities? Are there good reviews for it online? How does it make its money?
• The course outline: Most providers will outline the course on their website. Make sure it covers topics that you’re interested in and that will help you build relevant skills.

3. Join a Professional Development Association

Professional associations, made up of people who work for the Church or in your field, can be a great way to learn–and even find a new job when it’s time to move on.

If you manage your church’s stewardship program, for instance, check out the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Do you lead the music ministry? Try the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Are you the parish secretary? See if the American Society of Administrative Professionals has a local chapter.

When you go to your first meeting, make it a goal to introduce yourself to at least three new people. Exchange email addresses, or connect with them on LinkedIn afterward. Find out if your chapter offers any educational events, like workshops or speakers. Consider getting involved as a volunteer. There are many ways you can learn new skills and advance your career by joining a professional association.

4. Find a Magazine or Journal

Many professions publish magazines or journals. In addition to subscribing to your diocese’s magazine, look for magazines that publish professional development content that’s relevant to parish employees or people who work in your field. For example, Catechist Magazine is published for Catholic catechetical leaders and catechists, while Accounting Today, a secular publication, might give you some good information if you’re the parish finance manager.

While most magazines still offer a print subscription, many also publish a limited number of free articles on their websites. Sign up for their email newsletter or an RSS feed, and you’ll be notified every time they publish something new.

5. Share Your Professional Development with Others

Finally, when you learn something helpful or exciting, multiply the impact of that knowledge by sharing with your colleagues! Whether it’s through a staff meeting at your parish or through your connections in the diocese or a professional association, teaching others will not only help you sharpen your own skills but also enable you to give back to your community. As they told you in elementary school, knowledge is power; sharing that power with other church leaders will make your parish and the entire Body of Christ a better place to work, live and pray.

About the Author

Taryn Oesch DeLong is an editor and writer in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and works in digital media. Passionate about supporting women in work, in life, and in health, she is the managing editor of Catholic Women in Business, assistant editor and contributing writer at FemCatholic, a contributor to Live Today Well Co., and an almost-certified fertility awareness educator. When she’s not helping writers craft stories and writing her own nonfiction and fiction, you’ll find Taryn reading Jane Austen and drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea, playing the flute or the piano, or volunteering. You can follow Taryn on Instagram and Twitter @tarynmdelong, on Facebook, or on her blog.

Search here for Catholic job postings, or Catholic Professionals you can hire.

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