As a freelancer, there are skills you should possess for you to satisfy your clients consistently. First things first, At Findworka, we believe that technical competence is a no-brainer. As a writer, you must be good at writing. As a web designer, who must be good at designing websites.

But those are just basic skills and there are other soft skills that you need to become a successful freelancer. In this post, I have taken my time to list 5 must-have skills.

1. Networking: You must be able to relate with potentials clients online (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin etc) and also at organized meetups. It is also a must that you take your social media accounts seriously because it is one of the easiest ways to build trust.

2. Scheduling: Always schedule all your projects, know how long a project will take and not be overcommitted. Taking up too many projects at the same time will lead even an expert freelancer down the path that leads towards average projects. In the end, you may have ticked all the boxes and deserved your pay but the extra will be missing.

3. Negotiating: As a freelancer, you must be able to negotiate with your clients so as to meet at a common ground. Make sure you agree on the project details- time, budget and other deliverables.

4. Bookkeeping: Having basic knowledge of accounting would be really needed to succeed as a freelancer in Nigeria. You are in charge of separating your personal expenses with those incurred in the process of executing a project. You must be able to perform basic bookkeeping tasks to track your income, expenses and net income after tax incurred in the process of executing a project.
bookkeeping

5. Communication: As a freelancer, you must express your ideas and requirements clearly when interacting with prospects, clients, and other freelancers. Freelancing is all about clear and good communication between clients and users.