How to quit your job before becoming a Freelancer

Quitting your current job to go into freelance work is completely possible. But before doing so, it is necessary to know certain vital points. Discover how to overcome this step to finally become self-employed.

Gather the necessary information

First and foremost, you will have to choose a legal status that is the most appropriate to your activity and expected turnover. These legal statuses could be: self-employed, one-person limited liability undertakings (EURL), LLC (SARL), public limited company (S.A.), etc. The self-employed status is interesting, but its sales revenue has a yearly market cap, making it inconvenient for freelance activities with large revenues.

Secondly, it is essential that you inquire about the potential taxes you will be subject to. This will let you know the percentage of your sales revenue designated to it.

Finally, you may inquire about the different insurances offered to you by your self-employed status. It is nevertheless highly recommended to sign up for legal protection, regardless of your freelance activity.

Determine how much it takes to track and cover all expenses

You must take the time to revise an initial budget that will be necessary to launch your activity. You must also study your monthly sales revenue that you must achieve to cover all your expenses. Without these preliminary studies, you risk failure when you become self-employed. This stage is not always pleasant or easy, but you can find help to make sure your calculations are correct and thus be confident in your choice.

Save up

Why should you save up? You will quickly understand how important it is to save up some money before jumping into freelancing.

First of all, it is fair to say that you freelance activity will encounter difficulties and challenges, especially at the beginning. Do not worry, this is normal. It is necessary to take the time needed to create a customer base. You will rarely achieve your sales revenue in the first three months of your activity. But these are just statistics. It is possible that you can be an exception! However, just in case, protect yourself from encountering financial difficulties. It is recommended to have a small sum of money available to deal with the expenses during the first months. Furthermore, these savings are essential for certain freelance activities that need financial investment at the beginning. It is not easy to get a loan for your business. You must therefore anticipate it by having savings to get you started.

Prepare the presentation of your services, pricing, etc.

When you decide to leave your job and start your freelance business, you will have to take the time to prepare your future services and the corresponding rates. Why? Simply because the price you offer your customer must cover the time spent on the order, your expenses in relation to this service, and possibly the commissions of the platforms for which you work. So, you must keep in mind that it is useless to work at a loss, each service must be a source of income for you. To calculate the rates you want to offer, you will have to do some research on market prices, then opt for an alignment strategy or propose cheaper but still reasonable rates. Do not set your rates based on the salary you currently have in your business, it is irrelevant and therefore not comparable.

Anticipate and prepare communication materials

Before you start as a freelancer, you must anticipate an important point: communications. It is crucial for your business to be a success. Communications will enable you to make yourself known, make yourself visible, and thus increase your chances of signing more contracts. To do this, you have two options before you:

• Personal website: a website is an excellent communication solution for freelancers. You can set it up yourself if you have the necessary knowledge or call a professional. Your site should be clear to the customer. Also, it is very important to have your website be well referenced so that you appear in the first search engine results.
• Prepare your networks: networks include platforms that will allow you to communicate your activity, but also social networks allowing you to create your own professional page.

Be ready to work immediately

Before you launch and officially start your freelance activity it is recommended to perform some tests. What does that mean? It's simple, you must find your first customers before you actually begin. To do this, register on platforms for freelancers and start working for them. This will allow you to get an idea about your future activity, to discover the prices of the market and to find your first real contacts. By choosing this solution, you will avoid the "zero turnover" of the first three months of activity, which freelancers generally spend on finding customers. You must anticipate to be able to succeed quickly!

Negotiate your departure notice with your current employer

If your employer informs you that a leave notice is required before you leave the company, it is recommendeded that you negotiate. Why? This will allow you to have time to devote to your freelance business. In addition, you will be able to take that time to adapt to your new life as a freelancer. Regarding the leave notice, your employer can waive it if he agrees. Try not to let him know at the last minute and you'll more likely have your waiver request accepted.