How to start your freelancing & agency business with Clientjoy
Everything is global now, from trade to how business is conducted, the boundaries of who and where you purchase our services and products have long been blurred.
And the recession brought about by the pandemic has accelerated this trend.
As governments continue to become tougher on major monopolies that stifle competition from smaller businesses, opportunities to help even more customers in new markets and also gain employment from doing so are also rapidly expanding.
Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the online services industry. With areas such as graphic design, web design, coaching, consulting, paralegal, photography, PR, bookkeeping, proofreading, social media managers (and so many more) can be done fully virtually, there has been a whole new industry of tools and platforms are catering to the provision of such services.
With most people now having a taste of what it's like to work from home whether they wanted it or not, the once upon looked down “working from home” has now gone mainstream.
So much so that companies are having their employees permanently work from home (or now added is as an option) as it is much cheaper for them among other numerous benefits.
Though the idea of freelancing and call center remote jobs in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry isn’t new they were still seen as hippie by most.
In the new era of remote work and work-from-home jobs/careers, how to take advantage of such a trend now becomes the question.
If you want to start your own online freelance business or agency, here are the essentials you need to have in place.
Essentials Required to start freelancer/agency business
Expertise
You need a particular skill that the market values so you can get paid for it. Whether you’re getting paid by the hour or by the project, you need to be capable at providing the desired result the client is looking to have completed.
Method to accept payment
If you're providing your services, you of course would need a way to get paid for them. You can use a merchant account, bank wire transfer, or other services such as Venmo or CashApp.
You would also need a bank account to connect to these applications so you can get access to your funds.
Ways to manage client data
With the advent of massive cyber threats and relations such as GDPR, security is simply non-negotiable.
It is essential if you’re managing important aspects of a client’s business you’re organized and have a platform to manage important information.
That could be in the form of a client portal where pertinent shared files are stored or even cloud storage where documents and media is securely shared
Website to promote your services or brand
A more global marketplace also means competitiveness. Hence it’s vital you have a medium where prospective customers can fully understand what you offer and how you help them. On a freelancing site such as Fiverr or Upwork, there are sections to simply fill in your profile information. However, to really grow your business on your own terms, I would strongly recommend you have your own website as well.
We now have so many web builders and platforms it really doesn’t cost as much as it used to.
My recommended option to setup your website, landing pages, funnels, and even take payments is GrooveFunnels.
Tools to run your business
With these out of the way, the tools you’d use to do such would be a major problem. Despite there being many platforms, it was still expensive to be fully setup. Thankfully it isn’t anymore when you use Clientjoy.
What is Clientjoy?
Clientjoy is a platform that offers a CRM and tools for Freelancers and Agencies to manage Leads, Proposals, Clients, Invoicing & Revenues in one place.
They provide an interface and suite of tools that make the management of your freelancing or agency business so simple and removes the hassle.
They’re a Saas Company based in India. They’ve several rounds of venture funding including 1 Million in a large firm and are growing rapidly.
Founded by Yash Shah and Anupama Panchal, they have decades of combined tech experience and are looking to create a simplified experience and empower freelancers and agencies around the world.
With this said, here’s how Clientjoy will help you with operating your freelance or agency business.
How can Clientjoy help you run your freelance/agency business?
Proposals
Prior to signing on a new customer, after your initial call or engagement, a proposal or contract is necessary to seal the deal. With Clientjoy you have several professionally designed templates to choose from.
You can also create your own and save them as templates too with their editor.
Invoices
Before a client pays you, whether it’s prior to starting or after you’ve completed your agreed-on tasks, you will need to issue them an invoice.
WIth Clientjoy you have the option to save your deliverables as Items and also to create and send invoices to clients from the application. You can also accept payments as well. Currently, they have the options of Paypal, RazorPay, Stripe, wire transfer, and others.
You can also accept payments in your currency of choice - so whatever part of the world you’re reading from or whatever currency you prefer to charge, you can do that
Sales Pipeline
Efficiently manage your list of prospective customers so you can keep track of conversations with a sales pipeline.
In the leads section of Clientjoy, you’re able to create and insert relevant data for each client to manage your outreach process effectively.
Customers
Just like a sales pipeline to track your conversations and activity of prospective customers, you have the pipeline to track the activities of customers as well
Client Portal
When someone becomes a client, you may use a shared workspace where files, documents are shared. You’d use a client portal for that and you’d also store pertinent notes and information in there too
Client Pages
To make your client portal even easier, they offer the option to add your own custom scripts onto your portal. For example, you can embed your live support chat application or even Google Analytics onto there too.
This is a cool feature, but if you're just starting out, it most likely is overkill and you may not need it.
Integrations
Whatever applications you already are using or may need to use in addition to Clientjoy, the good news is that they can be integrated.
With the options of Zapier, Integromat, Integrately and others, Clientjoy isn’t a closed system and can work alongside what you use.
For example, after one becomes a customer you can connect your project application (in my case ClickUp) to create a new project list from a template.
Such options remove the need to manually work and save so much time.
Conclusion
Whatever role and service you provide, Clientjoy provides the features to cover most if not all of these functions.
It may seem strange, but 1\3 of the world is still without reliable internet. Though that’s quickly changing it presents massive opportunities for demand for the services and products you offer.
Therefore it is vital you give yourself the best competitive advantage possible. And you do that by using Clientjoy to run the administrative side of your business.
It is currently being used by small and large companies and will help you reach your business goals.
Click the link to create your free account to get started today
