An Inside Look at Freelance PR: Become Your Own Boss

By Kim A. Aquino & Gabriela Hopkins

The desire to be your own boss with freelance work may cross many PR professional’s minds and could be something that we all may highly consider as we near graduation. The biggest challenge when contemplating doing freelance is, “How do I get clients...especially without any experience?” When Mary Marandjian spoke of her journey during our PRSSA meeting, she confirmed some of our concerns, but emphasized how important it is to, “know your worth.” She went into greater detail about creating boundaries with your clients expressed in your contracts, making sure you don’t lowball yourself when negotiating your work rate, and knowing how and when to walk away when the relationship with your client has put you in a less than favorable position. Understanding your worth seems like it will be the driving force to succeeding through the process of achieving a career in freelance.

Realizing that things will not just happen without any effort is important, and this mindset can push you to do what is necessary to help your future. Mary shared that enhancing your public image is also essential as a PR professional, from creating well-designed business cards to having a consistent and clean Instagram page that will appear inviting for potential clients to view, both can be beneficial to your success.

Mary highly recommended to create a relationship with a mentor and even extended an invitation to her audience as someone we can turn to, to grab a coffee, or go to events with. You can find her on Instagram as @MAROVM, and is open to any and all questions we may have.

Thank you for all your advice Mary!