Are too many people finding out that you’re a freelancer? Are you
constantly bothered by those pesky requests for people wanting to engage
you for your services? Are friends and family members referring new
business to you?

If you really want to, you can make all that stop. All you need to do
is become a secret freelancer. If no one knows you are a freelancer, no
one will bother you about it.

Keeping your freelancing business a secret can be a challenge, though.

If you want to be a secret freelancer, this […] post is for you. […]

How to Keep Your Freelancing Business a Secret

So, for whatever reason, you’ve decided to keep your freelancing business a secret. Here’s how to do it:

1. Don’t tell friends or family. No one can know that
   you run a freelance business. It would be better for your friends and
   family to think you sit at home all day watching TV than for the secret
   to get out. Better yet, sit at home all day watching TV.
2. Don’t fill out your profiles on social media. That
   default image that comes with new social media profiles is good enough
   for you. Never ever fill out your profile or refer to your freelancing
   business on social media in any way.
3. Better yet, don’t have profiles on social media.
   Who needs social media anyway? It will only draw attention to you and
   someone might find out about your freelancing business. Delete any
   accounts you’ve already created and stay away from social platforms.
4. Don’t answer your email promptly. If you don’t
   answer your email, clients and prospects will think you’ve gone out of
   business. If you wait long enough, they’ll stop sending you those
   bothersome emails and move on to a less secretive freelancer.
5. Don’t network in person. No need to have an elevator pitch,
   but you’ll have to watch what you say around people. You might
   accidentally let it slip that you freelance. Better yet, stay away from
   people. If you don’t talk to anyone, you can’t spill the beans.
6. Don’t blog. Blogs are a lot of extra work–who needs
   them. The freshly updated content will just cause the search engines to
   crawl your website more frequently and might cause it to rank better in
   the search engines. Better yet, see the tip below.
7. Don’t have a website. A freelancing website is
   definitely a no no if you’re trying to become a secret freelancer. Even
   if you exclude contact information and leave off an about page someone might trace the site back to you.
8. Don’t have a portfolio. You want your freelancing
   business to be the best kept secret on the planet, right? Well, then
   skip creating a portfolio. Since you’re a secret freelancer, you
   probably don’t have much to put in a portfolio anyway.
9. Don’t apply for gigs. This may seem obvious, but
   many would-be secret freelancers mess up right here. They apply for a
   gig and the word gets out that they are a freelancer. Clients talk. If
   you apply for gigs, eventually someone will mention it.
10. Don’t use your own name. Don’t use your freelancing
    business name either. Those names might somehow be traced back to you.
    Try something generic like, hmmm, John or Jane Doe. Or call yourself
    anonymous.

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