FREELANCING
A freelancer is a selfemployed person who, most commonly, serves as content editor, copy-writer web designer, graphic arts expert, photographer, computer programmer, recipe writer etc. As the freelancers are the self employed persons hence they are not employed to any
business or company rather they work independently by selling their services.
The freelancers gain
their experience in a particular field while starting their career with an
agency or business. The talented freelancers join this business after resigning
their full-time job because there is a huge demand of their services and they
will get the opportunities for handsome salaries. Freelancers normally work at home however they may have to work at the premises of their clients or in any
community as per the demand of the work or job assigned to them.
Any business normally
employed many people to complete their full-time routine works. But for any
sporadic work or one-time project, which may normally be generated during the
business operations, the businesses normally hire a freelancer because they do
not have the skilled employee to complete such a particular job. It is also
cost-effective to a business to hire a freelancer as company is not obligated
to pay the expenditures like retirement benefits, travelling expenses, payments
of sick days and health insurance and finally company saves all such
expenditures.
Freelancers can work as
full time or part time, as they wish. Experienced freelancers, who are skilled
in a particular field, can start their full time work in their desirable time slab. But inexperienced
freelancers are not advised to leave their full time job for freelancing they
can start freelancing as part time job managing their working hours out of
their time slab of full time job. After they get the experience in a particular
field as freelancer and start getting stable resources of money in this career
they can leave their full time job. Now they will have freedom to choose the
clients and projects on their will and requirement as they will have more time.
Freelancers can register
themselves or can work on their own terms and conditions without registering.
The business does not put any extra burden or work pressure on freelancers.
Last but not least, it is important to advertise and create
visibility amongst the winning clients, which is a challenge for many
freelancers, but it is not all such difficult. A lot of tools are available on
the internet to advertise the services which are fastest and convenient to use.
One of them is the Email which is fastest and convenient to many freelancers.
Freelancers can try yellow pages, their own website, white pages, web forums or
community websites.
How to begin freelancing
In the today’s world;
when there is revolutionary change in information technology, digital media,
the mere mention of the word ‘freelancing’ is inspiring to many people.
Freelancing means, for the most people, freedom from slavery of conventional 8
hour time slab of employment, daily fight with supervisors and bosses etc. To
overcome such altercations and time bound duties people start looking forward
to the way of freelancing freedom.
Now if you are going to
start your career as a freelancer then, first, find out the productivity of
this business because any incorrect step in launching your freelancing business
will be a dangerous factor. You have to identify your skilled field of expertise and not only compare it with your competitors but also check the
market demand of your skill.
First you have to
conduct the market research by yourself. After seeing the result of market
research you will find that how beneficial the freelancing career is. If you
try to conduct the market research from others then you have to be dependent on
others and it may be self-defeating to rely on the report of others.
If you are skilled in
multiple fields then concentrate on the strongest one which is more demanding
in the market. Choose at least two fields of expertise in which you have the
firm hold, as these skills will help you to market yourself further.
To market yourself your
own website will be the best and cost-effective way. To develop a website you
can take the service of a web designer. The web designers are also working as
freelancers like you and they will complete your work in nominal fee. After
developing the website you will be required to make it popular to your targeted
clients, for which you have to take the services of SEO consultant. However if
you are skilled in web designing and search engine optimization then you can do
your work yourself.
Next you are required to
know the places where your clients chat about their demands to take your
services. You can offer your services online or offline to your prospective
clients who will play an important role in your success. Never think to outsource
your skill as it will cost your fortune.
Web forums play an
important and essential role in the career of freelancing as here you can
participate in the conversations held and make visible your services to the
prospective and targeted clients. Hence you should participate actively in the
conversations and present your services to the point so nobody can point the
finger at you for spamming. Being accused of spamming will be rigorously
harmful to the success map of your freelancing career, so be careful.
Lastly offer competitive rates in the freelancing. You
should remember that the quoted rates are not very high or very low. The high
rates will give you fewer chances for the works to be awarded and low rates
will down your dignity and rating in the market which ultimately will also drop
your chances of the works to be awarded. Low rates also will downgrade your
quality of work which will decrease your rating in market, however if you do
not compromise with quality of work then you have to work hard all the more.
Hence be always on top of your competitors as a quality freelancer.
Where to start
There are lot of
freelancing works the only thing is that you should know where such works are
available. Whether you are working as legal expert, content writer managementexpert, teacher, computer programmer, web designer there are a lot of works
around the globe. However it may take quite time to establish your career as
freelancer in the starting.
Most of the assignments are available online by registering
for basic services in the area of your expertise on website portals which offer
the freelancing works. The registration can be done for free or premium by
paying nominal fee to the portal. Both the buyers and sellers register on the
portal and deal with one another through portal by quoting the rates. After
finalization the deal the buyer award the work to the seller and then seller
has to complete the work in the contract time, which must be discussed and
agreed at the time of finalization of the deal. The portal gives the rating to
both buyers and sellers. The deals are discussed normally on the basis of
ratings which you have got by your experience; hence you should try to get an
excellent rating for your work by giving the quality services and timely completion
of work. Sellers also get the rating about their payment habits, work postings
etc, hence you should look the rating of the sellers during browsing the works
or opportunities.
There is no entry point in freelancing career, however in
some countries licensing is required for some special fields like X-ray machine
operator, MRI scan, Radiologist and CT Scan.
Assessment of the competition in the selected niche and
ability of the market to absorb the beginners should be your first step to enter
in the freelancing business.
Your profile on the net is the best resource to get the
freelancing works which helps to promote your visibility in the market. You can
keep your work experience with the details of work done on the website. You
should also contribute the articles for appropriate directories with your
author information.
As a beginner you can contribute your unpaid assistance
which will help people to notice and rate you.
Once you have decided to enter in the freelancing business
now next step is to search the work. The websites on the internet are the best
resources where these sites float normally all types of works. However some
special sites float works for special fields only.
1.
Some
portals like Elance, Guru.com, Getacoder, Pajamanation, Getafreelancer.com, Rentacoder, Work n hire
are best for freelancing business as they protect the participants, the buyers
and sellers, from fraud through the process of arbitration or escrow accounts.
The bidding is normally accepted on these sites by the reverse-auction method.
2. The established freelancers have
lot of works in their hands so you can approach them as they require the
freelancers like you to complete the work in patches.
3. Tutopia is the portal which
provides the freelancing business to the teachers around the globe which is
very useful for the students who are completing their study by distance
learning. The portal offers free registration and you can quote your rate on
the basis of assignment or time. Skills like learning golf and playing piano
are available on this portal.
4.
Freelancing
works are also available offline which you can search at exhibitions, tradefares where effective employers look the freelancers like legal expert,
motivational speakers, leadership consultants, management experts etc.
5. Online subscriber magazines,
trade journals, ezines, literature journals etc fulfil their demand by hiring
the services of freelancers. However such magazines do not pay better but your
visibility may increase, so keep searching for such magazines.
6. Most of the websites
require the writers for their website, so keep a continuous watch on such
sites. These sites normally post their requirement for writers on their
websites. Hence select a site of your core competence.
7. If you are competent in
resume writing then your demand in the market will be more as this is the most
paying and demanding job in freelancing business.
8. The writers can also go to
the website ArticlesGratuits.com where they can sell their articles on the
commission basis or revenue sharing basis.
Besides the resources mentioned above there are such
websites which offer the job for proofreaders, translators, web development, subtitling,
software localization etc. The only thing is that you have to select the right
field according to your core competence.
Problems in the freelancing business
The freelancers have to face many challenges in the
starting, however they have promising future once they have established.
Many people start their freelancing business
resigning their full time job without seeking uncertainties in the freelancing
career. In such cases their sources of self-dependence are closed and they have
to work hard to face this challenge as there are lots of uncertainties in the
freelancing business also, as in the other businesses.
Many people do not analyze all the aspects and leave
their full-time job for freelancing and face many challenges. Analysis of even a
minute aspect is important as the freelancing business takes time to come in
full swing like other businesses to provide expected resources of income.
Like other businesses freelancing also takes time
to establish as a career in market. After establishing this career you will
have a smooth road before you, but before that, you have to cross the rough
patches of your path of success in your career.
Normally the beginners normally overlook such
realities and they have to face such problems in the freelancing career.
Some other main challenges in the freelancing
career is faced by the freelancers when they did not get the work, lose their
project, hardly get a project, or they got cheated; as these are the common phenomenon
in this career. Hence the best way is, to obtain the work through reliable
websites through registration where they will be always protected from scams.
Promoting the visibility in the market is another
problem for some freelancers; they should remember that freelancing business
also needs some investment like other businesses. But for the freelancers,
those who have left their full time job, it is difficult to invest money in
their financial instability.
Not doing the work well, or not getting the
significant project are some other problems of this career and the career comes
to the standstill which got very depressive to the freelancers and they leave
this business. Hence this is the best way to the freelancers that they should
start their business as part time job until they have got the experience in
their core competence.
Some important websites and blogs
Here are some websites where tutorials are available. You can also contribute your tutorials to these sites.
