Working independently to earn a living while continuously making dedicated efforts to achieve pre-set goals is known as freelancing.
A Freelancer is an individual who earns money on a per-task basis, usually for one-time or short-term work.
A freelancer is not an employee of a firm, and therefore, may be hired to complete different jobs concurrently by various individuals or firms.
They can take on as many clients as they like, unless contractually specified to work for one client exclusively until a particular project is completed.
How to Get Started as a Freelancer
Make decisions on the common freelancing jobs like writing, web design, graphic design, photography, marketing, social media management, and others.
- Determine your target market.
- Create an online portfolio.
- Set your prices to cover your overhead, time to do the work, as well as to earn profit on which you can live.
- Start reaching out to find clients. Use your network to help you connect with potential clients.
Finding Jobs as a Freelancer
Fіvеrr.com
Fiverr is a website that allows users to post their work or “gigs” for $5.
Anything for $5!
That is what Fiverr.com is all about, and there is no wonder that thousands are being added as sellers and buyers every day.
Fiverr is a huge marketplace of workers offering every type of freelancing service imaginable.
Fiverr started in early 2010, and became so popular that millions of users started using Fiverr to sell or buy services.
How Fiverr works
- To create an account on Fiverr is free.
- List the service or product you want to sell. This listing is referred to as a ‘Gig’. Your Gig contains all the details of what products or services you would like to offer, how the buyer will receive it, how many days it will take you to process their order and much more.
- Make your Gig live, and wait for your first order to come in.
- When you receive an order, you can communicate with your client via Fiverr. If you need any clarification, ask the buyer. Once this is done, you need to start processing the order. Get it completed and send it to the buyer for approval.
- Once the buyer receives and has approved his order your order is marked as complete and Fiverr will credit your payment to your account.
- 14 days after your order has been marked as complete you can withdraw the funds from your Fiverr account.
How to make money using Fiverr
- Create a catchy, keyword rich title.
- Once you have your gigs up and running and are making decent money you can start outsourcing your work for pennies on the dollar. For instance; set up an e-book cover design gig and have your hired help to all the work. Even after you pay your employee you should still make a profit. This is a great way to focus on other Annie making activities such as creating new gigs.
- Find a successful gig, offer similar services, but include a free bonus. Giving the client a guide to teach them the skills that you are providing will give the customer more bang for their buck.
- Every time you learn a new skill, offer to sell it on Fiverr. You can adjust your content depending on how much customer traffic you receive.
Visit Fiverr ->
Freelancer.com
Freelancer is a marketplace where employers and employees can find each other. It currently has over 43million registered members.
The site allows employers to post work to be done.
Anyone is able to offer a quote tо complete thе project, upon which the employer can award the work.
How Freelancer Works
At Freelancer, you can make money from freelancing services such as content writing, translating, graphic design, programming and other categories.
Freelancer take a 10% commission fee, which can be reduced with a paid monthly membership subscription. The minimum fee is $5.
How to Make Money from Freelancer.com
- The moment you sign up you’ll have an account at Freelancer. You are free to start earning money online.
- Begin by browsing projects. Projects are listed by category or by title. You can search the projects in which you are interested, and the ones which match your personal experience and field of interest.
- Once you have found a project which is a good fit for you, consider the employer’s requirements. Place your bid on a project, being aware of the minimum and maximum amount of money offered by the employer.
- Making money from Freelancer can be easier which your upgrade your membership.
- Once you have completed a couple of successful projects and found Freelancer to be a reliable way to obtain paying gigs which fit your portfolio of skills, an upgraded account is well worth the investment.
- Beyond the free membership there is a basic level which enables you to place 50 bids per month and select up to 30 categories of skills.
- Next step up is Standard Membership, offering you 150 bids monthly with an opton of 60 skills selection.
- The higher your upgrade your membership, the more chance you have to make money online from Freelancer.
- The Premium membership allows up to 500 bids every month and enables you to choose 100 different skills for your profile. At this level, your chances of being awarded projects are significantly increased. However, at 500 bids a month you are either running an agency, or have a full time job just responding to bids.
Guru.com
Guru operates as a platform to match up outsources service providers with people in need of their services.
Guru offers over 100 categories from which you can choose when submitting the outsourced tasks and campaigns.
How Guru Works
- As an employer, you submit your job description and specification.
- Outsourcers in the category your specified read your project description and can then bid on the task.
- You receive their bids and can then respond through Guru’s messaging system or take the conversation to your personal email, or a phone call.
- Once you have reached an agreement with a provider, you can have them submit and invoice, or escrow for the service, along with delivery dates that coincide with payment being released.
- Payment is secured for both parties using SafePay.
How to Make Money from Guru
- The big upside of Guru is you can receive bids from different sources.
- Freelance individuals, as well as companies, will respond to your projects, and you can get a good idea of the going rate for the service you need.
- There are two kinds of Guru freelancers. Free members don’t pay a fee and can only bid on a few projects, these are usually individuals with the most risk, but will likely have the lowest rates to complete your project.
- There are also paid members who pay a small annual fee and can bid on a large number of projects. These are typically companies, agencies or very successful individuals who focus on a particular task and will have higher rates, but also have the feedback and references to back them up.
PeoplePerHour.com
PeoplePerHour is a UK-based website which enables users to earn money online by advertising freelance opportunities for both Buyers and Sellers.
Building up a Profile
Building up a profile means to build your profile to such an extent that Buyers can find you easily and offer you a job. To build a profile, you need to fill it up with all the information you can gather related to your freelance career.
PeoplePerHour has a ranking algorithm that ranks your profile according to the information you provide and compares it to other people in the same field. The better the rank you earn, the better chance you will have for buyers to find your profile and offer you a job.
Propose Directly
PeoplePerHour.com also permit Sellers to send direct proposals to buyers on a job which they have listed. To send a direct proposal you will need to search for jobs relevant to your skills and availability. Do this on a daily basis. When you have found jobs which fit your profile, start sending proposals to the Buyers for whom you can easily deliver to, or above, their expectations.
Hourlies
Hourlies is a unique feature of PeoplePerHour.com Designed especially for sellers who want to attract jobs based on their skills but for a pay-per-hour basis.
Costs and Fees
The entry level is a Free membership through which you can bid on up to 15 jobs per month. Each time you submit a proposal for a project, your account gets debited by 1 credit. This is a great way to dip your toe in the water, although most new freelancers will find they need to bid on more than 15 jobs each week to make sufficient income to sustain their business. PeoplePerHour allows you to buy more Proposal Credits so you can make more bids in a month. Purchase Proposal Credits roll-over month to month, whereas the free 15 credits do not.
How You Get Pаіd
Once you have completed a job, you raise an invoice which the Buyer then pays. The money is paid into your PPH account. You can use money in your PPH account to buy more Proposal Credits, or withdraw the funds through Paypal, Payoneer in just a few minutes. Or you can make a direct funds-transfer to your Bank Account which normally takes between 1-7 days depending on the country where your bank is located.
Next Steps
These are just a few examples of markets where you can trade your skills online. There are several more including TaskRabbit, 99Designs, Gigster and Upwork. Some of these are for the creative industry, others more focussed on developers.
Be sure to do your own research to discover which of these services best meets your style of work and income requirements.
Share your experiences in the comments section below.
