Freelancing : A Self Employment and how to get started with it

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WealthDrift brings you a very interesting article on Freelancing wherein we will cover the following points:

  1. What is Freelancing?
  2. What you can do in Freelancing to earn money?
  3. Platforms where you can earn money through Freelancing.
  4. How to estimate your working rates?
  5. Pros and Cons of Freelancing.
  6. Ten (10) steps to get started with Freelancing.
  7. Some important tips for Freelancing.

So let’s get started with the first one –

1. What is Freelancing?

Freelancing

Freelancing is self-employment wherein an individual (Freelancer) offers his/her service to companies/businesses/person for an agreed period against a payment fee. Freelancers are independent individuals, their career and workload are in their own hands.

In freelancing, you have to sell your skills as services e.g. Good in writing, you can provide service of Email Copywriting or writing articles for clients; Good in programming, you can provide service of an app or website development for clients, etc.

According to a survey conducted by PayPal, on average, Freelancers in India earn about INR 19 Lakh annually.

2. What you can do in Freelancing to earn money?

Skills for freelancing

Here is the list of services you can do to freelance –

  • Editing & Writing – You might be asked to write blog posts, product descriptions, e-books, or articles for magazines and newspapers. (Average earn – INR 1,250/- per hour as per Kiplinger)
  • Graphic Design – You could be making animation, designing a logo for a new firm, or creating illustrating PPTs. (General Eligibility – Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design) – Average earn – INR 64,000/- per week according to Forbes.
  • Software/Web design & development- If you have a good grasp of computer languages (Java, C++, HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) then you can provide software/web design and development services to clients. (General eligibility – Degree in Computer Science) – Average earn – INR 2,700/- per hour.
  • Virtual assistant/Admin support – Virtual assistant includes customer support, planning boss’s schedule, emailing, research on behalf of boss, and more.
  • Quirky jobs – You can become someone’s Tinder coach.
  • Translating – You could provide service of translation if you know other foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, etc. (General Eligibility – College degree and/or past translating experience) – Average earn – INR 1,700/- per hour.
  • Technical support – Good on computers then you can help users with their computer problems which could include testing computer networks and addressing other computer problems faced by users. (Average earn – INR 1,700/- per hour)
  • Data Entry – You could be asked for copywriting i.e. sales letters, catalog ads, or any other texts, etc.

The list does not end here, it goes on –

  • Marketer – In marketing includes providing service of search engine optimization (SEO), social media management & marketing, building public relations, and advertising. (Average earn of Public relation specialists – INR 2,000/- per hour) (General eligibility – Bachelor’s Degree in journalism or business)
  • Online Tutoring – You can provide tutorials to students in your field. (Average earn – INR 1,050/- per hour) (General eligibility – Bachelor’s Degree in respective discipline)
  • Medical Transcription – You can provide medical transcription services if you are a certified transcriptionist (Average earn – INR 1,200/- per hour)
  • Bookkeeping –  Experienced in bookkeeping or accounting, then you can freelance these skills to individuals, businesses, etc.(Average earn – INR 1,800/- to INR 2800/- per hour)
  • Photography – You can sell your photographic work to clients.
  • Home Food and Baking Business – This business also trending nowadays.
  • Beauty & Modelling and Styling – You can also provide freelancing services in modelling and styling.
  • Consultant or Lawyer – If you have got good legal education, then you can start consulting clients who are seeking contract review, trademark guidance, patent registration, legal research, etc. Join a start-up to start legal advising because they need legal advice the most.
  • Skill or Fitness Trainer – You can be a personal yoga or gym trainer or a nutrition consultant. If you have music skills such as singing or you know how to play guitar then you can teach people and earn money.

3. Platforms where you can earn money through Freelancing.

Freelancing platforms

There is a huge list of platforms for freelancing wherein you can get freelancing work, here we go with the recommended list –

  • Upwork – You would definitely get the money in case you render services, as Upwork keeps money from clients before the job begins and pay you according to your work.
  • PeoplePerHour – Focuses on design and development jobs, digital marketing, social media, advertising works, etc.
  • Fiverr – You can provide freelancing of any type of work here at Fiverr.
  • Flexjobs – Jobs at Flexjobs are almost guaranteed to be legitimate as they screen job postings before putting them on its site.
  • Freelancermap – Freelancermap mainly focuses on IT projects, jobs & contract roles only.
  • Freelancer – It is an open bid platform where you can know how much people are bidding for a particular job.
  • Guru – Emerged as a passion project, designed to attract a more expert base of clientele and freelancers.
  • Mechanical Turk – Amazon Mechanical Turk is a crowdsourcing marketplace wherein work includes anything from conducting simple data validation and research to survey participation, content moderation, and more.
  • Toptal – They sort out freelancers after conducting the interview and performing detailed experience checks. You would find top-notch elite freelancers here (average pay around INR 3,600/- to INR 18,000/- per hour.
  • Onsite – You can only freelance on this website when you are invited by somebody.
  • Mediabistro – Freelance marketplace where you would find media-related job posts.

The list does not end here, it goes on –

4. How to decide your working rates?

Calculate working rates
  • Cost Plus Profit – Know your monthly expenses such as rent, food, internet, etc.  Fix a rate that enables you to pay off your expenses as well as brings you some profit earning.
  • Market Rate – You can get an idea of market-rate from freelance marketplaces such as Upwork and Freelancer wherein people post their bid rates that you can also see.
  • Pricing based on value – Fixing project fee based on the value of work or the true worth of service to the clients.
  • Retainer Pricing:  It is usually a flat monthly fee, generally a prediction based on hourly rate and number of hours spent monthly.

5. Pros and Cons of Freelancing.

pros and cons

Before you start with freelancing, you should know the following –

Pros of freelancing –

  • Own boss.
  • Away from office politics.
  • Being paid based on your hard work.
  • Good work-life balance.
  • More flexibility here than a regular job.
  • Earn as much as you want.

Cons of freelancing –

  • Unstable and uncertain income. There could delay in payments as well from clients.
  • Requires good discipline and routine at your end because of distractions present at home.
  • Sometimes you would find yourself working for long hours.
  • It takes a good amount of time to crack your first client.
  • No corporate benefits such as no health insurance and no Provident Fund (PF).
  • You end up paying more percentages (%) of taxes on freelance earnings compared to your earnings from your job.

6. Ten (10) steps to get started with Freelancing.

steps for freelancing
  • Identify whether you want to do freelancing or not– Evaluate the pros & cons of freelancing, then decide whether to do freelancing or not.
  • Search for a good freelancing platform – You can refer to a freelancing platform from the above list.
  • Create your profile and portfolio – Enlist your skills, education, experience, achievement. Create a detailed profile and portfolio to sound professional and explain why they should hire you. Keep it short and simple.
  • Build your personal brand – If people do not like you, they won’t buy from you. So, develop your personal brand and showcase it through Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, Meetup, Quora, Pinterest, etc.
  • Decide your working price – If you got skills and experience, then estimate your working prices. However, initially, you can work with minimal price or no price to get work and clients.
  • Search for freelancing jobs – Search for freelancing jobs locally around yourself or online through freelancing platforms. Never look down on a small job and understand its value.
  • Set your schedule and control working conditions – Since there will not be anyone looking after you during freelancing, it is your responsibility to set your schedule, discipline, and control your working conditions.
  • Develop clientele database and focus on relationships with them – Use freelancing platforms to find clients and contact everyone you know, literally everyone for any freelancing work. Deliver supreme-quality work to secure your relationships and consistent jobs incoming for the future. Network like a maniac.
  • Improve your skills – Continuous learning and improvement is the way to land you with good freelancing jobs. Because there will be someone better than you, therefore, understand the competition and try to improve your skills consistently.

You can also read our articles on book summaries to improve your knowledge and skills. Click here to read

  • Define your goals for freelancing and set up an action plan to achieve them.

7. Some important tips for Freelancing.

tips for freelancing
  • Beware of scams and stay away from bogus ads that promise big bucks for freelancing work.
  • Try freelancing along-with your full-time job, just do not take the plunge into freelancing completely in case of uncertainty.
  • Work for free in case you have no experience and also submit your work samples. Don’t focus on money initially and focus on good reviews and relationships.
  • Only apply for jobs wherein you are confident and have the required education.
  • Pass exams such as English US and English UK to create confidence among employers.
  • Never lay back in your work even if your employer laid back. Show professionalism.
  • Never work without milestones and accept the projects with milestones only.
  • Remember BOSS IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Never disrespect your employers and don’t get angry with them while working. Instead, greet them and make them feel good.

Freelancing could become your full-time self-employment or part-time side hustle depending upon how much time you give to it.

If you liked our article on Freelancing then feel free to share it among your family and friends. You can also share your thoughts about this article in the comment section below –

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