If you are interested in a flexible schedule that allows you to have a little more control and freedom in your professional life, a freelance job might be for you. The market for freelancers is quite large. Nowadays, a lot of work can be done remotely.

There are hundreds of specializations, from blogging to programming, and many more. If you have skills, whether online or offline, you can turn them into service and offer them at a price.

But don’t forget that freelance work is not easy. You have to work hard and be determined to succeed as a freelancer. It takes time to gain experience and develop skills, and like any other day job, freelance work also has its advantages and disadvantages.

In this article, we will look at some key tips on freelance work.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Freelance Work?

But working at home isn’t necessarily as easy as it sounds, and every advantage is tempered by disadvantages. These are the best and worst aspects of freelance work.

Pros of Freelancing

1. Flexibility:  As a freelancer, you have the flexibility to work from home and control to decide to work full-time most of the year or only part-time.

2. Control over your workload: You can work as much or as little as you want and be selective about the tasks you take on and choose projects that make sense to you, or if a job will take too much time or be paid too little, you can refuse it.  

3. Variety at work: Freelance work allows you to work on a variety of projects and topics. It allows you to broaden your horizons and help create a less redundant and boring environment.

4. International Clients: Since the majority of freelance work is done online, freelancers can work with people from all over the world.

Cons of Freelancing

1. Taxes: Taxes can be a disadvantage for freelancers, so make sure you take the regulations and laws into account when setting your rates.

2. Unstable Income:  Finding a stable job is really rare for freelancers. You might have to deal with late payments and it’s not always easy to find commissions. You may finish a project and have difficulty finding another job.

3. A lot of Responsibility: When you are a freelancer, you run a business and brand. You are responsible for developing your business, getting clients, managing your clients, billing, and collection, and paying taxes.

4. Self-Discipline: It can take a lot of discipline not to procrastinate or spend too much time in bed when you choose your own schedule.

5. Working Alone: Since most of your work will be done at home, you may feel lonely unless you have a group to work with. 

6. The Work Is Competitive: so you’ll have to work hard to gain experience and make your work stand out among many people applying for the best projects.

7. Lack of Benefits: If an employee is entitled to benefits, freelancers rarely receive them and it is usually their responsibility to find and finance their own insurance.

How Can You Earn As A Freelancer?

In the freelance world, the competition is very strong and your competitors for the best jobs often come from all over the world. Especially from developing countries where it is much cheaper to live, it makes it difficult for you to compete with their prices while getting the minimum wage.

But generally, there are two ways to get paid

• By the hour
• with a fixed fee for each project.

To be successful, promote your advanced skills to potential clients. But make sure you have realistic expectations about how much extra money you could earn.  Always use a third-party freelancing site or payment method and make sure you know exactly how much you will earn for a job from the start.

That way you won’t risk your clients not paying their bills. In addition, if you work outside of these sites you may be prohibited from applying for new jobs through the freelance site for trying to evade their fees.

5 Essential Freelancing Tips

 Here are 5 essential freelancing tips to start a successful career as a freelancer.

1. Build a Portfolio

The portfolio is very important today. Building your portfolio is a convenient way to demonstrate your skills and abilities. If you are running a small business, you may not yet be well recognized. You need to earn favors to move forward.

The best way to do this is to showcase your work to date. The portfolio will be confirmation that you are doing your job well, that you have the experience, and that you are functioning professionally. The purpose of creating a portfolio is to show that your current work inspires confidence in your company or person.

When recruiting for the desired job, it can be even more important than a CV because the portfolio is the best proof of your skills, which is very important for your employer!  Make sure your portfolio reflects the work you want to do.

when listing your works, don’t forget to say more about the benefits of working with you and show what problems you can solve and how.  you should therefore write brief descriptions of your work and include links.

The portfolio can be used in any service sector, whether you are a graphic designer, editor, web developer, or translator. By creating a portfolio, you build your professional image and achievements, which makes you much more effective in the eyes of employers or potential clients.

The portfolio also allows you to highlight your offer compared to your competitors. By placing your portfolio on local forums, social media groups, or portals, you will be recognized and gain the trust of future clients who will discover your skills.

Pro Tips:

As far as your portfolio is concerned, the emphasis should be on quality work that you are proud of rather than exposing everything you’ve done. So choose quality over quantity and make sure your work is of high quality. Include the works you are most satisfied with and that will be most important to the person reviewing your portfolio.

• Still present some work in your portfolio because a single example will not be convincing.
• Update your portfolio regularly and add new work.

2. Evaluate Your Rate

It is essential to establish a solid foundation for your career as a freelancer. Surveying other freelancers with similar skills and leveraging their experience through online communities can help you get a clear idea of how to set up a rete for your services.

This is an excellent resource to ensure that your services meet your expectations. To better evaluate the work, you do for example as a freelance copywriter, you need to consider various factors that can affect the time spent on a typical 1,000-word article.

You then need to determine the rate you charge as a freelance copywriter in relation to the work required. When you want to determine a package for a project, you need to estimate the time required and then multiply it by your individual base rate.

 This individual base rate is not calculated using a predefined formula, but most freelancers take into account their expertise (i.e. years of writing experience or knowledge of a certain subject), as well as geographical factors such as the cost of living.

You can establish the general rate by determining how much you want to earn annually and estimating your working hours per week as a general guideline.

Consider an average copywriter with an annual income of $55,000 per year and 35 hours of work per week.  Multiply those 35 hours by 52 weeks in a year and you get 1,820 hours of paid annual work, which should bill about $30 per hour.

Common factors that influence the way freelancers set their rates are as follows:

Time

Time is a key factor to consider as it is more easily quantifiable. You can establish the basis by asking how long it would take to write for example a 1000-word article on a topic you already know, which means that little or no research would be required.

After a certain amount of time, you will understand how many words you can write per hour.  If you can write 250 to 300 words per hour.  An average article of 1000 words will take you almost 3 to 4 hours.

Some experienced copywriters can write 500 to 1000 words per hour. But the number of words written per hour is not the most important factor in determining how long it will take you to write a particular assignment. You need to consider other project-specific rate factors as well.

Complexity and expertise

So beyond the actual writing, other factors such as complexity and expertise come into play when it comes to estimating the time required to complete the writing of an article.

Some projects require more than just writing work to be completed, which requires a higher flat rate. On the other hand, you can charge less if something is easier.

Of course, writing an article on a subject that is within your area of expertise but that would require some research would take more time. You may need to interview experts, do extensive research, or even conduct an investigation. Each of these tasks takes time.

For example, you may need other tasks, such as providing photographs. While this may seem like a small request, it can significantly increase the amount of time the freelancer spends on the assignment.

You may need more than one to three hours’ overtime to provide photos and accompanying captions. Sometimes there is not enough data available for your particular subject. You may even need to create and deploy a survey before you can even begin to write.

Then you see that the work of writing from a technical point of view is more difficult, that it is not possible to know before you start the work. Some fact-finding such as rewrites, fact-checking, travel, and site visits can complicate the task.

All of these tasks require additional time. Make sure you evaluate yourself properly before offering your services.

3. Build Your Network

The ability to discover is the key to a successful freelance career. As a freelancer, you will need to develop and maintain your network. A successful freelance career is all about networking. You need to get out of your comfort zone by developing your networking skills.

Facilitate access to your knowledge by creating a website or an online portfolio, and creating social media accounts to share your best content. Spend a certain part of your day making connections.

By building and maintaining your network, even if they can’t do anything for you right now, you are creating a community of people who will want to help you in the future. You can find online groups of other freelancers with whom you have a lot in common.

LinkedIn is an excellent networking resource. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. Consider using other sites like Reddit and see if there are forums for professionals in your career field.

Connecting with other freelancers allows you to understand how other freelancers run their business, compare rates, compare strategies, and even share job stories.

4. Follow Current Trends

Today, more and more companies are turning to freelancers to fill their skills gaps.

This growing demand for jobs requiring specialized skills favors contract workers with these capabilities.

Whether your niche is in the technology sector, or you’re a consultant, marketer, insurance broker, or financier, you need to keep an eye on these trends, expecting opportunities to implement them in your work as quickly as possible.

If you are aware of the latest trends, new changes, and business models, it is easier for you to anticipate and satisfy the needs of your customers. Moreover, it is proof that you want to evolve as a professional.

To do so, try subscribing to newsletters from popular trade magazines, listening to your clients, and following opinion leaders.

5. Continuous Learning

As a freelancer, to stay ahead of your competitors and get more clients, you have to be interested in self-improvement and never stop learning. Every day new tools and rules come along and it can be difficult to maintain an income if you fall behind. The job market is getting tougher and tougher, so you have to find a way to rise above the rest.

Being a freelancer means you have to be your own boss and the human resources department. So it’s essential to work hard and never stop learning, improving yourself as an individual to stay relevant in the industry and to be able to solve your clients’ problems.

To reach new levels, you must be in a constant learning process. Self-learning begins with understanding your weaknesses and working constantly to correct them and develop your strengths and skills.

The Best Websites to Find A Freelance Job

There are a number of websites well known to enter the freelance world. Here are four of the best sites to find freelancing work:

Fiverr

Fiverr , created in 2010, is one of the largest marketplaces in the world for digital services for independents, with a database of more than 3 million gigs. The registration procedure is very simple, especially for buyers.

It is also easy to become a seller on Fiverr and earn money if you have skills and are ready to work.  All you have to do is create your profile using your Facebook profile, your Google profile, or your email address to register.

When creating a username, keep in mind that you will not be able to change it in the future. After you activate your account, you will be able to use Fiverr and all its features. The services offered by freelancers on the Fiverr website are called Fiverr gigs.

 The price of the gigs ranges from $5 to $10,000. Even though most gigs only cost $5, there is usually a price increase for additional and better services.

Fiverr offers the rating, level, and opinions of other buyers to make it easier for you to find quality freelance sellers. Fiverr has made it very simple for people to buy gigs. Sellers list their services (gigs) in Fiverr and buyers interested in those services ask questions and, if they are satisfied with the answers, buy them.

You provide all the necessary information and within a few days, your order is delivered. Fiverr retains 20% of each transaction. Once the seller has delivered the gig and the buyer has confirmed delivery, Fiverr pays the seller within two weeks (faster if you are a trusted member).

The major categories of services are graphic design and conception, digital marketing, writing and translation, video and animation, music and audio, and programming.

Fiverr’s customer service will always help you solve any problem and will answer you within 24 hours of sending a ticket. If a seller does not deliver your order on time, you can either extend the delivery time or get a refund (partial or total) instantly.

Upwork

“Upwork is one of the most popular self-employment platforms that helps freelancers around the world find work. Freelancers with three million jobs through this platform earn more than a billion dollars each year.  This makes Upwork the largest market for freelancers. Upwork has 12 million registered freelancers.”[1]

Upwork is a marketplace for freelancers in fields such as writing, graphic design, and web development. The site helps professionals find projects, communicate with clients, and get paid.

If you are a new self-employed or working in a new field, you can gain valuable experience. But the site is full of new workers who are willing to accept work at a lower rate, which can impact your earning potential. Overall, Upwork makes it easier to find a job and earn more money.

First, you need to build your profile by indicating the specific areas in which you are competent and your level of expertise.  You can also indicate your education, the number of hours you work per week, your place of work, and your preferred rate. Next, add a photo and a detailed description of your background. You can include links to a portfolio or to specific work samples.

If you’re not sure what to charge, check the rates of other freelancers on Upwork who have a similar experience.

PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour Created in 2007, is a huge platform that presents jobs and employment opportunities to people around the world. What sets PeoplePerHour apart from other freelance sites is its location-based targeting feature.

It allows buyers to hire people from their region for specific jobs related to the region. In other words, PeoplePerHour gives you access to freelancers from around the world, as well as workers from your region.

Similarly, freelancers looking for local employment can approach buyers in their region. Another interesting feature is that you can manage a single account for selling and buying services. On this platform, you can get hired for an assignment or offer your services through promotional positions.

One thing that really sets PeoplePerHour apart is that, unlike other similar sites that strictly prohibit any direct communication between the employer and the subcontractor, PeoplePerHour encourages personal contact.

 The range of jobs and professionals available on this site varies from the standard categories of IT, multimedia, writing, etc. Payments on this platform are secured by the Escrow system and PeoplePerHour Wallet.

Freelancer

Freelancer is another popular freelance talent recruitment site that is similar to Upwork. Many companies around the world use these freelance professionals to outsource software and application development, writing, design, and other business services.

Freelancer has a downloadable desktop application for Windows, Linux, or Mac, as well as a mobile application for organizing ongoing projects. Using the application, freelancers can view multiple projects and details at once, and communicate with their employer via an instant messaging feature within the application.

Time tracking within the Freelancer.com application allows the worker to track only hourly projects, which can be a limitation for some freelancers or clients.

The Freelancer application also takes periodic screenshots of the freelancer’s work but also allows the freelancer to manually take a screenshot to send to the employer via a “snapshot” button.

According to Freelancer, freelancer fees vary depending on the type of project or service you have successfully bid on, as well as the plan you are on.

Conclusion

With a little determination, you can become a paid freelancer, providing the world with articles, animations, applications, administrative support, and more. The advantages of freelancing are numerous. Not only will it be a great experience for your CV but, with the right project, the payee can be quite decent too.

But you must show great commitment, have excellent time management skills, and be able to manage a small personal business. The sustainability of your freelance activity is essential, and you need to stay ahead of your competitors. It is therefore essential to have positive work habits.

To stay in demand, you must always look for new skills to acquire. At the end of the day, freelancing has many advantages over an ordinary office job, but it all depends on your personality type.