What Is Freelancing? How To Become A Freelancer …

Freelancing is a contract-based profession where instead of being recruited in an organisation, the person uses his skills and experience to provide services to a number of clients.

In simple terms, freelancing is when you use your skills, education, and experience to work with multiple clients and take on various assignments without committing to a single employer. The number of assignments or tasks that you can take just boils down to your ability to deliver on them as asked from them.

Freelancing usually involves jobs (called gigs) that allow you to work-from-home situations. But don’t associate freelancing as the same as having a work-from-home job.

1. Freelancing doesn’t always mean that you’ll work from home. You might have to work at your client’s office too depending upon the type of work and the client’s requirements.
2. A work from home job involves a contract between you and a single employer who gives you a salary while freelancing doesn’t.

It is just that many of the jobs that freelancers perform can be delivered over the Internet without their presence at the company or clients place.

Who Is A Freelancer?

A freelancer or freelance worker is a self-employed person who earns money by providing services to multiple clients. These services relate to the person’s skills and are not necessarily provided to just businesses.

Freelancers either use third-party platforms like Fiverr, 99designs, etc. to get business or use their network to get more business and provide services to their clients directly.

But is it a good choice for a career? Can you sustain a lavish life while freelancing? How do you start with freelancing jobs?

Well, when 11 percent of the working adult population in the United States is working primarily as full-time freelancers, there must be something good about this industry.

Freelancing As A Career

The rise of freelancers has resulted in the development of a new concept — the gig economy. In the gig economy, a person, instead of working for a single employer full-time and getting a fixed salary in return, works for multiple clients at his own terms and at a price he thinks his work deserves.

Freelancing is an enticing profession. It takes care of almost all the problems of a usual service-class human. According to Upwork, Americans work an average of 47 hours per week. Freelancers work an average of 11 hours less per week than full-time employed workers. That adds up to about 550 hours per year or 23 whole days.

Full-time traditional workers spend nearly an additional full month each year behind the keyboard (or wherever they work).

How To Become A Freelancer?

Becoming a freelancer is just as easy as ordering something over the Internet. You visit sites that offer freelance jobs and tasks and take them on. This is a wonderful way of starting out and getting your name out there.

Here are a few sites that you can try for freelancing jobs:

• Fiverr: the world’s largest marketplace to look for freelance jobs. Just create an account post what you can do, add few links and you’re done.
• 99Designs: A perfect place to find freelancing jobs if you’re a designer.
• Upwork: Upwork is a more professional looking freelance marketplace where you’ll find more business clients.
• Freelancer.com: Freelancer.com is among the oldest freelance job marketplace which you can choose in your initial year when you have little or no freelance experience.

(We have a complete list of best outsourcing websites here if you want to check out more options)

Working on a few gigs from these sites helps in understanding how freelancing as a job goes along and helps you get the hang of it.

But before heading to these freelance websites, you need to set up a freelance brand for yourself. Follow these steps for the same –

1. Decide what services you’ll offer
2. Determine your target market
3. Find the platforms (freelancing websites) you’ll be serving on. Choose a uniform username on all of them. It helps you build your brand identity.
4. Decide your rates
5. Create an online portfolio on your niche-specific portfolio platforms; GitHub for developers, Behance for designers, etc. We also suggest you create a personal portfolio website to showcase your skills and talent.
6. Market your services: market on social media, offer something for free or at a very less cost (helps in getting more traction), ask for referrals, and use email marketing.

We don’t suggest you leave your existing source of income and jump into freelancing per se. Try it as a part-time venture to see how it works out for you in the initial months.

It is entirely not necessary that you have to freelance full time. It is up to you to decide on whether you’d like to do it full time or keep your existing job and make a buck during your free time.