You will find some people around you working as freelancer –full time or part time. But do you know what a freelancer is and how does he make money online?
Let me clarify the term freelancer first. A freelancer is a person who is self –employed and offers his services to different clients. These customers can be big business houses or a person.
The services offered by the freelancer can be anything like content writing, social media marketing, graphic designing, creating a website, feeding data into excel sheets, bookkeeping, etc.
So, if you are thinking of some freelance job or already a freelancer, this post is going to help you. In this post, you will get to know –
a) Important tips for a freelancer to get hired & make money online
b) Three popular freelance sites
Tips for a freelancer to get hired & make money online
Here we will discuss those jobs which can be done on a computer. So, you need to have a computer and a stable internet connection. Apart from this, you need to focus on the following things:
1. Have an outstanding profile
Think of freelance work as your business and create an excellent freelancer profile for it.
Your profile will serve as a resume, introduction and marketing brochure that should highlight professional skills, portfolio, experience, education and accomplishments, online skills test results, etc.
Professional profiles are well-written, complete, error-free, and provide a friendly-looking picture.
When you offer your services, clients will see the profile to know about you and your skills.
You may also like to read: Top 5 ways to make money online
This profile will play a significant role in the decision that clients take whether to hire you or not. Therefore, you should give due attention to profile creation.
2. Define your client
Before you start offering your services at freelance websites, you need to stop and think of your customer.
You have to decide whether you want to work with a big business house having large project team or a person as your client.
Initially, you may want to work with individual clients as you will feel more comfortable. Later on, you can engage bigger clients.
But, what should the criteria for selecting your clients? There are some questions below you should answer that will help you decide your client.
- Which business houses have the problems that you can resolve by providing your services?
- Out of these businesses, which are the ones that can hire you?
Apart from this, you should also consider age and geographic location of your client.
You may also like to read: Top 5 popular search engines in the world
With these points in mind, you should be able to make a right decision about your client.
3. Carefully select your project
After submitting your proposal to a freelance website, you are likely to go through interview phase if some client shows interest in your offering.
- During the interview, you should also talk to your customer to know more about the project and the expected result.
- You need to be sure the job requirements are in line with the desired deadline, and that you will have enough time to execute them.
- If you feel that the project or client is not fit for you, turn it down and look for more jobs.
You may also like to read: Why people blog? Top 10 benefits of blogging
4. Communicate with your client clearly
Once you have got the job, talk to your client and decide the preferred mode of communication. You should collect all the information needed to start working on the job.
You should be proactive and communicate with your client at least once per week. Let them understand what will be your schedule for delivering work.
If you have doubt, ask your client. Similarly, if you have a question, ask your customer. It will help you in keeping your work on the track and on time.
When your client asks something, you should respond quickly. If you delay, your client may get concerned. Just don’t allow it to happen.
5. Ensure your customer is satisfied
- During the early period of a project, submit a small part of it. Take feedback from your client if the work product meets his needs.
- While you submit project deliverable, ensure that your client is happy with the results. Then only, you should move on to the next step.
- At the end of the project contract, ensure your client has received everything he needed.
You may also like to read: Top 10 bloggers of the world in 2017
Three popular freelance website
Although there are many freelance websites available to make money online, we will be restricting ourselves to three favorite websites and try to know about their working.
i) Upwork
Upwork was previously known as oDesk, and it is the most popular freelance site.
It has more than 1.5 million clients and offers jobs for nearly every type of freelancer. It provides both short- and long-term projects, and payments can be per-project or hourly work
Upwork has a broad range of projects –big or small, individual or team-based, one-off or repeat.
You may want to know how much Upwork charges freelancers. It charges 20%, 10%, or 5% service fee which depends on the total amount freelancers have billed with a client.
For further details about Upwork, please visit https://www.upwork.com/
ii) Freelancer
This website is also trendy among the freelancers. There are millions of small businesses that use this site to turn their ideas into reality.
Whenever any job is posted by a client, all interested freelancers have to submit their bids. Bid price and freelancer credentials determine who will win the job.
Freelancer website charges a service fee of 10% for fixed price projects as well as for hourly projects.
Here also, you can find any job—data entry, website designing, content writing and much more.
For more details, please visit https://www.freelancer.com/
iii) Guru
This site is similar to other two sites and is hugely popular. Here also, you need to create a profile and define the freelance services you want to offer.
Clients will be able to find you by these services when they search for freelancers to hire.
You can search and apply for the jobs you are interested. Guru.com also provides Job Matches daily to freelancers so that they don’t miss out an opportunity.
For service charges and other details, please visit the following URL:
http://www.guru.com/help/freelancer-help-center/my-profiles/membership-information/
Conclusion
If you follow these tips and offer your services on these popular freelance websites, you stand an excellent chance of getting hired soon. Good luck!
