I wanted to share some helpful tips I learnt scaling all the way up to be ranked as no.1 freelancer on some popular freelancing websites today.
It all started about 8 or 9 years ago. I will cut that story short but I did not get into freelancing because I wanted a job. I have always been employed ever since I started working full time when I was 18. 11 years now it has been and freelancing has become a part of pride, passion, learning and fun.
Many years ago, I wanted to find ways to write, give my hobby of writing wings, write amazing things that all those who encouraged me would enjoy and motive me more. But most importantly I wanted to write and get more readers to what I write. I wrote blogs, I still do blogs and as you can see I suck at it. I only got about 18 thousand readers past year.
Imagine writing an article for someone who gets 80 thousand readers in a week? Or he publishes your writing into a book? Awesome isn't it? this is what I felt and I started writing.
I wrote to many content sites, starting cbronline.com; bloomberg (in their initial days of health and wealth mags), readersden, eblog, elanor, cathay, and numerous others.
slowly I ventured into web development, web designing, SEO, SMM and so on.
What I achieved out of this is a sense of confidence that I can still make money and not be dependant on job salary.
Here are some secret tips I wanted to share on freelancing.
1. Do what you know or love doing: Dont waste time buying a franchise business, instead sell a skill you know. Ramesh Raj (Name changed) a friend of mine who was laid off last year from a data analyst job found himself struggling in a hotel franchisee.
Offlate he started pitching his services to Educational institutions, financial organizations and guess what? He has landed a cool consultant gig and as a freelancer, not as an employee.
2. Spend Judiciously: Things are very costly these days. You might want to buy a Apple Mac instead of a windows 7 or windows 8. Buy Apple only if you have specific reasons to go for it, else settle for what will get the job done. Remember the key is to keep enough money in the bank as savings.
I want to start an Internet Radio. I have all the information I need. But I still need a 10 MBPS connection with a Xenon Server running Windows and a media streaming server subscription. Plus the hardware cost of a 4 channel mixer, mike, phone line, legal registrations etc., are separate.
But I know that on day 1 of my launch I will have 5000 subscribers and according to my business model I would break-even in the 3rd quarter itself. Yet I will go for second hand products where necessary and cut as much costs as possible
3. Bid with a demo: If you are bidding on a freelance website and not getting that job is because you have done nothing better than everyone else. Its not flowery english or flattery words that win bids. Its your readiness. Sometime ago I landed a exciting job on peopleperhour.com. The job was to transcript a interview of a Doctor and a professor. It was a 40 minute interview for $80. I saw that there were already 15 bids made for it by the time I saw it. Yet, I got that job.What did I do differently? I transcribed 20 minutes of that interview and said " I have done half of your job, I will finish the other half in 30 minutes. Let me know if you are interested, pay me that 80$ you have quoted" thats all it was.
Preparation always pays.
4. Create Digital Footprints: you have to be a star. you have to be an expert. You have to be reliable. So set up your freelancing project history and your customer feedback in as many places as possible. For some, if they dont find you on google you dont exist. Some customers can become your Anchor clients and work with you for a long time. They become your Anchor clients based on your digital presence.
So write blogs, write articles, be on social media sites, showcase your work, share your masterpieces, offer help to others, do less time taking work for free, gain contacts, network with people, make an impression and thus your digital foot print will be made. It will not happen overnight, this has to be earned slowly over a period of time.
5. Integrity: Lastly, you have to be truthful. Do as committed. Under-promise and Over-deliver. dont take up things you cant finish. Dont depend on others to finish a job. Do it yourself, and do it to perfection. Do not limit yourself to one skill alone. I am sure one can do anything from repairing a laptop, being a virtual assistant, copy editing, book keeping, translating, transcribing, writing, developing, troubleshooting and tones of many more stuff that can be done on freelancing and get paid legitimately. Integrity and Consistency is KEY!
To myself I keep telling "Dont get complacent, keep working harder." this has helped too.
Hope these tips will help you well if you are on that track of freelancing
Thank you
Regards
Maddy
It all started about 8 or 9 years ago. I will cut that story short but I did not get into freelancing because I wanted a job. I have always been employed ever since I started working full time when I was 18. 11 years now it has been and freelancing has become a part of pride, passion, learning and fun.
Many years ago, I wanted to find ways to write, give my hobby of writing wings, write amazing things that all those who encouraged me would enjoy and motive me more. But most importantly I wanted to write and get more readers to what I write. I wrote blogs, I still do blogs and as you can see I suck at it. I only got about 18 thousand readers past year.
Imagine writing an article for someone who gets 80 thousand readers in a week? Or he publishes your writing into a book? Awesome isn't it? this is what I felt and I started writing.
I wrote to many content sites, starting cbronline.com; bloomberg (in their initial days of health and wealth mags), readersden, eblog, elanor, cathay, and numerous others.
slowly I ventured into web development, web designing, SEO, SMM and so on.
What I achieved out of this is a sense of confidence that I can still make money and not be dependant on job salary.
Here are some secret tips I wanted to share on freelancing.
1. Do what you know or love doing: Dont waste time buying a franchise business, instead sell a skill you know. Ramesh Raj (Name changed) a friend of mine who was laid off last year from a data analyst job found himself struggling in a hotel franchisee.
Offlate he started pitching his services to Educational institutions, financial organizations and guess what? He has landed a cool consultant gig and as a freelancer, not as an employee.
2. Spend Judiciously: Things are very costly these days. You might want to buy a Apple Mac instead of a windows 7 or windows 8. Buy Apple only if you have specific reasons to go for it, else settle for what will get the job done. Remember the key is to keep enough money in the bank as savings.
I want to start an Internet Radio. I have all the information I need. But I still need a 10 MBPS connection with a Xenon Server running Windows and a media streaming server subscription. Plus the hardware cost of a 4 channel mixer, mike, phone line, legal registrations etc., are separate.
But I know that on day 1 of my launch I will have 5000 subscribers and according to my business model I would break-even in the 3rd quarter itself. Yet I will go for second hand products where necessary and cut as much costs as possible
3. Bid with a demo: If you are bidding on a freelance website and not getting that job is because you have done nothing better than everyone else. Its not flowery english or flattery words that win bids. Its your readiness. Sometime ago I landed a exciting job on peopleperhour.com. The job was to transcript a interview of a Doctor and a professor. It was a 40 minute interview for $80. I saw that there were already 15 bids made for it by the time I saw it. Yet, I got that job.What did I do differently? I transcribed 20 minutes of that interview and said " I have done half of your job, I will finish the other half in 30 minutes. Let me know if you are interested, pay me that 80$ you have quoted" thats all it was.
Preparation always pays.
4. Create Digital Footprints: you have to be a star. you have to be an expert. You have to be reliable. So set up your freelancing project history and your customer feedback in as many places as possible. For some, if they dont find you on google you dont exist. Some customers can become your Anchor clients and work with you for a long time. They become your Anchor clients based on your digital presence.
So write blogs, write articles, be on social media sites, showcase your work, share your masterpieces, offer help to others, do less time taking work for free, gain contacts, network with people, make an impression and thus your digital foot print will be made. It will not happen overnight, this has to be earned slowly over a period of time.
5. Integrity: Lastly, you have to be truthful. Do as committed. Under-promise and Over-deliver. dont take up things you cant finish. Dont depend on others to finish a job. Do it yourself, and do it to perfection. Do not limit yourself to one skill alone. I am sure one can do anything from repairing a laptop, being a virtual assistant, copy editing, book keeping, translating, transcribing, writing, developing, troubleshooting and tones of many more stuff that can be done on freelancing and get paid legitimately. Integrity and Consistency is KEY!
To myself I keep telling "Dont get complacent, keep working harder." this has helped too.
Hope these tips will help you well if you are on that track of freelancing
Thank you
Regards
Maddy