In this course we’ve covered some pretty basic stuff about Freelancing and Fiverr. Freelancing is a great source of income to make some handy money online. Fiverr is most popular among beginners because it is easier to start with as compared to Upwork and other freelancing marketplaces. Let’s see what have we got in it.
What is Freelancing?
Freelancing is a remote type of business and on the freelancing platform, it works traditionally on gig-buying or proposal bidding model. This model belongs to skills based services mostly. You need to list your skills in the form of a gig at some platforms and need to bid on buyer’s proposals at other platforms. Although most of the platforms have both functionalities. If you are offering freelance services at your website or your brand page on social media, then it’s in your control how you handle the dealing and transactions. This blog post about freelancing basics cover all of the aspects of freelancing as your next side gig or full time business. Let’s see why we should do freelancing and why not!
Why Freelancing as a career?
There are definitely some plus points when choosing freelancing as your career. Let’s see what are these:
Liberty from 9 to 5 crap
You might not be a 9 to 5 person like me. That’s why you are here 😀 So freelancing simply gets you rid of your job and allows you to throw a resignation letter before boss like a boss 😉 You can choose your own time, own space to work and enjoy that never ending feel of liberty. Isn’t it amazing? But wait, don’t resign from your job before you’re well established in freelancing. Otherwise don’t curse me for taking your job away from you. Let’s see the next perk.
No Monetary Investment needed
You don’t have to spend money initially in most of the freelance skills. All you need is just your laptop or PC resting at your home and that’s it! But some high end graphic related or some robotic project can definitely demand a high end PC as well. So, start utilizing that resting PC or Laptop today.
Self Choice of time
This again links to your liberty. You have to choose your own timeframe to work and rest. So, that has been listed separately as it’s what many people like me choose freelancing just because they can’t wake up on 8:59AM and reach at 9:00AM in the office. Freelancing saves us in this. Choose the time of your choice and work. No one will shout at you, no one will fine you until you’re meeting deadlines. Isn’t it sweet? It surely is!
Can work from home
This again is the big plus. You don’t want to leave your home but want the money to keep coming at your home. Freelancing again saves you. But wait, don’t do it in wearing your shorts, lying on a couch, and taking some snacks. These will develop you into a lazy potato. Set up your office nicely in your home, go there with an office decorum, and you’re good to work at home. Sweet home!
Not hard marketing needed
The biggest advantage I would say! While working on a freelancing platform like Fiverr, you don’t need to market yourself (except focusing on how your profile looks! Professionally). You just need to stay active on the platform, get great reviews, and rest! No big budgets are needed for your Fiverr profile marketing. Just keep it like professionals do! Grab good reviews, keep it a five starred profile.
Why NOT Freelancing?
Is this even a question? Yes it is! Each profession has some positives and negatives. So does freelancing. Let’s find what’s the dirtier side of it!
Not for ‘Forcefully’ motivated persons
Freelancing is not meant for the persons who are used to work by imposing something on them by some cruel boss. You can only do freelancing if you can easily meet your deadlines. Punctuality is the key while even thinking about freelancing. So armor yourself with self motivation and punctuality. And you’re ready to be a freelancer.
Building brand is little tough
It will take you forever to build your own brand if you just keep yourself inside that platform you are using. You need to build your own brand to keep things under your control. Otherwise it will be tough for you to thrive if platform puts some restrictions on your account. So keep building your brand on social media as well as your own website.
Platform Dependent
If you are starting on a freelancing platform like Fiverr, it could be a problem when Fiverr imposes some restrictions on you. Or it’s possible that you wake up some morning with a mail of restrictions on your account or even worse when your mail says ” Account permanently disabled”. So that’s worse we can see on such kind of platforms. So stay cautioned while relying on just one platform.
Can get scammed
The sad part of freelancing world is that you can get scammed in terms of money as well as time. Some buyers may get work done and later on they could file a dispute against the order and eventually get their money back. That’s where these platforms favor buyers instead of seller. They are never neutral in such cases.
Freelancing platforms take away part of your hard earned income
Although the freelancing platforms offer to list out services for free. But in return they take away a huge 20% of not only our hard earned money but also tips that are certainly meant to be ours. The good solution for this is to price your services 20% higher than what you think the service should cost. So you might get actual value of your hardwork.
Freelancing Platforms
After having a look on some pros and cons of freelancing, let’s check which platforms are there in the market to offer services. Although our focus will be Fiverr in subsequent posts on this series.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a platform that works on gig-buying model. It also partially work on proposal-bidding model. But the main focus is gig-buying model. People search for their area of interest and need, and find some gigs offering the relevant services, they buy the service that catches their attention. They have an option to submit a proposal named ‘buyer request’ to invite freelancers to bid on the proposal within the budget.
Upwork
Upwork is a broader platform that attracts big businesses and teams rather than individuals and small businesses. Although both are there as well. It works on proposal bidding method mostly, although you can list your services like gigs there too. A relatively stable but you should be an established professional in your area of expertise to start working on Upwork successfully.
Freelancer
Another established freelance marketplace that attracts many of the businesses and teams. You can try your luck there as a freelancer as well. It mostly works on proposal bidding method like Upwork.
More freelancing platforms
Other freelancing platforms include Guru, LinkedIn, Truelancer and the list is far from completion. Do you have one in your mind? Comment below to add to the list.
How much income you can generate from freelancing?
You can generate income from $100 to $100000 and even more. It’s upon you how you communicate as a freelancer with your clients to upsell your gigs and services. So, learn the art of upselling to make more money online as a freelancer.
Who can do freelancing?
As everyone is not made for doing everything. Some professions and skills can fancy you while others don’t. So here are some of the factors that can decide if you should choose freelancing or not?
Have Some Skills
The first thing to start freelancing as your career is your skill. You must have expertise in a skill like writing blogs, graphic designing, web designing etc to get going with freelancing. And needless to mention that you must be expert in your skills. If you are newbie in any skill, practice, practice, and practice before getting into any freelancing platform.
Ability to meet deadlines
You must be a punctual person to become a good freelancer, as pointed out earlier. If you have a habit of missing deadlines, don’t start freelancing before you rectify your habit.
Communication
Communication is very important part of your freelancing journey as it can either increase your sales or decrease them. All you need is to communicate as transparently as possible. Stay clear with your project and requirements of the project. Be very clear about your areas of expertise, areas of medium expertise, and areas of no expertise. Don’t hesitate to deny a project that offers lesser money or is beyond your skillset.
Stay updated
Lastly, you must stay updated about the trends, and latest developments in your areas of interest and expertise. It will help you staying ahead of your competitors, and you will have an edge in the latest challenges in your niche.
Conclusion
So, that’s it for basic course about freelancing. If you have any questions, you can comment below and we will love to guide you over the problems you are facing in freelancing. If you want to add anything, you are welcome to do so in the comments below.
