What is freelancing ?

Freelancing in very simple terms means to work for your own self rather than working under a company or an organisation. Some people do freelancing as a full time job while many others do it to make little cash as a side job. As a freelancer you get to decide a lot of things like such as the working hours according to your availability, discussing the cost to be paid by the client, you have independence of choosing what kind of work that you want to do and a lot more

The various types of Freelancing jobs-

Freelancing is a very broad term like an umbrella, there are a lot of jobs and niches that come under it. Some of the popular freelancing jobs include:

Web development & Web design
Graphic design
Video Editing
Content Writing
Game development
social media management and the list goes on and on...

How do I start with freelancing?

The first and foremost thing that you need to have a before a starting with freelancing is to learn a skill that interests you. You need to choose a domain that you enjoy working on, instead of going for a skill that is very high paying pick a skill that really interest you something that doesn't bore you and then try to learn it as much as you can. As you keep on mastering the skill, better the quality of work you start getting and obviously more the money you can make.

What are the various platforms for freelancing ?

There are a lot of popular websites to kickstart your freelance career, few of them are listed below :

Upwork
Fiverr
Freelancer.com
PeoplePerHour
Toptal

you can choose to start with any of them, however I would suggest you to go for Upwork as it is the biggest freelancing platform in the world and has a very good interface to work upon. Some of these platform charge a little fee for the opportunities they provide but it is almost negligible in terms of the money you can make. Besides these platforms, these days LinkedIn and Twitter have turned into good platforms to land freelance opportunities you just need to explore them.

The qualities you should have to sustain your Freelance career -

Communication- This is by far the most important skill that you should have to make it big in the freelance world. You should have the art of convincing your client that why you are the right person for the job, you must know how to pitch in the price for your work, learn to build trust with your client this might help you work for them in future also.
Discipline - Since you are all on your own in the freelance career, you are not entitled to answer anybody so you need to work in disciplined manner in order to derive good results, you are the one who has to keep yourself motivated and driven.
Upskilling - As a freelancer you have to start small but the goal should always be to get better and better at you skill. The ultimate goal should be that instead of applying for work on any of the platforms, people should reach you out for work.

Pros and Cons of Freelancing:

Pros -

You have more flexibility on time as compared to regular jobs.
You have the say in deciding the price for your work.
You can work from anywhere in the world, no more travelling to offices.
You have the freedom to choose your own projects.
You can be selective with who you want to work with.

Cons-

You have to work alone and you might end up feeling isolated.
Sometimes the workload may be too much to deal with while on some occasions finding work can be difficult.
As you have to manage everything sometimes you may feel burn out.
You don't get to enjoy the extra benefits and perks that people get as a part of their jobs like health and travel compensations.
Managing your taxes on your own can be a challenge.

Hope this blog helps you to start with your freelance journey, I will see you in next one !

Pradip's Blog