HOW TO START FREELANCING

Many a times you tend to wonder a bit on the profitability of freelancing and weather you could actually make a living out of freelancing by selling your skills digitally to clients who require your service.

This article no how to start freelancing lay to bear the claim that freelancing can be a good source of income when it done properly and if you wish to venture into freelancing, you must know a few secrets only a few successful freelancers know and apply that works the magic of getting a project make use of.

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In this article you will learn about monetizing your digital skills as a freelancer and earn for yourself cool cash just at the comfort of your home using a laptop with internet connection, you will also learn about the various platforms where you could signup as a freelancer and get jobs from foreign clients, how do you setup a professional seller profile that stands out among other, how to effectively communicate with potential client to convince the to order.

WHAT IS FREELANCING

Table of Contents

We shall begin by defining what freelancing is all about
Freelancing simply means selling your digital skills or soft skills to clients and delivering the job in a digital format without being in contact with the buyer.

The digital skillset may include the following, web programming, codding, writing, graphics designing, photography, digital marketing, telemarketing, software development etc. I will give a comprehensive list of digital skills you could earn money from in subsequent paragraphs.

freelancing entails selling your digital skills online in order words it means offering your offering your skills as a service on a digital platform without the need to be in physical contact with your buyer.

For instance, I may decide to offer writing services or any skills I am pro at to an unknown client on any freelancing platforms and get paid after the job is delivered. However, before I would be able to offer this service on any freelancing platforms, I must have signed up as a content or creative writer and setup a professional account.

A comprehensive introduction to fundamentals of freelancing is necessary to familiarize oneself with starting a freelancing career from digital skills acquisition, personal branding and lead generations as the case maybe.

WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER FREELANCING?

Freelancing is a good start to financial freedom where you have flexible working hours and still go about your daily activities. Freelancers can also enjoy flexible work location.

Many freelancers work from home and as we all know you also have choice of project you could actually pickup, you will also learn on the job and build on your skill or develop new digital skills.

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Having understood what freelancing is all about and why you should consider freelancing, we shall proceed with the list of digital skills you could acquire to begin a freelancing career and the online resources that may serve as a useful learning material.

LIST OF FREELANCING WEBSITES

Currently there are many freelancing websites that enable free account creations and few requires signup fee to set up your account. These sites are basically built with same structure where you create an account as a seller or buyer and select your skillset to enable buyers that need your service search the platform and select any seller to hire.
1. Upwork
2. Fiverr
3. Freelanced
4. Guru.com
5. Flex jobs
6. People per hour
7. Hirable
8. Tutor.com
9. 99 designs

Upwork: Upwork is one of the popular freelance websites, with over more than 1.5 million clients. It offers a range of jobs from hourly to fixed projects, short-long term projects, and even entry-level to expert-level tasks. Whatever is your expertise, showcase it on Upwork. There’s always something for you. The portal charges 20% charges for every gig. Due to thousands of jobs every day, there’s a chance for you. But, you’ve to make your profile authentic and credible.

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Fiverr: Are you new to freelancing? Fiverr can be a good start! You can even win your first $5 job. Offer any freelance service at a minimum rate of $5 or more and make a side income. Fiverr has become the top-most visited site in terms on freelance jobs online for beginners. Even if you’re a newbie, create a profile on Fiverr.

Freelanced: Freelanced is another best freelance job site for beginners. Create your portfolio in any freelance field and apply to jobs. Make an impressive profile to get freelance jobs fast.

Guru: Guru is a freelance hub for all freelance professionals who seek jobs. The payment option of Guru is more reasonable than Upwork. The platform also offers different categories of jobs such as low-paid jobs, fixed jobs for entry-level freelancers etc. Therefore, it seems like a good start for beginners.

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Flex jobs: Easily find part-time professional freelance, part-time and remote jobs at Flex jobs. More than 50 jobs categories are available for job seekers. On Flex Jobs, you get guaranteed and legitimate jobs. This is the most quality job board and a subscription site where you get notified for the latest best-paying jobs.

People per hour: More than 1 million people are using People Per Hour to find freelance work and earn money online. The community has freelance talents from almost all around the world. No matter where you live, you can use People Per Hour to land gigs in website designing, writing, web development, etc.

Hirable: Hirable gives opportunities to businesses and freelancers to connect. Freelancers are pre-screened before they’re connected with clients. It’s a professional platform for designers and developers.

Tutor.com: Tutor.com is the best freelance website for beginners who deliver tutoring services. Become a tutor on the popular site and you’ll be paid for every coaching session.

99 designs: This is the popular platform focused on website designing. It’s the go-to-site for freelancers who provide website designing services for clients and companies. It includes logos, banners, image designs etc.

HOW TO SET UP A PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNT

Setting up a freelancing account varies across the different platforms listed above. Know what platform works best for your skill set and work to optimize your profile to enable it to appear in search results.

Some freelancing website requires an academic certificate, work portfolios. Some however require that freelancers should verify their skill set by taking online tests.

On fiver, for instance, you are expected to create a seller account after which you must set up your gigs for the different services you wish offered. These gigs are like products you sell on Fiverr at a specific price. Your profile could have gigs from different niches; however, it is standard practice to set up gigs that are related to a particular skill set.

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Don’t be a jack of all trade and master of none. Specialize in one particular skillset and become professional in it.

For instance, if you are a writer and you want to offer writing services on fiver, you could set up gigs on copywriting, gigs on blog content writing, gigs on email marketing, gigs on creative writing, and other gigs relating to the writing niche.

If you are a graphics designer and you wish to offer design related services on Fiverr, for instance, you could as well set up gigs on logo design, gigs on flyers and banner designs, and also gigs on web design.

This is however applicable to other skill set on the freelancing platform and not exhaustive of the ones listed above.

your account should however contain the keywords you wish to rank for in the title and description section to be optimized for search results.
also, it is good practice to create a gig image by designing one or hiring someone to design one for you, and don’t just use any random image on the internet as your gig image, you would be seen as unprofessional and ensure to label your gig image with your keyword.