In this article, we will read about who can be a freelancer, what he needs to do in order to become a freelancer, what are the benefits of doing it, and how his personal development is possible through these things. So let’s begin.
The most well-known place for freelancers today is Upwork, which is an online platform for freelancers who wish to get projects in return for a payment. If you visit the Upwork website, you will find that there are at least 250 different types of job categories. This means that there are at least 250 different types of skills for which projects are available to bid on Upwork.
These categories include projects related to programming, designing, content writing, sales management, virtual assistance, technical support, legal advice etc. So work is available for almost all kinds of designations and positions.
Anyone can get a project if he has the skills necessary to complete it on time by following the conditions mentioned in the job description. Besides Upwork, there are many other freelancing platforms available today, which we will describe incoming articles and get to know how many options we have to look for work and earn money. But it’s also important that you know what is freelancing and how it works.
It’s true that almost anyone can become a freelancer and earn from the freelancing business model, but it can give amazing outcomes under certain conditions and become especially suitable for some particular people:-
First kind of person who can work as a freelancer
Someone who is not highly educated hasn’t even been able to pass primary school but has immense willpower to succeed in life despite the lack of proper education or qualifications. If he has a strong desire as well as motivation to make a name in the field of computer and technology then such a person can also become a successful freelancer. There are two things that he must have or acquire to do freelancing.
The first is technical skill and the second is a winning attitude. If he tries to look for a job offline it is going to be very hard to find a good job with just basic computer skills and an under matric result to show for. Though he may be very honest and sincere, things are going to be tough for him even online when looking for a job.
But if he can devote some time to improve his technical skills, knowledge, and communication skills with honesty and hard work, he will find work not just online but offline too. For example, let’s say a person who has studied till graduation or 12th standard wants to explore his abilities in graphic designing in the world of freelancing, then he can accomplish it this way in his profile description: –
Title – Graphic Designer
Skills and Tools – Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Corel draw
Services – Photo editing, logo and icon design, User interface design etc.
Besides this, he should also have a firm grasp of the English language, both written and spoken so that he is able to converse with his clients properly and his communication skills leave a good impression. Having a good vocabulary and grammar is essential for succeeding in the freelancing business.
These things don’t just come to a person overnight and he will have to keep improving these skills steadily. He will also need to remain focused and work hard to find projects using modern and creative methods apart from the usual traditional methods. Once he has a good handle on his communication skills and graphic designing technical skill, he can focus on acquiring and improving his networking and selling skills.
I believe that if anyone sincerely puts in 8-10 hours each day for improving these skills and enhancing knowledge through proper training, he or she can become ready to enter the freelancing business in 3-4 months. This is very much possible in today’s information and technological world.
The tech-savvy world at present demands creative and innovative solutions with behavioral skills that match. At this time there is a greater demand for practical skills and knowledge rather than just degrees and certificates.
The internet is a massive resource for learning about almost any type of thing. You can learn from videos, podcasts, e-books, and blogs available online today. There are a lot of good people who are teaching others about important skills and tools continuously. What makes them great is that they provide such services for no cost at all because they want to help others in achieving their goals. They don’t write and blog for money but for the common good of everyone. You can follow these people and use the knowledge passed on by them to your advantage after making an informed decision as per your goals.
Although this might require 30, 000 to 40,000 Rupees initially or you might have to arrange a computer with an internet connection if you don’t already have one. Depending upon your present situation, this may require a little help and motivation from friends and family. It is not necessary to do all this at once, give it time and do it as and when the time seems right.
After acquiring all the basic tools and knowledge needed, the freelancer can now create an account on a freelancing platform and start bidding on projects that look interesting. To showcase his skills and experience to the client, he will have to upload a few relevant samples on his portfolio. He will have to keep bidding on projects every day until he lands his first project and after that, he will keep learning gradually.
All this might sound like a difficult and uphill task but those who work hard never lose. If he has worked hard on improving his communication and technical skills it will turn out to be useful in the offline world also. In the present times, opportunities exist for everyone. We need to keep searching for those opportunities and convert them into productive results with honesty and hard work.
Second kind of person who can work as a freelancer
Someone who has both skills and a degree is another type of individual who can be a freelancer. As a freelancer, his degree isn’t really as valuable as his skills. There are thousands of degree holders who are not able to find jobs that give them not only money but satisfaction also. There are many reasons behind why this happens but I believe these are the primary reasons for it.
The first reason is the knowledge imparted in colleges and universities is rote-based learning that focuses on memorization and repetition. It does not fully teach a person how to convert this knowledge into an income and a good career. Secondly, the youth of today has become too dependent on Government systems and teachers such that they don’t realize their own hidden potential.
As soon as we finish our degree we become dependent on the Government or someone else to give us a job and start applying for low or high-level positions. It is true that some people do actually get selected for Government jobs but the ratio of such people is minuscule and even these jobs are on a contract basis for a year or two. Due to this, even after spending so much money and time to get a degree, the youth of today feels cheated and dejected by the system.
But as you know, every problem has a solution, and the solution here is your skill and your willpower. Where there is a will, there is always a way. If you have unshakeable willpower and a curiosity to keep learning new skills then this degree can be a blessing for you. You can see the practical aspect and application of what you learned in your degree course and use it to solve real-world problems.
Internet is an incredible tool for doing this, for example, if you have studied PHP programming during your MCA course but lack any practical knowledge about its application, you can search the internet for video tutorials and guides. Without this help from the internet, you will find it very difficult to learn how to create a website and learn about database management in a practical way. If you are willing to learn, there are thousands of people online who can help you, but if you are not willing to put in the effort to search for these people and resources, no one can help you.
To get knowledge about specific behavioral skills you can also join offline institutes which provide training on a particular technology and platform. Or you can join a startup for 6 months to a year to learn while you get trained.
When you have both, a degree as well as practical skills then you can easily become a successful freelancer. If the degree is in a technical domain like B.Tech or MCA then it will be most beneficial and the transition into freelancing much smoother. Here is the complete article: How to start your career in freelancing after an MCA degree?
Let’s find out how a degree holder can get into freelancing:-
- First of all, you can make a list of all the things that your heart tells you to do in your respective field. All the things that interest you go into that list so that you can solve real problems in a practical way and get some satisfaction and joy from doing it.
- Then you can keep acquiring more knowledge related to your field. This is a never-ending process and the internet can be a very useful tool for remaining updated and learning new skills. You should also gather all the tools required for it such as a computer, internet connection and productive software such as Skype etc. in advance.
- You should keep practicing your skills and enhance your knowledge to prepare and send a couple of samples of your work to authoritative people in that field. These samples are a good way of judging people’s responses so that improvements can be made based on the feedback received.
- You can also research the various areas related to your skills and knowledge in order to find out what services and skills are in demand by a large number of people. Know what the market expects from a freelancer in that field and then get equipped to handle those challenges after choosing a domain or service that you can provide.
- Now you can start applying for the kind of work you wish to do. It starts with making an impressive profile on one or more freelancing platforms and then bidding on relevant projects. The most important thing here is to know what exactly the client is demanding. Read the Job description carefully and also compare what kind of skills and jobs are in most demand at the moment by many clients. Once you understand this well, you can get ready (for a possible interview) properly and also prepare your samples according to the demand. This will make it easier for you to keep applying or bid for many projects regularly.
- Start promoting your profile through both online and offline channels and try to promote yourself as a brand in a professional manner to as many people as you can.
- During any stage of this process, never stop believing in yourself. Stay optimistic and don’t be afraid of anything. You may be wondering why I am giving freelancing so much importance. I will share with you next articles my own story and how I progressed with my freelancing career.
- Be patient, keep working hard to improve, keep applying for jobs and projects. It might take a while but that day will eventually come when you get your first job, the perfect job that you always wanted to do. Now you can start earning by doing what you love. Your joy that day will know no bounds.
- Always believe in yourself, believe in your decisions and don’t care about what your opposers think about you. It is your life and you want to live it your way and you’ve got to show that to the world. Till the time you find your first job, don’t stop applying. I know from experience that continuous efforts with creativity and sincerity are required to be successful in freelancing.
- Third kind of person who can work as a freelancer
A person who is working a job and is already skilled can also become a freelancer. He is well educated with good qualifications but doesn’t really like his current job. He is also not satisfied with the income that comes from this standard 9 to 5 job because he knows he can’t turn his dreams into reality on that income. Freelancing can be a great option for him to increase his income. He can start this on a part-time basis initially and then do it full-time. Here he might have to take some risks and work really hard too but only such a person can become financially independent.
Here you have to create your own luck. You won’t get it at the supermarket. All the people that have become successful in life have been more hardworking rather than just lucky. Someone who is already skilled and has work experience, someone who is searching for ways to increase his income by looking for part-time work will find this way of freelancing perfect for him.
The first thing he should do is research the market demand for his skills. He must analyze what would be the demand for his skills not just today but in the future also. After this, he should try to upgrade his skills and improve upon whatever knowledge and ability he already has in him.
Let’s take an example of a 25-year-old programmer who has been working far away from his home at a company. Now he has been working there for the past 2 years at a fixed salary of Rs.25000 per month, but he is worried about his family and his own future. He sees the coming time full of challenges. At this time there are many options and methods that he can consider to boost his income and self-confidence, but let’s take a look at why freelancing is one of the better options for him:
A skilled programmer like him, who works 9 to 7 for a company, or even more, gets around Rs. 25000 per month for the work he does for them. Even though this salary might seem like a decent amount, it’s not enough to make a decent living in developed cities and is more like Rs. 10000 considering the high cost of living in metropolitan cities.
For him, the expenditure is more as compared to the income so there is hardly any scope for savings. He is unable to send any money home to his parents and savings are a dream for him.
He can’t spare time from his hectic job to visit his home or hang out with his friends since he works day and night for his company. For these reasons, he is unsatisfied and unhappy but still keeps his hopes alive that if he keeps working the same job his salary will increase to 40-50 thousand per month in a few years. But all this depends upon certain conditions. The company should be growing and its market value increasing. It’s employees should get increments on a regular basis which means the company should reward the employees for the profits earned. If all of these conditions are met, then he should probably go ahead and continue working there. But if not then freelancing is a much better option for him.
Let’s see how he can start with freelancing now:-
1. He can begin by making his personal website and display his skills on it. Since he is a skilled programmer, he shouldn’t find this too difficult and this will prove to be very beneficial for him. He can inform the entire World Wide Web about what he has done what he is doing currently and what type of work he is searching for in the time to come. Besides this, he should make his profiles on various freelancing websites and platforms. He can find the same type of work and clients that he is working in the company right now, both online and offline.
For example, if he is into website development and designing, he can directly look for clients in his network that need development and designing services. For this, he will have to publicize in his network what he does and what he can do for them. There is one thing that must be kept in mind here, he shouldn’t do all of this at once suddenly, he should be careful and do it slowly.
Without informing anyone in his current company about this he can become the hardest working person by improving his performance more than others. His behavior, attitude, and way of talking should be good all the time. This way he can connect with more people each day and when he has a good network of trustworthy people he can pitch his ideas to them and start making websites for them.
He can also try to find businesses and companies for whom he can provide his services directly. Now he can think about quitting his previous job but before that, he must make sure the following conditions are met-
(a) He must have 2-3 clients who are paying him regularly and indicate that they would increase work and income in the future.
(b) He must be able to make 20 to 30 thousand extra every month and have a savings account balance of at least 70 to 80 thousand. If he meets these conditions then he can safely leave his 9 to 6 job and take up freelancing full time.
If all goes according to plan he can aspire to start his own web development company in a few months. This will take a lot of hard work and determination but efforts have to be made to earn more and turn his dreams into reality.
During this time he can return to his home and open his own small office in his city with basic infrastructures like the internet and electricity in place to begin working as a freelancer. A client only cares that the work is done to his satisfaction. He is not concerned if he does it from a plush company office or from the living room.
Nowadays you will find many such offices in several cities of India that allow freelancers to work from their premises, regardless of what type of work they are doing. This trend started a long time ago in other countries and is catching up fast in India too.
There is also another option if he does not want to leave his present company job. He can talk to his employer about the possibility of working from home. If the company agrees that their work won’t be affected by this then it is good for him. It’s a fact that companies allow that in very few cases. But the cases that allow such flexibility for work are gaining strength and popularity these days. And yes, it is very important that a freelancer must be available at all times.
The problem with most private companies in India today is that they exploit their employees and don’t let talent emerge. Instead, they put so much overburden of work on the employees that their talent and ability to go higher is suppressed. This way the employee keeps working unwillingly and loses his determination to work for himself despite having talent. But I have seen many cases where people have left their jobs to start their own work and have been able to generate as much income as their old company in just 2 to 3 years.
Let’s see how leaving his job to become a freelancer will benefit him:-
1. The most significant benefit for him will be that he can return to his home and spend his life with his family where he will get the kind of care and love that only a family can give. This will make him more positive in life and give him more confidence.
Also, living away from crowded and polluted cities, he will consume pure foods like fresh vegetables, milk, and ghee which will keep him healthy. He cannot get all this in a polluted, overcrowded big city. What he will get there is fake fast food that duplicates real food and fake selfish people who laugh at his dreams. But when he is among his own people in his own home, he will feel liberated and heavenly. The energy that he will get from this will empower him to speed up his personal development in a good way.
2. When he leaves his big-city job then this will be beneficial for 2-3 more people because most companies demand that an experienced employee works equally to 2-3 inexperienced employees. So when he leaves the job it will create space for more new recruitment’s or promotions for existing employees. This way his leaving the job will open up a window of employment for 2 or 3 people at the least.
3. When he leaves his job to start a freelancing business at his home, he will make a good impression on everyone, particularly the youth who will get inspired by him. They will want to learn from him and since he has more income and less expenditure in his hometown, he can teach them for a low fee.
Due to this, these youth will not have to run around in bigger cities to learn and earn like him. They will learn well and acquire important skills under the guidance of an experienced person and by sharing experiences with each other they will increase their knowledge also. Society will benefit from their knowledge and they will earn a good income too.
4. Now that he is a skilled person with experience, he will find it easier to get work online or offline. Moreover, he will also be restrained to keep looking for work and within a span of 6-7 months, he will be able to start his freelancing business and employ a few people from his own village or city on the same freelancing model that he is following himself. Because he will work even harder than his old company to be successful here, this hard work will lead to his personal development as well as that of society.
In his earlier job in the big city, he was working for the growth of just one company where the CEO and top officials of the company were enjoying all the rewards of his hard work and similar employees like him. The employees were like highly educated laborers who did all the hard work. But in their own home and freelancing set up, their hard work can give them the deserved rewards and joy.
5. Direct Income- Because he is doing work for direct income now, his responsibilities will also increase. This will no doubt make him worried and afraid of the challenges to come, but he will keep hearing a voice from inside that says “you can do it!”. He will be motivated to keep working because he knows that whereas his old company gave him Rs. 25000 for work, he will now get 35-40 thousand for the same amount of work directly through clients. The company used to take Rs. 40000 from the client for the work that he did and then they handed him Rs. 25000 after taking a major chunk of payment for itself.
So the company was making a profit of around Rs. 10000 from him alone. On the other hand, in a freelancing business, he will get all of the profits for himself without any middlemen to take a commission. Depending upon the nature of work and his speed, he can also bid for this same work for Rs. 25000 and finish it within 15 days. This will benefit the client and his work will also be completed faster. In this way, if he can take 2 such projects in a month, he can easily earn Rs. 50000 per month. To make it all possible, he will have to spend 4-5 hours extra on working, but it is manageable since he is working from home and has the flexibility to work any time of the day or night. He will also need to market his skills through online and offline mediums. Earlier this was done by marketing companies, now he will have to do it himself. There are examples of many people in our country who have been successful in doing this.
6. The more he works the better he will become and his skills will improve even further with time. This will attract more clients of different categories to hire him for his services and they will be eager to get their work done from him because the work done by him will be of better quality and finished within conditions as compared to others.
Such freelancers become more successful who focus more on the quality of their work. When he works hard consistently at this, then his personal development is guaranteed. He will grow faster as a freelancer, just like a plant does when it gets the right nourishment. His hard work will be like water and the blessings and love of his parents like warm sunshine that will help him grow.
He did not get all these things in his old company and that’s why he wasn’t able to grow. He was just running as fast as his manager made him run. So it is true to say that any person can develop better when he is aware of his goals because working these days for private or government jobs is like giving your reins in the hands of another and then becoming indebted to the mercy of others.
6. At present, he does not have a stable income but now he has the option to charge for his time and services on an hourly basis. Several sites like Upwork give this facility to freelancers and they can earn good money in a short time. If he works at $7 per hour for 10 hours every day then he can earn Rs. 4700 per day. This means that in one month only he can earn Rs. 140000 which is a good amount for almost anyone. It is a good alternative to standard ways of earning but it depends upon the nature and quantity of work he is getting. It is necessary that he is getting a rate of $ 7 per hour and he has at least 10 hours of work every day. If he can get a single project of 300 hours then he can dedicate the entire month to that project.
All of these figures might seem imaginary and far-fetched at first, but I have seen freelancers on Upwork who charge anywhere between $15 to $50 per hour. The clients don’t hesitate in paying them because they know that they are getting top quality work from the freelancer which is of great value.
So what I want to tell you here is that the better your work quality is, the better you will be paid for your services. If you keep working hard, good fortune will definitely smile upon you with time.
7. Now it is not necessary that he will start getting good hourly rates for his work at the beginning. Initially, he might get low rates per hour but he should not compromise with the quality of his work, he must deliver top quality work at those rates to build a good reputation. There is high competition on freelancing platforms and if he does high-quality work at low rates he will get more work than others who charge higher than him. This is a test of his communication and business aptitude and how well he can convince a client to give him work at a decent rate.
It is also possible that sometimes he might not be able to find work for several days or weeks and he might even run out of money. At this time he will have to tap into his inner strengths and look for newer opportunities and options. This will give him good results and he will also realize the value of money.
8. During this time he will also realize the value of his time and utilize every minute of the day carefully. This will enable him to increase his speed while maintaining good quality which will further help in increasing his knowledge and income.
9. Now that he is living in his own home he does not have to shell out 10-15 thousand for rent each month to his landlord. He can buy all the necessary facilities for a good living and also take care of his parent’s happiness with the extra money he can save each month.
10. He may be fearful and worried about what others will say about him and what he is doing. This is one of the worst fears but it can be overcome easily. If his parents are happy with what he is doing and he has strong willpower with a spirit to prove himself to the world, then his actions will one day make him an inspiration for others and they will follow him.
11. There is also a possibility that his city or village may not have proper internet facilities and he might find the environment and people living there illiterate and close-minded. But it is upon him to arrange these facilities and raise the standard of literacy and awareness in his village too.
For example, if he finds that only 10% of people in his village can speak English and are computer literate, then he can make efforts to increase this percentage by say 30% to 40% by giving classes and guidance to them. This will open up doors of employment for many people and it will also help them in their personal development which will be a matter of pride for his parents as well.
Imagine how proud his parents will feel when someone tells them that because of their son their child was able to make a good career for himself. Of course, these things may seem arbitrary while reading and thinking out loud, but if you can imagine it then you can also do it.
So you see how a person who was earning Rs. 25000 per month and was not happy with his job can completely turn his life around by getting into freelancing. He can try new things by experimenting with different ideas and give birth to fresh opportunities. He has complete independence about when he wants to work in his field and grow vegetables and when he wants to work on his assigned project.
I want to tell you here that if you want to do this, that is leave your current job to start an online or offline business, then you should consider all your options and then do what your heart tells you to do. There is a chance that I might be wrong, so I advise you to analyze your capabilities, obligations, situation, willpower, and self-confidence before coming to a final decision.
The aim of this article is to explore various possibilities of increasing your income. You can take what you want from this blog post and use the knowledge accordingly. Everything that you are reading is based upon personal ideology and experience. Before you come to any decision, please make sure that you consult your parents or life partners about this. Use your creativity and imagination to carve a way out for yourself.
Freelancing is not an easy task but it is not impossible either. Many people like me have been successful in this and there is no reason why you can’t be successful too if you believe in yourself and work hard.
Fourth kind of person who can work as a freelancer
The fourth kind of person who can get into freelancing is someone who is running his own business but is in its formative stage right now. There are times when business is down and there is a shortage of money. He is not able to invest properly in his business and is looking for other ways to generate an income. Such a businessman can opt for freelancing and here are the ways he can go about it:-
- Utilize any free time he has to analyze different options and opportunities.
- Make his profile on different freelancing websites.
- Enhance and upgrade his skills as required.
- Work hard and keep looking for work if it does not come soon. Don’t lose hope and spend time in a happy environment.
By doing this he can create an extra source of side income while learning about local and international business practices at the same time. He will get to know how others are conducting and succeeding in their businesses. He will also get insights into what the market demands at a particular time and how people are meeting those demands for their clients. All the knowledge and income earned from this can be used in advancing his business. It is possible that after doing all this he can get a big project of a longer duration and people start liking and recognizing his skills in the market and clients are happy to pay him regularly.
Fifth kind of person who can work as a freelancer
Another person who can try his hand at freelancing is you. Yes, you. You can use your knowledge and skills to become a successful freelancer and this website (Freelancing Category) can be used as a manual for your freelancing business. Success does not come overnight or suddenly in any field. You will have to work for it consistently and you will notice the rewards are amazing if you are able to do it. The top 4 benefits of freelancing are that you have the freedom to choose your work and the freedom to choose your work timings. Freelancing is the best way to get the deserved value for your time and skills.
Along with freelancing, you can also start your own online business if you like. Make your own website and publicize what you do and what you want to do for others. You can also market your skills and services offline by telling the people you meet in everyday life about them. This will open up newer opportunities for you and expand your network also.
We have seen so far who 5 different people in which they become a freelancer. It may appear that almost anyone can become a freelancer, but sometimes what appears at first thought may not be true.
In the beginning, it will be difficult with many challenges in front of you, but this is the time and situation when your capabilities, self-confidence, creativity, and skills will be tested to the limit. If you can pass this test and keep looking for more knowledge then you will not only be a successful freelancer, you will be a successful human being.
That’s It!