Freelancer

What Is Freelancing? How To Become A Freelancer? Explained

A Freelancing is simply someone who works on any contract to provide his expertise in a particular Job in return for some money. People are now have started accepting freelancers and are ready to trust them with their big projects. Delegating work to freelancers is much cheaper than hiring a full-time employee and paying them every month. Also, many people who have Aced their professional career have now become a freelancer because it gives them the freedom to work on their terms.

Traditional jobs do not offer you flexibility and are also stressful. People are slowly moving towards freelancing and trying their fate to become successful. Many successful business personalities started with freelancing and then became successful. But freelancing doesn’t make you successful overnight. You need to have sheer dedication and precision in your work to be successful. So, here is a guide that can help you to start your career as a freelancer and the things you need to know about freelancing. 

What is Freelancing and how it works?

Freelancing means a person offering its services to clients and working according to his/her time availability. Freelancers are self-employed people who often work from home or are telecommuters, varies from person to person. They get paid after the completion of their service. Freelancer decides its own fixed rate of its work and gets paid accordingly. The rate of their service is often negotiable. 

Now let’s see how does it work?

Generally, employers post a job or their requirement on freelancing websites, and interested freelancers approach them and showcase their portfolios and the rate of their service. In this way, an employer can select and go through any freelancer’s portfolio and hire the perfect fit for their requirement/job. After the mutual agreement of both parties, the timeframe to complete the work and payment is decided. Subsequently, payment is done after the completion of work. 

Almost every type of service can be provided by a freelancer. But the most common services are as follows:

  • Graphic Designing
  • Bookkeeping
  • Digital Marketer/Social Media Manager
  • Content Writer
  • Web developer/coder

You can start providing any of the above services by making an impressive portfolio and uploading it on any freelance website.

Why is Freelancing Important?

Freelancing, as the name suggests “Free” you are free to work on your time and place. You have that freedom of pursuing your career and enjoying your life at the same time. All thanks to the internet. Millennials want freedom and they find freelancing the best option for living their life at its best. Freelancing is liberating in its way. If one cannot work in a traditional job culture, freelancing is the best option.

Freelancing is becoming more popular day by day, and in the coming days, it can be said that freelancing will become the mainstream style of working. Now, freelancing is becoming important because if any person needs a specific task/project to be done which he will not be doing in the long-run then instead of hiring an employee, one can delegate that work to a freelancer.

It will be cost-effective and you do not need to pay a salary every month to an employee. Also, you don’t need to provide any kind of infrastructure or any facilities, culture or work environment just like a traditional job. On the other hand, people can also continue to do their job and work on holidays to earn more money. This will increase their earning and it is also good for the economy of a country. 

How Freelancing is Done?

Firstly there are websites specially designed for freelancers in which they can meet new clients and get work from them. They can upload their portfolio and the standard price for their services. The employer can choose any of the freelancers and pay them after completion of their work/project. Many freelancers use social media by advertising their services on it.

Interested people can directly connect to them and ask them for their services.  The other way round, people join groups and connect to a big audience at the instance and network with the help of it. There are several groups created on Facebook with the purpose of connecting the freelancer and employer, where group members post their requirements and the interested freelancers can approach them by commenting on their post, or freelancer can post his sample work to get employment and an interested employer can comment and connect with them.

There are other applications too which help connect the freelancers to the employers. One can also use the word of mouth for getting work from their acquaintances. So, basically networking is the key to freelancing. 

Is Freelancing a Good Career?

Every coin has two sides. So, freelancing also comes with some good and bad points. Freelancing requires a lot of planning and networking skills. The more clients you have the more work you have. For clients, you need to network. Also, there are a lot of freelancers out there, so you have a lot of competitors around you.

So you always need to put your best foot forward in order to get work. Convincingly showcasing your skills can bring your to work regularly. Because to be a full-time freelancer, you need to work regularly. And for work you need clients. So, convincing your clients efficiently can bring you more and more work. 

You can surely build a good career but with sheer dedication. Being a freelancer, you can easily get distracted and it will become tough for you to complete the work on given deadlines. You cannot always be your own boss, because the real boss is your client. You need to schedule your work so that you can deliver your work to your client on time. 

Plan everything, know your capabilities and take work which you can deliver it properly and of-course on time. You need to be organized and mature enough to understand the requirements and carry out efficiently. So, it depends on you, how you deal with your clients and how much sheer dedication you have for your work. 

Scope of Freelancing in India: Current Scenario

The scope of freelancing is steadily increasing all over the world. People are finding freelancing more liberating and stress-free than a traditional job. Now freelancing is not taken as a part-time thing. People are pursuing it as a full-time career and are providing their services to small and medium business houses. In India, start-ups and small industries are boosting the freelancing industry.

People are steadily believing in freelancers and are ready to delegate their work on them. There is a rise in Freelancers in India and its contributions to the country’s GDP.  There is seen a high satisfaction rate among Indian freelancers. The scope is increasing in India due to freelance websites.

One of the users of Truelancer namely Abhishek Pathak said that After working on Truelancer, he is more financially strong than he was before. The scope is great for people who are precise and are best at time-management and planning. Many websites like Trulancer, Upwork, etc have flourished in the market and have given a huge boost to the freelancing industry.

Due to easy bank transfers and online payment systems also, it has decreased the gap between employers and freelancers in terms of payment. The demand for freelancing is increasing like never before as it is cost-effective and beneficial for both parties.

How to Become a Freelancer?

So, let me enlighten you with some tips to become a freelancer. 

Pick a Craft That You Are Good At.

First of all, you need to pick a craft which you like to do and you are quite good at. Do proper market research for your picked craft and improve your skills before starting your career as a freelancer. This will brush your skill and also help you to make a portfolio. 

Create a Portfolio 

It’s important to have your portfolio to showcase your skills to the clients. Because without a portfolio, how can someone assign you the work? So, build an impressive portfolio to impress your clients. What if you are not good at pitching, having an impressive portfolio will make you stand out in the crowd. Because your work will speak for you. 

Be Good at Networking

Networking is essential for freelancing. Because you need clients to get work. So, if you network well, then you will always have work to do. There may come a time when there will be no work from your old clients, so networking will help you add more clients and more clients mean more work. So in this way, networking is essential for freelancing. 

Pitch Your Skills

You need to pitch to get work from your clients. Employers want to know how can you fulfill their requirements. So, it’s important to prepare yourself to sell your skills to the clients and impress them. It’s essential to have marketing skills that can help you get clients. 

Freelancing is evolving and is taken seriously by the millennials as a full-time career. Moreover, Freelancing is like a stepping stone towards entrepreneurship. Freelancing helps you to grow your management and marketing skills that can really help you become a successful business person. So, know your passion, pursue it and make it a full-time job for yourself. Be your own boss and work whenever and wherever you want. 

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Udit Khanna is a Digital Marketing Course professional at Expert Training Institute, an expert in Digital Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, Social Media, etc. who helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. Previously, Udit worked as a marketing professional for various startups and tech companies. He graduated with B.Sc from IGNOU with a dual degree in Business Administration (Marketing & Finance).

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