Thursday, February 14, 2013

How to Earn as a Freelancer in 2023

Freelancing today has become one of the most reputed and prominent industry to earn money .While majority of the "Earn from Home","Online Data Entry" etc. are scams,Freelancing connects real talent to the buyer's world..
It's a great success in countries like India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh,  Phillipines, Nigeria solely because of the huge currency difference between Western Countries and Indian rupee.Employers' cost is reduced to a substantial amount in freelancing compared to their local equivalents without compromising the quality.

So, where to start?

There are many freelancing sites today..and the number goes on increasing..but I list here the top 3 Sites...

1) Upwork.com

Upwork is best available Freelancing Site...........Many serious employers and contractors recommend and use this site....I also share a very good experience here and recommend it fully....


a) It supports both fixed jobs and hourly jobs..

Has Time Tracker for hourly jobs - but flexibility in Payment stand out.........You can anytime submit the timesheet and ask the employer to pay immediately.......He can decide to approve and pay immediately or can wait for 5 days to check all work and then approve or reject.......
 

b) Supports many withdrawal options for Payment..

 Supports Bank Withdrawal,Paypal,Payoneer,Direct Bank Payment and I've used them all with ease....
 
 c) Free Skills Test to show your abilities..

 Improved Testing of Skills - Time based
 
d) Good Scoring & Level system - JSS .......to differentiate contractors..

 They have inbuilt Level System - Algorithm is not made public but it depends on your 6 months earnings,feedback (review) , Invite Response Rate,Repeat Rate,Skills (Tests) etc...
 Freelancers with higher Level have higher chances of getting any job..

Its commission rate is 20% initially...Once you work more with the same client - it decreases - You work 500$ for the same client - it reduces to 10% and once you cross 10000$ - it reduces to 5%..So commission encourages to build long term relationship with client and continue working on Upwork itself...

The best point of Upwork is that  serious employers prefer it the most and it has better per job scale than other sites...

2) Peopleperhour.com

This is a newer site but gaining popularity very quickly.........and its second on my list of recommended sites...

It has very novel ideas and innovative concepts
Mostly was for UK market but we can also see US,Australian and Canadian employers posting Projects.......

To join here,you've to apply for it - submit your best profile,portfolio and if its good,you'll be approved by 2-3 days....

Ask for endorsements from your friends and existing clients...

Bring your existing clients here and work with 0% commission...

Its commission rate is similar to Upwork depending on how long you work with each client

i.e. For first 250 GBP - its 20%,from 250 - 5000 GBP - its 7.5% and once you work >5000 GBP for same client - its 3.5%

Every member has 15 proposal credits per month - they can buy more anytime.............

Also if you perform well any month,they will add 85 bonus connects to boost you...

Initially you wont be able to apply for all jobs - they will invite you to apply based on your skills..So select your skills carefully............They have a 2 hour window for some jobs before others can apply.........While on some jobs - you cannot apply altogether.............
All these restrictions are removed once you reach CERT 2...and perform well...


A unique Level System here measured by CERT ..

Cert 1 - Cert 5 and then Top Cert is the highest...........It too depends on various things like Earnings,Feedback,Response Speed (how fast you respond to queries),endorsements and recommendations and Social Sharing of PPH...


Finally,they have Hourlies  - A hourly is a service,offer or task set for a fixed price ....A Freelancer promises that task for a set amount similar to 5$ gig of Fiverr.........but this is much better as there is no restriction on price here.........


3) Freelancer.com

Formerly known as GAF (GetaFreelancer) ,this site is very popular site for Freelancing today.........

The high popularity,more no.of employers,rich interface and UI,milestone System for Payments,Low Dispute Arbitration fees etc.........are some of its major advantages....

It has highest no.of freelancers - around 15 million

The highlight feature is the Chat System - quickly enables employers to start discussing the Project..

Along with Projects - it also has Contests..
 
Good no.of withdrawal options - Paypal,Skrill,Bank Transfer and more...

 Good Membership Plans - and reduced commission rates for higher Memberships......

It has Preferred Freelancer program and Get Verified options to have a chance to earn more


It has already eaten up (merged) vworker.com and scriptlance.com........


There are other sites too

Guru.com
Toptal.com
99designs.com
ifreelance.com

and many more................but these are the front runners...........

What's the Process?

So till now,I suupose you must have registered in the above sites................Now comes the second step.........
First you need to define your Skills or your area............where you're experts..............for eg, PHP/ASP/JAVA/HTML/CSS/Flash etc.............and select maximum you're allowed..............For eg,in Freelancer.com ,Free members are allowed to select upto 20 skills............so select the best 20 which suits you...........

The next step is to search the Project - either browse the Project,Search their feeds or search through the Search box - find a Project which you think you'll be able to do successfully.
Analyse your chances of completing the Project successfully - if you think Yes, then place a Bid.

All users who think that they can complete the Project places a bid and employers have a chance to select any one..It depends on bid Quality.

Normally ,an employer selects the freelancer based on
1) Price
2) Portfolio and Reviews or Feedback
3) Presentation and Bid Description

So, all three factors play an equally important role.............for you to get a chance of getting considered........
If you are shortlisted, employer may first send you a message with relevant details and you're ONE STEP ahead of other fellow bidders..
Its the best stage where you can WIN the Project..

After you WIN the project, a good communication is required.
I strongly recommend you to insist employer on creating milestones for different steps.
Milestone is a process where employer deposits funds to the sites...............but you don't get it unless you finish the Project.If you finish as expected, then they release the milestone and funds are transferred to your account, otherwise it can be a dispute,where the Site Admin is arbitrator and decide it in either's favour.............

So,after you complete the Project successfully, employer releases the milestone, the funds are transferred to your account wallet and both freelancer and employer can write review for each other according to your experience.Reviews are important for you to win further Projects.

Now, the last step is how to withdraw the money.You can withdraw the funds in your account by requesting withdrawal from your wallet.Every site may have some clearance period like 14 days before it processes the payment.Once it sends payment from its side either to Paypal or Bank Account - it takes a few more days to reach your Bank account..Paypal has become faster and it takes around 24 hours to reflect in Banks.


This way, you can keep working on your favourite projects and keep earning.

Few Points to Keep in Mind

  1. Never share your Contact Information in Bid as this can lead to suspension of your Account......
  2. Create only one account on each site..............[more than one account can lead to suspension]
  3. Try to search your most suitable and favourite Projects......
  4. Describe yourself the best in the Bid and try to show relevant work or demo
  5. Only accept Projects which you think you'll be able to complete......Otherwise it can lead to negative feedback..
  6. Communicate Very well throughout the project - try to build long term relationship with the client

That's it for now......Have a nice Day!

Vijeet Deliwala
http://vijarp.com

Disclaimer : Everything above is my personal opinion and is only for information......Things and information on the site may change anytime .Viewers are requested to check site rules and terms before making any decision...........No Direct or Indirect Claims or any kind will be entertained...




2 comments:

  1. on Elance A lot of projects don't get awarded, sometimes you bid on a project and if the project is interesting to you, you may pay 4 connects[1] in order to make your bid featured.
    Try New network for hire freelancer or jet job as freelancer
    http://www.expert-arena.com/

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  2. Informative blog! it was very useful for me. Thanks for sharing. Do share more ideas regularly.
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