Stepping Into the Freelance World: the largest next career path…
Already decided about stepping into the fastest growing industry of freelancers?? Yes, it's probably the best decision you’ve ever made!
Well, in general terms, freelancing is to outsource your skill or expertise to project based clients for a fixed time period and payrate fixed within the contract. This definition doesn’t clearly states the scope of freelancing, but however it was useful to set up an overall concept of what it meant.
Right at the very first line we used the ‘fastest growing industry’, that was intentional. A survey held in 2011 by Financial Times (UK) states that, there’s been a 12% growth in the number of freelance contractors from 2008 all over the world, both in the scope of local and online arena. More about, to give you an idea of how the client is increasing rapidly lets check out a statistic provided by one of the top most Freelance Market Elance that states, with the number of jobs posted rising from around 200,000 in the first quarter of 2012 to 300,000 in the same period in 2013. Its just the stats of a single platform. Imagine the aggregate volume of rising client and jobs across the world. Enormous figures buries in mind, right?
COMPARISION with 9-5 Employment:
It's been said that, 67% of all the freelancers moved to this field because of self-independence belief and leading a better, well-off earning through serving their clients with their earned expertise and skill for all over the years.
This is a clear indication why this freelancing trend is rapidly emerging as the most popular career path. Behind the scene, on a clients view point, there’s some advantages that can be listed as follows:
- Fewer tax redemption
- Low or almost no skill development training expenses
- No security fund to raise (provided funding, health care insurance, maternity allowance etc.)
- No office space to allot
- More experience and expert recruitment pool
- No requirement of performance observation or formal monitoring
- Flexibility regardless of geography, time zone, language or accounts related procedure.
- Project based contract nature.
These are the least, but handful reason for why many companies are seeking freelance expertise such as: graphic designers, article writers, programmers, or business analyst to assist them in a consistent and proper development to their business.
We’re talking about taking freelancing as a career path. Let's scroll through a proper road-map that’s proven and suggested by the industries toppers.
- Preparing Yourself:
Get Rid Of Misconceptions: Get rid of the misconceptions. This is your first hurdle that drags you behind. One of the biggest misconceptions or hurdle that drags us behind is that, you’ll can sit idle in the ‘comfy’ of your home and get the work done and get paid.
Well, the main concept is closer to fact, but there’s an ignorance mind set that’s been encouraged. No way, you go along with it. You really have to stand your ground, continuously improve your skills and compete with the worlds best of the best to win the job first.
So, get ready to be steady and commit to putting all your sweat into it.
Define your Core Skills: That’s the most important question you have to look out for. What’s that skill that you’ve mastered over the years and at such a level that overseas clients will be willing to pay you in exchange of the service you provide.
Whether you’re a writer, photographer, mathematician, web designer, marketing guru, illustrator, scientist, there is probably a freelance job out there for you. You can be very good in photography or photo-editing, maybe you’ve in depth knowledge of business might and portfolio analysis, or you can write anything out of NOTHING. That’s cool!! Now, whatever your expertise lies in.. It's imperative that you’re very good at that. Remember? You have to beat the BEST of the BEST. So, there’s no place for reluctance.
Web Mobile & Software Development: This sector may include all Web, Mobile & Software Dev, Desktop Software Development, Ecommerce Development, Game Development, Mobile Development, Product Management, QA & Testing, Scripts & Utilities, Web Development, Web & Mobile Design,
Design & Creative: All Design & Creative work such as: Animation, Audio Production, Graphic Design, Illustration, Logo Design & Branding, Photography, Presentations, Video Production, Voice Talent
Admin Support: One of the most popular among the contractors and clients based on its demand and work volume. Data Entry, Personal / Virtual Assistant, Project Management, Transcription and finally Web Research (data mining, data srapping, processing etc.) falls within this sector.
IT & Networking: Information Technologoy and Database administrative sector. Job opportunities includes: Database Administration, ERP / CRM Software, Information Security, Network & System Administration.
Writing: Well, if writing is your passion, the job opportunity is literally boundless in freelance marketplaces. You can go for Academic Writing & Research, Article & Blog Writing, Copywriting, Creative Writing, Editing & Proofreading, Grant Writing, Resumes & Cover Letters, Technical Writing, Web Content
Sales & Marketing: This sector includes: Display Advertising, Email & Marketing Automation, Lead Generation, Market & Customer Research, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, SEM - Search Engine Marketing, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, SMM - Social Media Marketing, Telemarketing & Telesales, Data Science & Analysis: A/B Testing, Data Visualization, Data Extraction / ETL, Quantitative Analysis etc.
Translation: General Translation, Legal Translation, Medical Translation, Technical Translation can be included within this sector.
Accounting & Consulting: Someone with academic and in-depth knowledge in accounting and finance planning best suits under this job sector. You can go for: Accounting, Financial Planning, Human Resources, Management Consulting services for any business concern regardless of their size.
Engineering & Architecture: 3D Modeling & CAD, Architecture, Chemical Engineering, Civil & Structural Engineering, Contract Manufacturing, Electrical Engineering, Interior Design, Mechanical Engineering, Product Design service falls under this sector for those who’re good at these skills.
Follow the trend and Market Leaders: Secondly, figuring out the market trend and client's requirement is also a priority. We are not trying to monetize you for choosing a specific skill set by chasing the market demand. No way, we’re talking about getting a brief idea of the market who’re about to step ahead.
Categorize the Market: When we think about Online marketplace, it's completely an enormous world to happen. Depending upon the ground of skill specification, we can categorize the online marketplace into Two core concepts.
To name the top most marketplaces that dominate the freelance world would be Up work (largest job portal and client base), Toptal, Elance (Its now acquisitions by oDesk and emerged as Up Work), freelance, Craigslist, Project4hire, Demand Media, and dozens of other websites post new jobs daily. There are thousands more! Check these websites daily to stay on top of available jobs.
Online marketplaces can be categorized by:
- Generic: UpWork, TopTal, Freelancer.com, Mircroworkers etc.
- Specialized: 99Design, Envato, FreelanceWritingGigs, GetACoder etc.
Thoroughly Research the Market:
Whatever your skill set, it's important to recognize the market demand to keep your freelance business running. There’s some key points to be considered:
Job variance
Job posting volume: Figure out whether the choosen marketplace stands out as one of biggest job site, what’s the volume of job posted on a daily basis. The larger the volume, the most likely is your opportunity to attract the client pool.
Client Volume and persona: Another criteria to look out is, how the job site evaluates their Clients and profile. A reputed site will always represents its clients persona in such a manner, that you can have a clear idea of Clients feedback, rating, payment status, number of active jobs on Progress. Lastly, it should enables the contractor to leave feedback and rating to their clients after a successful job completion. You can evaluate whether the client is trustworthy and suits your credit.
Contractors skill requirement: According to a 2014 study commissioned by the Freelancers Union, 53 million Americans are independent workers -- about 34 percent of the total workforce. This number is expected to balloon to 50 percent by 2020—posted on the Entreprenuer on 24th ,2016. Imagine the volume around the globe, enormous figures will come at mind, right?
A reputed and markable job site will always assign a minimum requirement -- to ‘filter’ the novish or semi-skilled contractors to that of the most skilled one.
Payment method suitability: Acceptability of most
Comparative advantage:
Agency/Group profile:
- Work strategy on the GO:
Profile Setup:
Title section, Objective section, portfolio synchronization,
CREATE your oWN brand:
Your brand is your identity (i.e. Your website, blog and social media accounts) and it should clearly communicate your unique selling proposition — what you do that makes you special.
Enlarge your network, can’t be an island apart—Just because you work within your home environment, networking and public releation is the key to success here.
Get your profile stand out—social media sites are a great source where your potential clients hang around, people who’ll be your next referral. This is the best platform to outreach your employer and exhibit your expertise.
Profile Branding can be started with LinkedIn. Put every single experience and expertise you’ve earned, add your certification, and tell your story.
As for FaceBook, your relative job circle and community gathers here. Get involved with them. Get to know the market leaders, their success story. One of the great advantage you receive is, get connected with an active community. Updated on WorkShops, Seminar and interactive events which can prove really useful and effective. Same mechanism works for Twitter, Google+ or Quora.
Prepare a portfolio.
Never launch a freelancing career before you have experience creating the products or providing the services you plan to sell. Wait to launch until you have multiple quality samples of the work you will sell.
If you have no paid assignments or previous work to put in a portfolio, create some. Offer your services for free or just manufacture some generic samples in your free time.
Like copywriting or graphic design, you’ll need to have an impressive portfolio-- if you want to convince clients to hire you. Start going through your previous work and select the pieces that you think best represent your skills to be part of your portfolio.
Create Clientele:
While working at other jobs, set aside time after work and on weekends to build up a clientele for the future. Building an a initial client base and starting to put some cash in the bank is a must for beginning freelancers.
You don’t have to fully launch your business to find clients. Tap into your network and ask friends, family and colleagues for referrals. That will help you bring in some initial work to get started.
I also used this as another excuse to grow my network, reaching out to experts in my industry to ask for advice:
• How much should I charge? Your hourly rate will depend on the project, your industry, market, location, the economy, your experience, and how deep-pocketed your client is.
• Where do I best find my clients?
• How difficult is it to close a deal?
• Should I template my pitches or create new ones every time?
We’re taught that bragging is bad, but if you don’t talk yourself up, you’ll never convince clients to hire you.
Set a plan to penetrate the market:
Define your hourly rate-
Create a killer first intro
Pinpoint your clientele
Different Cover letter, different project
Appear the skills test and pass with distinction
Ask Satisfied Clients for Testimonials
Create a contract that clearly outlines your rates, payment schedule, kill fee if a project gets canceled, revision fees, and deadlines.
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