Topic: How to take the first step into freelancing? (Read 303 times)

True, those that have felt redeemed with themselves by having that opportunity of working from home, they never settle for less and keep on choosing this type of working set up. It's good and study says that people who work from home are even more productive than going on an office setup.

Everyone who's got an opportunity and able to work remotely are blessed. It's true that it shows the best for most people and it's a setup that gives comfort to the working parents that have toddlers to take care of. That might be a lowkey reasoning that means a lot to parents on this industry.

Why I will prefer freelancing over a job is the opportunity to work on new tasks at for every gig won. Unlike the regular jobs where your role is specific and most times limitations to other requests regards that field of specialty might set in due to the repetitive work done for the said company. Although some companies might new tasks coming in at interval but yet it can't be compared to freelancing.

Freelancing isn't total freedom because unlike the job settings where mistakes can be pardoned or room given to make corrections. In freelancing some clients can be strict such that the don't choke with deadlines, expect the best and might be impatient incase errors or mistakes occur and in such case the freelancer bears the loss alone

Everything has its pros and cons, although freelancers will have more freedom and flexibility in their work since they do not have to follow anyone's orders. But they will face fierce competition as well as more unstable and uncertain income than those with stable jobs at companies. Not to mention, freelancers will not enjoy the benefits of company employees: such as insurance, welfare and more importantly, pension when they retire.

It can be said that none is better than the other, it all depends on each person's choice and preference. But it would be better if we can combine both instead of just choosing 1 because having 2 sources of income is still better than having just 1.

Indeed, being a freelancer is more fun in my opinion because there are no other people's rules that must be obeyed, only our own rules, besides that we can determine when we want to work according to our wishes, although not all freelancers are like this, but I'm sure some freelancers can set their own working hours, that's fun in my opinion. But the important thing to consider is our own discipline, even though there is no boss in the work that is done, discipline must still be established so that everything runs well. With the current increasing development of technology, I think it could be an opportunity for many people to be able to have their own jobs as long as they can use it well, then there will be results that will be obtained.

The benefit that nobody talks about is that if you do have a good talent to do freelance work, you could also use that talent to make your own as well. I know a lot of people who works freelance, and after their job is done, they di a side-gig and usually for a hobby too, not always chasing money. So, if you love your job that much and if you could make that kind of money then you could just use the spare time to end up having fun with what you do, plus it allows you to improve and be better as well.

This should be the most important situation and we need to consider anyone who loves their job that much, could be a great freelancer and could make more money in the future as well, all depends on how much they love what they are doing.

That pandemic thing did really make us use on whats the possible ways or methods that we can earn money specially into those people who had been laid off because of that pandemic. To those who had been thinking about their condition about on earning money then they will be making or doing such act on finding up another sources of income on which this is something that will really be that a very huge help but not all does have that kind of chances or opportunity because not all will really be that lucky on getting one. For those who do able to make or get some job online then they do able to survive out but for those who havent they do continue up to struggle.

Talking about on the ordinary days or conditions of this world and with freelancing then there are still those people who do have this kind of career. They do work from home but the skills we are talking on here isnt something that not all will be having. This is why its really that a good opportunity for those who do able to get a job or some client because specific skills sets arent that for all specially that this one is really that in connection with online related kind of skills and we do know that specialty will be that different into each other. If you do find yourself not to get some online job then you can always pursue another career on which there are really those that are meant for us.

Yes, that's why there are also things that brought the best out of everyone during the pandemic. People learn to tap into their skills and be a freelancer or even work from home. I myself though has been doing work remotely before the pandemic as I freelance.

And I will say that I'm blessed that I still have work during that covid-19 lockdown. For sure there are still freelancers right now that chooses to remain to work from home and doesn't want to go to the office or go to corporate world because they feel comfortable doing remote jobs and it might gave them a better salary.

Freelancer does not only sounds good on paper but also does in the physical and there are several ways and types of freelancing jobs and like how difficult a physical business can be that's how some of the freelancing work is especially when you go into business part of it you are actually saying, that's when it may likely take you a lot of time before standing well in the business, there is no success without commitment that's why you can hear people complaining how difficult it is why some are enjoying the business and when you ask them instead of telling you they were not committed they would say is too difficult, so actually if freelancing is such difficult why would people build their careers on it?. Don't be surprised that if they check the statistics of freelancers in the world, married people has the highest number because is not only by working at your comfort but also doing some other extra curriculum.

Yeah the both of them can really work hand in hand what matters is efficiency and to think of it freelancing it's just like being free from consistent stress, time wasted, disturbances and alot of them and sure freelancing is a good job anyone can dive into  but then you ought to be ready for it cause it involves more of critical thinking and able to solve problems at a given time.

The pandemic period indeed help people to uncover their potential of working remotely. As the world seemed to pause in that period, people were looking for ways how to earn money over the net to survive. And fortunately, online jobs boomed at that time and a lot discovered that they can work from home owed to digital technology.

The digital economy or what they have called is the 'gig' economy have grown even bigger during the covid19 height. This helped a lot of people know that the can do something even from remote places. If it's the freedom, yes the answer is there and it is obvious that it is giving everybody to work at any place that they want. Some freelancing jobs still have been tied from the schedule of working from 9 to 5 but that's fine, you're working on your working place at your home or any place that you're comfortable working for.

Yes, that's right. Not much different actually, in reality being a freelancer is not as easy as imagined. Because the hardest thing is the discipline to work alone and be responsible for the work. In addition, you also have to be consistent and continue to develop.

Being a freelancer also has risks when you can't choose tasks that can't be completed. So it's best not to take a job if you really can't do it. The problem is that on the platform, we can definitely be blacklisted for not completing our work. Freelancers also have to go through a process, so at first you have to be able to take easy jobs that can be completed. After that, just start taking on more difficult ones until you become proficient. It takes time.

Honestly, being a freelancer is tough, the advantage is that we have full control over our time, but sometimes that makes us too relaxed.

Due to the fact that almost every niche is highly saturated, and the competition is exceptionally high, waiting and depending on natural growth can barely make you get clients because others are probably going to do more than that in presenting themselves as the right fit for the gigs they are getting.

There are two things that are extremely important in freelancing. The first one is to market yourself and your services to potential clients in a way that they should consider hiring you for the tasks/jobs they have available, and the second one is communication. If they liked how you have presented yourself in visuals and in descriptions, etc., the next thing depends on how you communicate which will decide whether you are getting the client or not.

Those who master these things will only survive for the initial stage, but once they get a hold of everything, they will see things going very well for them, and from that point onwards, it's on them to manage everything properly so that they can grow over time.

Find your market. That's pretty much step 1. The steps after that is just developing yourself in that market. Varies from person to person how but that's generally how it goes imo. Outside of that, it's just natural growth since making customers means marketing means spreading your business.

As for deeper reasons, it's just the idea of becoming your own boss. It's an idea that's prevalent in a LOT of the younger generations. And it's completely possible as well with how the internet has made it possible to serve services from across the globe.

Freelancing is done in a very competitive environment. In this environment, you have to be better than others because a steady income is needed and you have to earn this income to meet your needs. Many freelancers earn more than those working in government jobs, but this is directly proportional to their self-development.

Being your own boss offers a lot of freedom. If you earn a good income by freelancing, this can be a great advantage for you.

Freelancers are workers who are free from ties to any party including the government because people who work freelance are people who do have special intelligence that they can rely on for themselves even though they can also be hired by companies to complete a job that they are better able to do. And for career matters, it can also be quite easy to rise for people who have special skills because they will certainly be more easily recognized by many people when they have succeeded in one or several fields of work that have nothing to do with other parties.

However, when you have the opportunity to work for a government agency and a particular company, it is also good to be accepted because you can learn a lot from them and can develop your own business when you already have some important capital such as knowledge and also enough money to start your own business at some point in the future.

Its possible, and many have been doing this, and this is why freelancing is a very attractive job; you are your own boss, and the pay is better than your average 8 to 5 jobs in many third-world countries.
Those living in third-world countries are the ones benefiting from online freelancing; they are earning $10 daily for 8 hours of work, whereas if you are in freelancing, you can work triple of that amount in just a few hours of working.
You have to be good at what you are doing because freelancing is a highly competitive industry. Only the best will emerge.

Freedom and career can go hand in hand, and more persons are seeking that because the working environment these days in some countries is very unpleasant, and a fixed sum in salary at the end of the month or at the agreed period is no longer being sufficient for the economy. There are freelancers who make more money than office workers do and in a very short time often with sometime a single job. They are one living better than some of the people who have office jobs. This is the reason why freelancing is becoming more popular because the freedom it offers is invaluable first of all and you could make more than you do in your office job.

I think when we talking about the future of work we should be narrowing it to freelancing as it's gradually finding it place in workforce. The beauty of freelancing jobs is that the individual could always work from anywhere (location) and on any project of choice without having to face physical hassles that comes with the conventional working  requirements and schedules. Being a good freelancer demands that you'll have to constantly upskill yourself broaden your knowledge to be able to handle multiple tasks because freelancing jobs isn't as simple as some persons makes it seem except that it gives the individual some level of  freedom than normal office jobs.

When I was just taking my first steps in freelancing, I had absolutely no income for many months in a row. Well, I couldn't compete with those people who had a lot of experience. It's very hard to go down this path. Not everyone can work like that without any results. Most likely, after a couple of weeks, the person will give up and abandon this business. I've met a lot of people like that. Everyone wants to get money here and now, and not after a long period of time, which can be called a probationary period. To work as an intern. But the latter also get money, and in freelancing everything is completely different.

Freelancing is still that relevant and could really be that giving out a life on which a little bit more better since you do have that freedom and other perks in comparing into those people who do go into office on day to day basis. Its really that depending on you on how you would be finding a slot on freelancing world and also of course it will really be basing up into the skills you do have because you cant really be able to achieve such freedom on working remotely if you dont really have the skills. You will really be needing up to be competitive so that you will really be able to find yourself having that chance on earning even more in comparing into those people who do go into offices. The challenge on here is that on how you will be able to land your first job? Whats the skills that you can offer?

It will really be basing up accordingly into the skills that you do have because freelancing world doesnt basically means that you do just simply doing some easy tasks or job. Becoming a successful freelancer isnt something that an easy path to take and if you arent that good on this one then you will definitely be facing up some struggles on going into this career. So it will really be that up to you on how you would gonna handle yourself when it comes to this manner. If you do have plans on going on freelancing career then hone up your skills well and build up a solid portfolio so that you will be able to get your first client. Only getting the first client is the main challenge on here.

Yes ,you are right but that is not end of life if any businessman business flop or he became unsuccessful in his mission. He can develop new skills in the market which can give him good amount of money as a wage . I think business has more value than any job either that is government or private job because job person always try to get income without working because government pay him . But businessman always try to improve his strategies to get success in future because every next 10 years will be different from last 10 years as we saw the big Change before and after COVID and now Industries are filled with employees and government don't want to take jobs.Government only hire the persons on salary basis and after it pays and that employees are on contract.

Career is not only obtained from job choices, you choose freelance or government work if you have a career that makes you have a high economy, but there are differences in these choices if you consider the economy and your career.

For example:
You work in the government/no matter what, you have expertise in your field of work, so you can also be promoted and have a good career for your position.

The choice of freelance work can also determine your career and your economy well, if you are successful and successful in running the business you are trying.

So freedom and career go hand in hand if you are successful in developing your business, but if your business dies, your career dies too, unlike those who work in government.

IMO, as a full-time web developer, freelancing lets me create projects or do tech i usually wouldnt be able to do in my current occupation.
For me it's a nice hobby to have while both generating some extra income and getting more career related skills 

Those who consider freelancing as a career with freedom know nothing about it. It's indeed your choice to decide when you want to work and when you don't, but you can't deny the fact that it can have consequences on your career or work if you decide not to work when your clients want you to work for them. You will slowly start losing your clients if you don't do things based on their requirements and deadlines, and things aren't as easy to manage as some people might think.

I have often seen people wishing they had a freelancing career because it allows them to have freedom while earning good money. That isn't how it works. If you want to make a lot of money, you will have to sacrifice your time and freedom for it, and this is not only about freelancing but in anything you do in your life.

In freelancing, you will first have to find clients that can give you work regularly, and then you will have to work according to their deadlines and you won't be the one who would decide that because you are still a worker and they are the ones paying you. So, the word 'freedom' doesn't fit in here, basically.

The reason why some people choose freelancing is simply because it creates enough time for them to do other things if they want to and it also gives them the freedom to do any other thing such as having another job, starting and runing their own business and having enough time for their family too. So, someone can actually choose freelancing as a career but you need to acquire the skills required for it and you also need to be patient because in freelancing, you might not just start making money in the first one or two months.

There are many freelancing jobs, first step is identifying the one you want to go into and second thing is to learn how it works. Some freelancers  are into e-marketing (selling off products), script writing, software developing, etc. So, depending on the one you are planning on venturing into, you will learn the appropriate skill for it and then start to look for the opportunity online.

Talking from experience, as a freelance we are free to work from anywhere but we still have timeframe when we should work, so it's not complete freedom, even sometimes the working hours are much more exhausting then regular job. Not everything is easy, moreover you won't have fixed income so you need to have good financial planning, if you can't safe your money and then the time of less work come you will struggle financially.

There are some career jobs that gives some level of freedom. But these jobs are reserved for skilful employees whose skills are in high demand. These employees usually give employers conditions for service. Career can also strive with the freedom of the employee if the worker has stake in the company. At this level they can tailor their work schedule to suit them.

But for the average worker career under a contract of an organization will cannot go hand in hand with freedom. Mostly in developing nations where there are high rates of unemployment, you are seen as the property of your employer. Your employer can call you at any time of the day to come and perform a task. If you are not comfortable with the way you are treated, you are free to live. Your position will be filled in less than few minutes because there are many people who are willing to perform these inhumane task better than you. The only way to enjoy freedom in this part of the world is to learn a highly needed skill or become self-employed.

Any work that gives you steady income can be classified as a career because you're putting time and energy into it, so freelancing is a career if you're making money from it overtime. The difference between a regular job and freelance is that you're employed permanently in a job while freelance is rendering services for a fee, there's job security if you're employed but you're on your own if you're into freelance. The advantage of being a freelancer is that you're your own boss, you have the freedom to operate at your own time rather than being confined in an office space during work hours. It's not easy to solely depend on freelance as a source of income if you're not well established in your area of freelancing.

freelancing is tougher than what it looks, you gonna compete with so many people that willing to lower their price just for the sake of getting client and also the established veteran freelancer who got big reputation, if you're just starting, it's gonna be rough, but I can understand the fact that people seek freedom and also want to be financially independent but just try to lower expectation when starting to start your freelancing career, best way is building solid portfolio.

the friends that I know that did freelancing doing it for side hustle only, they got real full time job and did freelancer on the side because their monthly earning from freelancing aren't stable and sometime they have very low earning.

And I also want to remind you about the responsibility that will fall on your shoulders. This is a very heavy burden. No one but you will complete the tasks assigned to you. You will not be able to escape your direct responsibilities. You need to understand that no one is going to pay you money for nothing. This is exactly the same work as in a standard offline job. Therefore, think carefully several times. Do not rush to rush headlong into it. A good option would be to combine it with another job at the initial stage. This way you will get several sources of earnings, income.

No way, that's quite untrue.Freelancing gives people the opportunity to learn and develop knowledge from their own comfort,It doesn't have to be all of these actually.Freelancing is majorly freedom,time and money.At the end of the day, it's generally a good method to leverage and access your interpersonal skills,render certain services and also get paid.

Yes, that's possible. It's not just one-man's story but I've heard it from a lot of them.

Freedom and money.
It's simple as that. People nowadays will choose to live happily and with the experience that we've got with the pandemic, we know that we have no hold of our lives and we can be at our ends in anytime of the day, the next day. That's why many are choosing to go with freelancing because of how it gives them the freedom to be with their family's again while working at their own pace.

I actually think that freelancing requires more than your usual work because it encompasses almost everything. to be fair there are niches you can specialize in but the truth is you want to be good in a lot of things to accommodate whatever your client needs

there’s so many different tasks involved in freelancing that you should be able to adapt quickly and apply these changes to each task

And why not, especially now in the age of new technology, the internet made it possible? Freelancing is a good choice for a career shift; its flexible, and you get to experience communicating with different people from many sectors. and you get better pay because you get to work on people and companies where the work rate is better than where you are, which is why freelancing is such a huge sector on the internet.
Once you experience what its like to work as a freelancer, you'll get hooked on it.

Yes true, as someone who works as freelance for the past decade or so, I can say that it is not easy at all, it's quite tough. The best part is that you do it at your own home at your own comfort, as someone who lives in a crowded city, it was terrible to be on traffic everyday so I am glad to get rid of that, being at home all day is a huge huge benefit, to my mental health as well.

However, financially it is not really that shocking difference, if you do a good job sometimes to earn more, if you do not do a good job then you do badly. These days unfortunately my income is shrinking compared to inflation and I am not making much, but it's still a great life and I still love being at home all day, even taking naps during the day if I have the time, I love those days because they are very rare but sometimes it happens and I love that.

If we're talking about freelancing as a synonym for contract type work, where you have less job security but higher pay rates - then you need to be a lot more mentally resilient than most people. When you have a salary type job, you're able to almost forget about stability beyond whether your company is capable of surviving. If you are a freelancer you may constantly have to be looking for the next job you will move towards after the current one ends, sometimes managing leads and it can be quite stressful. It gets even harder when the labor market is tight and you have a lot more competition. Another downside is when the economy turns you'll often find that agency and short term contract workers are the first to be let go. Your pay better be enough to offset these downsides.

Well I think people fail to understand what the freedom in freelancing actually mean.
First you have to know that they is no job (self employed or working for someone) that you would find completely easy, so long as it's a job there must be some sort of efforts on carrying it out so if your definition of freedom on wealth creation is doing nothing completely then you have to throw it away.

So unlike many jobs where you are required to assemble at an office, hospital or where that is and work according to the conditions of your employees, freelancing is tailored to your location and to a high degree to your taste.  Freelancing is based on what you have to offer but if we are being honest is normal jobs you find out that you may end up doing more than what you had signed up for.

Freelancing sound good on paper, but it is not as easy as many people make it sounds. Freelancing means one is the only responsible if finding one's sources of job and create one's loyal costumers. That means the stream of money completely depends on one and not on others and that can be challenging.
I have known people who have gone freelance and they have told me it is hard to get established and make a good reputation for themselves out there in the jungle which internet is, eventually some of them have returned to work for a company.
It mostly depends on the life style one wants to have and whether one is able to keep it all together.

I have the opinion freelancing is mostly suitable for people who is childless and still have not settled down and started a family. In the end, it is better to try to start one's own company or business and start to hire people from it, not to become one's own boss but to become the boss of others.

The inclination for freelancing comes from the personal desire of achieving an autonomous and independent professional career, where you are your own boss who will organize and schedule your working time, without following the default workload stipulated by companies and governments.

It's a hard task, though, because you need to be recognized by your own efforts and results. There isn't a famous company working as middleman between you and the public, neither the government. You have to create your own marketing to reach the public somehow. Moreover, you will have thousands of competitors on the same field of work when doing freelance online. It's not a stable job you can count with every month.

Maybe it's better to not start your career as freelancer, but to migrate to it slowly, once you are a successful professional working for someone else. So you will already have someone to refer customers to you, what can boost your results positively when working by yourself.

Making a career as a freelancer is not easy without a doubt. First you need to be very proficient at your craft and then you’ll have to find clients. The easiest way to do that is getting an account at fiverr or upwork but I heard upwork went full crap lately. You’ll have to spend from your own pocket just so you could send a message to your potential clients. I think it is not worth to use upwork anymore.

I think it is best to work under someone else for a while till you figure out everything about your job and then start your own company. Save some money while you wage slaving and use that money to get social media ads for your business later. That’s a better strategy.

Not much different from other jobs because deciding to become a freelancer means being ready to compete, looking for resources where you have access, being mentally prepared because every field of work still has demands. Although freelancing upholds freedom in terms of time, it does not mean that you are lazy with the tasks that will be carried out.

Freelancing is still a career even if there’s more freedom to it than being employed by a company or someone else. Some people feel like they do not thrive in an environment where they aren’t able to do anything freely.

The main reason I can think of why someone would decide to be a freelancer is time. When you are in a company, your time is tied to them. It is constricting and it doesn’t allow much to do anything else in life. Meanwhile with freelancing, you can be flexible with your schedule and you own your time. You can work in pretty much anywhere and anytime.

Can freedom and a career truly go hand in hand? What are the deeper reasons behind our choice or inclination towards freelancing?