Online websites like Upwork have made it possible to start a booming career as a freelancer no matter where you live in the world. Freelancing has become incredibly popular in India, and you might work as a web developer, SEO expert, or perhaps a freelance writer.
There are a lot of advantages to freelancing, no matter where you live. You can earn a potentially limitless income and grow your business on your own terms while enjoying freedom and flexibility. If you can get high-paying jobs from American or European clients, even better. To make that work, you’ll have to impress them and stand out amongst the competition.
A lot of U.S. and Europe-based freelance clients prefer native English speakers. With that in mind, you might want to practice your English conversational skills and explore the most effective way to minimize your accent.
Beyond that, the following are some other tips to follow if you want to launch a successful freelance career.
The Basics of Freelancing
First, before you can start a successful business, you want to have a general idea of what your goals are. There are marketplaces online like Upwork and Fiverr where clients go to find freelancers to do a wide variety of tasks. Some of these are one-off projects, while others are ongoing.
You don’t always have to go through a marketplace. You could create your own website, but then you have to optimize it so that people can find you. Plus, you don’t have the protections that many of these marketplaces offer, like escrow for the funds to pay you for a project.
On marketplace sites for freelancers, you have to build out your profile, showcase your skills and start developing a history of good work. Just like Amazon or most other sites, your clients will be able to leave you reviews and feedback on your work.
You may have to initially take lower-paying jobs to build up feedback as you’re just starting. Then, once you have more of an online reputation, you can start to charge more for your services or be pickier about the clients you take.
Types of Freelancers
As a freelancer, you might fall into one of a few categories. There are full-time freelancers. When you’re a full-time freelancer, this is how you make all of your income, and you don’t have another job.
When you’re just starting, it might make more sense for you to maintain your day job as you build your reputation and profile. That would make you a side hustle freelancer.
There are contract freelancers who agree to work with a company for a certain period of time or until a specific project is completed. There are also freelance business owners, and these people may have a team of other freelancers or employees working under them.
Finally, you can also operate as a consultant, meaning that clients might pay you a set amount of money for your expertise, maybe weekly or monthly.
Prepare for the Pros and the Cons
The upsides of freelancing are fairly easy to see. You don’t have a limit on your income if you do good work, and you may be able to grow your client base and eventually have a team of people who work for you. You don’t have the set schedule of a traditional job, and you can do things in the way that works best for you.
However, there are plenty of downsides of freelancing to be aware of before you jump in.
First, there is a lot of uncertainty. You don’t have the peace of mind of knowing that you’re getting a steady paycheck. There may be times when business is booming and other times when you don’t have any clients. You should try to save money in an emergency fund when you’re doing well, in case you need it to hold you over.
You also have to constantly hustle to find clients, especially when you’re just starting out. You may be sending a lot of bids or proposals and feeling like you aren’t getting any of the jobs.
A difficult client can also end up being like a difficult boss in many ways too. They may be demanding of your time and want more than what you originally agreed to. You can end up chasing payments or working around the clock on a deadline. You could still also end up with bad feedback, even if it’s unfair.
You have to be someone who can manage your time well and who can deal with both ups and downs.
Other challenges you may face as a freelancer include:
- There are going to be other freelancers who will work for almost nothing, and this can be especially true if you’re a foreign freelancer competing for American clients. You may be up against people who can work for a fraction of what you can. That’s why your focus has to be on quality because sometimes there is no feasible way to compete in terms of pricing.
- You may deal with scams. For example, if a project seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Even when you do great work, someone may not like it and leave you less-than-perfect feedback. This happens, and sometimes, it might just be a preference issue on the part of the client.
Stay Consistent
If you want to make your freelancing career work, the best thing you can do is remain consistent. Even when it seems challenging or like you’ll never get your first high-paying client, you will, if you keep up with it.
It can take a while to get things going, but in freelancing, once you’ve proven yourself a bit, along with creating good profiles on marketplace sites, you’re also likely to get referrals. You can build your business a lot faster than it might first seem.
Finally, always be learning. Freelancers are in demand because they offer specialized skills without companies having to hire full-time employees, so keep your skills sharp. Stay knowledgeable and always learn more about your field.
