How To Get Started And Work As A Freelancer

A freelance worker would be someone who employs him/herself through working independently, without having to be bound to some other party. A freelancer specialize in a range of work fields, from content writing, graphic designing to web site design and many other fields. In today’s world, many teenagers and even housewives have started to take on freelance jobs to make extra money for the month.

The payment rates differ from person to person and also according to the type of work. For instance, a freelance graphic designer would expect to earn more from their customers as it requires specialist work, while a content writer would earn less in comparison to some other freelance jobs due the easy nature of the work.

Getting started as a freelancer can be challenging at first. It is difficult to find a point where you should start from. Since there are so many different fields of freelance work, it is important for one to carefully choose the type of field in which one has some background education or experience.

Freelance jobs are not easy to find. Many people have to wait weeks and sometimes even months to get a job offer from someone. Even people who do freelance work independently have to be very patient to find a good project to work on.

Here are some steps which can help you to get started and work as a freelancer.

How To Become A Freelancer

1. Start With Volunteering

No one will be able to find highly paid work at first. A potential client who will be hiring you for work will require some kind of evidence of the amount of experience you have. Therefore, to gain experience, it is important to first volunteer at different online platforms to gain experience.  For example, if you are a writer, a good way to get started may be to write some guest posts for other websites.  By volunteering, you are offering your services or skills for free, which will make it easy to find work at first. Once you have sufficient experience, you can then start to look for paid work.

2. Carefully Prepare Sample Work

When preparing your resume, it is always beneficial to attach some quality sample work with it. For instance, if you are an experienced content writer, prepare some good quality, grammatically correct articles by yourself and attach it to your CV. Similarly with freelance graphic design, it would be a good idea to attach some examples of your work as a JPEG image file with a description of the custom made material for the potential client. This will give the employer an idea of your excellent skills. Make sure this sample is not bound by any copyright infringement issues, etc.

3. Letter Of Motivation

Letter of Motivation is a small personal writing piece, in which you describe why you are encouraged to work as a freelance worker. This document is not necessarily needed, but could complement in certain cases.

4. Managing Work Load

Once you have successfully started to receive work, it is important to keep the work load to a level where it is manageable. Since your client is paying you for the work you doing it is important to keep the quality at a top notch to prevent any grievances, which can sometimes lead to problems in serious cases.

5. Terms & Condition

If you are working as an independent freelance worker, then it would be essential to clearly layout a list of terms of conditions in which you bound your skills to. This would be helpful for the client to understand the ethical boundaries which you are obeying or work under.

6. Develop A Convenient Payment Method

When receiving paid work, the most important aspect of the work is how you will be paid for it. Your potential and current client needs to be aware of how he or she should make the payment transaction to you. This is an important aspect to consider while designing the terms and condition section, which should also include guidelines for the client to follow regarding the payment method.

As hard as it may seem, working as a freelance is not a very difficult job if you do proper planning for it. A list of factors needs to be ensured and you are set to go. It all depends on how you want to work, as in freelance working; you are your own boss!

What do you think? Are you a freelance worker?  What other advice would you give to people who want to become a freelancer and work for themselves online?  Let us know by leaving a comment below!
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Thank you to my Guest Post Author: Brendan Egan 

Brendan Egan is an experienced search engine expert who also specializes in many other internet marketing areas. He owns a SEO firm to help his clients with small business SEO services.
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