How To Build a Freelancing Career and Make Money as a Freelancer

My main income source is freelancing on Upwork, sometimes I don't get any work for the entire week and I don't earn any money for the entire week. However, sometimes I get a lot of contracts and I am busy working for 10-12 hours for the entire week, and the earnings can easily compensate for the previous week of no earnings. As a freelancer, it is very difficult to earn consistently.

How to Make Money as a Freelancer?

Recently, I was asked how to make money on freelancing sites. Since I have been earning on upwork for the past 2 years, I have decided to share my experience.

Things to remember before you join a freelancing site

Freelancing sites are competitive marketplaces. There is a lot of competition out there as there are more sellers than employers. In order to survive the rat race, you need to be having professional-level skills, and a lot of work experience. Even your off-site experience will be counted.

General skills like article writing, logo design, etc. will not make you successful. You need to build skills on professional skills like video editing, video creating, animation, cartoon drawing, app building, website designing, etc.

Things to remember after you join a freelancing site

There are numerous freelancing sites, for example, Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Guru, 99Designs, SEOClerks, etc. I suggest you join all freelancing sites and create an impressive profile on all of these platforms and work on all of these sites (bid on the jobs or create freelancing services).

Once your bid gets accepted, or gigs get sold, focus on that platform instead of wasting your time on other sites. However, you can still go back to other freelancing sites when you do not have any assignments.

Lower your rate by 50 percent. The idea is to get as many jobs as possible so that you get good reviews.

How to build a freelancing career?

How to build a freelancing career is one of the common questions asked on Google (also on Yahoo, Bing, etc.), YouTube, and Online Communities (forums, discussion boards, social media, etc.).Even on this platform, you can see a lot of discussion going around on the topic of freelancing. From what I have read here on this site, I have found that most of the people are just proselytizing or castigating, they don’t have real experience. Therefore, I am attempting to share a real-life case.

I made my first money online from a freelancing platform. I heard of the freelancing platform oDesk back in 2014, later the company acquired Elance and rebranded as Upwork. I joined the site in 2018, but I did not start using the site until 2020. I am fairly successful on Upwork.

How did I manage to become fairly successful?

I have professional skills. I design and develop websites, apps, and software.

I have experience in the relevant field. Before I started working on Upwork, I already had worked for a lot of companies.

I attended courses on Digital Marketing and SEO to enhance my skills.

I learned how to write job proposals and pitch ideas better.

I lowered my rates to increase the chance of getting hired

I continued bidding on jobs and never lost hope.

How to Sell Your Freelancing Services?

You can sell your freelancing services through a number of ways:

Freelance Marketplace: Sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Guru, Freelancer, etc.

Forums: Webmaster Forums like Forum Promotion, or Discussion board like Reddit

Social Media: Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, are good platforms to sell freelancing sites

Website/Blog: You can also directly sell through your own website or blog.

For a lot of people joining freelancing sites and start selling freelancing services is the most accessible way to make money as a freelancer.  Well, there is nothing wrong about using freelancing sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Guru, Freelancers, People Per Hour, SEO Clerks, etc. Yes, it is relatively easy to sell your services on freelancing sites, however, you must be aware that you will also be giving away a lot of money either as a commission or withdrawal fees, or both.

You can sell your freelancing services through forums, online communities and social media but this can be very risky because the client might deny payment or vanish without paying you. Worst part s you cannot do anything to get back your money, there is no mediation service available.

You have full control when you see through your own website, however, chances of getting hired through your website are slim because people may never discover you.

First published on Trendri, in the author's name.