7 Places That Pays For Your Work
Best Places To Find Freelance Work
There are many places where freelancers can find work. There are many websites dedicated to this very action. There are some (as discussed below) that cater to freelance work as a whole, and there are other, more niche websites that are specific to different industries.
Do some research and determine what kind of platform will best for your service but is also somewhere where you will be able to find clients.
A good rule of thumb can be to find work in the places where your target clientele hangs out.
You need to remember that time spent finding work is time that could better be spent working.
Once you have a good strategy for finding work; you should continue with it. But, if it is too time consuming and does not produce optimal results, try another method.
Profiles
Before outlining some locations for finding freelance work, it is important to consider your profile. All these platforms will require that you create a profile—it will have your name, skills, qualifications, etc., as well as a portfolio.
It is essential that you fill out these profiles to the best of your abilities. Incomplete profiles look unprofessional and will likely lose you jobs.
On the platform Upwork, clients post job listings, which usually includes the details of the project and often what they would like their freelancer to be like.
Freelancers then bid and submit proposals, detailing why they would be the best person for the job. The client then chooses the best freelancer for the job.
Platforms like this are some of the most cited, and most common methods for finding freelance work, for good reason. They are an easy and accessible way to find work. These centralized platforms are well-respected and used frequently by many kinds of people.
Benefits of platforms such as these include the ease of use and the fact that both clients and freelancers are bound by the terms of use.
Platforms take payment from clients and release it to the freelancer once both users have verified that the work is complete. The platform ensures that the content is delivered, and payment is received.
However, there are also some downsides to these platforms.
The first is that the platform often takes a percentage of the payment to cover website fees and for facilitating the match.
These can add up over time and mean that you are getting paid less than you deserve.
Another issue is that such sites encourage a “race to the bottom” mentality. This means that freelancers often lower their prices for the service for a competitive advantage, which in turn forces others to lower their prices as well.
On platforms like Upwork, some clients are not entirely clear on the value of a freelancer (or cannot afford one) so they sometimes opt for a cheaper option.
There are downsides and upsides to such websites, and ultimately it will come down to personal preference and abilities. They may work for your business, and they may not, but they are an incredibly accessible way for freelancers to find clients—even if you do not use them forever.
Freelancer is a website like Upwork.
This platform is also available to freelancers and clients of all kinds, with job listings in many different areas.
Freelancer highlights the benefits of clients being able to view freelancer portfolios before accepting to work on a job together.
This kind of platform also features an in-built chat feature. This is an easy way to be able to interact with the other party on the platform. This keeps the jobs and the conversation, as well as project updates, on the platform and does not cross over to other platforms.
Again, however, such sites are known for sometimes being low paying, with freelancers fighting to undercut each other’s prices in order to gain work.
Fiverr is another option for freelance platforms. It is, however, sometimes geared towards smaller jobs.
But it has a different job posting method. As well as the traditional method of clients posting jobs for freelancers to submit proposals, the reverse also happens.
Rather than a client posting, “I would like someone to design me a logo,” freelancers are able to post, “I design logos.” Clients then look through freelancers’ offerings to find people to work with, rather than the other way around. This is a unique and useful thing, especially if your service is unique.
Fiverr has a different attitude towards pricing, for this reason. Clients can see upfront what their budget will get them when they browse project offerings.
There is, of course, still competition, but you are more in control of what you will charge for your services.
It is advertising itself as a more “legitimate” website and prides itself on the quality of the freelancers it features.
It also has a different payment system. Most freelance sites take payment from the client and hold it until the project is verified complete and thenrelease the funds to the freelancer.
Guru is different, as well as this traditional, fixed price, payment system it has a variety of other options.
Guru also offers hourly rates (using their time tracking software) as well as recurring payments for long-term projects.
Toptal named for the phrase “top talent” aims to provide just that.
Before being able to use the website, there is a vetting process that includes experience verification, as well as an interview.
Being on such a reputable platform is a great way to attract legitimate, high paying clients. It will cement you as an authority and a high quality freelance business owner.
Alternatively, iFreelance is a membership driven site.
Rather than freelancers forgoing a portion of each project they complete as host fees to
the website, there is a monthly fee.
However, the platform does not take a cut of your earnings. This could be useful if you are able to get a high number of listings (on this less popular site), otherwise it could be a wasted subscription.
LinkedIn is a professional networking website that people mostly only update when they get a new job.
However, LinkedIn is full of opportunities. Some recruiters trawl this platform to find people that are open to opportunities to try and connect with people in their area.
LinkedIn, if for nothing else, is a good way to build a network of other freelancers or potential clients in your industry.
By filling out your profile, showcasing your work, and providing updates to your projects and business, you are opening your business to the eyes of others: people who may be looking for exactly what you are promoting.
In essence, do not overlook LinkedIn (or even other social media platforms).
They take time to set up (though, the content is mostly the same across them all so it is not too laborious), but you never know what could come of it. It is a small upfront time investment that could attract numerous clients and add immense value to your freelance business.
Comments
Post a Comment