Freelancer is your one stop for anyone looking to put their skill to use.
If you are a writer, coder, or graphic design artist you are fortunate enough to have many opportunities to work independently from home.
The bad news?
It can be hard to determine where you should take your skills.
Which sites are trustworthy and worthwhile, and which sites are scams or just ineffective.
As you get settled into the freelancing community it will become a little bit more apparent but until then there is something of a learning curve.
That’s ok, we are here to help get you started.
Today we will be taking a close look at the site Freelancer.com to determine whether or not it is a good place for you to begin your freelancing career.
What is Freelancer?
Freelancer is in many ways the contemporary equivalent of searching the newspaper for job openings (although yes—I am aware that that means of employment hunting still exists as well).
To put it simply, Freelancer is a site where employers post jobs, and freelancers of all types bid for them.
It isn’t a place of employment, it is more like a community, which is one of the differences between this and the Upwork platform.
Joining Freelancer gives you access to hundreds of jobs that you would not have otherwise had the opportunity to see.
Unfortunately, since Freelancer is not technically your place of employment, it doesn’t matter how many hours of work you log through them.
You still are not going to get any health care benefits.
It is a bummer, I know but there are also plenty of great benefits to freelancing, including the ability to work from home, set your own hours, and wear your favorite pair of pajamas while you work.
That said there are a lot of websites just like Freelancer that offer the same sort of lifestyle, so what exactly makes this one special?
Let’s take a look at some of the Features of Freelancer.
The Freelancer Phone App
This may sound like a frilly feature that you don’t really need but it is actually pretty crucial. Once you start getting jobs through Freelancer, or sites like it, you are going to be getting a lot of messages from existing or potential clients.
When that happens, you need to be able to answer them as quickly as possible.
The immediacy of these messages is sometimes lost on the new freelancer because they are dealing with someone they have never met or will meet, but the truth of the matter is the people sending you these messages are your employers.
Think about it.
If you were working in an office and your boss asked you a question, you wouldn’t wait three days to respond.
It’s the same situation.
Quicker response equals more work and happier clients.
The app allows you to quickly receive messages right to your phone and respond to them on the go. I cannot tell you how many important work conversations I have had while I grocery shopped.
Similar to the Upwork app but not quite the same.
Freelancer Contests
Freelancer really pushes the contest component of their website. Personally, I have never really been much of a fan—I prefer the straightforward process of applying for jobs conventionally, but many people have found great success with the contests so there is certainly something to be said about them.
On the surface, the contest actually works a lot like bidding for jobs does.
The contest holder posts a description for whatever they need done, and also includes how much they are willing to pay for the completed project.
The freelancer then crafts a proposal that includes work done on their project.
Why don’t I care for this method?
Clients will actually often request sample work but in normal job application situations, you end up getting paid for it.
With the contest, you only get paid if your submission was declared the winner.
Personally, I think that the contest system favors employers more than it does freelancers but if the process appeals to you it can still be a good way to make some money.
Loads of Jobs
Freelancer has been around for a while now and in that time, they have attracted a lot of employers that of course hire a lot more employees.
There are literally thousands of jobs out there to apply for, and more are added every hour. If you are looking for a wide range of options, you might just land your first freelancing job.
Cons of Freelancer
Fortunately, Freelancer does not have much in way of cons.
Its longstanding reputation for being a reliable job site is well earned and if there is any major drawback to the site it is that it is a little bit crowded.
Freelancer boasts over twenty-five million registered users.
Granted, not all of them are active, but regardless there are still millions of people using the site every single day.
Why is that a problem?
Well, it means that for every job posted there is also a large number of people just like you looking to snag it.
To get work on sites like Freelancer you have to pay close attention to job listings.
In the early stages of your freelance career you will probably need to spend a lot of time just looking for jobs.
The earlier that you are able to apply the more likely you are to get it.
Once a job has thirty, forty, fifty submissions, you can pretty much assume it isn’t worth applying for anymore but that doesn’t mean you can’t get the job.
The good news is that once you land your first few jobs, finding work becomes a lot easier as you will have good samples to send to potential clients, and you will be able to boast a reputation for delivering quality work.
Competition is part of the freelancing game, but for newbies it can be a tough hurdle to overcome.
Stick with it and eventually you will find that a little bit of competition isn’t a big deal.
Conclusion
Personally, I think that Freelancer is a good place for veterans and beginners, alike.
Starting out as a freelancer is difficult no matter what but I believe that it is beneficial to begin on a well-established site like Freelancer.
The lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but for those who can commit completely to finding jobs and working hard, freelancing can be a very rewarding career path, and Freelancer is a great place to get started.
You might also like Peopleperhour but they are both great sites for anyone looking to showcase their skills.
If you are a writer, this is going to be great for you but I do recommend you make the most of your writing ability by creating your own online business instead.
Other than that, Freelancer is definitely one of the top freelancing sites on the net, if not the best.
Best part of it all is that it’s completely free to join!
Good luck and thanks for reading!
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