Freelancing offers a lot of flexibility and freedom which your regular job cannot offer. While working as a freelancer, you make the choices that fit your needs. In a freelancing job, you decide that what kind of work you want to do, with whom you want to collaborate, the volume of your work, the location of your work, what time of the day you will work, etc.
All these things are a matter of choice for a freelancer. A freelancer decides what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. Simply, you are your own boss! You love freedom, not a boring office.
Here are the benefits of freelancing
1. You handle your workload
One of the amazing benefits of working as a freelancer is that you can get to say when enough is enough and you are tired. If there are so many clients you are handling at once, you can always drop some of them to release your workload.
2. No office politics
If you are working as a solo freelancer, office politics would be non-existent for you. You will not have to waste time to attend meetings and making yourself stressed about the politics all around you. As a freelancer, you can have your corner office in an area of your home and can enjoy your work.
3. You can get a break at any time
If you are exhausted while doing your work, you can always take breaks when you want. No one will ask you about these informal breaks. Taking small breaks, though 15-20 minutes, can help you to keep your energy levels up all day long and it will also boost your concentration level.
4. You have your income control
As a freelancer, you can save a lot of your income. You can decide how much you have to earn in a month or a week. You save your commuting time, your other expenses and the cost of your work. For your regular job, you have to manage your other expenses too like your new dresses every once in a while and transportation costs etc.
5. You establish new connections
If you are a freelancer, you will meet several new people every day online. These people will be from different countries and will have a different culture. By interacting with them, you will a lot more about their country.
7 Tips on How to Become a Successful Freelancer
Almost everyone can become a freelancer but only a few can succeed. But, how to become a successful freelancer? Here are 7 tips you need to know.
How To Succeed
1. Be Unique- Millions of freelancers might be offering the services you render but you should have something that sets you apart. It could be attention to detail, a particular skill set that not everyone possesses etc. Always try to let your clients know this when applying for gigs or freelance jobs.
2. Don’t Appear Cheap: A lot of freelancers do this and eventually rack up so many cheap gigs that they can’t complete at times. This can result in some of them getting negative reviews because of clients dissatisfaction and delay in project delivery time.
It is better to do one $300 job very well than taking on 10 gigs worth $30 each and fail to deliver.
3. Set realistic timeframes: Some freelancers agree to just about any set of terms just to get the job including an unrealistic timeframe which causes client dissatisfaction later. As a freelancer, clients should be able to hold you to your word and if the timing of a project does not suit you.
Then it is better to notify the client of a more suitable time or not start the project. Your reputation is at stake. One bad review can do quite the damage to your profile.
4. Under-promise and Over-deliver: The point here is that you should only promise what you can deliver. Don’t over-exaggerate your skills to a client. It always backfires in the long run.
5. Upload samples of your works to your profile. And if you’re just new to freelancing, make your profile look as professional as possible.
6. Always try to improve your skills. And show a willingness to produce quality work.
7. Understand your client’s wants and then advice them based on how best your skills can help them achieve their aims. Clients feel good when the freelancer actually cares about how successful the end-product of their business relationship would be and not just about how much he/she is going to be paid after the job has been completed.
There are thousands of freelancers who make a regular income online. If you follow these 7 tips, pretty soon you will become a successful freelancer.