Being A Freelance Professional

Dear Readers, it has been more than 3 years since I am working as a Freelance Professional (Offline and not Online). When I started it I didn’t know the meaning of it at all. Due to it I had to face a lot of struggle. I am sure a huge percentage of population will be unaware about it including Employers as what I discovered during this period of time was that if performed appropriately it rewards both Employee and Employer with a Win-Win Situation. I will try to show you the ways how to make it proof so that you can’t be fooled or betrayed – it is for either i.e. Professional as well as Company.

Let’s look at what should we do before starting to work as a Freelancer:

Being a Freelancer opens up wide range of opportunities for an individual however not all of them are the best fit. Hence one needs to understand his skills at which he is best. Take a pen and paper and start writing down things which you are good at. For example, Writing, Painting, Helping Others (Counseling) etc. Now Rate Yourself for each skill set you have. Don’t forget your achievements and special coaching you might have taken in the past to be better at any of it.

Tip: Don’t worry about if your skill can be used for freelance as anything and everything can be!!!

Now that we have jotted down the skill which you are good at, it’s time to start looking for options - Not Opportunities as not all options can be turned into opportunities. Just like we did with our skills, so we have to do the same with the options in hand. Analyze each and every option for different aspects like time, money, flexibility, future profitability, past experiences of others working for that firm or person and so on. For this, we need to prepare a table and give rating on the scale of 1 to 10 for each option in each aspect and finally summarize it. This will help you derive the best option which can turn out as a Great Opportunity or a number Opportunities in some cases as well.

Tip: Don’t settle for anything which is has average under 6

Do thorough research about the companies or sector you have in hand as which are considered as a ray of light. Again, doing research will need some preparation to make it precise and to the point. You can cover points like; How long are they in the industry / sector, how do they respond to freelancers – in some cases freelancing can also be considered as outsourcing, What are their growth plans, what kind of terms and conditions do they have for freelancers and so on. Lot of these details can be acquired by different sources like; from the internet, approaching current or previous employee from that firm, newspapers and business articles and so on.

Tip: Don’t leave a single question unanswered as it may be proven crucial)

Every company will have their own set of rules, regulations, terms and conditions to get their work done in different scenarios. Same ways, we need to develop our own ‘Terms and Conditions’ which will include; in which areas will you work in, how much time will it take for you to complete the given task (Rough estimate with an example), what do you expect from the company (Time and other aspects), contract period and such other aspects. Terms and Conditions will be different for different sectors. For example A writer may take a day to write an article where an SEO script writer may take a week depending on clients requirements.

Tip: Don’t get stuck with these, be flexible as the other party will also have their set of T&C. So leave it for SLA i.e. Service Level Agreement which will be signed at last, especially for bigger tasks. However at the same time do not cut it loose as after all it’s your set of skills and efforts you are putting in to be rewarded. So it must be strong enough for both the

If all Four areas are executed properly, it will become ‘A Chicken which lays Golden Eggs.’