New Freelancer? Diversify Now!
New Freelancer? Diversify Now!
I have worked as a freelance writer for over a decade now and I have one huge tip if you are starting out, diversify. Starting out was a little more difficult years ago, but one huge mistake I made, that you can avoid is to put too many eggs in one basket. I put all my faith into the biggest platform for freelance work at the time, Odesk and through the last decade, I have come to regret that choice. So, if you are starting out as a freelancer, think about creating reputations on a few platforms, instead of just one.
Why?
Well, Odesk merged years ago with their biggest competitor and took over the market. This has let the company make some questionable decisions on rates that I have no control over. Since I put in so much time and energy into the reputation of this platform, I have had to deal with whatever they decided. When they doubled their fee for new clients, I had no say. When they started to charge freelancers money to apply to jobs, once again, I was stuck. Since I have six digits in sales and all my reputation wrapped up in one platform, my options are limited to being able to leave.
So, if you are new and starting out, diversify where you find your work. Keep some control over your pay scale and who you do business with. While I have started to work on other platforms other than Upwork, it is going to take time. If I had had my reputation established elsewhere, once bad decisions that affected me were made, I could have pivoted far more seamlessly than before. Learn from this freelancer’s mistakes and start on multiple platforms for whatever your talent is.
How?
It all starts with an internet search these days, doesn’t it? I recommend searching for platforms and job boards that promote the sort of job you are looking for and set up an account. Start with free accounts first, as most platforms will have multiple options. While many find it beneficial to pay for an account, I do not. Something inside of me hates the idea of it. Why do I see a five-dollar bill stapled to a resume when I think of it?
Anyways, sign up for at least three accounts and start looking for work. When I first started, I took jobs that were less pay than I may have wanted, just so I could get the reputation and positive reviews I needed to charge more. This will have to be done on all the platforms chosen, but once again, try to make sure that you are using more than one platform at a time. Keep up the diversification throughout for job and salary stabilization and safety.
Some great options for writers include, Guru, Flexjobs, Freelancer and Fiverr.
Too late, so what now?
If you are like me and it’s too late, your reputation is vast on one platform, use that to your advantage elsewhere. I have started to look on other platforms for work and I am directing them to my Upwork platform. This is where I have ten years of reputation and comments on many jobs I have done. This has helped me start off on another platform a lot better off, because I am not new to this. It has taken some of the pain out of having to switch over to another freelancer site, but I already feel much better that I have more options. The only thing I regret now, was not doing it sooner. Start now, open your job stability, something that is lacking in this type of work style. Have a little more freedom and say in your work life by diversifying now!
