How to become a freelancer

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

You will not find the definition of freelance anywhere, there is only a literal translation of this word from English: freelance - freelance. Freelance work has existed before, only it was called differently - trash. Over the past 5-10 years, the meaning of this word has changed somewhat. If earlier this meant simple work at home for money, now poor-quality work is called hack.

You can not work anywhere and make a living only as a freelance, or you can just use it as a part-time job during maternity leave.

Anyone can become a freelancer: from an English tutor to a PR manager. Quite typical announcements: "It is required to fit a pair of blouses from the 50th to my 46th size" or "It is required to draw a website. Terms of reference in the attached file. Deadline - a week. You have a price and examples of work."

Most often, freelance assignments can be found on the Internet. These lucky ones will most often be media workers, techie programmers, and just creative people. Graduate and term paper writing is also booming. For example, using my knowledge of higher mathematics, I did tests for sophomore students last semester.

Search for orders

Sources of search for orders:

1. Relatives and acquaintances, neighbors at the entrance and just the first people they meet. You write an ad that, for example, you bake cakes for the holidays or embroider with a cross, distribute it in all legal and illegal (mind you, the law on spam is almost in effect), and … wait for orders.

2. In the case of acquaintances, so-called "word of mouth" helps, which would limit you in the office: getting up after 12, shopping and paying bank bills during working hours, favorite music at full volume - all this would be unavailable with the obligatory presence in the office with 9 to 18.

- English or driving courses in the morning and afternoon are significantly cheaper than in the evening or on weekends.

- You work when you want it. If you are an owl, then you can work after 8-9 pm, and no one will forbid you to do so.

- Hateful office suits can hang in the closet even until the second coming, if you are comfortable only in jeans.

- In the end, you can spend more time at home - your husband and children will be happy.

Cons of freelancing:

- There is a clearly specified date and time when the finished work should be with the customer: excuses "the child is ill" or "the computer is broken" will not work here.

- You need good organizational skills to complete the task on time. If you are used to working in the office, then to fulfill orders at home it is better to get up at the same time.

- There are not all those benefits that are in decent offices: tea, coffee at any time of the day, paid meals, medical insurance for all occasions, corporate parties, etc.

- Nobody gives you a task, you and only you are looking for a job.

- You need a lot of initial investment in ensuring your work: if you are a photographer, then purchasing a professional camera is simply your responsibility. On the other hand, your brains can also serve as start-up capital, because at least you spent time learning Word.

Freelance earnings vary greatly depending on the nature of the task itself and on your qualifications. Very often, you will receive much less money for work from home than if you were working in the office on the same assignment. This is due to the fact that the customer does not know you as well as the regular employee.

Do not forget about the geographical location of the place of residence. In Moscow, the prices for order are the same, in the Tambov region - completely different. But this is exactly the plus: living in the Urals, you can receive a metropolitan salary thanks to remote work.

The average earnings of specialists of your level can be found on the Internet. Further calculations depend on your impudence or, as professionals call it, your value in your own eyes. Do not forget about the deadlines: quite often they resort to the help of freelancers when qualified personnel simply do not have time to do the task efficiently, and the weekend for many full-time employees is sacred. The faster the finished material is needed, the higher its cost for the customer.

Transfer of completed work

There are two options: you live with the customer in the same city, or you live in different parts of the country, or even the world. If you both live in the same city, then everything is elementary - a personal meeting will help you understand all the nuances. But if in different …

The program, website, photo or article - it doesn't matter - you need to transfer it to the customer. This can be done using email, file storage, or your server.

Email, like any internet service, has its pros and cons. We attach the file to the text comment and send it - what could be simpler? Problems can arise when sending file attachments larger than 1 megabyte. It is worthwhile to clarify in advance the permissible maximum size of the transferred file not only on your mail server, but also on the customer's server.

There are already more than 10 file storages in Runet. How to transfer a file: select a file, press the "upload" button, receive a link, send the link to the customer by e-mail, ICQ or even sms. How to get the file: click on the link and save the file. No registration, no additional steps. To protect the file from prying eyes, you can specify a password. Such repositories most often live on advertising, so there is a lot of it on sites - this is probably their only drawback.

The third option - its own file server - has no drawbacks, except for one: its cost.

Transfer of earned money

If the customer is a legal entity, then the company has a bank account, no matter how small the company is. An honest customer should not refuse your request to transfer money to your plastic card. Specify in advance with the bank who pays the interest for the transfer: you or the company.

There is another option for transferring money through electronic payment systems. The most famous of them in Russia are the WebMoney system and the service of the well-known search engine Yandex. Money. You can work with your virtual wallet, the number of which you provide to the customer, through the web interface, which greatly simplifies the receipt of money if you do not have your own computer at home and you cannot install their wallet program. Both developers emphasize that their systems are absolutely safe: during the entire existence of electronic payments, there have been no cases of hacking of wallets.

How to protect yourself from dishonest employers?

Every freelancer faces this question almost immediately. In theory, you are protected by the law "On Copyright and Related Rights", which has been in effect in Russia for over 10 years. In practice, the author often cannot prove that he is the creator of a particular work.

There are two tips: try to conclude a contract with each customer and demand an advance payment. Any agreement, sealed by two signatures, in the prescribed form is considered evidence.

If the work done is significant, before sending it to the customer, do not forget to go to regular mail (not e-mail!) And send the source code of the program or the text of the article to yourself in an envelope. If you see your rejected work later in a magazine or on the Internet with someone else's signature, a sealed envelope will be evidence in court.

Instead of a conclusion

If your work is still not accepted, the customer turned out to be dishonest, and you cannot protect your copyrights, consider this a useful experience:

“Now you know that you cannot deal with this particular person.

- You have become more confident in your abilities: you can work not only in the state, but also freelance.

- You have experience, albeit negative, of defending your rights. Next time you will be even more persistent.

- You have one more material in your portfolio. You keep a record of all the work done?