Starting a Freelancing Career

Hi Freelancers,

Most of the new Freelancers will be in confusion to start a freelancing career. In this post I have explained few points to get started.

First of all spend some time in Freelancing sites to complete your profile. It is important because when you place a bid on a project, the client will check your profile. The client will mainly check your reviews. Since new joiners won't have any reviews they have to concentrate on profile. 

You will have measures in Freelance websites to view your profile status. It will be helpful if you can complete the profile as per the measures. Enter all your Academic details and upload certificates if required. You should choose the fields you are interested like Translation, Web designing, Graphic Design etc.

Make sure that you provide correct Contact Details. Provide details like your email ID, mobile number, Skype ID etc. You should check your mails as frequent as possible. 

Portfolio is very important. It is nothing but the previous work you have done to show case. It will help in attracting clients. Choose the best in your work to show case. For example, if you are a Translator, you can upload a translated document. It will be great if you have a blog or web content link to show your work. Creating a blog is easy. I used to show my Wikipedia articles which I have translated in my portfolio. If you are graphic designer, you can upload the image files you have done. If you are a Video Editor, Create a Channel in YOUTUBE and upload your videos and paste the links in portfolio. You need to spend time while creating your portfolio as it will play major role in show case your skills.

Many of the portals conduct Tests in different fields. It will be really helpful if you can complete all tests relevant to your job profile. Getting a good score will help you. Most of Freelance sites provide Certificates for the Tests you have completed. You will have option to Display these Certificates in your profile. If you are looking for translation related jobs, just complete the language related tests. So whenever you have free time, go for the tests.

Cover Letter will play major role in winning projects. Once you find a post related to your profile, you have to place a bid. As I explained in my previous blogs, Placing a bid is a Crucial part in winning a project. Cover letter is a part of placing bid. Different Freelance sites have different names for this part. In this part you will have a Text box where you can write your comments. Bring your best out to write a good Cover letter. Especially freshers should be careful while writing a Cover letter. It should be simple but brief. Explain whatever you want to convey in simple paragraphs. 

In Cover Letter, you can explain how much you are interested in this project and the previous experience you have in that field. if possible leave links to your work. You can explain your availability. To create some interest you can ask questions relevant to the project. Asking questions will showcase your experience in this field (Only if you ask relevant questions). For example Translators can ask about font requirements and formats etc. 

All of the above points will play their part in bringing projects to your hand. The most important things is Positive Attitude and Patience. Not everyone can win projects in their first bid. It will take time to understand the competition and prepare yourself to that. Spend some time in Reading other's Cover letters before you start. It will help you in understanding the project. If not today, you will definitely get a project tomorrow. Patience and Attitude is all we required. Some Clients will reply you the reason why they didn't select you for the project. Make note of those things and don't repeat any mistakes.

Be Punctual in replying to clients. Clients may ask many questions regarding the project, your skills, deadlines and deliverable. Be quick and smart in resolving their queries. Many of the Freelancer portals have Interview option. If the Client is interested in your profile, he will call you for an Interview. Mostly they prefer Skype or Gtalk. Give your best to impress the clients. Be realistic in requesting for time to complete the project. Don't promise which is not possible to do. Ask questions and get more details on requirements.

Once you win a bid, the game is not finished. In fact it is just started. Try to meet your deadlines. Don't get irritated if the client is asking for status of the project repeatedly. Try to understand their situation as well. All you have to keep in mind that the Reviews you will get. I strongly believe that Reviews are more important than money. Reviews will bring more projects and hence more Money. Reviews works like a marketing team for your profile. Some clients will directly call the freelancers with good reviews to place bids on their project.

Keep these points in mind and go ahead and bid. All the best !!!!!!

Skill and Knowledge are money - SEO

Hi,

I have explored for quite a long time in Internet to know how to earn money online. It was discouraging initially, challenging after some time and encouraging at the end. The more options I found to make money, the more I grew interested to explore new. 

I believe  that Having a skill might not help you now but will help you some other time in your life". So learning these new skills is always a better practice. Apart from Video editing, Audio editing and Translation I have done some other projects as a freelancer in online. They paid me very less but I come to know their value in long run. 

I used to work as an assistant to an SEO during initial time. I don't know anything about SEO that time but I confidently posted my bid. My client took an interview and selected me. She taught me basics of SEO. However she paid very less comparatively what I am earning from Video work and Translation. I continued worked with my Client because of the advantages I learned from SEO. 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In simple words it is nothing but a process of promoting one website in search engine results. For example whenever you search for something online, you will type in Google or Bing search Engines. These Search Engines will bring the available results and you will click mostly on links available on first page or second page. Search Engine found hundreds of results, but it will arrange them in a ranking. The Upper rank one website has, the more business it will do. So Website Owners will depends on SEO to accomplish this task. SEO will do their work to bring a particular Website in Search Engine Ranking. 

Search Engine Optimization will be done in many ways. What I have learned from my client is through comments. I have learned this because I want to create a website or blog. Once I create my own website or blog I need this skill to improve traffic to my sites. 

All I wanted to say is Learn new skills online and you don't know when it will help you in future. Because after sometime I have started earning good money online. However I am not satisfied. When I look for other options, this SEO which paid me very less initially become handy now.

Exploring more options in Freelancing - Translation

Freelancing is one of the best income source in online as per my experience. There are many other sources but it is what given me the initial confidence to start. If you explore in Freelance sites you will find a lot of projects which can help us in making good money online. 

Even though my Video editing career is going well, I have started exploring other options in freelancing. Translation is one of the best option I have found. I have read about translation and explored on this work. 

I have explained in detail about Translation in my previous posts and provided links to tools which will be helpful for only Indian languages. You can find tools online for other languages. I suggest translation as a best freelancing Career if you are not confident about any specific skill. If you have good knowledge on any two languages you can be a translator. 

I have got my first translation project in ODESK. In Translation it is easy to get a project because Clients will test your skill with samples. My client have provided the sample work to me and I have done it well and got selected for this project. 

My first Translation project is to translate Web content of a well known online portal. I did well and completed the project. I have got best reviews and great feedback on my work. The initial feedback helped me a lot in next projects. I worked for him for quiet some time and started looking for other clients.

After getting good experience, I got quiet a good payments. Initially I used to translate 800 to 1500 words per day and as I am getting experience I easily translated 2500 to 4000 words per day. Later I got a call from a Translation Company and got selected. The experts in this company helped me a lot in enhancing my skill in Translation. After Six months I have left the job as I am not happy with Salary.

I started my Career again as a Freelancing Translator and I easily made 2 to 3 times more than my salary in that Translation company. I got expertise in different translation fields so easily gained good number of Clients. 

In Translation, the Clients will retain us if we can maintain good quality. I feel Translation is an Art of language. If you take it seriously, you can make a great career with it. 

I can say Translation have paid me better than Video Editing. This is may be my skill is limited in Video editing. However you can make Good money in any field you are skilled.

However in Translation you will be paid for what you have done. The more words you translate, the more money you can make. Continuously working with keyboard and sitting for hours have made me somewhat boring. So I have decided to start exploring for MORE MONEY.

Freelancing Paid me better

Hi There,

Its been a long time I have posted in this blog. During the initial time I have done quiet a good research and posted my experience in this blog. Later I have worked in Freelancing sites which have provided me a real job. I will explain what I done All these days.

I started working in Freelancing Websites which I have mentioned in my previous blogs. I struggled a bit at beginning and later I got good projects. Scriptlance (Freelancer.com) was the best place for me during that time and I got quiet a good projects. 

For some people, it is difficult to decide to select profession. Without a sound skill in that profession it is not easy to get a job in Freelancing world because our clients want to see our portfolio before they assign a job. So I have started with Video and Audio editing as it was a hobby for me during college days.

My first project is a Audio editing project where my client wanted me to edit some audio files. I am always so thankful to him because without any prior experience he has assigned that work to me. I hope the cover letter I have written to him might have impressed him. It took some time for me to write a Cover letter like that. Especially the new freelancers should practice on writing a good Cover letter. 

Using some free online audio editing tools I have completed the task and got my first MONEY. Unbelievable to me for getting dollars transferred into my Paypal Account. The good thing is I got good reviews from my client and one more Audio editing project. Finally money started coming into my account.

I practiced some new Video and Audio editing tools. I started applying to every Video and Audio editing project in Freelance sites and got good number of projects and money. I have worked for less dollars during initial time. As I mastered the Video editing tools, I have started Creating Videos. Now I started Charging more dollars for my work. I got good amount of money from Scriptlance (Freelancer.com) and ODesk.com for Video editing and Creation. 

I didn't observe that I got a good number of Client contacts in my Skype. We used to work directly instead of Freelance websites. I was busy with projects and getting new projects easily as my reviews are better.

The Video editing tools I have used are basic and limited my work and since I don't have proper training, I had some limitations in Video creation. However my Video editing career went very well during that time for small and medium budget projects.

Your First Job....

Hi Freelancers,

Now you are learning how to place bids. Since you are newbies, It takes time to understand the bidding process. Try to place more bids and communicate with more clients so you will not feel nervous. When I started my career as a freelancer, I haven't get responses from my clients. I have seen other users bidding styles and their descriptions. Then I have started in my own style.

Here I am going to tell you about my first job. I have placed a bid on translation project and got reply from my client. He has tested me and selected me. I have completed his job and received my first salary. The job is translating Wikipedia articles which is in English language to my native language. I have done good job. So he has given extra work and paid me. I am telling about translation now, because I don't want you to left some good opportunities. Translation is a good and easy job. If you like this job, you can carry on in this field. Other wise you can choose other jobs. I will tell you about the other jobs in detail in upcoming posts.

WHAT IS TRANSLATION?

Translation means converting some text from one language to another language without changing it's meaning. If you want to work as a translator, you must be know the following words.

1. Source language(text)
2. Target language(text)

1. Source Language: As a translator we have to convert text from one language to another language. The Text which we are converting is called Source Text and it's language is Source language.

2. Target Language: The language that it is translated into is called the target language.

For example If you are converting an article From English to Hindi language, Then English is Source language and Hindi is Target language. It is better if you have good knowledge on both languages.

Translation is an easy because we will definitely have good knowledge in our native language. All you need have good knowledge in English. Select your language pair and search for the jobs in that category. Language pair means the languages which you are translating from one language to another. For example..

English - Hindi
English - Chinese
Italian - French
Russian - Japanese
Greek - Turkish etc..

Now select your language pair. If you are from India, Select any language in which you have better knowledge. It is better to choose Native language. Native language means your mother tongue. For example if you know Hindi, select your language pair as English - Hindi, If you know Tamil your language pair will be English - Tamil and If you know Telugu well, select your language pair as English - Telugu. This is how to select your language pair.

HOW TO TRANSLATE?

I think You have selected your language pair. Now you have to know how to translate source language to target language. Now we have to know how to type different languages. We can type English. Do you know how to type other languages. Here we have to know the term UNICODE. Unicode helps us to type in our native language. It is different from typing softwares which will allow you to create text in your native language. So you have to download and Install Unicode in your computer.

To download Unicode for Indian languages, follow the link.
BARAHA
BARAHAUNICODE
BARAHA TRUE TYPE FONTS
Installing Windows keyboards for Indian languages

To know more about Unicode follow the link.
http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html

Install the unicode software in your PC and select your language. Now you can start typing in your native language. It is very easy to type using Unicode but you need to know some fundamentals. You can get all the help with the software. So you don't need worry about it.

This is the process of how to type in your native language. Practice some words and paras until you gain a good speed in typing. There are some words which are tough to type in your native language. If you find any problem, contact me.

Ok. That's the work you have to do to be eligible for translation. Now you have all the stuff to start work. Now let's find the translation work.

You can find the translation projects in the freelance sites but very few. There are some sites which will help you to find number of translation jobs which will match your language pair. You can register to these sites for free. Here is the list of language job sites..

1. TRANSLATIONDIRECTORY

2. TRANSLATORSBASE

3. PROZ

4. TRANSLATORPLANET

Create an account in these sites and search for the jobs which will match your Language pair. You can more than $100 per month. Translate two small articles and use them as sample works. It is all about translation. If you have any queries, Leave a comment.

How To Place A BID.....

Hi, Now you are going to learn the most important thing in freelancing career. It is Bidding. It is very important and easy thing that every freelancer should learn. Without placing a bid you can't get a job. So must learn how to place bid.

In freelancing method, Clients posts jobs specifying their requirement. Freelancers will be alerted by the freelance site about the project if he chooses the job type while he is setting up his profile. The freelance sites sends only the job posting related to our selected job type. If we find a project which we can do, we have to place bid.

Here is the process of how to place a bid. Let's go to your freelance site. Browse the projects. Select any project you are capable to do. Before placing the bid please read the description again and again until you understand what the client's requirement. If you have any doubts on the project, you can contact your client through message board. Almost every freelance site have this message board facility. Clarify all your doubts with your client. Try to ask more questions and try to tell him you have understand his requirement clearly. If you have no questions about the project, you can place your bid.

Click on the "PLACE BID" tab. In every freelancer site the process is almost like the same except some options. In some sites you can see "BID ON THIS PROJECT" or "APPLY" tabs instead of "PLACE BID" tab. After clicking on it, you will be taken to the bidding page. Here the normal options will be
1. The money you want to complete the project
2. The time you need to complete the project
3. The bid description( A message to client)

Some freelance sites will offer you paid through escrow or not at the time of bidding. You can select UPFRONT payment. Upfront payment means money you want in escrow before starting the work.

Now enter the details in the fields and submit the form. It is an easy process to place a bid.

It's the time to start....

There are many types of jobs available in freelance sites. You can select any one of the job and place your bid. There is a huge demand for Web designers, Programmers, Graphic designers, Writers and many more categories. If you are a Professional designer or programmer you can more than 1000$ per month. Not only these jobs, There are many other job types. You will know clearly most common jobs you can online in future posts.

If you don't have knowledge on designing and programming, You can start your career as an Online writer or Data entry worker. Every day 100's of jobs are posted in freelance sites for Online writers and Data entry workers. The other common jobs we can see online Search Engine Optimization, Transcription, Translation, Video uploading, Logo Design, System Administration, BPO and so on.

The major Jobs available are Programming and Designing. In programming category clients are looking for the providers who have good skills in .NET, Java, C, C++, C#, PHP, HTML, Perl etc. In designing category, 3D designing, Flash, Illustration, Photoshop, Maya, Banner designing, Logo Designing, Video editing, Audio editing having good number of jobs every day.

Whatever category you choose you must have good portfolio to convince your client. The new freelancers are also getting number of every day. It depends on your skills and your communication with the client. So lets start bidding....