A bit confuse...

Hi Freelancers,

I felt so happy because finally I found how to work online. I went to a freelance site and get registered. The registration process is a bit confusing and working there is really confusing since I don't know much about Bidding and other terminology. Here we have to work on Bidding process. I don't know what is description and what is a BID. I have stopped my PTC work and started spending my time in these sites.

There are many works here in Freelance sites which I can do but the question is how to get started. Then I have read some articles about freelance working and gain some knowledge on how to start. There are many sites online which offers freelance career but we have to find the best sites.

Now I am having good knowledge on these websites. I have good idea on how to find and how to explore what ever I want. I have started my freelance career. At first I have placed bids on these sites which are even not get the response from the clients.

Freelancing career is an independent career. You are your own boss. You are everything to your company. It is completely in your hand how to set it up. You can work whenever you wants and choose what you want. If you have skills that are in demand, you can earn great income. So all we need to do is to enhance our skills.

In Freelancing, you won't get monthly salary. You will get contracts. The contract may be big or small, once it is made, you need to complete it. You will work yourself and money and not for any company. The only thing you need to consider about is your clients. They will give you projects. 

In Freelance websites, every day lot of jobs will be posted by clients. Clients need someone skilled to complete their work. You will go through the job posts and select those which you can do. You will place you bid. If the Client is interested in your bid, he will contact you. Once you both discussed on the contract, you will start working on it. You finish the job and you will be get paid by the client. It is that simple. It is a different kind of work environment and you are responsible for all your actions. 

You may be confused for payment methods. In Freelance websites they have a process called Escrow or Wallet to keep the contract amount. Once the Contract is made the client will transfer the amount to the Escrow or Wallet. Once you finish the work, the client will release the money. If any dispute occurs the money will stay in the Wallet till the dispute got cleared. Neither you not the client can take the money. In this way the freelance sites make sure that the freelancer get paid for their work. 

You may be in dilemma to work for a client since you don't know about him previously. There are Reviews options by which you can come to know about the Client and his payment history. During the contract you can schedule a meeting in Skype or Gtalk and shoot your questions. In any contract the main problems will be deadlines and quality. If you know the requirements clearly you can overcome these problems easily.

New Freelancers will have a common problem in initial stage. In order to get projects they blindly give unrealistic promises. During an interview impressing the client is important and I accept that. But promising which you can't do will definitely spoil your reviews. We should be realistic in setting deadlines and quality of work.

In many of the freelancing sites, you are not suppose to share your contact details directly to the clients. If you do so the account will be deactivated. The Freelance websites will work like a mediator between freelancers and clients. They will convey messages from Freelancers to Clients and vice versa. So use this medium and don't share your contact details directly to your clients. Once the deal is done you may be allowed to share the details. 

I will provide more details in my next posts on Freelancing terminology. Stay tuned.

Regards,
Freelancer