If you have been following my review of different news and articles released on various freelance platforms, then you should know the kind of topics I love writing about. Not only do I pick freelance news, but I also select the most educative and exciting ones.
I have taken it upon myself never to betray my readers’ trust in my good taste in interesting picks. This time, I have some great stuff to share with you. They are current headlines you might have missed during the first two weeks of November.
I made $244,000 last Year As a Freelancer Using a Platform For Finding Tech Gigs — Here’s How
Source: Business Insider
This story is what comes to mind first because it’s based on a personal experience of a freelance product designer written on Business Insider. Olivier had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and I was encouraged to learn that he started his first business when he was 14 years old because he loved snowboarding and wanted to design his board. That passion blossomed into a flourishing international business called Organic Snowboards, as he shipped custom boards throughout different countries. When he was 20, he sold the company and engaged in the business of brand identity as a freelancer and full-time worker.
However, he badged a graphic design degree from a Visual College in Vancouver, British Columbia, revamped himself as a UI/UX designer, and worked as the senior graphic designer at Landyachtz from 2013 to 2015 but left the job in 2015 to work as a full-time freelancer. After using various sites like Freelancer.com, where he could only find minor jobs that didn’t pay well, Olivier got associated with guys at A.Team, a network of the world’s top designing, product and talent exhibitions.
I know this must have been a thorough application process, technical interviews and assessment. The reviewing process also noted outstanding personal records. He joined this network in July 2020 when it was still in confidential mode and hadn’t been launched when it was still a startup. This man was one of the primary developers they accepted into the organization. Then in 2021, his most memorable year in A.Team, where he made $244,000.
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Full-Time Employment is Way Too Rigid
Having a clear vision for where he wanted to take his career, he wasn’t ready to fully commit to freelancing full-time until he met a client, Rolodex and at least a year’s worth of savings to fall back on. With that wide range of capabilities, it is an unquestionable necessity in his profession. Therefore, he adopted a work hybrid approach and freelanced for a couple of years alongside a regular job at Landyachtz.
I believe you’ll agree with me if I say much of freelance work is word-of-mouth, meaning you must establish a reputation for yourself. Clients return to you if you do great work and people enjoy working with you. Unfortunately, employees are mostly the first line item cut during market downturns. Your full-time job is only as secure as the condition of the company you work for. In comparison, freelancing also allows you to determine the value of your time and skills.
Freelancers, How Do You Determine Your Price?
Source: Media Update
Assessing what your work is worth is most certainly not a simple thing to do and there are numerous things to consider while putting a cost on your services. As a result, as with any major decision, we must return to the fundamentals before making any major move. Don’t worry if you’re wondering, “What are the basics again?” Media Update is here to fill you in on the fundamentals.
Unique Selling Point
Your unique selling point focuses on any specialized skills, offerings or specific abilities that set you apart from the competition. This can include your personality, attitude to work, experience in a niche field, completion time, qualifications, and personalized services. What effect does this have on your pricing?
As a freelancer, your USP is an added value to your services and makes you stand out from the crowd, allowing you to charge more than your freelancers who offer the same service. it is important to consider how much your service is worth as you consider your novel selling points. It is also essential to consider whether you want to stand apart contrasted with your competitors but correspond to the standard of your services or the client’s affordability.
Pricing Strategy
After considering how the aforementioned factors influence how much you will charge clients, you must decide on a pricing strategy. Either you go for project-based pricing or hourly pricing. Whichever you want to go for is fine but I’ll advise you agree with the client before you start the work.
Target Market
Another important factor to consider when determining your price is your target market. Here is why. Knowing your target market will tell you how price sensitive they are. If you want to do freelance work for small businesses, for instance, this market is likely to be more price-sensitive than large businesses.
Fixed and Variable Cost
When creating a pricing plan, always consider your expenses so that you have some money left over after making all of the payments. These costs include electricity, rent, software subscriptions, insurance, taxes and the Internet. This will guarantee that you always benefit from your work and don’t just make ends meet.
Ping Raises $15M Seed Round to Expand Payment Platform For Freelancers and the Gig Economy
Source: Businesswire
The famous website Business Wire recently released news about a payment option for freelancers. Ping, the first global payment platform for freelancers and independent contractors which was created to address payment issues in Latin America is now a globally known solution for freelancers. It recently announced a $15 million seed funding round from Y-Combinator, Race Capital and Signum Capital, among others.
The platform empowers any individual, association or organization to create a free foreign account in US dollars and get international bank transfers, either in foreign currency or cryptocurrency. Ping has an amazing feature integrated into the platform. It is an invoicing system that allows you to send invoices directly to employers or clients.
Ping also allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. It has a desktop view and is available in both the Android and iOS app stores. A computerized platform that is the first of its sort for Latin America, and effectively resolves continuous instalment issues with a mission to advocate financial inclusion on a global scale.
Investing With The Fund
Ping takes pride in investing in projects led by successful visionaries and entrepreneurs. The funds will help Ping expand globally. Goat Capital, a partner among the fundraisers is excited to join Ping in its mission to provide an international payment solution for digital nomads. This amount of funds raised will be allotted toward the group and team extension hires for promotion and sales.
The funds will further propel and expand Ping’s platform to enable digital nomads from any part of the world to receive payment in dollars or crypto, wherever they are, and convert their salaries to local currency efficiently and cost-effectively. This is good news if I was asked to say my opinion. Freelancers can also decide to save by keeping the money received from their clients on the platform.
I Tried Fiverr For Two Months As a Cybersecurity Freelancer
Source: Taimur Cloud
I will like to share my opinion on this article I came across on Taimur Cloud. Quite understandable, passive income isn’t a great fit for everybody and some of the time, just a simple side hustle is everything necessary for some people to make some extra money. Many people suggested the freelance platform Fiverr as a possible option for earning extra cash as a cybersecurity expert. I make an effort not to recommend anything without giving it a shot first. So I decided to take a step to find out how far I could reach or whether getting on board with Fiverr or it is too late.
As I’ve said many times before, ignore the naysayers and always give something a shot if you believe you can succeed at it. This time, I took it seriously to complete all of the gigs I was permitted to undertake as a new seller. I took it upon myself not to underestimate my gigs by giving outright low costs. This is a typical mix-up a great number of freelancers make. If you underestimate yourself, then don’t anticipate that clients should pay you well for the services you are rendering.
I will say that Fiverr is a rich platform and making gigs is quite simple. After creating the gig, I reached out to my network for some initial reviews and social proofs for my first gigs, and a few clients were gracious enough to send me some work. After a while, some of my Fiverr gigs began to rank well, and I received a few new orders from clients. So, after two months, what are my conclusions?
My Recommendation after two months;
- Create an interesting gig that will convince any viewer that you actually know what you do
- Edit your gig if they are not getting any impression for too long
- Try to indicate that your potential client should contact you first before making an order
- Reasonably do the extra work when you get order. This will earn you the needed ratings and reviews.
- Add video to your gig, this will make you stand out
- Get the app installed and make sure you respond to clients almost immediately as Fiverr measures your response time.
54% of Freelancers Feel Pressured to Save for Retirement
Source: Digital Information World
I found this amazing analysis on Digital Information World which speaks to the different personalities of freelancers. Freelancing has presented another way for individuals to bring in cash that permits them to keep away from corporate positions and the entirety of their administration. Despite this, there are a few disadvantages to working in the independent space, for example, the absence of employment benefits which include retirement bank accounts and other attached benefits that they can get assuming they had gone for corporate jobs.
Analyzing Freelancers’ Variations to Work
I want you to know that the majority of freelancers, or 75%, believe they can save enough money for retirement if they work hard enough. 54% of them are certainly feeling a great deal of pressure and that may be because of the uncertain nature of freelancing which can accompany its reasonable part of droughts as well as periods where work would feel overwhelming.
While 3 in 4 people are confident that their ongoing project will help them achieve their retirement savings goal, 74% have changed their saving pattern. There has also been a significant shift in what freelancers are saving for after the pandemic, with 42% setting aside an adequate number of that they can take for mental wellness days without having to endure financial hit.
However, as people prefer the freelance way of life, only 37% are planning to set something aside for life assurance 43% like having the option to pick what projects they want to work on, 41% appreciate having the option to decide their schedule, and 40% prefer not to be controlled by anybody but instead going about as their own managers. My opinion about this is that freelance is the best work-life for people who know the rules.
Issues Freelancers Have To Deal With
There are a few inconveniences that freelancers need to manage in the course of their job as remote workers. 42% say that they struggle with making arrangements for vacations, since getting some much-needed rest will bring about them missing out on the cash they would have acquired on top of the spending that this would involve. 40% likewise disagreed with their clients some of the time not paying them in a convenient pattern, and 38% likewise referred to taking care of medical needs as an out-of-pocket expenditure.
