career Archives – Freelancelifemagazine

3 things that help remote workers build strong careers

Freelance Team — Tue, 24 May 2022 14:08:19 +0000

Every person is trying their best to build the strong career they would love and enjoy, but freelancers and remote workers are definitely the most interested in that due to the increased interest of everyone to become a freelancer.

And although there may be some tips and tricks that can help you improve your business in the short-term, like tools, Amy Blaschka claims that these are her “power trifecta”:

Many remote workers still lack clarity

A freelancer that is not progressing professionally despite the effort they put into the work probably lacks clarity. Clarity is the key to achieving all career goals. In today’s messy world, it’s easy to lose focus and get distracted. For freelancers, it’s crucial that they create a working schedule, as well as have their own place where they’ll work. Completing tasks from the kitchen, children’s room, and dining room may sound like a freelancing option, yet it will easily lead to lost distraction.

Freelancers should try to be as consistent as possible

Freelancers can also easily lose themselves in the amount of work. Some will work too much, for quite a while, and then lose even their regular clients because they will experience burnout. Others will do very little because that would bring enough money, yet they will, with time, lose the consistency of work and won’t build new skills.

It’s important that the freelancer finds and accepts the proper amount of work which leads to consistency, but also doesn’t bring burnout.

Freelancers all around the globe claim that discipline is the key to success

Wake up at 12 p.m. wondering if you’ll have enough time to complete all those projects before the deadlines arrive? Freelancers can easily get distracted and lose discipline since they work from home and in a relaxing environment. Creating your own schedule sounds like a perfect idea that will with time bring success and build a strong freelance career.

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The importance of constant learning for freelancers

Dragana Drobnjak — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:52:15 +0000

How to be a successful freelancer in a constantly changing world? It’s possible but building a strong and successful remote career definitely requires constant learning. In this article, we will look at everything you should focus on if you want to have a lifelong freelance career.

The urge to adapt to unexpected changes

There’s a constant need for freelancers to adapt to new changes. It doesn’t matter if those changes come from one of your remote contracts, or they are a result of the world’s changing economy – there’s that urge to adapt to every change that happens. Freelancers should be open-minded and never rigid. Events that happen all around our globe can affect your business. Just remember what happened with the pandemic – more and more people started changing their careers and became freelancers. What does that mean for you if you already had a successful freelance career? Well, that may bring more competitors to the market, which means that you should provide quality work or even better – improve your knowledge and skills to offer more and stand out from the crowd.

The good thing about remote work, and at the same time – the difficulty of freelance business is that it’s an always growing market. That means, there will be new opportunities, but there will also always be new and better workers.

Keep up with the latest online business trends

Let’s say that you are a web developer. What can you do to keep up with the latest online business trends? Some developers will swear by knowledge related to HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, but others will focus on the market’s needs. You’ve probably realized that more and more customers want to build websites that don’t require a lot of time, energy, and above all – money. For web developers that are trying their best to fit market’s needs, a great piece of advice would be to learn WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix. This way, you’ll be able to complete a task in an easier manner, yet to fit the client’s budget. And although a freelance web developer may earn a little bit less money this way, they’ll still have a lot of time left to work on other projects, which leads us to increased market, more clients and customers, new skills learned, and a better position in the freelance world.

Another example can be related to video creation. Here we have an opposite example – video creation requires more money, energy, and time to promote a business, yet there’s no better way to promote yourself or your online brand. The entire point would be to increase competitiveness!

Offering new skills to old customers – build trust

Every freelancer is hoping to build a long-term contract with clients. What that offers to remote workers is a stable source of income and confidence. But, to build trust and long-term relationships with different clients, there’s always a need to learn something new and offer new skills. Let’s say that you are a writer. If you write for a certain client for years, why wouldn’t you go level up and learn SEO techniques? You can also focus on popular tools and platforms for building websites, such as WordPress that we have already mentioned. If you write, know SEO and WordPress basics, you’ll not only raise your hourly rate but also be sure that long-term relationships with clients will last – you’ll get new tasks. Freelance professionals all around the globe also claim that customer service is a key skill for any business, so learn at least the basics of it.

Life costs are growing

Everything we’ve mentioned so far was related to the needs of the freelance market. Here, we want to talk about freelancers’ problems. Of course, it’s no secret that personal life costs may be growing with time. A freelancer may move to another country, decide to buy a new home, get married, have children, or whatever we may think of. All that means that the living costs will be constantly growing, and the solution is – offering new skills and knowledge. Don’t forget to take a look at the next facts that may improve your online business.

Learn how to negotiate

Learning how to negotiate in an online market is of crucial importance. A freelancer may have a lot of skills and knowledge, yet if they don’t know how to make a proper contract with a client, everything may fail. The best advice would be not to rush to get the highest price for your work but to truly negotiate. Think about what you get from a certain contract – most often, you’ll realize that there are more important things than the budget. If the client is not too strict with its rules, if they can offer more work and will be there for the long term – try to fit their budget. Yet, if you work with someone who has a lot of requirements, you don’t find friendly, or is not there for a long stay – focus on the quality of your work and try to finish the project as soon as possible. This way, you’ll be able to raise your rate, but also to get great feedback that will speak for itself.

Protect your online business

From time to time, every freelancer experience fraud. It may happen that someone decides not to pay you for your work, but it may also happen that someone disappears with your work. Learn how to protect your online business – don’t start anything without a proper contract. Most freelance platforms offer protection, so never start a contract outside of the freelance platform. If you do that, you’ll not only risk being a victim of online fraud, but you may also get banned from a platform because you crossed their rules.

*Bonus advice – While we’re talking about freelance platforms and websites, let’s do a quick reminder – the importance of constant learning for freelancers may also be related to exploring new job opportunities and representing yourself in new online places. Explore all platforms that exist online and offer new and constant work to freelancers. Don’t stick to just one freelancing platform and expect that your business constantly grows.

Overcome your fears and insecurities

It may sound surprising, but many freelance and online workers have some sort of communication insecurities. Don’t like talking on the phone? What about camera meetings with teams and clients? If you have some of these fears and insecurities, which include speaking with others, try to work on overcoming them. Why? Because the future of remote work will definitely include online meetings. Practice alone, until you become confident about it.

Technology is also constantly changing and improving, so be sure that you stay in touch with the newest technological achievements. It’s important that every freelance worker knows how to use tools for project managing, communication, and online meeting platforms.

Sources and places where freelancers can get important knowledge and always find new job opportunities would be:

–Udemy. A great place to improve your freelancer’s skills and learn something new with online courses.

–Linkedin. This social media platform doesn’t only offer chances to meet new clients and team members but is also a place where every online worker can find interesting courses.

–Skillshare. Yet another place for freelancers to improve their abilities and raise the chances of being hired for a new position.

-The Freelancer’s Bible. A great book that has countless important information, advice, and tips for every freelancer and a freelancer to be.

–UpWork blog. One of the favorite freelance platforms also has a blog that offers interesting news in the remote business, as well as helps freelancers solve different problems.

–Fiverr blog. The second favorite platform where freelancers worldwide successfully build their careers. Discover their blog for more information!

–Freelancer.com blog. Probably the third favorite platform for all remote workers. Get started, build your career, and solve any issue on that path with Freelancer’s blog and community.

And, of course, the entire Internet may be a great source to learn new skills, either through online courses, blogs, video tutorials, or e-books. The choice is up to you.

Besides everything that we have mentioned, it’s also a good idea to remind freelancers that they team up with other remote workers. You can either create your own team of remote professionals that will offer freelance services to clients, or you can work with others from time to time.

As you can see, there are numerous ways to increase your chances of success in the freelance business world.

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James Aquino – freelancing is freedom to live the life you want

Nebojsa Dolovacki — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 14:03:09 +0000

We live in a time when more and more professionals around the world are starting to live a freelance lifestyle. We can say that many look at freelancing as their future, especially when they see some of the success stories. Some of them are completely dedicated to freelancing, while others do it in addition to their regular work. One of them is James Aquino, top rated freelancer on UpWork.

James grew up in the Philippines and completed a bachelor’s degree in Nursing, has been happily married for more than a decade and blessed with two daughters. He has several part-time jobs online, all of them through UpWork, work as a freelance writer, copyeditor, and social media manager. James also supporting numerous projects overseas, including Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Libya.

So, what were the reasons to start freelancing?

I started freelancing out of curiosity. I registered in oDesk (now UpWork) in 2008 just because I got interested and curious about how online jobs work. At that time, I was only familiar with traditional types of work that require you to be physically working in an office. While I started my freelancing journey in 2008, it was only in the late 2014 that I aggressively pursued it as a career. I never looked back since, and I believe it is one of my best life decisions ever.

How did you learn to be a freelancer? Did you have help, or did you research it yourself and where?

Freelancing itself is still not completely embraced and understood. I believe the concept of remote work was only highlighted by the pandemic, and I love that more people are appreciating this type of work setup. In the past, the main misconception about freelancing and remote work is that we are just sitting in front of our computers and typing stuff. Now, people are discovering that freelancing is much more than that.

I love to write, and this is a skill I learned to improve through the years until it became my primary skill as a freelancer. When I was starting out, it was a bit of a challenge because resources back then are not as abundant as what we have now. Years ago, you need to find the resources yourself, and you should have the initiative to do it because no one will do it for you. So, what I did is to surf the internet for courses on writing and proper negotiation with clients, and those small steps turned into bigger leaps into what I am today.

Have you tried working on different platforms?

I tried onlinejobs.ph, Indeed, and even LinkedIn, but for me, the leverage and dynamics I found in UpWork is unmatched. I think they have found the perfect recipe to make things work in the world of freelancing.

What are the advantages of working on UpWork?

I can go on and on about the advantages of working on UpWork for the number of years I’ve been in the platform. However, the three main advantages of UpWork compared to other freelancing platforms are security, legitimacy, and exceptional freelancer experience.

There is security in terms of guarantee that your efforts will be paid based on the prevailing company policies. While I consider UpWork to be platform that is not perfect as there are still some clients who are problematic or fraudulent, the incidence is way fewer than those in other platforms. There is this great sense of security that the money you worked hard for will be properly processed and transmitted to you.

Legitimacy is one of UpWork’s strongest selling points. Being one of the first freelancing platforms, it continues to prove itself as one of the best freelancing platforms out there.

Experience has and always been amazing, from customer service to community discussions, to updates. In fact, I was able to share my knowledge and expertise when I was invited to do a speaking engagement for UpWork last June 2021 held online. I was able to talk about my experience and what can be done beyond your successful freelance journey.

What are the biggest benefits of a freelance lifestyle for you?

Definitely the freedom to live the life you want. As someone maintaining both an office job and freelance work at the same time, I feel more secure and confident about my freelance lifestyle. That’s why I already considered to dropping my “day job” back in 2019. The freedom and flexibility to work anywhere is an amazing and life-changing experience. Therefore I encourage others to give it a shot, even just for once.

And what are the disadvantages?

While I don’t directly consider this a disadvantage, the freelancing lifestyle requires considerable commitment and discipline to make things work. In a traditional office setup, your mind is programmed to do just that – work. When you have the freedom to work at your own pace, at the comfort of your own home, it will be challenging because all the distractions are there – from television, internet, to food, and of course, the bed.

Freelancing is not for everyone, but everyone is free to try. What you make out of this journey will help you understand what you really want in the future.

James Aquino

If you compare regular work with freelance, what are the advantages and disadvantages of regular work compared to freelance work?

I guess the only advantage of regular work compared to freelance work, at least in the Philippines, would be the government-imposed benefits (which are deducted from your salary) and other company-provided benefits like health insurance. When you are a freelancer, you need to mind these requirements on your own. Being a freelancer, you are your best employee, your own manager, and PR. No one will do it on your behalf – just you.

As for disadvantage, I have seen better career and fulfillment growth in the freelancing landscape than office work. There are also grave incidences of office politics, something that rarely occurs in freelancing based on my experience. One funny disadvantage as well is that I tend to spend less on food being a freelancer compared to being an office employee even when I work remotely and sometimes visit coffee shops from time to time. Perhaps this is due to the fact that my spending is not influenced by co-workers who are with me physically whenever I am in the office.

You do multiple jobs at the same time, how do you manage to get organized? Is your day long enough for all your obligations?

I get this question a lot. I believe it is all about the mindset to get things organized and done. If you will look at it from afar, it can be an overwhelming view. However, when you divide things into smaller, more manageable tasks, it is definitely doable. By the time of this writing, I have a 6-hour-a-day office job, five part-time projects in Upwork, and still able to go to bed by 11:00 p.m.

You live in the Philippines. Are there any special challenges or interesting facts about freelancing from your country?

I believe the Philippines is one of the largest countries in Upwork in terms of freelancer population and is consistently in the top ten countries with the greatest number of freelancers overall. Filipino freelancers have managed to adapt and be competitive in taking advantage of opportunities outside their comfort zone.

I think the special challenge for Filipino freelancers is still acceptance, though the pandemic really gave the freelancing landscape a boost. The years 2020 and 2021 gave the world a great overview of how the system works, and I do hope that more Filipinos embrace or at least understand this even more. I want more people to break the stereotype that freelancing is not an “actual career.”

Do you think there are universal rules for success, or every person and every success is a different story?

I always ask my friends and starting freelancers this question: Do you think you will be successful?

How they respond is my personal yardstick on whether or not they will succeed. If it is a solid, confident yes, then I believe they will. Their mind will exhaust all effort to make things happen. If the answer is unsure or given with reluctance, then we might have a problem because the foundation of success is believing that you can.

Not every journey is the same, but we all have our own share of beginnings and one beautiful milestone – success. I called it a milestone because it should not be the end goal, it should be a beautiful chapter worth pursuing for more chapters ahead.

Some freelancers claim that there is a part of their work that is particularly exhausting for them. For some it is bookkeeping, for others it is communication, or constant bidding … Is there a part of freelance life that is especially difficult for you?

Being a writer, sometimes the exhausting part is the time when creative juices run dry, especially when writing jobs are piling up. However, I always consider this as normal and something I must deal with it occasionally.

Are you planning to continue working as a freelancer?

Until I am old and gray. Even when I retire from my office job, I will still continue doing freelance work for at least two more decades, working comfortably at home together with my family.

If you had a full-time job as a freelancer, would you consider quitting your regular jobs? Or having a regular job provides irreplaceable security?

I already considered this in 2019, then the pandemic happened. This was the reason why I have decided to keep my office job as there is a possibility of a real global crisis, which means I need to keep my cash flow and resources running to prepare for the inevitable. A regular job indeed offers security, but you can use this security as a steppingstone and safety net while setting up for a freelancing career.

My best advice is this – if you want to try freelancing, don’t abandon your regular work. Test the waters, accept part-time jobs so you can understand the process, and then engage into bigger projects. Gently uproot yourself from regular work because this is the best approach without hurting your finances, especially when you are a breadwinner. Your goals should scare and excite you at the same time.

What would be your advice to those who are just starting freelance?

Enjoy the challenges, prepare to have thick skin because not everyone will understand you, keep a good heart, and be grateful. Freelancing is not for everyone, but everyone is free to try. What you make out of this journey will help you understand what you really want in the future.

Freelancing is not an easy journey to take, because if it were, then everyone should be doing it by now. It takes discipline, commitment, and openness to learn new things to equip yourself for new chapters. But trust me on this one: You are one step away from a decision that will give you a shot towards a better life.

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Freelance success stories – hard work, passion, and dedication that payback

Stanislava Tsvetanova — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 12:38:39 +0000

When you are just starting freelancing, it is truly inspiring to read stories of other successful freelancers. It is beneficial to learn from their experience and see what successful strategies they used and how you can apply them in your budding freelance career.

In all the freelancer’s success stories, you will see a common thread: hard work and dedication. And also, there is a lot of passion and love for what they do. This provides the drive to go on and never give up. You pursue your goals regardless of the obstacles and difficulties that arise!

Also, you can source ideas and motivation from their experiences and mindset that you can adapt to taste the magic of the freelancer lifestyle yourself.

Emilina Lomas – a 27-year-old freelance writer earning $10.000 per month

Emilina Lomas was only 23 when she decided to leave her corporate 9-to-5 job to pursue a freelance career. She decided to pursue her passion, and so, the first thing she did, was to get certified as a personal trainer with a degree in nutrition.

Then, she noticed the increasing growth of fitness and wellness Instagram accounts, so she started regularly posting fitness-related photos with her diet and exercise advice in captions.

Half a year from then, her followers grew to up to 10 000. It didn’t take long that gyms and fitness influencers started reaching out to her to help them with Instagram captions and blog posts. So she decided to start advertising her skills on platforms like Fiverr. By 2019, two years after quitting her office job, she earned $10 000 per month from her freelance writing.

Here are some valuable tips that have helped her along her way to freelance success:

Stand out from the crowd – show the effectiveness of your work in action. In her case, it had a thriving Instagram account.
Put attention and care into each project – make sure your style and tone match each client.
Introduce yourself in a video that is short, informative, and with a professional quality
Keep your rates low until you have good reviews.
Build your credentials – degrees, certifications, and other recognitions of past projects will make you stand out.
Always be respectful with clients – as a freelancer, you can deal with celebrities and other influential people, so always show respect and recognition.
Always be professional. Double-check your messages and emails for lousy grammar. Reply promptly, and always under promise and overdeliver.
Respect yourself – if someone uses disrespectful language straight from the beginning, chances are he is not a good match.

Kelly Vaughn quit her government job to become a successful freelance web designer.

Kelly Vaughn from Atlanta, USA, worked at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, but she was unhappy with the job’s lack of freedom.

Since she was a teenager, she had a passion for coding and building websites, and she kept this as a side hustle. Her colleagues at the CDC told her that there was a spark in her eyes when she talked about websites. She should pursue this career full-time, they said.

This is what she did. She started by building WordPress sites for small businesses. Later, she decided to take on more complex projects – like Shopify eCommerce sites, that enabled her to grow and learn new things in her field.

When she became more experienced with eCommerce, she shifted her focus to Shopify sites exclusively. She became an expert, and now her biggest challenge is which projects to accept to do herself, which to outsource and which to turn off completely. That many inquiries she has!

To complement her role of website builder, she started managing a small team of professionals – as graphic designers and other developers.

She describes the qualities and factors that determined her success as a freelancer:

Be prepared to go against the grain – as a woman in a field dominated by men, she needed to brace herself to face the gender gap. Now she is helping create a community that supports other women who choose coding as her career path.
Choose to work only with good clients – a business plan that is ready to invest money in a successful product that will give them fast results.
Stick to high standards for yourself, your clients, and your collaborators. Select your future clients with care and qualify them according to criteria that you decide ahead of time.
Before you leave your office job – you need to build a solid confidence and client base – this means to use most of your free time to work on side projects. This period can extend from 6 months. It is worth the effort!
Take advantage of co-working spaces – there, you will meet other professionals, have a chance to network, and make connections that will lead to more work.

Seek help when needed – if your business is successful, you will soon have more projects to work on than time to complete them. You may ask for the collaboration of other freelancers and outsource some of the projects.

David Nuff – living his best freelancing life as a Toptal digital designer

David Nuff has been freelancing for more than a decade. His field of expertise is digital products, branding, and art, and he has worked for some renowned brands like Cisco, Nestlé, and Google.

He shared that the flexibility the freelancing work offers adds more quality to his life and fulfills his true potential. When he has the freelancer’s freedom, he feels much more creative, and his work’s quality raises exponentially.

David grew up in an open-minded family, his father was working for a multinational company, and every two to three years, he moved location. This gave David a vision of the broadness of possibilities the world has to offer. Thanks to his parents, he could cultivate the interests of arts and computer technology and merge them from an early age.

Background in computer science defined his approach to being a digital designer. That allowed him to communicate with engineers and developers and bring the creativity and visual expression needed in digital design.

First project as a freelance designer which he got, was for a bike-sharing company. That gave him recognition – in a time he still had no portfolio. Since he did a fantastic job there, soon he was working with some of the best companies in Silicon Valley while traveling the world.

David highly values the “location independent” aspect of freelancing and says it contributes enormously to the quality of his work and the spike of creativity he has experienced.

Here is his advice for being a successful freelancer:

Focus on building good relationships – as you are not working in a shared space. Try to communicate as often as possible and establish good interpersonal relationships with them. This is an excellent foundation to build towards a joint mission and goal!
Prepare a marathon and not a sprint! Freelancing is not a race, so being consistent and regular in your work and routine will allow you to see the results and have a solid foundation.
Invest in doing excellent work – this will make you get hired again. Rather than finishing a project quickly, think about how to spend it excellently. The client will be satisfied with the result, and you can show the project to companies that have similar needs.

Freelancing has become a successful lifestyle for a growing community of remote workers worldwide! If you are starting your career, make sure you get inspiration from successful freelancers’ stories and life experiences – and meet some of them in co-working spaces in your area! Also, read some useful tips on how to get a job as a freelancer and stay motivated. If you are already reaping the fruits of freelancing success – share your story with us so you can inspire others!

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5 Golden Rules for Managing Customer Expectations as a Freelancer

Stanislava Tsvetanova — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 14:50:00 +0000

When as a freelancer you are at the dawn of your career, sometimes there is the temptation to agree with every request of the client. Maybe it has been a hard-to-find client and you are just starting your business with little experience, so you want to make the client happy. However, saying “yes” might not always be a good strategy.

On the other hand, setting clear boundaries and establishing reasonable expectations will be a solid foundation for a long-lasting relationship with your client. Wisely managing clients’ expectations is an excellent freelance self-care tip to add to your routine as it will alleviate the stress out of your life and make working with clients more pleasurable! And remember, as a freelancer, you always have the option to exceed your customer’s expectations and amaze them with the results!

This article will examine how to efficiently manage and exceed client`s expectations as a freelancer and make your relationship with your clients happy and balanced.

1. Educate your freelance clients

A client that hires you for a specific task has the reasonable expectation that he has found an expert! You should know your thing. If he could do this on his own, he would never reach for your help! You have positioned yourself as an expert in your field. So, you know that clients are often not acquainted that much with your industry and its subtleties – you need to educate them on the essential details relevant to your project.

Thus, they will gain insight into the process and the expected outcome and the timetable that is set ahead of the two of you. Have an onboarding session where you explain clearly what processes the project involves. As an expert in your field, you do not allow the client to dictate the pace or the tempo of this dance, but you skillfully take the lead – towards your common goal. Gently, yet firmly, staying positive and clear all the time.

You won’t seem bossy. On the contrary, you will establish respect towards your persona and educate him about what they can expect, which will build a strong client relationship in the long run.

How to educate your client:

Have an onboarding session where you explain all the details
Get clear about the process and the deadlines
Let him know the results that can be expected
Affirm your position as an expert in your field

2. Agree on the communication channel and timing

Some clients can be very anxious about the progress of the project. Especially if they are investing much and they are expecting fast results. However, you should make it clear in advance what your working schedule is and when and how they will be getting updates.

It is not ok to make yourself available at any part of the day, and any day of the week. Have an honest look at your agenda and your other projects and commitments and schedule the intervals during which you will either give updates or be available for a call or a short meeting.

Make clear to your client which communication channel to use, especially if you have several options. They can either send you an email, a chat message, or a call. Having only one main communication channel for the project will avoid losing information and time, which will increase your effectiveness and reduce stress.

Establish the communication parameters:

Get clear on the communication channel: call, chat, or email
Let the client know when you can be giving updates on the project

3. Over-communicate, never assume!

Another expectation of customers is based on communication. The clients communicate their needs and concerns to you, asking for a specific service or freelance product. It is vital that clients and freelancers have excellent communication. This will define well what the final outcome of the collaboration will look like. Sometimes such communication fails to take place, and clients and freelancers proceed to work based on assumptions. Well, this is a recipe for disaster!

First of all, communicate the terms and conditions of your job. It is good to put them in written and signed by both parties. This can avoid huge misunderstandings in the future. Make sure they include the expected payment for your job and the payment method. It is good to be clear about the deadline too!

You also need to communicate with your client about the process of the project and after the completion of each stage, if there are such. In this way, the client has an idea of what is going on, and if there are adjustments to the route, it will be less time-consuming to have to tackle a single stage, than the whole project!

In a nutshell: It is better to over-communicate with a client, rather than assume what he wants or what you think is best for him. This will save you a lot of time and effort in having to make changes and adjustments to your work later on.

Better to over-communicate than to assume:

Communicate with the clients every doubt or uncertainty you have
Never assume what the clients would like, better ask them!
Communicate timely any delays or unforeseen events

4. Build trust As a Freelancer

Another reasonable customer expectation can be summarized by the term: Trust. In short, the client is sharing with you part of his life or business and has the rightful expectation that you use this for the purpose of your mutual collaboration only.

Otherwise, the results might be catastrophic, both for your freelancing career or for the client’s business. So, make it clear from the beginning by showing willingness to sign an NDA or Nondisclosure agreement, and sticking to it faithfully. Never compromise on this part. Make sure your computer and other devices you use for your projects are secure and protected.

You want to make trust a priority in the relationship with your clients. It has many facets. One discussed above is about keeping the data privacy and never misuse their data or information in any way. Another one is working on the project in an honest and diligent way. You can also build trust by abiding by the terms and conditions on which you agreed and let the client know right away if you cannot meet a deadline or a requirement due to an unforeseen circumstance.

These principles will build you a good reputation as a trustworthy person and freelancer.

Ways to build trust as a freelancer:

Never misuse clients’ information in any way
Stick to the terms of your contract and communicate immediately if something stops you from abiding by any point.
Work on the project diligently thinking of the clients` well-being and that of their business.

5. Do not over-commit, over-deliver!

Caught into the enthusiasm of closing a new client, some freelancers tend to promise more than they can deliver. Be realistic with your capacities as a freelancer, your speed of work, and the process that the project involves. Set a reasonable time frame that is larger than what you usually can handle. This way you have some extra margin of time for unforeseen circumstances.

Be conscious of where your limits lie. What lies beyond could damage the quality of the job you do. Think: it is better to surprise your customer by finishing your work earlier and with a better outcome than to rush the job, get stressed, and be late with the deadline.

Explain this to your clients frankly and present your schedule and your plan of the process. It is almost sure they will appreciate your honesty, and they would prefer to keep the quality over the speed.

Do not over-commit:

Give yourself more than enough time for the project
Allow time for unforeseen events
Clearly explain your process and time management schedule
Make the client see that rushing the project will affect the quality

Over-deliver: Exceed your Customers expectations!

As a freelancer, you reduce stress by setting reasonable boundaries and expectations. However, if you have the chance, never miss an opportunity to “Wow” your clients. Here is how you can do that:

Be a good listener – listen to each and every tiny element of their requirements and try to get really deep into their needs and the needs of their clients. It will help you to provide an excellent service!
Deliver before time – after you have given yourself enough time to complete the project, you can delight your clients by delivering before the deadline. This is one of the things that really make a good impression!
Add value to your work with a “bonus” – if you surprise them by walking an extra mile for the project, this will make your collaboration memorable and set the foundation for future projects together.

“Wow” you clients as you over-deliver:

Be an excellent listener!
Understand clients` needs and personalize your job to them!
Deliver before the deadline, whenever possible.
Award your clients an unexpected bonus by walking the extra mile!

As a freelancer, working with multiple clients at a time, single-handedly, can be a real challenge. But by learning the essential and vital skill of managing clients’ expectations firmly and wisely, you can have a happier working life and relationships, and eventually, you even learn how to create “Wow” moments for your clients!

The post 5 Golden Rules for Managing Customer Expectations as a Freelancer appeared first on Freelancelifemagazine.

Is Freelancing Viable Career Path?

Mislav Jakovac — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 12:33:55 +0000

The job of the future?

If somebody had asked you a few years ago if freelancing is a viable career path you would probably say that they are out of their mind. Maybe at that time you wouldn`t even know what freelancing is. And I would not blame you. In the past freelancing was pretty much just a small niche career option that only a few people have chosen.

But all of that changed with the exponential growth of internet networks and users. The COVID-19 pandemic only contributed to the increase in the number of people working from home and accelerated the trend of increasing the number of freelancers. The Intuit 2020 Report, published in 2011, predicted that more than 40 percent of the U.S. workforce would-be freelancers, contractors, and temp workers by 2020. According to them 80 percent of large corporations plan to significantly increase the use of flexible workforce.

Becoming a freelancer can be challenging for some, especially if you don`t have any experience. So experience is a must, especially in the field that you are interested to work in as a freelancer. Other two things that you need is a computer and internet connection. All of that probably sounds appealing if you have some experience in this area. Working from home, having your own working hours, working when and where you want. Heck, you can work from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection. But now comes the important question. Is freelancing a viable career path? Can you really make a living by just working as a freelancer? And should you try your luck by starting your own freelancing career? And is it really the job of the future? Well, let`s find out.

Should you be worried?

Freelancing on the paper sounds all nice and dandy, but is that really a case? Naturally, there are really a lot of benefits that come with being a freelancer. But there are also some negatives that could impact your freelancing career. And of the most common is not getting paid by the employer.

If you know somebody that works or had worked as a freelancer, then you have probably heard stories about how they got scammed by their employers. There are some shady people in the freelancing job sphere, but luckily they are just a minority. Most of them will promise you a big payment for just a little bit of work. And if you are a novice in this field, then you will probably accept the job and feel happy that you need to do the only a small amount of work for a decent payment. Bust more often than not, job offers that sound too good to be true are just that. Too good to be true, or on the other hand, it is a scam that is just waiting for a poor novice freelancer to get caught on it.

Another problem is that there is a high chance that you probably won’t get a steady and long-lasting job. More often you will get the one-time-jobs or ones that will last few months or so.

After all of this, you might think that freelancing career is just too risky to get into. But I can say with big confidence that that is just not the case. And this is why.

Freelancing is a viable career path

And why is that? Well first, there are more and more freelance jobs on the market. More than ever before. There are also a lot of respectable freelancing websites that connect freelancers with the potential employers. Also, those sites provide the safest way to get paid for the work that you have done. And they usually have a scoring system in which you can give a grade to your employer, and they can do the same to you.

Does that sound appealing to you? Yes? Then listen up. If you get a lot of good grades for the work that you have done for your employers, then your freelancing career can only move forward in upworth direction. Not only that you will get a lot of work, but people send you offers for your services because they will know that they will get only the finest quality of work by employing you. And the best thing is that you will be able to choose what jobs you should accept and which are just not a good choice for you. Probably because of the low payment or uninteresting topics. In a way, you will become your own boss. If you reach that point in your freelancing career then only sky is the limit.

You should give it a go

If you are still not sold on an idea then listen up. You can just try it, it is free. There is nothing that you could lose. Even if you don`t end up making it in the freelancing job scene at least you have tried. But if freelancing just clicks for you, then you have a viable job opportunity that could change your life as you know it. And if you have any of the skills in demand, you should definitely try a freelance career.

Here are 5 questions to help you discover whether a freelancing career is for you:

1. Can you work independently?
2. Do you have self-confidence?
3. Are you a good communicator?
4. Are you good at time management?
5. Do you have a required skill?

If the answer to these questions is “yes,” freelancing can be a career for you.

What is your experience?

Do you agree with us? Did we get something wrong? Write it down in the comments below. We would love to hear your thoughts. Until the next time.

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