October 18, 2022
Effective Freelancing in 2022: Skills, Demands, Opportunities Everything with Pros and Cons
Freelancing means doing specific work for clients without being bound to full-time employment. In simple terms, freelancing is a type of self-employment. Instead of being employed by any company, a freelancer tends to deliver his/her services on a contract or project basis. Companies all over the world can hire freelancers to complete/finish their projects or tasks. A freelancer can take on multiple projects from different clients simultaneously. A freelancer usually handles contract work on a part-time or full-time basis and sometimes it is necessary to sign agreements before starting working on the projects. A freelancer is usually paid by the clients per hour, project, or task, depending on the agreement made. Typically, freelancing projects are short-time assignments but if the client is satisfied with the freelancer there could be more follow-up projects. A freelancer is responsible for his/her taxes, pensions, healthcare insurance, and other personal contributions.
If it was 2009-2010, you probably would have thought about choosing a 9-5 job rather than freelancing. But as time passes, people are becoming more interested in freelancing thanks to the wide spread of the Internet. One in three people in the US workforce is engaged in some kind of freelancing work. Our perception of the workplace is now gradually changing from a typical work-office to working-from-home, especially after the COVID-19 Pandemic. So, if you are thinking about being a freelancer, this article is going to be a lot of help to you. After finishing reading this article you will know the most in-demand skills that you should master to be an effective/successful freelancer, the pros and cons of freelancing, how you can start freelancing with Topcoder and lastly, some links to get you started learning. But always remember that freelance life comes with both awesome perks and some hard challenges. So stop wasting time and jump in below!
HOW TO BE AN EFFECTIVE FREELANCER
Becoming a successful freelancer is not as easy as it seems. To be honest, so many freelancers have found success, but at the same time, there are just as many who failed tremendously. But you should not lose hope. It takes a lot of hard work, motivation, and dedication to be successful. Because of that, lots of new freelancers give up their dreams of freelancing. So few become extremely successful. Reaching success will highly depend on your profile, portfolio, ability to move on and acquire new skills, and communication skills. Here, are some steps you can use to be an effective/successful freelancer and attract more clients:
JOIN A FREELANCER PLATFORM
The first thing you need to do is find a suitable platform where you can sell your service (like Upwork, Topcoder, Freelancer.com, Fiverr, Toptal, etc). After choosing platforms, build a profile and portfolio with your skill set, education, basic info, and experience. Potential clients will choose you over others based on your profile.
PUBLICIZE YOUR WORK
Don’t just rely on the platforms blindly. You have to make connections with other senior fellow freelancers. Connect with your social circles and let them know about your services personally. This way they will know about your ability/skills and could even help in finding potential clients for you!
BOOST COMMUNICATION SKILLS
You have to be fluent in languages, mainly English. Most of the time you have to communicate with your client in English, if you’re not good enough you will fail. You have to talk face-to-face with your clients in video calls and understand their requirements.
BE ACTIVE AND RESPONSIVE
You can’t just open an account and wait to get clients. Because you are new most clients will stay away from hiring you. That’s why you have to apply for multiple gigs. If the client wants to query, you have to answer politely and professionally as soon as possible. In the end, if you are hired, continuously give updates so that the client knows you’re going to deliver on time.
SET HOURLY RATE
You have to set your hourly rate cleverly. Don’t set it too high or too low. As a newbie, you should reasonably set it lower than others (otherwise clients might think you do low-quality work) but increase it gradually after getting success.
BE OPEN TO NEW WORK FROM THE SAME CLIENT
When you get a client successfully, you have to make sure that you go beyond the client’s expectations. Like this, you can ask for more work in the future from the same client. If you just finish work abruptly your rating will be bad and you will be less likely to get any more work from them.
DON’T HESITATE TO WORK WITH OTHERS
If you are working on a big project and fighting to do it alone, then inform the client that you will need others’ help. If you try to be overconfident then this will backfire on you.
THE PROS AND CONS OF FREELANCING
Every profession has its pros and cons. Before you consider becoming a freelancer, you should first check some of the advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) like below:
THE PROS OF FREELANCING ARE
FREEDOM OF CHOICE
In freelancing, you have the freedom to choose work for yourself and it is one of the exciting advantages of freelancing. In freelancing, you are free to choose the clients, projects, companies, and services as per your suitability. Freelancing doesn’t make you bound to work on undesirable projects with disliked clients like a corporate job. If you don’t like to work with particular clients you can easily reject them.
REMOTE WORK
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work is surging in popularity. You can stay anywhere you please and continue working.
YOU ARE THE BOSS: Freelancers are independent employees. When you work from home for yourself then you don’t have a boss to ask for permission or to answer to, you just need to answer to your clients. Here no one is above you or below you like in an established corporate hierarchy.
FREEDOM OF SCHEDULING
As a freelancer, you are free to work according to your schedule. You don’t need to work everyday at a fixed time (like a 9-5 job). You can work whenever and however you want as long as you submit the work before the deadline ends. Unlike corporate styles, in freelancing clients do not care about the time or work you put in to finish the work but you just need to submit it on time. If you prefer to stay up all night long and work, you can do so. If you are planning to take a month off and chill, you can do so, no one will tell you can’t.
HIGHER EARNING POSSIBILITY
The most exciting part is that the earning potential in freelancing is unlimited. And what’s more, is that you can set your prices. You can choose how much you would like to charge per your services as long as the client is willing to pay. You will be paid for how much the client values your services. If you can manage to fulfill your client’s requirements, your value will rise and you will be able to make more money. In a typical salaried job, you will get the same amount every month with a little increase every year.
THE CONS OF FREELANCING ARE
NO JOB SECURITY
Freelancing doesn’t offer job security. As a freelancer, you have to find your clients yourself and it is so hard to do. Sometimes you won’t be able to get clients for a long time. On the other hand, in a normal 9-5 job if you do your work decently your job and income will last until retirement!
ISOLATION
Working alone can be tiresome especially if you’re a social person. In freelancing, you only interact with the clients and no colleagues. There is no chance to build good relationships with colleagues.
DIFFICULT TO FIND WORK REGULARLY: The difficulty of being able to find clients regularly is one of the most common disadvantages of freelancing. Building good relationships with clients and building reputations takes a lot of time. But after securing a steady flow it becomes much easier.
IRREGULAR INCOME
Income is unpredictable in freelancing. Your income depends on how many projects you have finished successfully. It could be that some months you could make $30,000 while other months it could be $500 or even $0. Though there are some ways to make your income a little bit more stable and consistent, like signing retainers for recurring services with previous clients.
TAXES OF PLATFORM
As a freelancer, you will be solely responsible for saving the right amount of money to pay a certain amount of tax per year. In the US, a freelancer needs to pay 15.3% of their income as tax per year. On the other hand, in a 9-5 job you don’t need to worry about that at all, taxes will be deducted automatically.
NO EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
One of the disadvantages of self-employment is that you won’t get employee benefits such as healthcare, insurance, and 401(k) retirement offerings. But you can fill that gap by opening Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) like Simplified Employee Pensions.
There are many more pros and cons of freelancing. Just some of the most important are mentioned above.
TOP 20 FREELANCE SKILLS TO LEARN
Now that you have some idea about what freelancing is and some pros and cons of freelancing, it is time to see what skills a freelancer needs to learn. There are so many categories that you can choose like web development, mobile app development, graphic design, data entry, data science, bitcoin and cryptocurrency, marketing, etc. You can choose multiple fields that you like and feel comfortable with. Here first, let’s see twenty skills for freelancing below:
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Programming
Amazon Web Service (AWS) Development
Mobile App Design/Development
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development
Website Design/Development
Data Entry and Data Analysis
Accounting and Bookkeeping
Content Writing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Virtual Assistance
Graphic Design
Video Editing
Social Media Marketing
Photography
Translation
Illustration
Copywriting
Delivery Service
Tutoring
Voice Over
In the above list, you can find a list of freelancing skills from which you can choose your preferred one and start freelancing. There are still many other skills you can choose from. Now let’s see some most in-demand skills (with average annual income) below:
THE MOST IN-DEMAND SKILLS FOR FREELANCERS
Web Design/Development
Nowadays companies are spending millions to keep their website up-to-date and beautiful. A web developer’s average annual income is $80,000 and hourly pay is $80.
Android/iOS Development
Most businesses are focusing on promoting their services through mobile applications as most people use smartphones. So the demand for developers is growing rapidly. An Android/iOS developer’s average annual income is $110,000 and hourly $80.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Technology
This sector is relatively new for managing and storing bitcoin transactions. There is a lack of freelancers in the field and demand is quite high. The average income is $130,00 annually and hourly $150.
AWS
As everything is becoming cloud-based, Amazon serves many paid services. There is a good opportunity to earn on average $126,750 annually and hourly $65 for an AWS developer.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO experts analyze websites and make adjustments to boost their page ranks. An SEO expert can earn on average $55,000 annually and hourly $25 to $100.
Social Media Marketing
Businesses want to increase their product sales and for this, their best option is social media marketing. You can earn on average $42,000 annually and hourly $15 to $50.
Graphic Design
By doing graphic designs (like banners, logos, posters, etc.) a designer can earn on average $55,000 annually and hourly $30.
Data Entry: Data entry specialists are required to manage a huge volume of data efficiently. Their average annual income is $49,000 and hourly $23.
Machine Learning
Machine learning experts’ demand is rising so fast. They’re required to create tools that learn from data. Their average annual income is $135,000 and hourly $130.
Voice Over
Because of the popularity of YouTube videos, online courses, online advertisements, and podcasts, voice-over demand is surging. A voice-over artist can make on average $35,000 annually and hourly $35.
BENEFITS OF FREELANCING WITH TOPCODER
You can even start freelancing with Topcoder here. First of all, you have to have an account in Topcoder (don’t worry it’s free). If you already have an account, then start focusing on building your profile well and show expertise in at least one area. If you are a newbie, then you can even build your skills here. No other platform gives these opportunities. These awesome skill builders will help you to build your skills and then you will be eligible to apply for gig work. It is a pretty straightforward process. Once you apply, Topcoder will do verification, take your interview, and then they will arrange an interview with the client. This process takes two to four weeks, depending on specific clients’ needs and the onboarding process. You can earn up to $3,000 per week through Topcoder gig work and this is something you should notice. On other platforms, you won’t get that much. Over 120 companies have come to Topcoder to get jobs done by the Topcoder members. As there is so much long-term (like 20, 26 weeks) full-time gig work available in Topcoder for different fields (web development, data science, etc), it is your chance to start preparing to get gig work through Topcoder with guaranteed income. To learn more visit this link.
CONCLUSIONS
Anyone can do freelancing with whatever skills they have (like writing, translating, etc). But to be a successful freelancer, you need to have some specific skills and do a lot of hard work. Success won’t come just right away, it could even take a few years. So have patience, focus on learning, and start trying. Hope this article will be helpful for you!