Freelancing – Understanding your project/task

Understanding the task at hand is as important as the knowledge one has to have about the project. The freelancer should know if his skills match with the skill requirement. For this, he may have to have exchanges through emails or through telephonic conversations.

A task that has been outsourced may appear to be simple at times. Such tasks will require only a basic talent from a freelancer to complete it. But at times, there will be hidden complexities associated with the same. Thus, it is always advisable to read through and understand the requirements before attempting to do a project.

When the project is technical in nature, one has to be confident that his or her exposure matches to the requirement of the project. Technical upgrades may vary from year to year. Newer versions of the older technologies are available each year and one has to keep updating on the new technology.

Freelancers who do work in software development need to be up to date with every new aspect of work. The client would want a use friendly interface to be developed. The idea might appear to be brilliant and simple. There will be no introduction manual at times. Understanding the project is of utmost necessity here.

Let us look at the numerous applications that are developed. Every year there are new applications that come into the market. The ones that are popular are the ones easy to operate. Those with too many complications may not survive. No one will take time to hunt down the ones that are difficult to use. The easier applications and the readily available applications have more takers. Freelancer may keep this in mind – What you produce need to user friendly, readily available and easy to use.

Reliability of your output is another factor that points to the understanding of the task. A person who has understood the task, and knows what has to be done, is able to churn out reliable work that will stand the test of time. When a transaction takes a longer time to for implementation, the one reason is lack of understanding among the people who are involved in implementing it. This lack of understanding among people further filters down to lack of understanding of the job itself.

For the freelancer, the best way to know if you have understood the task at hand is to reward your work completed. As and when you complete a work reward yourself and you will know that you are in line with what is expected.

What you have not understood after a discussion with the client needs writing down. This later requires discussion in a forum where you are in touch with experts in the matter. Mentors can also help in a very large way to implement these unresolved issues.

Many times, you may be a part of a larger project that would be break up in pieces and distributed amongst many freelancers. Sometimes you do not get the larger picture until you see the connection of your project to the larger work schedule. In such situations ask for a meeting where all the people involved are at one place and discuss the larger cause. This is give ample insight to the task on hand.

When a task fails to come up the way it has to come up create a back up plan. This can come with experience. Once you know how to create back up plans you would want to do away with them and have the taste of success the first time around.

Having a positive morale and attitude is important to understand the tasks given to you. Certain work may be stressful and you need to motivate yourself about your capability to deliver the work well.

Understanding what goes first also is vital for success. Every freelancer who understands his task will know what goes first. For example, some who write a story for children will have to know the age group of the target audience first. They need to know the background of the target group. Then he should know the language the children will speak and read. The moral that has to reach the target group and the emotions that make the story fall in place. Finally, any input to make the story interesting for a child is clearly made note of. Some marketers would also ant their part to be taken care of – the story should sell!

How to be an expert freelance Web designer

A web designer is a person who puts the dreams and vision of people in to reality on the Web. Ever since the advent of Internet , the demand of qualified and good Web designers has skyrocketed. There are many individuals as well as companies who offer various types of web designing services. In fact, each page that you open on the Internet has been ‘web designed’ by somebody. Therefore as a freelance Web designer, the opportunities in front of you are limitless. However, we all know that the best jobs go to people who know what they are talking about.

So what does it take to be an expert freelance Web designer? In this post, we will touch upon the ingredients needed to make you the expert and then in subsequent posts we will elaborate on each of these points.

Learn how websites work

As a freelance web designer, it is expected that you know about how different websites work. You need to know what the different types of websites are and what makes them work. You should be an expert in one programing language, Java script, databases, content management systems, RSS and mailing lists, and integrating social media.

Know how to troubleshoot problems

There is no such thing as a perfect website. As you work towards integrating the client demands you will face glitches therefore you should have a determined outlook towards troubleshooting problems. Sometimes you can work around them and sometimes you will just have to find a solution.

Keep searching for what is new in the web world

As a freelance web designer your search for what is the latest in the designing world should never end. You have to work hard towards keeping yourself updated to what is the latest your world. You can also check out the magazine and newspaper layouts to know what the client wants.

Work towards improving your communication skills

You cannot justify your skills if you don’t know how to communicate with the client. Since most of the freelancing work takes place online therefore you need be very concise in your communications. Also communication is a two way street therefore if you don’t understand what a client wants in the early stages, you will end up wasting a lot of time in correction and changes later on.

Be clear on the expectations

When negotiating for a project be clear about your expectations from the beginning. Let them know what payment you expect. This will help you in winning the client confidence and prevent any problems on the later stage. As to figuring out how much you can charge you will have to work that out by checking out the competition and doing a honest analysis of your skills.

Don’t say you can do it and then learn later on

The biggest mistake that a freelance web designer can make is to commit for something which they don’t know about and think that they can always learn it in the due course of the project. This is a big no-no. If you don’t know it then say that you don’t know it. It is very easy to detect a novice’s work and an expert’s work.

If you have messed up own it

In the course of your work, it is natural that you will make mistakes. The bigger mistake will be when you don’t own up to it. If you have made a mistake then accept it and do whatever you can to rectify it without wasting any time. Don’t wait for your clients to call you out, take the first step.

Top 10 reasons why Freelancing is fun

Freelancing life has a lot of benefits. It’s not the same as the software engineer’s life or a business man life. You get all the freedom to work independently without anyone controlling you… While you have the liberty to work you also enjoy the money that you earn all by yourself. Work can be done anytime as you control it, being a freelancer and you make the schedule. The dependency is reduced; this is one of the major advantages of being a freelancer.

Some other reasons why freelancing is fun:

Sharing and its benefits

Sharing is taught at a very early stage to a person. For a freelancer sharing is a basic criterion to succeed. The way to achieve this comes with the knowledge you have and your experience. The more you share the more chances you get to interact with people. This helps to stay updated of the current happenings in the industry. Being a freelancer and working from home helps to get to know more contacts than people in business.

The work a freelancer gets is discrete and smaller in quantity. Hence the opportunity increases proportionately.

Freedom and no need to quit your day job

By choosing freelancing as a career path, people enjoy more freedom and they need not report to any senior authorities on the work they do. This benefits many workers and they have the flexibility to do work when they can.

Freelancers also get to continue the day job and work in their free time. This gives double income and helps when the need could not be satisfied. You might not be occupied all the hours at work so when you find time in your breaks or when you travel to your day work, you can do your assignments or meet people.

Owning

Owning is a gift. Not all get the chance to own something. A freelancer is gifted with this chance. It makes the individual feel as an entrepreneur and he takes it serious and puts all the effort he can to make it a success. A freelancer never has to rely on someone to give work. Owning your own business in turn allows you to create and contribute, which gives you personal satisfaction. You can participate in every step of the decision-making process, or you can hire competent people to make decisions in the best interest.Productivity, pricing and marketing plans are all under your control, and the income you earn relates to those activities.

Passion

Any individual can be a freelancer either by necessity or by passion. Many of them who wanted to develop their career and who has a passion to do a specific take up freelancing. The more passion you have the interest is high and belter quality work you deliver.

You tend to search and collect a lot of new things by which new products are developed.

Group fun

You can work individually or with a group of people based on your convenience. Some people are forced to work alone because of the household hurdles in that case an individual can take ownership of forming groups in that particular area or particular subject where they work. This type of like-minded people being together increases the integrity and the interest. While you do this kind of get together meetings not only you get introduced to many people but will make you feel fresh. The ideas in you will get cultivated and thoughts will be invoked. You can help out each other to find clients or share work in critical situations.

Level of exposure

Freelancers have the benefit to work in different assignments. The assignments might be small or large but to do a specific work on a platform a person has to have a good knowledge on the subject. With this the person is technically improved and as he gets the chance to deal with various people the exposure is huge.

No commute

For a freelancer travel time is completely not present. This adds extra time for you to do work. As a freelancer the expenses can be completely avoided for travel, fuel and other maintenance. The stress involved while traveling is no more present for freelancers. The virtual world internet has helped people sort out these issues.

Credit you receive

You own the entire credit for what you do when you are a freelancer whereas other individuals will not be able to enjoy this benefit. The work and the money you get out of it is entirely yours.

Many people who are recognized around the world are successful in the freelancing industry. The exposure you get makes you reach enormous heights.

Job security

Even when the market is low and when many people are forced to leave out of their jobs a freelancer has no worry about it. The market trend does not hugely affect the freelance contributors. With many contacts they have and the regular clients they meet, freelancers continuously get assignments. The job security is maximum in this case.

A freelancer also has the credit of changing clients every time they are not comfortable. While they can work on a particular job they also can search.

Industrial politics

This field also doesn’t involve politics. None is present to form groups or compete with each other to showcase better. Of course there’s competition but here it’s smooth and it’s based on an individual to compete or not. The forceful work and team politics is null. Meetings and business trips are non-existent for freelancers.

Having said about all the benefits of a freelancer one must be now proud of the career path they have chosen as a freelancer. It’s us who has to decide how interesting we could make our life to be. The more you focus on the goals to succeed the more interest you will tend to show on the job.

Remember, its happiness and the feeling you get when helping others which makes you stick to the freelancing industry.

Freelance Marketing: Is It For You?

Freelance marketing is a dream job for any persona who is interested in marketing. However, like all other freelance jobs it requires a lot of hard work, organization, discipline, responsibility and patience on your part. If you want to strike out in the world as a freelancer marketer then here are some points, which you should consider before taking a plunge:

Do you absolutely love marketing?

Marketing has never been a fixed timing job. And with freelance marketing you will have to give up the timings entirely. As a marketer it is your job to be on the pulse of the marketing at all times. Even if you are marketing about a small product or targeting a particular demographic, you have to take the global approach. This means that you cannot ever say ‘my working timings are done for the day’.

The other aspect of marketing is that you have to absolutely love it at all the times. Ask yourself if you love people, products and the impact they have. The joy of having to see your marketing campaign take off and be a success cannot be compared with anything else.

Do you know your stuff?

It is one thing to love marketing and other thing to know about your stuff. Take a blank sheet of paper and write down all the things that you think that you think are needed to make a marketing campaign. Do not refer to any help when writing this, write from your own mind. When you are done writing then take a stock of what you have written and what you have missed.

Are you aware of true meaning of terms like branding, return of investment, targeting, engagement, sales, marketing, advertisement, social media marketing, follow up etc? Can you convince the client that you know what you are talking about and why he needs you?  These will be the two important questions that you should know the answers to.

Do you have the right image?

Nobody in this world today in looking for an oily haired sleek looking marketing executive to market his or her product. The world of marketing has moved much beyond its ancestral marketing rules. Marketing today is done both offline and online. As a freelance marketer you will have to know how to combine both means for a successful campaign.

Therefore, before bidding for freelance marketing jobs ask yourself if you have the right image and if not then are you willing to work hard for building one. Your image includes your qualifications, skills and portfolio. Of course your confidence and communication skills top in the list of the image building exercise.

You need to create a brand of yourself. The idea behind this is simple; if you can market yourself then you can market anything. The way you market yourself will say a lot to the client about the way you will market their brand.

Do you have funds to sustain yourself?

When starting out in marketing as a freelancer you will have to promote the brand that you have built for yourself. This will require some expenditure from your side. Sometimes you will need to eve handout some freebies as a part of the promotional package. This means that you might have to give the client a small taste of what he or she can look for if you get the whole project. Therefore make sure that you have at least some backup funds with you that can carry you until you get the payment for the project.

Do you have the tools for the trade?

The tools of the trade include a computer, internet connection, a working email account, telephone number and an office space, in case you need to hold meetings. These tools will help you in getting your work done in time and stay in touch with your clients easily. You will be easily able to present a professional front by utilizing these tools properly.

What You Need To Know Before Freelancing?

Freelancing is a very good option for those who want to strike out on their own. There can be many reasons behind you choosing freelancing as a career option for yourself. Some do it for some extra money along with their regular jobs, some do it because they need to pay bills or college tuition fees and some do it because they cannot or do not want to bound by regular office hours.

For me I took up freelancing because my family moves around a lot and it was not possible to join any office for a long term. Since I took up freelancing I have been able to make my own schedules, enjoy lot of family time and still earn some decent money. However like all journeys we taken on unknown path the journey to my being a successful freelancer has not been easy. In this post I would like to share my experience on things what you need to know before freelancing.

It is never going to be easy: Freelancing is not an easy job by any means. There is a lot of competition out there. When you take a plunge in freelancing you are going to be competing against people from all corners of the world and not just from a small set of works.  Also a lot of hard work will go into organizing, bidding for projects, meeting deadlines etc.  Client are going to come running to you at the start, you will have to attract them towards you.

No freelancer gets rich right away: Before you start freelancing make sure that you are not swayed by the advertisements like ‘earn 10000 rupees in a day’ or ‘I got rich working just 2 hours a day’ etc. they are frauds. There is no freelancing job that will make you rich in a day; in fact most freelancers cannot even make a decent earning in the beginning. It is more of a case of slow and steady. When I started working I used to apply for 30 jobs and get one or two.

People are not very receptive towards freelancing jobs: I have been working as a freelancer for 3 years now and when I tell people what I do, they still look at me with doubt in their eyes and ask ‘does it work’. They have a hard time accepting that you have to follow a schedule when you are just ‘sitting at home’. It will be your job to let these things not affect you and be firm in maintaining your schedule and deadlines.

You will be responsible for any glitches: These glitches can include many things like illness, broken equipment, no internet connection, emergency leave etc. You will have to work hard alone to get over these problem because with every client the deadline as to be made.

There are no extra perks or bonuses: When you are working on your own or freelancing there will be no perks or bonuses for you. Perks like insurance, paid leave, sick leave, and some kind of TA/DA are not applicable to freelancers even when they are working the same amount as the regular employee in a company. Same goes for bonuses, there are no regular bonuses in freelancing. There are some clients who might give you a bonus for a job well done or for completion in time but that is entirely the client’s prerogative and you cannot ask for it.

You cannot ignore even a single client: Every single client can make a difference of success and failure for you. You cannot ignore any client no matter how small is the project that you have undertaken. Therefore you will have to learn how to strike a balance and keep clients happy at all times.

You will have to learn to say no: You will have to learn to say no to both personal functions and commitments and to some of your clients. The hard reality of being a freelancer is that sometimes you will have to say no to some big projects because you are finishing up the other smaller ones. You need to keep some time aside for last minute changes or some extra work.

I hope the above points will help you better prepare for the challenges a freelancer has to face. It will help you avoid a lot of tension and disappointments and you will be able to enjoy the sweet victories (both big and small) of being your own boss.