Freelancer.com is one of the biggest and the oldest players in the freelance marketplace website. Freelancer Mobile applications for both Android and iPhone users are also available on the respective forum. The download link of the Freelancer application is given below. Since its launch in the year 2003, it has now grown into the world’s biggest outsourcing destination.
It has recently acquired the two big giants in the freelancing marketplace: vWorker and Scriptlance and now become bigger than ever. If you are looking for a place to start, then Freelancer is the best place for you. It is easy to sign up as a freelancer or employer and start earning or hiring. I always recommend newbies and even professional freelancers who have worked on other freelance sites to join Freelancer.
It is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by a number of users and projects. In a simple sense, it is a marketplace where employers and employees are able to find each other. The site allows employers to post work for site members who place bids in a competitive tender process. The site also allows members to host and enter contests for which prize money is offered as a reward.
We connect over 59,839,050 employers and freelancers globally from over 247 countries, regions and territories. Through our marketplace, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, writing, data entry, and design right through to engineering, the sciences, sales and marketing, accounting, and legal services.
Freelancing requires a lot of patience. In the initial phase, it’s not easy because you struggle with: finding out good clients who are consistent in allotting work on a regular basis and more than that assure you of payments.
This task as easy as it may sound is actually tough. Finding great clients is a great ordeal in itself. However, once you have a client with you, ensure you gain their trust by providing quality work. If they are satisfied and happy with your work, they would stick with you for a long duration and would pay you well.
The next question that often arises in the mind of a budding freelancer is:
How and where to find clients and work?
Personally, I would never suggest you rely on the so-called top freelancing websites like Freelancer, Upwork, etc. as a beginner since unless you have a great portfolio to back you up, finding work or clients on these websites is like cracking a shell.
You can rather stick with cold emails or use social media to network with prospective clients. Once your portfolio is built, then you can try making your hands dirty with the above-mentioned sites.
In a nutshell, consider these pointers:
- Initially, rely on cold-pitching or social media to find good clients
- Build trust with your clients by providing quality work to them
- Take 50% payment in advance before you submit work. This is just to ensure you are dealing with a legit client and it won’t run away once you submit the entire work
- Rest 50% you can ask once you submit the entire project.
- Work on building up your portfolio and once you have a good number, rely on websites like Freelancer, Upwork, etc. to give a boost to your client(s)
