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7 Ways to Make More Money as a Freelancer

7 Ways to Make More Money as a Freelancer

Freelance work has been around for some time. But now, more than ever before, freelancers are making a living from their skills. You only need to have a workstation with a computer and a stable internet connection.

Freelancing is a great way to earn extra income while working at home. It’s also an opportunity to learn new things, meet new people, and build relationships.

Here are seven tried and tested ways to make more money as a freelancer!

 1. Start with a Plan 

Before you start looking for freelance work, you need to think about what kind of work you want to do. There is a lot of stuff that one can do online. Do you want to write articles? Work as a Virtual Assistant? Transcribe files? Caption Videos? Translate documents? Work as an interpreter? Create graphics? Design websites? Or maybe you just want to offer editing services.

Once you decide what type of project you want to take on, you can begin by taking an online course to fine-tune your skills, get a certification and then start searching online for opportunities. You can check our online courses here.

2. Build Relationships

You should also consider how much you want to charge for your work, is it per project or per hour? If you want to earn a lot of money, you need to build good relationships with your clients. First, you can start with charging less as a beginner and then upgrade your charges as you gain experience and confidence.

Always make sure that you’re practicing professionalism in your work, always asking what needs to be done and requesting feedback on the work you have submitted. By this, you will be able to build your skills and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

 

3. Communication Skills

Great communication skills are a must-have for every freelancer. It would feel awkward for a client to assign you a task, and then you don’t see the emails until the task’s deadline has approached. Always make sure that you’re responding to the client’s messages promptly and professionally.

Strive to have a good command of English grammar, both written and verbal. If you find that you have a lot of spelling mistakes even in your day-to-day writing, you may consider always having your spellchecker all the time to avoid making any grammatical mistakes.

If you feel that you can’t deliver the project within the agreed time, it’s good to communicate the same to the client requesting a time extension.

 

4. Be Flexible

As a freelance worker, you need to be flexible. This means being open to changing your schedule and working with different clients at different times. It also means being willing to take on new projects when opportunities arise.

Do not let a project pass you because it’s not within your normal working hours. Remember, different clients operate on different world clock timings.

 

5. Offer Value

To make more money as an independent contractor, you need to offer value. Always make sure that you’re doing enough research for your work. You should be able to provide something unique and valuable to your clients. And you should be willing to adapt to changes in your client’s needs.

Remember that the client hired you for the services that you can deliver, so deliver pure gold when you get a project and work within the given timeline.

 

6. Focus on Quality

One of the biggest mistakes freelance writers make is trying to write too much. They think that by writing more, they will earn more money. This isn’t true. It’s the opposite. Writing less means you’ll have more time to focus on quality.

Make sure that your biggest goal is to deliver quality work and not to write more articles. Substandard work can be rejected without any payment from the client.

 

7. Request and Give Reviews

Positive reviews from clients will help you build a good reputation for your freelance work. Positive reviews will help you promote your work, while negative reviews will drive potential clients away. It’s important to maintain a good work relationship with your client and request them for reviews after completing each project.

You should also make sure that you’re leaving your client a good review. Positive reviews are also a great way to get referrals from previous clients because they have trust in you.  

Conclusion

There are many opportunities online. It doesn’t matter what kind of freelance work you’re doing, you should always strive to earn more money by growing your online business. Freelance work is a personal business for every freelancer, so keep on researching what will work for you.  

 Have a business plan and set your business goals, and keep track of what’s working for you and what needs improvement. You can earn a decent income as a freelancer.

 

 

 

How To Pass Freelance Work Interviews

How To Pass Freelance Work Interviews

Getting hired for freelance work by a client doesn’t just mean showing up for the interview and doing your best. There are many things you need to consider before applying for a freelance work position. From knowing what questions to ask in an interview to preparing yourself mentally.

In this article, we’ll share 7 tips that you need to know to land your dream freelance job.

1. Know Your Worth

If you’re looking for a new freelancing gig, you should never settle for less than you deserve. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you’re worth less than you are because you haven’t had any success yet for quite some time, and you’re running out of cash. Don’t let that happen to you. Instead, it’s good to make sure you know exactly what you’re worth.

2. Create a Portfolio That’s Uniquely You

A portfolio is a collection of work samples that demonstrates your skills and talents. To stand out from other applicants, you need to create a portfolio that’s uniquely yours. This means making sure that each piece of work reflects who you are as a professional. Do not go around copying and pasting other people’s work to showcase them as yours, this can lead you to serious issues.

3. Practice Speaking with Confidence

If you’re naturally nervous about speaking in front of people, it’s good to start practicing talking to yourself or even recording yourself on a video and listening to yourself. It will help you feel more comfortable when you do speak in front of others.

Remember, practice makes perfect, so keep on practicing, and it will get better with time.

4. Be Prepared for Questions About Your Work Experience

It’s good to have in mind that your prospective employer will ask you about your previous work experience. So, before you go into any job interview, it’s good to make sure you have some examples of work you’ve done that demonstrate your skills. This includes things like resumes, portfolios, and samples of your writing.

5. Questions To Ask

As an interviewee, you’re also required to participate in the interview and asking the right questions that are in line with the interview, is very important. It’s good to make sure that you have done thorough background research about the company or the client online before showing up for the interview.

Also, you need to understand the job description very well so that you are able to ask the right questions in regard to the position that you’re applying.

6. Showcase Your Skills

It’s always important to showcase your skills as a freelancer. So, if you’re applying for a freelance work position, you should have at least one sample of your work available. It’s also a good idea to have a few other pieces of evidence of your skill set as well. These might include links to websites with reviews of your work, testimonials from clients, or even awards you’ve won.

7. Request For Interview Feedback

After the interviewer is through asking questions related to the freelance work interview, they may ask you whether you have anything to say. It’s good to take this opportunity to request feedback on the interview.

Most of the potential clients are very honest, and they are always looking forward to helping their interviewees on improving their performance. So, when you request feedback, whether negative or positive, the feedback will help you to perform better in your next interview as you will learn how you performed.

Conclusion

Whether you’re an experienced freelancer or a newbie, one time you will feel the need to look for more work or even add a new client. It’s always important that every interview you get turns out to be a success. You will have spent a lot of time looking for the lead and so closing the deal positively means a plus to your freelance work, so that’s why it’s crucial to have great interview hacks at your fingertips.

7 Best Free VPN For Freelancers

7 Best Free VPN For Freelancers

Working online for freelancers comes with a lot of challenges, and one of them is the IP location. You will notice that most clients/companies want to work with workers who are within their location or in the US. Well, there’s no need to worry as you can mask your real location or IP address with a VPN.

What’s a VPN? A VPN or virtual private network is a safe tunnel between the internet and your device. VPN protects the user from online interference, snooping, and censorship.

A VPN (virtual private network) is the most effective and easiest way for users to protect their identities online and also helps them to have internet privacy. Once you connect your device to a secure VPN server, the internet traffic gets an encrypted tunnel that can’t be seen by governments, hackers, or your internet service provider.

Here are the 7 best free VPNs for freelancers

1. ProtonVPN 

ProtonVPN is the best free VPN on the market currently as it has no monthly data limit. It also doesn’t have any data restrictions, which is rare for a free VPN. 

It only has three serves globally, that’s Japan, US, and Netherlands. Not only that, but it supports Windows, and Mac users as well as Android and iPhone apps.

It has no P2P support and speed may drop when there’s traffic as the paid users are given a priority during peak times. If you want it for streaming, Proton makes it clear that you need to upgrade to their Plus tier.

There are no ads here, and you can sign up with your email address and username of your choice, and they also don’t have any logging policy which makes it a great choice.

Download ProtonVPN here.

2. Windscribe

Windscribe is an easy application to use, and it has an exceptional privacy feature. It’s supported on Windows, Android, Mac, iOS, and Linux. It has a free plan with 2 GB bandwidth monthly, but this can be upgraded to 10 GB data cap if you subscribe with your email address. 

The free version has 11 locations to choose from. Their remote server locations include Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, Turkey, Canada, and eight US VPN cities. It has a desktop version and also a Chrome extension which allows you to connect to different servers while on the move. 

One advantage of using Windscribe free VPN is that it doesn’t store your IP stamps, connection logs, or even your browsing history. Note that, when you’re actively connected to the server, it stores your username and the data transferred, but this is later erased after three minutes of ending the session. It also has a built-in ad blocker, firewall, and malware protection which makes it a great choice in protecting your privacy.

Supported on: Windows, Android, Mac, Linux, and iOS.

Download Windscribe here.

3. Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield has a free version that is limited to 500 MB of daily data, that’s 15 GB monthly. If your sole aim is online privacy, then HotSpot Shield is the best option because it’s on the same wavelength as military-grade encryption, which most VPNs brag about.

It had a Chrome extension and also a 7-day trial for the premium version. Hotspot Shield has an encrypted connection which doesn’t log any of your data, which shields your online identity and protects you from cyber predators and hackers.

With the free version, you can only use one US-based location that Hotspot Shield chooses for you, and you will have to endure unending pop-up ads when on Android. But if you subscribe to their monthly plan of $2.50 you can get access to their 70 plus odd countries. It also supports 5 devices with one account, from TVs, phones, and laptops.

Supported on: Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS.

Download Hotspot Shield here.

 

4. TunnelBear

TunnelBear is a great and serious free VPN that comes with a cute design after its acquisition by the security giant McAfee. TunnelBear has both free and premium versions.

With the free plan, you’re restricted to 500 MB of traffic monthly. The only good thing about their free version is that they don’t limit you on the available servers, and you can access 20+ countries of their premium version.

Tunnel Bear also collects less data on its users, and they don’t require your first name to sign up, and also they don’t keep a record of the user’s number of connections in a lifetime.

Supported on: Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS.

Download TunneBear here.

5. PrivadoVPN 

PrivadoVPN Free VPN has global servers with a generous 10 GB monthly data limit, which is more than enough for any freelancer. They have servers in the UK, US, Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, France, its native Switzerland, and Netherlands which is a rare coverage for a free VPN.

PrivadoVPN Free doesn’t restrict you automatically from streaming like most free VPNs.

Supported on: Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS.

Download PrivadoVPN Free here.

6. Hide.me

Hide.me has both free and paid versions, the latter giving you 10 GB monthly data limit to play with. But note that you can only connect one device at a given time, which is limited to five server locations, including Canada and the US, rather than the 50 plus locations for the paid version.

Hide.me doesn’t cap the connection speed, and neither does it store the user’s data and logging details. They don’t have pop-up ads, and they also offer P2P support on their five free available servers. It also comes with 24/7 technical support, which is a plus for a free VPN. This is a superb free VPN that doesn’t come with a lot of restrictions.

Supported on: Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS.

Download Hide.me here.

7. Speedify

Speedify has one aim as a free VPN, as the name suggests, is to ensure that your internet connection speed stays uninterrupted as you benefit from their encryption. 

The free plan has full access to their servers and the only restriction is that you’re limited to 2 GB of download data. This is not a huge allowance compared to other free VPNs, but it’s more than enough for someone with email duties and basic surfing.

Speedify also has three packages i.e. individuals, teams, and families that are available for 30 days risk-free. It works with all apps – from video conferencing, live-streaming software, online games, and social networks. It has a solid privacy and also low-level control to the users.

Supported on: Windows, Android, Mac, Linux, and iOS.

Download Speedify here.

Conclusion

A free VPN serves the same function as the fully paid versions, only that they come at no cost. There are very many free VPNs and most of them aren’t very good to use as they may sell your private data or even keep on bombarding you with a lot of ads.

While the main concern of free VPNs is that they’re not safe as the paid versions, they still serve the purpose but with some restrictions. So, if you’re a freelancer who needs to mask their location, just grab a free VPN of your choice, and you can work from any location.

In case you have more options, kindly share them in the comments section.

 

7 Useful Tips for Working Online as a Transcriber

7 Useful Tips for Working Online as a Transcriber

When you start working online, you will notice that there are many rules to be followed, and you might get confused as a newbie. There is a process of working online, and it is very vital. You ought to remember this before embarking on this tedious task.

Below are 7 useful tips for working online as a transcriber in order to be successful.

1. Dedication and Resilience

Working online requires dedication and a lot of resilience, commitment, and time. There’s an enormous distinction between the guy who earns monthly 40/50k and the guy who earns 10k a month and still keeps on complaining how the editors are mean. I would advise you to take the editor’s comments on your work seriously so that you can learn your mistakes, and, therefore, improve your work quality.

2. Names

Names, emails and a verified PayPal account are a requirement. Use one name to create an online presence. You cannot be using different names in real life and different names online. Remember, you can lose your earnings if you’re told to prove your identity while using different names.  Also, quality work matters online because you’re here to sell your service, nothing more.

3. Commitment

Note that working online is not everybody’s cup of tea, it requires; sitting down for hours researching, missing meals, missing deadlines, taking criticism, and perfecting your work. There’s a distinction between the transcriber who gets a grade 4 and the one who gets a grade 9, passion for your work.

4. Using the Right Tools

When working online, you require the right tools to increase your productivity. You need a good computer, Internet, headphones, office desk and ergonomic seat, and good command of English grammar, written and verbal. If you can’t master English skills, reconsider your career.

5. Low and High seasons

Again, this is not for everyone, do not quit your job simply because you have discovered about online work. Sometimes you will experience low seasons and other times jobs are in plenty. You also need to start looking for direct clients on bidding sites to get good pay and good work flow, transcription companies sometimes go for months without work.

6. Using the Right Software to Increase Productivity

Use the right software for your transcription jobs. You’ll be able to increase your output with the right tool.

You can check this post for more details on this >>> 9 Transcription Software That Will Increase Your Productivity

7. Quality Work

Always make sure that you deliver quality work, research, proofread your work thoroughly. If you feel you don’t understand what the client needs, always feel free to consult your mentor or the experienced guys in the industry.

Your work should be error free, don’t guess words, spell check your work thoroughly and also format your work according to the client’s needs.

Always remember to ask feedback from the editors or the client in order to learn your mistakes.

Conclusion

Working online as a freelancer comes with a lot of freedom, and I promise you that if you’re eager to learn, and you’re dedicated to your work, you will enjoy the benefits. I wish you all the best in your online endeavor, and always remember that I’m available to assist where I can.