As a designer I like to work close to home and with clients who I can meet on a face to face basis, but I am know to look for the odd bit of casual freelance work when my business is going through a slow patch. At the end of the day we must all keep ourselves busy in order to survive in a job role which I for one simply love doing.
So, where do I look for freelance jobs I hear you asking me, well let me show you my own personal list of the top sites for finding work as a freelancer. You do not need to be a designer to find work here. You will find a real variety of work being posted to these websites on a regular basis. So whether you are a programmer, designer, or even copywriter, you will find something suitable throughout these sites.
You can click on any of the images below to be directed to your selected website.
So now that you know where to look for work as a freelancer, the next important step you must take is calculating your prices. This is a very important factor if not the most important as it is this factor that will determine your success or failure as a freelancer.
5 Factors which you should consider when putting a price on your services
Do your research
Knowing what your competitors are charging for the same or similar services as what you are offering is one of the first tasks you should complete. You need to look at large firms as well as other freelancers and you could do this by becoming a mystery shopper. This is where you approach other companies with a project brief of your own and receive a quote for it. Send the same brief to a number of companies and freelancers to find out how they would price this particular job which you feel you may one day need to quote for yourself. It is important to only dip your toe in the water with this technique though. Do not knowingly waste your competitions time as you would not appreciate someone wasting yours.
Looking Too Cheap
A lot of people make the mistake of offering their services far too cheap in order to undercut all of their competition. Sometimes being cheaper doesn’t send out the right message, it can make people ask themselves whether there is maybe something wrong with your services, maybe if I pay a really low rate I will end up with a really low rated result. People are more likely to be drawn towards quality and a fair price. My tip is to try and place yourself right in the centre of what your competition is charging, resulting in you not being too cheap and not being too expensive.
Your Own Costs
As a freelancer you are self employed and with self employment comes the responsibility of your overheads. You need to consider how much it costs you to actually work from home as a freelancer. These costs could include things such as the cost of insurance, internet connection, phone, computers, software and maintenance etc this list could just go on and on but my point is, you must consider these overheads when pricing your services. You may take on some projects where you need to hire a second person to work alongside you, this is also another cost which needs to be looked at.
How Much Contact is Required
How often you will need to be in contact with your client is also another important factor. You should try to get to know your client a little to see how much they already understand about their project. I sometimes take on work where a client knows exactly what they want and just require for me to get on with the job, they do not need a lot of my attention, they simply need me to hit that deadline which they have set for me, but I have also had clients in the past who do not fully know what they actually want yet and also do not understand what it is they are asking me to do. I therefore need to spend a lot more of my time with this second style of client as they will require a lot of my knowledge to guide and show them the options of what they could have and what may work best for them. So you may think about charging less for the client who does not require a lot of your time, but then maybe add a little bit on to the price for those clients who will be demanding a very lot of your time.
Market Demand
We all love it when there is too much work being handed around, it is a great time to really get stuck in to your work and make yourself some money, and it is during this time when we can afford to increase our prices as so many clients will be getting turned away by overloaded freelancers, and as a result they will not mind paying a little extra to get the job done. However if the market demand for your services is really low and competitive, you may think about putting your prices down so that you are able to compete with other freelancers and hopefully keep yourself busy.
Freelance Switch offer are really useful hourly rate calculator tool which could help you to determine how much you need to charge your clients for each project you take on.
So we have taken a look at where to find work as a freelancer and how to calculate how much you should charge your clients, but now let’s take a quick peek at some of the best blogs for freelancers. Following these blogs will allow you to keep up to date with all of the latest news and trends, plus you will become a part of a very helpful and supportive community of other freelancers just like you.
You can click on any of the images below to be directed to your selected blog
So there you have it, everything you could possibly need to set you on track to freelancing success, but what will you wear as your day to day working uniform?
Just for fun, I have sourced some of the best possible shirts which you may feel really comfortable wearing as your working uniform.
You can click on any of these T Shirt images below to be directed to their source.
I hope you enjoyed this post and found it to be useful. I know I have given you a lot of food for thought and also a lot of resources to digest, so please feel free to bookmark this page so that you are able to revisit and soak up even more of its content.
All that is left for me to say is good luck with your freelancing career.
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Nice article. Thanks for featuring Guerrilla Freelancing too.
Those t-shirts are simply FANTASTIC !
I am glad you liked it and yes I also think those T shirts are pretty cool :)
Hah! Gotta love those tees =]
The “My house is a mess” one totally sums me up! But then the last one is SOOOOO true!
Thanks for posting this – bookmarked for future reference – those freelancing sites will surely be useful.
Really amazing , please allow me to add your link on my blog under “helpful recources for all” where I provide freelancers with helpful tools under different categories My blog is the interface of the first freelance portal in the middle East, check it yourself and you wouldn’t regret adding your link at lancerscafe.com
Best Regards
Another t-shirt you might like: http://www.returnvoid.co.uk/store/categories/web-developer/m-webdev-style.html