Since the COVID-19 lockdown, making money online as a freelancer has garnered more attention that before. People were at home and looking for a source of income and online freelancing had the solution they needed. Lucrative, You can work from the comfort of your home, sometimes no skill required
Working online is easily the best way to make money as a Nigerian as most freelancing platforms pay in dollars. Given the fluctuations in the dollar rate these days earning in dollars gives freelancers a leverage some people don’t have.
Imagine earning 200$ per hour and you work 30 hours a week that’s 6000$ weekly. If dollar is 1200 then you just earned 7.2 Million Naira in one week!
One of my guys had this update since 2021, Emeka was making as much as 1000$ weekly as of then. The last I heard he just got a gig worth 25,000$ for a month. That’s 30 Million Naira!
Cool figures from the comfort of your home, if you enter his house the Air Conditioner will humble you first of all then you’d see my guy chilling on his phone, a few snacks and his Hennessy. Making his money.
This is something that like I said, you just need an internet connection, a phone at least, sometimes no skill required except basic communication skills actually and you’re set!
The figures are mind blowing right?
Let’s get into the gist and the big question.
WHAT IS FREELANCING?
Freelancing is one’s selling of their services to clients without a long term employment contract.
Let’s say I’m a plumber, your toilet is clogged and you meet me and I charge you plenty money for it then I fix your toilet and that is all. I have done my job, you have given me plenty money (emphasis on plenty) and both parties are happy.
There’s a lot of people out there that have things they need to do but can’t because they don’t know how to do it or they don’t have the time to do it.
These people will pay you for your “know how” and your Time. That’s what freelancing is all about.
WHO CAN BE A FREELANCER
I believe in the statement that goes, the more you learn, the more you earn.
Freelancing is open to everyone who has valuable skills to offer.
You can make graphics? There’s a thousand and one people out there looking for you and your services
You can speak, read and write a language perfectly? There are people who don’t understand that language and would pay to be either taught or translated for. Yes even English too!
You just need to know how to do something and do it well because people won’t give you money for nonsense.
So yes freelancing is for everyone, you just need to have value to offer and that can be paid for.
BENEFITS OF FREELANCING
1. Flexibility and Work-life Balance : As a freelancer your life is quite soft, no boss screaming down your neck, you are your boss and you have the time to be yourself too. Our devices are a big part of our lives and with work in it we tend to find a balance between work and life. It all becomes soft.
2. Work from anywhere in the world: Nobody is expecting you to show up by 8AM in the morning. You can be in your village and with internet connection you can work. It also allows you to earn in currencies higher than your country’s own. Take Nigeria for example, with the rate of 1 dollar to naira well above 1000 Naira per dollar. Any person earning in naira has to work way harder to earn as much as someone earning in dollars.
3. Set your own rates and increase earning potential: You are basically your own boss, you get to decide how much you want to be paid, how often. You call the shots!
For example: If you feel like your services are way worth more than 100$ you can take it up, it sounds too good to be true but it is.
4. Gain diverse experience and build a portfolio: People will be more than willing to pay you if you have evidence, “I’m a web designer” show me projects that you’ve worked on.
Experience is evidence! Evidence of this experience is a portfolio!
Working as a freelancer has these to offer you, you can through freelancing build a big portfolio and gain crazy experience that you’ll need to make more money. Remember that the more you learn, the more you earn and who’s the best teacher again?… Experience!
CHALLENGES OF FREELANCING
As beautiful as this fairy-tale of freelancing is, it has a downside to it. As a freelancer it’s not going to be all rosy, here’s a few challenges you may face as a freelancer.
1. Income inconsistency: Remember those mouth-watering figures at the beginning of this article. Well sorry to burst your bubble but it is not promised.
There’s a twist to every beautiful thing so this one can’t be any different.
Finding clients and maintaining a steady work flow can be challenging initially. It won’t be easy, it only becomes soft later.
It gets better along the journey and it will take a while before you start seeing them beautiful figures
2. Client communication and managing expectations: I believe that no one can bring your idea to life as good as you would, so in as much as you have gained a little insight into the idea that your client wants you to deliver you can make a masterpiece but that masterpiece would make no sense to your client.
Clients can be difficult when it comes to communicating their ideas, they may tend to expect more from you after in your mind you have created magic. You have to calm down and satisfy them and this is not entirely easy.
3. Marketing yourself and finding clients: This is another challenging aspect of freelancing. People have to understand that you are good enough to work on their project and worry spending on.
Most times convincing them isn’t always easy, you have to do a lot of work to successfully market yourself and find clients.
Forget what all these social media reels are telling you!
You do not expect to create an upwork account and all of a sudden you’re getting gigs every day. You’d grind for it.
Luckily for you, you are a Netpreneur and you have us to assist you in this grind. Stay with me till the end of this article!
CHOOSING YOUR FREELANCE NICHE
To work as a freelancer you need to pick a niche, a market that you are targeting. I’d give you tips on how to do so.
1. Identify your skills and interests, some people won’t do something that does not make them happy even though it makes them money. A job in line with your interests is always the best because you find peace doing it
Identity your skills, what can you do, what can you be paid for to do.
You can take an online skills assessment test or brainstorm a list of your strengths and what you enjoy doing.
Consider past work experience, hobbies or any certifications you possess
Once you have all these set you’re on step ahead in your freelancing journey
2. Research in Demand freelance skills in your chosen niche, you’ve decided a niche and that’s beautiful but here’s the twist. People won’t pay for something they don’t need.
Your skill has to be in demand or your tailor it to be so.
You need to do proper market research, know what people need and sell it to them, they’ll pay without thinking twice as far as you can prove to be worth their money.
Use online job boards, freelancing platforms and industry publications to identify trends, you’re trying to make money and you want to make plenty of it. Research is going to help you do so!
3. Specialization vs generalization, you need to know where you are standing. A you a specialist or a general guy. Are narrowing down your services down or offering a broad range of services.
The benefits of specialization is more money, someone that provides a service that is strictly for neurosurgeons would earn more money than someone that provides that service just for anyone. But on the other hand you don’t bump into neurosurgeons every day so don’t expect daily gigs
The generalist guy on the other hand has something that everyone needs and although he has more chances of getting gigs he may earn less per gig than the specialist.
BUILDING YOUR FREELANCE TOOLKIT
As a freelancer you’d need one or ten tools to make your job easier and efficient. Here’s a general list of tools you’ll need.
1. Essential tools
– Project management tools e.g., Trello, Asana
– Communication tools e.g., Slack, Zoom
– Cloud storage solutions e.g.,
– Invoicing and accounting software e.g., FreshBooks, Wave
– Time tracking software e.g., Toggl, Harvest
BUILDING A STRONG PORTFOLIO
Remember that your portfolio is evidence of your claim that “Yes I know what I’m doing, bring your money let me handle your project”
So building a portfolio is something you can’t afford to trivialize.
Showcase your best work samples relevant to your niche, consider creating a portfolio website or using online platforms like behance or dribble.
Include client testimonials and case studies to demonstrate your studies , people will pay If others are paying.
DEVELOPING YOUR PERSONAL ONLINE BRAND
You’d need personal branding as a freelancer. Personal branding is what speaks for you when you are in your bed sleeping and snoring and one multi millionaire in Saudi Arabia is going through your LinkedIn and considering paying for your services.
Create a professional online presence with a well crafted LinkedIn profile and social media accounts. You need to be able to show without explanation that you are a valuable person and thus having you on their project will be a plus to them as your client. That is what an online presence does for you.
Develop a consistent brand identity that reflects your skills and your target audience. Your brand identity is what your clients see, feel, hear when they come in contact with your personal brand. You’d need to recruit a good brand identity designer and branding strategist to achieve that.
FINDING FREELANCE WORK
Freelance platforms:
These are platforms where you can sell your freelance skills and services, meet clients and get paid on. We have lots of them like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com. There are also niche specific platforms like this too.
All have to do is create an enticing profile, write compelling proposals and you’re good to go.
Making money can be difficult too and paying for mentorship is highly recommended. It gives you a sweet ride through what normally isn’t easy.
Direct outreach:
This is you selling your services without being under a freelance company.
You’d have to identify potential clients through industry directories or online networking groups or social media.
You need a big and strong network to make money
Nobody spends money out of pity again, what’s your value proposition, why should I pay you for your services. You need to learn how to define your skills and value propositions.
Show what is different about you, why people should choose to spend on your services instead of that of other people.
Content Marketing and Networking
You’d have to create content wrapped around your skills and services and put it out slowly building an audience.
Only a seen product or service will sell!
You need visibility to make money if you want to go into content marketing so you have to build an audience by posting valuable content like blog posts, online courses, social media content and doing so consistently. Sometimes I recommend building an audience before selling a service because then you can sell anything to them.
Building an audience also attracts clients and gives you an opportunity to network with freelancers and industry professionals to find referrals and collaboration opportunities
ESSENTIAL FREELANCING SKILLS
Communication and client management
Clear and professional communication with clients can never be overemphasized. You need to know how to understand what you client wants, make them understand what you want and deliver accordingly.
Setting expectations, managing deadlines and exceeding client needs is also important. You need to know how to overdeliver, that’s what will satisfy your clients and retain them.
Project Management and Time Management
You’d need to develop strategies to stay highly organized and productive. Meeting deadlines and delivering high quality work. This is where most freelancers find it tricky. Time management comes to some people naturally and for others it just work. You just have to figure out how to make your time work for you.
Negotiation and Contracts
Figure out and learn effective negotiation techniques, read books and listen to podcasts.
You’re surprised at this point, you just wanted Emeka’s dollars and now I’m telling you to learn marketing. Sorry but it’s very necessary, do you want the dollars or not?
You have to learn how to secure fair rates and Management
Clear contracts too are necessary as they outline scope of work, payment terms and revision policies
Thus you know what is expected of you and your client knows what is expected of them too.
Setting your rates
Now you have gotten to where some people never got to, even I as freelancer never got this guidance and trust me it was difficult trying figure things out.
You have two factors that should determine how much you should charge for the services you offer.
- Your Time
- Your level of mastery
Your time is a big factor that should not be neglected, how much time you’d spend on a project should largely determine how much to charge for it.
You level of mastery is more than how much you know what you are doing. It’s how good you are in delivering the clients idea. If you are a pro then charge a premium and if you are not then become a pro.
If you got here successfully then congratulations, you now know Emeka’s secrets to living a soft life and earning plenty dollars and you have also seen that his life is not entirely soft but just the dollar part but compare it to doing nothing at all?
Congrats on reading to this point Netpreneur!
Till I feel like writing again.