A Freelancer is the one who works for themselves not for any company or organization. In which the freelancer take projects or contract work from the company and do by themselves. They are basically employed for themselves. Freelancing has been a option but it has come in trend since the pandemic has started due to employment issues.

A freelancer need to be updated with the current trends, need to improvise their writing styles on regular basis and should keep searching for work opportunities. A freelancer’s job can be challenging considering the individual dealing with all the administrative and financial issues. Its not like that freelancing is only in specific roles, anybody can start it in their own interested line. But as in current scenario the most in demand opportunities for a freelancer are as follows-

• Photography and Videography
• Graphic Designer
• SEO
• Social media expert
• Website designer
• Website Development (coding, developers, software engineer, etc)
• Virtual Assistant
• Content Writer

The main question arises is ‘How to start a career in freelancing?’

Anyone can start with freelancing by finding the right marketable skills and polishing their skills correctly and completely. The amin element in this field is reputation and contacts, the better reputation one will have the better standards of work will maintained. The beginner should have a nice presentable portfolio with all their work they have done be it for the company or for themselves. In addition to this, as the one is joining to start with freelancing, they should begin with doing part-time. Finding the right freelancing platform to begin with and continue is such an important step. Also, one of the important aspect is the prices. How the person presents their own selves, their portfolio and the rates according to their work and the client.

Pros and Cons of Freelance are as follows-

Pros – Having control over own workload, the clients to work with and own income is significant benefit of freelancing. When one starts with freelance, the owner is the boss. They need not to pay anybody nor share their profits or losses. You determine what opportunity to grab, which clients to work for and your own pay rate. Depending on level of expertise, its possible to work part-time but make full-time pay. Flexibility and remote work are also one of the advantages. Usually , working on freelance projects include working from home meaning from your own work space during the hour you choose. You will obviously have deadlines to meet, but you will decide when and where to work.

Cons –

• Lack of resources
• Isolation
• Lack of employees benefits
• No support system to meet the deadlines
• Sole responsibility of work
• The continuous workflow for one person to handle
• Sporadic work pattern

Traits needed as a Freelancer

1. Discipline – As no one is there to judge you or correct you for distractions or not working properly or delaying the submission date. Self-discipline is very important.
2. Persistence – Persistence is always important, but its importance increases when you started as freelancer and trying to track down work.
3. Resilience – It’s so important to get over the loss quickly and maintaining the work going.
4. Organization – You’re responsible for a lot of different tasks. It’s up to you to keep track of your income and expenses, promptly reply to client emails, stay on top of your deadlines, keep your files sorted, and make sure your workload is streamlined.
5. Proactive – You don’t necessarily need to be outgoing in the traditional sense, but you do need to be a little aggressive to land new clients. If you want to grow your business, you’re going to have to be comfortable networking and approaching strangers, whether you’re doing it in person or digitally.

Communicative – Being a freelancer involves a lot of communication. You need to be willing to have the hard conversations—like negotiating a higher rate or breaking up with a client—and handle them tactfully and professionally. There’s no boss or other colleague to take care of that dirty work for you.