Even the most successful freelancers are always on the hunt for new projects to work.
Finding new work should be a daily focus for every freelancer. While retaining new clients through consistent top quality work on past projects is an option, they may not need your help again very soon (especially if you’ve done a solid job the first time around.) Getting new clients then becomes a challenge as the market is vast and getting your name out, especially when you’re just starting out, is an arduous ordeal.
Word-of-mouth recommendations are an extremely powerful tool, yet it isn’t something you can rely upon to consistently keep yourself busy with projects. As a freelancer, you need to be out there looking for new projects every single day. Perhaps you may not win the project, but just getting your name into the conversation will ensure that potential clients will consider you as an option the next time they have a creative need.
What you need to be doing is to religiously spending a little time everyday scouring certain job boards for new work opportunities. Put your best foot forward and give your best pitches to listings on freelancers.
Here are a few websites which we consider to be essential spaces for any Indian freelancer to be present on:
Envato Design Studio
Envato Studio is a freelance marketplace powered by the Envato Network, one of the largest and most successful online networks who have paid out more than $250 million to the community. They do have a review system before accepting new freelancers into their network. Once that is done and you’re in their network, Envato is almost a hassle-free experience for the freelancer.
The website brings in tonnes of new clients everyday, ensure your money is safe by taking the fee upfront from clients and handle all administrative work from invoicing to settling disputes. They take a 30% commission from the total project value for their services.
Fiverr
Fiverr is geared towards lean entrepreneurs who are looking to hire talent for short-term projects. It is a good marketplace for those starting out and looking for some interesting work. The way Fiverr works is that you create your profile and post your gig, selling your services at costs starting from $5. Prospective clients will scour the boards and if they find your gig attractive, they will contact you.
Fiverr takes a 20% commission for their services. They have also started a more exclusive, hand vetted service for higher value projects called as Fiverr Pro.
Freelancer
Freelancer is a user-friendly website that makes searching for jobs simple. It claims to be the “simplest and safest way to get work done online” and is definitely a place you need a presence on just because of the sheer volume of work happening over their platform. The website allows to get work in multiple ways, from actively bidding on projects and joining contests to passively getting job requests by being a service provider and getting your work showcased on their portal.
The portal charges between 5-10% per project as well as additional charges for bonus membership packs, increased number of bids, sponsored bids, etc.
Guru
Guru is a global network of over 1.5 million freelancers, working in the fields of development, creative and business. While not exclusively for creative professionals, there is a great need for creative freelancers on Guru including designers, writers and fine artists. Guru also offers daily job matches, saving you the task of scouring through the job boards looking for jobs which you think are right for you.
There are no costs to use Guru as a freelancer when starting out. You can buy upgraded membership on the website for other privileges including a reduced commission fee. On a basic membership, the website charges 8.95% commission per project. You can also purchase extra bids at an added cost.
IndieFolio
India’s largest online market-network for creative professionals is a great platform for freelancers. They have a network of over 40,000 creative professionals. With tonnes of freelance listings being posted everyday, IndieFolio is great platform for any Indian creative professional to be on. They have an intuitive portfolio builder which allows to upload projects from scratch if you wish or you can also import them from other platforms with one click.
IndieFolio is a completely free platform for creative professionals and they do not charge any commission for freelance project listings.
While LinkedIn isn’t known for being a platform for freelancers, it definitely can be used to network online and find more work. With 500 million people using LinkedIn, there is no shortage of people in need for creative freelancers on that platform. With the endorsements tab, you can ask previous clients to leave their review of you. You can also post your work up to let people know your work. Message potential clients and introduce yourself. Let them know that if they’re ever in need for a freelancer they can get in touch with you.
LinkedIn can be an incredibly powerful platform and can assist you in finding a lot of work online if utilized well. Since LinkedIn doesn’t directly facilitate any freelance work opportunities, any work attained via the platform is completely yours without needing to pay any commission.
Upwork
Arguably the most well-known site for freelance job-seekers, Upwork caters to both expert and novice freelancers in every conceivable job category. On creating a profile, Upwork will themselves highlight ideal jobs for your to take on. Clients can also invite you to bid and work on projects. Each project has an online workspace shared between you and the client allowing you’ll to securly send and receive files, get feedback instantly, etc. There is also a mobile app to keep working while on the go.
You can choose to work on an hourly basis or at a fixed price. Upwork allows you to submit timesheets for the former and set milestones for the latter. All payments happen through Upwork who use an escrow system to ensure your funds are safe. Upwork reduces the commission they charge based on the total project value you have with a particular client. It is 20% for the first $500 and reduces to only 5% when your lifetime billings with a particular client exceeds $10,000.
