Top 5 Best Freelance Websites for Beginners

A Free-worker

So, you decided to embark on the freelancing world?

You must be scared and nervous. After all, even though it has been around for years now, freelancing is a whole new experience. Especially if you were used to the usual form of job.

But, do not be!

Freelancing, as the name subtly suggests, frees you while you work. Yes--you are on your vacay leave every day while earning! But, the start always gets tough...

 

The Transition

How to Ready Yourself for Freelancing

We Understand that these times, big-changes-decision times, can be a dark cloud above you for days. Leaving the norm was never easy, even if it is for doing what we want.

There will be tears, confusion in the first few months and possible moments of pseudo-regrets. But, this is why you should take time thinking things out: whether or not this is the right time to leave the usual job to freelance.

Another question: Are you ready for the big, life-changing decision to be a freelancer?

According to Forbes,

"Here are the three steps to making a thoughtful decision about your next move:

Here’s step one: Are you emotionally ready?

As humans, we are primed to emphasize the negative in decision making. Behavioral economists call this the negativity bias: the tendency for humans to pay more attention, or give more weight to negative experiences over neutral or positive experiences, or to focus on the negative in assessing alternative actions or choices. Its meant to be protective but sometimes it leads you to the wrong conclusion. So, talk with the successful freelancers you know and make an informed judgment of your general emotional readiness.

Step two: Are you professionally and personally ready? Be clear-eyed about your credentials, skills, and readiness for a change, and ensure you have de-risked your situation to the extent possible. For example:

●     If freelancing doesn’t work for you would your employer welcome your return, or do you have other contingencies “just in case”?

●     Have you determined whether your skills are what the freelance market is looking for? It is important to have a realistic understanding of the skill-market match, your likely rate as a freelancer, and the longevity of that rate over 3-5 years?

●     If you need to build expertise in new areas, this is your time to determine what, how and by when

●     Are you comfortable with the reality of a freelancers’ life; for example, working in an office with known colleagues is far more social than working at home or in a co-work space? Will that be difficult for you? For others in your life?

●     Can you handle a moderate degree of income uncertainty, or will that be problematic?

●     Are the people in your life whom you depend on, and who depend on you, ready for the change? Make sure you all understand the impact of the change

Step three: Are you commercially ready? Once you’ve worked through the readiness to make a change, and your understanding of the freelance life, use the analysis below to test whether you are commercially ready:

●     First, Make a list of all of the costs you will bear in starting up your freelance business: equipment, assistance, etc. Make sure you’ve identified all of these costs and don’t guess: seek the guidance of freelancing colleagues. Then, add 25% to be sure

●     Second, identify your assured clients and other sources of income. Now, make a list of all the clients you can count on, the contracts you feel very confident you can count on, and the total income you are confident that you can earn in the first year

●     Third, take the client list and whittle it down to those on whom you can truly depend. This is a challenging but crucial step. As a General once said, “hope is not a plan.” Only count those clients and those revenues that you feel certain will be realized

●     Fourth, divide the resulting "count on" income in half. This next step is crucial; it ensures a conservative bias in estimating whether you will be financially OK. You may have to depend on savings at first, but it is very important when you are making a big career step to know you have an acceptable cushion. Most businesses fail first because they are underfunded.

●     Fifth, trust but verify. As challenging as it may be to you, the last step is going to your shortlist of “count on” clients and testing whether you can fully expect the work and income"

So, having that all laid out, we hope you now have the proper decision. We do not want you to be in trouble, after all!

But, assuming you are now very convinced to begin freelancing, let us show you the list of…

Top 5 Best Freelance Websites for Beginners

A way to help you start, we listed our top 5 freelance sites for beginners (or freelance writing jobs for beginners, if you are aiming for a writing career)!

1.    Upwork

Through Upwork businesses get more done, connecting with freelancers to work on projects from web and mobile app development to SEO, social media marketing, content writing, graphic design, admin help and thousands of other projects. Upwork makes it fast, simple, and cost-effective to find, hire, work with, and pay the best professionals anywhere, any time.

2.    Fiverr

Fiverr's mission to grow and cultivate the world’s largest digital marketplace, a place where people can find and purchase any service they need, and build any business they dream. As an employee, your work is inspired by the success of our users and the celebration of your personal growth.

3.    24Task-Virtual Assistants

24Task is a remote staffing company that provides various kinds of virtual assistance services. The company was founded in 2014, and our office is based in the Philippines. Every client gets to choose their desired employee to work exclusively and dedicatedly for them from our well-equipped and supervised office.

With their commitment to the ultimate experience, you will receive a dedicated assistant who will learn exactly what you want, how you want it, and when you want it. Your dedicated assistant is trained to offer you consistent amazing results without fail.

4.    Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is the world's largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by a number of users and projects. We connect over 38,323,588 employers and freelancers globally from over 247 countries, regions and territories. Through their marketplace, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, writing, data entry, and design right through to engineering, the sciences, sales and marketing, accounting and legal services.

5.    Envato Studio

Envato Studio is a community of hand-picked designers, developers, and digital talent, available to work on your project. From logo design to web development, video production, ES makes it easy to connect and work together to get your job done.

So, that is a wrap: our top 5 freelance jobs online for beginners just for you!

Just remember--

●     Breathe

●     Take it easy

●     Take it slow, and

●     Dream on.

We root for you!