When someone asks me, “How do I learn freelancing? Can I learn freelancing jobs while studying? What does freelancing require to work?” So many thoughts? But what if I teach you something that will help you figure out for yourself what you can do freelancing for good money? In just 4 steps, you can decide what you should learn, what you can do to make an easy income, or what you can do to become a successful freelancer. In the first step, you will learn about your computer.
Step 1: Know your device
To learn about your device, you should note:
- What is your computer/laptop model?
- What processor are you using in your computer?
- Which operating system are you using?
- How many bits of operating system?
- What Microsoft software is installed?
If you don’t know this information, you can click on “My Computer” on your computer/laptop and go to “Properties”.
We think that many high-configuration laptops or computers are needed to learn the tasks of freelancing. But no, you can start with whatever laptop or computer you have. That’s why you need to learn skills suitable for your laptop or computer.
Many people who are new to freelancing want to learn a skill that is easy to learn. If you have basic computer skills and want to advance with these skills, then it would be good for you to learn some simple skills. If you have time, opportunity and ability, learn some special skills and you will be ahead in this competitive world.
Step 2: Decide which skills will work best for you
The skills required to perform freelancing tasks can be broadly divided into 3 categories:
- simple skills,
- Intermediate skill and
- hard skills
Before deciding which skills to learn, you need to have a good understanding of freelancing tasks. In addition to this, you need to know which jobs are in high demand in the freelancing marketplace.
When to learn simple skills?
When you:
- Want to learn skills in 1-2 months
- You can do internet research
- Want to gain skills easily
- Have proficiency in English language
Simple skills for freelancing work include:
- Data Entry
- Article Writing
- Admin Task
- Minor design skills like – banner design, logo design etc.
If you enjoy doing research, you can learn these skills. Let’s move on to the next step. When to learn intermediate skills?
When to learn intermediate skills?
When:
- Want to learn skills in 2-3 months
- Have good computer skills
- Have analytical skills
Intermediate skills are learned when you feel like you will be doing freelancing jobs not only in the marketplace, but also for external clients. These skills need to be learned over time. It is better if you already have an idea about various computer software. With your analytical skills you can decide which course of study will be best for your project.
If you want to learn intermediate skills then the skills you can learn are:
- Digital Marketing
- Design
- WordPress Customization
However, since intermediate skills are made up of many smaller skills, it is not possible to learn the whole skill at once. As such, you cannot learn everything about digital marketing at once. To learn digital marketing, you need to learn the skills of Social Media Marketing, E-mail Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Template Design, Marketing Campaigns, etc. separately.
When to learn hard skills?
If you don’t want to learn intermediate skills, your basics are good and you are willing to take some time to learn skills, then you can learn hard skills. There are many who want to learn programming and development skills in the freelancing world. In this case they have to learn with a lot of time.
You learn hard skills only when:
- Want to learn skills in 3-4 months
- Have good programming/ debugging skills
- Have software knowledge
- You can spend 2-3 hours in practice every day
If you take the time to learn, then you can get jobs in the domestic industry with these skills, not just freelancing jobs. Moreover, you can also work in the local marketplace. Harder skills are a little more difficult to learn, but if learned well, it’s a great investment of your time. Now you can think for yourself which one will be better for you.
Step 3: Learn about the prescribed skills
If you’ve followed step 2 correctly, you’ve probably decided by now what skills you want to learn. In the next step, you need to mentally prepare to learn this skill. The first step is to research the profiles of freelancers working in the sector of the skill you want to learn. See what kind of project they have completed.
- First know what the skill is
- Learn more about skills.
- Do the practice
- Create a portfolio
If you want, you can know what is working from a known freelancer. By doing this you can learn many things easily. Always remember one thing, take time to research first and then learn the work will be a perfect preparation. Don’t do research after learning half the work. You can help yourself determine the right path by researching the job at times.
Step 4: Marketplace Research
In this step you need to research about the marketplace. Here you will know what skills work. Moreover, we should all do research on the home page first rather than creating a profile on the marketplace in the beginning. In the fourth step, you will simply research the ongoing work of various marketplaces. You can save it if you want. Create profile only after researching.
- Research the marketplace category
- Check the profiles of freelancers
- See their overview
- Look at freelancer portfolio designs
By going to the marketplace and doing research like this, you will understand what you actually need to learn to learn the given skill. In words, sight gives us ideas. And with these ideas from the marketplace, you can know which skill will be good for you or what skill needs to be learned.
How to research freelancing skills?
Every skill research has some ground rules. One of them is that you should search on Google to see what kind of jobs are there in the marketplace. For example:
Step 01: Open the web browser
After opening the web browser, go to any freelancing site and you will see that each sector is sectioned.
Moreover, in the drop down of the hire button, you can also see the type of work which type of sector there is and from here you can see the profile and type of work of the freelancers. If you search Google by writing ‘Top Freelancer in Data Entry Sector’, you will get an idea about the work of top freelancers working with data entry. This way you can get information about your assigned skills and marketplace. Just typing in the sector, platform and what skills you want to know about while searching will yield a wealth of information.
Suppose you want to do writing. In that case, if you click on the “Writing” section, you will see the jobs related to writing.
If you want to work with content writing, you should first look at what kind of content buyers are looking for in the marketplace. Again, don’t think this content can be written. Content writing in the international marketplace means content writing in English. It can be written in Spanish or some other European languages, but Bengali content does not work.
If your English language skills are good, you can start by researching this skill and taking some good work samples. Plus if you have an idea of SEO writing as a bonus, getting a job is much easier. SEO writing is a very detailed concept, but in a nutshell, SEO writing is writing content in such a way that search engines find it as accessible to users as possible.
Step 02: Top Skills and Trending Skills
At the bottom of the platform you can see the trending skills as well as the skills that are currently in high demand. Many say like throwing a rock in the sky, learn digital marketing, it will be good! Is it what we say by research? Not even!
I think we’re going a little too far. If someone we know is successful with a particular skill, we want to follow suit. But it is necessary to keep in mind that not everyone has the same talent. Not everyone has the same facilities or basics. So, it’s better if you can explore a bit on all the platforms. This way you can make a decision that is best for you. This will reduce your chances of getting disappointed to a great extent.
Types of Freelancing Jobs:
You can do these 3 types of work in the freelancing sector.
- Long Term (1-6 Months)
- Short Term (1-4 Weeks)
- Complex Project (Specific Requirements)
For every work you have to do 2 types of project price (Hourly/Fixed Price).
By selecting any category you will be asked for your skill level and you can enter entry, intermediate or expert level. As you’re researching in the beginning, it’s best to look for “entry level” jobs and the safer option. Later, once you adapt to the marketplace, you will understand your skill level.
There are skills in the marketplace that we already know are in demand. We call this type of skill basic skill. There are also skills that are in demand that are not usually learned without need or purpose. That is, we have to learn what we don’t know and work on what we do know. By researching the marketplace, you will get an idea of your current situation and where you need to work.
During the research you can learn some small tasks found in the research. By doing this you can do fixed price jobs. Not only earn money, these jobs will also help you build your portfolio. After that, if you are more skilled then you can do long term job.
Some tips for beginner freelancers
- Always read the job description carefully. Understand each project well and let the client know how you can complete their project.
- In our country we usually call someone Sir/Ma’am, but the client will not mind if you address him as Mr/Ms (his/her name).
- Talk about work but try to maintain a friendly relationship with the client. Always check the website or Facebook and give some well-thought-out advice to the client about the service or business. By doing this he will understand your research capability and you will be able to grow the project according to his mind.
- If possible, connect with the client on social media or Skype. That way, if a project comes up later that suits you, he can find you and offer you freelancing again. and may recommend to others.
- Your profile is the power booster in freelancing. And in today’s era, video content can deliver the most powerful message. So you can add a video to your profile where you have an introduction. This will help your client understand how professional you are and whether he can work with you or not.
- Even after the completion of the project, you can keep track of the clients by messaging them after many days, asking them about their services. This makes the client feel that you care not only about his project, but also about your working relationship. The next time he needs the same service, he will definitely remember you.
