Sharing My Experience As A Freelancer - Page 1

Hi everyone,

I saw some post about interests in working at home and I for one am all for that. I thought I'd share some experiences I have with this because circumstances had caused me to look for alternative ways to generate income to sustain my family. And I've only been married for 1.5 years!!! From a family aspect, I can't really say I fully comprehend the pressure and the expectation of being a bread-winner but I'm getting there. I've been fortunate with my initial start as a freelancer and I hope that by sharing my experiences here, you too can be encouraged and know that it is possible to generate income.

10 years ago, if you wanted to look for extra income, you had to get out of the house and look for one but with the growing and evolving technology of the internet, there are better ways to generate income online.

When I got married last year, I fell into the trap thinking that now, our little family's finances would double and I was so wrong. Finances probably halved or 1/3 because our costs went up! After a couple of months eating into our savings, we struggled. One day, after hashing it out with God regarding His power to provide, I suddenly had a flashback. It must have been God because I had just finished given Him a piece of my mind. That flashback was a childhood memory in which I completed some house chores in exchange for some promised cash from my mum and when I got it, I eagerly went to buy a toy I had seen in the shop. A set of toy belt and pistols with a sheriff's badge. I walked home proudly wearing them on my person. Somehow that flashback led me to think about doing freelancing, an idea that I've had for a number of years but failed to execute it. So I googled it and was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

Freelancing had found its way on the internet and is generating an global community. I found a lot of sites dedicated to freelancing work and I signed up on all of them. After going through the grueling task of creating my online freelancer identity, I had to go through some tests. These tests are a series of questions by the websites regarding the categories that I chose as my "area of expertise". It was to certify that I have some knowledge on the subject. I found that these tests helps to give confidence to whoever it is that wants to hire me.

When that was done, I started to look at different projects and bid on them. I didn't really know what I was doing and I started to observe what other freelancers were doing, saying and bidding and I did likewise. It was a case of the blind leading the blind. I bid on anything and everything that I could. Those that at least I have some knowledge or skill. Finally, a generous employer decided to hire me for some data entry work. That was my first freelancing job and it was tedious. I did it anyway because I knew it was a start. Finally after a couple of hours of work, I got paid a handsome $16 for my efforts. It took about 3 days of 6-hour slots. That meant my current earnings was less than $1 per hour. It was disheartening to see such meager amount but I was encouraged to see my freelancer account has one 5-star review from this employer. That set me apart from the newbies who make up, I believe, about 15% of the freelancers.

There's more than I will share but this will be the first part. If you have any questions, I would love to answer them.
 
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