March 18, 2009 at 12:40Freelance practice
Nowadays, it’s quite easy to find “12 rules of a freelancer”, or “20 tips for a freelancer”, or even a “bible of freelance” on the net.
Everyone has a different attitude to this phenomenon, different experiences or prejudices. By the way, there are a lot of negative opinions.
I would not want to write another guide "how to earn $ 10,000 per month." I will share my small but positive experience in the role of “Freelancer” and some conclusions. This experience made my freelance work comfortable and profitable.
It all started a few months ago. What they called the “Crisis” weakened the flow of orders and slowed down the activities of the studio’s internal projects. I have forgotten how to waste time for a long time, but it just became a lot.
I had a choice: to take time with a “creative flight”, or to find additional paid orders. But honestly, I did not want to refuse additional money at all.
Orders are always there, it is a fact. They even painted posters during the war. By the way, I forgot to tell a little about myself: I am a graphic designer. Web, multimedia, animation, and even printing are all about me. Actually, I always liked animation, in particular, flash. This is what I decided to do, calming, thereby, and my greed and creative conscience.
Orders are always there. They only need to be found. Since ordinary sources froze for a while, I went to a place where they can be found quickly and a lot - for freelance. More precisely, on the “order exchange”. In general, for me this is the first such experience, which is probably why, my level of specialist was more than nullified by the lack of experience in freelance.
AREA.
In a week, a couple of dozens of various forums were watched, at which naive artisans expected to see projects, and quite decent portals with a respectable audience.
Along with the choice of "source", I faced the choice of "a halo of habitat." To work: whether it is for me in Russia or to look “there”.
I started with Russian resources. Of the "ours" I note free-lance.ru and weblancer.net. Moreover, the impression was that the first order is more interesting, and the function of previewing works from the portfolio in the “rates” can be decisive when choosing a freelancer, but more on that later. I also met frank freaks from the industry, for example, web-lancer.com where the main page is littered with spam or freelancejob.ru, where after a paid registration you watch the dull appearance of 1-3 projects a week.
In general, here is additional information on freelance resources: habrahabr.ru/blogs/freelance/27177
Communication with foreign portals did not work out. And the point is not even in the language, which is still rather weak for me to communicate freely by telephone. With more projects, higher competition from 3rd world countries. Dumping prices. I used getafreelancer.com, terribly not convenient. No, as such, a portfolio, or I did not find? .. Only a list of works performed through this service. And at the very beginning, even the specialist does not have such. For 2 weeks I left the service without catching anything there.
START.
So. I settled on freelance and simultaneously registered for weblas.
Threw better works in the portfolio. Not so little, there are those that are proud. I am actively applying for projects, I write directly to employers ...
One, two weeks, and the effect is zero. Let’s think about it: either you didn’t come out with something, or you don’t understand something. The situation needs to be sorted out somehow, I thought. Rummaged in old works "from past centuries", and threw them into the portfolio. No less work than the "gurus", the quality is also like nothing. And there are no orders!
I started to steam about the textual content of my bets. Made up mini-commercial offers. Copy and customize texts of other freelancers insolently (may my competitors forgive me) ... it was even simply noted in the project without text. The situation did not change much. I was already thinking about throwing these gestures.
“PRO”, “VIP”, “GOLD”.
The treasured "GOLD" opposite the name of a freelancer, is filled with customers of holy awe - in front of them are pros. It doesn’t matter that it costs about $ 20 per month and is not related to professional qualities. Customers stubbornly continue to trust the “pro”, although, for the most part, this is only a sign of commitment to the service than an indicator of the seriousness of the employee. 60% of the rating and any regalia on services are created not at the expense of professionalism, but in money and using specific services.
You just have to put up with it. Money is not big and pay off in a couple of hours. Realizing this, I began to receive first orders. Actually, I immediately realized another specificity - the client loves with his eyes and wallet. He wants to immediately see pictures from your portfolio and prices. And nothing more! And you should not assure him that you are a hereditary horse breeder, and your mares are the best in the "Old World". The client has 2 seconds to catch you from the stream. Later, he reads your resume, looks at reviews.
By the way, from all freelance services, only on free-lance.ru you can display examples of work in the application in the form of preview images. Judging by the change in the flow of my work, it is very convenient for clients - they do not need to go to 30 pages of the resume, just see a couple of pictures. Applications without previews work worse. With a preview you can not even write anything.
2 factors: decision speed and competition.
PORTFOLIO.
This is your face. 90% of the decision will be made based on the work in the portfolio. I got the impression that the customers do not evaluate the experience as a whole, but the specific work: “I like that,” “I don’t have to go to the portfolio without such work.” You can have 10 incredible presentations, but if you do not have the most frail banner in your portfolio, then you can’t see the order like your own ears. This is where you start to wonder: do I need to put everything on public display, or only the best? Few works in the portfolio will tell you about your laziness and that you have few works. There were direct questions - why not enough work? All again because of speed and competition. A person has little time to choose a performer (there are many of them), and his illiteracy in the matter exacerbates the situation - he is looking in your works for what he needs in the end.
Quite by accident, I conducted an experiment: having 2 accounts on different services, I filled out the full portfolio on where I bought the “pro”, and on the second I put only a link to the first portfolio. The result - from the first service a constant stream of orders, from the second full calm, in general, zero!
No one is watching links. They use the internal portfolio of the service because it has a single structure for all freelancers. And do not go into the jungle of individualism. And the websites of different specialists are often distinguished by originality of presentation. In this case, it is harmful. So, do not be lazy to fill out a portfolio on the service. And let a third-party personal site be in addition to the overall picture.
PRICES.
In general, in the early days, desperate to receive at least some orders, I began dumping. And thank God that I quickly left this practice, especially since it had little effect on receiving orders. I would have scored a penny, and would have worked like a black man.
You need to set good, normal prices that are adequate for you. It makes no sense to underestimate. Your client will be found sooner or later, and if the price is adequate, it will cover downtime. Your price, it is also a sign of self-esteem, it works at a subconscious level, especially when the only quality criterion that is accessible to understanding is price. Well, or work “like a black man on a plantation.” You can overlook your work in any studio. Paying for the work of the studio, the customer pays for the work for you and 10 guys. Paying only to you, but with a bonus, he still saves.
How to put an adequate price? I count on my requests per month. I divide the amount by the number of working hours, and then I multiply the price per hour by the objectively necessary time for the project (with delays, approval, etc.). In general, a lot of useful things can be found here: habrahabr.ru/blogs/blog_sersh/53702
CUSTOMERS.
First of all, you need to understand that clients on freelance services have their own specifics. They are all different, they have different education, upbringing (!), Experience. It makes no sense to describe everyone. But they have one thing in common: they all came for low prices, and often, at the last minute.
In general, everything is as if outside of freelance, only the speed of decision-making is higher (time is tight) and all-pervasive competition.
As in non-freelance practice, customers are divided into inadequate and sane. The first, or have small budgets and large requests, or large requests and a complete lack of understanding of what they need. By "what they need" I do not mean the final product, but the awareness of the work of a professional. Everything is as usual, only reacting to them is different.
The sane customers know where to turn, how much the services really cost and how to conduct cooperation. There are fewer of them, but these are potential "regular customers." You will not ignore their messages after completion of work. And if you honestly did your job, they will correctly evaluate you and remember you for the future / advise others.
“INadequate” CUSTOMERS.
They may have a big wallet. Their projects can potentially become a decoration of the portfolio. But. All this can result in big losses of time, and as a result, money.
Often, customer inadequacy comes from ignorance of the specifics of the work. Out of fear. He has to turn to new people, entrust them with his hard-earned money, his “face”. Man is afraid, and the best defense is attack!
This often ends with a “self-affirmation”, in the form of groundless criticism of everything and everything (maybe you’ll hurt a weak spot), and once scolded, please follow to make amends. A misunderstanding of the market leads to the fact that the customer, having paid a good (not overpriced) price, begins to think that he has bought the soul and body of a freelancer, and can do whatever he wants with them. And he backs it all up with phrases like: “I paid as for a Rolls-Royce, and the guy from s. Fedorovka undertakes to do this for a third of the price! ” In addition to fear, one can be forced to intervene in the work of a specialist by his own unrealized creative potential. And for such work you need to "give milk for harm."
Do not forget. The customer came to the freelancer - the guy on the other end of the wire, and not to the studio with a good office and friendly staff. The level of respect at the first stage is different.
Communication with "inadequacies", provoked by any need, turns into a headache and losses. Customers themselves pay for such communication, having received a “bumpy” product, and designers who spend a lot of energy on balancing all “this”. The deadlines are broken by 10 options, communication all the time takes place on the verge of slamming doors. I don’t feel like talking again.
But we are on freelance! There are 10 more! A couple of days of searches (which you lose on the "creative" of the customer) may give another order.
HOW TO CAPE INadequate?
The recipe is simple: listen to what they say.
Here are the "disturbing phrases":
"Past designers let me down" - he was initially set up that you can let him down, did not evaluate the portfolio, does not believe that you are a specialist who can.
“I am very demanding”- it is equivalent to “I'll get you still”, again, he doesn’t believe that you can do it yourself, it will constantly interfere.
“This color speaks of mourning, the fonts are small, and in general, read it yourself” - a classic, the client is smarter than you, leave him alone to create, kindly. Otherwise, it will end with mutual insults.
“The budget is $ 500, but if you impress, then $ 1000” - This is money, it is a pity, therefore, you will never be impressed so that you are paid $ 1000. They play with you, but you need to work.
In theory, you need to be able to work with both of them. Moreover, often some seem at first different. And having undertaken obligations and an advance payment, you will already be compelled to work with them. A prepayment can also be spent and lose the opportunity to turn around.
But if you do not filter customers, then you will spend half of your time on difficult, exhausting or not generating revenue orders. You should never forget: to find a replacement for an "objectionable" freelancer is often simple (speed of decision making and competition), in the end you will be left with nothing.
Do not be afraid of free time, spend it on rest and self-improvement, as a result it will be more useful. Moreover, in the "fresh" state you will work faster and better. Anyway - do as much as possible only what you like. The internal struggle with oneself only harms. The flow of orders on freelance is always large, catch a new order tomorrow. I had to make an order, the ethics of which were in doubt. I did the work, the client, and I am satisfied. But you can’t put it in the portfolio, and the emotions during the work exhausted.
COMMUNICATION WITH CUSTOMERS.
Actually, this is half the success. This must be understood.
Introducing yourself completely in communication is good. Nick is bad. Although the portal itself is called as you like.
I won’t tell you how exactly it is worth communicating - I’m not sure that I am a Guru in this area, please contact those who think differently. I can only say that you should not be afraid. Mail is better than the portal’s internal messenger (they’ll look at mail for sure), icq is better than mail, Skype is better than icq, Phone is better than Skype, and nothing can replace a meeting. In general, more open communication can expand the budget. Proponents of remote anonymous work - think.
WHY DO YOU NEED A PAYMENT?
Often, customers complain that freelancers are "obsessed" with prepayment, for example: habrahabr.ru/blogs/freelance/28230
Do not listen to them. They themselves, with their customers, work on the principle of "morning money, evening chairs."
Prepayment is your only “shield." An advance payment, at times, “sticks together” a project — it forces both parties to hold the gap, thereby allowing it to be completed. At a minimum, it is worth using “safe transactions” if the client is afraid to get overt slag. Again, personally, at the very beginning, I came across several "contestants".
The competition of freelancers is generally a separate issue. The client receives “average pennies”, on average, 100 layouts, 20% of which are sane. The budgets of such contests are usually minimal, and freelancers rarely spend more than one evening on the next logo. 3-4 hours, with the ability to get $ 200 is quite tempting. But the choice falls more often on the most “no” work. Therefore, you rarely see a worthy designer there, or they merge their old sketches into contests.
Clients "competitors" are very cunning guys. They create a sketch contest, “forgetting” to say so to freelancers. Yes, then I was a green freelancer. I’m more used to direct communication with the end customer. But on the freelance of such units, more often the customers themselves are the performers, and they need to provide your customer with their best practices. So, the "contestant" gives you and 5 freelancers one task, you spend a day on a sketch, and they stop talking to you, saying: "it did not fit." Everything seems to be honest, on the one hand, well, I didn’t get into the topic. But no one warned you about the contest. You spent the day of your work, every hour of your work costs money. The decision of the end customer can be influenced by anything, the weather, for example. It may not even be a sketch. Sometimes you just need to "find" the right solution.
Prepayment eliminates all lovers of "tenders".
Say you need to be able to fight? “That guy” is fighting for you, the failure of the sketch will be on his conscience. So calm your and do not mess.
PAYMENT.
I came across the technical side of payment on the very first project. Quite widespread currencies on WM and Yandex money freelance.
Roughly speaking, getting the amount to your WM wallet doesn’t mean getting them into “live use”, unless of course you integrate into the web environment so much that you don’t need cash.
I had to spend my nerves and time to learn about the methods of cashing out all these electronic currencies, and there are also interest for cashing out, sometimes substantial. Money transfers like "Contact" are also able to spoil the blood. Not all types of transfers may be in the customer’s city, so you will receive for some unpopular one whose only branch is on the other side of the city. And this is not always convenient. Residents of both capitals will agree with me.
For the convenience of customers, you can use different types of transfers, electronic currencies. But at one fine moment it may turn out that on your 3 “wallets” there is, on the whole, the average amount, but individually the amounts are insignificant. Each system has its own type of cashing, so you will wander around the city ... like me. You can of course translate everything into one currency, fortunately, there are plenty of electronic exchange points. But this is again the interest. After the case when I had to collect a penny of fees from different systems, I chose one currency + picked up 2 types of transfers, the most common in the CIS and the points of which are near the house.
Failures.
There were. Unpleasant. But I was smart enough to refuse at the first opportunity. He presented an intermediate option so that the customer could score a gap for a while. I did not receive an angry response, I did not spoil the “face”. He himself had experience with freelancers, breakfasts and frankly bad sketches only exacerbate the situation of the customer. And you won’t get any money. It’s better to give people a chance to find another and fix things as soon as possible.
Here, by the way, is useful material where the topic is disclosed: habrahabr.ru/blogs/freelance/48818
SCHEDULE.
Need, definitely. Take time to sleep and rest, you need to sleep at least 6, and preferably 8 hours a day, and even better, at the same time. Ideally, when achieving a stable order flow, limit yourself to 6 or 7 hours of work per day. You can’t work in “stress” for a long time, the limit is calculated in days, fall off from a cold during exhaustion, and you will be sick for a week.
LOAD.
There was a time when I took 2 orders at once. Both were interesting, in the end, I nearly failed both. He coped, but then slept for a day and another day did not want to do anything.
It’s better to make one order well than merge two. Make a schedule of work, if there are several orders, leave at least 2 days between them (no one canceled the force majors).
WHAT CAN YOU HAVE ON Freelance?
My answer is all that a specialist in demand on the market wants. The main thing is not to waste time in vain on potential “brakes” like customers who need to be blabbed. You should always remember the speed of decision-making and competition, both freelancers and customers. I will not name specific amounts, they can fully correspond to a good payment in the studio, corresponding to the level of a specialist.
What do unclaimed specialists do not know. For example, an order for industrial modeling was seen 1 time. Perhaps it is worth picking up another, more demanded, sphere of activity.
Actually, if I decide to dwell on the role of a specialist, I will consider the freelance option as quite acceptable.
PSI would like to note that much of this article is not suitable for a beginner on the path of a specialist. A good constant stream of orders, the ability to refuse and choose, can only be achieved by a certain level of professional. A beginner should take whatever comes across, it is advisable to filter orders, too, but even a “bad” experience is good. Lost in youth 500 rubles. save in the future 500 000 rubles. I consider it even contraindicated to try to find myself on freelance when there is no experience in “office” work. It is better to start working with any, even the smallest, company. Constant contact with living people, the exchange of experience are indispensable. This is not necessary: habrahabr.ru/blogs/f1/49807 Only if in the form of a rare practice.
Everyone has a different attitude to this phenomenon, different experiences or prejudices. By the way, there are a lot of negative opinions.
I would not want to write another guide "how to earn $ 10,000 per month." I will share my small but positive experience in the role of “Freelancer” and some conclusions. This experience made my freelance work comfortable and profitable.
It all started a few months ago. What they called the “Crisis” weakened the flow of orders and slowed down the activities of the studio’s internal projects. I have forgotten how to waste time for a long time, but it just became a lot.
I had a choice: to take time with a “creative flight”, or to find additional paid orders. But honestly, I did not want to refuse additional money at all.
Orders are always there, it is a fact. They even painted posters during the war. By the way, I forgot to tell a little about myself: I am a graphic designer. Web, multimedia, animation, and even printing are all about me. Actually, I always liked animation, in particular, flash. This is what I decided to do, calming, thereby, and my greed and creative conscience.
Orders are always there. They only need to be found. Since ordinary sources froze for a while, I went to a place where they can be found quickly and a lot - for freelance. More precisely, on the “order exchange”. In general, for me this is the first such experience, which is probably why, my level of specialist was more than nullified by the lack of experience in freelance.
AREA.
In a week, a couple of dozens of various forums were watched, at which naive artisans expected to see projects, and quite decent portals with a respectable audience.
Along with the choice of "source", I faced the choice of "a halo of habitat." To work: whether it is for me in Russia or to look “there”.
I started with Russian resources. Of the "ours" I note free-lance.ru and weblancer.net. Moreover, the impression was that the first order is more interesting, and the function of previewing works from the portfolio in the “rates” can be decisive when choosing a freelancer, but more on that later. I also met frank freaks from the industry, for example, web-lancer.com where the main page is littered with spam or freelancejob.ru, where after a paid registration you watch the dull appearance of 1-3 projects a week.
In general, here is additional information on freelance resources: habrahabr.ru/blogs/freelance/27177
Communication with foreign portals did not work out. And the point is not even in the language, which is still rather weak for me to communicate freely by telephone. With more projects, higher competition from 3rd world countries. Dumping prices. I used getafreelancer.com, terribly not convenient. No, as such, a portfolio, or I did not find? .. Only a list of works performed through this service. And at the very beginning, even the specialist does not have such. For 2 weeks I left the service without catching anything there.
START.
So. I settled on freelance and simultaneously registered for weblas.
Threw better works in the portfolio. Not so little, there are those that are proud. I am actively applying for projects, I write directly to employers ...
One, two weeks, and the effect is zero. Let’s think about it: either you didn’t come out with something, or you don’t understand something. The situation needs to be sorted out somehow, I thought. Rummaged in old works "from past centuries", and threw them into the portfolio. No less work than the "gurus", the quality is also like nothing. And there are no orders!
I started to steam about the textual content of my bets. Made up mini-commercial offers. Copy and customize texts of other freelancers insolently (may my competitors forgive me) ... it was even simply noted in the project without text. The situation did not change much. I was already thinking about throwing these gestures.
“PRO”, “VIP”, “GOLD”.
The treasured "GOLD" opposite the name of a freelancer, is filled with customers of holy awe - in front of them are pros. It doesn’t matter that it costs about $ 20 per month and is not related to professional qualities. Customers stubbornly continue to trust the “pro”, although, for the most part, this is only a sign of commitment to the service than an indicator of the seriousness of the employee. 60% of the rating and any regalia on services are created not at the expense of professionalism, but in money and using specific services.
You just have to put up with it. Money is not big and pay off in a couple of hours. Realizing this, I began to receive first orders. Actually, I immediately realized another specificity - the client loves with his eyes and wallet. He wants to immediately see pictures from your portfolio and prices. And nothing more! And you should not assure him that you are a hereditary horse breeder, and your mares are the best in the "Old World". The client has 2 seconds to catch you from the stream. Later, he reads your resume, looks at reviews.
By the way, from all freelance services, only on free-lance.ru you can display examples of work in the application in the form of preview images. Judging by the change in the flow of my work, it is very convenient for clients - they do not need to go to 30 pages of the resume, just see a couple of pictures. Applications without previews work worse. With a preview you can not even write anything.
2 factors: decision speed and competition.
PORTFOLIO.
This is your face. 90% of the decision will be made based on the work in the portfolio. I got the impression that the customers do not evaluate the experience as a whole, but the specific work: “I like that,” “I don’t have to go to the portfolio without such work.” You can have 10 incredible presentations, but if you do not have the most frail banner in your portfolio, then you can’t see the order like your own ears. This is where you start to wonder: do I need to put everything on public display, or only the best? Few works in the portfolio will tell you about your laziness and that you have few works. There were direct questions - why not enough work? All again because of speed and competition. A person has little time to choose a performer (there are many of them), and his illiteracy in the matter exacerbates the situation - he is looking in your works for what he needs in the end.
Quite by accident, I conducted an experiment: having 2 accounts on different services, I filled out the full portfolio on where I bought the “pro”, and on the second I put only a link to the first portfolio. The result - from the first service a constant stream of orders, from the second full calm, in general, zero!
No one is watching links. They use the internal portfolio of the service because it has a single structure for all freelancers. And do not go into the jungle of individualism. And the websites of different specialists are often distinguished by originality of presentation. In this case, it is harmful. So, do not be lazy to fill out a portfolio on the service. And let a third-party personal site be in addition to the overall picture.
PRICES.
In general, in the early days, desperate to receive at least some orders, I began dumping. And thank God that I quickly left this practice, especially since it had little effect on receiving orders. I would have scored a penny, and would have worked like a black man.
You need to set good, normal prices that are adequate for you. It makes no sense to underestimate. Your client will be found sooner or later, and if the price is adequate, it will cover downtime. Your price, it is also a sign of self-esteem, it works at a subconscious level, especially when the only quality criterion that is accessible to understanding is price. Well, or work “like a black man on a plantation.” You can overlook your work in any studio. Paying for the work of the studio, the customer pays for the work for you and 10 guys. Paying only to you, but with a bonus, he still saves.
How to put an adequate price? I count on my requests per month. I divide the amount by the number of working hours, and then I multiply the price per hour by the objectively necessary time for the project (with delays, approval, etc.). In general, a lot of useful things can be found here: habrahabr.ru/blogs/blog_sersh/53702
CUSTOMERS.
First of all, you need to understand that clients on freelance services have their own specifics. They are all different, they have different education, upbringing (!), Experience. It makes no sense to describe everyone. But they have one thing in common: they all came for low prices, and often, at the last minute.
In general, everything is as if outside of freelance, only the speed of decision-making is higher (time is tight) and all-pervasive competition.
As in non-freelance practice, customers are divided into inadequate and sane. The first, or have small budgets and large requests, or large requests and a complete lack of understanding of what they need. By "what they need" I do not mean the final product, but the awareness of the work of a professional. Everything is as usual, only reacting to them is different.
The sane customers know where to turn, how much the services really cost and how to conduct cooperation. There are fewer of them, but these are potential "regular customers." You will not ignore their messages after completion of work. And if you honestly did your job, they will correctly evaluate you and remember you for the future / advise others.
“INadequate” CUSTOMERS.
They may have a big wallet. Their projects can potentially become a decoration of the portfolio. But. All this can result in big losses of time, and as a result, money.
Often, customer inadequacy comes from ignorance of the specifics of the work. Out of fear. He has to turn to new people, entrust them with his hard-earned money, his “face”. Man is afraid, and the best defense is attack!
This often ends with a “self-affirmation”, in the form of groundless criticism of everything and everything (maybe you’ll hurt a weak spot), and once scolded, please follow to make amends. A misunderstanding of the market leads to the fact that the customer, having paid a good (not overpriced) price, begins to think that he has bought the soul and body of a freelancer, and can do whatever he wants with them. And he backs it all up with phrases like: “I paid as for a Rolls-Royce, and the guy from s. Fedorovka undertakes to do this for a third of the price! ” In addition to fear, one can be forced to intervene in the work of a specialist by his own unrealized creative potential. And for such work you need to "give milk for harm."
Do not forget. The customer came to the freelancer - the guy on the other end of the wire, and not to the studio with a good office and friendly staff. The level of respect at the first stage is different.
Communication with "inadequacies", provoked by any need, turns into a headache and losses. Customers themselves pay for such communication, having received a “bumpy” product, and designers who spend a lot of energy on balancing all “this”. The deadlines are broken by 10 options, communication all the time takes place on the verge of slamming doors. I don’t feel like talking again.
But we are on freelance! There are 10 more! A couple of days of searches (which you lose on the "creative" of the customer) may give another order.
HOW TO CAPE INadequate?
The recipe is simple: listen to what they say.
Here are the "disturbing phrases":
"Past designers let me down" - he was initially set up that you can let him down, did not evaluate the portfolio, does not believe that you are a specialist who can.
“I am very demanding”- it is equivalent to “I'll get you still”, again, he doesn’t believe that you can do it yourself, it will constantly interfere.
“This color speaks of mourning, the fonts are small, and in general, read it yourself” - a classic, the client is smarter than you, leave him alone to create, kindly. Otherwise, it will end with mutual insults.
“The budget is $ 500, but if you impress, then $ 1000” - This is money, it is a pity, therefore, you will never be impressed so that you are paid $ 1000. They play with you, but you need to work.
In theory, you need to be able to work with both of them. Moreover, often some seem at first different. And having undertaken obligations and an advance payment, you will already be compelled to work with them. A prepayment can also be spent and lose the opportunity to turn around.
But if you do not filter customers, then you will spend half of your time on difficult, exhausting or not generating revenue orders. You should never forget: to find a replacement for an "objectionable" freelancer is often simple (speed of decision making and competition), in the end you will be left with nothing.
Do not be afraid of free time, spend it on rest and self-improvement, as a result it will be more useful. Moreover, in the "fresh" state you will work faster and better. Anyway - do as much as possible only what you like. The internal struggle with oneself only harms. The flow of orders on freelance is always large, catch a new order tomorrow. I had to make an order, the ethics of which were in doubt. I did the work, the client, and I am satisfied. But you can’t put it in the portfolio, and the emotions during the work exhausted.
COMMUNICATION WITH CUSTOMERS.
Actually, this is half the success. This must be understood.
Introducing yourself completely in communication is good. Nick is bad. Although the portal itself is called as you like.
I won’t tell you how exactly it is worth communicating - I’m not sure that I am a Guru in this area, please contact those who think differently. I can only say that you should not be afraid. Mail is better than the portal’s internal messenger (they’ll look at mail for sure), icq is better than mail, Skype is better than icq, Phone is better than Skype, and nothing can replace a meeting. In general, more open communication can expand the budget. Proponents of remote anonymous work - think.
WHY DO YOU NEED A PAYMENT?
Often, customers complain that freelancers are "obsessed" with prepayment, for example: habrahabr.ru/blogs/freelance/28230
Do not listen to them. They themselves, with their customers, work on the principle of "morning money, evening chairs."
Prepayment is your only “shield." An advance payment, at times, “sticks together” a project — it forces both parties to hold the gap, thereby allowing it to be completed. At a minimum, it is worth using “safe transactions” if the client is afraid to get overt slag. Again, personally, at the very beginning, I came across several "contestants".
The competition of freelancers is generally a separate issue. The client receives “average pennies”, on average, 100 layouts, 20% of which are sane. The budgets of such contests are usually minimal, and freelancers rarely spend more than one evening on the next logo. 3-4 hours, with the ability to get $ 200 is quite tempting. But the choice falls more often on the most “no” work. Therefore, you rarely see a worthy designer there, or they merge their old sketches into contests.
Clients "competitors" are very cunning guys. They create a sketch contest, “forgetting” to say so to freelancers. Yes, then I was a green freelancer. I’m more used to direct communication with the end customer. But on the freelance of such units, more often the customers themselves are the performers, and they need to provide your customer with their best practices. So, the "contestant" gives you and 5 freelancers one task, you spend a day on a sketch, and they stop talking to you, saying: "it did not fit." Everything seems to be honest, on the one hand, well, I didn’t get into the topic. But no one warned you about the contest. You spent the day of your work, every hour of your work costs money. The decision of the end customer can be influenced by anything, the weather, for example. It may not even be a sketch. Sometimes you just need to "find" the right solution.
Prepayment eliminates all lovers of "tenders".
Say you need to be able to fight? “That guy” is fighting for you, the failure of the sketch will be on his conscience. So calm your and do not mess.
PAYMENT.
I came across the technical side of payment on the very first project. Quite widespread currencies on WM and Yandex money freelance.
Roughly speaking, getting the amount to your WM wallet doesn’t mean getting them into “live use”, unless of course you integrate into the web environment so much that you don’t need cash.
I had to spend my nerves and time to learn about the methods of cashing out all these electronic currencies, and there are also interest for cashing out, sometimes substantial. Money transfers like "Contact" are also able to spoil the blood. Not all types of transfers may be in the customer’s city, so you will receive for some unpopular one whose only branch is on the other side of the city. And this is not always convenient. Residents of both capitals will agree with me.
For the convenience of customers, you can use different types of transfers, electronic currencies. But at one fine moment it may turn out that on your 3 “wallets” there is, on the whole, the average amount, but individually the amounts are insignificant. Each system has its own type of cashing, so you will wander around the city ... like me. You can of course translate everything into one currency, fortunately, there are plenty of electronic exchange points. But this is again the interest. After the case when I had to collect a penny of fees from different systems, I chose one currency + picked up 2 types of transfers, the most common in the CIS and the points of which are near the house.
Failures.
There were. Unpleasant. But I was smart enough to refuse at the first opportunity. He presented an intermediate option so that the customer could score a gap for a while. I did not receive an angry response, I did not spoil the “face”. He himself had experience with freelancers, breakfasts and frankly bad sketches only exacerbate the situation of the customer. And you won’t get any money. It’s better to give people a chance to find another and fix things as soon as possible.
Here, by the way, is useful material where the topic is disclosed: habrahabr.ru/blogs/freelance/48818
SCHEDULE.
Need, definitely. Take time to sleep and rest, you need to sleep at least 6, and preferably 8 hours a day, and even better, at the same time. Ideally, when achieving a stable order flow, limit yourself to 6 or 7 hours of work per day. You can’t work in “stress” for a long time, the limit is calculated in days, fall off from a cold during exhaustion, and you will be sick for a week.
LOAD.
There was a time when I took 2 orders at once. Both were interesting, in the end, I nearly failed both. He coped, but then slept for a day and another day did not want to do anything.
It’s better to make one order well than merge two. Make a schedule of work, if there are several orders, leave at least 2 days between them (no one canceled the force majors).
WHAT CAN YOU HAVE ON Freelance?
My answer is all that a specialist in demand on the market wants. The main thing is not to waste time in vain on potential “brakes” like customers who need to be blabbed. You should always remember the speed of decision-making and competition, both freelancers and customers. I will not name specific amounts, they can fully correspond to a good payment in the studio, corresponding to the level of a specialist.
What do unclaimed specialists do not know. For example, an order for industrial modeling was seen 1 time. Perhaps it is worth picking up another, more demanded, sphere of activity.
Actually, if I decide to dwell on the role of a specialist, I will consider the freelance option as quite acceptable.
PSI would like to note that much of this article is not suitable for a beginner on the path of a specialist. A good constant stream of orders, the ability to refuse and choose, can only be achieved by a certain level of professional. A beginner should take whatever comes across, it is advisable to filter orders, too, but even a “bad” experience is good. Lost in youth 500 rubles. save in the future 500 000 rubles. I consider it even contraindicated to try to find myself on freelance when there is no experience in “office” work. It is better to start working with any, even the smallest, company. Constant contact with living people, the exchange of experience are indispensable. This is not necessary: habrahabr.ru/blogs/f1/49807 Only if in the form of a rare practice.