A few tips for freelancers
Recently, I had to place an order for the layout of several dozen HTML pages from a PSD on a couple of freelance sites. I would like to arrange this experience in the form of tips for beginners and not only freelancers.
Pages were simple - text, form elements, tables, icons. Most of them are simple dialog boxes. Pixel to pixel is not needed. After the layout of the hider, footer and sidebar there was only not so much content on the other pages. He estimated the payment on the basis of the fact that an experienced typesetter without long smoke breaks per day would do 5 thousand rubles. As a result, one page was quantitatively estimated at 100-300 rubles.
There were many offers. First of all, of course, discontent and even insult (“Yes ... xxx ... for 100 rubles!”) Of people who did not read the conditions of the problem and only saw numbers.
Having been a little to the unusual place of the customer I can draw such conclusions.
According to their technical equipment, customers are divided into two types - those who are unaware of the subject and who understand it. The difference is between a person who does not know a foreign language and a translator who is looking for himself, and a person who knows him, or even a native speaker. The first will not be able to objectively assess the level of the freelancer, the second will determine it is not what the first words he uttered - the first sounds.
Freelancers are divided into three parts.
The first - looking for customers of the first type, to dilute it as a sucker. And often the rating on the site is quite high - everything is as in life. The level of competence is medium.
Second, low-skilled, also hoping to catch a fish in any pond for any money and even just a review.
Still others, qualified, who are looking for work for adequate pay.
There is also a fourth - qualified, which rate less than thirty dollars per hour is not considered. We, in turn, will not consider them, because we live in Russia, settlements in rubles.
90% of success depends on the offer. Recalling the “Help” sections on freelance sites I can confirm - RTFM. If you think that you will simply describe your overall coolness, indicate the link to the profile, and the client will go to see how well done you are - you will never leave it in your niche.
All standardized sentences are read diagonally in 2-3 seconds, without much understanding of the meaning of the content, simply by imposing patterns, after which the mouse moves to the “Refuse” button. And in 99% of cases it is justified. If the freelancer did not bother to get into your task and say a few words about it, it is not needed.
If a person answered on the subject of the task, he is studied more carefully. I must note that contacting the customer by name is not only a strong psychological step, but on some sites (the same Upwork), this name still needs to be found, and this indicates that the person spent time studying you and your order. .
Then comes the analysis of the work of a freelancer profile. In this case - sites. I immediately open DevTools and automatically see what is loaded, how much, from where. The record was on one page page - two simple background images in 2.2 and 10.1 megabytes, respectively. Poor Internet ...
80% of freelancers had only one-page websites. You can tell them - for anyone who knows how to take a free one-page template and weaken a site from it, your level will immediately manifest in this. And he is very low. One page is an indicator. If we make a one-page site (they also have the right to life, of course), then it should be a stylish, beautiful, fast work of art. I have not seen them.
However, the profile of a person is being studied. Experience and skills. The difference between “puffiness” in loud terms (sometimes like a monkey and glasses) and real experience can be seen immediately. There are interesting people. Even if a person does not fit this particular project, he may be interested. Therefore,
Some freelancers in their offers offered to make test pages for free, but for some reason this didn’t touch that much. Or rather, it touched less than other factors. From personal experience, I remember how several times I partially solved in the offer itself or gave advice on how to solve a simple task to the customer (just even scrolling through the offers), and it did not give any result. Therefore, you should spend your time on such work only if:
1. There are chances that the customer is normal.
2. And without doing this work, he may be interested in you.
At the same time, I agreed with a couple of people on a paid very small test layout. Agreed and disappeared - another version of natural dropouts.
In order for a customer who understands a topic to become interested in you, you need (in order of priority):
1. A lively offer
2. Honesty, responsibility, culture
3. Knowledge
So that after that he gives you an order, a certain combination of points 2 and 3 is needed ,
This post, perhaps, is not so much for those who already freelance, as for those who want or only try, but fail. If you have the knowledge and education (to communicate with the customer, to understand his needs), then finding a customer is absolutely real, despite the crowds of competitors. The customer is also a person, he wants quality.
Pages were simple - text, form elements, tables, icons. Most of them are simple dialog boxes. Pixel to pixel is not needed. After the layout of the hider, footer and sidebar there was only not so much content on the other pages. He estimated the payment on the basis of the fact that an experienced typesetter without long smoke breaks per day would do 5 thousand rubles. As a result, one page was quantitatively estimated at 100-300 rubles.
There were many offers. First of all, of course, discontent and even insult (“Yes ... xxx ... for 100 rubles!”) Of people who did not read the conditions of the problem and only saw numbers.
Having been a little to the unusual place of the customer I can draw such conclusions.
Customers and Freelancers
According to their technical equipment, customers are divided into two types - those who are unaware of the subject and who understand it. The difference is between a person who does not know a foreign language and a translator who is looking for himself, and a person who knows him, or even a native speaker. The first will not be able to objectively assess the level of the freelancer, the second will determine it is not what the first words he uttered - the first sounds.
Freelancers are divided into three parts.
The first - looking for customers of the first type, to dilute it as a sucker. And often the rating on the site is quite high - everything is as in life. The level of competence is medium.
Second, low-skilled, also hoping to catch a fish in any pond for any money and even just a review.
Still others, qualified, who are looking for work for adequate pay.
There is also a fourth - qualified, which rate less than thirty dollars per hour is not considered. We, in turn, will not consider them, because we live in Russia, settlements in rubles.
suggestions
90% of success depends on the offer. Recalling the “Help” sections on freelance sites I can confirm - RTFM. If you think that you will simply describe your overall coolness, indicate the link to the profile, and the client will go to see how well done you are - you will never leave it in your niche.
All standardized sentences are read diagonally in 2-3 seconds, without much understanding of the meaning of the content, simply by imposing patterns, after which the mouse moves to the “Refuse” button. And in 99% of cases it is justified. If the freelancer did not bother to get into your task and say a few words about it, it is not needed.
If a person answered on the subject of the task, he is studied more carefully. I must note that contacting the customer by name is not only a strong psychological step, but on some sites (the same Upwork), this name still needs to be found, and this indicates that the person spent time studying you and your order. .
Competence
Then comes the analysis of the work of a freelancer profile. In this case - sites. I immediately open DevTools and automatically see what is loaded, how much, from where. The record was on one page page - two simple background images in 2.2 and 10.1 megabytes, respectively. Poor Internet ...
80% of freelancers had only one-page websites. You can tell them - for anyone who knows how to take a free one-page template and weaken a site from it, your level will immediately manifest in this. And he is very low. One page is an indicator. If we make a one-page site (they also have the right to life, of course), then it should be a stylish, beautiful, fast work of art. I have not seen them.
However, the profile of a person is being studied. Experience and skills. The difference between “puffiness” in loud terms (sometimes like a monkey and glasses) and real experience can be seen immediately. There are interesting people. Even if a person does not fit this particular project, he may be interested. Therefore,
even if several days have passed after the announcement, but you see that the customer is interesting, and you might also be interested in it - send an offer. He will read it.
Some freelancers in their offers offered to make test pages for free, but for some reason this didn’t touch that much. Or rather, it touched less than other factors. From personal experience, I remember how several times I partially solved in the offer itself or gave advice on how to solve a simple task to the customer (just even scrolling through the offers), and it did not give any result. Therefore, you should spend your time on such work only if:
1. There are chances that the customer is normal.
2. And without doing this work, he may be interested in you.
At the same time, I agreed with a couple of people on a paid very small test layout. Agreed and disappeared - another version of natural dropouts.
findings
In order for a customer who understands a topic to become interested in you, you need (in order of priority):
1. A lively offer
2. Honesty, responsibility, culture
3. Knowledge
So that after that he gives you an order, a certain combination of points 2 and 3 is needed ,
It’s much harder to find a good freelancer than a good customer, simply because there are a lot more people who need to do something and are willing to pay for it than those who can do it well.If you work professionally, and, first of all, in the universal sense, rather than in the technical sense - responsibly, honestly, hardworkingly, - a normal customer will grab at you with his hands and feet. He does not mind the money. He simply lays down the risks of unscrupulous executors. If you level these risks - the payment will increase significantly.
This post, perhaps, is not so much for those who already freelance, as for those who want or only try, but fail. If you have the knowledge and education (to communicate with the customer, to understand his needs), then finding a customer is absolutely real, despite the crowds of competitors. The customer is also a person, he wants quality.