How to earn money via Freelancing : Full tutorial

Hello !

Freelancing and  E-Money... those are some of the buzzwords that we can hear in todays tech world. Yes, technology is pushing it's limits ! so there are lots of opportunities to earn some money easily. Today techmagister starts to guide you to earn some great amount of money while you sitting in front of your PC. This article series will teach you how to start freelancing as a beginner with zero money in hand !. So let's get started !

Image Courtesy: giphy

What is freelancing ?

Freelancing is a self employing process which does not commit a employee for long term services. Freelancers have the power to selects his work and make an agreement with employers and provide the services. Freelancing websites make a room to meet freelancers and employers together.

There are lot's of freelancing sites out there. freelancer.com, elanace, fiverr and odesk etc.  This guide uses freelancer.com which is one of the oldest and largest freelancing community throughout the article.

Things to remember 

• We are starting to earn money via freelancing with zero investment. So it can take some time to earn your first dollar. But after that you will be on to the right direction. So keep trying !
• Do not discuss businesses outside the freelancing website. Your website do not take any responsibility for the outside tasks. Send your designs only through the website.
• Always make a good communication with employer. Try to satisfy the employer as well as possible.

 Starting as a freelancer

First of all you have to have a account in freelancer.com. Go to the website and create a FREE account using "BECOME A FREELANCER" option. Then:

• Insert your email and choose a username.
• Select i want to WORK option
• Click on "create account"
  

They have premium subscriptions also. If yo can spend some money, it is totally okay to open a premium account.

Generating your profile

This is one of the important steps. Every employer who are willing to hire you initially visits your profile and get an impression on you an your works ans skills. So it is very important to make perfect profile. 

1. Select your skills. (You can chose as many as skills you want. more skills = more money ;-) )
   
2. Verify a payment method.(Here you can add your paypal,skrill or credit card details. this step is not compulsory.)
3. Continue without professional membership.(I f you have money for a professional membership. go for it)
4. Now you are on your account. Please verify your email using the email they have sent you.

Now you are almost ready for freelancing. Now you can see there is a list of on line projects. These are the freelancing projects that you have received according to the skills you have mentioned little ago.  There are basically 3 types of projects:

• Fixed price projects

We can bid our offers on these projects. If you are a beginner and you have a free account it is very hard to take a project by biding. So lets forget about this category for now. An explained article on bidding and rating process will be available soon.

• Hourly Projects.

As the name implies, we get paid hourly for theses projects. The same biding process act here as well. So lets discuss this later.

• Freelancer Contests

This is the most important category for a beginner with a free account. Basically theses projects are contests. Employer or contest holder publish a project with a prize. The freelancer who wins the contest recieves the prize. Simple as that !. any employer can joint to the contest and upload their design called "Entry". Each freelancer can upload any amount of entries. lets dig into the process.

• Select a contest.

You can get the available contest list by un-ticking hourly projects and fixed projects. Then you can see the list of available contests.

Following image shows an example of a available project list.

1. Project details and Name: This section mentions project name and a brief, you can get an initial idea on the contest and decide weather it is suits for you or note.
2. Entries so far: This depicts uploaded entries by other freelancers for the contest. Remember to participate for the contests which has lower number of entries. which increases the possibility to win.
3. Time remaining: This  shows the available time to you to upload your entry. After time elapsed, the contest locks and anyone can't upload entries.
4. Prize: This is the prize amount awarded for the winner. Contest holder can choose more than one winner. If he/she does , all winning entries get same amount of prize mentioned per each winner. (eg: if the prize is $20 & contest holder have chosen 3 entires, both 3 winners get $20 individually.) 

  Important tips:

• At the beginning, always try to participate low budget contests. Because high value(prize) contest attracts professional freelancers and it it hard to compete with them. contest which give $10 - $30 is the best range to try. They usually have lesser entries and easy to win.
•  Try contests which has lesser entries.
• Always read their requirments carefully and make good communication with the contest holder.

How to submit an entry for a contest

1. Select a contest you wish
2. Read their requirements and download provided files as follows:
   
3. Make your design. (If you are using photoshop or relative design, make sure to do a 300ppi design)
4. Go to the contest again(it is better to use a bookmark for the contest page at the begining so you can find it easily)
5. Submit your files. You can upload multiple files. Make sure they are in required format.
6. Give a small description like "Hope you like it, comments are welcome"  
7. Add a selling price if you want. You can sell your entry if the contest holder like to buy it for the mentioned prize.
8. If you like, make a comment on the comments section like "please check my design #12" (12=entry number)

Now you have submitted your first entry. After the contest time elapsed , contest holder will choose a winning entry. Also remember to check your mailbox regularly for messages from contest holder. Sometimes they will comments on your design and ask to make some changes. It is better to lrespond them as soon as possible.

If you have been selected as a winner, You can sign digital agreements and send your design files to the contest holder. After contest holder accepted them , the money will be credited to your freelancer account.


Hope you guys got an idea about the process. Now you can try !. Comment below if there is anything to know. Lets meet again with another guide. Until that. Happy Freelancing !