Free Lancing skills

If you possess any of the below-stated skills, then you can work as a ‘freelancer’, and make a living through, ‘free lancing’.

• Complete knowledge of any Programming language
• Good  and concomitant in English
• Immaculate accounting knowledge
• Error-free typing with an above-average speed
• Troubleshooting skills
• Essay writing skills
• Press release writing
• Web developing
• Graphic designing

American and European companies at times cannot afford to hire local employees. In the case of hiring a local skilled force, the companies encounter a huge number of additional charges along with the monthly paychecks. Many companies cannot afford to hire a single employee. Such companies make use of ‘outsourcing’. Outsourcing refers to the hiring of cheap labor from outside of the country, to complete the desired project or job through the internet. Outsourcing allows these companies to complete their project at a lesser cost and high quality. Most foreign companies look for freelancers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, and the Philippines. Outsourcing thus proves beneficial for both the outsourcers and the freelancers. The foreign companies get the work done at lower rates and the freelancers get paid for the project at higher rates as compared to the local market.

Outsourcing and freelancing have risen in the form of a billion-dollar industry. The greatest contributor has been the advancement and innovations in the world of the web. The software industries of India and the Philippines, owe a large sum of their foreign exchange to the outsourcing industry.

Even multinational and international companies prefer to outsource. Companies like I.B.M, Intel, Dell, and General Electric prefer to outsource to lower their expenses. It is amazing that the customer support centers or call centers of hundreds of American and British companies are located in India, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. These customer support centers charge a few dollars per call or as agreed in the agreement. Such an arrangement leads to saving the company millions of dollars every year. Most of the software houses, in Pakistan also work under the same principle of outsourcing.

The next thing coming to mind, how you can start a call center or software house of your own. Fortunately for you, a computer, the internet, and your skills are the only things which you require to start freelancing. Freelancing can be in any field from practical to theoretical. Most of the time, though, the outsourced job as are related to computers. It is, therefore, comparatively easy to find jobs pertaining to web development, graphic designing, and computer programming.

Below stated websites are an easy platform to obtain freelancing jobs.

• VWorker – rent a coder

http://www.vworker.com (this website is now a property of freelancer)

vWorker was the earliest and most famous platform for outsource projects. vWorker was initially known as Rent A Coder. A year earlier the website was acquired by Freelancer. Before that the name of the website was changed to vWorker or Virtual Worker. Anyone can register on this website. Registration is completely free. The website operates by the employers posting their outsource projects and their details on the job board. Free lancers willing to take up the project, bid on the project. A bid means to propose the time frame and price, at which the freelancer will accomplish the task. The bid is only visible to the employer and the bidder.

If the employer agrees upon your bid, then the employer deposits the project fee with Escrow. Now you as the freelancer will begin working on the project and will complete it under the deadline. After you will submit the project, the employer will counter check your submission. If the project has been completed as per the satisfaction and provided details of the employer, it will be accepted. As the project is accepted, vWoker deposits the payment in your account. The money can reach you through Western Union.

Initially, you will have to work real hard to get a project. Already millions of freelancers are working with established clients. You will need to prove yourself and your skill to the employer, so that he hires you.

Employers post projects like, typing, logo designing, programming, website development and troubleshooting. It will be better that you concentrate only a couple of your skills and market them. Trying to become the jack of all trades initially can mark you off as unreliable. You should only take up projects which you can complete immaculately. Failing to complete a project will only result in a negative rating for you. Persistent or excessive negative rating usually results in an account being blocked. Once that happens, it is next to impossible to acquire another one. In an attempt to make a lot of money overnight, people usually commit to projects which they cannot cope with.

Attempting to explain all the details with respect to working on vWorker is a long process. Before starting to work, guidance should be taken from helping essays on the website. These essays explain in detail the procedure and various ups and downs which you might encounter. Initially, vWorker poses a lot of hurdles and difficulties. It is not easy to start as a new virtual worker, but with time and dedication you can run a successful business of your own.

• O Desk http://odesk.com

O desk was launched in the year 2003. Pakistani software houses prefer O desk as compare to other freelancing websites. Most of the software houses, in Pakistan, take up their projects from O Desk. According to Alexa, the website is rated 60^th among the most viewed websites. vWorker might be a pioneer in freelancing projects, but it is more common with small scale projects. On the other hand, O Desk is more commonly known for large scale projects which are above a thousand dollars. Such projects are really rare to come by on vWorker. Also, the projects available on O Desk tend to be for a longer period of time. This can make a project a reliable source of income for you for a long time to come; like a year or more. The reason that O Desk is more successful than other freelancing platforms is that it has been developed in a modern way. O Desk features an innovative design and technology and is thus favored more by local software houses.

Projects are posted on the job board of O Desk. Candidates, like vWorker, bid for the projects. If you have a free account, then you can only bid for up to 20 projects a week. If you run out of bids, you will have to wait for next week to bid again. Account upgrade through purchasing can upgrade your account. This way you can bid on as many projects as you want.

Like vWorker, O Desk also supports two kinds of payment options for working on projects. In the first instance, the agreed upon payment is remitted at the start of the project. This is the amount which you bid for. Other than that, there are projects, which pay per hour. These projects pay according to the hours of work you put in. The more you work, the more you earn. You will be paid at the end of the project.

O Desk like the vWorker platform also plays host to millions of virtual workers. Hundreds tend to bid on the same project at a time. To prove your dedication and hard work, bid for small scale projects. This will give you a chance to prove that you can accomplish a small scale project immaculately. Doing it right will result in a high rating. Once you have achieved a satisfactory rating for your performance, you can always decide a pay rate for yourself. Normally, once you have an established rating, employers tend to come to the worker.

• E Lance – http://elance.com

E lance is as famous a job platform as O Desk. Alexa ranks E lance at the 118^th number, among the sites most viewed in Pakistan. This is also an indication towards the fact that freelancing is a serious and reliable source of income in Pakistan. Apart from Pakistan, professionals and freelancers from countries like India and Bangladesh also make a living on E lance. Freelancers from third world countries usually find freelancing more benefitting as compared to other countries. The procedure for acquiring work is the same for E lance, as other websites. E lance has also been operational for some time now and works on the same principal as other freelancing job boards. Submit your proposals and bid for online projects.

E lance is more famously known for programming and development projects. People posting their projects on e-lance are referred to as clients. The workers bidding for these projects are known as contractors. According to a survey; of all the people working on e-lance, 39% contractors have e-lance as their sole income source. Thus, it can be said for sure that e-lance is a reliable and profitable source of income.

You can register for free on e-lance. A free account will suffice to start work on e-lance. A monthly fee is required only in the event of utilizing special services and facilities, you will be required to pay a regular monthly fee.

• Free Lancer – http://freelancer.com

Free lancer might not be as old as e-lance or O Desk but it is far more famous. It is one of the most sought after websites by freelancers. Free lancer came into being as a result of acquiring various other freelancing sites. It is an amalgamation of GetAfreelancer.com, EUFreelancer.com, LimeExchange and Scriptlance. The agreement with script lance is fairly recent.

Complaints have been coming up regarding free lancer. It has been often claimed that freelancers accounts are unnecessarily blocked. It has also prevented freelancers from extracting money from their accounts. But these complaints seem like a fallacy, if you look at the way free lancer is making progress. Registration is free of cost at the website. The interface is extremely user friendly. Unlike other websites, it is easier to find work on free lancer.

End Note

It is an undeniable fact that money can be made through working on the internet. Honesty and hard work can be the only way to achieve success. Working on the internet is no different from any other business. If you stick to fraud, you might achieve success initially. In the long run though, you will fail. Diligence and hard work on the internet can make you more money than a normal job. Apart from making a living, working on foreign projects can lend extensive experience. This experience will always come in handy in life.