As of 2020, freelancing made up 36% of the workforce in the US. Still, the workforce keeps rising. People are becoming more used to freelance jobs and working from home at flexible hours, mainly because of the freedom it gives.
The 9 to 5 jobs are so restrictive. Spending 40 hours of your week to build someone else’s dream makes it even more frustrating, and at a later age, you retire to almost nothing.
Freelance jobs are the way out. Even when you cannot quit your regular job, you can boast of doing something you love, for some more money.
Freelance jobs pay, and if you want to succeed at freelancing, read this post. You will learn what freelancing is, what you need to get started, the best paying freelancing jobs and the sites to get them.
What are freelance jobs?
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A freelance job is a form of self-employment where you work for yourself other than a company. Though freelancers can take up contract work for organizations and companies, they are not considered employees of those companies.
People mainly choose freelancing because it allows them the liberty to work for more than one company or individual at a time.
Most freelance jobs are remote and can be done from the comfort of your home.
Benefits of freelance jobs
The most outstanding benefit of freelancing is the flexibility of the job. You’re not tied to any schedule, and you choose your work hours.
Besides, you get to choose the clients you work with directly, and also decide your workload and pay rate.
Aside from this, other benefits of freelancing include:
- You’re not limited to earning any amount
- You don’t need to be dressed officially to go to an office. It is easy to make all the amount you desire right from your bedroom.
- You can gain meaningful exposure to global clients
- It is easier to build a better lifestyle since you are not constrained to some office hours.
How to start working freelance jobs
Freelancing is an excellent way of getting paid besides a regular job, but if you want to succeed, you need to identify and set your goals.
You need to understand your unique skill, and focus on that. you may decide to become a freelance designer, freelance writer, or freelance developer if you have any of those skills.
After this, know what you are willing to do, find the most profitable niche for you, and dive in.
You will also need to understand who your target audiences are and how you can reach them. Another trick is knowing your clients and how to get them.
Not to worry, there are several platforms for meeting clients as a freelancer, and we have discussed them in a subsequent section.
Create a portfolio site that will tell your potential client about the services you offer. Some freelance networks like Upwork and Fiverr provide you with a place to display this portfolio.
However, that is not all.
To succeed as a freelancer, you must sell your skills, know how to pitch clients, and create attractive gigs.
Depending on the type of freelance job you want to do, you may need the following:
- A computer and internet connection
- Recommended software
Highest Paying freelance jobs
You can earn higher than many regular jobs with these high paying freelance jobs.
- Software consultant
According to salaries on indeed.com, a software consultant earns an average annual wage of $92,219.
A software consultant is primarily responsible for designing unique software applications and systems for clients.
These consultants also analyze the current computer software of an organization to know which software should be integrated, updated and the new applications that could help the business function better.
This job pays the highest for freelancers because it is pretty difficult to master, and there are only a few good coders out there. So, anyone that gets hold of one must surely pay them well.
- Financial consultant
You can earn an annual salary of $83,487 yearly from being an accountant, account executive, or any kind of financial consultant.
The work of an accountant includes maintaining and balancing financial transactions of their clients’ accounts, preparing balance sheets and P&L statements, handling ledger accounts, and creating periodic financial reports.
Generally, a financial accountant examines their clients’ overall financial status, including assets, debts, income, and expenditures. They also assist the clients in paying off debts, saving money, and planning for retirement.
Since financial consultancy is now done as freelancing, people that do this job can offer their services to many clients all over the world.
- Web designer and developer
An average web developer earns $78,367 a year; it was the highest in-demand skill on Upwork in 2015.
Their responsibilities include creating and designing websites and ensuring that the site looks and functions well to improve user experience.
Usually, web developers work alongside their clients to publish web pages, write instruction manuals, journals, and documents. They also integrate audio and graphics to suit the site.
Other responsibilities of a web developer include managing the site’s capacity, traffic capabilities, and performance.
You can become a web developer by acquiring the skill and creating a profile on any freelance network.
However, freelancing platforms are crowded with web designers, and it can be pretty challenging to stand out as a beginner. This is because everyone finds it easy to learn to code and start building websites.
To stand out, you may want to find a niche in the field.
For instance, you can build websites for WordPress and do little theme customizations for them. The secret to making it here also lies in your ability to find the right clients and offer them well-tailored services.
- Business consultants
A freelance business consultant earns an average salary of $71,578 each year. As a freelancer, they can provide business consultations for organizations in different countries.
They study the client’s business to provide the most suitable methods and techniques to improve their overall efficiency, performance, and productivity.
These business consultants also evaluate the company’s processes to provide a well-tailored solution for reaching their goals.
You can start up as a freelance business consultant by signing up with any freelance site we’ve discussed below.
- Social video marketer
Though many people are yet to discover this new skill, social video marketing took third place on Upwork as the fastest-growing skill.
This skill is in high demand, mainly because of the rise in video content marketing. Also, on the platform, you can earn $150 per hour as a video content marketer.
Since many businesses are trying to take the stage on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, this skill will still be relevant for a long time.
So, if you are skilled at producing video content and optimizing them for SEO, you may take this new opportunity to become a social video marketer. You’ll be surprised at the amount you will earn.
- PR manager
As a freelance public relations manager, you can earn up to $52 per hour on FlexJobs to help employers or clients manage their public image.
Your responsibilities include writing and circulating press releases, managing their social media accounts, and working with other media outlets to get that done.
However, to earn up to this amount as a freelance PR manager, companies demand that you have at least five years of experience in the area.
- Graphics designer
Freelancers who offer this skill earn up to $85 per hour.
As you can tell, infographics have become very high in demand, and a lot of businesses strive to have professional logos, icons, and illustrations.
However, before you make it as a graphics designer, you need to be skillful at it and have an excellent eye for design.
- Video editors
Another great paying skill in the US is video editing. Some people earn about $72,000 per year from doing this job alone.
However, those who are more skilled in the game go home with about $122,000 yearly.
In the last few years, the request for video editors as freelancers has been on the rise, and the opportunity has been made available by Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
If you can make great video clips and create excellent video content, you will have a lot to earn from this skill.
- Copywriters
Copywriters mostly write descriptions for products and services and web pages.
They are not the same as content writers and earn higher than some content writers.
Based on your skill level, you can earn between $15 and $250 per hour from the skill.
- Content writer/ marketer
Content writing and marketing has become hot cake in freelancing. Depending on how skilled you are, you can bag more than $5000 a month from it.
However, you should know that everyone will not be a skilled writer. A skilled writer reads and writes a lot and also has a creative mind to produce well-crafted articles.
You should also know that there is pretty high competition for content marketers out there.
A person can earn $5 on Upwork to write a 1000 word article while another makes $200 to write the same length.
It is all based on your skill, experience, and ability to get high paying clients. Find out how to become a six-figure freelance writer.
- Social media specialist
Both big and small brands appreciate social media marketing. However, not every business person has the time or skill to make their businesses thrive on social media.
This is why the higher social media managers or specialists help them do the job.
With this, you can earn between $46,000 and $72,000 a year for managing people’s social media accounts.
In the past years, it has become an industry on its own, and from LinkedIn, we saw that 9000 job results came up when we searched for social media managers.
Best freelance jobs websites
If you have ever considered doing freelancing but do not have the best platform to use, pick one here.
FlexJobs is a very suitable platform for content marketing, writing, and transcription. Though it is not a free site, you have a 30-day money-back guarantee; and you can trust their customer support.
Nevertheless, you can still find other premium job openings outside the platform on free sites.
FlexJobs specializes in offering their clients part-time, full time, and freelancing jobs to help them get flexible and remote working opportunities.
The jobs cover a broad range, including journalism, education, and writing.
To get freelance jobs from FlexJobs, you need to sign up and pay a subscription fee of not less than $6.95 per week.
After these payments have been made, you will have access to an unlimited job listing. However, you will need to build a work portfolio, go through their career advice, and do free skill testing.
On this site, you can subscribe either through PayPal or a prepaid card. If you’re not satisfied with their services, this money will be returned to you within 30 days.
Of course, Fiverr is very popular, and many people earn a living there by doing digital marketing, social media management, web development, writing, etc.
It has become a highly used platform because it offers free registration, online courses and covers a wide range of categories.
Freelancers and business owners find it easy to meet on Fiverr, get the job done, and get paid. However, freelancers and business owners interact with each other through ‘gigs’.
This means that freelancers (also called sellers) on the platform will need to write compelling copies of their services (which they call gigs) to attract the business owners (or buyers).
When buyers like your gig, they can order for it and pay you. However, you will only earn 80% of the offered price as the platform will take 20% as their commission.
Payments are made through PayPal, debit card, and wire transfer.
Upwork is a huge freelance network with more than 12 million freelancers and five million clients. Each year, there are about 3 million freelance jobs
To get a job as a freelancer on Upwork, you will see openings on your news feed for you to apply. You can also create projects for your client to go through and order.
However, you should know that Upwork takes a 20% charge of your bid with the client and pays you the remaining 80%.
Just like Fiverr, Upwork pays low for freelance jobs. So, you will likely earn higher when working directly with clients in other places than Upwork.
SolidGigs makes it easy for freelancers to find genuine freelancing opportunities.
They filter every freelance job on the internet and pick out the best 2% for their freelancers. This is done every week to save you the time of going through these job boards on your own and vetting the opportunities.
Besides the well-trimmed gig list, they have an available library of unlimited resources, templates, interviews, scripts and others to help you get more freelance jobs, pitch high paying clients, negotiate your rates better, and grow your business.
Though this is a premium site where you need to pay for a subscription (which is between $2 and $19), their charge is pretty low compared to the high value they offer.
CloudPeeps is an excellent freelancing network that is more suitable for professionals.
It is easy to get freelancing jobs and accept payments. Their focus is on general copywriting, marketing, and social media management.
However, it is a more exclusive site and not easy to join. Only people with great portfolios can stand a chance of working on this site.
However, when you join, it’s like child’s play to get a job.
Freelancer is a popular site for social media marketing, content translation, and web development. However, other freelance works are still available, though these three are the core.
This is a free site, and you will need to fill a short registration form to sign up. This form will require your skills, personal information, educational background, and work experience.
You will receive 90% of every bid you make from a job because the platform takes 10% of it. Payments are done through wire transfer or PayPal.
This free freelancing site offers you a job board for freelance job listings. Their jobs are arranged according to categories, and it is easy to get something for yourself.
They have job filters to make it easy to find streamlined jobs by entering your zip code or filling out your city. You can also type in the related keywords in their search box.
You can still get job opportunities on SimplyHired even when you do not have a profile with them.
However, having a profile will help you access more tools like their salary estimator, resume builder, and the rest.
If you love photography, web design, and illustrations, this platform will work best for you. It is a social network for people with creative talent to find jobs. And for clients and other businesses to find animators, graphic designers, and web designers.
You can create an account with them to get started.
When you have an account with them, you will need to follow some profiles to get more posts on your feed.
Freelancers can get a job list from Behance, and you can have personalized job recommendations according to your category and skill set.
You can assess the site to see if it’s worth the try.
Conclusion
Freelancing is highly profitable when you know how well to get around it.
Many people have ditched the regular 9-5 jobs for permanent freelancing. You, too, can do this by dedicating your time and resources to building your skillset and pitching high-profile clients.
