Requirements
Skill, confidence, patience and an ability to work under pressure and manage your own time very well are crucial to being a freelancer. I write this AS a freelancer and I am very opinionated. I am a freelance writer and computer programmer and split my time equally between the two efforts.
What kind of freelancers are there?
Besides writing and programming, there are many types of freelancers. Almost any job or profession has people who hire themselves out for short term or contract work on a project basis, an hourly basis or for periods of weeks. I know a nurse who freelances through an agency and moves to a different section of the country every thirteen weeks, so she switches jobs and homes and states every three months.
Educational requirements
Obviously, if the job you are freelancing at requires a license or some kind of legal certification, you must meet those requirements. As an example, nurses are licensed in all fifty states and rules vary from state to state and I don’t know how my nursing friend handles this, but in a future article I will let you know.
Otherwise? Your presentation and communication skills and experience are more important in my mind than a degree.
Preparing for freelancing?
Well, for some freelancing jobs, like mine, I make my own hours. But I work 15 hours a day. Not by choice. I just am a workaholic. I work at home and wake up early and there’s nothing else to do but work, so I start around four in the morning and turn on the computer and go at it.
Otherwise, if you freelance and are required to be at a client site, you must be prepared to adhere to their dress code and hours.
How much can a freelancer make?
As much as the market will bear. Competition is fierce in the freelance computer programming business, as everyone is looking for a bargain, and buyers put out online bids for people like me to bid on. Remember, you are competing with others just like yourself and there is temptation to underbid to get the work, but you can get in trouble that way by winding up in a hole and working for peanuts. Plus, in the programming business you are competing with talented programmers in developing countries who are willing to work for very little, with the disadvantage possibly being poor English communication skills.
Work schedule
It can be as maddening as mine, or you can be a hired gun and work 9 to 5 if you want. If you are an at home freelancer, like me, the hours are flexible. If I am burnt out or tired, I can always take a break and pick up a guitar and play a loud song to break the monotony. You have to be prepared to take the good with the bad as a freelancer. Some jobs are fun and or easy and some jobs are difficult or boring, and sometimes you have to deal with people who are very demanding and personalities clash. That’s the down side. The upside is that the jobs are of short duration and it’s not like you’re going to have the same boss that you hate for 20 years.
Getting started
There are many online agencies and employment agencies that look for contract or freelance workers and you should start there. Be prepared when you start to have some lean times until you build up a reputation and have some repeating clients or have a published rating that impresses people. Good luck and don’t miss your deadlines.
