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What are the challenges of Freelancers ?
Every work we do has a lot of ups and downs. Most of the time we only look up to the positive sides forgetting the hurdles that work will bring into our lives. Freelancing is one such profession, where the expectations are very different from reality. It has been rightly said about them, "Freelancers are great at dealing with uncertainty and also very good at minimizing the risk." There is a huge difference in expectation Vs reality
Fake bids or Projects
Bidding is one of the most unwanted and illogical processes of hiring freelancers. This is a common problem where a freelancer ends up targeting a fake project and thus facing the loss of time and effort. Also, the bids given to them keep reducing and does not justify the capabilities of being a freelancer. In one of the report, major freelancing sites was said to have around 50% fake projects. There are very few Non bidding freelancing sites and zero commission website for freelancers which really provides freedom and autonomy to freelancers like OnBenchMark
10% to 20% Commission
When you are a freelancer, you are approached for work by clients. After the completion of the task, you are paid for it. In many top freelancers sites that you'll work with you are more likely to face a minimum of 10% commission and up to 20% of commission as soon as you get a project. Even in this cut-throat competition getting freelancing work and paying such a huge share of project work is hitting high on you. Though project outsourcing companies also pay the commission but the best freelancing sites also charges a commission from both clients and freelancer or remote workers.
Finding Clients
There's no work without the boss and the employee. This is a hard phase in a freelancer’s life but it has to be ongoing. It's very difficult to find clients and keep a hold on them. But as they say, Patience is the key. As a freelancer, you have to make your position known to everyone. Keep applying on freelancing sites or sending emails to everyone you know. Be as proactive as you can be. Repeat business from your existing clients is difficult because of the restriction of communication on major freelancing sites. Online presence and online reputation is essential to get success for being a freelance worker.
Unrealistic Demands
Nobody is perfect. At times you may face challenges in fulfilling the demands required by your client. You may not fit into the criteria and many times they might end up taking legal action against you. It's very important to have good communication skills to solve the problem of the unrealistic demands put forth by your client. The best way to escape this to give out all the pointers of the work you capable enough to complete and a fixed scope of work (SOW) to be signed with the clients so as to avoid conflicts. Though sometimes the change may be required because of some genuine reasons that freelancers should not pay the cost of change from the client end.
Still Unemployed!
Society is tough to deal with. Only office jobs are counted as employed work. As a freelancer, you are surely going to hear people call you unemployed which may at times disturb your mental state. It is very important for you to take a stand and be very firm in your decisions. Though the world has changed now after the Covid-19 crises and the acceptability of remote work is much more than it used to be. Even employers are also open to hiring freelancers & digital nomads for various project outsourcing and contract work. Unless you’ll not have regular project work or job to work you still feel like unemployed
Workload & Working Hours
This is one of the biggest disadvantages of working as a freelancer. If you are new in this field and you have no specific working hours. You may be partying and may end up getting a call for work. If you are working for multiple Geographies that will further extend your working hours but also spoil your biological clock as you’ll be working in odd hours. You may end up working for long hours sometimes. But ease yourself by creating your presence.
Still not paid
Business is unpredictable and so is the payment process in freelancing. You may not get what you demand for. Your work might not satisfy your client and he may end up paying you less and sometimes even late. Take on the other project and keep working but also make sure you are paid on time and that should be mentioned in the signed contract. Part-Time work or being an Independent worker may lack the consistency of earnings but search for more and more online work or online jobs at the free website of getting project work will help you to earn better. It’s a continuous process and if you have got an opportunity as a virtual assistant or virtual employee then you have some regular income.
The decision of being a freelancer is a tough call and it has its own merit and demerits. If you have chosen the career of being a freelancer to get autonomy for freelancer or freedom for freelancer then you have to think again as there are very few sites which actually gives you the freedom you are looking for and OnBenchMark.com is once such site where you’ll not have restriction to communicate with clients, bidding process or commission to be paid to the best freelancing sites. Here you can get contract work from global clients without paying any commission. Overcoming the obstacles as mentioned here, you may end up doing great and take advantage of this work. Get hold of all the brand, marketing, sales, and management skills and you may land yourself on big offers.
