Get First Project on Freelancer

Actually, there are many websites for remote workers, but in this article, we only talk about one platform called freelancer.com where the author has experience there.

In short, this platform is a marketplace where job seekers and employers meet each other. This platform is quite complete in terms of the type of work. Almost all professions and skills are found on this platform. So, you can choose a job that matches the field or job that you are interested in. This platform is suitable for employees who are already unemployed due to the Covid 19 pandemic or for fresh graduates who have just graduated and have not yet found a job. Even, if you already have a job and wanna get extra income is welcome to enter this platform.

You can join freelancer.com platform by signup via this link https://www.freelancer.com/signup, or if you don’t mind and want to get a $ 20 coupon credit, you can signup via my referral link https://www.freelancer.com/get/cockroachlatoz?f=give. Coupon credit can only be used to create projects and use the services from talented workers on freelancer.com.

It is easy to get the first project and earn money on this platform. You just need to be serious and have a good portfolio. Therefore, I only suggest focusing on a few jobs, i.e. jobs that you are good at or at least jobs that you have passion and love. Therefore, you will have a good portfolio. Some of the tips that I share below are suitable for novice users who are just joining freelancer.com with personal and free account types.

# 1 Profile Page

The first step after signing up is completing your profile page to attract someone or employer who watches your profile, such as:

Profile picture
Try to set your profile picture with your photo so your profile will look real and professional.
Hour rate
In freelancer.com, there are 2 types of projects. First, fixed projects where freelancers are paid on a lump sum price and the second is an hourly project, your income will be affected by the total rate per hour. Therefore, you must determine your hourly salary here
Professional Headline
You can fill this with your profession or ability.
Summary
In summary, you should tell about who you are here, such as your quality, abilities, and what you offer so that it will make employers interested in recruiting you.
Edit skills
Choose skills according to abilities and your interests so that the list of jobs that appear matches your criteria.
Verification
Verify your account to make it look professional and also is not look like a fake account or spam account. Verify all required like identity, payment, mobile number, email, and social media. Besides being more professional, your account is also more safe from being hacked.
Portfolio
Last but not least is to upload your portfolio. It has the purpose to showcase your work when people visit your profile page.

# 2 Bid Project

After the account is ready, it is time to get ready for the new project. Find the project according to the skill and start to bid. Enter your bid nominal and timeframe to complete it. Fill in the description as best as possible because it is only limited to 6 bids per month for free accounts. A good description should contain something like the following:

Introductions by mentioning your experience, abilities, and expertise
Convince employers by providing examples of your portfolio. You can share your freelancer.com profile link or an external link where your portfolio is located. If you have a similar project that has been worked on, just attach it to convince the employer to choose you.
Make employers contact us via freelancer.com chat if they have questions. Don’t try to mention your contact information like email & cellphone number and make employers create projects outside of freelancer.com because freelancer.com will detect and suspend your account. Often employers do not directly choose the winner of the project but make the selection by contacting via chat first to ask further questions about the project to be worked on. Try to be smart when communicating with the employer, so that you can be chosen as the winner.

As previously mentioned, the number of bids is only limited to 6 times/month, therefore you must be selective in choosing a project based on the type of employer. Even though the employer’s profile cannot be seen in detail because of privacy, there is basic information that we can see. Based on basic information, here I give 2 tips for choosing a quality project based on the type of employer:

Avoid employers with countries from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China. because usually their project is outsourced, so if you win the project you will get less fee. Besides that, you will face difficulty working on the project because you cannot communicate directly with the end-user.
Only bid project owned by employers with a 4-star rating and above. Employers who previously succeed with their projects will have star ratings, which means that the employer has previously hired a worker on their project, and the freelancer is satisfied with the employer so that he provides a good star rating and positive feedback.

# 3 Contests

Besides project biddings, you can earn money by participating in freelancer.com contest. In this platform, The bid is only limited to 6x per month on a free account, so while waiting for the project bid, use your skills to enter the contest. Because after you have successfully won the contest, besides earn money, usually contest holder will give a 5-star rating and positive feedback review. Sometimes through this contest, employers usually make repeat orders directly. In case the employer prefers not to rehire, you have positive reviews and a good star rating from employers. This condition makes greatly affects your account’s reputation because the project bid order is usually sorted based on the number of reviews from employers. So that the more reviews you have, your account will appear at the top list bid.

If you follow the above steps, in my experience you will get the first project in less than one month. And after that, you will easily get to the next projects. And usually, if you already have employers who are happy with your work employer prefer to work with you again rather than recruiting a new freelancer.