My Career as a Freelancer, How I Started my own Office

[hammadshah5]

Hi I’m Hammad.
This is my story of becoming independent and financially stable and also providing jobs and opportunities for others.

Looking at the current job market one might feel depressed, however I never let it fade away my passions.
I have been interested in software and technology development since I was a boy. I also recall how I would search the internet for new trends in technology and how I’d try and learn as much as I could. This curiosity made me learn about fiver.

I felt as if freelancing is the way to unleash my creativity and learn more.

I started working 3 years ago on Fiverr while I was completing my university degree in software engineering.
I have been able to make good clientele as I provided valuable services(video animation). I have been blessed enough to utilize my entrepreneurship skills through this forum.

Soon after graduation I rented a workplace and started working there as I believed it to be more productive than working from home. This really helped in increasing the sales and doing work more efficiently. Soon I realized the need to hire people so the workload can be catered to.
Now I have established my own place of work and I feel empowered to extend my services further. I feel as if its a constantly growing field that can cater to all my learning needs and provide me sustainable career goals.

What freelancing taught me is that, Do your own thing, start your own business, create jobs and don’t beg the government for jobs.

I also believe in spreading what I have learned so I also started training some of my friends about the skills I had.
The first lesson was to learn that the ultimate goal was to provide the best services and money is just a matter of time.
I also helped them in setting up their profiles and now they are also earning money by working as freelancers.

Tips I have for others.

1. Free time is always an opportunity to learn skills.
2. You can learn everything online these days.
3. Custom satisfaction is the most important thing. Don’t loose a customer over a few bucks.

Keep learning keep earning.
Hammad

[uxreview]

Thank you Hammad for sharing!
I think you brought out valid tips, but since this thread is under conversation topic instead of tips, I’d like to add my view on this. Why? Newbies often burn out because they don’t look at the big picture.

Personally I think customer satisfaction isn’t the most important thing. Great customer service is just part of the job, but for me it’s not the end goal.

So I’d like add a few tips from a different angle

1. First, identify what’s truly important in your life and don’t focus on freelancing, think bigger. For me it was my family, friends and myself. And yes, I included myself because if I’m not happy then others around me won’t be either 😉

2. Then figure out what do you need to spend your time & energy on the things you love. In my example, what I needed the most was to spend more time with my close ones and do more for them.

3. Once you figure out what, start thinking about how. I knew that the only way I can get more time is to be in control of it and this lead me to freelancing. Flexible schedule, working with clients I like, deciding over my own paycheck - sounds nice, right?

4. Now comes the part where you start planning a roadmap for becoming a successful freelancer. You figure out what you like to do, how to acquire the necessary skills and how to monetize it.

5. Once you have a service that others need you can start selling it while continuously improving it. Streamlining your processes, getting a better tools/equipment, improving your customer service etc.

BONUS TIP
Learn to say NO 😉
Most of us start from the bottom where we offer our services at a very low price point and maybe even accept a few insults, but once you have a proven track record you must know when and how to say NO.
This was the hardest for me and I still need to remind myself every now and then that not every job is worth taking.