Hey there guys,
I have been inactive for some time now, and that's because aside from my full-time job, I have some time afterwards to spend with my man (the best part of everyday. I love you darlin'), and when he leaves, I'll be working on my Freelance jobs.
That makes my daily life look something like this:
7.30a.m. - Reaches workplace and works on miscellaneous tasks & freelance jobs
8.30a.m. - Actual Full-Time Job
6.00p.m. - Quality time with my man
8.30p.m. - Freelance jobs
11.00p.m. - Getting some sleep
I have accounts on several freelancing platforms - Freelancer.com, People Per Hour, Guru.com & Fiverr. I joined UpWork a little too late and there is more than enough content writers there at the moment, so I could not get my account approved. Of the 4 platforms I have joined, I have earned through 3 of them - not Fiverr.
Guru.com and People Per Hour was quite decent with their free accounts, but Freelancer.com provided a one-month free trial as a premium member, which allowed me to have more than 309 bids to waste on scam assignments & cheap Indian prices (Not that I meant to be racist, but seriously, offering a non-negotiable rate of $2 for 1000 words with endless restrictions & conditions?)
I am still relatively new to the freelance jobs on Freelancer.com, and sad to say, I have been scammed for my work quite a little. Here's what I learnt from the scammers of Freelancer.com.
1) Check their profiles
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| Signs of a No-Go Buyer |
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| GO THE OTHER WAY. REPORT. ABORT MISSION. |
With only one open project, the one you are looking at? Even if the job is paying you $99999 for a web development thing or $50 per hour for an 'easy typing job', 'I need some data in a spreadsheet' or whatever, don't even bother. The money looks too good to be true? It is. These are what I call bid- and time-waster assignments. Freelancer.com has yet to be able to filter out these users and assignments, who can open several different Google accounts just so that they can make more accounts here as their old ones get banned and reported.
To add on, these are some of the more common scamming projects. With what that seems like a very easy job, data entry, copying words from JPG or PDF into a word docx. format, most of the time, they will ask you to send an email to a certain e-mail address. Then, you will be presented with packages to choose from as if you are the buyer. The most common scam is something like what is written below:
You e-mail them, they reply back. You can choose between typing 50 pages in 10 days, 75 pages in 12 days, or 90 pages in 15 days. Package A will earn you about $100, package B $150, and Package C $250. Sounds good, doesn't it? Now, you will need to choose a package, and each of these packages have a 'deposit fee' which will allegedly be released once they have checked through your typed product. You need 95% accuracy and to follow exactly what the JPG's show. If there's a line break, you follow that line break. If you have lower than 95% accuracy, you will not get paid.
First of all, we are the freelancers. We do not need to pay our buyers to get our jobs. Generally, when you see these jobs, you do not need to bother at all. Just stray away, or click the report button to do all the other freelancers a favor.
2. The Price
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| Is the price too low? |
Yes, we are all freelancers and we should be happy with what we get. But if we have good standards & and an established excellent quality of work, don't stoop too low for projects when you are desperate. Set our own standards based on the currency and quality of work that you are confident of delivering. If you have been a regular blogger and has some experience in a youth journalism program and even have a short story published in an actual book, don't be afraid to set your prices higher than $5 or 6 per 1000 words (Looking at you, Celine). I personally set $10 for every 1K words as my bare minimum, since I had several previous jobs where I can charge $25 for every 800 - 1000 words easily. I know what I can deliver, and I am charging a price worthy of the work quality. $6 per hour too low for the job you are applying for? Don't apply for it. Even if you do, make sure to bid at the price that you want to get paid for. It's their loss if they don't get a job well done by you.
3. Off-site Communication
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| Requests for off-site communication should be avoided wherever possible |
Closing Remarks
Of course there's plenty of scams and spam-natured jobs going around on every freelancing site. My best advice will be for you to check the buyers' reviews - have sellers' experience been good? If there are none, it will be good if they at least bothered to verify their accounts. Should you try to bid on their project, make sure to find out all the details that you can before accepting the job. What does the job entail? When will you get the payment (the more immediate, the better). Where possible, try to stick to one or two recurring tasks rather than looking for one-time odd jobs here and there. I have about 4 or 5 recurring clients as of now, and I have been able to earn about USD$300 in the past 2.5 weeks thanks to the recurring writing tasks on the 3 platforms I am working on. It's not impossible to earn more, you just need to look really hard and squint real hard at the suspicious buyers.
Meanwhile, I wish you all the best on your freelancing journey, and if you have any questions regarding Freelancer.com or other freelance job issues, feel free to leave your question in the comment section and I'll be happy to answer you!
Also, if you are interested in my writing, proofreading or translating services, feel free to refer to this page and see what services I provide. You can contact me through the 'Get in Touch' page, or simply brief me on the work you need done through any links provided on the 'Hire Me' page.
Also, if you are interested in my writing, proofreading or translating services, feel free to refer to this page and see what services I provide. You can contact me through the 'Get in Touch' page, or simply brief me on the work you need done through any links provided on the 'Hire Me' page.
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