I had expectations, and I had disappointments. I think that's enough said.

10 Expectations Versus Reality for Freelance Writers

The Wanted Platform vs. The Received Platform

Expectation: I heard that UpWork is a very good platform for freelance writers. I can probably get some good work done here if I get my profile approved!

Reality: Too many freelancers with freelance content writer title in UpWork. Will not get an approved profile in the next 2 years because there are too many content writers. It does not help that I write and translate and transcribe with an awesome education and employment history. I will never be approved on the one site that I want to promote myself on. Oh, here's a platform that totally leaves their freelancers with no payment protection. I guess I'll have to hop on.

The Projected Income vs. The Actual Income

Expectation: Okay so other writers are charging between $10 and $50 for 1000 written works. I have a fair amount of experience and so I will charge $20 per 1000 written works on all of these freelancer platforms.

Reality: All platforms take at least 10% off my earnings and PayPal takes an extra 3% off that amount when I transfer it into my bank account so I get about $17.46 in my bank account. Optimally the exchange rate is 1:4, so from that I can probably get about RM69.84 but it is currently 1:3.5 so I’m only getting RM61.11. My projected profit was RM80 from 1000 words and now I’m getting RM20 less, which means that I did about 250 words for free and I gave away 15 minutes worth of free labor.

The Too-Much-Work Freelance vs. The Too-Little-Work Freelance

Expectation: I get to work on my own terms, whenever I want, wherever I want!

Reality: Last month, I had 5 clients with 18 pending articles and 30-minute transcriptions due in a week so I told 2 clients that I will be busy for the next 1 month to pause the job with them for a bit. I had a good break for 2 weeks after a week with minimum sleep. Now I have 1 active client and they only provide me $10 of work in a week and all the other clients already found themselves a freelancer with better time and client management so I can’t make more money even if I wanted to.

The Prices You Want vs. The Prices They Pay

Expectation:  I can charge my own price. I know my work quality and I just need to wait for the clients who are able to pay me that average rate long-term!

Reality: Clients approaching me directly can only pay $5 per 1000 words written when my actual rates currently are at $20 per 1000 words. The one client who is paying me $20 per 1000 words is asking for super tight deadlines, is mean and unreasonable and a lot of research is needed. He doesn’t think I deserve a raise and he can’t afford it anyway. Also, he pays up only a month later and I don’t know when he is going to escape without paying one day.

The Skills You Have vs. The Skills You Need

Expectation: I’m good with biology and health related articles. I can produce 1000 words within an hour maximum. I can find some good work with that!

Reality: Clients are asking for 5000-word manuscripts about cryptocurrencies and the history of one specific rock in the bottom of the ocean which I have zero knowledge about. The only companies accepting health and biology-related articles are full-fledged scientific journals that I need a proper research paper for, or maybe they don’t pay for any contributions unless I am a certified doctor.

The People You Want vs. The People You Get

Expectation: If I’m nice to potential clients or exiting clients, they will be nice to me too!

Reality: Potential clients turn out to be creeps with fetish for Asian girls hoping that I am willing to get paid $25 to show them some skin or sell them my used underwear. I tell the clients that I got sick and need to rest and suddenly I was an irresponsible freelancer because I am not submitting my work on time. I chase the clients that don’t pay up and eventually submit a complaint through their official website and was accused of defamation of the company.

The Optimism vs. The Pessimism

Expectation: People are trustworthy. Trust people unless they show signs that they are not to be trusted.

Reality: Client blocks me off after I spend 5 hours writing short paragraphs for them. They reverse their payments from completed assignments and I end up receiving nothing in return for my work because they closed off their accounts immediately after getting what I give. Turns out there was a small little clause cleverly hidden in the terms and conditions of the freelancer platform that says, “We reserve the rights to reverse the payments in situations deemed necessary,” which, in many scenarios that happened to other freelancers, meant that they will let the scammers get away without paying.

 The Work-Life Balance vs. The Actual Productivity

Expectation: I have a full-time work which covers my commitments and some food. If I take this freelance job and work 4 additional hours after work, I can earn enough to spoil myself once in a while.

Reality: I’m so tired after meeting clients and doing everything I did at the office earlier. By the time I’m done showering and having my dinner I need to rest a little before I start working so in the end I can only work an additional 30 minutes to one hour before I get so tired that I need to sleep. I haven’t had a proper resting weekend for two months because I need to catch up on my freelance work.

The Price Hike vs. The Incoming Funds

Expectation: I have earned enough experience and my writing skills have definitely improved compared to two years ago. I can also write on at least 8 more new topics that I couldn’t write when I just started. I can raise another $10 to my price for better research and faster turnaround time.

Reality: No one has contacted me ever since I increased my rates. Bidding on projects with my new rate is also a failure because no one wants to pay $30 for 1000 words even if I include free stock photos, give the entire article a professional and neat look, and create a citation section at the bottom to show that it is indeed a well-researched article.

The Wishful Bonus vs. The... Lack of.

Expectation: I have some clients who have been with me for 2 years now. That’s awesome! Maybe they will include a small bonus for me this year?

Reality: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Paid survey opportunities. Sounds good, doesn't it? Some of the websites pay really slow, or maybe you just don't really fit the demographics they want. If you are staying in Malaysia, can speak, write or read Bahasa Melayu and English at least, then these survey sites will be good for you.

Of course, if you're a Chinese-speaking Malaysian, most surveys also give you the choice of answering the surveys in Chinese as well. You can get paid to do surveys on some websites in Malaysia, but you need to be diligent about it.

Before we start, it's important to note the following details:

• Paid surveys is not a way for you to get rich in a few days. It may take a few months before you can get even USD5. 
• It is advisable for you to have a PayPal account. Most survey sites listed here pays out via PayPal, or through vouchers for AEON, KFC etc. If you want cash, then it's good to have a PayPal account ready.
• You need to update your detailed profile. The more info you input into your profile, the easier it is for the survey sites to find surveys that match your demographics. You can then get more surveys to answer.
• Some websites give you surveys everyday, and some only once or twice in a week. Be patient. As mentioned in point 1, paid surveys is not a way for you to get quick cash.
• Check your inbox frequently, or switch on the email notifications for desktop. This way, you get notified immediately once there is a survey available for you on any of these survey sites.
• Sometimes, when you open a survey, it immediately tells you that you are not a good fit for the demographics that the survey is looking for. It happens. Just make sure that your profile is updated. 

If you are signing up for these websites, please do so from the links on the website names below :)

Get Paid to Complete Surveys in Malaysia from these 15 Websites

YouGov

Rakuten Insights

MOBROG

Toluna Influencers

GlobalTestMarket

SurveyOn

Triaba

Viewfruit

The Panel Station

YourVoice

FeaturePoints

Update: 3 days after this post is uploaded, Freelancer.com support team has reached out to me with the following response. It looks like their staff do try to clear disputes with dissatisfied users like me or other freelancers. This message clearly entails what users should be looking out for before they bid on projects or how they can communicate with the buyer more before they accept that job and get charged either $5 or 10%, whichever is higher. You can refer to their response below. I have censored the staff name, ticket URL and my own name for privacy purposes.





Now that you have read their response, take my reviews and content with a bit of salt if you will. Just know that this is my personal experience and I am basing my reviews on my experience using this website to work as a freelancer.

If you have been following my blog for a bit, you might have seen some other blog posts about scams at Freelancer.com and other issues.

I also have a blog that was made just to single out some of the scammers that are using Freelancer.com. You can find the blog here if you are interested.

Freelancer.com Is Not Worth It :(

Reasons to Say No to Freelancer.com No. 1: High Project Cost

Freelancer.com Took a 10% Project Fee from Me 

There was No Refund After Project Cancellation

Reasons to Say No to Freelancer.com No. 2: Plenty of Scam Jobs

Hi writer, Thank you for applying for my job, Please connect me on skype at jmark2222

I learnt my lessons very quickly. Clients looking to work externally from the platform are almost always scammers. I did have a few clients who turned out to be decent humans who don't scam us freelancers of our hard work, but the majority of them are pure piece of shits.

Hi.Thanks for applying to my job. So it works like this. I hire you and when we start, I send a topic and you do within 2hrs max and send back and I give you another . So it's like that until we do 5 articles daily, 5-6 days a week. okay? As you work , you track your time with time tracker for secured payment. Can you work like that? If so add me on skype at seowriterneeded so I hire you and we start. Thanks

Looks like the Secure Payments and Payment Verifications Can Be Removed

Less Than Optimal Help & Protection for Freelancers

Reasons to Say No to Freelancer.com No. 3: Other Project Fees

What I Suggest:

Alright just let me rant.

Freelancing can be good extra money. I work my full-time job, and then I return home to work on my freelance work, and I can earn more than my full-time job's monthly income just from my freelancing job. It's good money, it is. But when you might be having your PMS and you become really easy to piss off, the zen and endless patience that you are known for just dissolves, rots and disappears like Logan Paul's popularity.

Here's shit that I want to complain about.

You will meet employers who pay you only after you bug them endlessly for days and lodge a report against them. "Don't worry, we will pay you today." You wait today, tomorrow, and the next entire week and there will be no progress. They will contact you when they need you to work, but when you send a message regarding payments, they will leave your messages unread.

You will meet employers who say, "Relax. I've been here a long while. Your pay won't go anywhere" and refuse to use the safe payment options which guarantees that you will get paid. "Please accept the pending milestone so that I can continue working," you might say. They will blast you with a series of "Don't worry" and "Don't worry" and did I mention more "Don't worry"?

You will meet employers who give you vague instructions and expect you to understand, refusing to elaborate more and then ask for endless revisions when you follow the vague instructions. "U dnt understn the work dear." Of course I don't. That's why I asked. Don't 'dear' me. It's disgusting and it makes me want to punch you in the face.

You will meet cheap-ass bastards who want to pay you $0.50 for a 300-word article or maybe pay you $3 for a 1000-word article. "This is going to be a long-term project so please bid accordingly."
Dear sirs and missuses, how about I employ you to do my job for me but I pay you like $2 each day. It's long-term afterall. You can do it until you retire. How does that sound?

You will meet bid wasters. A lot of freelancing job sites require you to use a bidding system. You want to get pure profit without purchasing extra bids? There's bid wasters for that. You have extra bids that you worked hard to pay for? There's bid wasters for that too. "Contact me on Skype for more information." How about no and fuck off?

You will meet creepers. "I'm looking for an open-minded virtual assistant to hold video calls and phone calls with me." Don't even bother with those. You see the word 'open-minded' and 'video calls' linked together, you run. That's what you do.

You will meet unreasonable buyers. You can tell them "I can only work on flexible hours since I have a full-time job. I should be able to write about 2 - 3K words daily at max." and they will still bug you non-stop as if they did not know about your full time job even if you remind them again and again.

You will meet assholes and asshats and asses in general. You will also meet cunts and dicks and twats and donkeys; whatever swear word that is trending where you come from.

You will meet all of these and still struggle to find the inner peace and patience in you that lets you reply or send a message to them nicely so that at least you are being a decent human being, all just so that your chat won't be reported and your account won't be closed. The easier solution?

"Hi *Name*, I don't think that I can work with you anymore. You are not very reasonable to work with and I prefer not to continue our collaboration. Please release any pending payments and we can discuss further after that if you have any other requests."

I have finally managed to get $300 in pending payment today after more than a week of trying to get a buyer to release the pending amount. Keep in mind that the works have been approved and revisions have been made. Keep in mind also, that it was agreed upon that the payments should be released within 48 hours after the work is approved.

I finally got my money, but I'm still pissed.

Maybe it's the birth control medication that I am trying.

And now, lunch time.

Also, I'm grateful for all the good buyers that I managed to work with. Thank you guys for being pleasant and releasing the funds on time and all your clear instructions, etc etc.

Bless.

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

Signs of a No-Go Buyer

Let's see. No verified e-mail, no verified phone number, account incomplete, no payment verification and has not made a deposit. 0 reviews. Fishy. Mouse over the star ratings, and you see this:

GO THE OTHER WAY. REPORT. ABORT MISSION.

2. The Price

Is the price too low?

3. Off-site Communication

Requests for off-site communication should be avoided wherever possible

I have some mixed feelings about this. Most of the scammers like to communicate on Skype and pay you through Paypal or some other external sources rather than work with you on the freelancing platform. If the user has no ratings and immediately asks you to start communicating with them on Skype, that's not a good sign. Based on my personal experience, these users are repeated offenders for scamming users and can be reported fairly quickly. Even if they have pending milestones (pending payments that supposedly have non way to be cancelled) there are cases where the accounts will be closed immediately on Freelancer.com before the money gets through. It's either that, or you end up writing 20 articles at a rate that is too good to be true, and later get ghosted when it's time to pay up. You can refer to my portfolio or recent scammed works here, published just so that the buyers of my articles can never use them since they will detect a 100% plagiarism based on my site - scammed-freelancers.blogspot.com.

• Plumbing service
• Broken pipe repair
• Plumbers near me

• ‘toilet plumbing’ and ‘clogged drain’ could be placed into one ad group, ‘toilet drains’
• ‘plumbing pipe’ could be placed into another ad group ‘plumbing supplies’
• ‘water heater installation’ could be placed into an ad group called ‘water heater’.

Want more information on other Google AdWords features? Simply leave a comment below this post and I will try to help you :) Meanwhile, I hope that this post has helped you to understand the keyword planner a little bit better.

• The Structures of Google AdWords
• How Keywords Work in Search Advertising
• Making Text Ads More Prominent
• Dynamic Keywords & Ad Extensions
• Using The Keyword Planner