The on-going employment scenario of working full-time in a company is changing thanks to the economy.
Millennials and people in their late twenties think about generating extra income streams instead of working for the same company for 8 hours a day for their whole lives.
They want to do what they love and are ready to put in the effort to achieve greatness. Freelancing is a great option to do what you love and monetize your skills.
It is a structure where an employer will hire someone temporarily as a freelancer who might be working as long as the project is not over. Freelancers usually work remotely.
You have so many freelancing websites to begin your freelancing career. Let’s get an overview of what a freelancing website is.
A freelancing website is a marketplace where freelancers and employers connect.
The employers will post a job with the requirements and details along with remuneration.
The freelancers would try to grab the opportunity by submitting their bids and try to get that gig.
A freelancing website helps employers find reliable freelancers and let freelancers find work.
Is Freelancing Profitable?
Leaving a full-time job for freelancing is a significant risk for people who are the primary earning individual of their family. Therefore, you can begin freelancing as a side hustle and eventually grow it as your full-time work.
The question remains: is freelancing really profitable for a freelancer?
I would say, yes. But there are so many variables, and inputs are taken into account. The definition of profitable is different for everyone that is going to determine how profitable or if a particular activity is.
Some people might consider money as a parameter of profitability. For some, freedom and job satisfaction are essential even if they are earning little less in initial freelancing days.
The most important thing is — there are high paying freelancing jobs for talented people. If you have the required skills and time, you can earn more than what your job is paying you.
Working mothers, students or housewives can leverage freelancing opportunities to earn some extra cash for their families without going to any office, period.
Since you are your boss, you get to decide how many hours of work you want to put in, so you get extra time to pursue new hobbies, travel, look after your family, etc.
Now, let’s see what great freelancing websites you can explore to get a work permit:
Best Freelancing websites
1. Freelancer.com
Trusted by leading organizations like Microsoft, MetLife, General Electric, Intel, and thousands of others, Freelancer.com is one of the most renowned freelancing websites out there.
With the help of the platform, employers can find skilled freelancers for any work — from real estate contractor to an application developer to a blockchain consultant, and you would find anyone who can take up your project as a freelancer.
They have more than 1350 categories to choose freelancers.
After signing up your freelancer profile on the website, you will need to complete your profile and upload all the relevant information that could help you get more projects.
2. Upwork.com
Upwork is a renowned freelancing website that provides high-paying jobs to freelancers compared to most of the freelancing sites, period.
Rated at 4.6/5 by more than 500K customers on ClearlyRated, Upwork has been a reliable platform and loved by customers.
Currently, you just need to create an account on upwork.com to be able to bid for freelance projects.
Please note that the website is not accepting any new freelancers in some industries at the moment because they have enough freelancers for those niches. But try creating a profile and start completing modules to get your profile uploaded faster.
3. Fiverr.com
Fiverr is trusted by leading enterprises like PayPal, Facebook, Netflix, PnG, and so on.
Whether you need a designer, translator, writer, web designer, web developer, presentation maker, or an artist, you can go to Fiverr and find a freelancer for $5, period.
It is the most engaging freelance website because employers can find affordable freelancers who can also get everyday work.
After creating and confirming your profile on Fiverr, you need to create a Fiverr listing for your services to attract employers.
Then, you need to start bidding on relevant gigs of your niche. You can also create separate packages for scaling and providing more services at a slightly higher rate.
You get a section where you can describe your services, deliverables, etc.
4. 99designs.com
In this era of the digital revolution, creating visual appeal for your personal or professional brand is essential to engage the audience and hopefully acquiring more consumers online.
Skilled designers can give your brand a massive boost in creating a buzz online and grabbing customers’ attention.
99designs is a freelance website specifically for hiring designers to create logos, web graphics, social media creatives, and so on.
99designs claims that every new design has been created and submitted on its platform every 2 seconds.
5. Toptal.com
Totalpal provides the best top 3% of freelancers in the industry, as stated on their home page.
You can hire finance experts, contractors, consultants, digital marketers, writers, designers, web developers, etc.
After creating and completing your freelancer profile on Toptal, you can start accepting projects and interacting with employers through the website.
Brands like Motorola, Bridgestone, CSR, HP, and priceline.com trusts Toptal.
6. PeoplePerHour.com
Trusted by 900K+ employers and 2M+ freelancers across the globe, PeoplePerHour is the perfect freelancing website to work as a freelancer and get paid on hourly rates.
As the name of the platform goes, you can hire freelancers on an hourly basis. PPH claims that they have a vast number of freelancers that employers can hire one for their project within minutes.
Once the freelancer’s profile is confirmed, mention all the necessary details and upload your portfolio to show your credibility to employers.
To communicate with the freelancer, employers don’t need to use any other communication method because both parties can chat and negotiate through the platform provided by PPH.
7. Nexxt.com
Nexxt is an online freelancing website that is made of skilled freelancers who can help companies and organizations achieve their commercial targets.
Freelancers and job seekers can sign up on the website and get notified whenever a relevant job is available.
Nexxt is also an advertising platform that brands can leverage to reach to a wide range of freelancers who could be utilized for completing projects.
8. Taskrabbit.com
Taskrabbit is a freelancing website that can help you hire talented people to complete any task.
On this platform, freelancers are known as Taskers who can help local people complete their essential tasks efficiently so they can focus more on other necessary activities.
The website performs 140,000 background checks before suggesting a Tasker.
You want to revolutionize your kitchen or decorate your living room for a Christmas party, and you can find relevant people who would visit your place and do the job on the website.
9. Designhill.com
Designhill can be your one-stop solution for all the designing needs and requirements. Organizations can hire highly-skilled, verified designers to do the designing task.
Whether you want to design t-shirts, mockups, logo, landing pages, mobile app screens, or anything else, Designhill is your platform.
On the website, 10 million designs are created.
10. Guru.com
Guru is one of the most renowned and oldest websites that connect employers to freelancers.
It is a marketplace where you can hire Gurus of particular skills as freelancers for your work.
Guru claims to give the 99% satisfaction rate to customers, and the website has paid $250 million in total to freelancers.
Guru is a secured platform to accept and transact money between freelancers and employers. They have got 24×7 dedicated support to assist customers and resolve their questions about the website.
Here is the list of Best Freelancing Sites
| URL | DA |
|---|---|
| https://www.flexjobs.com/ | 67 |
| https://solidgigs.com/ | 33 |
| https://www.fiverr.com/ | 91 |
| https://www.upwork.com/ | 89 |
| https://www.cloudpeeps.com/ | 51 |
| https://www.freelancer.com/ | 82 |
| https://www.servicescape.com/ | 37 |
| https://craigslist.org/ | 89 |
| https://www.toptal.com/ | 80 |
| https://www.guru.com/ | 71 |
| https://www.peopleperhour.com/ | 70 |
| https://aquent.com/ | 57 |
| https://publoft.com/ | 28 |
| https://99designs.co.uk/ | 51 |
| https://paperell.com/ | 35 |
| https://solidgigs.com/ | 33 |
| https://www.simplyhired.com/ | 68 |
| https://www.krop.com/ | 62 |
| https://www.linkedin.com/profinder | 98 |
| https://www.designhill.com/ | 57 |
| https://outsource.com/ | 37 |
| https://localsolo.com/ | 38 |
| https://studio.envato.com/ | 81 |
| https://www.designcrowd.co.in/ | 24 |
| https://www.designcontest.com/ | 60 |
| https://www.taskrabbit.com/ | 69 |
| https://www.crowdspring.com/ | 62 |
| https://www.writeraccess.com/ | 53 |
| https://codeable.io/ | 42 |
| https://a.seoclerks.com/ | 51 |
Things to consider before hiring someone:
- Check their Portfolio
The portfolio is the essential ingredient that employers must check before hiring a freelancer because, in the digital world, anyone can claim to be an expert. Their previous work is the only proof that can help them prove their expertise.
- Ensure The Verification
Ensure that the freelancer has given necessary details to the freelancing website.
Freelancing websites also let freelancers verify social media accounts, phone number, debit/credit card, email address as marks of authenticity.
So, before you hire someone, please check these trust badges. In the image above the freelancer on Freelancer.com, has verified email, phone, and debit/credit card.
Other platforms shared above have a different style to showcase these metrics.
- Check the Profile Age
Although it is not the most crucial factor to decide the credibility of a freelancer, you must check how old the freelancer’s profile is on the platform to get an idea about their experience.
See below example of how Fiverr shows a profile’s age.
- Read Reviews
User-generated content is the most effective form of generating more conversion online.
Before hiring a freelancer, read the reviews of previous employers to understand what they think about the skills of the freelancer.
The reviews on the profile will give you an idea of how reliable the freelancer is.
Conclusion
Please let me know what your thoughts about freelancing websites are. If you check any other parameters or use any other website to hire freelancers, feel free to share your inputs with others through the comments below.
I would also love to know your feedback about this blog, so feel free to share your thoughts!
