Factors to Freelancing Success
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A few months ago, we listed out the Top 100 Freelance Blogs. The blogs on that list are people who have found success through freelancing and are kind enough to share the tips and tricks they’ve learned with the rest of us. Many of the top blogs – Freelance Switch and Freelance Folder, among others – also tap into the expertise of many freelancers in diverse fields for a comprehensive view on the freelance experience. In the spirit of those blogs, we’ve asked freelancers to take part in a panel to discuss the factors contributing to their freelancing success.
Thousands of people try to get started with a freelance career every month, but find that it’s hard to promote themselves, get jobs, and build a strong reputation for securing ongoing work. While many dip their toes in the freelance waters, only some rise to the top. These individuals surveyed below are some of the best from around the world – including freelance software developers, freelance designers, and virtual assistants.
Top providers were surveyed on the following factors to freelancing success and the results compiled for you. Each factor was scored on a scale of 1 – 4 for importance to success and the consensus or standard deviation of answers is displayed alongside each factor.
The freelancers that contributed to this post are from several different countries and include programmers, designers, writers, and virtual assistants. All of them have exceptional feedback scores and have been very successful in their freelance careers. Meet the Panel of Experts.
Profile Factors
| 3.5 | Valerie Martin | Feedback is probably the most important first impression you will make on oDesk. Great feedback comes from working closely with your Buyer and insuring they are happy with the end result. |
| Extreme importance | Jay Jaro | Always asked the buyer for feedback before ending a job, its like saying “goodbye” and see you on the next project… good communication means good feedback score. |
| 0.54 | Kim | Extremely important that you keep your profile very clean without ‘feedback’ blemishes. |
| High consensus |
| 3.50 | Jay Jaro | For designers, upload all your best work. If your having second thoughts on one of your designs, do not upload it. |
| High importance | Yaroslav Zagorui | This is the most important thing in getting a job. Even if you have 50 projects done, don’t put all of them online, just take the most attractive 10. |
| 0.73 | Matt | Show only your best, and preferably recent, work. Quality here, not quantity. And make sure you have samples for download or hyperlinked. |
| Medium consensus |
| 3.19 | Teodolfo | Write as truthfully as possible. No need to exaggerate your qualifications. But be as detailed as possible. |
| High importance | Krishna Acharya | Mention all your skill sets, review the skills from time to time whenever you feel you have updated yourself by the time. |
| 0.91 | Thanh Nguyen | Focus on your strong skills. Better if you can have some real samples to show up to the buyers. |
| low consensus |
| 3.19 | Matt | Short, to the point, and free from errors! |
| High importance | Jay Jaro | Make your title simple but direct to the point and SEO friendly |
| 0.75 | Margie Miguel | Add your best skills & show a little personality |
| Medium consensus |
| 3.00 | Milan Kaneria | Do not be afraid of the competition while deciding your hourly rate. But make sure you deliver quality and timely work which compliments your hourly rate. |
| Medium importance | Teodolfo | Study your market. Get a feel of how much other providers, in the same field as yours, are charging for their services. Then structure your hourly rate accordingly. Never ever shortchange yourself by submitting low bids. Most good buyers do not mind paying a little more for quality service. |
| 0.75 | Thanh Nguyen | To find your first work, I think your rate should be lower. Then you can increase it after some good feedbacks. |
| Medium consensus |
| 2.94 | Atul Arora | Pass as many as you can according to your skills with good ranks and percentile. |
| Medium importance | Tamara Bentzur | Take every available test for your field. Retake ones you did not score high in. |
| 1.00 | Yaroslav Zagorui | I don’t think that qualification tests pay a big role in getting your first job. |
| Low consensus |
| 2.91 | Valerie Martin | Keep it simple. Buyers want to see your smiling face! |
| Low importance | Teodolfo | I, for one, asked my son to draw a “cartoonized” picture of myself. To my mind, a portrait is just a way to catch the attention of potential buyers. |
| 0.75 | Yaroslav Zagorui | Show buyer that you’re not a BOT programmer or designer but also a good person to communicate with. |
| Medium consensus |
Job Selection Factors
| 3.56 | Matt | One factor I take into account is how much time the buyer has taken to write a clear and detailed job description. If the buyer has only provided a short one or two-sentence description (especially for larger projects), I have to wonder about the quality of communication I should expect when discussing requirements, timelines, etc. |
| Extreme importance | Valerie Martin | If there is not much information posted, then the Buyer may not know exactly what they want. Contact the buyer and ask questions before committing to the project, especially if it is a fixed rate job. |
| 0.81 | Victor | Carefully read the job descriptions and don’t be afraid to spend a lot of time reading these specs to make sure you’re a good fit. |
| Medium consensus |
| 2.56 | Atul Arora | Always see the history of the buyer before bidding. |
| Medium importance | Tamara Bentzur | I have had wonderful experiences with first time buyers. I don’t really think it is important. |
| 1.03 | Milan Kaneria | If buyer already has other successful jobs then you are sure of his work ethics and look forward for a great business partnership. |
| Low consensus |
| 2.29 | Teodolfo | It doesn’t matter if the job is large or small, as long as you can contribute significantly to the buyer’s bottomline, that is all that matters. |
| Low importance | Krishna Acharya | Being selected for the large size projects is much easier than to accomplish the small projects successfully. |
| 1.24 | Yaroslav Zagorui | If you don’t have much experience, don’t take jobs that take much time. Better take 10 jobs in 1 month than working with 1 big project for 4 months. This will help you to make a protfolio. |
| Low consensus |
| 2.00 | Jay Jaro | Go for it! You have a 50/50 chance of getting an interview. |
| Low importance | Thanh Nguyen | Dont care about this factor, as long as you think you are good fit for the job |
| 0.73 | Krishna Acharya | Only low number of candidacies doesn’t imply that there is higher possibility to get the job. |
| Medium consensus |
Job Application Factors
| 3.69 | Liz Mendiola | In your cover letter, show the buyer how you can help him achieve his goals and why you think you are the right person for the job. Also, before even thinking of applying, do your research and try to find as much information as possible about the buyer and the job requirements. |
| Extreme importance | Henricus Wendy | Make it simple and detailed, write things that are related to the job you are applying. Don’t do a cut and paste letter.. it’s annoying and it shows no respect to the buyer. |
| 0.48 | Krishna Acharya | Your cover letter should make a buyer review your profile. Include: 1. Your Brief introduction 2. Your statement of understanding of the task 3. Your probable solution/sugestions for the assignment 4. Mention your experience about the similar type of tasks if there are any. 5. Mention the URLs of your portfolio.. 6. Let your prospective client know about your timezone and working hours. Ask the buyer for her best time to contact. Finally, be polite. Review your cover letter before sending it. |
| High consensus |
| 3.50 | Teodolfo | Don’t shortchange yourself by engaging in price wars with other providers. Charge what you feel is right for your service and don’t go lower than that. |
| Extreme importance | Yaroslav Zagorui | Even if there are 5 candidates with low amounts it’s better to put higher amount. And try to explain in your cover letter to buyer, why you’re worth it. Inexperienced buyers may just take the smallest bid. The experienced buyer will pay more for the good specialist. |
| 0.73 | Hernicus Wendy | Your job should have a reasonable value. Therefore, don’t take long jobs with low rate. It will show that you’re not worth higher wages. |
| High consensus |
| 3.38 | Yaroslav Zagorui | Try to answer as soon as possible if you’re contacted for an interview. Clients won’t spend more then 1 day waiting for you. |
| High importance | Margie Miguel | Reply ASAP; make sure they know how they can contact you and at what time you are available for an interview. |
| 0.63 | Teodolfo | Be prompt and responsive. When being asked questions by buyers, answer in a very detailed and clear manner. |
| Medium consensus |
Freelance Work Factors
| 3.87 | Matt | Make sure you establish and confirm communication methods (e.g. IM contact details, email addresses, phone numbers) at the beginning of the project. You don’t want to spend valuable time trying to chase down the buyer to have a critical question answered. |
| Extreme importance | Valerie Martin | It’s extremely important to openly communicate with your Buyer. Before you begin, ask questions until you and your Buyer are on the same page with the project direction and always stay open to suggestions. |
| 0.35 | Tamara Bentzur | Keep them completely informed. I have a client who specifically mentioned that he doesn’t need to know all the time, but appreciates that I update him regularly. |
| Highest consensus |
| 3.80 | Liz Mendiola | I always believe in the 3 H’s: Humility, Honesty, Hard work. I have always believed that these comprise the basic foundation of a good working relationship. |
| Extreme importance | Tamara Bentzur | As you work with your buyers, you’ll know which ones you can show more of your personality to (with chat symbols etc.) which kind of helps to build a relationship. It’s hard sometimes not to come across cold with only remote communication. |
| 0.77 | Jay Jaro | Be open-minded and graciously accept critiques regarding your work, if there are any. |
| Medium consensus |
| 3.80 | Valerie Martin | I do my best to respond to Buyers within an hour during business hours. |
| Extreme importance | Teodolfo | Be as responsive and cooperative as possible. Your buyer will sense it and will reward you appropriately. |
| 0.41 | ||
| High consensus |
| 3.73 | Liz Mendiola | In anything that you do, always do your best and don’t settle for anything less. |
| Extreme importance | Teodolfo | Always deliver quality services. There is no other way but for you to always aim for superior results. |
| 0.46 | Krishna Acharya | Prepare a brief document with your final project delivery. Explain the outcome of your task to the buyer. Try to meet globally established standards. Perform quality assurance tests on the outcome before delivery. |
| High consensus |
| 3.73 | Krishna Acharya | Meeting deadline is important. This doesn’t mean that you and just you should deliver the agreed work within the deadline. All stake holders of the project are responsible for this. You may face some never known issues which prevent you to complete the task on time. In such cases, let all stake holders of the project know about the circumstances and possible solution in advance so that the team can come up with some resolution |
| Extreme importance | Valerie Martin | I do my best never to miss a deadline. If you see you will miss a deadline, honesty is the best policy. |
| 0.46 | Thanh Nguyen | Keep client posted, report as per client’s request. If any problems, need to tell him in advance to look for workaround. |
| High consensus |
| 3.40 | Yaroslav Zagorui | Before starting job, determine your hours of availability. And be online in these hours  |
| High importance | Tamara Bentzur | Working in different time zones, I never know when a client will need to reach me. I keep my IM clients open at all times. |
| 0.63 | ||
| Medium consensus |
Meet the experts and take their advice if you’d like to succeed in the freelance arena.
 Margie Miguel Virtual Assistant Quezon City, Philippines 1,061 hours – 28 clients |
 Yaroslav Zagorui Designer Lugansk, Ukraine 2,402 hours – 54 clients |
 Jay Jaro Designer Cavite, Philippines 2,714 hours, 69 clients, 4.96 feedback |
 Henricus Wendy Data Entry Professional Serpong, Indonesia 1,249 hours, 43 clients, 4.90 feedback |
 Valerie Martin Graphic Designer Lafayette, LA, USA 1463 hours, 64 clients, 4.94 feedback |
 Teodolfo L IT Management Professional Paranaque, Philippines 2,135 hours, 25 clients, 5.00 feedback |
 Atul Arora Website and GUI Designer Patiala, India 5,402 hours, 189 clients, 4.81 feedback |
 Matt U Freelance Writer Vancouver, Canada 1,501 hours, 21 clients, 4.99 feedback |
 Krishna Acharya Web Developer Kathmandu, Nepal 1,315 hours, 29 clients, 4.98 feedback |
 Milan Kaneria WordPress Developer Pune, India 1,087 hours, 17 clients, 4.90 feedback |
 Victor P PHP / Ajax Developer Tiraspol, Moldova 1,628 hours, 13 clients, 4.99 feedback |
 Liz Mendiola Online Researcher Quezon City, Philippines 1,560 hours, 35 clients, 4.97 feedback |
 Tamara Bentzur Transcriptionist Jordan Valley, Israel 2,147 hours, 57 clients, 5.00 feedback |
 Thanh Nguyen Web Developer HCMC, Vietnam 1,620 hours, 63 clients, 4.91 feedback |
 Cornel Iakobcsuk SEO Specialist Timisoara, Romania 3,381 hours, 28 clients, 4.98 feedback |
Dollar Buddies Ragu
July 16th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
thanks for listing the success factors…Odesk is becoming a temple for freelancers….great …
schuessler
July 17th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
That is a great overview. Good information about all those posting a job.
Factors to Freelancing Success | India LPO
July 17th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
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Mahmud Ahsan
July 29th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
This list contains great tips!