Now a day’s significant portion of our population is young. The young generation can broadly change our whole economy. At present, 18 to 35 aged people are more of the total number of communities, 32 percent of individuals (Source: CIA – The World Factbook). It reached up to 40 percent from 2015 to 2016 year. When any country’s number of young people is most proportionate, it is called Demographic Dividend or Demographic Bonus. Again, this situation is also known as the Windows of Opportunity. Through this condition, the potential development of any country can open the door. If the majority of the young generation are not utilized properly at the right time & the right way, they will cause a severe burden & a thorny issue in any country’s economy. If our massive amount of educated operational people can help themselves through an online outsourcing job or as an established freelancer, it would be a tremendously beneficial solution for our employment area.
Outsourcing is administrative work that does not turn their job themselves; instead, it is performed by another organization or professional individuals. It may be a part of any project or the entire project. Freelancing means not only a specific person working with a particular team, but it also stands for an assortment of contracts with different individuals & different groups. The freelancer has always had work, determination, freedom & also has immunity when they wish to work. The freelancer is not fixed in the traditional office Time zone. Companies usually reduce expenses by outsourcing. Most of the time, outsourcing is done due to insufficient time, effort, or lack of technology. Mainly technology-based work – (like – Web Design and Development, Software and Application Development, Article Writing & Content Marketing, Grafix digain, Multimedia & Architecture, Search Engine Optimization Training, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Web Research, Data Entry, etc.) are outsourced. Countries providing that type of service are India, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Russia, Pakistan, Panama, Nepal, Bangladesh, Romania, Malaysia, Egypt, and many other states. Throughout the whole article, I will try to demonstrate Online freelancing from beginning to end, described as a Beginners Guide to Freelancing in Bangladesh.
History of Freelancing
The history of freelancing in Bangladesh is not much older. This profession has achieved immense popularity in the last three to four years. However, the clear concept of freelancing has existed from the very beginning in many nations worldwide. It was started in the year 1998. “GURU“– the first freelancing marketplace established in 1998, known by SOFTmoonlighter.com. The various market was set up after popularity continuation, say- as Elance.com, RentAcoder.com, Upwork.com, GetAFreelancer.com, Freelancer.com, Limeexchange.com, etc. Due to widespread internet communication, freelancing gained an enormous reputation day by day in Bangladesh.
The Way of Freelancing Work
If any institution or person (Employer) wants to outsource their work, they come to the freelancing marketplace & invite their bidding process from professional freelancers for that work. In this mode, for one job among many bids which one is worthy and suitable, it is selected by the employer; after this step, the employer communicates with the freelancer and discusses his detailed work. In one bid, one freelancer mentioned how many days he has been involved in reaching the outcome & for this how much he will receive his fees. After completing the entire work, the payment procedure is complete through the various methods described earlier in the “how to withdraw money“ topic.
Prerequisite to Freelancing
Everybody should have skills in any subject for starting freelancing. Besides, you must experience to gather vast knowledge of internet surfing. If you hold the capability of different topics of computer-related work, then naturally, you will work on a large scale. Most of your clients are non-Bengali, so you have to communicate with them in English. They can interview you via Skype or messenger services. So it is paramount to good grab in English communication.
How to Start Online Freelancing
First of all, you have to prepare your profile in a sweet & organized way, which allows any person interested in working with you. See you around the different marketplace, gather information about their needs & read your profile accordingly. When the client is satisfied to see your profile, he will offer to give you any work, and he will accept which amount you want to take.
If you want to make a good quality profile, then you need some necessary steps:
- Build yourself as a specialist in a particular task. In this case, you will receive the most help (for example – Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) & from various video tutorials. There are many Outsourcing training centers in Bangladesh through which people can quickly get just about essential preparation tips and advanced levels. Naturally, depending on training centers, it’s not sufficient to make sweeping progress. You have to learn a piece of detailed knowledge about the work itself.
- According to your skills, you will do some tasks. For example, if you specialize in web designing, you create some web pages & present them to your marketplace profile. Again, if you were then professional about writing or photography, keep this sample in your profile.
- Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, elance.com, etc., are some popular freelancing marketplaces where the freelancing skills measurement exam is given. It is emerging. Whose profile is sorted by more reviews, his job getting possibility is higher or games.
- Except for the freelancing marketplace, plausibly share your profile & skills in different places –for example, friend circles, social networking sites, blogging sites, or forums.
How to get clients
One study shows that freelancers get their job most commonly through someone’s reference. If you do not know someone who can refer you, you have to read a nice & standard profile; you also have to wait for the correct money bid/hourly rate determination. In many cases, getting the first job depends on luck. You can get jobs within three days, or it can take time for three months. This is an excellent test of your patience. Once you get the job, you should complete the task within a determined time frame. As a result, the client will be happy & give you excellent feedback on your work. Afterward, you can get a new job from this client.
What work to Do
In a freelancing marketplace, you can achieve various tasks based on your proficiency & experience. Secure jobs are Search Engine Optimization, Article Writing, Data Entry, etc. Since these tasks are simple, their bidding percentage is high & it is terrible to obtain these jobs frequently. The work that is a little difficult is Web Development, Product Development, Software Development, Grafix digain, etc. The payment behavior of a simple task is higher than a difficult task. What job you will do depends on which work you want to feel comfortable with & its demand in the marketplace. You should always maintain a balance between two things. How complicated your job is, how much time it will take to finish, and the rate is determined by experience. Fixed payment tasks start from 5 dollars to 1000 dollars or more. On the other hand, Hourly Payments functions begin from 3 dollars to 100 dollars or more.
How to Bid in Freelancing Job Marketplaces
Mainly bidding are two types:
- Project Fee: When any project is presently in the marketplace, how much charge you want to demand, you can quickly offer it for the finishing point of your entire project.
- Hourly Rate: In this method, you can undoubtedly offer how much price you desire to claim for hourly basis work.
- Fixed-Rate: In this process, after completing the project, you will get the payment.
How to withdraw freelancing earnings
Bank-to-Bank Wire Transfer:
You can bring money directly to your bank account from some marketplace. But it cannot do in all markets; in that case, you can utilize different services for the online payment transaction process. Firstly, in this procedure, your money will be deposited into your account as a dollar in the marketplace. After receiving that money, you can transfer it to Skrill (Ex Moneybookers) or such type of money service accounts. In this situation, you may have to pay transfer fees depending on the marketplace. Later from any bank account in your country, you can quickly bring the money from Skrill. In this step, a bank can cut another transfer fee from you. So, you must keep in mind that a bank must have a SWIFT Code. Otherwise, your money will not move from the skill. This whole operation takes about one month for its transaction procedure. The following functions are complete within seven days. Getting SWIFT Code from Bangladesh Bank, we can see the below Link: The List of Swift Codes.
Direct transfer from the client:
When someone becomes your regular client, you will not move to the marketplace to acquire a project. He will give a project by communicating with you directly via email, or any other ways & plan payment will transfer straight to your bank account.
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You can get this for withdrawing any quantity of money at any time from your marketplace through the exchange of fixed amounts. It’s one kind of prepaid debit card. With this card from the ATM booth, you can withdraw your deposited amount in the marketplace at any time around the world. By using this card, you can manage online shopping too. This card permitted you to transmit money from your relative’s or friends’ master card or visa card to those who are staying overseas.
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Step 1: Go to this Link
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Click here and click on the sign-up button.
Step 2: Fill up your first name, and last name as it is on your National ID Card or passport. Then provide a valid email ID and date of birth.
Step 3: This section is excessively critical. Provide your contact address correctly where the card will be delivered.
Step 4: Enter a secure password and a security question.
Step 5: Give your ID Card information and agree to the terms and conditions. Don’t forget to check all 3 Requirements Box. Then click on the “ORDER” button.
Step 6: Add Bank Information.
Step 7: Check your email for further instructions. Then you need to upload your scanned copy of your National ID, driving license, or passport, whatever you provided previously. I hope within 20 Working days you will get this at your home.
Fees
How To Activate
Helpful Link: https://blog.payoneer.com/how-to/access-funds/how-to-activate-your-payoneer-card/
How to Withdraw Payments from Amazon (Official Video)
How to receive payments
How to secure international funds – make payments and access your hard-earned cash.
Helpful Link – blog.payoneer.com
Challenges of Freelancers
Freelancing work has endless possibilities, as well as some challenges. For example:
- There is no fixed schedule for work when the client will demand; he has to show his work progress.
- For people working in the freelancing area, their monthly income may fluctuate randomly.
- All clients’ promises are not the same; after completing the work, somebody was later to their total payment than the guaranteed time.
- Even this profession is not recognized socially in our country. However, the viewpoint of our people is changing swiftly.
Some Exceptional Marketplaces
Upwork.com, Elance.com, Freelancer.com- except these traditional sites, there are some conspicuous places in the freelancing area shortly their description is given below:
99designs.com: Grafix digain-based sites are provided with awards through competition arrangements. The amount of the reward is better than any other place. Here the client will offer detailed information according to his demand or work nature; you do not have any application for the job. You will design it according to his comprehensive report & upload it to your competitor’s pages. Your model will see the corresponding client. Many designers like you will upload their designs to the client. The client will choose which method, select it & finally give a reward or project money to the perfect designer.
Themeforest.net: Theme Forest graphic designing is a popular site in the designing era. Here graphic designers can make the sale of their design template & if he is a developer, they can sell the design and HTML & CSS coding. Themes are selling in Themeforest, Graphic River is for graphics sale, Codecanyon is for code deal, Photo demo is for stock photography sale & 3d motion is for 3d animation sale most popular marketplace.
Fiverr.com: Fiverr is one of the traditional markets. Here a newcomer can quickly open a gig or offer a job. There is an enormous possibility of earning a lot of money from a single gig.
Tips: How to get your Fiverr gig ranked
Considerable Topics of freelancing
- A Majority of the freelancing projects come from western countries; our time with them is from 5 to 12 hours.
- To understand whether the work is genuine or not, someone who has been posting this project in the marketplace should observe it very well.
- Always try to retain a high-quality client. You will not find the same behavior from all clients, which is better than seeking to hold him best.
- If there is an escrow service in the marketplace you are working on, utilize it at a maximum rate. Escrow is a deposit money service on the market where after the end of work, ensure you get your fees. Discuss any project you can request your client to store your total amount in the escrow service. After paying to the escrow, a client will not take it back. After completing the project tasks, he will discharge money from the escrow service to your account. If your client does not pay, then you can claim to the appropriate authority for you to owe cash through the escrow service.
- The employer arranges an interview for some projects. Projects have been started for the discussion; do not bid on them since the meeting has begun, so the possibility of getting jobs from them is much less.
- Learn to handle the workload. In a freelancing profession, the workload is not equal all the time. When the work pressure is higher than it is a significant challenge to control yourself, you should develop a healthy food habit as a preparation. Later maintain this practice.
- Keep an eye on modern technological developments. All the time, try to improve the quality of your tasks. It will assist you in managing your best profile.
- You do not decide in a hurry; instead, you should think about assigning tasks, whether you can finish 100 percent.
- In some markets, a cover letter is given at the time of bidding. In this case, the cover letter must have relevance. The same type of template is not used in all cover letters.
- Prove to yourself that your thoughts make all cover letters; by this, your creativity will express.
- Always keep neat & clean in your working area. Do not forget to take the time to rest. To remember your daily work, you should take a small notebook with you.
- In communication with the client or audio/video interview, you have to maintain professional dress & behavior.
- You should not forget to ask your client questions, whether your word choice or not because you can learn many things from clients’ feedback.
How will you be successful in the freelancing business?
In today’s unrest and challenging job market, freelancing is perceived as a better alternative by many people. Yes! It is undoubtedly a better option, as you no longer need to depend on a single company or person. Also, you do need to earn money for others. In freelancing, you can choose clients, and work styles as per your way. However, nothing is so comfortable in this world. To benefit from freelancing marketplaces, you have patience, dedication, and a hardworking attitude.
To start freelancing, you have to determine your way first of all. One size does not fit all – so you have to choose your practice according to your experience and passion. If you failed to select the right track, you would derail, and you cannot extract cream from it, creating depression.
Among many options here, we light on web designing – one of the most promising and vast working areas at freelancing marketplaces like Up-work, Fiverr, or People per Hour. I’ve shared some of my personal opinions in this article, request to read it carefully, hope it might help you to some extent.
As an experienced designer, you might be trying to find the answers to the following questions, which frequently raise our minds.
- Why have I not got enough work despite being an expert designer?
- I have had attractive open gigs for a long time but failed to respond from the buyer side?
- As an experienced designer with a nicely organized portfolio, I’m suffering from getting enough work as per my expectations.
- Continuously bidding to get work but failed to receive any response from the buyer.
To become a successful freelancer as an expert designer, we have the following criteria-
- Expertise in work
- Strong and organized portfolio
- Fluent in the English language
- Efficient communication with clients
- Research and analytical ability
- The apparent idea and ability to do social media marketing
Remember that becoming an expert in work is not always the ultimate way to get enough jobs in the marketplace.
Along with skill in some subjects will not guarantee you to get work? You still have to travel a long way to reach ultimate success. You are an expert on some trade, which means you achieved a 25% mark for preparing to get any work as a freelancer.
If you have a well-organized portfolio added to your skill, you will advance one step ahead to gather the ability to do any work in the freelancing marketplace. The rich and organized portfolio adds another 20% mark to your basket. So, skill (25%) + portfolio (20%) = 45%. Generally, we consider the pass mark of any exam to be a minimum of 33 out of 100. In that sense, if you score 45 means, you mean passed the exam but in 3rd Class or grade. Now imagine, with a 3rd class certificate, can you arrange any job/work in any company or organization. It is easily understandable that it is tough to find any job with this much quality. Here we mention that you will score 45 only if you have a strong portfolio and enough skill. However, if you do not have that much capacity, you will not hit the score of 45, which means you failed to fulfill the minimum criteria. In this situation, only luck can manage a job or work for you in the freelancing world.
If you are fluent in English communication (writing, reading, and speaking), it will add another 20% mark to your basket. That is by English communication ability. You raise your total scores to 65, which means you passed in 2nd Class. It will increase your chances of getting work to some extent. Fluency in English is essential to understanding the client’s request, having productive conversations with clients, reading and understanding different blogs and articles, researching any topics or searching for something on Google, being active in various communities related to the marketplace, and being updated about the rules and regulations.
The client is always king; A satisfied client brings enormous opportunities for you. If you can manage your clients smartly, you can add another 5% mark to your basket. This means you raise your total score to 70, which is a first-class mark.
Suppose you are fluent in English, not mean that you manage your clients properly. To work or satisfy a client, you have particular communication skills, which you may grab by patience and dedication. As with managing your girlfriend, you have to spend enough time understanding your client’s requirements, and accordingly, you have to communicate with him. As usual, the same traditional communication for all clients will not work all the time.
A satisfactory client may come back to you after completing your work because of your excellent behavior or proper communication techniques. Attitude and conduct are powerful techniques that sometimes touch the customer’s heart with average quality work. Earlier, I said that clients are the king, so you never see back if you satisfy your customer with work and behavior.
Research and analytical ability – if you have this, you advance one step more in your way of freelancing. Information is power. To collect your relevant information to keep you updated, always read related books, articles, blogs, sites, and news, and analyze them according to your requirement. If you have this attitude, you will score more than 10%.
Sometimes we see that the majority of us have no interest in collecting information from research. Lack of research ability will seriously pull us to do well in freelancing. So, try to be active in all related social media, blogs, or sites and read more. This practice also helps you overcome any problem or know more deeply about a topic by searching Google or other search engines.
Almost all of us depend entirely on the various marketplaces to find and grab work. However, the top-ranked markets are occupied by many freelancers worldwide, making it tough to get any job effortlessly. On top of that, some marketers cut down their commission from your hard earnings too. On the other hand, because of high competition, the chances of suspending your account are also high for any minor fault. If you are solely dependent on a single marketplace, you can easily imagine the situation if they suspend you. You can handle the tough time by grabbing suitable clients over media if you have the right hand on social media marketing. Expertise in social media marketing will help secure your future career in freelancing.
So, be active in social media, watch colossal learning videos on it, and share your work more and more on social media. Develop you as an expert on social media. If so, then you have not to be seated empty. You can add a 20% mark on your career and reach 100 scores by doing this. So, nothing can pull you back anymore.
One last thing, never think about doing anything wrong or shortcuts way. It will not do any good for you and our country in the long run.
Now it is your turn to calculate your score, and analyze the reason behind your failure or success to get work. Try to find your back locks and take corrective measures yourself. I hope one day you will touch the dreaming moon in your hand.
Outsourcing in Bangladesh
The three most popular marketplaces among Bangladeshi freelancers are Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, and Elance.com. Bangladesh has an elevated position in these three sites.
Upwork is one of the largest companies among all online outsourcing marketplaces. Bangladesh is in the third position on this freelancing website. There are 7000 active Bangladeshi freelancers at present, and the number is increasing day by day. For this reason, Upwork organized “Contractors Appreciation Day (2012),” and several top shots from Upwork visited Bangladesh for this purpose. In 2009 only 2% of Upwork jobs were performed by Bangladeshi freelancers. In 2012 it became 12%. In the 2012 quarter, Bangladeshi freelancers worked 7 Lac 20 thousand hours in Upwork.
Freelancer.com has more than 25 thousand registered Bangladeshi freelancers. Bangladeshi freelancer’s performance is exemplary in this other modern marketplace. Bangladeshi people mainly do Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization work on this site. As freelancer.com purchased scriptlance.com, many Bangladeshi programmers are operating in Freelancer.com now.
Bangladesh is also in the first row of Elance.com. In a recent report, Elance officials published the names of the top 25 countries for contractors by geographic area. The USA ranked first, and India ranked second. As of the 6th April 2013, 39 thousand 195 freelancers were registered on this site. The average hourly income is 9 dollars for Bangladeshi freelancers. Bangladeshi freelancers have earned 49 Lac US dollars from this site.
Bangladeshi people mainly do the Data Entry and SEO/SEM/SMM type of work. Web Development, Software Development, Writing & Content, Design, and Multimedia & architecture are also mentionable. Web development and software development projects have increased funding. Bangladeshi freelancer needs to involve themselves in this sort of work. One Bangladeshi Search Engine Optimizer charged 3 to 10 dollars per hour, whereas one USA web developer charged 30 to 100 dollars per hour. He can charge this high amount only for his skill. Bangladeshi freelancer needs more power in this regard. We should concentrate more on skill-building so that outsourcing in Bangladesh will be gorgeous.
The contribution of Freelancing to Bangladesh’s economy:
As an import-oriented country, a significant portion of foreign remittance comes from Nonresidents Bengali people. In 2012 the overseas worker sent 14 billion US dollars to Bangladesh (Source: world bank). If we consider a 10% growth rate, it will become near about 19 billion in 2015.
Now come to the outsourcing industries. In 2012 Bangladeshi freelancers earned more than 365 crore takas within 2015, near about 4443-billion-dollar works, well done through outsourcing. If we can take 10% of this job, we can earn 45 billion US dollars. If we can take a 5% market share, the amount will be 23 billion, which will become the most significant source of foreign remittance.
Fifty percent of the people in our country are women. A significant portion of them do not contribute to the national economy. Suppose they can give 3-4 hours in freelancing and quickly earn 3-4 dollars per day. If the total workforce is seven scores, then women are 3.5 hearts. Among them, educated girls and females are 50 lacs. If we can develop them as freelancers, we can earn 1.5 core US dollars per day. It became 500 crore US dollars yearly.