By Ikenna Pius
The best freelance websites for new hustlers should ideally be those that give a chance – a level playing ground to people that are just coming into the business. As you may know, freelancing offers the opportunity to make money with your skills, by offering your services to people who need them. Everything is done remotely; there is no need to step out of your house.
However, because most of these websites allow buyers (employers) to rate the services they receive from sellers (workers); and because other employers depend on those ratings when giving out work (gigs), it may sometimes seem that new freelancers do not have a level playing field because they may not be able to attract work.
The best Freelance websites for beginners should have a good employer to worker ratio. They should also be populated by people of goodwill who are willing to give opportunities to the hordes of eager new hustlers who want to make something out of freelancing.
Best Freelance Websites For Beginners
Fiverr
Fiverr is the most popular freelancing site, and more impressively; they have managed to retain that top spot for a number of years. Fiverr is built around the idea that if a commodity is cheap, then it will be affordable by more people, and so more people will make purchases.
When employers see how much they can get done on Fiverr for $5, they feel encouraged to give out jobs. So you see; Fiverr is a great place to start your freelancing journey.
Some of the most patronized gigs on Fiverr include graphic design, website design, content writing, and voice-overs. Most of your patrons are small business owners, and they are mostly willing to give you a chance as a new freelancer.
On fiverr you just have to register as a seller, list your services (they are called gigs on fiverr) and set your prices. Buyers who need your services will then contact you and then purchase your gigs.
People Per Hour
People Per Hour is a great name for a freelance website; it tells you exactly what the company is all about. The great thing about People Per Hour is that it tries to give freelancers a good deal for their work; here freelancers are paid by the hour.
You can just go to the website and create an account for free. This is one of the best freelancing websites for new hustlers because the basic accounts are good enough to make money. Note that they will review each application before approving it. After the application has been approved, you can start browsing for jobs in different categories.
Some of the biggest categories and industries on this website include: Journalism (writing articles) Marketing (Affiliate Marketing and other such things; including writing product reviews for blogs and websites) and so on.
On this website buyers post the jobs they want done, and then freelancers make offers and state their prices. This is also a great place to network and get some good friends and partners for the future.
Please note that after exceeding 15 free bids you may have to buy more bids.
Flexjobs
Flexjobs is another potentially great freelancing website for new hustlers; the website gives everyone a chance of getting remote job opportunities, including freelance, part-time and full-time jobs. That’s right you can enter into long term working relationships or just keep working at your pace, one gig at a time.
Some of the top jobs on this website include writing jobs (journalism, information articles, and product reviews and descriptions, etc) you can also find education and training jobs, and so on.
With this website you register and then pay a small subscription in order to be a part of the community. There are four plans available, and the smallest one starts from around $6.95/week. See it as an investment; you have a high probability of recovering what you have spent, and making some money on top of it. Flexjobs filters out scams thus giving you a safe environment to work.
Freelancer
We have struggled with coming to a decision on whether or not to include Freelancer on this list. This is a website used by freelancers and employers alike from different countries, however there are far too many scams. You can work all day, and never get paid. Furthermore, it seems like the top employers are only interested in working with freelancers that have strong ratings, and you need to perform well on a couple of jobs in order to get strong ratings, which brings us right back to where we were in the beginning.
Freelancer dot com is a well populated website, but it could amount to a waste of time if you do not subscribe to any of the membership plans. You can start subscribing for about $5 per month, and gradually work your way up. However, paying the subscription does not eliminate the chances of falling for one of the scams on that site; it just gives you more bids, and access to some of the priority projects.
LinkedIn is more like a social media platform for professionals. As a social network, the core purpose of the site is to build relationships and professional connections. People in all sorts of businesses and professions are on LinkedIn, and they post information about job vacancies, career advancement, skills development, and so on.
LinkedIn allows you build a profile as a freelancer, and post your availability for work. You can stand alone as an individual, or if you have a business name that you work with, that could be better. You can find writing jobs, translation jobs, graphic design, news reporting, sales jobs, marketing jobs, web development, app development, and so on.
If you have a profile of people and companies that you have previously worked with, you can significantly increase your chances of finding work. However, one thing that makes LinkedIn one of the best freelancing websites for new hustlers is that you can quickly and easily pose as an authority in freelancing.
When you post a few articles, and share a few tips; people will see what you have to offer, and then give you jobs. Bear in mind however, that with this site your focus should be on building relationships, rather than earning money. If you successfully get a couple of people to respect you on linkedin, you can find so much work that you need to hire a few hands.
Guru
Guru is a place for freelancers to find short term work with companies across the globe. The thing about Guru is that it is obviously designed for professionals in a few fields such as programmers, graphic designers, and product managers. Guru is not just for companies; it is also for private individuals and small businesses that need the services of skilled freelancers such as you.
On Guru dot com employers post the jobs they want done; so you just need to sign up, and build a profile. The system will show you job listings based on the information you supplied when signing up, and you will submit quotes to prospective clients.
Guru has done some work to protect the freelancers that use its platform; SafePay protection is an innovative product that ensures that freelancers get paid on time. You can work with the basic free membership; but a paid membership will make you more visible to potential employers.
Dribbble
Dribbble is a great place to meet with creative talents. This website gives designers and artists a platform to show off their talent and abilities; find employers who need their services, and connect with fellow designers.
This is a great place to build your portfolio, and to promote yourself as an artist. When people you’re profile; some of the people you have worked with, and some of the beautiful works you have posted on the site, they may be moved to give you a shot.
Paying a premium subscription greatly increases your chances of finding work; it increases you visibility, especially among people looking to employ designers.
Conclusion:
While preparing this article about the best freelance websites for new hustlers, we had in mind freelancers with sufficient skills to survive in the highly competitive world of freelancing. You must understand that while employers on some of the websites we have listed above may be willing to give you a chance, you absolutely must perform satisfactorily.
The ratings you receive on your first few jobs can go a long way to determine whether or not you will succeed as a freelancer.
If you fail to get any traction on one site, you may take some time off to improve on your skills, and then try another freelancing website where you may perform better, and get some positive ratings on your first few jobs.
Further Reading: How To Make Money With Only A Computer
