How Do You Know Whether the Client is Genuine?

There is no denying the fact that there are a lot of people in the freelance industry who deceive others under the guise of freelance work. It is important to know what kind of scams are going on in the freelance industry and how to cope with such kind of clients who want to cheat from the very beginning.

I have long been working in the freelance industry and I got deceived by different persons. Then I devised some rules which have always been in this article, we are going to highlight some of the most commonly used traps to deceive freelancers. In the later part of the article, we are going to discuss the tactics, using which we can do away with scammers on freelancing websites.

Types of Scams on the Internet

• You worked for someone and that person does not pay you
• You worked as per requirements and client says you did wrong and does not pay
• Client award you a project and takes you out of freelancing website and does not pay later
• Unknown person contacts you via email and offers a fake opportunity
• Unknown person contacts you via social media and offers an opportunity
• Boys receive an email from a girl asking for friendship or Vice Versa

Legitimate Work Opportunities

•          It is not fraud if someone offers you network marketing opportunity
•          It is not fraud if someone offers you network affiliate marketing opportunity

Types of Unethical Works

·         Spamming: If a client asks you to work for him and send unsolicited messages or emails.

·         Ghost Writing: It may surprise you but it is unethical because a wrong person takes the credit.

·         Academic Writing: If someone hires you to write assignments or projects of students.

·         Fake Product Reviews: If someone hires you to write product reviews, it is also unethical.

·         Posting Ads on Different Website: It is similar to spamming. It is against terms of use of websites to promote a product or service through posting ads on wrong places.

How to know if a Client is Fake or Genuine

Before starting work with a client on freelancing websites, do check the complete profile of the client. Past history and payment method verification is an important indicator, which shows the reliability of the client. If it is possible, ask the client to submit the total or partial amount of the job to freelance website or some other reliable entity.

You can also ask the client to pay a small amount of money in advance. This is best to check the sincerity level of the client. If a person posts a job on a website, you apply to that job, and that person immediately hires you and asks you to start work immediately, chances are that person can be a fraud because such kind of persons does not pay later.

How Big is the Freelance Industry?

People still think that the freelance industry is a small industry that is working in an unorganized way, but it is not true! Recent research studies conducted by individuals and organizations have unearthed amazing facts about the freelancing industry. The freelancing industry has become a very large industry with high growth rate. In this article, we are going to discuss the brief history of freelancing and the size of the freelancing industry.

A 2013 study by world famous firm Accenture stated that companies around the world spend more than $300 billion on freelancers. Another reliable source claims that people who work as a freelancer contribute as much as $715 billion to our economy. By freelancers, we mean the persons who independently work with different clients on a particular task or a set of task only. The size of the freelancing industry is increasing dramatically, thanks to the high employment rate in the world.

The history of freelancers is old, but it was started in its current form about two decades ago. With the advent of the internet, different revolutionary ideas were conceived by visionaries. Among these ideas was the idea of using the internet to get ‘paid work’ from people who do not want to hire, and want some work done; because it is cost effective most of the time. Today, this hidden industry has become one of the biggest industries in the world.

A 2014 Forbes article highlighted that there were more than 53 million freelancers in the United States alone. There are more than 1.4 million freelancers in the UK. On the other hand, all freelancing platforms have a substantial percentage of Indian freelancers. India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are the countries with the most freelancers in the world.

Software Development, Web Development, Designing, and Writing are the most sought after skills in the virtual world. The ‘Payoneer Freelancer Income Survey 2015’ reported amazing facts about the freelancing industry. In this global survey, Payoneer surveyed more than 2300 freelancers worldwide. They report that the worldwide average hourly rate charged by freelancers is $21. It further exhibits that almost the half of the freelancers are located in Americas.

More than half of the freelancers find work on the internet, with the help of different freelancing marketplaces. The freelancers who provide legal services charge the highest rate - $31 per hour. More than 78% of the total freelancers are male. But the income satisfaction level is 46% around the world; which is low. Most of the people are not earning as much as they expect to earn. On the average, freelancers work 36 hours per week or 7 hours per day.

A legal service is the most paying skills and writing & translation is the lowest paying skill. 52% of the total freelancers lie under the age bracket of 20 to 29 years. Amazingly, about 55% of the freelancers surveyed have university degrees; some people prefer freelancing, some are not able to find a full-time job, and some are doing a full-time job and also work a freelancer. An amazing fact highlighted by this survey was that the average hourly rate of university degree holders ($20) is less than that of high school graduates ($22).

In essence, the freelancing industry is rapidly emerging industry all around the world. So far, it is a neglected industry and governments are not serious about making this industry strong and secure. The freelancing industry works in ways that we cannot say anything for sure about its exact volume. A major part of the freelancing industry is still intangible and we can say that this industry has the potential to reach $1 trillion figure in the coming years. I hope this industry keeps growing and never see a downturn.

From Where, Do I Start Freelancing?

It is not difficult to start freelancing. In fact, it is a kind of difficult to survive in freelancing industry. I mean to say, it is difficult to survive because sometimes you get work, other times you do not. In this article, we are going to see how we can start freelancing; how can we survive in the freelancing industry without remaining idle; how to get more and higher rate work from clients.

First of all, it is not difficult to start freelancing. All you need is to bring some valuable skills to the freelancing industry. Do not be afraid of getting or not getting work. There is a plenty of work. Each day, millions of dollars are used by people around the world to outsource their work. Take start by registering with top freelancing websites. But, do not limit yourself to just 1 or 2 top websites. 

Increase your presence and register with other medium and small sized freelancing websites.

It is easy to survive in the freelancing industry. Generally, you will get work by the passage of time. There are times when you do not get work, but do not be sad; keep trying. In order to avoid such kind of situations, try to make some long term clients. Making permanent client is not difficult; all you have to do is to work hard and provide what the client needs. If you provide the client what he or she needs, there is no reason that person will not hire you again.

You should not rely on one or two skills. In order to increase your value and span of work, you should learn new skills. For example, if you are a Content Writer, try to learn other writing skills like Technical Writing or Proposal Writing. The main focus should be on the work you are doing. Do not compromise on the quality of the work. If you need more time, ask the client and try to get more time to complete the task. First of all, you should try to remove the errors in your current skill, then move to learn other skills.

FAQs

How much Google pays to show ads on a website?

Answer: Although the payments against showing ads vary. The payment per ad mainly depends upon the nature of the ad, the number of unique visitors and location of the visitor. As per my independent search, on the average, Google pays $1 for 300 unique visitors.

2What are AdSense and AdWords?

Answer: AdSense is the ad showing program of Google on other websites (publishers). Google pays to publishers against valid websites visits. AdWords is the advertising program of Google which enables websites to show their ads in search results and other websites.

3How much Google pay to YouTube channel owners?

Answer: It is hard to say how much does Google pay to YouTube channels for videos views. The payment depends upon the nature of ad on video and subscriber to that channel. As per the rough estimate, famous YouTube channels are paid $8 per 1000 visits.

4What are the top websites to find freelancer work?

Answer: Following websites are the best and top freelancing websites to find freelance work.

www.Upwork.com

www.Fiverr.com

www.Elance.com

www.99Designs.com

www.PeoplePerHour.com

www.Guru.com

www.iFreelancer.com

How much Yahoo-Microsoft ad network pay to show ads on a website?

Answer: As per my independent research on this topic, Yahoo Bing Network pays less than that of Google because they charge fewer rates to its advertisers. So mean to say, Yahoo Bing Network pays less than $1 per 1000 visits.

What are the best Academic Writing Services websites?

Answer: There are lots of Academic Writing websites on the internet but, it is highly recommended not to use Academic Writing websites. If you need any kind of help, please ask me, I will try to guide you!  

Contemporary Referencing Styles

There a plenty of referencing styles used in the world today. Some referencing styles are famous and are used around the world in academic writing. Although, there are different sub-categories of each referencing style, based on the nature of the work cited. For example, if we want to cite a source in APA referencing style, there is a difference in citing a book, a journal article, etc. APA (American Psychological Association), Harvard, and MLA (Modern Language Association) are the most widely used referencing styles around the world. In different referencing styles, there is some basic information that is included in all kinds of referencing styles. Following are the basic structures of in-text and references list citations in different referencing styles: 

APA

In-Text: (Author’s Last Name, Year of Publishing)

References List: Last Name of Author, First Name of Author, (Year of publication), Title of the book, Publisher Name, Place where published. 

Harvard

In-Text: (Last name of author Year of Publication)

References List: Last Name of Author, First Name of Author Year of publication, Title of the book, Publisher Name, Place where published, Pages number. 

MLA

In-Text: (Author’s Last Name, Pages number)

Works Cited List: Last name of the author, First name of the author. The title of the book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. The medium of publication.