According to Eurostat, France is the birthplace of 930,000 freelancers. Also called self-employed, a freelancer is a person carrying out a job or an assignment independently and who does not necessarily have a long-term relationship with a particular employer and may even have several at the same time.
For these professionals of a new kind, one question always comes to the fore: how to find a freelance mission when you can only rely on yourself? Connecting customers and buyers, platforms appear to be one of the best answers to this question.
Why 11.4% of workers decided to become freelancers
In the past, getting a permanent contract was the dream of any qualified professional. After more or less long studies, it was with a smile on his face that he linked his destiny to that of a company. And then things changed…
Today, in France alone, 11.4% of working professionals are self-employed. Web editor, graphic designer, architect, … They fell in love with the many advantages that come with this particular way of life.
Thus, according to a study carried out by and.co, for 40% of the people concerned, becoming a freelancer is part of a personal development process. Want to reconnect with your roots… Need to do things that matter… Freelancers are genius artists who just want to be able to give free rein to their creativity.
For 27% of panelists, being able to arrange their own schedule was the main leitmotif. Thanks to platforms for freelancers, they are able to work as they see fit, thus remaining in control of their time.
Only 7% of freelancers became freelancers in the hope of having a better income. After seeing how easy it was to find a freelance job, they didn't hesitate long before quitting.
Whether it's to reconnect with themselves, have a better balance between private life and personal life or to be drowning in gold, freelancers take pleasure in getting up every morning. Knowing that they can rely on the ubiquity of platforms to find customers, how could it be otherwise?
All about freelance platforms
A freelance platform is a hub where sponsors and freelancers meet. Some platforms such as 5euros are generalist, allowing a myriad of specialties to find a freelance mission. Graphic designers, writers, graphic designers,… Anyone can come and offer their micro services.
Other platforms, on the other hand, have opted for specialization. This is for example the case of TextBroker for writing or translating text, Freelance-Informatik for IT, etc. On the latter, only people with very specific skills are admitted.
Be careful though… It is not enough to create an account in a hurry on freelance platforms to find missions. In competition with other independent workers, the professional will have to provide the maximum of details to seduce the client. This involves knowing how to calculate your ADR, being specific about your talent, and showcasing your expertise.
On freelance platforms, it is recommended to bet above all on a main talent. Thus, a C+++ developer will be more likely to land assignments than a graphic designer/developer or a C++++/Java/PHP/Python developer. The more the professional appears as an expert in his field, the more prospects will trust him. And that's not all…
Before posting the ad, put yourself in the customer's shoes. What keywords will he type in order to find a solution to his problem? By using free planning tools, it's easy to find the terms that will hit the mark.
Last but not least: correctly calculate your Average Daily Rate (ADR) and stick to it. Even if it is tempting to offer extremely low prices, in the long term, this strategy quickly shows its limits.
What to do before finding a freelance job
In other words, how to ensure that each mission won as a freelancer is optimized to the maximum? Unfortunately, few freelancers are able to properly set their rate or perform their administrative duties. Without these essential skills, even the best computer programmer won't last long as a freelancer. This is why, before embarking on the world of self-employed workers, it is necessary to find out how to choose the right wage portage company.
After this step, it remains to define exactly his remuneration. How much to charge for each service? How not to be in the red after having discharged its charges? Thanks to its simulation tool, Portageo has established itself for several years as an indispensable tool for obtaining clear answers to these crucial questions.