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How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth



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How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

Many people will price a service at $1.00 and build up their sales that way, which isn't a bad thing but to become a top authority freelancer that is highly sought after you will need to switch up your thinking.  You will need to understand that your time is valuable, that people need to pay a nice chunk of money to work with you, and that your skills are second to none in your industry.  This also means you need to outperform all of your other freelancer competitors and accumulate a lot of positive reviews along the way lol.

I've been writing content for a while and can usually charge a higher amount than my competitors because of what I send my customers.  I will over-deliver, I try to be as responsive as possible, I'm always polite, I give revisions if they want it, and I'm always as professional as possible with someone.  I understand I may not be the absolute best out there, but I know my worth, and that's why I can charge a little more for a 500-word article (I usually give the customer 1,000+ though lol).

Actually, here's a screenshot of a message I got recently that brightened my day up a bit How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth
(I've edited the image so you can't see the users full name or profile picture)

How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth



Below are some things I've learned as a freelancer and what you can do for your services to be sought after.

Don't try to fight lower pricing
I've never been one that will go super low on my pricing.  I think when I started my writing service here it was $12 for a 500-word article, which people purchased, and they keep coming back for more because of the top quality service I provide them.

I know that dropping to the lowest possible price will bring in a lot of clients and boost my reviews (I've written discussions of how to do that lol), but I prefer the bigger clients that want 20-30 articles a month and aren't worried about how much I charge.  If you do some research, my prices here are far under the average for my skill levels.  I could be charging $50+ for a 500-word article, but I don't because I list my services here at MY bottom dollar to bring in more clients How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

If you fight with lower pricing, you will burn out due to all the customers coming in and buying.  You will hate what you're doing, your fingers will hurt from all the typing (not just writing articles), and you won't have much profit left at the end of the job to make it worth anything.

Always over-deliver and be ahead of schedule
Whenever you get an order, you will need to understand that the customer is expecting you to do what is mentioned in the service.  If you give them 25% more backlinks, write an additional 500 words in an article, give them 3 logo designs instead of 1, and just go out of your way to provide them with something better they will love you for it and keep coming back.

If you are a person like me who forgets to check their orders from time to time, you might not be ahead of schedule that much lol.  I do try to get back to everyone in a timely fashion, but I am pretty busy.  I usually make up for this by over-delivering, so you should think about doing the same if you're always late lol How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth


Always be professional, happy, and nice
It doesn't matter if someone is swearing at you, writing negative things in a PM, or just being an evil person, you will need to stay professional at all times.  It's easy for someone to screenshot a PM and post it online for everyone to see, but if you're always professional, it will look bad on the person who is trying to slander your name.

Don't give people fuel that can burn down your credibility.  Instead, be kind to them even if they're having a horrible day and see if you can pull them out of a slump.  I've had people talk to me in a negative way, and I threw them off when I asked, "Is there something wrong?  Do you want to talk about something other than my services?  I don't mind, you can vent if you need to." and they take a step back and realize I'm here for them and want to help, not just give them a service and send them on their way lol.


Respond as quickly as possible
If you can lower your response time as much as possible, then you'll likely get people coming back to you time and time again because they know you'll answer their questions.  You will build a reputation with customers over time, and they will see you as their SEO guy, content person, logo lady, etc. 

Responding as fast as possible will also prevent people from moving on to another freelancer and asking them the same questions.  If you can prevent people from searching for related services and sticking to yours, then you'll boost your sales and credibility over time How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth


In the end,
It takes time to be a professional in any field, so don't rush it.  I've been writing content for 15+ years, and I still don't have it all together lol.  Luckily, I treat all my customers with respect, over-deliver on orders, and try to help them out as much as possible and I think that's why they never mind if I'm a day late on their orders lol.  Just try to be the best you can be at something, try to keep your customers happy, and they will continue purchasing from you How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth


Thanks for reading How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

- Tommy
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey

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razarshi
Hi Tommy,
Once again, you just crashed the texts with your thoughtful ideas and experience. Thanks for providing new ideas in the 'Community Discussion section. i also like to add a few words of my own.

I am considerably new in this platform and i started as a ghost-writer and still doing so. I charge normally $2 for a 500 words article, which is $10 less from you. And you know, why people can accept your $12 or $50 charge? Because you are a native English speaker. English is your mother tongue, not mine. For that, you can express the feelings, context, subject more efficiently than any other persons, who have to learn English regularly to be in the race.

You are right, everything is up to the clients. Some won't care for the price point, they simply want the best outcome. Others are negotiating to add 100 more words when i am offering 500 words for just $2. In the first year, i wrote an ebook on 'Programming language C' (I am a computer science graduate and i have another graduate degree in pharmacist!). He offered me $30 for 500+ words, and i was happy to deliver him more words eventually. That was the highest deal i made with him, total $900 for that ebook!

Suddenly, because of some newbie bidders, who think bidding low is how they will get the job, the market is totally flooded with less quality works. Because, when they bid low, their work may not represent the exact quality a buyer will seek. They won't care to communicate properly and lastly, the result will be- "You will never trust freelancers from a certain region"!

Unfortunately, these are some problems, i had to fight every day and slowly increasing my sales figures. I am taking your tips seriously and working on something to resell as per you suggested. You know one funny thing,- when i am trying to achieve something, every time i am facing difficulties that changes the storyline totally! Last 30th August 2019, my house was hit by a bolt of powerful lightning. All the electronic equipment are gone, including TV, inverter, refrigerator, smart-phones and my computer. I am writing this from a live os, using two USB flash drives. (LOL, i simply don't have enough money to buy a new PC this week or this month!) My buyers are worried about the slightly late response, but eventually, they understand my situation. It's not how you use your resources, its how you can fight when you have less support. The buyers in seoclerks are supportive enough; maybe they are paying me less that is not wort my potential, but when a new client became regular, i can always negotiate a new custom deal with them, which will bring me a modest amount of money.

Thanks for reading.
regards- razarshi
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/razarshi



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TommyCarey
Hi Razarshi,

Well said How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

It's sad that people will flood marketplaces and bid the absolute lowest amount in order to get a sale. I was just on Facebook and saw someone post "I need a well-made logo, let me know what you charge?" and his post in the group exploded with $5 bids. Someone from India came into the thread and said "This is why the freelancer job is looked down upon and people think they can pay so little for something so great. My bid is $50 and you can contact me directly if interested." and that opened my eyes. Like I mentioned above, one bad apple can ruin it, and I was glad to see this one guy step up and call everyone out for pitching $5 logo design because we all know that the majority of those bids are coming from people who will either provide a bad logo or they will try to upsell other services to get more money out of the buyer. I loved when I saw the guy put a $50 bid in when everyone was saying "I'll do it for $5 only!". It shows that people still know their worth and that others will still buy from them How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

I do use freelancers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, etc. but I tend to have to go through a few dozen people before I find the right person that actually does the work they say they're going to, find people that won't upsell me so I actually get what I want and people that are professional and responsive How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

I applaud that you for your work ethic after you were hit with a few curveballs. Most people would just ignore the orders, clients, customers, etc. and wait until everything was fixed before they respond. At least you're able to talk with your customers and they know your struggles right now. You may lose a few sales, but as you said, the people here are pretty understanding and will work with you as long as you're providing something of quality How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

Increase your content writing to $5 per 500 words, I think you can get it How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth



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globalwarmingme
Could not agree more many thanks for airing this subject
Kind Regards
Steve Simmonds



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TommyCarey
You're very welcome How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth

I'm glad you enjoyed what I've written above How to become a sought after Freelancer - Know your worth



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