Freelancing guide for college students
Everything you need to know about getting started in freelancing
I’ll be talking about everything from getting started as a freelancer to being overjoyed with new clients on a regular basis😉
First of all,
Why freelance?
- 💻 It’s a great way to get relevant work experience and up skill while you’re still a college student.
- 💰 Extra money which makes you independent, gives confidence and acts as motivation.
Before you begin!
A portfolio or some of your work to showcase is a must if you need new work from any client.
Client here means any individual or company for whom you do the freelance work.
Work from the following projects can be considered to showcase:
- Hackathon projects
- College team projects
- Personal projects
Designers & developers can get project ideas here:
For portfolio:
- Designers can showcase their work on behance.net, dribble.com, instagram.
- Developers can put their projects in github repos, create their own portfolio website.
- Content writers can show their work by writing stories in Medium, independent blogs.
How to get work
It’s about getting started in the game, it takes some time but after a while it’s a piece of cake 🍰
Below are some of my unconventional approaches to get clients for freelance that doesn’t involve fiverr, upwork or freelancer.com
1. Internshala
Internshala.com is a platform which offers part-time and full-time internship opportunities to college students. Mostly startup companies list their internship offers.
Part-time internships are basically freelance projects.
For college students, during their semester breaks, part-time internship opportunities is a great way to go about. Search for internships in your area of interest and start applying, there’s lots of competition there as well, hence do apply for at least 5–10 internships to get response from 1 or 2. I personally did 4–5 internships from internshala during my college days.
Internshala is a precious gift for Indian students founded by Sarvesh Agrawal, which has potential to offer endless opportunities.
2. Word of mouth! Word of mouth! Word of mouth! 👄
Telling someone about someone’s good work is very underrated yet powerful thing to do.
I believe word of mouth is one of the most important thing in anyone’s freelance journey. It’s a compounding effect, it takes time to happen but when it does, you’ll love it. It happens when you do:
- Good work
- Build good relations with clients
- Keep your pricing fair
Word of mouth when done for the good is the best thing in the world. It can reach to the farthest of the places you would never have imagined and bring out amazing opportunities for you.
Become friends with other students who are also into freelancing and talk about your work, they can refer you for any suitable projects.
3. Online Communities
Be part of online communities in whatsApp, discord, etc. Such as peoplewho.design, designdrug.co, Designare, etc.
People often post app dev, web dev, graphic design, ui/ux design related freelance work opportunities in such communities.
4. LinkedIn
Simply search “looking for freelancers” on LinkedIn search and you’ll see the magic ✨
5. Funded startups in your college
These days almost all colleges have a startup incubation centre, which funds startups by college students. You can reach out to those teams and look for part-time work opportunities in exchange for a stipend.
6. Networking events / competitions
Try to attend any online/offline networking events such as hackathons, designathons in your college or outside. You’ll get a chance to meet lots of new people, startup founders, industry mentors. You can advocate regarding your skills and interests to people there and you never know from there you can get new opportunities.
Here are some platforms for finding such events- UnStop, DevFolio, HackerEarth
Some can also be found on meetup.com like below
What clients look before finalising a project with you?
Your previous work, your working style, whether you follow standard processes or just complete stuff just for the sake of it, are you reliable or not?, how often can you connect with them.
A client has many questions in their minds which needs to be answered.
One important tip while talking to clients is that, often people try to reply and finalize things in one single meeting/call. You might not be able to take the best decision in just a single meeting, it’s completely okay to ask your client for another meeting and then give your response- be it deciding the timeline for deliverables or the final pricing.
Agreement 🤝🏼, Timeline 📅 & Pricing 💸
Agreement
Try to get everything over email, such as- initial discussion topics, expected deliverables, timeline & pricing.
Many clients would ask you to sign a NDA(Non disclosure agreement) before proceeding with the project. Make sure you read the document and it’s terms properly and get clarification & iterations made if you think anything there could cause you trouble.
Timeline
Set clear timelines for deliverables & payments with the client before starting with the project. Make a note of the required deliverables and their corresponding tentative dates of completion.
Pricing
Setting the right price for your work is at times subjective and hard to decide. The basic rule of thumb with which I go about is deciding it based on my time and effort required.
Below are some factors which helps decide the price:
- Timeline of the project
- Are multiple skills required?
- Is their any manual effort involved?
- Startup or a big company?
- Your need for money! (helps in convincing yourself)
Don’t agree with the amount with which you’ll feel underpaid.
It’s okay to negotiate with the client and decide a fair amount.
For a student, money definitely acts as motivation for doing more projects, which is a good thing.
A payment plan I personally follow is 20/30/50
- Taking 20% payment of the decided amount upfront (This acts as an activation energy for you as well.)
- Taking the next 30% of the payment when half of the project work is completed.
- Taking the remaining 50% of the payment when project is completely done and you’re about to handoff the work.
This approach has always worked for me, and hardly any client has refused to pay the 20% payment upfront.
here’s an amazing video to further help you think about pricing-
You’re all set
Follow the above tips, try to get in the game, keep delivering work to your clients on time & you’ll become good at it in no time.
Bonus Tips
- Set up frequent meets with your client, at least twice a week.
- Do a little extra. Under Promise and Over Deliver.
- Don’t be a 100% YES man.
- Don’t rush for payments before the pre-decided date, try to get the payments smoothly.
- Be open to a little flexibility in work requirements and changes from feedbacks.
- Upgrade your hourly rates/ time’s worth as you progress and up skill with time.
- Invest in yourself from time to time, be it learning new skills, getting a better mouse and so on.
My Freelance Projects 🗂️
Below is pricing and effort info from few freelance projects I did in my early days (2018–2020), you can maybe take these as a reference to get started.
UI/UX Design Projects
- A social networking mobile app (Effort: 3 weeks, Price: ₹15K)
- A fantasy cricket game mobile app (Effort: 1 week, Price: ₹5K)
- A movie discovery web app (Effort: 1 month, Price: ₹30K)
- An Ed-tech platform (Effort: 1–2weeks, Price: ₹10K )
Logo Design Projects
- Education Company (Effort: 4–5 hours, Price: ₹1000)
- Gaming company (Effort: 5–6 hours, Price: ₹1100)
Graphic Design
- Social media graphics for a social media management company (Effort: 8–10 posters, Price: ₹4K)
Final words 🙌
I would recommend every student to try freelancing at least a few times. Freelance is not a very traditional way to go about, most students never explore it.
It’ll take courage. You would have to work extra hours, even if you’re tired after long college hours.
You’ll have to be in uncomfortable situations, lots of criticism & iterations to be done multiple times, you might loose your cool. But, remember this would be the exact phase of time when you’ll grow as an individual by overcoming from tough and uncomfortable situations.
You might feel lazy and procrastinate at times, but get back on track as soon as you can.
Remember, at the end of the day you’re not only growing yourself & learning, you’re also helping the startup/community/individual you’re working for. You’re learning to maintain professional relations.
Happy freelancing everyone 😊
