How to start working on freelance exchanges? - Life hacker

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Milya Kotlyarova

The creator of the project about freelancing and remote work Digital broccoli.

If you have already collected at least a minimal portfolio, everything is quite simple: register an account on 2-3 major exchanges, fill out a profile, add existing work and start responding to projects.

And remember: exchanges look complicated and inaccessible only at first glance. In fact, it is enough to leave the first response in order to understand everything and get involved in the process. Now let's take a closer look at each stage.

1. Fill out your profile

Be clear about what services you provide and, most importantly, what benefits you bring to the client. Are you making a user-friendly responsive design? Bring subscribers? Or are you writing articles that you read to the end?

In the profile, a potential customer is looking for information that is important for him and his business: at what rates and under what conditions you work, what makes you cooler than other specialists.

Do not worry if you are a beginner: often the main advantage of a freelancer is not a lot of experience and cases, but responsibility, adequacy and reliability.

2. Make a portfolio

At first, add all the works that you have. You can clean and leave the best when you have at least a couple of dozen of them.

For each work, make a short description: what task was, what you did to complete it and achieve the goal or KPI. Even if it's a simple banner, tell us which ad campaign it was used for and - if you have such data - how it worked in the end.

3. Formulate your responses correctly

It's the most important. Carefully read the project description and write a unique lead to the main text in the response each time.

The link to the portfolio, working conditions and contacts can be copied from the template, but the beginning of the message should match the topic of a specific project: show similar or most successful works, ask questions, show interest.

It will take a little longer, but it is better to write five relevant responses and show the customer that you really want to work with him than leave 15 auto-replies that are completely inappropriate in meaning and request. The better the response is, the higher the chance of getting an order.

4. Choose the right exchange

You don't have to pay for a professional account on the largest exchanges on the Internet. For example, FL.ru it is considered the most expensive - for the opportunity to respond without restrictions, you need to pay about 2,000 rubles a month.

There are many smaller exchanges, but with more adequate tariffs and an active feed of projects - for example, freelancehunt, Freelance.ru, «Habr Freelance», Weblancer. For them, advanced accounts cost from 500 to 1,000 rubles per month.

And somewhere the site takes only a commission from the order you received - for example, on Kwork, TopFreelancer. The international exchange works in the same way Upwork and overseas showcase Fiverr.

So go for it, don't be afraid to try new things and remember that customers are ordinary people who are primarily interested in the success of their business. If you show that you understand this and are ready to help, you will not have problems with orders and money.