CHALLENGES FACED BY FREELANCERS & HOW THEY CAN BE MET

The Freelance revolution has taken new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic time. There's a paradigm shift towards taking up freelancing & working as a Consultant due to the freedom in work timings, tackling multiple projects simultaneously, benefits of being one's boss and creating a growth curve in the career trajectory. The pros of being a Freelance Expert seem very impressive and the chances of being exhausted as a Freelancer seem extremely bleak. Unfortunately, this is just a mirage, there are innumerable challenges in being a Freelance Expert. Listed below are 5 major challenges of being a freelance expert and how you can overcome them.

Challenge 1: Finding clients

The primary challenge in being a Freelancer is to find a client in the Freelancer's domain with the right financial allocation as expected by the freelancer. There is always a difficulty in finding a client, once a client is found, the relationship with the client may not always be butter smooth. Also, the arena for freelance experts to meet clients is still niche in India, making the whole process very exhausting.

Meeting the challenge: Engendering and nurturing an online presence and subscribing to various platforms can help Freelancers find clients much faster. Also, keeping the expectations crystal clear in terms on finance is very important at the time of agreement, to avoid any future troubles.

Challenge 2: Lack of clarity on the Project Scope

Generally speaking, in any given project, there are high chances of a project scope being modified after every SCRUM session. The same repeats and prolongs when clients allocate projects to freelancers, there is a continuous alteration in Project scope and expectation. A freelance expert might end up overworking for the project and end up being paid lesser for the work delivered.

Meeting the challenge: It is very important to document the project expectations early on during the agreement phase. Other than the minor alterations, any other changes in Project scope need to be reevaluated and documented as part of the agreement. Communicating the project scope/expectations clearly from the Freelancer's end is key to not being overworked and underpaid.

Challenge 3: Payment issues with clients

Getting on-time payments and payments in general from the client is a laborious task. Most clients have issues in keeping up with the payment deadlines and disbursements, there may be various reasons like internal processing, accounts tallying, etc. This is the most common issue faced by Freelance Experts.

Meeting the challenge: Keeping the expectations crystal clear in terms on finance is very important at the time of agreement, to avoid any future troubles. Planning and discussing the payment schedule while signing the Agreement is one of the best ways. Another way for Freelancers is to plan the payment schedule based on the WBS and accept payments in the form of instalments as and when each Delivery is completed.

Challenge 4: Networking & Thought Leadership

Experts are primarily focused on customers and often fail to make connect and networks with other Experts. To establish a continuous flow of input work, it is necessary for the Freelance Expert to have a network that can help them with their word of mouth.

Meeting the challenge: This challenge can be met by connecting with other experts, publishing their skills and knowledge sharing etc.

Challenge 5: Maintaining a regular clientele & have continuous opportunities

Freelancing in terms of projects on hand is one of the most uncertain employment channels. There may be times where there is too much work on hand and exhaustive, there may be others when the Freelancer is idle in terms of commitment and deliverables. There's no regulation for the amount of work on hand.

Meeting the challenge: Maintain cordial relations with clients and keep regulating emails once in a while to keep a steady source of workflow. Working with multiple clients is also a good way to counter idle time and keep oneself employed. Maintain an online presence with a complete project and experience portfolio to connect and form a client network.

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We work with Experts to get them connected to their target customers. Establish yourself to position yourself as a thought leader and build trust. Joining nicheBrains network means working with some of the top SMEs as per your terms. You can have the opportunity to be part of a fast growing community of digital experts by participating in sharing thought leadership, seminars and networking events.

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