
Let's assume you have earned your first trips. Now it is time to start making some cash.
Skills, skills, skills!
Think about what you are able to do and how good are you in it. Are there any specific skills that a few other people have?
It is a maket– the lower the supply is, the higher the prices. And the less people are able to do something, the higher they got paid.
If a project is for something easy do do, a lot of freelancers would compete for the project and since anybody can get it done, the client selects by the price.
On the contrary – if it something complex and demands skills, a few freelancers would dare to bid and the client would be careful not to chose some wanabee that would screw it, delivering an unusable quality.
You've got the picture – you can get paid for any kind of work, but some would bring you
tens of times more money for every hour of your time. Of course these sophisticated and better paid projects are fewer compared to the more general ones. Look around and think if you have some rare skills or experience and if you have none try your best to get some, this would pay off.
Get picky
People are different, budgets are different. Some pretend to have “only that much”, some do believe that anything international must be “close to free” (well, if possible freelancers should pay for the privilege of working with them), some just have a wrong idea how much the things coast. Anyway, as a result very similar projects could be very different by their budgets or how much the client is willing to pay.
Let the niggards learn by themselves that for 10% of the value they are going to get just as much quality, pass over and
don't bid. They have a choice, but so you do (which is amongst the best sides of the job boards). Instead of swamping yourself in just getting busy, you could use that time to search more and find a much better offer for something similar.
Be careful and value your time
There are lots of dodgers out there who try their best to get something for nothing. “Forgotten” issues and features, hidden work that needs to be done in order to achieve the project and so on (not mentioning the risk of a disappearing client when it comes to payment). The problem is than it is not a smart idea just to leave the project and client when you realise he is going to screw you up. He could any time leave a terrible feedback and rating in your profile, which would make getting other projects much harder and clients who use these methods know it. Yes, it feels bad, but make your best to finish the project somehow. At least make it seem finished in order to make him close the project. And don't forget to fight back.
Of course there are newbies as well. People who just want to start a business, but don't have the experience. They would be much nicer to you, have lower and easier to meet expectations, grateful if you help the and could become a loyal clients of yours as (and if) their business grows. It might be a pleasure to work with that kind, but all the same be careful. As they lack the experience, they could honestly underestimate their projects, simple don't know what needs to be done there or lose you a great amount of time in “what if...” questions, adjustments and experiments. Time you might or might not be paid for and even if you do, it won't be as much as doing another project in that time.
Gaining experience you'd learn how to distingush these types of clients and skirt their projects.
Do your best
A client would rarely have just one thing to be done. Even if that's the case at present, he could have more work in future or friends. If you do the job well and are honest, you'd become client's first choice for that kind of project in future. You'll get lower or no competition for that future projects, would be much easier to negotiate, and get recommended to his friends. Yep, more good work you don't have to compete for as you already have their trust. Generally that's the key for a successful long therm freelance business.
At least you add another well done project to your portfolio, which will help you win future competitions.