Online networking: The new freelance heaven
Going solo was the only option left with Sachin Paul, a Mumbai-based animator, after having quit four jobs in just over three months, all over trivial quibbles with his employers. “Animation is a passion for me, not just a job. I can’t stand someone breathing down my neck and ordering me around all the time while I work,” says Paul. So he invested in a PC and started freelancing for various companies using his network of friends. On average, he made about Rs 10,000 a month. But that was before Orkut bumped up his income to a cool Rs 2 lakh per month on an average.
Cast the net:
Popular belief has it that social networking sites are just for teenagers seeking friends. But Orkut (www.orkut.com), My-Space (www.myspace.com) and other social e-networking sites are beginning to emerge as a place to find work and grow business for freelancers, be they writers, photographers, designers or developers.
Basically, these sites take the ‘outsourcing’ concept to a more personal level. Since you network with people online, it allows you to cross the time and distance barrier. You can network with people in Denmark just as easily as with someone in, say, Bangalore.
Make a bid:
Then there are specialised sites where companies from all over the world list projects for which they need freelancers. You can bid for these projects. These sites include www.freelancers.co.uk, www.elance.com, www.sologig.com, and www.freelanceworkexchange.com.
Tapping online communities:
Online communities, be it on Yahoo!, Google or niche communities such as Deviantart (www.deviantart.com), could be another stream of freelance opportunities.
Riyaz Khan, a freelance designer, is reaping the benefits of Deviantart. It’s more than just getting freelance assignments for Khan—it’s also about meeting thousands of likeminded people across the globe and working together on projects.
“For example,” says Khan, “I can find people on Orkut who have an interest in designing, from a pool of millions of people. We can then start projects together that will provide more value than you might be able to add individually to your work.”
Khan has already completed a couple of such joint projects and has three in the pipeline, where he is simultaneously working with people from the UK, Australia and Spain. In fact, on the back of business networking sites such as Ryze and LinkedIn and online communities, Khan has set up his own company called SensOne that employs two other freelancers to work on projects
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