The concept of Freelancing

Namaste friends and freelancers!

I am sure you all have heard the word FREELANCING by now.

It is a kind of self-employment where one works for someone else or some company on a contractual basis without a permanent commitment from either side.

One who works is called a freelancer, a self-employed contractor or a seller (as she sells her services and skills) and the one for whom the freelancer works is called a supplier, a buyer (as she buys those skills and services) or even an employer (as she hires the services). The concept is the same as of a buyer with a requirement and a seller with a solution. Wherever the buyer and the seller meet and interact (or transact), is called a marketplace. We will talk more about a marketplace later on. Let’s first talk about the concept of freelancing - and let me tell you that it is not a new one!

Let me give you an example. Think of our village homes where we have coconut or beetle-nut trees. Not every one of us is skilled enough to climb a coconut tree and pluck the coconuts when needed, though many of us can do it. Those who cannot, have no option other than to hire someone who can do the job for them. So, we go to the village market and inquire for anyone who can climb up the coconut tree and pluck them down for us. When we get a suitable person, we hire him. He does his job and we pay him – either with money or with a share of coconuts he plucks, as in most Indian villages. He gets the payment and leaves; and that ends that particular deal. When we need this service next, we will either contact the same person again (if we were very happy with his work) or look for someone else in the same (or another accessible) marketplace.

In the above transaction, we acted as a buyer and the person who did the job for us, acted as a seller or a freelancer. Yes, we had a deal – we had a problem in hand and he had a solution for us and we bought the solution from him as well - just like any other corporate or traditional occupation. But the only difference here was that this guy and we are not committed to each other. That guy is not bound to pluck coconuts only from our trees and we are also not bound to hire him the next time we want coconuts to be plucked. Yes, we will definitely hire him the next time again, if he had done an exceptional work for us, but there is no obligation.

This is exactly what freelancing is! Both the seller and the buyer is free of commitment. The seller is free to sell his services to anyone he wishes to and the buyer is also free to hire anyone he desires to get his work done.

I hope the concept is much clearer now. However, there is a basic difference between this example of freelancing and the kind of freelancing that we are going to talk about here – can you guess what it is?

Congratulations, if you have guessed it already. It shows your mind is working and let me tell you now that apart from your skills, you would need a very sharp, alert, intelligent and actively working mind to be a successful freelancer. We will definitely talk a lot about this in the near future in this blog. Do keep an eye on the future posts.

Well, if you have not guessed the difference yet, then do not worry too. I am sure you will appreciate when you read along and understand. My intentions are to make your mind get active and if you stick with me here, I am sure it will happen very soon. You will be able to imagine, conceptualize, work and deliver more than you can now! It’s a promise.

So, the basic difference between the above example and the freelancing that we are going to focus on here on this blog is that everything we will do here is going to be using the computer – in a word digital, and to a great extent, virtual as well. And the example shown here is all physical!

In the world of digital freelancing, a seller meets and interacts with the buyer virtually. Builds solutions (mostly) using a computer and provides or delivers to the buyers through a virtual marketplace. So, you can understand that the skills and services we were talking about, are all digital in nature. Knowledge of computers and computer skills are mandatory things for a digital freelancing environment – both for the buyer and the seller. Apart from these, a freelancer needs to be a business person as well.

So, what all do we need to be a successful freelancer? We will talk about this in the next post. Stay tuned.

Cheers!

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You may also want to check out our YouTube Channel, where we post videos with various freelancing tips and tricks, which can definitely boost your freelancing career and business! The Channel name is also "The Indian Freelancer" and can be accessed here: www.YouTube.com/TheIndianFreelancer

Thanks a lot, 

The Indian Freelancer 

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