I discovered Freelancer in 2017 when I was searching for jobs online in which I don’t have to go anywhere to find a part-time job and just stay at home. I had a full-time job, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. But during these times, I got job proposals already.
We’ll talk more about it later on.
Fast-forward, I found myself opening Freelancer again on my browser while I was in Budapest, Hungary. I don’t speak Hungarian, and I don’t have Hungarian papers. I could only work at home, so to say, online.
For some people, working and earning money through online work or through the Internet, is quite impossible.
Heck, even my old-school parents don’t have faith in it. They would link online and scam together. Well, that’s the hard reality.
February last year, when I got really serious about starting to work on Freelancer. I was on the verge of desperation of having a job and proving myself.
As I mentioned above, I got job proposals before having my first real project. Needless to say, these supposed job proposals were not even real or didn’t lead to actual work. It was totally a scam.
If you’re still starting on Freelancer, you should be aware and beware of people asking for your personal info or your PayPal account. Sadly, I fell into this bogus. Fortunately, nothing worst happened yet.
Freelancer recommends that we have the transaction on its website, not on WhatsApp or Skype.
But why I don’t use this website anymore in working at home?
Before I answer this, I have to admit that you can work at home using Freelancer, there are real jobs and real payment. In fact, I have earned over $2000 for months of working part-time through this website.
One of the reasons that I don’t use Freelancer anymore is money itself.
In the beginning, I didn’t care that much about how much I got paid, but later on, I realize, no, I won’t do this anymore and focus on things I should be doing or invest my effort into something that will benefit other people too.
Believe it or not, my first real Freelancer project was $1/hour for some research job. I accepted it for the sake of getting a 5-star review.
Now, I am using this website as an employer for some personal projects I couldn’t handle. Honestly, I only consider bidders or freelancers with good reviews or with a history of works already.
Working on that $1-project was my stepping stone to getting started on Freelancer. Some may have luck and didn’t have to go through what I experienced, but that’s better than scamming people online.
After having that first project, I got multiple job offers, some from the projects on which I placed my bid, and others were direct hirings even though I didn’t bid on a particular project.
The pay was really terrible. Employers on Freelancer think you are a work slave and accept every job and payment due to desperation. I allowed it for months, but recently, I didn’t feel like doing it anymore. I’d instead focus on my blogging and online business.
The second reason, I’m giving up on Freelancer is the fact that there are scammers too
There’s no surprise there.
Having scammers online is already an understatement, and everybody seems to be aware of it already. But on Freelancer, you should be mindful of one particular scam. Someone would contact you with a questionable username, sometimes with a misspelt name or an apparently invented name.
And guess what, the profile is quite recently created. That’s already a red flag.
Some are even honest and tell you upfront that they’re sorry, and the reason for contacting you has nothing to do with what was written on the project’s description.
These people want something else and would say, they’re from China and Upwork doesn’t work there, and they’re web developers. They will pay you $300/month in exchange for lending them your Upwork account.
Sounds awesome. You earn $300 without even doing anything. That’s a perfect passive income.
No! Very stupid of me that I almost fell for this trap in the beginning. Imagine having someone use your account, and with this account, he would scam people online.
Then who would be the culprit? You, of course. Not really you, but people or authorities could only track down your account.
Thirdly, fellow freelancers and contractors would be the reason for the disappointment in working in Freelancer
While there are scammers, there are also people who would rip you off on this website. It might be their technique to earn more through this website, but it’s not really cool when you only get paid 10% of the payment they get from real employers of a specific project.
Freelancer may not be a scam website, but what or who tars its reputation is other freelancers themselves. Imagine, Freelancer, scamming other freelancers.
Here’s the scenario:
1 project from a real employer
↓
Bids from freelancers
↓
1 freelancer was chosen + a $150 project fee
↓
Chosen Freelancer will hire another freelancer
To finish this scenario, the chosen Freelancer has selected another freelancer to do his job. It may sound passable, perhaps, but he has a lot on his plate, and he couldn’t do everything at a time, so having another freelancer to help him is a saving grace.
But on payment time, the second Freelancer who did all the work only got $15. That’s not really fair.
How do I know all of this?
It happened to me. I figured out all the payment info after stalking the freelancer’s profile, who hired me. The real employer happened to have left a positive review of the work that I have done. Some reviews indicate a project’s name, and there’s always payment info attached to it. And that’s how I found it out.
I didn’t get the credit that I deserve, the 5-star review, and the payment of at least 50% and not 10% per cent. For this reason, I’m losing interest in working on Freelancer, unless there are good projects with reasonable project fees.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Freelancer is one of the starter websites when you want to start side-hustling or to freelance online. But I don’t recommend it if you don’t have patience in getting a project quickly. Hiring other freelancers to do your job is okay, but do it reasonably.
If you’re going to start your journey online, you can start monetizing your blog and promote your skills through your blog.
You don’t have a blog yet? Grab this e-book if you want to get started blogging.
If blogging may not be for you, you can try other ways to earn money online.
SAVE THIS FOR LATER
Want to add new skills while not leaving the comforts of your home? Read this post on how to learn new skills even in your pajamas.
