Alot of people create their own storm and get upset when it rains. The world around us has changed and will not stop changing, even for you. So the earlier you take charge of your life and stop waiting on someone to help improve your life, the better.
Have you ever heard of the word, Freelance? I believe you have. Have you wondered how possible it is to make genuine money online with your Data Bundle? Yes! I believe, you have. Keeping ahead in life can be a challenge, with little or nothing to show for your struggles. Companies are always running promotions, hiring more staff, upgrading their infrastructure, or even launching new products, but each time you apply, they tell you ,” No Vacancy!”; So what can you do to make sure you stay ahead? That is where the Freelancer comes in.
The English dictionary defines freelance, as earning money by selling your work or service to several different organization rather than being employed by one particular organization.
Many companies have discovered that, it is a lot cheaper to award certain jobs to persons who are not directly under their employ and still get better results; these persons range from just, people with ideas to professionals or even consultants in these fields. The need for a cheap but perfect result, has increased the need for outsourcing most jobs to freelancers, who are reliable and committed; what greater way to meet a freelancer than through the internet. The act of freelancing is relatively new in Nigeria and many are yet to hear from it.
The internet has and will keep playing a major role in the lives of freelancers and the global market in general, however, being a freelancer can mean different things to different people, but the most important one, is the freedom it gives you. It does not matter if you are employed or unemployed, anybody can be a freelancer working at their own pace or leisure time, thanks to the few reliable websites offering client/freelance services. The freelancer however, is motivated and spurred for success. He does his biddings with great dexterity and does not wait for any man to decide his fate, he his disciplined and highly committed. He works alone, but consults others if stuck somewhere because, he knows how big some obstacle could be in meeting up with a set time. He is a project manager, who knows what he is capable of doing and does not accept more than he can handle. He reports to no one but himself and he his always careful not to get discouraged while performing his duties. He is passionate with what he can offer and is never satisfied with his situation, until he is able to turn things around and deliver.
I dived into the freelance bandwagon pretty late. I was ignorant of the fact that there were opportunities to make genuine money online. I believed everyone who makes money online, does so through cyber crime, I was not aware of the fact that some people actually mastered these craft and are actually earning a living or a second income through working online. So, as an adventurous young man who likes to discover new things, I decided to research in details and not just write about my findings but, actually work online and earn something tangible for myself.
I have discovered that, most youths are restless these days, they want things to happen all at once for them, they want to channel that youthful vigour into something new, they want to learn and make things happen but, how to go about it, is what they lack. That was how we ended up having so many idle internet users, who just visit Facebook and Twitter, check out pictures of other people for hours, chat online and further condemn their emotions and brains to death. Brains to death you ask? Yes! When you are an idle internet user, you tend to monitor the progress of other people via their pictures and status updates. You seem to be monitoring their lives, you want to know where they are, what they have achieved, where they work etc just to make sure you are not being left behind. You end up grinding and whining about your situation and still would not act upon it, because you feel a job must come before you can get busy with adding value to your life. If you fail in life, you only have yourself to blame at the end of the day. Every breakthrough and success story is the combination of divine power and human effort; just because it is from God, does not mean it will be easy to achieve it. God gave the Israelite’s the promised land, but they had to walk through deserts, cross sea’s and flooded rivers and even fought other nations before they get to it.
While, degree holder’s are roaming around, waiting for that white collar job, young entreprenuers are seizing their day, taking charge and carving a path for themselves; 99% of graduates will end up working for the 1% graduates who took their entrepreneurship skills to the next level. Having a degree is one of the best things that can happen to any man, a blessing in disguise, but apart from the degree, what else can you? What else can you offer the world? What else can you offer yourself? Education will make you fit into the world perfectly, but to go beyond just being educated, you need to have that extra skill; just like the promised land is for everyone, but you only need to be willing to enter it and have the zeal to go after it.
This article is meant to dissuade you from spending all your time doing nothing online and to show you a new path. Now let us talk of some great websites, where you can actually carve a path for yourself. Have you heard of Elance or Upwork, Academic Experts etc? These are just a few of the resources online, where you can work as a freelancer from the comfort of your home and with your mobile phone.
Elance or Odesk:
Elance.com used to be a separate company before Odesk.com bought it over, which is why it is now called, Upwork.com. These merger hasn’t in any way taken the opportunities that abound in the website from it. Upwork provide clients and freelancer service to individuals who want to either have their jobs done by freelancers online or freelancers, who want to help people get their jobs done. These jobs range from website building, writing articles, web designs, graphic design, editors, typing, researchers, and many others.
This is the company I am most familiar with and that is because, I have worked the most hours here. I registered as an academic writer/editor and believe me, my first few days on Elance, was not friendly at all, as many of the clients I met, used terms I could not understand. I first learned about SEO, Email Sequencing on elance.com
I have been able to work with great clients, who I never really believed I would get to work with like the accountant-general of Edmonton in Canada, Harriet Tinker, to Carlsberg company, also the African Star News, Golden Academy in Greece, amongst others. You do not only work but you learn from these website as well. Visit www.Upwork.com to get started.
Academic Experts:
Like Upwork.com, you can register as a freelancer and write for people here as well. They have a very demand for writers, which is why you must be very learned to work with them. As they have exams for freelancers before they start dishing out jobs to you. You are most times preferred to be a graduate before you apply. hop unto AcademicExperts.us and create an account today.
Essay Writers:
This company is one interesting company that you will also certainly make legitimate money off as a freelance academic writer based in Nigeria. The company accepts writers who are based all over the world and pays them twice a month too. The average bid per page here is about $7 but occasionally, this sum rises to well over $20 for a single page! If that is not interesting, I do not know what is!
Like all great academic assisting agencies, the company is strict with it’s writers…this has made many a lazy writer proclaim the company a scam…on my word, the company is legitimate. However, if you are a silly Nigerian folk who is lazy and would rather attend weddings/funerals/parties, spend 5 straight hours on Facebook or Whatsapp and blame the government like a chatter box, kindly stay off Essay Writers. If you jump on board, you do so entirely at your own risk!
However, if you are a hardworking, time conscious and meticulous fellow, you are indeed welcome to apply here, www.essay writers.net
Writer Bay:
The bay of writers. Serious ones, that is. Writer Bay rewards hardwork in a manner that is rare and difficult to find in the industry. The company’s idea is that a great writer should be paid handsomely and hardwork should not go without it’s rewards. Accordingly, when you gain the ‘pro’ status, the bid on orders that are assigned to you do not necessarily reflect the actual bid amount initially published but your current status level. If your status warrants $9 per page, that’s exactly what you get – irrespective of the fact that the order originally spells $5 or $6!
And it only gets better! The only clear challenge with Writer Bay (if you consider this a challenge) is that the company only pays once a month – between the 16th and 20th. So, of you are super used to the twice a month payment structure, your brain will certainly need some rewiring and getting used to. However, be consoled, the company pays via Payoneer so you are rest assured that once your funds are remitted, it’s only a matter of hours before you access them.
If you have the discipline to receive payments once a month (you should, by the way. Government workers in Nigeria sometimes work for more than six months without pay!), kindly apply for an account with Writer Bay right here, www.writerbay.com
Freelancer:
Freelance.com helps freelance providers and employers that need to work reliably through one platform. Just like Upwork.com, it is easier to use and very competitive when it come to applying for jobs online. You can apply for virtually anything here, according to your specialty, as a writer, graphic designer, administrator, consultant, web design etc
Fiverr:
Fiverr.com is another great site, but this time, you sell your services online. Fiverr is a global online marketplace offering tasks and services, beginning at a cost of $5 per job performed. The site is primarily used by freelancers who use Fiverr to offer services to customers worldwide. Currently, Fiverr lists more than three million services on the site that range between $5 and $500.
Guru.com:
Guru.com is a freelance marketplace. It allows companies to find freelance workers for commissioned work.
However, there are many freelance websites but this article is limited to the few ones that accept and pay Nigerians.
Renumeration And Payment Method
The payment modes these companies favor (that are also Nigerian friendly) include Payoneer, Check and Direct Bank Transfers. Of the three popular methods, you’ll find out that Payoneer option is the fastest (in terms of access to your cash) and the easiest on your account (commision wise).
Payoneer:
They provide online money transfer directly into the debit card that will be sent to you when you register with them. These cards are Payoneer “MasterCard” (debit cards), which means you can only withdraw your earnings through it. The cards are registered under various banks like bank of America and the Community Federal Savings Bank in the US, which means you will also get an American bank account as you register for this card. The account and routine numbers will also be sent to your email when you register, while the MasterCard will be shipped to your home address in Nigeria. They charge 30USD (about 4000 naira) yearly as maintenance for this card.You also get to a reward of 25USD, if any of your friends regiater through your link and earns upto 100USD as a freelancer.
Bank Transfer:
This is another cool way of withdrawing your money, but the only problem is, anytime you withdraw directly into your bank account here in Nigeria, our banks here charge between 25-35 USD per transaction depending on your bank. Which actually makes Payoneer better.
Let us get to work today, as the race is usually won by those who prepared for it yesterday.
Culled from the Book: the Time You Do Not Have: Putting the Internet to Positive Use.
By Valentine Chinyem
