Providing Free Freelancing Services to build your portfolio is a Myth(101)

Nowadays, Providing Free Freelancing Services to build your portfolio is a Myth, your mentors or some senior freelancers advised you to provide free services to your friends, families, or new clients to build your portfolio in the beginning. I have visited some freelance pages on Facebook and I observed that many of the young freelancers are offering free services to others so they can create attractive portfolios. My request to these guys is that please stop doing this, this would not help you as much as you are thinking. Some reasons to avoid this are as follows:

Discomfort:

Starting to provide Free Freelancing Services to your clients (nationally/Internationally) is a little complex and you guys don’t trust each other very easily. You both don’t know how much the next person is motivated and able to help you in your Cause. Your communication will not be that strong and both will feel discomfort as no commitments really work between these two. Sometimes your Clients do not take you very seriously, and the task remained uncompleted.

 Lack of Motivation:

You will never be motivated to do a free task for your client for which you can earn $10 or maybe $5 only but still a loss. And what is the point when you are not motivated just at the beginning of your freelancing journey? Maybe you have created your portfolio just by selling your services for free, but what about your self-concept? How can you learn about that? A free task can never motivate you to do more. You will just complete it as fast as you can to build your portfolio faster and earn real money.

Suppose, you have completed your work and submitted it to the client, what if he doesn’t like that? What if he says, “You are pathetic, I am not satisfied with your work quality? Now, I have to hire a real freelancer to get this work done right.” Would you still provide free freelancing services? Never, you will get demotivated; you either stop freelancing for a while or for good. So the main point is that you can never get motivated by the free freelancing services you are providing.

Waste of Time:

You have so much potential which you can utilize on many things, most of all, you can be happy. But you have selected the opposite thing. I am not against hard work, but working hard in the wrong direction. That is the most dangerous problem that we are facing. We are eager, passionate, and hard-working.

I have experienced that there are millions of boys and girls available who are freelancing throughout the world, but in some countries, like Pakistan, we are not on a straight, long-sight path. We know very well what to do, but don’t have an idea about how to do it. Teachers are charging fees for teaching what to do, but who will teach us HOW?

Sense of Responsibility:

Face it. If you know the client to whom you are providing free services is not recurring (will not come again), then your main task will be to finish the job, not to satisfy that client with that job. Unless you are getting something out of it, you will never have a sense of responsibility toward that task. Either payment or the returning customer will work just fine, but if your outcome is the portfolio only, then congratulations on being a selfish person. You cannot be a good partner for that client.

Not all the claims are true for everyone. But here, we are talking about the average freelancer out there. The main purpose of every young and new freelancer is to start earning as soon as possible, and that causes the problems that we have discussed earlier.

What you can do instead:

You don’t have to be like other new freelancers, you can do many other things instead, and I can guide you on how. First of all, whenever you learn a new skill, give it at least 6 months to stable in your nervous system. Your first task as a new freelancer should not be completing or having a shining portfolio of your work but creating your profile. (Note: hereby profile I mean everything except portfolio).

Define what are your skills. How much deep understanding do you have about that skill? What you can offer, to what percentage that skill of yours helps you in your daily life? Didn’t understand? Don’t worry, I got you covered.

Use your services for yourself:

What is the benefit if you can’t use your skill for your own good? Use that skill for yourself instead of using it as a free freelancing services for someone else.  If you can develop a website, create your own website with your name (which you can use later to showcase your work, you can use that as your CV, and much more).

If you are a graphic designer, create a branding kit for yourself to maximize your online presence (such as your logo, your card, your letterhead, your MUG, cool? right?), and if you can edit videos, create your own videos, start a YouTube channel. Nothing hard, just press upload for the 1^st video and you will see yourself.

• Also, Read this Related Blog: 9 Smart Passive Income Ideas for Making Money Online in 2023

Whatever, you have in yourself, which you can claim as a skill, USE it. Use it for yourself instead of serving someone for free. And you will see that you are not facing any of the problems that we have discussed earlier. You will own it by heart and that will be the true face of your skills started breathing.

You have invested 6 months in a skill to grasp, don’t waste it for free. It is not about the start, it is about the beginning of your new journey on a hitchhiked vehicle. Don’t be hard on yourself. I will advise you to sell your services, even though you have little experience. There are hundreds of platforms available to sell your services worldwide, the best one is Fiverr. Click the button below, to learn & improve your skills, and sell your services on the same platform.

So far, this is it. Meet you soon.

Take care.