In-demand and online services can now easily open up opportunities for skilled professionals to broaden their goals and kick-start a new business in 2017. This list is based on over 10 million projects posted on Freelancer.com from over 900 job categories - from IT, design, and writing to nanotechnology and aerospace engineering, and its quarterly reports on the fastest growing online jobs.
Malaysian blogger Reginald Chan has work published in several online publications, including The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Small Business and Harvard University’s blog. His passion for writing led him to freelancing, which allowed him to supplement his income alongside his day job at a hotel. "On average, I could get around one project per day and, with Freelancer.com I am busy - I love it," says Chan, who is now planning for a bigger dream, creating online courses on freelancing and blogging to help others succeed, just as he has.
Muhammad Mushtaq Magri is a software engineer who was living in a rented house and was not making enough money to live the life that he wanted. Facing numerous financial problems, he was pushed to find other ways to make money, which led him to Freelancer.com. He hustled, he started winning projects and then started earning twice as much as his previous job. Two years after joining Freelancer.com, he now owns a house, a car, and has real estate investments, and he runs a small software company in Pakistan, an achievement that certainly would not have been possible before.
Brazilian graphic designer Leandro Rodrigues wanted what many others want, to be his own boss. His portfolio displays a variety of designs for brochures, posters, logos, business cards, and more complex projects like user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designs, mock-up application projects, website mock-ups and designs for games. He was still in his day job when he signed up to Freelancer.com. Eventually the demand for his services increased and he was able to let go of his day job and freelance full-time.
Ian Fosgate from the Philippines chose to provide services online, winning a plethora of jobs that involve Microsoft Excel, Web Scraping and Data Entry. He chose these over a standard 9-5 career because of the convenience, the variety and the flexibility that came along with it. His goal is to earn enough to let his mother, who is working as a nurse in Qatar, retire and go back home to the Philippines.
Pichart Yapan from Thailand has been working long enough to know that a full-time job does not guarantee security. When he thought about the future, he decided against being an office worker for the rest of his career, so he turned to freelancing. He is a Microsoft Excel developer with expertise on the ins and outs of data analysis for sales innovation. Combined with his proficiency in all matters involving Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic (VBA), he started a completely new career.
For graphic designer Dhiral Patel, his journey on Freelancer.com began when he was still living in India. He continued on his freelancing adventure when he migrated to New Jersey, US to pursue his Masters in Computer Science. Whilst studying, he hired his own team of graphic designers on Freelancer.com to supplement his business and within eight months, they became one of the top freelance teams on the site. Part of Dhiral’s earnings on Freelancer.com is used to pay for graduate school.
Argentinian video producer Muriel Rebora wanted flexibility and the option to choose which projects to commit to in her career, which is why she chose to be a freelancer. She started accepting freelance work locally through agencies; however, she didn’t receive credit for her works as she was overshadowed by these agencies. She tried Freelancer.com and had the opportunity to visit London for a video production project she won from an employer she met on the site. Since then she has been constantly gaining more clients and now even gets to promote herself as her own brand.
Peter Adams is from Australia and has thirty years of international financial management and strategic experience as a professional. In his mid-fifties, he decided to make Freelancer.com his main source of income by providing a comprehensive suite of accounting and business advisory services for all businesses across all industries.
“Freelancer.com lets you connect with entrepreneurs all over the world. There are the benefits of working your own hours, gaining repeat projects, plus the chance to improve your skills,” said Adams.
Entrepreneur Zane Cosgrove from Cairns in Australia suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after being both physically and mentally exhausted when volunteering to help areas that had been affected by Cyclone Yasi. While searching for casual work, he came across Freelancer.com. Working consistently on the site and providing services in search engine optimisation, internet marketing, Google AdWords and Facebook Ads paid off. Eventually he was able to open his own company, Queensland SEO, and now employs six Australian-based contractors and three interns.
Masaharu Hayataki left Japan, as he wanted to experience working in different countries. He landed two full-time jobs in Prague but eventually he was left with a contract job that was not enough to support him and his travels. If he did not find a replacement position, it meant saying goodbye to the country he called home for the three years since leaving Japan. However, he then signed up to Freelancer.com and initially offered English to Japanese translations. Eventually he also started offering localisation services.
For more information, go to www.freelancer.com.
