Introduction to Freelancing
Freelancing has been around for a while, though it is mainly practiced by the west. It is until the last decade that many Nigerians started venturing into it due to the numerous opportunities it presents.
Even at this, we only had a handful of Nigerians in the freelancing arena some five years ago — these people make money from the comfort of their homes and have their economic destiny in their own hands.
Generally, it’s a well-known fact that we are in a country where young graduates grapple with the menace of unemployment. Some folks have finished their university education for more than five years without a job, not to talk of it being good to show for it.
According to Statista, the unemployment rate is 32%, and it is projected to rise further in 2022.
Beyond unemployment, some people are employed, but the job is not sustainable. There are folks in Nigeria who work morning till night for 30 days, and they don’t earn $100 in Nigeria. It’s that bad!
However, I am very sure things will improve. This statement is true for those who want to follow the new world order. The world has moved past the era of staying home and expecting a mail of employment. If you’re going to succeed, you need to take your destiny into your hands and create a path for yourself.
Freelancing provides a reasonable way for Nigerians with soft skills to leverage on and make money in unconventional ways. What I mean by the unconventional path is that most of us have been taken around the — go to school, bag good grades, and start making money in an office route.
Freelancing provides a reasonable way for Nigerians with soft skills to leverage on and make money in unconventional ways. What I mean by the unconventional path is that most of us have been taken around the — go to school, bag good grades, and start making money in an office route.
Yes, education is crucial to anything you want to do in life, even freelancing. I am trying to explain that Freelancing is an excellent way to make money with your soft skills without affecting your traditional way. You can use it to augment your salary, raise capital for your business idea, go on vacation, or have a side income to do other things you hold dear.
Some people work during the day, relax and come back to work a little bit to make extra dollars at night. I know some 8–5ers who use their spare time to make extra money to augment their salary. Some make as much as $500 in a month rendering services like writing, designing, VA, data entry, and other skills on a freelance or social media platforms.
I have had the privilege of knowing students who make additional money for themselves through Freelancing. For instance, I know a guy who used the pandemic to make the money he used to eventually japaed out of the country post-pandemic period. You can imagine the thousands of dollars he made within four months to have been able to relocate out of the country later.
There are many instances of people who take Freelancing seriously and are making headway in their life. Freelancing is sweet but sweeter if you have a skill to sell, my guy.
Furthermore, there are thousands of gigs to sell as a freelancer. You just need to find out what you have a passion for, research more on it, identify your target audience, and start practicing.
Presently, there are no accurate figures in Nigeria as regards Freelancing. However, we can see two freelancers out of ten digitally inclined youths, and the figure keeps increasing every day. I know many inspiring freelancers who continue to inspire a whole lot of other guys into it. There is Ajeigbe Maruf, Gbenga Adebiyi, Olamide Towobola, Akande Micheal, Augustine Ojeh, Elijah Falode, The_Magician, Houzil, Legalnaira, and a host of others guys, all of which have helped me in one way or the other in my short freelance journey.
Even though we have a long way to go before freelance becomes known nationally in our country, there is hope that the continued availability of information will make people trust Freelancing more and take action between now and the next decade. I hope you, the reader of this piece, will be a big part of the next generation of legal online earners.
Freelancing on online platforms is a little different from offline as you don’t know how the freelance site is and the different people you will have to deal with every day. I didn’t know anything about Freelancing until reality sets in after the mandatory service year.
When I came back from the compulsory one-year NYSC service, and there was nothing to do, a friend introduced a platform to me to freelance and got paid. I told him I have no skill, and he promised to teach me a few things to get started. Guess the skill he wanted to teach me? Writing!
I have used writing as an example because most people claim to know how to write. Amazing. Isn’t it? However, most people can hardly string two coherent words together and want to write for money. Wonderful! It is easily one of the reasons why newbies fail because everybody can write and fail to do due diligence on what they are exceptional at.
Many people have told me extensively about how they have tried freelancing with no success in the last few months, which is understandable. Most of us want something that will be giving us money the next day after we launch. Is it possible? Yes, it is, but it is not easy. One of the things to understand is that Freelancing is a business, and you need to take it as one if you want to be successful as fast as possible.
Freelancing offers a way to live your best life if you invest the right energy, commitment, resources, and time to do it. You can buy your dream house, start your dream business, go on vacation with your family, go to the schools you want, and any other dream of yours, but you need to do more!
I don’t particularly appreciate doing motivational talks or posting people’s screenshots, but if you have time, you can ask around. Freelancers earn in dollars most time.
I know people who have made thousands of dollars freelancing on sites like Fiverr and Upwork and have started living their best lives.
I have amassed a respectable figure also since I started. I am sorry I won’t be specific; I am not part of those who are struggling for jobs after NYSC. Everyone is a work in progress, Yes. But some people are earning something legitimately before the big break comes, and I hope when you decide to know more about Freelancing, you will be able to see it through and make it productive.
In conclusion, Freelancing offers a way to work without control from anyone and earn money legitimately with your skills. Also, it is an excellent way to build yourself for your dream job as it offers you the relevant platform to get skills like negotiation, communication, problem-solving, and others.
You can follow me on Twitter @peng_writer, where I tweet more on Freelancing and my boring but exciting life. How weird!
