The Guide on How to Start Freelancing in Bangladesh

Hi dear readers (both national & international),

Though this post “How to start freelancing in Bangladesh successfully” is dedicated to learning freelancing in Bangladesh, you can still get help from the general information written here in this post even if you’re an international audience.

I’ve taken an initiative to write a few posts on teaching my country’s people how to successfully start a freelancing career here in Bangladesh. This is because I’ve seen that more & more people of my country are becoming interested in freelancing.

Though Bangladesh is in a good position for freelancing, most of the freelancers are low-paid & unprofessional. A few freelancers have actually taken their freelancing profession at a high level.

Also, many so-called freelancing training centers have emerged most of which are cheating with general people those who’ve great dreams to be a freelancer.

Freelancing has become a buzzword among a vast majority of people around the world. In Bangladesh, it’s no exception. More & more people are becoming interested in knowing how to start freelancing in Bangladesh.

So in this post, I’ll let you know how you can start freelancing here in Bangladesh.

WHAT’S FREELANCING?

The first thing that you should have a clear idea is freelancing. Learn what freelancing is. Then you could have a great understanding of it.

Freelancing is a type of work that’s often done remotely. Suppose that a person from the USA wants to make his/her business card designed. If he hires a worker from Bangladesh for $10 to do the design, then the worker who’ll do the job is freelancing the designing job.

There are many working areas of freelancing. So in the world of freelancing, you won’t have to think about work flexibility.

  

HOW TO START FREELANCING IN BANGLADESH?

As I’ve already told you that, to do anything, there are a few right & a lot of wrong approaches. So you should always try to avoid the wrong approaches & go along with the right things.

So this post will really help you to avoid most of the risky things that might destroy the dream of becoming a freelancer. Follow all the points very carefully.

But before I go any further, I wanna tell you my story of jumping into freelancing. I hope that you’ll be motivated enough by hearing my real-life story.

Read: How to make money online without paying anything?

  

#1. LEARN ABOUT FREELANCING

To do well in anything, you should learn it well. if you ask a lot of people, even freelancers what’s freelancing, then you’ll hear many wrong answers here in Bangladesh. There’s another problem such as diluting freelancing with outsourcing.

Most people think that freelancing & outsourcing are two different terms for the same thing. For this reason, if you ask a few freelancers about their professions, many of them will reply like ‘we do outsourcing’.

This is absolutely wrong because outsourcing is just opposite of freelancing. So you should have a clear understanding of both the things.

OUTSOURCING

Outsourcing means when companies assign their jobs to people outside of their offices. The main objective o outsourcing was initially to save cost. But now, outsourcing is a name of relaxation & getting talented work from remote places.

So if you are assigned an outsourced job & do it, then it doesn’t mean that you’re outsourcing. The company that assigned you the job actually outsourced the job to you. You’ve done freelancing.

Outsourcing cuts a huge amount of money because a job can be outsourced anywhere in the world where the payment rate is quite low in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines etc. People from these countries tend to work at low fees though this is a wrong practice to sell your expertise at a very cheap rate. I’ll discuss it later.

FREELANCING

You wanna be a freelancer. So you’ll freelance jobs, not outsource them. Freelancing means working at your own will for short-term contracts.

There’s a huge freedom in freelancing as you can set your own routine. Nobody is there to pressurize you if you can work well.

HOW MUCH MONEY CAN BE EARNED?

It depends totally on your skills. You can make $0 to $10,000 working alone per month even living in Bangladesh. You know that $1000 is considered to be a decent income here. So there’s a huge opportunity in freelancing in Bangladesh.

When I started freelancing, I would make $200 – $300 per month. But after a few months of working, it reached around $1000. And then, the income was gradually increasing day by day.

I also started blogging which was another great decision in my life. I’ll tell you about that later.

#3. FIELDS OF FREELANCING

In freelancing, there’s a wide variety of choices for working. Tons of fields are ready where employers are wanting talented people to work for them.

Have a look at the freelancing job categories –

• Designing

1. Logo design
2. Graphic design
3. Animation
4. Presentations
5. Illustration
6. Photography etc

• Audio & video production

• Writing

1. Article & blog post writing
2. Website content writing
3. Academic writing
4. Creative writing
5. Copywriting
6. Resume (CV) & cover letter writing
7. grant writing
8. Technical writing
9. Business plan writing 

• Admin jobs

1. Data entry
2. Virtual assistance
3. Web research
4. Transcription
5. Project management etc 

• Web designing & software ( for mobile & desktop) development
• IT & networking
• Engineering & architecture
• Data science & analytics
• Customer service
• Translation
• Consultation & accounting.
• Sales & marketing

So you see that there’s a big working scope herein freelancing profession. You just have to pick the perfectly suited one for you & then work well on that.

#4. POPULAR FREELANCING JOBS IN BANGLADESH

Not all the freelancing jobs are suitable for Bangladeshi freelancers. So you should see the trend of most likely freelancing jobs here in Bangladesh.

Some of the popular freelancing jobs in Bangladesh are the following –

• Graphic designing
• Content writing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Online data entry
• Web designing etc

Once upon a time, data entry online jobs in Bangladesh were the most popular. But due to low payment & huge competition of this type of job, many freelancers are choosing graphics designing or writing as their profession. So now the online data entry jobs in Bangladesh are getting less popular over time.

Many people are moving towards SEO & graphic designing jobs nowadays. SEO Jobs in Bangladesh have a great opportunity for getting not only outside clients but also inside employers.

Another current trend of freelancing work is working for WordPress theme & plugin development. Many freelancers are working in these fields.

#5. CHOOSE YOUR AREA (S) OF INTEREST

This is one of the important parts of your freelancing career. A well begun is half done. So you should choose a perfect freelancing field for yourself. The options are too many.

So you may easily amalgamate one thing to another. be careful in choosing the freelancing work that’ll give you the best working condition. Of course, pay heed to your interest. If any job attracts you, you must go for that. Then you could do well in it.

#6. THE BASIC THINGS TO LEARN ABOUT FREELANCING

In the learning section of freelancing, I wanna split it into two parts. One is common for any type of freelancing work & the other one is specific learning for a freelancing work.

Lemme clear it to you. Most freelancing jobs require sending proposals, making a good profile, communicating with clients, making a great portfolio to get those jobs. So you can consider the studies of this learning as common for any type of freelancing work.

On the other hand, some skills are specific to the job such as honing your writing skills is necessary for writing-related jobs. Same as learning graphic designing is necessary for logo & other designing tasks.

You’ll be amazed to know that many skilled freelancers don’t have great skills at communicating with clients, sending decent proposals & persuasive emails to them.

So now you must start your freelance learning with the following things –

#1. Making an eye-catching profile –

• Write the profile with persuasive words so that your clients get much attention
• Attach a good photo of your in your profile
• Add relevant skills to your profile
• Add great portfolios to it

#2. Writing great proposals –

• Learn how to write persuasive proposals. You can’t depend on one generic proposal. This will easily be identified by your potential clients that you’re sending cut & paste proposals.

#3. Communicating with people in English –

• Learn how to write great emails to clients
• Also, learn how to chat with people in English

#4. Learn specific skills

• In this part, your learning will be varied from other freelancers.

The first 3 parts are quite important for getting freelancing jobs & the last part is needed after getting your job (s).

#7. START HONING YOUR REQUIRED FREELANCING SKILLS

Now is the time to learn specific skills. You must go into this part after learning the first 3 parts mentioned in the previous point well.

After learning the previous 3 parts, I’ll suggest you how to learn specific skills.

#8. SHOULD YOU TAKE FREELANCING TRAINING IN BANGLADESH?

Please don’t go to any freelancing training center without knowing anything about freelancing well. First, learn the basic things which I’ll teach you for FREE.

After that, when you’ll need to learn specific skills, you should find out professional freelancers in those fields that you’re intending to take. I can also give you a better idea about that once you complete the basic learning from me.

#9. FREE FREELANCING COURSE IN BANGLADESH

Many people call me to teach them freelancing. They’re very much interested in starting freelancing. But they don’t know how to do it. They want to pay me.

But I don’t have much time to teach people even though they wanna pay me well. So I wanted to do something for the interested learners. And here’s the thing that I do for those people who wanna do freelancing.

Yes, I offer a free freelancing course, most probably I’m the only one who does this for free. By the way, I think that if people can learn about freelancing from me & earn with it, then this will be the best pleasure to me which I couldn’t buy anything.

So, register for your free freelancing course right now.

#11. NECESSARY THINGS TO BUY

Freelancing needs a few things to buy. You can never expect to work for freelancing on your friend’s or a cyber cafe’s PC.

Here are some necessary things that you must buy before starting your freelancing –

• A laptop or a desktop computer (laptop is the best choice). The configuration will depend on the type of your work. Writing work needs an average PC, while graphic designing work needs a decent one for smooth working.
• To connect with the internet, you need to buy a router (if WiFi is available) or a modem.
• A computer table for dedicated work.
• A headphone for talking to clients when you need it.
• Necessary software if required.
• A pen & some papers for taking important notes.
• A big water pot if you don’t have one yet. You must take water time to time (wait! lemme take drink some water now).
• An airtight pot for keeping some snacks.

#15. DO’S & DON’TS OF FREELANCING IN BANGLADESH

Now I wanna let you know some important do’s & don’ts for working with freelancing smoothly.

Do’s

• First of all, focus on learning.
• Learn everything thoroughly.
• Make an awesome profile.
• Learn proposal writing.

Don’ts

• Don’t just get admit anywhere for learning about freelancing.
• Let not anybody create your freelancing profile.
• Never create multiple accounts on the same freelancing site.
• Don’t login your freelancing profile from other PCs that yours.

3 THINGS TO MANAGE BEFORE YOU START FREELANCING

There are three important plans that you should take before starting freelancing. Taking the three plans beforehand your freelancing will help you a lot in building your freelancing career.

The 3 things are –

1. Time
2. Money &
3. place

TIME

Most people start freelancing without maintaining routine work. This isn’t good for both their career & health. So you must make a schedule long before you start bidding for your preferred freelancing jobs.

Fix a certain time when you’ll work for freelancing. You must plan well for it. A good plan can make or break your freelancing career in the long run.

You must add some time to your routine for learning. Never stop learning things even though you know a specific thing well. This will keep you always updated.

Read: How I became a freelancer?

MONEY

This is another mistake of most people those who wanna start freelancing. They don’t manage an adequate fund for some months of supporting them. They either daydream or don’t know about freelancing. Freelancing isn’t like the monthly salaried job that’ll pay you in the next month just after starting it.

You may need to wait for some months. I had to wait for a few months before I got my first freelancing job. When I planned to start freelancing, I managed some fund for supporting at least one year. So I was a bit smart, right?

So manage your financial thing well. Otherwise, it’ll affect your freelancing career negatively.

PLACE

Gone are those days when an amateur freelancer could even make thousands of dollars with unprofessional work. Now clients want professionalism in all of your working behaviors. A dedicated place for working is helpful in producing professional things.

So you must choose a suitable place for your freelancing work. It mustn’t be your drawing room or a common room. It must be dedicated to freelancing only.

HOW TO BE THE BEST FREELANCER IN BANGLADESH?

You can find this part funny, but who knows that you’ll be the best freelancer in Bangladesh one day? You should be always motivated. Never lose your patience which is the main trap of failing in anything.

Being one of the best freelancers in Bangladesh isn’t a daydream.

You can do so by properly and consistently working on it.

READ & ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

So you wanna a be a freelancer, but what do you know about it? I’ve just explained its definition. There’re many things to learn about it.

Here I’ve made some questionnaires which you must read & answer yourself. This part is very important.

• What motivated you to be a freelancer?
• Do you have the patience to sit in front of a computer for several hours?
• Are you mostly an introvert or an extrovert?
• Do you think that you’re good at least one or a few things?
• Do you have the mentality to learn?
• Are you afraid of English?
• Can you communicate in English (chatting or talking)?
• Do you wanna take freelancing as a profession or passion?
• Will freelancing be your part-time or full-time job?
• Do you honor freelancers?
• Can you try hard?
• Do you have the courage to go ahead?

I hope that you’ve already answered to all the questions upon reading them well. Great. Now I’m elaborating your answers here (please read carefully) –

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO BE A FREELANCER?

This is the first question. You’ll have to judge this very well. What’s actually your motivation for moving to be a freelancer? If it’s just following others, then you should stop reading from now on.

It might be very rude to you, but it’s very true that you should have your own choice. You can never be successful at anything if you just do it following others.

Believe me, when I started freelancing, I didn’t follow anybody. What I did was just learning the thing well & then started working. I really loved working for remote clients. In addition, I loved the working environment of freelancing because I can stay at my sweet home almost all the time.

Here in the following blog post, I’ve mentioned what benefits I’ve been getting working from home –

Also, you can choose a profession just by watching its huge money-making opportunity. So first of all, ask yourself, “do I love freelancing?” If it comes out with the answer ‘YES’, only then move ahead for it. Otherwise, I’ll have to say you good bye.

DO YOU HAVE THE PATIENCE TO SIT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER FOR SEVERAL HOURS?

Many freelancers are now crying! Do you know why? The reason is taking freelancing as their profession was a wrong choice. Why? Well, freelancers are human beings & many people can’t stay in the same place for a long time. They need to move from places to places.

So after knowing that you love freelancing, now is the time to know whether you could spend time for it. If you think that you won’t have the patience to sit in the same place hours after hours on a regular basis, then freelancing isn’t for you.

If you can, then fine. Go ahead & read further.

ARE YOU MOSTLY AN INTROVERT OR AN EXTROVERT?

There are many people who can’t live even a single day without hanging out with friends spending several hours. If this is your nature, then you can’t shine in freelancing career.

Most introverts can do well in freelancing. So if you think that you like to stay at home most of the time, then freelancing will be an awesome profession for you.

DO YOU THINK THAT YOU’RE GOOD AT LEAST ONE OR A FEW THINGS?

You’ll have to do things that’ll create value to your clients. This way, you could sell your work in freelancing. So have you found it out yet that you’re good at anything?

Try to find out on which you’ve better skills. if you find a thing, then this will be great for you. If you can’t figure out a thing where you’ve good skills, then learning at least a thing for better freelancing will be much tougher for you.

By the way, if you can have great desire to be a freelancer, then nothing will be hard for you.

DO YOU HAVE THE MENTALITY TO LEARN?

It’s not uncommon to see that many people don’t have the mentality to learn a thing that they wanna do. So you should also be aware of this thing. If you have the mentality to learn, then nothing will stop you from winning.

ARE YOU AFRAID OF ENGLISH?

Whether you’re good at your desired freelancing skills, you couldn’t much farther if English doesn’t attract you. Yes, in the freelancing profession, the common language is English. So if you can’t cope up with the English language, then hard time’s waiting for you.

If you’re already good at English, then it’s good news. But if you’re not still good at it, then no problem as long as you have the willingness to learn it well.

If you’re neither good at English nor interested in learning it, then you couldn’t do well in freelancing.

CAN YOU COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH (CHATTING OR TALKING)?

The previous question deals a lot about this one. You’ll have to learn how to communicate in English if you’re not good at it.

For improving your English, you can use a decent punctuation corrector.

DO YOU WANNA TAKE FREELANCING AS A PROFESSION OR PASSION?

I’ve seen that many good freelancers have left their freelancing & started working for some other jobs. The only reason is treating freelancing as a hobby, not a profession.

So try to identify it. Profession & passion are two different things. If you take freelancing as your profession, then you must be serious about it. If it’s your passion, then you won’t mind leaving it when it’s necessary.

So why not treat freelancing both as your profession & passion. You can’t believe that I got many of my initial clients’ attention by spreading this message that freelancing is my passion & profession. So I could pitch them well that I’d be very serious and at the same time passionate about my work.

WILL FREELANCING BE YOUR PART-TIME OR FULL-TIME JOB?

Many people, mostly students, tend to take freelancing as their part-time job. The reason is that they wanna make some bucks to carry on their studentship.

They become happy just by taking some pocket money from their clients. It’s good that you’re carrying on your life by taking some penny, but why are you destroying other professional freelancers who do it for their serious living?

So, I advise you that you must take freelancing as a full-time profession.

DO YOU HONOR FREELANCERS?

You should clarify this important part. If you can honor a freelancer, then you should be a freelancer. Many people start freelancing at whim & when they see that there’s little social recognition (in the current situation of Bangladesh is that most people can’t replace traditional jobs with freelancing) of it, then they tend to leave it. I call these types of freelancers as cowards.

Be bold, be a decent freelancer. Then a good time is coming for freelancers.

CAN YOU TRY HARD?

Many people think that freelancing is just sitting in front of a computer with internet & getting thousands of dollars. The real scenario is quite different. Freelancing is like other jobs. So you’ll really need to work hard in order to be a good freelancer.

At one point, your working condition will be very smooth. To get that time, you’ll have to work hard at the initial stages.

DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO GO AHEAD?

Then you should always have the confidence to do the things that attract you. If you can do it, you can win it. So you should have the courage to follow your heart.

So, these are the easy steps to become a freelancer in Bangladesh. I hope you could also be a professional freelancer doing freelancing from Bangladesh.

I'm In Facebook