How to Freelance to Your First Million, It's been done!

[Niheel]

According to India Times, there are groups of freelancers in India making over a millions dollars by providing development and IT services to their counterparts in the US.

The freelancers results were intriguing enough for us to dig a bit deeper and put together a nice fact sheet for opporutnities in freelancing.

Two freelancers featured in the piece were :

• Synapse Communications, the number two provider on eLance. The provider grossed $2M USD in revenue and it was started by 26 year old with rented PCs and Rs 6 Lakhs( roughly $15,000 USD) of startup money.
• Xicom Solutions, the number one provider on eLance grossed $600,000 USD. It charges a minimum of $20/hr for development work and was also started by a young indian who was tired of his job.

These figures are proving that freelancing is a valid and fruitful business model. It makes sense, why not leverage your talent as a technology expert to help other businesses achieve their goals and get paid well for it. Services like eLance have made it easier for providers(freel ancers) to connect with people who want work done. We did a bit of digging around at the top 50 providers on eLance and found some interesting stats.

Freelancing @ eLance factiods:

• Since 2006 eLance has sent freelancers more than $100M USD worth of business.
• Each one of the top 50 providers has earnings of $65,000 USD or more.
• The top 50 providers earnings average out to $127,443.00 USD.
• India dominates as a source of freelancers. The country has 25 of the top 50 freelancers and accounts for 52% of the revenue generate by the top 50 freelancers.
• India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Romania and United States make the top 5 countries where freelancers work from.
• The minimum rate for the top 5 providers ranges from $20-$25/hr USD.
• Repeat business and word of mouth marketing helps these providers generate even more revenue than listed on eLance.

Freelancing tips to make your first million:

• Do quality work (if you want more work and referrals sent to you)
• Charge by the hour not by the project. Unless you know that you can finish up the project under budget leaving you a margin.
• Keep a margin, but don't get too greedy. Competition is always around the corner.
• Deliver on time or ahead of time.
• Support the product, but make sure to charge for the additional support work.
• Be available to communicate. IM / Email / Phone when necessary.
• Use a project management system and billing system to keep track of things.
• Make sure your clients leave feeling happy with the results. Their success is your success.
• Expand, grow and delegate. You won't be able to handle all the projects. Built a team, hire people and pay them well.
• Use freelance sites a way to connect to prospective clients. Consider taking lower priced projects as away to get in with a client.

[MMcCarthy]

That's a great post Jerry. I agree with your comments totally. I'd further add that in the current worldwide economic climate an enterprising developer can do very well.

Companies are not in a position to hire onsite development teams for long term contracts in the way they once were but they still need to develop technologies to give them a better chance to operate in this market. For the enterprising developer this is an opportunity to put themselves out there delivering alternative, competitive (not cheap) solutions.