Freelancing has become more popular as people no longer wish to work the 9 to 5 jobs. With the pandemic, many people lost jobs and relied on remote work to earn money, most of which came through freelancing.
Many people work only as freelancers and consider it their profession, while for others it is a side gig and a way to earn extra money. Where before only a few jobs were considered to be feasible for freelancing, nowadays even lawyers, doctors and assistants can find a job as a freelancer.
This article looks into what exactly freelancing is and how to start your freelancing career if you live in Ireland. Let’s get started!
What is freelancing?
Freelancing is a form of entrepreneurship where the freelancer offers their expertise and the buyer of the service pays them for it. The freelancer is either paid a set amount for one task, or paid for the number of hours that they put into the role.
They are self-employed and are often referred to as independent contractors. They are statistically paid less than a full-time employee and do not offer the same level of commitment as an employee would, because the contract can be terminated at any time.
They can also go into a contract-to-hire situation, where a freelancer who is interested in getting a full-time job in a company works for a while as a freelancer, to prove their capabilities to the company. Now you know the freelance meaning, let’s have a look at whether or not it’s for you.
Is it for you?
Freelancing is not for everyone. The following points need to be kept in mind before starting work as a freelancer.
- You may search for a role for a while before getting one, i.e. you could go weeks without earning a single thing
- You need to be self-disciple, manage your own time and keep track of deadlines to make sure that all projects are completed on time and you get the most from your working day
- You need good communications skill via email and messages. With freelancing, most communication talk occurs through messages and emails, with very little human interaction
- You need to be able to convey issues to your client and incorporate their opinions as well
How to start freelancing in Ireland
If you are from Ireland, then there are a few things that you need to keep in mind when starting a career as a freelancer. A freelancer falls in a different tax bracket, so you first need to register yourself as a self-employed person, and second, you need to assess yourself to calculate the taxes you have to pay.
Register as a self-employed person
This is the most important thing to do when you want to start working as a freelancer. A sole trader working as a freelancer falls under a different tax bracket compared to those who work as employees.
Depending on the country you live in, you could be paying less tax than an employee, more or even no tax at all. In countries like the UK or Ireland, a freelancer is considered as a self-employed individual.
You do not need to register a company but are required to pay taxes and complete tax returns. It makes it vital to register yourself as a self-employed person if you do not want to become under scrutiny for tax evasion.
Self-assessment taxes
In Ireland a self-employed person pays taxes under the self-assessment tax system. It is important to know the features of this tax system so you don’t have any issues when you have to pay tax for the previous year.
- These taxes are paid once a year, so make sure you properly document your tax year
- You need to access the taxes that are due on you by yourself
- Preliminary tax – You need to pay a preliminary tax which is an estimate for the tax that you are liable for in the current trading year, before or on 31st October. There is different way preliminary tax can be calculated
- If you earn more or less in the year, as compared to what you paid the tax on, then you are liable to reconcile the amount that you have paid for tax
Where can you find work as a freelancer
There are many ways you can start work as a freelancer. Before we explain websites where you can easily create a profile and start working as a freelancer, it is important to know the difference between freelance work and other types of part-time work.
There are dedicated remote platforms, work from home positions on LinkedIn and even local businesses offering work from home. In all these jobs, you are working as an employee, but are working from home and are paid monthly as set by a company. In freelance jobs, you are given a task and you can set your own time.
Best websites to find work
There are platforms created whose primary purpose is to be a meeting point for freelancers and clients. You can make a profile on these online accounts and they are a source of meeting clients for you and you can arrange your own price and hours limit.
Here we have covered the major freelancing websites. Whether you want the best freelance writing jobs or any other type of freelance work, these sites have you covered.
Upwork
Upwork is one of the most often used websites for freelancers. You can easily browse thousands of jobs and find ones that are perfect for you. The only drawback of this website is that it has become saturated with certain professions.
This makes the competition to get a client a very difficult and arduous task, with some people going as far as slashing their prices. While it is hard in the beginning, once you have a few clients who leave good reviews, it can become a lot easier.
Some roles have an hourly rate whereas others have a set fee so it can be very flexible. Whether you’re an expert in web design, market research, app development accounting or any other industry, you can get paid for your expertise.
Fiverr
Fiverr is another very popular platform. One of the benefits of this platform is that each service can only be charged for $5, at minimum, thus no person can slash their prices in order to attract clients. On these websites, what matters is making your profile appealing by standing out via the promotion of your talents and your creativity.
The competition is thus fairer and it can be easier to get jobs based on skill, instead of losing to someone with worse skills but who was asking for a very low price. With a bit of hard work, focus and ability, you can forge a great career on Fiverr.
Toptal
Toptal claims to have access to the top three percent of talent, so it is not a good place to start your career as a freelancer, especially if you have no prior experience. To have a profile on this platform, you need to pass five steps of screening, from English evaluation to project assessment to start earning some income.
If you are an experienced professional looking to start your freelancing career then this company claims to connect clients to the top freelancers in all fields of finance, software developers, designers and project managers around the world.
After you have passed all the steps you have access to job postings from top companies, like Motorola, Airbnb, Google, etc. You can easily find jobs in numerous industries like healthcare, e-commerce, banking, and more.
Simply Hired
This site looks at job postings all around the internet and posts them on one job board for free. For freelancers looking to earn money, they can easily peruse this site and find the job that best fits their requirements, by browsing in the category of their interest.
Freelance jobs are available in finance, marketing and can even narrow jobs specifically closer to your location. You can easily learn about the company, their pay and whether they are looking for freelance jobs. You can even check reviews submitted by other people about the companies.
Gumtree
This is an easy site to manoeuvre to look for jobs. You can find freelance and even full-time jobs on this website. It is very easy to choose the job type, from freelance to full time and you can also narrow down the open jobs to your location.
If you want to sell products or services, you can easily post an advert, selling your services and people can bid on them, allowing you to choose the person who has the best value. This site is better suited for self-employed people looking into having a business than people looking for a side gig to earn extra pay.
Indeed
Indeed is very similar to Gumtree and Simply Hired. It is a portal where you can look for jobs for freelance, part-time and even full-time work. You just need to look for a specific job post and the location you want to work at and it will give you a list of job postings by clients which match your specific requirements
You are in direct contact with the company, any fees are paid for by the company posting a job and you are not liable. If you get a job, then you are in direct contact with clients and they pay you for services rendered.
