How did you start freelancing?
Freelancing came to me by chance. I was earlier working in a 9 to 5 job, which demanded lots of tours to the sites. I was working as a technical writer with a firm that developed e-learning modules for a steel company. So, we had to go to the site of steel operations very frequently. This was a demanding job, more so because I was the team leader who was responsible for delivering the course in a timely manner. All this was taking toll on my health and I was feeling stressed. So I decided to quit and stay at house. Once I was browsing through the net and came across these wonderful websites where I could take up small jobs on contract and deliver them within a relaxed frame of time. All I had to do was become a member of the site and what’s more – the membership was free! At first I was wary, whether the work would actually convert into money. But, when after my initial assignment, I was paid I could trust the site genuinely. So that’s how I entered the world of freelancing – a world of limitless opportunities.

How long are you in this business?
I am in this business from past 3 years. This field has given me immense experience and I feel enriched each day. My general knowledge has increased and now I can talk about almost anything that is under the sky.

Have you had previous experience in writing?
Yes, I was a technical writer in an e-learning company. So that background suited me ideally. In technical writing we are more prone to writing things in a very orderly and logical fashion. But when I started taking up various jobs as a freelancer, I came to the conclusion that there are diverse writing styles that I had to adapt to. Letter writing, sales letter writing, press release writing, landing page writing, blog writing, article writing, web content writing etc are just a few styles that I have learnt and have managed to perfect them. Now my clients come back to me chiefly because of my writing style. My USP is extremely good research.

How did freelancing change your lifestyle?
Freelancing has changed my life to a great extent. After breaking that 9 to 5 regime, I feel more relaxed. I can do work from comforts of my house and also take care of small household things. I consider myself to be financially secure. Also, my communication has improved to a great deal as now I deal with a variety of clients from across the globe. When I was in the office job, I was limited to communicating with people from my country and my culture. But now things have changed drastically. I feel easy to communicate with people from various nationalities.

Another that I have learnt is that any business is based on honesty, integrity and openness. Working in an environment like the internet, is extremely good and important. For me customer satisfaction is very important. So I have amended my nature and have become more patient. I am dedicated to help my clients and this has also affected my lifestyle, whereby I feel more committed to any work that is given to me.

Where do you find most of your clients?
I am a member of 3 freelance websites – Getafreelancer.com, elance.com and odesk.com. So I find most of the clients on these sites only. However, out of these I have been luckiest with getafreelancer.com. This was the first site that I had joined and moved to others much later.

Frankly speaking I am not a member of any of those paid-up sites which ask you to pay a monthly sum compulsorily. I feel they simply con you. Once they have received the money they stop giving you any tips or ideas. Also even though they keep deducting their monthly fee, you actually seem to get into a negative balance because you may not enough projects to even cover your fee!

Has the financial crisis affected your business?
The financial crisis has not affected my business in a negative manner, rather, I have gained. In this global crisis, companies are laying-off their workers and giving their jobs on contracts. This seems to be a better strategy for them as they don’t have to pay regular salaries on monthly basis to the in-house employees. They just give a small amount to the freelancer who is remotely based. They don’t have to bother about his/her medical bill or any other compensation.

Therefore, this is the boom time for the freelancers and I have also been a part of this band wagon.

Do you work as a freelance writer full time?
Yes, I work as a writer on full time basis. Though in future I want to digress and move on to link building and SEO projects. This is because I want to learn more and these fields are more lucrative as they offer great money.

If somebody wants to hire you, where can he find you? Do you have a website?
I don’t have a website, but I have a blog coffeetabletalks-mk.blogspot.com. Whenever, I bid for a project, I do give address of that blog as a reference. This gives my clients an insight on the kind of work I have done in the past.