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What is Freelancing online?

Put simply, a freelancer online is a person who generates an income by carrying work that is digital.

A freelancer online provides some sort of service, here is a list of services that they will provide:

• Digital Design - i.e. website design
• Programming - coding in php, .net, .asp. ruby rails, etc
• Graphic Design - logo, banner, images, etc
• Data Entry - creation profiles on forums, .xls based jobs, etc
• SEO - Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media - monitor and contributing to facebook, twitter, youtube, etc
• Virtual Assistance - A combination of the above for a fix period of time i.e. 8 hours week, 30 hours a month.

A freelancer has many clients rather than one steady employer. Freelancers online charge by the hour or project based. Since freelancing online is not considered labouring task you are essentially exchanging your skill-set for money.

Why freelancing for Muslims?

Muslims should have a seperate agenda to their counter-parts and their sole intention is the pleasure of Allah. Although working in a job can also be counted as ibadaah it has to considered at what price?

Muslim women should/do not have a preference to work in a modern working enivorment which conflicts with many moral values taught in the Sunni. The same can go for men however it is still a male dominated work force anywhere in the world and women are more subjegated then men.

Also the demands of modern working patterns take the toil on Muslims and they have very little time to commit to their deen or family.

Further the increase of cost of living demands a person stays in some kind of working enviroment whether they choose to like it or not and this again has a detrimental affect on the morale and spirtuality.

Freelancing for a Muslim attempts to find a way to work and earn at the convienience that you want to. But it is not all rosey and requires a person think smart and strategically before they embark on freelancing.

What is the priority before getting into freelancing and making money online?

Understanding which skill you want to build and learning it effectively enough to give you an edge.

I can tell you that 95% of the people who offer an online service are not maximising on the opportunity to offer efficient service. So the opportunity is to be half as good as the best but better then the rest and you will be on your way to making money.

Let me give you an example. There is a lady from India that writes articles for me. She charges $10 an article 300 - 500 word each + fees. There is a specific way that I have understood the articles need to be written and presented that I would be satisfied. All she did was listen to what I needed and consistently delivered. her workload from me currently stands at 20 - 25 articles a month generating her $250 a month. However if she continues to write in the manner and improves her writing to serve a western audience she could charge $30 - $40 an article upto a 1000 words.

What did she do that stuck out above the countless number of writers that I used over the years? she listened and did not make earning money her priority but the needs of the customer the priority. She had an issue that her PC broke and was not able to deliver for a few days. Did I care? Not enough to get upset since I know I have struck on a writer that is GOLD.

Is she Muslim? No! Unfortunately I have had many Muslim writers in the past and none have delivered like she does. Is her work better then others? Yes and no. i am willing to overlook some of the short comings since I see a consistent improvement and their is a transparency in her genuine intent to provide an outstanding service to me her client.

Would I offer the same work to a Muslim? Absolutely, but this is not about me offering the work to a Muslim this is about you becoming the freelancer that people want to work with and hold onto.

Haris Rehman developed the Quran App for the Android for me. He is a Hafiz of Quran which is great. But as a developer he has weaknesses and flaws, but he delivered and at a rate that was very good. I have gone back to him discussing other ideas and work. Is this how you will get treated if you become a freelancer? probably not. If you are lucky to get me who has a higher tolerance level than others then you will be lucky, but do not look at it like this.

You simple have to deliver an impeccible job. This does not mean you have to be the expert in a field, no! not at all. It means the task you take on has to delivered in the best possible way.

Take for example someone asking you to find 100 Muslim forums so they can promote they product. You could take this a little bit further and give them the number of members that forum has so they know how many people the are advertising to. You could check to see if you can self-promote in the signature so they can take the opportunity to promote their business through the signature. As long as these little extra things are not more time consuming then worth you can give that little extra.

Doing these extra will it gurantee me more work from this client? No! but in the online world you could right a small blog post later on about this experience how you over delivered and a potential client could read that and think what a great person who went out of their way for a client. Trust me when I tell you that this is a timeless act that will always give you extra kudos.

So the point is find out what it is you can learn and work towards mastering it whilst getting work for lower-end tasks for the skill.

You may consider mastering photoshop so you can do Graphic design. There are plenty of outstanding video tutorials that will help you master photoshop online. Whilst you are learning you could do really small jobs of creating logo's for $5 - $10 just to get some experience in freelancing and interacting. BUT prior to offering work you will learn the most fundamental rule EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE which I have attempted to outline above.

I will do an injustice to you if you do not make this your number one priorty. Trust me without it you will grind away and not see it coming off for you and you will end up working longer for menial money and no satisfaction at all. But if you learn to deliver outstandingly then you can build a good portfolio that can work towards gaining bigger revenue.....

to be continued