مقدمة عن العمل الحر : انواعه اساليبه نصائح عامة و بعض الامور المختلفة الاخرى BE YOUR OWN BOSS. An introduction to freelancing,

1. BE YOUR OWN BOSS.
an introduction to freelancing

2. *What we’ll cover today
• What is freelancing?
• Why freelance?
• What should you freelance in?
• Starting smart
• Finding clients?
• Your freelance strategy

3. Important note:
THIS CLASS IS
DESIGNED FOR
BEGINNERS

4. Ahmad Shalabi has many years of economic development experience. He has held a wide range of economic
development responsibilities, including redevelopment project management, business retention and expansion,
startups business development, and long-range planning. Ahmad is a responsible of many successful programs in
Capacity building for Graduates, E-learning engagement for employment , and developing an ICT embedded programs
for many non ICT areas ( Agriculture , Business).He recently serves on many jobs in INGO's as a coordinator and
specialist of business development.
Ahmad is a frequent speaker at many events and specialized in Lean development methodologies, TQM for startups
and freelancingoutsourcing. He also work in Content marketing for startups and SMEs in MENA.
INSTRUCTORA little bit about Me

5. *questiontime
Why are you here today ?

6. *What do we mean by ‘freelancing ’?
Characteristics of ‘freelancing’
•Self-‐employed
•Service driven business
•Solopreneur (ie; a one person show(

7. *What do we mean by ‘freelancing ’?
Types of freelancers
•Professionals
•Moonlighters
•Diversified workers
•Contractors
•Micro-‐firms

8. *Why freelance?
Freelancing & the Future of Work
•The economy needs more freelancers
•Societal values towards ‘work’ are shining
•Businesses prefer to hire freelancers
•Portfolio careers will become the new normal.
•Technology is bridging the flexible working gap.
•The skills a freelancer learns are synonymous with those needed in the
future of work (‘knowledge worker’ vs ‘creative worker ’)

9. *Why freelance?
Below are just some of the most common reasons for
freelancing
•Work remotely
•Do more purposeful work
•Gain professional experience
•More capacity to work on other hobbies and passions
•Go back to study
•Control your professional destiny
•Take professional development into your own hands
•Create a start-‐up
•Start or spend more time with the family

10. *Freelancingessentiallycomesdowntoonefundamentalthing …..
PROFESSIONAL INDEPENDENCE
Which is the ability to influence when you work, where you work, how you
work, what you work on and with whom you work with.
“

11. *questiontime
Why do YOU currently
freelance or want to
freelance?

12. *What should you freelance in?
Demand
What the market wants
Market opportunity
Obvious, yet consistently ignored.
Skills
What you’re good at

13. *What should you freelance in?
How do you know what the market needs?
• Leverage your own domain expertise
• Research industry reports, blogs, articles etc
• Talk to somebody in the industry.
• Consult a recruiter
• Go to ‘Future of X’ events
• Put it to the test it. Pitch your services to potential
clients and see if people actually need what you’re
offering (freelance marketplaces are great for this)

14. *What should you freelance in?
Art
What excites you
Skills
What you’re good at
Your best and most lucrative work
Demand
What the market wants

15. *Starting Smart
Know the journey ahead

16. *Starting Smart
Know the journey ahead

17. *Starting Smart
Build a buffer
•Depending on your tolerance for risk, it helps to create a financial buffer of anywhere
between 3-‐6 months before you transition into a freelance career.
•A buffer should cover:
– Your mortgage or rent
– Your monthly expenses (bills)
– Incorporation costs
– An additional 10-‐20% on top of these costs
– Tax liabilities

18. *Starting Smart
Pathway examples

19. *Starting Smart
Build support networks early and join communities to make the transition easier
• Social & emotional support
•
•
Financial support (if possible)
Educational support
• Business support

20. *Finding Clients
Common sources of finding freelance
work.
• Existing personal networks
• Industry recruiters
• Networking events
• Content marketing
• Freelance Marketplaces
• Referrals
• Job boards
• Social networks
• Volunteering
• Prospecting /
Outbound
• Advertising

21. *Finding Clients
Common sources of finding freelance
work.
• Existing personal networks
• Industry recruiters
• Networking events
• Content marketing
• Freelance Marketplaces
• Referrals
• Job boards
• Social networks
• Volunteering
• Prospecting /
Outbound
• Advertising
Essentially, your best performing channels (often the ones highlighted) are a result of
more efficient forms of client transparency, established trust and verifiable credibility.

22. *Freelance Marketplaces
Global marketplaces
•Freelancer www.freelancer.com
•Upwork www.upwork.com
•People Per Hour www.peopleperhour.com
Niche or Local marketplaces
•Fiverr.com www.fiverr.com
•‫خمسات‬
• ‫مستقل‬
•etc……………

23. *Portfolios
As a freelancer, your time and
testimonials are the currencies
you play with.
A collection of testimonials
with associated samples of
work make up your portfolio.
Your capacity to earn and find
future work depends on the
quality of your portfolio.

24. *Where to display a portfolio
• Social networks (LinkedIn is a key one(
• Personal website
• about.me
• Squarespace
• Community/Industry credible websites
• GitHub (developers(
• Content.ly (content producers(
• Behance / Dribble (designers(
• DeviantArt (artists/designers(
• Print (where relevant(

25. *Your Freelance Strategy
Answer these questions:
• What transition pathway should you take?
• Which people or communities can you turn to guide and support your freelance career
transition? (financial, emotional, practical)
• Where are you now and what type of freelancer do you want to be in twelve months
time?
– Professional, Moonlighter, Contractor, Micro-‐firm, Diversified etc
• What are your top three reasons to freelance ?
• How big of a cash-‐flow buffer do you think you will need to get started? One month? Six
months?

26. *Your Freelance Strategy
Answer these questions:
• What skills or areas of expertise do you have that are either currently in demand
or you can test the demand for?
• Which of these skills or areas of expertise which most excites you?
• What opportunities exist to build on these skills (ie; what new skills can you learn
or new industries you can move into to guide you to becoming more valuable to
the marketplace?

27. *Your Freelance Strategy
Answer these questions:
• What are your best three examples of work you could use to start building out your
portfolio?
• What three places can you set up or promote your portfolio?
• What three new freelance job sources could you start reaching out to TODAY to see if
there are freelance opportunities available?

28. Community ?

29. QUESTIONS?

30. Thanks for coming!
Be Your Own Boss: An Introduction to freelancing
Facebook : Ahmad Shalabi
Linkedin : Ahmadashalabi
E-mail: ahmadashalabi@gmail.com

31. Better, happier, more
successful freelancers