While the gig economy began with apps like Uber allowing drivers to pick up individual rides and determine their own schedule and income, today, freelance work, self-employment, and the gig economy have much more to offer. Here are a handful of platforms to consider using when launching a freelance business.
Home to 690 million user profiles, the clientele on LinkedIn makes this professional networking site an ideal home to find endless work opportunities. With 100 million job applications flowing through the site every month, LinkedIn allows freelancers to develop warm leads, apply to opportunities posted on the platform, connect with potential clients via cold messaging, and post about their services, accomplishments, and present work through their own profile. Beyond their existing features offered on the site, LinkedIn has also announced the launch of a freelance marketplace scheduled to be released later this year, promising to provide a plethora of opportunities and gigs to freelancers around the world.
With features like reels, explore, and shopping, Instagram is a platform that freelancers can leverage to sell their skills. With over 1.38 billion users, it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to reach so many potential customers. The reach that the app now makes possible through Facebook reels means that freelancers can generate an audience of viewers that are far outside of their own network, driving business back to their page, website, and menu of services.
Today, there are hundreds of websites that freelancers can use to list their skills and services, find new clients, and sell directly through third party sites. Platforms like Fiverr and Upwork allow freelancers to list numerous services and provide access to an immense marketplace of potential customers, in a quantity that would be impossible to target purely through individual networking strategies. Plus, these platforms allow freelancers to start working without much previous experience, simply by offering basic services at low rates and slowly building up a portfolio of credentials, positive ratings, and experience.
Creating a personal website is easy with platforms like Wix and SquareSpace that provide templates and guides; users can literally have a full, working website created within an hour. A personal website is a crucial space for freelancers to sell their skills because as an individual working online, typically without a storefront or public office location, the website is the home of a freelance business where customers see previous work, pricing, services, and find ways to get in contact. Plus, websites are the ideal place to set up a portfolio to use as proof of experience, quality, and skills that can be sent to prospective clients and project applications.
RitersBlock is a fantastic platform where freelancers can merge all of the above qualities, as it houses attributes of a portfolio, website, and marketplace all in one platform. Offering solutions to all those freelancing needs, freelancers can use RitersBlock to find new gigs, sell their services, present a portfolio of work, and house their business.
