Not a techie. Earning 1.75cr a year AMA
29M , 7 yoe. Have a full time job plus running my own freelancing gig servicing multiple clients across the world
NeatFrame72
Stealth
a year ago
How can one start gig work? Which are the best domains to enter? How can a non tech person learn to become successful? I feel it is tough to find customers, how do you do that?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
The only domain to enter for gig economy is where you are an expert. Trust me clients will only pay you if you can truly deliver value to them.
You can find customers on upwork, LinkedIn etc
BiryaniEnthu
Stealth
a year ago
How does upwork get you clients? Do you pitch or cold mail? If you can share your process here
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Curious about how freelance and full time job taxation works. Can you shed some light?
Also how many hours do you spend working a week?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Full time job taxation works as your income tax slab. I did my declarations and they transfer the money after deducting the taxes. It’s simple
For the gig, since I crossed the gst limit I had to create a proprietorship firm and get my own GST number. Now in business only your profits get taxed (Revenue - expense)
I have a CA and accountant who does this and usually I show upto 50% of my revenue as profit.
Once this is done your total income for the year becomes your salary + profits and you pay tax based on the slab you are in.
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followthemoney
Stealth
a year ago
What sort of services are you offering in freelance? and how do you find your clients?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Found clients via Upwork. I don’t do short term gigs so basically locked all my clients into a monthly retainer.
Service: Digital advertising
Digital advertising is too broad. Can you be more specific please? Like FB ads? TikTok ads? Google ads?
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99bytes
Stealth
a year ago
Three questions:
1. How much hustle you had to do in the beginning to prove your worth with zero testimonials on your freelancing job?
2. What time do you think it generally takes to move the needle from 0 to 1?
3. How much of a hustle are you going thru’ now juggling between both full time job & freelancing job?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Really good questions
1. I really had to work a lot. I started all this while having a ftj so had to work atleast 12 hours a day
2. If you work hard enough; within 6-8 months
3. Right now I work 10 hours a day with job taking 2-3 and rest to the hustle. Key here is to have long term clients who trust you and can fit your schedule.
Biggest con here is the mindset. You judge all work by money. If you want to take a big initiative in your ftj you would think twice knowing that it wouldn’t give you any additional pay while doing the same work can make you lakhs more in a month with freelancing. Trying to manage all that is a challenge.
99bytes
Stealth
a year ago
Great insights this! Keep inspiring. 👏
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Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
100%
Just make sure that your work feels like play and then you won’t have to work any day
- Naval
I've always believed the same, just so hard to practice it for real. Every 2-3 years you find yourself in a place where you don't really want to be and it sucks.
But yes to make work feel like play is a huge goal
Indusplateau
Stealth
a year ago
Why keep full time job when you are making more from freelancing? I do you sublet work or hire juniors to help?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Freelancing is lonely man. Sometimes it gets repetitive, you feel like you aren’t learning anything. Ftj is just for keeping me company and get to learn something new and work with friends. This is my last corporate gig and once I leave this company I would pivot completely to freelancing. The money difference is stark, what I am making in a whole year with ftj I make in 3 months with freelancing.
No haven’t hired anybody nor do I want to. As I said, client wants someone really skilled and I don’t have time to train anybody. Also don’t want the overhead.
Indusplateau
Stealth
a year ago
Do you think the new AI tools put your roles at risk?
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How do you take out salary for yourself from the business? I'm paying me 36 LPA and getting 8L taxes (pvt ltd), CA can't do much to save it either, becoming a contractor would require me to transfer the company to my family un order to save 20%
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Because you have a pvt ltd firm. Laws are different there. In a proprietorship firm the individual is the business. Whatever I am earning and whatever profits are there belong to me. I don’t have to transfer anything to anyone. I have a current one where I get all my receivables
Why did you go for pvt ltd? Want to understand if any benefits are there for a freelancer.
Didn't want personal liability for contracts or hires. Also much easier to sell a business or raise funds. We're a service product hybrid so quick scalability was important. Also I'm 22 so I didn't know as much as I did before starting. Either way, personal liability was a major one.
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Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Between 14-15L pre tax . Please note that I pay advance tax every quarter and usually total for the year stands at ~20L
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@Bereal I would love to connect with you for a paid consultation regarding this. I’ve worked with couple of top unicorns in the field of growth and marketing and wanted to start freelancing. Is there a way I can reach out to tou?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
I really don’t think I am expert to guide you through this process really. Sometimes I just feel it’s majorly luck than skillls. Sorry
No worries. I might reply to your thread when I start my freelance journey a couple months later. (Occupied with life stuff rn). Do respond if you get a chance to 😬✌️
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apublicgood
Stealth
a year ago
what has been your primary method of acquiring clients outside of India? and any learnings/changes that you had to make to your method of working for non-Indian clients?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Primary method was Upwork and it still is. Other than that you need a stellar profile there and be a really good salesman. It means you need to be expert in your field and also make the client that you can get the job done. If you lack any of this it won’t work
apublicgood
Stealth
a year ago
I am confident about all above within the country but have somehow fail to get clients abroad (apart from 1 client who was w me for 2 years from Canada). But thanks! Helps.
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ProteinPancakes
Stealth
a year ago
What are you doing to get out of doing this AMA?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Passing Sunday and seeing if I can help/guide anyone take this journey. Sometimes it feels alone to be doing all of this and not able to share it with anyone
I'm a software developer, thinking of resigning and doing something on freelancing side.
Probably in digital marketing domain, will that be a good idea.
My concern is to about salary and how much time it will take to earn 1lpa to manage expenses on own
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
No, it’s super commoditised right now. If you don’t have prior experience you would have to charge super low hourly rate and work your way though that.
11 lpa, that might take 12-16 months
usualrant
Stealth
a year ago
Hey @Bereal
Is technical/non-technical writing in freelance also worth a shot?
How do you see the market there?
Thanks for putting this out.
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Yes, worth a shot. Market is considerable there
usualrant
Stealth
a year ago
How do you think one should build brands around a niche!
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Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
That’s a tough one, haha
Money bro , ofcourse. Plus I love my work and really get excited helping my clients
I meant what type of skills you use in freelancing like coding or any other ??
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MrGandalf
Stealth
a year ago
How can I learn your digital advertising skills? Your FTJ has a role to play in your ability to freelance. How can an absolute novice built this capability from scratch?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
100%. I worked in a startup 7 years back and working 14 hours a day helped me achieve the skills: whatever I am today is because of that job.
I don’t think you should follow this route Just because of this ama
MrGandalf
Stealth
a year ago
Suggest me steps in which I go about building advertising skills? Any course/ project/community ?
So I'm registering myself on Upwork.
Have like 2 YOE. Earn around 10-13 LPA. What should be a good hourly rate based on this information.
I'm planning to set it at 50$ and then negotiate. Tell your views
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
$50 per hour? That’s a moonshot. What’s your industry?
Software engineer . So what should I start with ? And yaa 50 is exorbitant I realised 😂.
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Thanks for this, it’s quite inspiring.
Saw that you made clients via Upwork - today how is it split across different platforms for you in terms of new clients?
Also, over time do you need to continue on these platforms or is it recurring work from same clients?
One last one (sorry) - Within digital advertising, are there specific platforms that you specialise in? Or is it all platforms for a brand?
Thanks a lot!
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Good questions
1. All my clients are from Upwork only and I have mostly taken them off the platform and dealing directly now. I am now a part of their org contributing my role but again not a full time one
2 Right now I am in a position where I don’t need other clients. It’s recurring from same set but in case a client is gone I get active on Upwork and due to my good profile I get invited to a lot of jobs and I close one or two based on the work. The challenge then is to make these clients repetitive. I give them priority for 2-3 months and show them my need to be working with them monthly.
3. All platforms, I am an expert so I am supposed to know everything for the client :)
@Bereal Are there any regulations that we need to keep in mind while doing freelancing along with FTJ in India
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Just make sure you don’t get PF from any other client and not use company system for doing any of your hustle. Also make sure to have client boundaries in your mind about this.
Hi @Bereal , what do you think are the best fields for freelancing? Also what is your domain which you are making your earnings?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Already answered, please check other replies if you have time :)
Thanks, found it, does Upwork really work? Seems quite niche for first timers...any suggestions?
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Randomization
Stealth
a year ago
Just one question, are you happy and mentally at peace?
Bereal
Stealth
a year ago
Happy - Yes
Mentally at peace - Sometimes i burnout. My wife is the biggest support system who’s been helping me do all of this.
Sometimes I go through imposter syndrome. But overall I am quite satisfied with this life. Money definitely changes your mindset and it really feels good to not have to think about expenditure.
But the next problem that comes is to manage all this money. :)
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