Freelancing in the Offline World

TheArticulate Level 1

August 30, 2017, 9:43 am

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I think nearly all of us have online freelancing experience, whether it's through writing for content mills, selling articles, or providing SEO optimization or other services through sites like Fiverr and Upwork. I've dabbled in article and review writing in the past, but most of my time and effort is spent doing freelance work offline as opposed to online.

I do wedding video on the side, and I attend bridal shows, meet brides, grooms, and other vendors, and book a lot of clients that way. My services are typically booked anywhere from 6 months to over a year in advance, which can be kind of nerve-wracking at times. I've found that the amount of money I make offline far surpasses that which I make online, especially when you take into consideration the amount of time I devote to either avenue.

Online freelancing is nice to do in the comfort of my own home and is relatively stress-free (at least for me), but I much prefer the networking opportunities, and the money, that I gain from offline freelancing.

Do you have any experience freelancing offline? What do you do, and do you prefer one avenue over the other?

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

I have done a little bit of freelancing in the "real: world. I've done tutoring a great deal over the years. I have also taken editing jobs for writers and done a little bit of ghostwriting here and there. I also have done some readings of my own for money. I have written and sold articles, short stories, and poems. I have never made a ton of money at any one job, but the money would trickle in from doing several things at once, of course. Unfortunately, I've never been able to make a living entirely from freelancing.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

When you say you've done readings of your own, does that mean you've gone out and read your own work to a group of people? If so, that must be an incredible experience!

Also, I've been meaning to ask you, is there somewhere where I could go to read some of your poetry or other writing online? I'm very curious about your work and would like to read some of it. I don't have much time to read currently, but I've also been wanting to get into a bit of poetry the past couple of months. My brother loaned me a copy of Charles Bukowski's work under much recommendation, but I haven't gotten around to opening it yet.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

That is the hassle when you are freelancing in the offline world because you have to invest time and effort in meeting people. When my husband was working as a technical consultant, he would be meeting 5 people in a week and probably spend for the snacks because it was his habit not to go hungry in meetings. But that 5 prospects would yield nothing and it was really frustrating sometimes.

8 years ago

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explorerx7

explorerx7

I have done a bit of freelancing, buying and selling stuff on the side and doing various tasks for persons and getting paid for it. I agree that offline can be more rewarding than online for most persons. I know a lady which freelances in photography and is able to make some decent earnings from it. Yes. there is money to be made from online work but the problem is that seems to be a small number of persons who really able to make anything substantial from it.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Good point here about how offline freelancing can be more lucrative. I think it is easier to market yourself in person, in some ways, and meeting people for coffee or speaking to them on the phone to set up an exchange of services and jobs works very well. I never got paid for any photography jobs, but I have been able to do some editing jobs for writing projects. I charged a pretty reasonable rate, and being able to meet with the writers in person and explain the changes I was making in their manuscripts, while asking questions, was an invaluable tool in my editing their works to their purposes and preferences.

9 years ago

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augusta

augusta

I have done a lot of offline freelancing before now I dabbled to Online freelancing.

I was into event planning and execution but I didn't have much jobs maybe because of my Country but since I started online advertising I think I'm having more services to render.

So I gain more clients online than offline.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

What sort of events did you help plan? Weddings have a huge market here in the U.S., and as a wedding videographer, I've networked with a number of wedding planners here in the States. They seem to always have their months booked and are always doing a ton of business from what I can tell.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Weddings are definitely big money for caterers, planners, land owners, venue owners, photographers, and designers. We just finished "wedding season" here in the South, and there are thousands of weddings during June and July around here in Georgia. I attended three just myself this past summer. I am sure that freelancing your skills at these events would be quite lucrative.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

From what I can tell, in order to make really good money freelancing online, you have to be a guru in whatever niche it is you're marketing yourself in. Have rad graphic design skills, unparalleled web design capabilities, and the likes. Fiverr and Upwork are good to make some spending money on the side, but the real way is to market yourself to bigger clients and try and get high profile work online instead.

It's a tough field for sure, because if you're freelancing offline, your competition is generally within your surrounding area or city. If you're moving online, your competition is worldwide now, which makes things more competitive.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I have noticed that freelancing in offline world does not really work much good. People are hesitant to pay the service. So offline freelancing is harder. You need to find to find out which client is going to pay and which client does not want to pay. On that basis you have to adjust your freelancing rate. It's hard being a freelancer. And you should get into business as soon as possible. But it seems like it is not much working out for any of them. And for this reason offline world is a good option for small projects but make sure the client is good then bigger projects can be handled.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

overcast,
I agree with you that freelancing, in general, is hard off and online. I have a regular job, and I could not, so far, make a living with my freelance gigs at the level they are at right now. We always want to move towards bigger projects, higher-paying clients, and better opportunities, but it takes time to build professional relationships which can lead to those positive options. I hate having to drop my rates just to get a job at all, but I have had to do that, from time to time. I guess that is loosely called "bidding", and it is unfortunate to be paid less than what you are worth because you have to settle for minimal pay instead of no pay at all.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Agree. With freelancing everything is about networking and landing a better deal. You can see that most of the people who are struggling with freelancing offline and online are due to contacts. So I am guessing people have to focus on the services. And if they can pull out such services then surely it'd be good. I don't personally think freelancing is that easy. Jobs are lot easier in that context if you ask me.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

overcast,
Exactly. There is also the worries of consistency when it comes to the "normal" job versus the free lancing job. There is a lot more security in the latter, and sometimes your freelancing gigs are pouring in and going great, and then, all of sudden, they can dry up like a desert riverbed after 100 years of drought. Also, your pay is always being bidded down by people in your business who will freelance for less than maybe what you are wanting to get paid, so you find yourself possibly lowering your expectations or quality of work.

9 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Yes the consistency part is there in both job and freelancing part for me. I am QA by profession. And often my work is periodic. So rest of the months I do the freelancing just in case if the job goes out. And to avoid that part. I think I compliment freelancing with day job and when day job is in insecure mode then freelancing. So it works out for me. Though it's hard to say these days about any job for that matter.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

You make some good points, but I think offline freelancing can work very well, especially if you're dedicated to your avenue of business. But I agree with you, handling your rates is something that I've found to be very difficult. In general, I'm hesitant to price myself too high because I'm not sure if that's what my product should be worth or not.

I use a specific site to see analytics between myself and other people who bid on video jobs in my city. Apparently, I was the one who was undercharging for jobs, which might explain why I was able to book people so quickly. I was undercutting all of the competition. When I found that out, I raised my prices naturally.

I went from charging $3300 for a wedding video to $3,200, and according to the same analytics software, I'm still one of the cheapest in my area. However, I've found that I'm fighting more and more to maintain the flow of clients I had before because now I'm slightly more competitive with the other businesses around. I don't want to drop my prices, so it's always a tough decision for me.

9 years ago

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Authord

Authord

Well, am introverted so freelancing offline was one hell of a task for me, coupled with my shyness, it was really difficult for me freelancing offline. Till i got hold of myself, when the orders stopped coming and because being broke is not in my dictionary, neither is it an option.
I started meeting people and business firms proposing my designs and website function with problem solving skills, it was really difficult at first but as times went on it was a smooth ride. And the rest is history Freelancing in the Offline World

Freelancing in the Offline World

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9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

Authord,
I never really thought about how being introverted could affect one's business success, but you present a very good point, and also a very good reason for people who have that sensibility to find work online. You sound like you are doing quite well, so you carved out your own niche in your own way based upon your own style. That's the way we are all trying to go, I think. The online working world appeals to me because I am just working from home right now, and I need a lot of time to do my writing projects, so freelancing provides me a little bit of flexibility. Also, I am not spending four hours of my life anymore everyday in a car commuting back and forth to Atlanta.

9 years ago

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Authord

Authord

Cool, online working world is actually really awesome, not only does it give you flexibility, it also provides you the time, to combine some work or task at home. But on the other hand, the offline working world won't really give you that flexibility.
So it's really cool, if you find an online job, you can even combine it with your offline job sometimes, and that's some extra bucks.

9 years ago

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JoeMilford

JoeMilford

That is precisely what I am trying to do, actually; combining all of my writing jobs that I am working on and my teaching jobs into a sort of one man online army of editing, creating, assessing, and selling the written word and all that you can can accomplish by using it effectively. So it entails, instruction, blogging, editing, freelancing, eBook writing, journal publishing, etc. I have already seen a bit more revenue coming in, but I have a long way to go! I can't quit my offline jobs anytime soon, that is for sure, but I am supplementing my income pretty well these days, and that really makes me happy. Thanks for your response here.

9 years ago

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DarthHazard

DarthHazard

That's great to hear. I think for a long time the pay for offline jobs will always surpass the pay for online jobs by quite a lot. That why it is always better to do jobs for people by actually meeting them and arranging deals. Because chances are that you will get paid a lot more than you would with a client that you meet online. I don't really have any freelancing experience online because I mainly do freelancing work just as an extra part time thing. But it may be a good idea to try to get some offline jobs since the pay is better

9 years ago

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Tronia

Tronia

I guess I did a bit of offline freelancing during my early university years. I was offering tutoring services for two different subjects. It was pretty easy to get clients because many pupils here love to get tutored by people from the university. I had many tutoring lessons throughout the week but I had to stop at some point due to having so many exams scheduled close together.

After that I slowly switched over to the online world and ended with the tutoring. It was a really pleasant experience.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

I've heard that tutoring online can be a good source of income as well! It's great that you did that in college, though. I know several people who tutor on the campus where I work, and they're generally pretty happy to be paid to help teach students in an area that they enjoy.

9 years ago

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Pixie06

Pixie06

I write journal articles offline. In fact I work with a researcher. I normally write articles about the economy and finance. Those topics that I actually have to write about require me to do lots of research and take up most of my time. However, the good thing is that I don't write journal articles everyday which means that I have time to work online too. To be honest I prefer to work online as I earn more and can work at my own pace.

9 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

Well, since I have pretty powerful gaming rig, I usually do offline jobs specially when the Internet is down. I have pending jobs right now as I am writing this. Lol. I will consider them offline, since I don't use the Internet for them. I have a pretty large collection of vector and picture templates for all kinds of designs because I sometimes do tarpaulin lay-outs for my friends and relatives. I charge them low depending on the hassle and the size. I also do laptop and desktop software installations and troubleshootings/reformat/games etc - all software related since I have back up files and I update them every couple of months so I don't need to have Internet to do those jobs. I also am doing encoding jobs and music copying, or to some downloading but I already have downloaded the songs though. (I have 1 TB of hard disk dedicated for music and short clips). Those are pretty much some of my sideline jobs or offline jobs. I don't even post them on my social media or advertise them. My friends and family know that I am very literate when it comes to computer so eventually I have learned how to do those stuffs specially with the help of the Internet before.

9 years ago

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kgord

kgord

I don't know if you actually consider it to be freelancing, but I do mystery shopping, which combines online and offline work. I work for one company in particular which is a kind of specialized mystery shopping which pays a bit more than run of the mill assignments, but it requires more work as well.

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

Doing freelancing offline can be an amazing way to link up with lots of clients that can hire you again if you perform a nice work for them and that's a great way to make your money. I think, however, that it depends on the country you stay in for many of us that are in the African regions always prefer the online freelancing as result of the amazing dollar pay that is involved for when we exchange it for our local currencies, it always turns out a big money.

9 years ago

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Krisleen

Krisleen

I also experienced doing an offline freelancing. I used to do home-based printing before. I print student modules for midwifery students on my mom's previous job. I did it before she retired from work. I print those books in bond paper, then I manually bind them. The freelance work is seasonal. I only do it every semester since the ones who use the books are college students. I do more than 200 books in total for five to six subjects every semester. I stopped doing it since it's really time consuming and it's a rush work most of the time. I want to focus more on my business so I just do online freelancing on the side. It doesn't take too much time and I can do my business more consistently now.

9 years ago

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Barida

Barida

It's not always easy to work as a freelancer in the offline world and that's the issue with most of the freelancers that have decided to start there without having studied how it works and that's frustrating when they fail to keep an client.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

Very true, you have to have a marketable skill and be able to compete in your local market in order to retain clients offline. However, if you're able to do that, it can really pay off! I think that's why there's such a draw to online freelancing: it's easy to get into, and a lot of the time, the skills you need aren't hard to obtain (if you have to obtain any skills at all).

9 years ago

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coolavender

coolavender

I am freelancing offline as an accountant and have three regular clients at the moment. I can grow the practice through referrals but I will have to give up a lot of online earning opportunities which are blossoming at the moment. I'm taking advantage of earning sites that pay more for my time. I was fortunate enough to have been selected for this site which pays $10 for tasks that can be completed in 30 minutes or less. My exposure at the content mill and the different forums were a big help for helping me land this job. Besides the freelance writing jobs, I can count on two transcription sites as fall back earning sites as well as microtasking sites that can provide $10 daily income. I just love the internet, don't you?

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

Absolutely, the internet is a wonderful place! It's great that you're able to find good sources of income online. However, do those online sources really pay more for your time than working as an accountant? If so, I find that very interesting. Perhaps it's because I'm not in the field of accounting, but my offline freelancing sources pay me far, far more for my time than any content mill or microtasking site every would be able to.

9 years ago

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hazelandrea

hazelandrea

I believe that the best way to do freelancing in the offline world is to have a lot of socializing skills because you're not just depending on posts or shares anymore. If you are able to talk to people easily, there is a god chance that you will be able to create a fair amount of money offline. My uncle is an artist and he used to accept commissions face to face since he is not that knowledgeable in using gadgets.

9 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

Long before I was a freelancer for the world wide web, I was a freelancer in the real world. I write articles for newspapers as well as clients. I translated books and journals. I earned a good money from freelancing in the real world, however, finding a client was really difficult and I would remain jobless for weeks. When I started working online, jobs were somewhat easier to come, but the jobs were underpaying.

9 years ago

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TheArticulate

TheArticulate

Isn't it fascinating how the job market changes? When you really had to put in effort to find clients, it was tough, but the jobs were better paying than they are today. The advent of the internet make the world a smaller place, making it easier for clients and professionals to connect, which also drives the prices of services down since there isn't as much competition.

It's a double edged sword in many ways, it seems.

9 years ago

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mildredtabitha

mildredtabitha

I am happy to know about your experience. I have no experience with offline freelancing but that is something I would like to try. I agree that there is privacy especially with online freelancing but socializing with people in the real world and making commitments is satisfying. This my reason as to why I want to try offline freelancing. I don't want to lose touch with the real world.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

My cousin is an offline freelancer. His main line is selling. It is like affiliate marketing although he is doing it offline. He has contacts for his suppliers and also has a list of clients that make orders. And he delivers the goods himself for a more bigger profit margin. I see that it is labor intensive but he is earning good money for his family with that kind of offline freelancing.

9 years ago

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Danielle48

Danielle48

How relevant your profession is now. It is said that lockdown blocked the opportunity for large wedding ceremonies. It sounds sad. I asked my friends who communicate at Maturetenders. They say that both men and women prefer romantic dates and not official marriages. And what do you see from the inside of your profession?

5 years ago

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