How to Begin Freelancing?
Freelancing is a splendid way to kickstart your career and earn some extra cash.
You can work with various clients and projects, so there’s no limit to the types of jobs you can do.
Among the most well-known are Fiverr and Upwork, which we’ve already described.
Here, we’ll describe a smaller one called Latium.
Why Latium?
On this platform, there’s slightly less competition, so you can start working right away.
Some knowledge of English is preferable because it’s the basis for communication in this service.
Registration on Latium
Upon visiting the website, you need to register.
However, before that, you must choose whether you want to request or perform jobs.
Since we want to offer our services to others, we must choose the option “Start selling your gigs on Latium.”
You can sign up on Latium here.
Registration starts with entering your email address.
You’ll receive a link to confirm that the email address belongs to you, and it will bring you back to Latium.
You can expedite registration by signing up through your Google, Facebook, or Apple account.
Completing Profile Information
Confirming your email address leads you to the next panel where you enter your name, surname, country, date of birth, and language.
Here, you must also provide a brief biography so potential clients can learn who you are, what you do, and which school you graduated from.
Creating a Service
Creating a service starts with the service name itself (Service title).
The beginning “I will…” is already filled in; continue the text with a description of your service.
For example: I will edit your pictures to make them look better, or I will create a professional social media post for you.
Under the description, you must further describe what you’re offering.
Select a category from the offered ones, which must relate to what you’re offering.
Under “Search tags,” list terms by which future clients can find you.
Terms must be separated by commas.
Finally, choose an image related to your job.
You can select an existing one, but it would be best if you uploaded one you created yourself.
This way, future clients will recognize you from the start.
Scope and Prices
Under the scope and pricing option, you can declare your offer in the form of: more ordered work-lower prices.
For example, the basic offer would be a proposal for one job, in which you indicate the package name, offer details, the time you think you could complete the job, the price, and the currency in which you want to be paid.
Under the standard package, you can write an offer for a larger number of jobs.
For example, in the base package, you wrote editing a picture in one of the programs and listed the price as $5.
In the standard package, you’ll specify that if the buyer wants to edit 5 pictures, it will cost them cheaper, $4 per picture.
This way, you’ll offer a quantity discount.
Enter a New Portfolio
A portfolio translates to an assortment of products or product lines.
Here, upload a picture consisting of your work so that the buyer knows what to expect.
If you have your own blog or website where your works are visible, you can also attach a link to it here.
Latium verification and Pro user
Latium offers free job execution on its platform.
But there are other options that we think are good to have and worth investing in.
For $12, Latium offers to verify your profile.
Verification is simple and done via the camera on your mobile phone (if you’re using the service via mobile) or via a regular webcam for desktop users.
You can also use the Pro option.
The Pro option, which costs $9 per month, includes verification, a Pro badge next to your picture, an unlimited number of job bids, and a 0% commission that Latium takes after the job is completed.
Why did Latium do this?
On many other freelancing services, there were people who created multiple profiles under different names and thus put other users in a subordinate position.
Verification via camera will prevent this and confirm that it’s really you.
Future clients prefer verified members more.
Additional Benefits of the Latium Service
Bid-based jobs
With these jobs, you offer your skills via some kind of bid.
Employers specify an approximate price they’re willing to pay for a particular job.
If you think you can do the job properly, you can submit your bid.
If you’re just starting out with this platform, we suggest that initially, your bid be equal to the lowest amount the employer has specified.
This is so that you have a better chance of getting the job and a better reputation if you do it well.
Rating System
At the end of your profile, your status will be visible.
This is recorded after the first job is completed.
The number of stars on your profile indicates the number of jobs and the quality with which you completed them.
It will also be indicated whether you’re a verified member or not.
Quick Mini Jobs
Under Instant Hire projects, you’ll be able to do some small and quickly achievable tasks.
Given the difficulty of such jobs, so will the earnings.
However, you didn’t sign up here to get $0.1 for a job, so we won’t describe this further.
If you still intend to accept them, we recommend that you don’t install various applications, through unknown links regardless of the price offered for that job.
Payment System
All funds you earn will be visible under the wallet option.
Jobs are paid in USD as well as in some cryptocurrencies, depending on what the employer has chosen.
Among others, here’s the classic Bitcoin as well as the cryptocurrency used by the Latium service, called Work.
Savings in Work cryptocurrency
Since some employers pay in Work cryptocurrency, what we liked is the option to save in the same currency.
You can tie your earned amount to a specific period of time, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months, and thereby receive a certain interest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
We like that there’s still slightly less competition than on other services.
We also like that you can be paid in multiple currencies as well as the savings feature.
Although Latium is quite a new service, they’re making on-the-go adjustments to some issues that arise.
We’ve sent them a suggestion regarding bid submissions.
We believe a time period should be included for how long the tender is valid.
Within that time frame, the employer must choose one of the bids and publicly announce it.
All others who submitted their bids must be informed via email or on their profile that the tender has ended and whether they’ve been selected for the job.
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Latium has accepted our suggestions as well as those of many other users and introduced certain contracts that define all the obligations of employers and freelancers.
Communication (chat) is also included here, available to parties.
(Updated and amended on May 10, 2024.)