Freelancing: Changing the dimensions

Ammar Saleem

It was September last year when I was enjoying summer vacation being a university student and I had nothing to do except reading books and it is quite a unique hobby now a days. My age is now close to 22 years and just like other hundreds of thousands youngsters, I was totally dependent on my parents for bread and butter. This is norm of our society that parents want to keep their children under their umbrella until they complete their education. Only those who have no strong financial support to complete their education start some kind of tutor jobs and earn an average amount of 10-15 thousands so that may cope up with monthly expanses and semester fee.

Now moving back to my own story, I was also in the same phase and used to ask my father to send money on weekly basis and it is not exception that you are begging for money from family. But as I was growing with every day, I was feeling some kind of pressure on myself and every day I was under my own thoughts that what could I do to keep myself out of this depression which was captivating my whole nerve and I was victim of this complex that it is a time to take my own responsibility.

I started writing essays and all other kind of writing related stuff and with the passage of time, it became my skill as well as talent.

I started writing for newspapers when I was at intermediate but it was my passion to share my opinion and not to cash it so I never took any advantage of it but it helped me in earning reputation as writer not only in my university but also though out my social interactions. Keeping in view of my background, one day in last summer vacations, one of my best friends, whose name I would like to mention it here, Faizan, suggested me to start freelancing. I never heard of this word ever before and I was reluctant to do it in beginning because my mindset was uttered on the same philosophy that it would might be a just loss of time and nothing more than it. He insisted me to start for once and my job would be only to complete the given assignment of few hundred words and in return I will be paid according to the ratio of words as it is a set rule.

First I didn’t believe that it would happen but I started writing and completed within few hours. I sent the file back to him and in the same day, I received my first reward and even first earning of my life which was 300 rupees.

This amount seems to be too low but it was a reward or earning and more than it was good enough to push me on track. I worked so smoothly and it paid me back because it has been 8 months till now when I never asked for money from parents to cover my financial issues.

I have successfully handled them with more ease and earned such amount that now I have started supporting my younger brother who is also studying in another university. I have learned many things being in the field; first of all, it is necessary to learn some skill in this modernized world where employment is now a least option. For learning skill, you have to come out of your comfort zone. Skills don’t demand talent but they demand sincere time for a short period. This is only my story.

Pakistan is at 4th in ranking of Freelancers who are earning through this platform. Social media and websites are the best source of it and it is so easy to find work once you enter in the field and with the passage of time, you keep on gaining experience and your worth in the market follow the same order. You just have to sacrifice some of your moments which you waste at campus or college. Being an expert, you would be free from any kind of employment and it would pay you more than your expectations.

You would not have to follow the monotonous routine but it all depends on you that how much you have capacity to work just by sitting on bed, sofa or any comfortable place. Freelancing demands skill and if you have skill, you are not going to face the issues like unemployment in Pakistan. If you think your family would not allow then start it once and keep it at secret, after few months you will see the results as I experienced the same.