My Freelancing Journey to 6-Figures

How and when did I find out about freelancing?

Maybe it was late 2011. One day, I was sitting in the office when my brother’s friend came over. He worked in a digital marketing company in Chandigarh, which is known as the IT hub of North India. He was doing job bidding for that company, applying for jobs on platforms like Upwork.com and Freelancer.com.

He saw me working on some designs on my computer and asked if I knew about designing. I told him I didn’t know much about it.

He asked me if he could give me any design-related work, and whether I would be able to do it. I said I would try if I had the chance.

Then I asked him what he did, and he explained that he worked on job bidding. I asked him what job bidding was, and he told me it’s a part of profession called freelancing. He explained that people who need work done post their jobs online, and those who want to work apply for those jobs. That’s what freelancing is. That day, I learned about freelancing for the first time. After that, I searched online for what freelancing was, but I still didn’t understand it well.

How I started freelancing?

Two years passed like this, and then one day he came back. He told me that we should start freelancing. I agreed, but I said I didn’t know anything about freelancing—what to do, how to do it, how to get work, and how much money I would earn. He explained that there are websites like Upwork.com. He said not to worry; he knew how to apply for jobs.

At that time, I didn’t even know what a work profile was. He mentioned that his cousin had a good Upwork account with a well-made profile and reviews, and we could use that profile to start getting work. I agreed because I wasn’t happy in my business and was sitting idle, doing some design work. I was totally ready for this opportunity. I have always wanted to do something related to computers or designing. So, we decided to split the income 50/50 and start working together.

How I got my first freelance client or project?

We started applying for jobs the next day. We were applying to 5-10 jobs per day, but we weren’t getting any replies. Sometimes, we even applied to 15 jobs in one day. Then, I thought that this approach wasn’t working. Instead of applying to many jobs, we should focus on fewer jobs but apply carefully.

My partner’s experience in job bidding didn’t help us either; we didn’t get a single job from it. We then decided to apply to no more than 3 jobs a day. We had been applying for almost more than half a month without success.

Our motivation started to drop. My partner completely lost hope. I said, ‘Let’s try for one more week.’ So, we continued applying for jobs, and I still remember that on the 17th day, we finally got a reply. It was from a client in the USA—a lady who wanted to get the work done cheaply. So, we bid the lowest rate of $1 per hour. And you won’t believe it, she actually gave us the job!

That day, it felt like the ground beneath our feet had vanished. When we got our first job, you can’t imagine the feeling. After so many days of failure, waiting every day for a message, and suddenly getting a reply from a client—it makes you forget all the frustration and brings back your motivation.

How I lost my first freelancing project & client in one day?

The next day, we started working on the job, but for some reason, we couldn’t work for the next two days. The client needed the work urgently, so she got upset and canceled the contract.

All the excitement and confidence we had built up suddenly disappeared. I couldn’t believe it—it felt like the happiness was so short-lived.

Then, my friend said, ‘No worries, let’s apply for more jobs.’ But I said, ‘No, after so much effort, we finally got a client, and it’s our fault that we didn’t respond or work for two days. Let’s at least try to talk to her once before applying for new jobs.’

How I bounced back?

I was tired of applying for jobs and didn’t want to apply for another one until I talked to that client again. So, I started messaging the client. I sent messages for two days, then three days, but there was no reply.

Then I came up with an idea.

I thought, ‘I’m sitting idle anyway, let’s try to get the work back.’ So, I told the client that if she gave me the job again, I’d work for 5 hours for free. Luckily, that worked, and the client replied but said I’d have to work 10 hours for free instead.

My partner said, ‘Don’t do it, let’s say no.’ But I thought, ‘We don’t have any other client right now, so why not?’ So I agreed to work for 10 hours for free.

The client restarted the job, and this time, we didn’t take any risks. We started working regularly, and we completed 3 days of work in just 2 days and delivered it to the client.

The client loved the work and gave us more tasks.

Finally, I had become a freelancer.

After that, we worked with full dedication. You won’t believe it—initially, the client said there would be 3 to 4 hours of work per week, but soon they started giving us 5 to 6 hours of work every single day. We became so busy that we didn’t even need to look for other clients or apply for new jobs.

You might think it sounds easy, but if I had given up that day, I wouldn’t have landed that client again.

There’s more to this story—how I grew my freelancing career to six-figures, how I found more clients, how my partner and I parted ways, and how I built long-term relationships with clients. Please comment if you want to know more.

I will soon be releasing my full story in a video which will give you a lot of motivation and valuable insights from my 11 years of experience.