Challenges of Freelancers in Pakistan

Freelancers all over the world have been promoting the self-employment culture by transforming themselves into soloprenuers. As they create a small workplace at home or initiate their freelance careers from a one-room office, professionals are selling their skills in their local as well as international market through the internet.
We have also witnessed thousands of Pakistanis becoming successful freelance service providers in the global market, during the past decade. Platforms like Truelancer has allowed freelancers in Pakistan to market their expertise to worldwide clients.

However, when it comes to executing a freelance project efficiently, there are several problems that need to be addressed by freelancers in Pakistan.

Here are 5 of the many challenges freelancers in Pakistan have to face along with some of their possible solutions.

 

1. Fewer Payment Options

Pakistani freelancing community has comparatively less payment options as compared to other global freelancers. Although, Payoneer and Moneygram are operational in Pakistan, the ever-popular Paypal is still not available in the country. This makes a majority of freelancers rely on local clients only as they shy away from global customers for the fear of not getting paid.

Solution: While there are some notable payment options available for freelancers in Pakistan, Payoneer is an online service which delivers you a MasterCard through which you can receive money from more than 900 companies online. It is easy to use and fairly popular amongst freelancers in Pakistan. You can use Payoneer Card or Direct Bank Transfer Service to withdraw funds directly in your Bank Account in Pakistan. Signup for a Payoneer Account and get $25 for Free!

 

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2. Different Time Zones

Being a Pakistani freelancer can mean that you miss out on a large number of international clients, owing to the difference in time zones. Your Monday morning is late Sunday night in the U.S. and your Friday evening is their morning.

Solution: You need to figure out where the majority of clients pertaining to your niche are coming from. Then you can set your work schedule according to their day-time to pitch clients or discuss the project details on video or audio chat. This will ensure timely delivery of your project on their desired deadline.

 

3. Poor Communication Skills

Freelancers who are successfully finalizing big projects in their own country may fail to impress the global clients. The reason can either be their poor communication skills or grammatical/punctuation errors that are evident from their proposal or previous work. That is why several Freelancers in Pakistan find it hard to woo worldwide clients and fail to create their own unique identity.

Solution: Groom yourself by improving communication and language skills that are required to discuss a project. Also, don’t skim through a multitude of project descriptions. Thoroughly go through each client’s requirements prior to sending any response. You can also use free Grammar checking tools like Grammarly and it will check for any grammatical mistakes or typos as you type a Proposal/email.

 

4. Setting the Right Price

Freelancers in Pakistan have a hard time naming the price they truly deserve. Since Pakistan has still a long way to go before being amongst developed countries, international clients come to them for getting a job done which is actually fairly expensive in their own native country. Indian and Pakistani freelancers are taken granted for delivering tedious and time-consuming tasks as they are not billed per hour but paid according to a project.

Solution: Price yourself on your value, if not time. Prove your capabilities to a client by showing your previous work or testimonials from other clients. For this reason, keep an impressive portfolio always ready to display. If you under-rate yourself, you will only get cheaper rates for your work in the future.

 

5. No Global Freelance Marketplace in Pakistan

Local marketplaces build more trust and understand the needs of local residents better. Although there exist some freelancing websites in Pakistan that are local but they fail to get too many projects from outside Pakistan, which is the main freelance income of Freelancers in Pakistan. Local freelancing websites in Pakistan provide good and reliable freelancer payment option in Pakistan but they fail to even compete with Global marketplaces in terms of Project volumes as well as the interface and services offered by them.

Solution: Truelancer.com is a great freelance website option for Pakistani freelancers as it caters to the needs of Indian and Pakistani Freelancers. Truelancer supports Direct Bank Transfers in any Bank Account in Pakistan through Payoneer Global Bank Transfer service and they also have a Hindi and English Phone/Chat/Email Support.

 

Final Thoughts

Specialization and certifications are necessary to label you as a potential Freelancer, if you don’t have enough experience to flaunt your services. Make some effort to scrutinize proposals that win clients and always adhere to a platform’s guidelines as you try to win freelance assignments.
For being a successful freelancer is Pakistan, sharpen your skills and communication as well as set the right price of your work to yield fruitful results for your efforts.

 

 

Are you a Freelancer from Pakistan looking for a safe and reliable Freelance Platform? Signup on Truelancer today.

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