EARNING THROUGH THE INTERNET

As long as you have the penchant, some basic computing skills and free time, you can earn some serious money on the Internet from the comfort of your own home. Although it might take a while to understand the mechanism of the system, once you get the hang of it, some might say, that you will not even look for a regular job! A significant number of the Bangladeshi youths are now working both part time and full time in this informal sector. While some real potential for growth exists, in order to truly exploit it, we need to raise awareness and inform hundreds and thousands of jobless graduates about this alternative career path.

A growing number of established multinational companies (MNCs) from the First World countries such as the USA, Canada, UK, EU and Australia turn to outsourcing to minimize costs, increase efficiency and reduce risks. While these are the factors due to which the foreign MNCs are turning to outsourcing, a young population base, coupled with advancements in technology and good pay, are said to be the reasons due to which more and more Bangladeshis are taking the freelance route. The flexible working hour is an added advantage. Inadequate opportunity for quality jobs, especially for fresh graduates, are the other rationale for the increasing popularity of freelance work, since around two lakh new graduates enter the job market every year.  Researching and editing books, consultancy assignments, computer programming, web design, legal work, medical transcription, tax paper preparation, content development, mobile apps development, SEO (search engine optimisation), data entry, logo design or music video production—there isn’t any job anymore that is not outsourced. You do not have to be a nerd to be a freelancer; people from all sorts of backgrounds are now earning online, whether you are a writer, a finance consultant, or an engineer.  Currently, Bangladesh has around 5.5 lakh freelancers registered with different freelance marketplaces. Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk), the largest online working platform in the country, has nearly half a million registered users.

So now comes the question, what do you have to do if you want to actually make a living as freelancer?

All you need is a computer, a reliable internet connection and a skill that is in demand.

Freelancer.com, Upwork etc., are just some of the most popular online marketplaces where companies hire freelancers.

First, create a profile for free, in the above mentioned websites to get the attention of potential employers. Make sure that you include your key skills, your portfolio, job history and a photo. Companies, which feel that you are a good fit for the type of work they need to get done, invite you to submit proposals for jobs. Once you respond to their offer, you will likely be hired. When the client awards you the job, it will deposit the money in your account on the marketplace (Freelancer.com, Upwork.com). Then you accept the job. When the job is done, the client discharges the money. From there the money goes to your personal bank account, via Bangladesh Bank.

While I was researching for this piece, quite a few Bangladeshis stood out, who are now fairly well recognized in the freelancing community. One of them is Ali Asgar, known by his user name: lancerboy1206- he is a featured member of Freelancer.com.  Ali Asgar, a social media marketing expert, who started back in 2010, when the field was still in its infancy in the country, is ranked one of the top 100 freelancers in the world. His first job was Facebook advertising at Freelancer.com in 2010.  The ranking is based on earnings and performance. A specialist in Social Media Marketing, Graphic Design and Website design, he said in an interview for Freelancer.com, “From a single location, I am able to work with employers from different countries, which means I can work with multiple clients at a time, and a very diverse set of projects. I don’t need to work on a fixed schedule every day, and I work as per the workload I establish for myself for a day”, are the main advantages of earning online. However, he also agreed that working through the internet, still has a bit of stigma attached to it, as the mainstream society perceives that you are only working in such a sector, only because you are not able to get a “regular 9-5 office job”, which is not the case for everyone. “It’s difficult and challenging when people don’t respect what you do, or when people try to take advantage of you. Also, I get worried due to fake employers, unrealistic expectations from clients, and sometimes, I also do tend to think if this will give me job security in the long run”, Asgar quipped. There is no termination notice in this type of work and if you are not at the top of your game, all the time, new jobs might be hard to come by. Reputation plays a part in this market.

With the advent of online workplaces, historically established geographic boundaries have vanished. The global rise of low cost computing and internet communications is making freelancing more and more popular for the young adults entering the workforce. Thus, the term ‘free trade’ now has a whole new definition: global outsourcing is allowing economies to benefit from the efficiencies of such specialisation. A freelancer can now work for a Canadian or European company sitting in his remote village in Bangladesh. Although relatively new in freelancing, Bangladeshi workers have already made their mark in international markets.

Another success story, Mohammad Ashraf Hossain who was ranked the no one freelancer from Bangladesh in both oDesk and Elance (before they merged to form Upwork), opened a profile in oDesk in 2008. In 2010, he got his first job from a company from England for one hundred dollars. That was the start. Now for 35 hours’ work a week, he makes between Tk one lakh and four lakh every month. He works in Microsoft SharePoint—a content management system for managing documents of an office.

Every month, thousands of Bangladeshis are accessing freelancing websites and discovering work that see them earning way more than they would in regular jobs. Matt Cooper, then Vice President of oDesk who visited Bangladesh in 2012 commented in an article, “Bangladesh has a fascinating story on oDesk. In 2009, Bangladesh accounted for only two percent of the total hours worked on oDesk. Today, it accounts for 10 percent, making Bangladesh the number three country for freelancers, behind only the Philippines and India.” Such accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), in order to  further promote freelancing all over the country, are presenting awards annually, to 64 freelancers from 64 districts for their outstanding performances in various categories, in web design, logo design, search engine optimisation etc.

The government through the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is also training people on freelancing skills such as SEO, animation, graphics, video editing etc., which is completely free. Also through the ministry’s initiative, oDesk was convinced to send the freelancers’ pay directly to their local bank accounts. Moreover, freelancers very much appreciate the fact that the government has made their earnings tax exempt, treating it like foreign remittance.

However, this is just a start. There are a lot of people who are highly skilled and eager to join the freelancing trade but do not have the money to buy a computer. The government and NGOs needs to come up with further initiatives that are much bigger in terms of scope and coverage, than simply training a few thousand workers per year. For example, they can give them small loans for purchasing computers and internet services, which might ultimately go a long way in fulfilling their potentials.

Freelancing comes with a lot of perks. There is no nagging boss or peer pressure. You decide which assignments to accept. You decide when and where to work. Most importantly, you get rewarded according to your performance. A personal friend, Turzo Sarfaraz, was making decent money freelancing when he was a student of electrical engineering at North South University. Once done with his graduation, he decided to pursue it full time. He started with data entry and has now moved on to content development—the process of writing and editing information for publication on web pages. Once he finishes a project, oDesk awards him a star. The more stars someone accumulates to his or her credit, the easier it becomes to secure future jobs.

Some freelancers from Bangladesh are willing to do a job for a lot less money than their counterparts in other countries. Sometimes they offer to do the project without negotiating the pay, desperately hoping it will help them get more jobs. But what happens is, some clients may take advantage of the situation and not pay them at all. “Do not accept a project until the client has deposited the money in the website,” warns Sarfaraz.

Freelancing has the capability to do for Bangladesh what it has already done for the Philippines— lifting it from crippling poverty to become the second fastest growing economy in Asia after China. The challenge however, for the Bangladeshi freelancers is that while entry level workers are widely available, people at the level of middle management is still inadequate. In order for the Bangladeshi workers to climb the management ladder, they need to be trained further in cross cultural communication, starting with improving their verbal and written English language skills. If these issues are addressed, we can leap farther in a competitive market. Other than that, any freelancer you talk to, will tell you that the slow and disruptive speed of internet connections is the single biggest problem they face.  If the government can provide a faster internet service at a lower price, it would make work a lot more straightforward for the talented and hardworking freelancers of the country. Hence, if these issues are properly dealt with and solved within the next couple of years, Bangladesh has the true potential of becoming a market leader in the outsourcing and freelancing industry.