Faysal Mridha Roni is one of the most successful freelancers in Bangladesh. In 2015 his journey started when he was just a first year student. From his uncle Jahidul Islam and by reading some magazines he found out that working online can make money. Ever since then, he has been curious about how it actually works, what are the qualifications to do this job and in which websites he can do it. Since 2016 after one year of hard work, he has not had to look back.

Faysal’s Work

Faysal mainly works as a virtual assistant, lead generation and product lister in Real Estate. 

Why Freelancing?

Like his father, Faysal was a very brilliant student from his early age. That’s why he always wanted to do something unique. His father’s dream was to educate him properly for improving the country and society. Now he can earn foreign exchange by freelancing in the country and provide employment opportunities to others. Faysal is usually a travel enthusiast, Since freelancing gives you the opportunity to work independently, you can work from anywhere anytime that is suitable for you. That’s why he started freelancing.

How Hard was the Journey?

The starting of Faysal’s journey in freelancing career was very difficult. He didn’t have a trainer. He didn’t know anything about how he can learn freelancing. As the only eldest son in his family, no one ever supported him in his decision to take up freelancing as his career. He had been doing tuition since 2013 and he used to cover his own expenses and internet bills with the money he would get from it. He used to live in the rural area,and internet availability was difficult in that region and he had to move to the urban area. His freelancing career was so challenging that he still swells up when he thinks of the old days. After working hard for a year, he has developed his own E-skills. In March 2015, he opened his own account in Odesk and three months later he got his first job offer. But the client did not leave any review of the work. Due to lack of skills he had to wait for almost a year to get the second project. He understood that working on international platforms is not easy, he needs to be skilled in everything related to work,and also communication, especially in English language.

Faysal’s Inspirations

Faysal was not inspired by anyone to come into the freelancing profession. At that time, YouTube, Google and various articles gave him the opportunity to gain knowledge. But behind every successful story there is an inspiration who encourages one to never give up. In this situation Faysal has two persons who encourage him a lot in his freelancing career. Those persons are his mother and his uncle. When he worked late at night his mother would sit next to him without sleeping. His uncle raised him from an early age and he is the reason Faisal can work in freelancing. Because it’s his uncle who has shaped Faisal’s education like his own.

Marketplaces Faysal Works in

He is currently working on upwork and fiber. He is also working with some clients directly outside of these two marketplaces. But in the future he has a desire to work in other marketplaces as well.

Other Work Experiences Outside of Freelancing

In his student life, Faisal used to earn his expenses through tuitions. After that In 2015, he got the opportunity to teach in a secondary school for three months. Besides these he doesn’t have any other work experience and he never even tried for a job. He always wanted to build himself up a little differently because his family was involved in politics. And now he has succeeded in that.

Keeping Current with the Changes in the Industry

Email management, phone, text, coordination with external and internal team members, PowerPoint, G-Switch, Google Voice- there is a lot of innovation that came into existence over time and some requires personal skill developments in the sector. That’s why Faysal learns these through work and constantly tries to keep himself updated with new technologies.

The lessons that freelancing has taught Faysal

Freelancing helped Faisal learn a lot of different situations and skills. Avoiding stagnation, bringing balance in life through work, developing own strengths and skills, method of changing the situation and working until the work isn’t finished- are some of the important aspects he learned from freelancing.

Faysal’s Suggestions to Keep the Client Happy

Faysal considers client management as one of the most important components in being a freelancer. He says, ‘You have to Keep in touch with clients regularly and ask them for a specific time when they are free to talk with you whether it is half an hour or 10 minutes.Talking in detail about the project, asking him directly if you don’t understand something about the work and delivery the work before or on time and also ask for feedback after finishing a project or work. Most clients will not object on this. Finally you have to give your best output in your project. Clients in the marketplaces won’t compromise in quality ever.

Tips for Newbies

Suggesting newbies Faysal says, ‘The first thing you need to do is set yourself up for freelancing. Secondly you have to do something different from others and you have to be fully skilled in your work area before appearing in the marketplaces. Besides, you can go ahead with the related sector which was your academic subject and you can check the different sectors in the marketplace to see if any work related to your academic subject is available there or what the demand is in the future. You have to remember that making money is not the only purpose of freelancing. We also represent our country’s assets in this sector in front of the world through our work. It is important for everyone to keep in mind, we should try our best not just to avoid creating a negative impression of our country but also the ways we can gain more positive results. Therefore, in order to represent Bangladesh along with income, one has to go ahead professionally with a complete skill-set.’

Goals for the Future

Faysal shares with us an incident from his life. He says, ‘When I was in class 10 my mother bought me a dress for winter which cost 2800 TK. Then my uncle scolded and asked  me why I deserved to wear such an expensive dress. Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about my real qualifications. Since then, my main target was to ensure that my parent’s and uncle’s identity did not make up mine, I have to create my own identity in the society.’ 

From then on, hi future plan has been to fulfill all his mother’s wishes and hobbies And set up an IT firm of his own where he can employ at least 50 people. Thus besides fulfilling his own dreams he wishes to help others to achieve their goals in life.