Philippine senator Aquino wants to help freelancers – here’s how you can help yourself

During a recent senate hearing of the Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship, Senator Bam Aquino expressed support for the online freelancing industry in the Philippines.

Specifically, Aquino wants to work with the appropriate government departments to improve internet speed and access, relax registration procedures with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and provide incentives for more Filipinos to consider online freelancing.

Ron Cirujano, the country manager of Elance-oDesk, attended the hearing to speak on the opportunity that online freelancing represents for individual Filipinos as well as the country as a whole. According to Cirujano, Filipino freelancers have earned over 9 billion PhP (US$ 206 million) over the last four years.

Elance-oDesk competitor, Freelancer.com, is doing well also, as we can glean from its top earner in the Philippines, who earned 20 million PhP (US$458,000) writing from her home in Metro Manila. That figure may not sound much, but in the Philippine context, it’s huge. The daily minimum wage here in the National Capital Region is 466 PhP (US$10.68).

How to achieve a rewarding career as a freelancer

As Aquino spearheads the campaign to make online freelancing an even more robust industry in the Philippines, freelancers do not have to sit idly by. Filipinos keen on taking up online freelancing – or improving their current careers – can heed the following advice provided by Freelancer.com regional director for Southeast Asia Evan Tan (pictured below).

While his advice is specific to the Freelancer.com platform, much of it is also applicable to online freelancing in general.

See: Freelancer teams up with Malaysian government to get low-income groups into work

1. Become searchable on Google

While Freelancer.com, like competitors Elance and oDesk, are complete freelancing ecosystems – employers can find, hire, and pay freelancers entirely through these sites – hiring companies are still bound to look you up on Google.

Tan recommends that freelancers actively create a positive Google footprint. To do so, he suggests picking up pro bono work with reputable companies to get their name out there. “A lot of freelancers would frown upon doing free work, but working on projects like writing guest posts or doing graphic design work for popular websites help a lot,” Tan says, adding that freelancers should ask these employers to then provide testimonials on their personal LinkedIn account.

2. Realize that the portfolio section is for everyone

Freelancer.com provides its users with an opportunity to upload a portfolio. According to Tan, many Filipinos misconstrue this section as a place only for graphic and web designers. “But a visual representation of past projects may be a good way for anyone to give a quick rundown of what you’ve accomplished to date,” Tan says. “It gives confidence to potential employers of your capabilities to do the tasks they need done.”

To do so, freelancers may need to get creative. If you’re a freelancer marketer, for example, you may want to provide a graph illustrating how one of your particular campaigns increased sales of a product.