The idea of finally giving up an 8-5 job, strictly working based on your terms and making a decent income right from the comfort of your home is an opportunity anybody would want to grasp.

In recent times, there has been a massive rise in freelance careers. It is on record that well over 55 million Americans have freelance careers with a combined total estimated earnings of $1 trillion yearly. With this figure, there is no doubt that freelancing is truly the hope for the future.
This is what freelancing does for you; it gives you the flexibility to choose when, where and how you want to work with a promise of a standard pay. Throughout the past 15 years of working an 8 – 5, I struggled with finding a balance between my job and my family. The responsibilities of raising kids, working an 8 – 5 and still putting the house in order got pretty intense; I had to quit my job to start freelancing. Before you take such a risk of quitting your job, you have to understand what being a freelancer means.

Being a freelancer means that you have to have the skills and expertise required to build your clientele over time, it means that there has to be consistency in your area of expertise for the sole purpose of building a good image that would leave a positive impact in your niche. This would establish your reputation as a freelancer with accountability. This was an easy feat for me; being a freelancer with accountability as I had amassed ample experience from working with different types of companies, with different backgrounds and different politics.
Freelancing comes with its challenges; it takes a while to build a clientele, projects trickle in slowly, the pay might not seem worth it at the beginning and projects are not as challenging as they should. You might decide to employ the aid of freelancing platforms, but these platforms are not consistent in job updates. This inconsistency, lead to my search for a freelancing platform that would bridge this gap. Luckily, I stumbled on Toptal.com, and my perspective on freelancing changed totally.

Toptal is more than just a freelancing platform. It is one of the biggest fully distributed companies in the world with a network of thousands of top software engineers and designers. Being an experienced web/graphic/visual design expert, I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of this amazing team where only the best freelancers are selected; only 3% applicants get in.

• Toptal offers you well-paying, real challenging long-term projects.
• It presents to you an opportunity to run your personal life effectively while making money on the go.
• Toptal offers you hope for a hassle-free future.

I have begun my interview process, and I think you should too. For me, Toptal is a great platform that provides the flexibility to work on projects I love with a team I admire, run my family effectively and travel the world; a befitting dream.