Freelancing for lawyers: vacancies and remote work options. Freelancing for lawyers: prospects for remote work Legal freelance exchange

Earning money from freelancing without intermediaries is different from earning money through exchanges. What mistakes should beginner freelancers avoid to make money?

Be a freelancer without bosses

Freelancing- this is remote work for everyone on the Internet. If you break down the English word “freelance” into its components, you can translate it as (free worker).

Why is it called that? Because a freelancer is not “tied” to one specific employer. He can work with anyone. He chooses himself.

Even a minor teenager who dreams of a motorcycle, for example, can be a freelancer. His age is not a hindrance here. He may well write articles for websites or print publications and receive much more money than for working for local utility workers (as a janitor).

Remote work is gaining more and more popularity. The benefits are obvious. For example: you have a good, highly paid job, but there is one drawback - a lot of free time. You also have a talent for expressing your thoughts in writing in a way that everyone can understand.

Shouldn't we bury our talent in the ground? We must take advantage of all the available benefits of the modern world! So, for people like you, there are various Internet services that provide the opportunity to earn extra money.

Freelancer is a person who earns money remotely using the Internet. These include designers, web programmers, copywriters, etc. and so on. In general, all those whose work does not require personal presence at the workplace.

Do you know how to design good website designs? Please! Do it for beginners who are willing to pay for it. Are you fluent in English? Translate texts for money! Are you programming small programs? Sign a contract with software giants and work for your profit!

Websites for making money as a freelancer

Search for freelance agencies in search engines. Register. Start working. The rules are somewhat similar to an auction. In the world of freelancing, there are customers (those who need any service) and freelancers (in our case, you). The customer places his order. Freelancers begin offering their services with a price and completion time.

The customer evaluates the proposals and portfolio of performers. Chooses the best. After completion, the order is handed over to the customer and money is received.

Don't be afraid. There are a lot of spheres. And you will find the one in which you understand better than others!

The ranks of freelancers are confidently replenished with new members and their number is growing every day. Of course, such work and such a lifestyle as a freelance artist has a lot of advantages, and anyone who wants to join their ranks should know what needs to be done to become a freelancer.

1. A beginning freelancer must have a computer with fast Internet. In the modern world, a computer has long ceased to be a luxury item and has become more of a necessity. The computer power required is such that it would allow solving exactly the tasks that a novice worker will solve. If it’s just writing texts, then a simple office machine is enough, but in the case of carrying out design projects with visualization, then you can’t do without a powerful computer with a powerful video card. Naturally, there should be several ways to communicate with clients and employers: email, Skype, mobile phone - this is the minimum number. It is also necessary to create wallets in the Webmoney or Yandex.Money system, to which payment for services performed will be transferred.

2. The choice of the type of service that a freelancer will provide is very important. Firstly, this service must be relevant and there must be demand for it, and secondly, you need to choose a job that you like and what your heart is drawn to.

If you lack education, then you shouldn’t worry too much about it. The necessary skills will be acquired in the process of work. You can complete the training yourself, using the Internet, and when the freelancer is already strong and established, you can take professional courses.

Most companies now use distance learning - through webinars, when they have the opportunity to listen to the required course of lectures virtually live, receive and do homework, and even defend their thesis remotely. But the certificate of completion of the courses is quite real.

3. A beginning freelancer will initially have to work for little money, because only a low price can attract an employer who will be willing to pay an unfamiliar worker. Further, when a certain number of orders are completed conscientiously and with high quality, the freelancer will form a portfolio that speaks volumes about his qualifications. Accordingly, the price for work will also increase with increasing qualifications.

There are a lot of freelance exchanges on the Internet, where they keep track of completed orders and automatically create a portfolio. Therefore, it is advisable to choose a good exchange for yourself, and not be in a constant “throwing” from one to another, since the necessary qualifications in each new place must be proven starting from scratch.

4. Finding your first orders is one of the most difficult first steps on this path. And a beginning “freelance artist” should not hesitate to fulfill his first orders at a low price, or even for free. The main thing is to establish yourself as a conscientious and competent worker. In the future, the employer himself can give personal orders, for which he will be willing to pay good money. But this is only the case when he does not doubt the qualifications of a freelancer who has repeatedly performed work with high quality.

Some exchanges have a service for purchasing a PRO account, which allows you to rise in the ranking of performers and then there will be a greater chance that the customer will pay attention to the employee.

A beginning freelancer should definitely visit professional forums, which are available both on exchanges and separately from them. And not only visit, but actively participate in life - ask questions or share your experience. Employers also attend similar forums, so such a step can significantly increase an employee’s rating, which will further affect the increase in the number of clients and the cost of work.

5. According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, any income is subject to tax. Therefore, if a freelancer is going to work seriously, with large clients, then it is worth registering as an individual entrepreneur. This step has several advantages.

Firstly, the employee will have normal relations with the tax office.

From time to time, new terms of foreign origin appear in our vocabulary. So, among them, in this case, we will consider what is meant by the word “freelancer” and how this “shines” for a lawyer. Translated from English, “freelancer” is a free spearman and, as some of the modern free spearmen claim, this term was first used by Walter Scott, who called a hired knight a freelancer in the novel “Ivanhoe.”

Knights are a thing of the past, and with the development of the Internet and other means of communication, freelancing has flourished and now anyone can try themselves in the role of a civilian knight. In the modern meaning of the word “freelancer” is a person who is not on the staff of a company and is hired for certain tasks without concluding an employment contract (but with concluding an agreement to perform certain work). Despite the fact that freelancing is interpreted as remote work, it should not be confused with employees working outside the office.

Habitat

It is worth recognizing that among the free knights in the vastness of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority are people of creative professions, whose work is connected or can be transmitted without any damage via the Internet: journalists, translators, proofreaders, programmers, designers. But if you look closely, you can find accountants and lawyers among freelancers. Thus, law firms admit that they do not use the labor of freelancers, although if you think about who created the website or helps with accounting, or with voluminous translations of texts, it turns out that some of them, without knowing it, used the labor of freelancers.

Let us note that in Ukraine there is an online resource for freelance lawyers (still in a state of testing), a similar one operates in the Russian Federation. The site is a service for finding jobs, employees and performers. The scheme repeats the scheme of any website for freelancers: customers publish a project, and the performers must show that they are the ones who are able to complete the task in the best possible way. The selection of a contractor on most freelance sites occurs as a result of a tender, but the person who offers the lowest price does not necessarily receive the order. The reputation of the performer and his specialization, as well as the deadline for execution, play a big role. Still, it is worth recognizing that specialized remote work exchanges for lawyers are rare, so freelance lawyers look for orders on their own. In principle, all lawyers who work freely, without creating a law firm or attracting partners, can safely be counted among the ranks of freelancers.

Based on conversations with freelance lawyers, the optimal ratio is a permanent job that provides a stable income and the ability to devote time to your clients. It is worth noting the work of lawyers such as paid online consultation via the Internet. In this case, the remote work exchange is the resource through which consulting takes place.

Advantages and disadvantages

It is worth determining the pros and cons of freelancing, taking into account the specifics of the legal profession. The advantages of freelancing are as follows. A free work schedule, which consists of the ability to work during the greatest biological activity (night owls and early risers take note), may have some restrictions for a lawyer (for example, if, according to an agreement, he needs to provide documents to some government agency or the customer’s counterparties). In this vein, another advantage of freelancers is that the ability to effectively use their own time (not spend 2 hours traveling to work) is also made dependent on government agencies or contractors. A freelancer is not tied to the customer’s place of work; the customer can be located anywhere on the planet. But freelance programmers or designers can boast of regular foreign customers; little has been heard of orders from abroad for lawyers, although they are not excluded. Another advantage of freelancing is the independent choice of orders, and despite the fact that the freelancer chooses the clients himself, one should not forget about the possible conflict of interests of the clients.

The disadvantages of freelancing are mainly that most of the work that is distributed among the employees of a law firm falls entirely on the shoulders of one person. This includes finding clients (for beginning freelancers this can be the most difficult), accounting, advertising your own services, and other responsibilities. One of the main disadvantages of freelancing is the inability to plan your income. The downside of a flexible schedule is long working hours, although lawyers who have gone through the school of large law firms are not afraid of this. The lack of communication with colleagues can be solved by participating in conferences, legal public organizations, or through professional forums on the Internet. For ambitious lawyers, there is also a possible negative aspect of freelancing - the inability to make a career in the traditional sense. Let us note that the freelance environment is not faceless: there are stars, there are middlings and there are beginners; in addition, a freelance lawyer always has the chance to engage in private practice by organizing a law firm. But will a lawyer who is accustomed to working alone take responsibility for others?

Salary

The problem with freelancers is the dishonesty of customers who, say, do not always pay for the work performed. Lawyers who do not have a contract for the provision of services try not to work. Freelancers who do not have the opportunity or desire to meet with customers in person solve the issue of the form of remuneration in different ways. The methods of receiving honest wages are different, ranging from the use of card accounts and current accounts, checks, to electronic money and electronic payment systems. The seriousness of the customer’s intentions can be confirmed by an advance payment or, if the order is received through a remote work exchange, by the exchange itself (of course, a commission is provided).

A freelance lawyer should not forget about legalizing his activities. Whether the reason is an active citizenship or concern for a well-fed old age, the vast majority of lawyers are registered as business entities. If the systematic nature of such activities is confirmed, in the future you can count on the possibility of counting this period of work into legal experience, which may be useful in becoming a judge or lawyer (if you get tired of freelancing).

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Lawyer is a freelancer. Servicing companies based on contracts. Is it possible to?

About myself: graduated from Krasnoyarsk State University in 2002. Lawyer. I studied by correspondence, because I had to have money, and all this physical education and so on was already something like that. In general, it does not directly affect the profession. I went into the civilian field because the field is broader and more interesting. Since 2000, he has worked in municipal and regional authorities. Real estate issues, land, construction. He worked in a construction company. Then all the lawyers there were laid off and the company collapsed.

I have been working in the regional service for the last five years. I think I've stayed at my job about two years longer than I should have. But I can’t go anywhere with my wife and child not working. Now my wife has gone to work, the child is in kindergarten, and I began to carefully test the waters about jumping off. The salary is now 26 thousand in hand. Salaries have not changed for three years. During this time, utility bills increased by 30%. Now the rent with utilities is 5 thousand. We spend 15 thousand (+ - 2 thousand) on food per month. The rest is for all sorts of little things like cellular communications, bus tickets, toys for the child, small clothes. Tired. And I already feel like I’m getting dumber. There is no development.

Then I assessed myself harshly and realized that although I don’t know everything, I know almost everything and can learn everything quickly. I can quickly get to grips with the situation. Understanding of legislation at the proper level.

Someone might say that I’m crazy and that only a fool would run away from 26,000 rubles with a full social package, a hefty vacation and generally other joys of civil service. But. this is already unbearable. Actually a monkey's work. Your creativity is not required here, your ingenuity is not needed. You can go up the stairs only by bending deeply. Yes, actually, there is not much difference higher up the stairs.

I started to think about the following. Is it possible (and are there, are there) options for work when you enter into an agreement for legal services, support, of a company (small, of course) for a fixed fee per month and when necessary you do what is needed for the company, and when not needed, Are you minding someone else’s business or even your own business? I'm incredibly tired of being tied to a chair. At 34 years old, this is just so exhausting for some reason.

I’m just so mentally tired now of the meaninglessness of my work. I want something like freelancing. Who can suggest or advise?

Freelance lawyer - work for beginners and more

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How can an artist make money on the Internet? The most complete guide

How many people are making money on the Internet now! And they make good money at the same time! And why? The Internet is an ideal platform for running a business and for personal growth. Here it’s easy to find the right vacancy, easy to find clients, easy to negotiate with them and start earning money. Remote work provides enough advantages that many specialists come to work on the Internet.

This progress has not spared such a profession as a lawyer. Freelancing for lawyers is now actively developing and can provide an employee with excellent growth prospects.

What does a freelance lawyer do?

The Internet is a very good platform for a lawyer to earn extra money and improve their skills. In this direction you can find several different vacancies:

legal assistant (secretary)
legal consultant
editor of a web service with legal direction

Depending on the chosen vacancy, the responsibilities of the lawyer change accordingly. In general, several can be distinguished:

Drawing up legal documents such as police statements, employment contracts, statements of claim and others.
Writing articles on legal topics. Beginning freelancers should pay attention to this.
Analysis of court decisions.
Studying legislative changes and preparing documents. This rather refers to the specialization of a legal assistant.

A freelance lawyer can pursue the following goals:

Income.
That is, freelancing is either a part-time job, especially for beginners who are still finding it difficult to find a job, or a main specialization. In the second case, a fairly good income will still need to be achieved through long, hard work.
Attracting clients.
As already mentioned, the Internet is an excellent platform for finding potential clients, so you cannot ignore it. This will be useful for both novice lawyers and experienced ones. Everyone needs clients!
Self improvement.
Remote work will allow a lawyer to express himself from different sides, find his strengths and weaknesses, communicate with colleagues, and gain experience. A good foundation for self-development.

Necessary skills for a freelance lawyer

Of course, like any job, the specialty of a freelance lawyer requires the employee to have certain knowledge and skills:

It is necessary to have a diploma of completion of a higher educational institution and obtaining a legal education.
Often clients are looking for a specialist with experience, so if you have at least a little work experience, it will definitely be useful to you.
You need to be able to work with a computer, because this is where all the activities of a freelance lawyer are concentrated. In particular, you will have to work with office programs.
Negotiation skills are very important.
A lawyer must know the laws and also be able to inform the client about a particular situation, avoiding complex legal terms (that is, in simple language).
To promote your work on the Internet, you need to build the right advertising to attract more clients.

Personal qualities of a specialist

responsibility;
hard work;
organization;
perseverance;
literacy;
decency;
resistance to stressful situations;
the ability to express one’s opinion;
attentiveness;
desire to develop;
completing work on time;

Where can a lawyer find freelance work?

There are several ways to find remote legal work. The first is freelance exchanges. There are concentrated vacancies only for remote work. You come in, register, use filters to choose the vacancy you like and leave an application. You also need to write the application correctly. Dry text “Hello. Ready to start work” is unlikely to interest the customer. Describe your skills, personal qualities, desires. This will attract attention. Freelance exchanges for lawyers can be found by simply typing the word “freelancing” into a search engine, but here are the most popular ones:

The second way is directly through sites with job advertisements. There is no division between remote and non-remote work, so be careful. Here are also some examples of sites:

The third method is highly specialized sites:

These are excellent projects with the help of which lawyers can earn money remotely, improve themselves, and gain the necessary knowledge and experience.

The fourth way is to create your own website and promote it. Of course, this is far from necessary, especially for beginning freelancers, but when you have already gained some experience, your own website will help attract more clients and diversify the activities of a freelance lawyer.

On your web resource you will have to display your skills, work experience, types of activities you perform, a portfolio of successful works - everything that will attract potential clients. On his own website, a lawyer no longer works with such competition as on general projects, he declares himself as an individual, which contributes to career growth.

Pros and cons of being a freelance lawyer

Let's start with the advantages of this profession:

It is suitable for students who need practice, experienced lawyers who want to change their place of work, and retirees who want to continue working in this specialty.
The work is remote, which means that you have the opportunity to independently plan your time and work wherever you have the Internet at hand.
In freelancing, a person works for himself.
Here a lawyer can prove himself in many ways and gain the necessary experience.
It is possible to combine your main job with online activities in order to increase income and gain practice.
Comfortable conditions, because you work not in a gray office, but at home.
This work is in demand, and there are always many unfilled vacancies.
It also attracts good income, which is directly proportional to the quantity and quality of the work done.
It is possible to work with several customers simultaneously.

There are also some disadvantages:

It will be difficult for a disorganized person to work remotely. After all, no one manages the process, no one pushes it, he distributes his time himself. Don't think that working remotely requires less effort.
The lack of teamwork and communication is one of the most pressing disadvantages.
Remote work will not provide you with the stability that comes with working in an office. Especially at the initial stage, when a person is just adapting to work, looking for good options, trying, making mistakes and trying again. Don't expect stable income.
You will have to look for orders yourself; no one will bring them on a saucer. But on the other hand, this can be considered an advantage, because you can find a job that you like.
You need to be careful with scammers, because they also exist. Most often these are small customers who do not care about their reputation.

Despite all the disadvantages listed above, working as a freelance lawyer will only develop.

Freelance lawyer salary

If you make money as a freelancer, you will encounter the following prices:

300 rub. for a one-word answer on the topic
600 rub. for a deeper dive into the topic
1,300 rub. for a full consultation
Maximum - 3,000 rub.

According to statistics, experienced freelance lawyers charge about $30 per hour for their work. This is a fairly high figure among other specialists working on the Internet.

Growth prospects

Of course, it is difficult to reach the position of director while working remotely. Such people manage the process in the office; they must see their employees, their actions, give advice, and point out any shortcomings. That is why you will not find director vacancies on freelance exchanges.

But it is quite possible to increase your income by working remotely. The main thing to remember are some rules for working as a freelance lawyer:

It is important to interest the client. Describe your services in such a way that he has no doubts about your competence and desire to work.
The client must trust you. How to achieve this? Competent speech, a friendly attitude towards the client, the ability to negotiate, pay attention to your strengths, positive feedback about you.
It is necessary to give competent answers to questions. Even if the consultation is free, you should not treat it irresponsibly, because positive reviews greatly influence the influx of clients.
You must have your own personal portfolio. This will help the client learn more about you.
Don’t stop developing, try yourself in different areas, practice, gain experience.

In conclusion, I would like to say that, despite some disadvantages of remote work as a lawyer, it is still in demand and continues to develop along with the Internet. This profession trains a person’s strongest qualities, improves his communication with other people, and gives him the opportunity to develop in the field of legal advice.

You will find all the conditions for long-term development and good income. All that is needed for this is your efforts and desire to grow. Good luck!

Features of working as a freelance lawyer

If you have a legal education and experience in the field, you can find freelance legal work online. Competition in this area is quite strong. You have to convince your future employer that you will cost him cheaper than a permanent salaried lawyer.

A freelance lawyer, or remote lawyer, most often drafts legal documents:
— statements of claim in courts of general jurisdiction, arbitration and arbitration courts;
- appeals, cassation complaints:
— complaints to the European Court of Human Rights;
- complaints to the prosecutor's office, statements to the police, as well as complaints to any government bodies about the actions of lower institutions;
— drawing up civil contracts;
— employment contracts;
- claims, letters;
— drawing up the charter, minutes of the joint-stock company, etc.
All of the above documents are sent and received by email. Therefore, in fact, remote work as a lawyer is possible.

A freelance lawyer can also provide general support for a firm’s affairs. He may be contacted for advice on tax matters or contract compliance. Most often, small firms resort to the services of a freelance lawyer.. Having just opened, they often do not have enough funds to pay for the expensive services of a permanent lawyer.

A freelance lawyer must have a portfolio, diploma. It is necessary to stipulate the terms of the contract and the scope of upcoming work. And, of course, questions regarding payment.

Please note that a freelance lawyer works via the Internet. He does not have the opportunity to personally go to the site and talk with people. Therefore, most often, he is involved in the preparation of documentation and paperwork. Often, remote lawyers work with several clients at the same time.

You can be a practicing lawyer and earn extra income online as a freelance lawyer. You can find such vacancies on freelance exchanges.

Advice for employers.
If you want to seek help from a freelance lawyer, make sure that you are dealing with a competent person. He must provide a portfolio with reviews of previous customers and a law degree. You must be clear about what specific issue you want to get help on. A freelance lawyer is unlikely to travel to another city. In addition, immediately discuss questions regarding payment for his services.

Freelancing for lawyers: vacancies and remote work options

Every day, thousands of entrepreneurs and individuals need a lawyer remotely and they are willing to pay for it. Why not a way to make money?

Freelancing for lawyers is a great way for specialists in this field to advise clients from home via the Internet and at the same time earn a decent income. This type of activity is called freelancing. Over the past few years, it has become very widespread and popular among both beginners and experienced lawyers.

Part-time work for a lawyer at home: 3 earning schemes

Working remotely as a lawyer from home is possible using 3 schemes:

1. remote work using the interface for narrow-profile projects;
2. attracting customers through your own website;
3. selection of desired orders on freelance exchanges.
All of them involve working remotely. To do this, you only need a computer and the Internet.

Part-time work as a lawyer remotely: vacancies and projects for remote work

If you need part-time work for lawyers remotely on the Internet, then you should consider several specialized platforms:

Legal– the most popular service where lawyers have the opportunity to earn money without leaving home. If you need remote work as a lawyer, you can find vacancies from direct employers using this service in a couple of minutes.
9111.ru- a large project with impressive traffic, where you can earn money through consultations or find a specific vacancy in your city. For more detailed information, it is advisable to visit the “about the project” page, which displays all the nuances related to working on this platform. If you need part-time work for a lawyer in Moscow or any other city, then this service is perfect for you.
Pravovoz.com- on this site you can find a lawyer to solve any problem - from consultation to preparation of a set of documents. Payment for services provided is guaranteed by the “Safe Transaction” service.
Personal site. Working as a freelance lawyer requires the ability to position yourself competently. The best way to cope with this task is to have your own business card website, where you can post detailed information about yourself, your education, specialization, experience, reviews and client cases. Of course, you can earn income thanks to the web services mentioned earlier, but a personal website provides a number of advantages:
- the reputation of a specialist increases, he is taken more seriously;
- attracts new clients;
- easier to work with visitors.
And this is not all the advantages. Also, if you have your own website, you are freed from competition. People will only see your services and reviews from grateful clients, and not choose from a list of hundreds of lawyers, where you will be one of many.

Freelance lawyer: vacancies and features of the work of a freelance specialist

If you have a legal education and experience in this field, you can find a job as a lawyer online, but with some difficulty, since competition in the market is quite high. You will need to provide a number of convincing facts to the future employer that you will cost him less and will do the job just as well as an in-house lawyer. If you know one or more foreign languages, you can provide consultations to foreign citizens, which takes you to a new level and is paid much higher.

Most often, small companies that have recently opened and do not yet have sufficient funds to pay for a full-time lawyer resort to freelancing services. But sometimes there are large companies whose employees are too busy with work, or there have been a number of layoffs, which has led to an increase in the workload of the company's lawyers.

What are the responsibilities of a freelance lawyer?

The Internet is the best place to work as a lawyer, gain experience, skills and a client base. The most common vacancies are:

legal assistant;
legal consultant;
editor of a legal web service.

Depending on the position, the job responsibilities of a lawyer also change. He can do:

general support of company affairs;
advise on tax issues or compliance with contract terms;
draw up legal documents, for example, an employment contract, a statement of claim, etc.;
conducting court cases, analyzing their decisions;

Writing legal articles is also popular among beginners.

Where to look for lawyer jobs remotely from home with a flexible schedule: the best freelance exchanges

For those who urgently need part-time work as a lawyer remotely, vacancies and projects posted on freelance exchanges will help you quickly find direct customers.

When registering on the stock exchange, the main thing is to create a decent and complete portfolio, because future customers will judge you by it. There are several freelancing projects for lawyers, there are many different vacancies and one-time orders, but it can be difficult for beginners to find work due to the large number of experienced lawyers, for example:

Weblancer
freelansim.ru
freelancejob.ru
freelance.ru

(5 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

Freelancers - who they are and what they do, what freelancing is and what options for remote work on the Internet exist

Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. In articles about the current methods of making money online and about online business, I mentioned freelancing, but did not go into the details of this phenomenon, which is gaining popularity every day. Today I want to correct this shortcoming and talk about pros and cons of life as an online freelancer, and not only on the Internet.

We will try to understand what freelancing is and why hiring remote workers can be a process that benefits both parties in this business relationship (both the employee and the employer).

This phenomenon also has disadvantages (according to Robert Kiyosaki), but thanks to many advantages, the number of adherents of this way of existence in our complex world is constantly increasing. There will be instructions on how to work remotely on the Internet for beginners and a list of resources necessary for finding a customer. What if the freelancer in you also awakens and this will dramatically change your life? A? Why not?!

Who are freelancers and what do they do?

In RuNet a freelancer is a private individual(although this could also be an individual entrepreneur) who undertakes to complete some amount of work (task). By and large, this may not be remote work (for example, a builder doing renovations in an apartment, or an office worker hired for the duration of the task), but most often the employer and the contractor find each other and maintain relationships via the Internet (online).

Actually, it was with the emergence and growing popularity of the Internet (what is it?) that this type of work activity gained such popularity. In the general sense of the word, freelancing should be understood performance of work by an independent contractor(freelance employee).

To some extent, the concept of freelancer also includes an individual entrepreneur (Individual Entrepreneur), but these definitions are not identical. A freelancer is, as a rule, one person hired to carry out certain projects, and an individual entrepreneur may himself have a staff of workers for whom he will be the manager (employer).

The main advantage of remote work for freelancers is the absence of bosses, alarm clocks and Mondays. However, when viewed from a different angle, each of the described advantages can also be considered a disadvantage. But first things first.

Let's first see which specialties are the most in demand and they most often offer their services in the remote work market(let’s now consider only online freelancing as fundamental).

What do online freelancers do?

Text processing specialists- SEO and regular copywriters (create texts), rewriters (process other people’s texts), content managers (respond to the strategy for filling the site with content), editors and proofreaders (check and correct style, spelling and punctuation), as well as various translators (of technical texts , artistic, entire websites, etc.). In addition to masterful penmanship and knowledge of languages, such specialists are often required to have knowledge of psychology, marketing, and analytics. The apotheosis of text freelancing can be considered writers who strive to write masterpieces for various publications for a percentage of their sales.
Programmers and administrators- write programs and scripts, solve assigned tasks for administering websites, web servers, applications, etc. This also includes testers of various software products - games, programs, mobile applications, online services, website usability, etc. Among such specialists, the “gentlemanly set” is knowledge of the structure of various website engines (CMS), programming languages (JavaScript, PHP, Perl, etc.), the ability to work with databases, and also masterful command of markup languages - Html and CCS.
Designers- freelancing in this area can be carried out by: interior (landscape) designers, graphic designers (drawing banners, buttons, calendars, etc.), web designers (combining the inclinations of a programmer and an esthete), game designers and other variations of freelancers of this kind. They are united by a heightened “sense of beauty” and the ability to work with various graphic programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDraw, 3D Max, 4Studio, MAX, Maya), as well as basic knowledge in many related freelance specialties (for example, a web designer must be able to layout , master the basics of web programming, etc.)
Website promotion specialists- these are SEO specialists (link builders), optimizers (user designers), layout designers, specialists in attracting visitors to the site using various types of advertising (banner, contextual, teaser, etc.), promotion specialists in social networks, crowd marketers and web analytics. The knowledge of freelancers in this area should be extensive and, most importantly, “in the heat of the moment,” because everything in promotion is constantly changing (search engines are introducing new algorithms and filters that change even basic approaches to promotion - such as the recent Minusinsk from Yandex).
Moneymakers- freelancers who do not want to “work for someone else”, but are looking for independent ways to earn money. As a rule, they do not unite, but work alone. With a stretch, I (and other bloggers) can also be called a moneymaker, which means a Freelanser. To earn money, you can use your own projects (including doorways) or traffic arbitrage (purchase of it in context systems, teasers, etc., with subsequent transfer to an affiliate program or something similar). Knowledge for this kind of activity requires a very versatile one, because a money maker must be a webmaster, a layout designer, an analyst, a marketer, a strategist, etc.
Coaches (trainers)- a type of freelancers who are specialists (or consider themselves such) in any field and offer their training services. Most often, this takes place in an online format (in the form of a webinar, correspondence or chat), both individually and as part of a group. You can learn anything this way (my son, for example, hired a Freelancer as a fitness trainer, which cost him much less than a real trainer). To some extent, information business (creation and sale of training courses) can also be classified as this type of freelancing. In this case, in addition to knowledge in a certain field, a freelancer is also required to be able to clearly convey this knowledge to students. If you decide to do this, I advise you to pay attention to the system JustClick, which includes a full set of tools (affiliate program, store, email newsletter service, etc.).

Options for remote work not connected to the Internet

In addition, there are quite many areas of freelancing, which are not directly connected to the Internet, and their work cannot always be classified as remote (online):

Engineers, architects and other qualified specialists who do not have a permanent job are ready to carry out contracts for companies or individuals (for example, create a project for a future home, design electrical, heating, etc.). Services of this kind can be offered again via the Internet, or through newspaper advertisements, or through recommendations from those clients for whom the freelancer has already performed this work.
Freelancers also include builders who carry out renovations in apartments or other premises, electricians, plumbers and people in other professions who do not have a permanent employer, but search for them on their own.
Free-floating photographers and videographers. Their main "feeders" are weddings, anniversaries and other events about which clients want to leave documented memories. The search for clients for freelancing can again be carried out in all available ways (the Internet, your website, newspapers, contextual advertising, recommendations, etc.)
Among journalists (writting or filming), there is also a very large proportion of freelancers (for example, Graham Phillips), when the created material is then sold to publications or television channels who want to get it.
A lot of people in the field of law and related fields work as freelancers, i.e. without being tied to any company or organization (lawyers, consultants, free realtors, experts, visiting accountants, etc.)
Offline coaching (what is it?) is represented by tutors, who are also mostly “free-floating”.
Until recently, we had “bombils” (private drivers who earn extra money as a cab driver), who were also a kind of freelancers (free artists).

At the same time, remote work is not always freelancing. For example, some companies practice working from home for some of their employees if the specifics of their occupation allow it. In this case, money is saved on renting premises and the employee’s time, which he no longer spends on travel. However, such an employee is not a Freelancer, although he has more freedom than an office employee.

People become freelancers for various reasons. For some, it is a problem to constantly travel to the office (people with disabilities or women with small children), for some it is psychologically difficult to work in an office, and for others the main advantage is the ability to choose tasks themselves, and not do what what they will instruct.

As a percentage, there are a lot of people around the world who are constantly or temporarily engaged in freelancing, and their number is constantly growing. It is possible that you will also like this method of “keeping your pants up” more than vegetating in the office.

Pros and cons of remote work on the Internet

Despite the fact that we have already found out (freelancing is not only and not so much remote work), still in this article I want to talk specifically about online work, because it is close to the topic of this blog and what I do myself.

Pros of working as a freelancer

There are no bosses, alarm clocks or Mondays, which for many is the main advantage. In other words, freelancing gives you a feeling of freedom and independence. You are free to choose your own orders, plan your own working day (or night) and choose the days on which you will rest.
Remote work allows you to avoid wasting time on travel and money on travel (and you don’t have to buy a suit). You got up, washed your face, sat down at the computer (in your pajamas) - and you’re already at work. It's babbling, in my opinion.
You can do a highly paid job while living in the outback, with only a computer and Internet access at hand. Often, a freelancer’s income (in this case) is an order of magnitude greater than what he could earn in real life at his place of residence. This frees many talented specialists from the need to change their place of residence in pursuit of interesting work and a long ruble.
Some Freelancers are not tied to a specific place of residence at all - as long as there is electricity and Internet (at least sporadically). This allows you to travel around the world (Goa, Vietnam, the village of Gadyukino, etc.) and live where you like as much as you want. Again, this is all about the freedom that freelancing gives.
The entire freelance services market will be open to you, where there are a huge number of employers and offers. With the proper approach and appropriate reputation, you will not be left without work even in a crisis.
You will have a clearly defined amount of work, and everything that needs to be done additionally will be paid, unlike working in an office, where you will have to realize all the fantasies of your manager within the limits of your salary.
You will have the opportunity to devote a sufficient amount of time to your family (at least your family will at least see you, albeit from behind), because you will only save several hours of your life a day on the unnecessary commute to work.

Freelancing is an activity that is not suitable for everyone

As in any other matter, many of the noted advantages, under certain circumstances, can also be considered as disadvantages. If we generalize, then to the significant disadvantages of being a freelancer can be attributed:

In addition to actually doing the work, you will have to spend time selling your service, i.e. searching for a suitable employer (advertise your services, start a website with a portfolio, advertise on freelance exchanges, etc.), and also keep your eyes open so as not to become a victim of deception (the customer may receive the ordered work, but not pay for it) . To do this, you will need to discuss in detail all controversial and slippery issues, and also apply fraud protection measures.
In the absence of a boss and a clear daily routine, it can be quite difficult for many to get together and “start working hard” of their own free will, when you can easily turn on a movie, play a computer game, chat on social networks, or just simply delve into reading the news (no one gets their hands for this, after all). will knock). Not everyone comes easily with such a thing as self-discipline, and many need a pressure factor to work productively (a boss, colleagues sitting next to them, a system administrator who disables access to social networks, etc.).
There is no social package in the form of sick leave, paid vacations, etc. of things. If you get sick, go hungry or eat your stash. This also includes an extremely unstable level of income, which is quite well characterized by the expression “sometimes thick, sometimes empty.” You will still need to adapt to this way of doing things.
If you want to receive a pension in the future, you will have to register an Individual Entrepreneur and make some additional efforts to keep records and pay taxes (either hire a freelance accountant for this task, or deal with some online accounting like My Business yourself).
Home (remote) work seems like an ideal option to almost everyone, but this is far from the case. Sometimes it’s much easier to create a working environment in the office than at home, where children are noisy, and your family doesn’t take your work seriously, not understanding why you can’t get distracted and go to the store, vacuum, go for a walk with your child (dog), etc. P.
It is difficult to plan fairly large purchases, because taking out a loan for an individual entrepreneur is quite difficult, and it is very difficult to understand what income you will have over at least the next year. But, this is my pure IMHO (what is it?).

Who hires freelancers

As you understand, freelancing is played by two players - the employer and the contractor. To complete the picture, let's also look a little at Why is Freelanser attractive to the customer? compared to a full-time employee:

The campaign may not include office workers at all, but only freelancers (or their number may be significantly reduced). This allows you to save on renting premises and their furnishings.
A full-time employee will have to pay not only for the work performed, but also for the time spent at the workplace, which may be completely unprofitable. And a social package, as mentioned above, is not required for a freelancer. And it’s much easier to terminate a contract with a freelance artist than to fire a negligent full-time employee.
The employer has much more space to choose the “ideal performer”, because the freelance market is not limited to the location where the office is located. Often, highly qualified specialists who do not charge much for their work can be found on the other side of the world.

At the same time, some significant disadvantages of hiring freelancers to perform a particular job is not visible (except for the conservative approach that many employers have). Unless it will be impossible to come up and look over the shoulder of a remote employee to find out whether he is busy with work or has started playing solitaire again. But when paying for results, this is not particularly important.

What is freelancing and how to start earning money

I would like to give a few principles that, in my opinion, should be followed to achieve a successful career in freelancing (income growth due to an increase in the number of completed orders and the possibility of increasing fees for their implementation).

First and foremost - you need to love what you do . Otherwise nothing will work. The work of a freelancer is mostly “ploughing” (albeit for more money than you can get working in real life). But if the chosen area of effort causes you rejection, then you will not last long. First of all, you should like your work, and this is the most important thing. For example, I would not have been able to devote all my free time to this blog for so many years (sometimes 12-15 hours a day) if I did not like it all.
Get a separate mailbox, ICQ (Skype) to communicate with clients, buy a separate SIM card, and also create wallets in popular payment systems to receive payment for your work (and it wouldn’t hurt to get a card in case payment is possible only by cashless).
Soberly assess your capabilities and take on only those orders that you are able to complete. Be sure to clarify the task to avoid further inconsistencies due to misunderstandings. For example, I do not undertake to write reviews on topics where I have little understanding.
It is possible that your current level of knowledge in your chosen specialty does not yet reach the level required for freelancing. In this case, you can improve your level by taking advantage of training courses, coaching, or simply books recommended online.
The issue of price must be decided before the work begins. It must be justified by your labor costs and the complexity of the work. You should not talk about changing the price for work after the conclusion of the contract. Based on the price level for your services, you can find your way around the freelance exchanges and other thematic resources listed below. At first, you may have to dump (or even work for free) to collect a portfolio of work that characterize you from the good side (sometimes a special website is created under the portfolio, advertising the services provided, and it is also posted on stock exchanges).
It is probably clear that meeting deadlines for completing work is a big plus and will encourage the employer to further cooperate with you, as well as recommend your services to their colleagues and acquaintances. The same applies to correcting found errors - their timely elimination eliminates the very fact of their occurrence. Of course, it’s better not to make mistakes, but we are all human.
be careful. Employers quite often offer freelancers to participate in competitions (qualifying competitions), but often with only one goal - to get the work they need for free. In the vast majority of cases, a good portfolio will be enough for the customer to decide on choosing a contractor.

At the same time, many reputable campaigns offer to perform test work, and here you need to make sure that the task is the same for everyone, and there is no fraud, when the customer later assembles from the pieces completed for free something that he would have had to pay for with a different approach. In general, this is a reminder that you need to keep your eyes open and try not to fall for the bait of freebie lovers, of which there are plenty in this market.

To do this, you can agree on separate payment for each of the completed stages of work, or give the customer for verification not the full version, but only a part (or a demo version) sufficient to assess the quality of the work (the rest will be transferred after payment). Sometimes they practice prepayment, as I do, for example, when ordering reviews. For large projects, you can try to use the services of a guarantor (intermediary) when transferring money and completed work (analogous to a deposit box).

The hardest thing is to start. You will have to learn to motivate yourself to work, plan your time, master ways to find clients, and set up a full-fledged workplace at home. However, it is at this time that the foundation is being laid, and it will be important to begin to acquire regular clients (this is an excellent basis for stabilizing income), develop a strategy for negotiating with clients and learn to be philosophical about refusals, inconsistencies and even cases of deception (but try not to fall for them in the future). fishing rod).

As mentioned above, a freelancer needs to resolve the issue of paying taxes. A good solution, in my opinion, is to open an individual entrepreneur on a simplified basis (you can do this for free here). As a rule, Freelancers do not incur any expenses other than labor costs, so they choose the simplified tax system with 6%, which is not much, in my opinion. In addition, when you open an individual entrepreneur, you begin to gain experience for your future pension, which is also good. If your income is more or less decent, then almost all payments to the pension fund can be received back a little later in the form of tax deductions. If you decide, check out my article on choosing a bank where to open an individual entrepreneur account.

It is not uncommon for freelancers to join a team to complete a complex project, and then, having worked together, they organize a company. You can search for vacancies in such teams on thematic forums. Well, you can look for ordinary clients on the freelance exchanges below, or among your friends or acquaintances (through word of mouth).

Freelance exchanges and sites for finding remote online work

The main problem and task facing a freelancer is to find employers. Just like the latter, they strive to find the most suitable performer for them (in terms of price and qualifications). It is understandable that the best solution to these two problems is something like a remote job search exchange.

Freelance exchanges

WorkZilla- suitable for beginners who are just trying their hand at freelancing, because there are many orders that do not require special skills. Also, thanks to the rather unusual process of registering performers, where it is required to complete a test task, employers of this exchange, to a certain extent, have a guarantee of the adequacy of the Freelancers available there. You can read more about the Workzilla exchange in the article at the link provided.
Quark- a freelance exchange with an innovative approach to organizing the relationship between the customer and the contractor, which can significantly simplify the lives of both. Read more about Quark in my review article.
Weblancer- This is probably the most convenient freelance exchange for novice users. Here they try to protect newcomers as much as possible from fraud on the part of customers. There are several options for paid accounts that allow you to earn significantly more, so when you get comfortable on the exchange, it makes sense to switch to one of them.
Free-lance.ru (FL.ru)- searching for customers and performers for remote work in the IT field (advertising, programming, webmastering, design, etc.). At the moment it is almost the largest freelance exchange in RuNet. We have our own catalog and rating of freelancers, which is based on employers’ ratings, the activity of performers, the number of works in the portfolio, etc. And also in this remote work exchange there is a store for professional accounts where you can put up your work for sale (texts, programs, template design, etc.)
Freelance.ru- one of the oldest and perhaps the best exchanges in RuNet. There is a convenient mechanism for searching for a contractor for projects of any complexity, the possibility of full communication, as well as the ability to protect yourself from fraud when concluding a deal thanks to the special tools of this freelance exchange. With paid accounts, freelancers receive additional opportunities - a rise in the rankings, the ability to use the store, and much more.
FreelanceJob.ru- an exchange for professional freelancers, so beginners, before adding here, should have experience in their field (get a portfolio), because to get on the list of performers you will have to create a portfolio of work you have already completed previously. Otherwise, this service is quite convenient and well thought out (professional).
Of the bourgeois exchanges it is probably worth mentioning Elance.com And Freelancer.com(fully Russified interface).

These were general-specialization exchanges, but there are also highly specialized freelance solutions. For example, in an article about content exchanges and copywriting, I listed services for meeting the customer and the performer of text tasks. By the way, this blog contains a detailed description of working with some of them: Advego, Textsale and the Etxt content exchange.

Similar solutions exist for programmers (1clancer.ru, Freelansim.ru), lawyers (Pravoved.ru), designers and other freelancers. But the above services are convenient, first of all, with a huge selection of performers and customers, and well-functioning functionality. However, in my opinion, exchanges are needed specifically for the initial start, and only then, having acquired regular customers, it will be possible to partially or completely switch to working directly (without intermediaries). IMHO.

Freelancer sites - where else can you find a customer or contractor?

Also You can search for remote online work on thematic forums:

Yes, we also need to say something about receiving and cashing out money earned remotely. This is especially true for those who earn money abroad.

There is such a thing - Payoneer card. It was created precisely to make the life of a freelancer easier, to give him the opportunity to withdraw and spend the money he earns anywhere. Read more in the article about the Pioneer system in the article provided at the link.

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Depending on a person’s work activity, he or she has to deal with legal issues. This can be either a serious transaction, which requires careful study of all legal aspects and the process itself, or ordinary work issues that people face every day in their activities.

Why you shouldn’t try to find answers to legal questions on the Internet

When one of these situations occurs where a person himself cannot figure out what’s what, the first thing that comes to a person’s mind is to look for the answer to his question on the Internet. But the problem with this solution is that a person is not always able to find the information he needs, and even if he succeeds, it is extremely rare that the information found answers his question in full. You also need to take into account that such material is not reliable. Legal issues have many subtleties and nuances; it is impossible to answer all of them universally. That is why, when a person really needs to understand some legal issue, he needs the help of a qualified specialist - a lawyer.

Not a single website or blog on the Internet can answer all your questions the way a lawyer, a professional in his field, could do. All the answers to your questions could be found on the Internet or in books. But the problem is that to answer you need to know all the intricacies of this area. In some situations, controversial issues may arise when only a qualified specialist can sort it out.

What is the essence of working as a freelance legal consultant?

The job of such a person is that he helps resolve complex and controversial issues for people unfamiliar with this area. Not everyone has the opportunity or desire to contact such specialists in special offices or institutions. For one-time assistance, it is not at all necessary to look for such an expert and meet with him. Such consultation can be obtained remotely by talking with him. This does not require personal meetings and wasting time. This is exactly where the freelance exchange Avtor24 can help. It has all the necessary tools to resolve legal issues, because more than 80 thousand performers are registered on the site. There it will be possible to easily monitor the fulfillment of obligations by both parties and not be afraid that someone will not fulfill their part or ruin the deal.

How else can a lawyer earn money as a freelancer?

In fact, there are many other things for a freelance lawyer to do than just provide consultations. You can rarely count on them, since there are not always clients who need help right now. Sometimes calls only happen a few times a week. Especially when it comes to starting freelance work, when there is no reputation and reviews from satisfied clients yet. In such situations, in order to gain experience and feedback on your qualifications, you can do other jobs related to your profile.

For example, this could be writing dissertations, term papers, tests and essays for money. Author24 offers work for specialists in various fields, including lawyers. Here, every day, a huge number of students are looking for performers for educational work who are willing to pay good money for it. All you need to do is do what you know and love - analyze and describe various legal issues and situations. For you, as a good and experienced specialist, this will not be a big problem, because you encounter such situations every day, and students are given assignments based on the fact that they do not yet know some of the subtleties and details, which means it will not be very difficult .

If a person really knows his business and does what interests him, he will be able to find a job without much difficulty. The main desire. Almost every person needs legal help, but with one note - people need qualified help. No one will listen to a person who, armed with the Internet and one or two books, goes to the rescue. It is important that a person not only knows his business, but also understands all the subtleties and nuances, has experience in this field and is well versed in any issues. It is not necessary to know everything, but you need to understand where to find the necessary legal information, how to be confident that you are right and not get lost in stressful situations.

Another advantage of providing freelance services is that all clients can remain anonymous if desired. However, like you yourself. Not all people who seek legal help like the fact that someone finds out about the fact of their request. The purpose of the appeal is not at all important, even if there is nothing criminal here, people prefer to remain anonymous. And you can give it to them in a remote work environment. This will not be a problem for you, and your clients will thank you for it.

Freelancer work on Avtor24 is often superior to regular office work in some respects. There are a huge number of advantages over office work. Don't be afraid to try. In the worst case, you will simply gain experience and understand that this is not your thing; in the best case, you will find a new business in your life, with a free schedule, without bosses and managers.

When, after many sleepless nights, your diploma is finally ready, you want to submit it and forget it. But the university will not easily leave the student behind. After all, only the academic supervisor read the full text of the diploma, and a whole commission will gather to evaluate it. Therefore, in many respects, his grade depends on how the student defends his diploma.

So what is a successful defense?

competent defense text
positive review of the diploma
confident answers to the commission's questions

In the introduction to the coursework, it is necessary to indicate many important points. One of them is methodology. The student is required to indicate what methods he will use when researching the topic. This is not the easiest task, and often students cannot cope with this task themselves. In this case, you can contact us. Our specialists will write you a paper of any complexity, and you can discuss the price with them personally.

Speech structure

Of course, what exactly to say during the defense depends mainly on the topic of the thesis and what exactly is written in it, but there are general recommendations that are suitable for everyone.

First, you need to greet the members of the certification commission. (“Dear members of the certification commission! We present to your attention a final qualifying work on the topic...”)
Introductory part. Here you need to reveal the topic and identify the issues that are addressed in the work.
Relevance of the topic. At this stage, it is important to prove the relevance of the chosen topic and the degree of its development in other people’s works. Identify the subject, object, objectives and purpose of the study.
The structure of the topic. Here you just need to list the paragraphs that are in the work and briefly describe them.
Formulation of the problem. To confirm the relevance of the topic, it is necessary to state the problem and outline controversial opinions on this matter.
Conclusions. At the conclusion of the speech, the commission should hear the conclusions that the student came to while writing his thesis, which contain ways and methods for solving the stated problems.

On the one hand, it seems that it is much easier to write a speech for a diploma than the diploma itself. However, high-quality speech is a skillful extraction from the work, as well as its competent presentation. And it often happens that the thesis is written with the highest grade, but the student receives a worse grade. Therefore, if you are unsure of your abilities, you can order a speech on our website. And then the likelihood of failure due to poor speech will disappear. After all, we give a twenty-day guarantee on the work, and if something doesn’t suit you, you can ask the author to revise the order for free. We make sure that students are satisfied, so if the final version of the work does not meet the stated requirements, you will get your money back.

Formal requirements

When writing a speech for your thesis, you must also take into account that there are purely formal requirements.

Time. Do not forget that there are many students, but one commission. Therefore, the time for defensive speech is regulated and ranges from 5 to 7 minutes. At the same time, you should remember the time it will take to answer questions from the commission.
Intonation. Where else is it important to win over your listeners during your thesis defense? Therefore, it is better to read the speech not monotonously, emphasizing intonation.
Style. When presenting a speech, it should be remembered that the main goal is understanding on the part of the commission. Therefore, you shouldn’t be too “clever,” but you also shouldn’t switch to colloquial speech. In this matter, a golden mean must be observed.
Pronouns. As in the diploma itself, during the defense it is important to remember that although the author of the diploma is clearly stated, there are a lot of true owners of the knowledge reflected in the work (the authors of all the sources on which the student relied plus the supervisor), so first-person pronouns are not appropriate here.
Questions. After the end of the speech, questions from the commission will inevitably follow, and you need to be prepared for them. You need to write down the expected questions as you write your thesis, work through all the questions that arose during the pre-defense, and you can also look at the questions at the end of chapters from textbooks on this topic.
Pre-protection. In a matter such as thesis defense, it is better not to be arrogant and neglect pre-defense. You can use it to practice giving a speech and write down possible questions from your listeners. This will allow you to feel more confident during the official defense.

Of course, these are just recommendations, and no one forces you to strictly follow them. However, discarding some positions during the defense will create additional questions from the certification commission, which is not always loyal. Therefore, it is best to think through all possible questions and answer them in advance in a defensive speech. Then teachers will have a minimum of questions, and they will be grateful for the time saved.

How to run a business legally? Contracts with customers and typical problems of their preparation. How, when and why to sue? Common legal mistakes made by freelancers and what to do about them.

Freelancing as a way of doing business for some specialists is a temporary stage when they escaped from the “oppression” of the employer, but have not yet created their own business. For others, it is a kind of constant state when a person is least bound by any obligations and tries to concentrate on the essence of the work being performed.

Most of the freelancers interviewed and known to me, who have tasted the exorbitant freedom from any formalities and obligations, make a lot of legal mistakes that complicate their “free floating”, force them to return to an uncomfortable office or suffer losses and disappointments. But there are also those who have made freelancing their business, learned to search for and correctly formalize relationships with customers, have experience in litigation and, through trial and error, found how to make their freelancing predictable and sufficiently secure. In this article I will talk specifically about the legal problems of freelancers and how these problems can and should be dealt with.

How to do business legally

It is no secret that the state requires you to decide whether you are running a business, are an employee under an employment contract, or, while remaining an ordinary citizen, only occasionally provide services under a civil contract. Entrepreneurial activity, that is, activity for the systematic extraction of profit, can be carried out essentially in two forms: the creation of a legal entity (most often it is an LLC) or registration as an individual entrepreneur (IP). Russian legislation classifies freelancing as a business activity regardless of how much you earn: 1 thousand rubles or 200 thousand rubles per day or year.

If you provide services systematically (twice or more during the year), then you are an entrepreneur and the usual “earthly laws” apply to you.

It doesn’t matter where or with what services, devices or applications you carry out such activities. I don’t want to complicate things, but even when providing services through a site located outside of Russia, you are subject to both the legislation of the country where the server is physically located and Russian legislation, as long as you remain a tax resident and citizen of the Russian Federation.

For failure to register as a company or individual entrepreneur, there is administrative liability from 500 rubles to 2 thousand rubles. In essence, this is not a lot of money, but the procedure for bringing to justice will be quite nerve-wracking. The prosecutor's office may file a lawsuit to prohibit you from conducting such activities at all until you obtain entrepreneurial status. And cases of this kind are occurring more and more often. The prosecutor's office, as the “eye of the sovereign,” is called upon to ensure that there are no such violations of the law.

If you conduct business “on a grand scale” and it caused major damage to citizens, organizations or the state, or is associated with receiving proceeds from the sale of goods or services on a large scale, i.e. from 1.5 million rubles, then such actions can be qualified as a crime under Part 1 of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal entrepreneurship”. Responsibility varies: a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles or up to 6 months of arrest.

In practice, almost any citizen can now register a company, and especially an individual entrepreneur. There are a lot of services that allow you to do this. Some banks offer this service free of charge along with opening an account. The cost of registering a turnkey LLC with payment of state duty ranges from 5 to 12 thousand rubles. To register as an individual entrepreneur, you just need to fill out a form with your passport data, which you can even submit online to the tax office. The state fee for registering an individual entrepreneur is only 800 rubles. The registration period in both cases is approximately 6-7 calendar days, and this period is actually respected. So why take the risk when starting a business is so easy?

Who should I be: LLC or individual entrepreneur?

Perhaps the most common question that novice entrepreneurs ask is what is better to register: an LLC or an individual entrepreneur? Practice shows that the vast majority of freelancers are either not registered at all or are registered as individual entrepreneurs. You need to understand that not a single truly serious customer will send money to a freelancer “on a card.” This fact pushes many to open an individual entrepreneur.

An important advantage of registering as an individual entrepreneur is that the individual entrepreneur can freely withdraw and spend all the money received, because this is his personal money as an entrepreneur, as a citizen. Even the individual entrepreneur must pay taxes on this amount not immediately, but only at the beginning of the next quarter. It’s not so easy to legally withdraw money in a company, much less do it “for free” without paying taxes. .

The vast majority of activities that freelancers engage in in Russia do not require any permission or license. This is also true in the case when you accidentally indicate the licensed type of activity in the OKVED codes.

The principle is simple: until you engage in a licensed activity, you don’t need to formalize anything additional. .

Taxation of organizations and individual entrepreneurs is the same, i.e. you can engage in a type of activity that falls under the “imputation” and be either an individual entrepreneur or an LLC. The same applies to the choice of “simplified”, which can be either 6% of income or 15% of income reduced by the amount of expenses. The latter option is not very suitable for the service sector, since it is beneficial to those who have large expenses included in the final cost of goods or services sold, those of which the Tax Code of the Russian Federation allows to take into account. This is usually a trade where there is a significant markup on the goods sold.

We formalize relationships with customers

Such well-known exchanges for freelancers in Russia as, for example, freelance.ru and fl.ru. offer services for monitoring order deadlines and guaranteeing payment for freelancers. The service tracks the deadline for completing the order, records its essence, which is agreed upon at the initial stage between the freelancer and the customer. Legally, this is the same agreement that is automatically concluded between the customer and the freelancer, where the freelance exchange acts as an intermediary agent between them.

Not everyone knows, but in the agreement that you “sign”, agreeing to the terms of work through fl.ru and freelance.ru, it is written that, unless otherwise agreed between the freelancer and the customer, all exclusive rights to the intellectual property created pass to the customer at the time of acceptance of the order.

It is important for the customer to indicate in the task exactly what needs to be obtained as a result, and for the freelancer to agree only to what he can complete within the agreed time frame.

All interaction takes place on the task page, where the customer and freelancer exchange messages, questions, materials being developed, and finished files. It is the timing of posting such materials and their compliance with the task that determines whether the freelancer will receive his money if the matter comes to arbitration.

This is a service that fl.ru provides for users of the “Safe Transaction”, when the customer does not accept the order or the freelancer does not transfer the result of his work to the customer, which allows resolving a dispute between the parties to the transaction. Arbitration can either return the advance payment for all or part of the order to the customer, or pay it to the freelancer or make a partial payment (refund) if it determines that the work was not completed in full, of poor quality or not on time.

The cost of services for monitoring order deadlines and guaranteeing payment for a freelancer ranges from 5% to 14.9% of the transaction. To the costs of customers, you need to add a commission of payment systems for depositing money in the amount of about 6% and for withdrawing it by a freelancer in the amount of 2-3.5%. If the customer is a legal entity or individual entrepreneur, then the costs are simply the cost of a payment order in the amount of 10-20 rubles.

But freelancers do not always find customers through freelance exchanges, and some simply do not want to overpay for such services and want to receive payment immediately, so they most often do not enter into any contracts at all.

What to do if there is no contract in the usual sense, and the client refuses to pay for the work? Your further actions depend on how exactly you formalized your agreements with the customer:

1.There is a signed agreement, in which the terms of reference say what you must do and by when. Negotiate with the customer and, if you do not achieve a result, go to court with a lawyer.

2.The contract with all technical specifications was signed “via the Internet”, i.e. everyone scanned their signed version of the contract and sent it to each other. The court may recognize such an agreement as concluded if you can prove that:

we sent the contract to the customer and received a signed scan from him;

the customer has partially paid under the agreement (the payment order contains the details of your agreement, and the customer will not be able to bring another copy of the agreement, which you “also” signed);

the customer gave you something that could only be in his possession (building measurements, technical documentation, restricted information, sources of old design layouts, etc.), and this is exactly what needs to be used to provide the service.

3. The contract has been signed, but it does not contain any specifics regarding the ordered service, or the contract has not been signed and there is only correspondence. In this case, you need to look at the correspondence between you. There is “paper” correspondence - great. If it was from the email addresses specified in the contract, or the customer’s corporate mailbox and it contains the necessary “specifics”, then you are lucky and you have agreed on the subject of the contract - you can confidently go to court. If there is no correspondence, but the customer accepted the work and there is a document about this (a certificate of services rendered, a report signed by him) or the customer used the result of your work, then in court you will have to prove not only that it was you who transferred this work to the customer, but also that How much does such work usually cost? Therefore, do not be lazy to issue invoices and sign certificates of services rendered, which indicate what you did, how much you worked, and what results you delivered to the customer. Fortunately, there are a great many services that produce such documents.

4. The agreement was not signed by the person indicated in it, or this person (director, accountant, manager, etc.) did not have the authority to sign it. If there were payments under such an agreement (on the issue of the need for prepayment), then the customer will most likely be recognized by the court as having entered into such an agreement, even if the director turned out to be a non-director. If the customer officially accepted the result of your work and, moreover, used it, this will also indirectly indicate that it was he who made such an order.

5.Working conditions were agreed upon via SMS, Skype, and instant messengers. As in point 3, the question will arise about identifying the person who ordered such a service from you (you will have to make requests to telecom operators, etc.), what relation he has to the customer company or whether he needs to be involved personally as customer. Such disputes require that you and your lawyer have a very clear understanding of the functioning of such services and the fact that they may initially be registered to fictitious or fictitious persons. But even in such a situation, it remains possible to obtain the IP address from which the account was used and, through a judicial request, the telecom operator can track the customer. More technically advanced customers can prudently use IP address spoofing or exit from addresses where a large number of people who have nothing to do with the customer have access to the Internet. Logging out from a mobile phone allows you to track the phone number, but even here there is no complete guarantee that the phone is not registered to the old lady from the next door. And the question of whether you will try to collect and receive money from her or not remains not only a matter of principle and patience, because carrying out such identification of the customer in court will be a non-trivial procedure.

6.Negotiations with the customer were conducted in person and by telephone; there was no correspondence, let alone a contract. In this case, all that remains is to write letters, complaints and provoke the customer to respond like “your work was not completed on time”, “you did not fulfill such and such a condition”, which will directly indicate that there was some kind of relationship between you. However, in such situations, it is extremely difficult to receive the agreed money, since there is a high probability that you will not be able to prove what exactly was ordered from you and what exactly you transferred to such a customer and at what price.

How do we sue a customer?

If you are an ordinary citizen, then you file a case in the district (city) court at the location (registration, place of residence) of the defendant. The customer cannot claim that the contract is invalid if you do not have the status of an individual entrepreneur or do not represent the company. If you are an individual entrepreneur or a legal entity, you will first have to file a justified claim and wait 30 days before filing a claim in arbitration court. Such rules have been in effect since June 1, 2016. But if you have written evidence that the customer acknowledges that the work was performed, but simply cannot or does not want to pay, then apply for a court order and attach this correspondence. The court will issue a court order within 10 days if the amount of the claim does not exceed 400 thousand rubles. This court order can be immediately presented to the debtor’s bank (and the bank will transfer the money to you within 2 business days) or transferred to the bailiffs to initiate enforcement proceedings (longer).

If the customer does not recognize the debt, then you can file a claim through simplified proceedings, which involves an absentee (without summons to court) consideration of the case with all documents posted on the website kad.arbitr.ru. In this order, only disputes up to 250 thousand rubles are considered, where the defendants are individual entrepreneurs, and up to 500 thousand rubles, where the defendant is an organization. After filing a claim in court, you will receive a court ruling, which will contain a special code for accessing the case materials.

The cost of lawyers' services for collecting payment through the court under a service agreement is usually slightly less than under a work contract, which, according to lawyers, is more complex. In reality, the complexity depends on how well the contract is prepared and what evidence the freelancer has of completing the work (service). This, accordingly, determines the likelihood of winning the case (a positive motivator for a lawyer), and the duration of the court case, and therefore the price. Preparing a claim costs from 5 thousand rubles, conducting a case in the court of the Kaliningrad region is unlikely to cost less than 20 thousand rubles. But this still means that in some cases the cost of a lawyer’s services is more than the money that the customer must pay. Unscrupulous customers often take advantage of this. Add to this that the customer may be in Khabarovsk or Kamchatka, and you are in Kaliningrad, which allows such customers to feel more protected. In reality, it is quite possible to find a lawyer in any region via the Internet.

A freelancer should know that it is possible to simply “forget” that he was owed money. But how many times are you ready to “forget” like this? Do you have enough willingness to continue working like this and what incentive do you give to such customers? Another option is to defend your rights to the end, but conduct the case rationally for a long time and treat legal expenses like paying for electricity and buying paper - all these are just your operating expenses in business. After all, no one has canceled the collection of legal costs from the culprit, you just need to find the money now so that it will come back to you later.

Common legal mistakes made by freelancers and what to do about them

Lack of contract (technical specifications). We have already discussed above that the lack of an agreement is one of the main troubles for a freelancer when he has to prove that there were any agreements at all. Often, in order to avoid paying, customers simply deny that they “saw this freelancer.” The “sleight of hand” of some customers leads to the fact that they keep both copies of the contract for themselves, and the contractor has nothing left. The desire to get started quickly also plays a bad joke with freelancers. Firstly, one should not neglect the development, coordination and signing of an agreement. You will learn a lot about your customer when you invite him to sign an agreement. If he refuses to sign the contract or introduces terms that are incomprehensible and beneficial only to him, then you will once again decide for yourself whether it is worth working with him. Secondly, it will be beneficial for both if you offer to develop the same technical specifications for a fee. The customer will get what he wants as a result, and there will be no unjustified expectations, and you, as a freelancer, will receive a clear document on which to base your work.

Incorrectly drafted contract. It is quite difficult to describe all the errors that may occur in a contract. One thing is certain: a professional lawyer should be involved in drafting the contract. An accountant you don't know, don't download a sample from the Internet, don't do it yourself. The main document with which you will work each time with a new client should be prepared by a professional. You wouldn't go to a therapist or plumber for dental treatment, would you?

Unsettled terms, lack of definitions. If you make a specific product, then use professional terms in your work. Don’t forget to decipher them; both the customer and the court must understand you if it comes to a dispute. In case of the latter, this will help to operate with exactly the wording that you included in the contract. I will say more, even when developing a design the question arises: what is it? Designers often enter terms such as “design concept”, “website design”, programmers and website developers indicate “IT systems”, “software package”, “website”. Explain what you are creating so that even a person far from your profession can easily understand everything, write what the result of your work can look like or be used, what is included in this work or what its result consists of.

There is an error in the description of the result of the work. Services and works can be divided into several types depending on the form of the final result. As a result of some, a created thing of the real world is transferred (a painting, a drawing, a certain product made to order), others are an electronic document: a file with a translation of text, a photograph, a drawing, a design layout, a multimedia file, a database, just some text . In some of them, it is of significant importance what the performer did with the source materials provided by the customer, what creative, professional element was introduced by him, in others the task is purely technical: just carefully and without errors make a transcript from the audio recording, collect a database with addresses and telephone numbers the right people. For example, if you write that you are transmitting an audio file, then indicate what exactly will be on this recording, what you are doing with the source materials (mixing the sound or clearing it), making an arrangement or recording a performance on musical instruments, in what format you are transmitting the finished product material, do you transfer the source files. There are service-processes where payment can occur for a certain amount of time during which the service is provided (animators, promoters, subscription services from lawyers, accountants), or time is used only as a means of tariffing (interpretation, performance of musicians, photo and video shooting ). In some types of activities, the final result is only the final stage of providing a service (often a mental activity), and most of such work is performed without creating or with minimal appearance of any signs of work (elaboration of implementation schemes, ideas, concepts). For example, in legal services, the result of providing a very expensive and lengthy service may simply be the answer: “It cannot be done legally.” But lawyers solve this problem by preparing a detailed opinion on why they came to this particular conclusion. There are services where the outcome cannot be guaranteed for objective reasons or due to insufficient information about the problem (medical services, services of trainers, lawyers in court), therefore the desired result cannot be guaranteed. What to do when the result of your work is an extremely intangible thing? Formulate the provision of a service as a process, indicating specific features of the result or the process itself, what and how you do, what you interact with, what information you receive and how you process it, describe the service as informational. Indicate a specific result, if you can achieve it in any case, and also formulate the possibility of achieving a negative result. Break your process of providing a service into stages, identify events that will be clearly associated with the transition from one stage to another, or a period of time if the moment of such an event cannot be determined.

Creative value. Many disputes between representatives of creative professions and their customers arise precisely because of a misunderstanding of what the result should be in terms of creative level. This level is almost impossible to describe; it can only be subjectively determined from the portfolio before concluding a contract with a specific contractor. Of course, if the design is made with obvious violations of color combinations, the principles of composition are violated and all this together looks unambiguous and to anyone’s taste like a child’s drawing, then the customer will still have to prove in court later that, based on the technical specifications, he expected the design to have a certain style (modern or, conversely, stylization for a certain period of time). It is much easier to appeal to the customer when he was offered fewer options for design layouts or logos than are directly provided for in the contract. But if the latter is a quantitative indicator, then to the first question the designer can say that “that’s how he sees it.” However, if the terms of reference indicate a specific style that the freelancer did not adhere to, then we cannot say that the order has been completed. The answer to the question of what is considered individual design options is also subjective and evaluative. It is impossible to describe absolutely exactly how different one option should be from another.

Break the work into stages specify payment for each individual stage and the transition to the next stage after accepting the previous one. Firstly, you will immediately receive a certain part of the money and understand how the customer accepts the service. Secondly, the fact of acceptance of the service, and especially the signed act on this, will eliminate the possibility of challenging the work as a whole when it has already been de facto completed.

Deadlines. Follow the deadlines you set in the contract. Write down feasible deadlines that will be consistent with each other even under the most unusual set of circumstances and actions of both parties to the contract. Keep in mind that it is initially assumed that you perform the work or provide the service “independently”, and if you “involve in the work” the customer, who must provide information, materials or things within a certain time frame to fulfill the contract, and for yourself you have also set very specific deadlines completion of the stage, then write for the customer (by law this also applies) in the contract that the deadline for completing the stage is extended for the period of the customer’s delay.

Full prepayment is not your money. Receiving 100% advance payment is the dream of many freelancers, but in the conditions of impersonality on the Internet, customers who do not trust the performers or do not want to remove such an effective “accelerator” for the performers do not agree to such conditions. However, not all performers know that the customer has the right to refuse (essentially terminate the contract) at any time from providing the service, and the freelancer does not have the right to continue it after receiving such notice. He must transfer the result of his work to the customer, issue him an invoice for the services rendered and calculate the expenses incurred. If it turns out that the service was not fully provided, the freelancer must return the remuneration received in proportion to the size of the unprovided part of the service. The terms of the agreement prohibiting such unilateral refusal are recognized by the courts as invalid . The condition that the prepayment (advance payment), as well as other unpaid amounts are not returned by the contractor, in some cases is recognized by the courts as legal, in others the courts recognize such a condition as invalid.

Difficulties in proving the completion of work or services. Despite the obviousness of the answer to this question for the contractor, there are a huge number of cases in the courts in which customers claim that the contractor did not complete the work at all, did not do what was required under the contract, or was performed by another person. As noted above, recording a work completion certificate allows us to partially solve this problem, but does not completely exclude possible claims from the customer. The contractor, within the 3-year limitation period, must keep evidence that he started work, how and where, with whom he performed it, save intermediate results, drafts, sketches, work files, correspondence with his employees, subcontractors, etc., etc. .e. everything that can confirm that it was the contractor who did everything that the customer received. It may seem absurd to store for so long, but even after 2 years, 11 months and 29 days (and precisely in the last days of this period), lawsuits most often appear in court from dishonest customers. Keep in mind that in the event of a dispute, the court needs to prove not only the fact of creating a certain result that you agreed on with the customer, but also that you delivered it to the customer within the agreed period. After all, there are types of work or goods that can disappear without a trace, such as an ice town or sand figures on the beach. The only evidence of existence will be documents, and if they are not there, then witnesses. But there are not always witnesses and not always witnesses can clearly say what they saw if they are not professionals in a certain field. This is especially true for technically complex work (for example, software development, setting up a website engine) or voluminous hidden work that is simply impossible for external observers to see (work through the administrative panel of CMS, applications, databases, work on its transfer, etc.).

The customer can pretend that you did not give him the required result of the work, and now he has lost interest and ordered it from someone else. The customer can also file a counterclaim if, due to “your slowness,” some of his orders or events were disrupted, and the amount of damages can, in principle, be any. No, it will not be easy for the customer to recover losses from you; to do this, he needs to prove that it was because of your mistakes that both the problem and the losses themselves arose. It often happens that the true reasons for the customer’s failures were elsewhere, but he will try to convince the court that the whole reason is in you. This is where your lawyer will have to show ingenuity and attentiveness in order to understand the true causes of the customer’s losses.

Job Freelance lawyer itself is very solid. For example, if you have a higher education, then you can find a solid job on the Internet. In this type of work you can meet many competitors, but on the other hand, there is practically no work without competition. All you need to do is convince your future employer that you can do their job. The essence of the work is to draw up legal documents in the following areas: reviews of statements of claim, complaints to the Prosecutor's Office, employment contracts, appeals and various other legal services. If you find yourself in any ridiculous situation, then you can simply take the advice of an experienced lawyer online. This will save you time and may be cheaper than using the services of another lawyer. Lawyers need to know several foreign languages, since on many sites they can provide services not only to residents of their own country, but also to many other countries. Moreover, such a lawyer will be valued more, and accordingly will be able to earn more money.

A lawyer should write down the cost of his services in his resume so that people who need legal assistance can find a good lawyer. Since it is possible that the more expensive a lawyer’s services are, the better he will be able to provide you with assistance. Sometimes it happens that good lawyers in large firms get laid off, which is why the best solution would be to provide legal services on the Internet, because it is convenient and you don’t even need to leave your home.

If you intend to become Freelance lawyer, you must have a university degree with a law degree. You need to find an employer and agree on your salary with him. Also, don’t forget to create a portfolio of your work so that the employer can see who he is going to collaborate with. The work will be beneficial for people who have good legal knowledge, but have not been able to find a good and decent job. But the work of a freelance lawyer cannot be called simple, since the lawyer himself cannot travel to different places and talk to people in person. Therefore, his job is to draw up paper documentation. Finding a job on the Internet will be much easier, because many exchanges need this kind of services. But don’t be disappointed if you don’t manage to find a job the first time. Continue to insist on your goal, then one day you will be able to find a good job with high pay. As for the employer, everything is even simpler. On the Internet you can find many lawyers worthy of this job, who graduated from prestigious universities and have higher education. All these people still have not been able to find a decent job or simply need a part-time job.