How do I make it in the freelancer business? I want to start

>>1734239
You should, instead of asking retards on 4chan questions you already know the answer to, apply yourself.

>>1734239
>do I just keep going to those shitty ass freelance websites and competing with chinks who charge less than $10 an hour until I randomly get my first job?
>I'm pretty sure that if I land a couple of jobs then it'll get easier but I don't know how to get started.

You answered your own question. Big surprise, you will probably have to work your way up.

Look whether Gengo is hiring for your language pair, see if you can pass their tests. The rates for the standard jobs are low, but better than what you will get bidding against chinks. Upwork is meme. Once you feel confident enough to look for private clients and agencies to work with, go on translatorscafe.com.

Also, make a LinkedIn account and try to have as much of an online presence on translator sites and forums as possible.

Don't expect to earn much in the first year, you will only consistently earn more than $1k in your second year. I'm in the third year and earn about $2300/month. A lot also depends on the languages you are going to work with, they differ in demand and pay.

>>1734245
>>1734260
Yeah, I know I'm supposed to work my way up, but I was just wondering if there was a safer way to land jobs than praying some randome upwork/freelancer guy hires you.

>>1734289
Awesome advice dude, thanks a lot.
How much did you make in your 1st year? I'm a poor student so anything in the $500/month range sounds reasonable enough to me.

Also can you give me some advice on building a portfolio? I was thinking about picking random pages from books and translating them so I can have something to show my clients. Does that sound like a good idea or would I be wasting my time?

>>1734300
I also was a student when I started. In the first few months I earned between $300-500/month, at the end of the first year it was about $600-800/month.

I don't have a portfolio, I never was asked by anyone for samples of any past work. A lot of people and agencies will ask you to do small test translations before they hire you, though.

The only important thing is your CV. I wrote a fake CV when I started, actually, with experience I didn't have. It's most likely your first clients will be Chinks or Pajeets anyway and they don't check. After your first year, you can write a "real" CV with your actual experience.

Actually, you might want to read a few books about the industry before you start. I can recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/How-Succeed-as-Freelance-Translator/dp/1411695208