Sheeraz Akhter is an Amazon Specialist on the FreeUp platform. His dedication to learning skills and attitude toward freelancing has brought him to where he is today. 

Are you ready to discover what makes Sheraz one of our best freelancers? Keep reading to learn more about his journey as a freelancer. 

Tell Us About Yourself

I have been working as a freelancer for the last 3-4 years. Since I love exploring different things on the Internet, during my high collage I thought to utilize these skills, interests, and time to earn some money online as well. 

I never got good vibes thinking about working regular 9-5 jobs in the future due to my laziness, to be honest, so I decided to start freelancing with a goal of location and time-independent working, which suits my personality as well. And as time passed, I started getting good opportunities, so then I decided to make this my full-time active income.

My Skill Set:

The work I do revolves around being an Amazon Specialist, which includes Amazon Launch Manager or Amazon brand manager roles. I work with local and international brands and help the brands to grow on and off Amazon.

How Long Have You Been Freelancing? 

I started working as a freelancer in 2019 with very small projects or earning money online being a middleman. My skill set at that time was Social Media Marketing. So I did some projects related to this. 

Afterwards, I explored one local Ecommerce group, “Extreme Commerce by Sunny Ali,” where I did some free courses on Amazon. This skill and business looked interesting and exciting to me, so I decided to work on building my knowledge. I polished myself 3-6 months more by learning and exploring different Blogs/Youtube channels, taking part in group discussions, and networking. 

I have some good non-technical skills as well, which helped me in getting some clients to start from different local and international Facebook groups; they were satisfied with my work, so they started referring me to more clients from their network. I joined some freelancing platforms and got some International clients from there as well. From mid-2021 I started offering my service as an Amazon specialist/Brand Manager and started looking to get more big clients and brands to work with or collaborate with. 

I then joined Linkedin and the FreeUp Platform, and they provided me with exactly what I was looking for, and they helped me in getting these things done. I started working with some brands on partnerships as well. Currently, I am in the stage of growth and building multiple sources of active and passive income without compromising on work-life balance.

What Are the Most Important Things You’ve Learned Since Freelancing? 

For me, technical knowledge will not help you much to become successful, but some of the other traits you learned or have in your personality will help you grow more.

Self Research: It is the popular quote that the best investment you can make is in yourself! So for me doing self-learning and self-research are the best thing I have learned in freelancing. It helps me in learning on my own and upgrading my skills and knowledge. Learning on your own is an important life skill.

MINDSET: I feel the best asset we have is Mindset. We need to understand that freelancing is not a job. You run on a business model where you need to consider yourself as a business owner and make decisions. It is the mindset that helps me to set realistic goals, a process to follow, and then get results. 

Time and experience:  I realized there are different things suited for everyone. One way will work for someone, and another way will work out for someone else. For example, I get most clients from Freelancing sites and some from social media sites. But for someone else, they can get the most from personal branding.  So it means just do your best and see what works and what doesn't. Time and experience teach you most things, so don't get stuck in what's right and what’s wrong; just take action, make mistakes, and trust the process.   

Networking is Crucial:  Freelancing can sometimes be draining as well. So you need to balance all the things to have peace of mind. Your network is the people you know, willing to know, or want to collaborate with. Networking is not only for getting work, but to interact and provide value to each other. Networking not only helped me in the freelancing world, but the connections also helped me in other things as well.

The Art of Communication and persuasion: Learning how to communicate with your potential clients and how to sell your skills really helps in getting the work. 

Financial literacy: Making money is easy, but managing money and using that money to grow your income is one thing everyone needs to learn.

What Do You Love About FreeUp? 

The best thing about FreeUp is they take care of our time and skills. FreeUp only allows Quality Clients/ Quality freelancers on their platform, so it is a win-win situation for both parties. 

I love the Freeup process during the proposal submission; they have their own system setup to send only relevant freelancers to the client, which motivates us to submit a proposal so that it's worth my time to apply without worrying about saturation in the platform.  

What’s the Key to Success in Your Industry? 

Problem-solving, decision-making, and communication skills worked best for me in this Industry to maintain long-term relationships with clients.

What Are Some Things You Like to Discuss With Clients Who Are Looking For a Social Media Manager or Freelance Copywriter on Initial Interviews?

It varies from project to project, but generally, these are the questions I usually ask clients to get clarity of roles:

  • What are the client's goals/ objective
  • What are expectations from me in this role
  • What are the milestones we need to achieve, and the delivery time
  • What is the client's knowledge about the business
  • What is the monthly/ total budget

What Advice Do You Have for Other Freelancers Just Getting Started on the FreeUp Platform

  • Be professional and set realistic goals
  • Be consistent, disciplined, and patient 
  • Do clear communication with clients
  • Be authentic and build your portfolio
  • Be enthusiastic about what you do 
  • Get multiple skills/Sources of income
  • Be your brand ambassador/ Do personal branding for long-term success
  • Never give up

Can You Share a Client Success Story?

I always focus on providing value to my clients, or any other people in my life. So one of the stories I can share is in our Amazon industry. One client had a failed product launch and got scammed by some other agency.

He posted his problems on the FreeUp platform, and I applied for that and provided a free consult. I told him my plan of action to relaunch his product and get him to recover some $$$. 

Fortunately, he hired me for that project for the implementation of the steps I discussed earlier, and after some months, we were able to relaunch the product successfully till now he is working with me, and we are busily expanding his brand with multiple products on Amazon and other Marketplaces.