Crowdsourcing from my fellow VAs working directly with Australian clients 🇦🇺

For those who transitioned from an agency to a direct-to-client setup, how did you arrange everything?

What did you and your client need to process or prepare (contract, invoicing, payment setup, taxes, etc.)? Did your client engage you as an independent overseas contractor, or did you use another setup?
I’ve done some research already, but I’d really love to hear from people who have actually gone through the process. 🙏

Any tips would be super helpful. Thank you! 🫶

Hi,

I have two questions:

• Should I work as a freelancer/contractor with white label web dev agencies who do work with other agencies or smbs?

Or

• Should I work as white label provider myself for white label agencies / regular agencies / smbs?

I do Web server support and Linux system administration.

I have around 2 yoe working with a small company for wordpress dev and cloudways management.

How should I work as a freelancer given above points?

I don’t want any unsolicited advice on how I should’ve received payment before the job. I got this through an agency which I’d like to retain my relationship with (although their response after 9 months of chasing was “might have to call this a loss”)

I reached out to the client directly, to which she responded basically “I intend to pay eventually, I can’t tell you when, I don’t have the money right now” but posts her expensive bags and vacations on instagram.

My question: Has anyone had success in taking a client to small claims? If so, any words of advice?

Heyy!! I'm a college going student but I want to do freelancer job globally...so kindly suggest me which online free course should I learn ...(As I'm student I don't have money to invest before earning)...

Hey everyone, I'm doing some research on the experience of freelancers who build software products.

I'd like to understand what actually happens after completing a project. I'd appreciate honest answers:

What do you usually do with software you've built after the project is completed?

Have you ever wanted to reuse or sell something you've already built? What happened?

How do you currently find opportunities to make money from software you've already developed?

What are the biggest challenges you face after completing a software project?

If you've ever tried to generate additional income from an existing project, what made it difficult?

That's it. No need to share any confidential client or project information. I'm just trying to understand the real experience of freelancers.

How can I make 5000$ within just one month 😭

please help me with any advice

I know some email copywriting but I don't know how to get clients with zero experience and my English isn't good 🤧

I’m curious what your actual process looks like once the contract is signed and the payment is done.

Like, where do you take things from there?

Do you have a proper client portal/process, or is it basically a mix of WhatsApp, email, Google Drive, Slack, Notion, etc.?

How do you handle things like getting files from the client, sharing work, getting feedback, revisions, approvals, keeping them updated, and all that?

I’m asking because I’ve been working with clients myself and I feel like the actual “delivery” part gets messy pretty quickly.

Would be really interested to hear how other freelancers/agencies deal with it.

What’s the most annoying part of the whole process for you?

This was honestly my own stupidity. First time doing a 50/50 payment setup with a new client

50% before I start working, 50% after I deliver the final work

And whew… this client complained A LOT. I kept revising and redoing things even though half of what he was asking for wasn’t even in the contract

Then the final delivery came and he kept asking the same two questions over and over

I answered them and literally told him: if you need any adjustments or have any questions, I’m available. That was the final delivery

No response since Friday

I followed up and mentioned the remaining payment because, well… I’m not working with this client again. This was NOT for me

But at this point I’m pretty sure I’m not getting that other 50%

So yeah. Lesson learned

And I really hope karma bites this man on the ass one day. I really do 🙏🏾

I am freshly graduate and trying new sources to earn money. I am thinking of freelancing as a VA but i don't have much skills. I am taking home tuitions some i can say I have communication skills and organising skills. I also understand social media. But I can still very new to freelancing. Any advice will work. So pls tell how to start

I've been working as a software developer for 10+ years and have freelanced alongside my regular career for the past few years.

Historically, most of my freelance clients have come through Fiverr. I'm now trying to move away from relying on marketplaces and attract more serious clients directly, so I've rebuilt my portfolio around that goal.

I'd really appreciate some brutally honest feedback from other freelancers:

• Is it immediately clear what I'm offering?
• Does the site make me seem credible enough for larger development projects?
• Is there anything that would make a potential client hesitate to contact me?
• Does the Project Planner add value or does it feel "gimmicky"?
• Am I missing anything that has helped your own portfolio convert visitors into leads?

Portfolio: codebergsolutions.com

I'm deliberately not going to explain the site too much because if something isn't obvious without me explaining it, that's probably useful feedback too...

Feel free to tear it apart. Design, copy, positioning, pricing, UX... whatever you'd change.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been honing my graphic design skills and recently put together my portfolio. I’m at a point where I really need to start generating income, and I’m trying to figure out if I can realistically make money freelancing with my current skill level.

Here is my portfolio:

🔗 https://www.behance.net/gallery/229791597/Graphic-Design-Portfolio-2025

I would deeply appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to:

1. Rate my portfolio (1-10) and give me brutally honest feedback on what’s working and what needs improvement.

2. Tell me if this is strong enough to attract paying clients in today’s market.

3. Share actionable advice on how to capitalize on these skills. How did you find your first clients? What platforms (Upwork, Fiverr, cold emailing, local businesses) actually work for beginners?

I’m feeling a bit lost on how to bridge the gap between "having skills" and "getting paid for them." Any guidance, resources, or hard truths about starting out in freelancing would be incredibly helpful.

Thank you so much for your time, feedback, and support!

​

I've spent the last few weeks learning, creating and putting my work together into a portfolio.

I create Canva designs, social media posts, carousels, posters, content calendars and other creative content. After constantly hearing, “You need a portfolio to get clients,” I finally stopped overthinking and built one.

But now I'm sitting here with a portfolio... and exactly zero clients 😭

And honestly, this is the part nobody really explains.

How do you get your first client when you don't have previous clients? How do you get experience when clients usually want someone who already has experience?

I'm planning to start reaching out to small businesses and creators, and for my first few projects, I'm even considering offering a small introductory/sample piece of work so they can see my skills before committing.

For people who freelance or have been through this stage:

What would you genuinely do if you were starting from zero again and wanted to get your first 3 clients?

I'd genuinely love some honest advice because I'm currently figuring this whole thing out as I go 😭

hey, just a quick question about invoice generators, what do you guys use? basic word, canva or just an online tool?

As freelancer, when writing a proposal to a customer, do you explain that there is a development life cycle with, e.g., req analysis, development, test and maintenace ?

Does this help the project execution and customer expectations ?

I just posted a gig and signed up on Fiverr because of gpts advice.

I can’t get a side job in my field because I don’t have the required skills to do projects, or side jobs in that. So i thought why not do easy projects like data entry, canva presentation; you get the idea, to make some money on the side as a student.

Upwork had a lot of opportunities like that, but I needed to buy connect to bid for those. Like??? I’m trying to make money here dude. Anyways gpt suggested Fiverr instead, and I have posted a gig there but I don’t know if this site is even legit. Any advice or help guys?

Started freelancing for the first time about 3 weeks ago. Got the gig through a friend who works with an AI automation consultant, he brings in clients, I run the paid media. Current project: Meta Ads lead gen for a law firm in Spain selling a pension/retirement fund product.

Had to build everything from scratch, new FB page (zero followers), new IG, pixel, CAPI, lead forms. I flagged early that Meta needs time to find quality signal, especially with no page history, and that Google Search would probably fit this intent-driven product better. Went with Meta anyway.

Three weeks in: decent volume, mixed lead quality. Client (the automation guy, who relays everything from the law firm) wants constant changes and keeps talking about "turning things around" like there's a dial to adjust or as if we've had the campaign for months, not even a month in.

On top of that, the law firm has no CRM. No offline conversions, no way to feed back which leads actually closed. So I'm optimizing blind on lead quality and get blamed for it anyway. On Friday we launched a lookalike audience off closed deals. He's already asking today (Monday) how it's performing.

I'm done — I've got a company trip to Galápagos in 2 weeks and Mexico in October, so I'm not exactly desperate to keep this going through the stress.

For those who've freelanced longer: is this a standard "problem client" pattern, or should I have set different expectations/scope before touching the ad account? Trying to figure out what to do differently next time — and whether 3 weeks in is too early to walk, or exactly the right call.