Wanna Be a Raketeer? Check Out Raket.ph!

I’ve been a freelancer for two and a half years now. Deciding to leave my full time job to be a freelancer was the best decision I’ve ever made but also one of the scariest.

It was scary because I knew nothing about being a freelancer. All I had were my skills, my laptop and an Internet connection. However, I had no prospective clients. I didn’t even know what type of freelancing work (“raket”) I was going to do. All I knew was that I needed to find legitimate work that pays well.  I guess, I was just lucky that I ended up where I am now through sheer determination and networking.

There were plenty of times before when I wished that there was more help out there for newbie freelancers like me. Especially challenging was trying to find clients because I was initially only limited to networking with close family and friends.

Nowadays, more and more friends of mine have been asking me how to go about it because they’ve seen what I have already accomplished so far. Some of their frequently asked questions include:

What type of work/raket can I do?

How can I start?

What do I need?

Where do I find jobs/clients?

How do I get paid?

I try to help freelancers through the posts I write on this blog, mostly lessons I’ve learned through my own experience. I help my friends get jobs when I can. But now I hope I would be able to help more of you by presenting this site called, Raket.ph, which I just recently learned about.

Let me tell you what I have learned so far.

What is Raket.ph?

Raket.ph is a directory of Freelancers & Professionals in the Philippines. It follows an on-demand model wherein clients and freelancers communicate and arrange deals directly.

Raket.ph has been fully operational since May 2014 and since then it has welcomed over 8,000 Raketeers. These Raketeers come from different parts of the country and are skilled across the board.

How does it work?

1. Raketeers (the freelancers) create their own professional profile on Raket for FREE. They can even load their portfolios from Flickr, Photobucket, YouTube, and Google Drive.
2. Clients who are looking to hire someone just need to browse through the site’s categories or simply make a search. They can easily filter results by location and budget and can also compare different profiles.
3. Once the client finds a person they would like to work with, they can contact the Raketeer directly through message, chat or even mobile.
4. The deal is arranged between the client and Raketeer. Raketeers get paid on the agreed terms and modes of payment. Clients, on the other hand, can write a review about the Raketeer’s services – helping other clients make better choices for their projects.
5. Raketeers earn points for these reviews, which allow them to earn badges to help identify their level of expertise. All these will be under their own custom URL.

What are its benefits?

Based from what I’ve seen on Raket so far, I can see that the site is beneficial to both Raketeers and clients.

Clients will now find it easier to find professional individuals who can successfully accomplish the tasks they need to get done. They can find all sorts of professionals on the site ranging from Arts & Multimedia, IT, Business, Finance, Legal, Entertainment, Lifestyle and more.

Raketeers, on the other hand, will also benefit because their profiles can be seen by thousands of clients from around the world, which increases their chances of being considered and hired for a job. In fact, Raketeers can list themselves in more than one category if they have more skills and capabilities.

Although the company only stated in May 2014, thousands of locations have already been served and numerous working relationships have been made. Some of their Raketeers apparently earn P 10,000 or more per project while others. Raket.ph is also widening their reach with 20% of clients coming from international locations.

They continue to improve their services though and have recently partnered with VMoney to make transactions between clients and Raketeers easier and even more secure while at the same time releasing their mobile app very soon for easier communication in the future.

Honestly, if I wasn’t already up to my neck with work these days, I’d be actively using Raket.ph already. But even if I’m not looking for work, I’d be putting up a profile in the site for sure. You never know, right?

For more info about Raket’s services, visit raket.ph or visit them on Facebook or Twitter.