Md. Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui grew up in Vijaynagar of Brakshanbaria district. Working on lead generation freelancing he has been awarded as a successful freelancer in the ‘National Freelancer Conference 2023’. He told The Daily Campus about his various experiences with freelancing. Interviewed by Jannatul Ferdous.
The Daily Campus: Your brief introduction
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: I am Md. Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui. My village home is Chandura village of Vijaynagar upazila under Brahmanbaria district. I am the youngest among three brothers. In 2010-11 session, I did Diploma in Computer Technology from Brahmanbaria Polytechnic Institute. I came to Dhaka for work because the family’s financial condition was bad. Later, along with the job, I completed B.Sc in Computer Science from a private university.
In recognition of success in freelancing work, I was also honored as the best freelancer of Chittagong Division at the National Freelancer Conference held in Dhaka on August 19. Along with freelancing to contribute to the community, we jointly launched a freelance based IT company named ‘MIT Solutions’, located in Mohakhali, Dhaka. I am serving as the chief executive officer and technical partner
Alhamdulillah, which has already employed about 30 people. Note that as an agency we also work with web development and graphics design.
Also, my consultancy agency called ‘Mamun Consultancy’ has started on a limited basis. It is essentially a virtual agency. The aim of this organization is to promote entrepreneurship among those working in the freelancing sector and work towards creating successful entrepreneurs. IT sector is a very promising sector. I will work on the model of how to become an entrepreneur from a freelancer if I get proper support, inshallah.
The Daily Campus: What was your start to freelancing?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: My career started with disappointment. My studies almost stopped after the completion of higher secondary examination. Then I started various jobs based on ‘click to earn’ to earn online. But I lost 9000 taka by being associated with this fake job. I was disappointed because of the loss of so much money in the uncertainty about my education, later I enrolled in a training center to learn Microsoft Office, Excel or official work on the inspiration of my elder brother.
After a few days I started learning new things by purchasing a multimedia recorded course and creating a profile on Odesk (now Upwork).
In the beginning I felt like giving up due to not getting work for a long time. At that time, we started a computer repair and training center in the area to solve the financial problems of the family. However, as I was not successful, I came to Dhaka and started working as an intern in an organization. While doing internship, I try to make myself competent for this work besides having a good idea about freelancing work. After working in the company for about eight years, I started freelancing myself completely.
The Daily Campus: Why did you choose digital marketing for freelancing? How important do you think this is in freelancing?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: The company I started working in Dhaka was based on freelancing. From the beginning, I have been working with B2B Lead Generation, a sector of digital marketing The demand for this job is high and the demand is increasing day by day which is why this sector is chosen
In today’s world, direct marketing is more effective in finding targeted audience for smart marketing. That’s why B2B lead generation is very important in freelancing and it also helps in finding clients for yourself Also, it is a bit easier than other skills and is also very popular
The Daily Campus: What was your first job and income feeling in freelancing?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: The first successful job from Marketplace was just $20 and the job was also related to B2B Lead Generation. It is not possible to explain the love that worked then Notably, I am still in occasional contact with the client who landed my first job Greetings are exchanged to each other on various religious festivals.
The Daily Campus: What were the barriers to starting freelancing and how did you overcome them?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: ‘Besides the job, I started freelancing in full swing in 2014. At that time I was basically doing project based freelancing in a 50-50 deal with the former company owner. Suddenly due to a big project he offered me a permanent or fixed salary job in that company. If you don’t agree, tell them not to work online. Then I started working in his company with fixed salary. At the same time I continued to work on the Fiverr and Upwork marketplaces personally. But after a few days due to change in company policies I was prevented from doing freelancing personally and all my profiles on online marketplaces were invalidated.
Finally, on March 23, 2022, I quit my eight-year freelance based job and started working as a full-time freelancer. Note that my former company also disabled my top-rated Upwork profile when I left my job.
Since my job career was based on freelancing, I used that experience to free myself from the curse of unemployment by opening a completely new profile in my name and in the name of my family members.
The Daily Campus: What causes failure in freelancing?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: In any endeavor there will be both success and failure. But the problem starts when promising freelancers fail again and again due to similar reasons and get lost in the crowd of competition, which is very sad. Below are some of the reasons for failure in freelancing in my opinion
=) Lack of adequate and proper skills:-
Many young entrepreneurs/freelancers start their careers with greed or misinformation. Many people think that having a computer or Android mobile and having an account on Fiver / Upwork can earn thousands of dollars. Many enroll in bogus training centers or courses without checking and drop out due to lack of adequate and proper skills
=) Weakness in English:
Most of the freelancers are not able to succeed in this sector due to weakness in English in our country If one wants to be successful as a freelancer, one must have good English skills
=) Lack of proper planning:-
To be successful in any work, there must be a proper plan In this sector there is not one skill and one client working all year round. Therefore, you should have a detailed idea of what time of the year to work with, when any client may need any type of work. If there is a lack of proper planning then many obstacles will be faced to succeed
The Daily Campus: What can be the right guideline for freshers?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: Freelancing is one of the most attractive professions of today. You can earn more in less time at home and have freedom of work. But the problem is in other places who want to learn new freelancing. Encouraged by various advertisements, they come to work in the marketplaces without focusing on their skills for the sake of income.
As their first target is earning money, they don’t give much importance to work. The resulting failure to perform according to the buyer’s requirements resulted in a bad review, which downgraded their gig. In the beginning, there is hope
Advice for beginners from own experience; Learn work from a good organization or mentor Then at least 3-6 months working in a team or agency should prepare yourself and come to the marketplace with a complete idea
The Daily Campus: Talk about building up a freelancer’s portfolio.
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: A portfolio is a summary or display of personal work, used to showcase one’s skills and samples of previous work. Portfolios can be of different types according to different tasks Example: The website can be your own or another site like Behance, Dribble if you are doing graphics, WordPress.com or Blogger.com if you are a website, Medium.com if you are an article writer then you can create a portfolio.
The Daily Campus: As a Bangladeshi freelancer, what problems do you face to continue your work?
Mamunur Rashid Siddiqui: There are many barriers to freelancing in the Bangladeshi context, especially in rural areas. Electricity and internet are not enough facilities in my view. Because still when I go to the village I have to suffer from electricity problems or load shedding. Also, the dual currency cards we use to buy various tools have very low limits There are a lot of problems to be faced when buying online
