Category: Guides

Benefits of Using Bookings Africa

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

Few things in life have RELIEF written all over them like taking your wig off or taking off your shoes after a long day of work. Using Bookings Africa has that very same effect. I mean can you beat having to get organized, get booked, and get paid all in one place?

And that’s not all, there’s more. 

The features of the Booking Africa platform are tailored to the freelancer’s everyday, work-life needs. It helps freelancers with their promptness and professionalism towards their clients and it also ensures that the freelancers have a well-rounded online profile. The Bookings Africa App is even more fitting as it is very on-the-go in terms of ease.

Frankly speaking, everyone should sign up as a freelancer on Bookings Africa. 

Need more convincing, check out these benefits:

Professional Profile: Optimum professionalism is guaranteed when using BA (Bookings Africa). The registration process for both clients and service providers is very easy to navigate. You can upload your portfolio, pictures, and videos thereby increasing your versatility and credibility. Here’s an article where we share how to upload your portfolio.

Guaranteed Payment: Our wallet tab shows you where to find payment transactions. The Escrow wallet shows you where your money is stored before a booking is completed and then the available wallet shows payment after a booking is completed. With this, you are assured of your payment and you can track your finances. The whole process of transfer is also automated so yeah, big win for us the non-techies.

Upload work portfolio: No need for any external links. All information about you and your freelance gigs is all in one place. You can upload your portfolio right there on the app.

Social media Promotion: After properly uploading your profile, you are provided with a unique link that you can share on all social media platforms. This link can help you get more bookings. And if you want to go the extra mile, you can run sponsored Ads on your services and convert your special link to a landing page for all leads. Cool right?

Access to a Client Demand: We want our freelancers to be as professional as possible and so we went ahead to create an app for you. Via the Bookings Africa App, you get notified as soon as a client books you. You also get access to all your scheduled appointments. The features of this app set a freelancer up for success. 

Note: If a booking is not confirmed within an hour, Bookings Africa automatically declines on behalf of the service provider/freelancer. So we encourage you to download the app on Android or iOS.

Ability to Set price rates and availability: You can set competitive prices and your available time on the Bookings Africa site or app. You can choose to earn a fixed price or charge per hour, you can also decide to work on Sundays if it is your cup of tea.  The site embraces any availability you set, allowing you time for personal things. The best part has to be that the setting is haggle-free. No frustrating back and forth. Whew!

Penalty charged to clients for late cancelations: We protect the interest of all users. As such, if any client cancels a booking less than 48 hours before the time of completion, we charge a penalty fee. The client is obliged to pay 50% of the agreed Service Provider’s rate. Service providers need to not worry about the intricacies because we resolve the challenges. However, if you experience any challenges, contact us. 

Track sales, growth, and credit history:  Joseph Assah, a Bookings Africa service provider, spoke about the tracking benefits of using the app. You should be able to track if you are advancing in your freelancer career in terms of sales, ratings, reviews, and income. 

The Bookings Africa app gives you access to all these analytics without you paying a dime. The Gig Industry is growing so rapidly, join the train today!

How to Sign Up for Multiple Professions on Bookings Africa.

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

You are allowed to have a maximum of three professions on the Bookings Africa platform. 

Before we get to the how let’s tell you why you need to have multiple professions on your profile. 

At Bookings Africa, we believe that Africans are super talented and deserve an equal playing ground in the world and so we created one of the largest gig markets for Africans, by Africans. Most people have multiple talents and as such, our platform is optimized to accommodate this diversity because we believe in unlocking your earning potential. More professions, more money; it’s a no-brainer. 

Just so you know, a profession is different from a service. Service providers signed up on Bookings Africa are professionals who offer various services. A profession is a broad category or a specialization while a service is any activity rendered to benefit another person. For instance, an accountant is a profession while book-keeping is a service. You can set up three different professions on your profile but you can offer as many services as you want. 

We encourage all service providers to add more professions to their profiles as this increases their earning potential. Users can search up to 30 different professions on Bookings Africa.

Sign Up for Multiple Professions in 3 Simple Steps.

If you are a new service provider, follow all three steps but if you are an already existing service provider, you can jump to step three.

  1. Sign up on Bookings Africa: Bookings Africa is only available to registered users. You’ll need to sign up as a service provider with accurate details. 

2. Complete your profile: Provide all the necessary information as required. Ensure that you complete setting up your profile and with valid information.

3. Go to Your Account: On your account dashboard, click on My Services. Click on New service and then fill out the required information for another profession. 

Your account is now set up with more than one profession. Don’t forget to upload your portfolio and set comparative prices.

How to Develop a Standout Profile for Bookings Africa 

Posted on by Sandra Adodo

 

With over 15,000 service providers on the platform, the competition is considerably high. 

The first significant step to being noticed in your niche on the Bookings Africa platform is to develop a profile that stands out. A professional profile will not only grab the attention of potential clients but will make your profile distinguished.                                                                              

In this article, we will highlight the top six tips every freelancer on the Bookings Africa online marketplace needs to know to create a stand-out profile.

Keep reading.

  1. Introduce yourself briefly

The first thing to keep your profile unique is to create a clear and direct bio.  It is true that you have a lot to say but more than just writing different irrelevant things, pick the important ones and keep it short. If you are a makeup artist, there is no point talking about your photography skills if that is not the skill you are selling. Remember to add a call to action at the end of your bio to encourage the client to book you.

  1. Share your experience 

As a service provider, you have many features to enjoy on the Booking Africa platform. Those features will accommodate all the experiences the clients will find valuable. If you have been practicing this craft for long, you can state the number of years in the business. Also, listing the prominent people you have worked with will be a major boost to your portfolio. Another experience worth sharing is the publications you did in the past that went viral or the total number of engagement it got. If you don’t have all these, you can talk about your vocational education background and how that has propelled your career. 

  1. Use a professional tailored profile picture.

Uploading a professional headshot to your profile has a significant impact on how your client views you. Your profile picture is like the first interview you get with the client. Though, it is not required that you take a full picture but having a random picture placed in the profile picture section is not a good idea. If, as hairstylist, you don’t have a professional picture displaying the craft, going to the studio now is the best call to action. Also, a chef needs to have a picture of either a well-made food alone or you carrying the food. The professional picture tailored to your talent will show the client that you know your craft and they can trust you.

  1. Upload the best sample in the portfolio section

Sometimes, it can be tempting to want to show off, especially when you want to create a stand-out profile. But, first, calm down!  If you are yet to explore the Bookings Africa features, the perfect time to do so is now. You can add images, videos, audio and documents to your portfolio section. But, as you upload, look for the best of the many that will make you standout. So, if you are a voice-over artist, the primary asset that your portfolio requires is not a document but the best of the audio and videos if they are available. Also, for a model or an actor, you will concentrate on videos and images of you acting. Ultimately, fill your portfolio with rich quality information the client will need not everything you have done over the years. 

  1. Analyze your profile one last time

Once you have followed all the tips listed above, it is time to review your profile again. This time around, make sure you are client-driven. This means that from the bio to the call to action, let your client know that you want to help them. Yes, you are showing your skills in the process, but you are also building trust in all that you put on your profile. Also, remember to set up your availability and prices by completing your profile. Finally, make sure you check for errors. Proofread your bio section and all other sections that need review.

So, you see, creating a profile that will stand out is as simple as A-B-C, and you can get yours done today. Take note that the update doesn’t stop here. Once you get booked after making these adjustments, update your profile with the recent job and keep standing out on the Bookings Africa platform.

Make Money as a Bookings Africa Digital Influencer

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

Unlike celebrities, influencers/influencing is one of the fastest-growing professions in the 21st century. If your goal is to become an influencer in 2022, you need to be armed with the resources to launch you to success.

In your quest for financial freedom, be sure to explore all options available and influencing is one of the ways to financial freedom. 

Influencer as the word implies refers to an individual who can convince a set of people to like a service, product, or person without sounding like a salesman. Influencer marketing is the newbie digital marketing method that is making a lot of waves in such a short while. 

Once an influencer has a large and loyal following, can sway people’s decision-making process, and is known as an industry leader, brands and businesses are willing to pay their rates to grow their businesses. 

Now, you might ask, “How much do influencers make?”. Influencer marketing industry grew from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020. In 2021, it soared to $13.8 billion and has reached $16.4 billion in 2022. This is an indication of steady growth and it will only keep growing as the world keeps growing digitally and advancing in technology. In fact, our Bookings Africa top influencer spoke about this here.

Ways to Become a Digital Influencer

Here a few ways to kickstart your journey as a social media influencer:

1. Pick a niche: In Influencer marketing, niching is a big deal. You can decide to influence in two or more related industries but brands interested in working with you must know you for a particular niche. 

For instance, you can decide to become a beauty and fashion influencer (this is one of the top influencer jobs). Your branding or social media posts can revolve around hair tutorials, make-up hacks, and fashion tips. Alongside beauty influencing, you can also add a few lifestyle posts. These two industries: beauty & fashion and lifestyle, are closely related and do not have so much disparity. 

Niching is important because it helps your visibility. It assures your potential partners and collaborators that you know your stuff and it establishes your position as an industry leader. If you are just starting as an influencer, take some time to learn about industries, then find one that matches your skills and gifts. If you already started without having this knowledge, it’s okay to start over or rebrand from where you are.

 

2. Start Branding: You’ve picked your niche. The next thing is to start building your brand. This will involve you creating clean, crisp content regularly and posting it on your feed. In this digital age, videos reach a wider audience so you might want to infuse lots of high-quality videos on your page. 

At the stage of branding, you should decide what your brand tone and voice would be. Be intentional about being authentic and real because if you start a brand in a certain way, then you have to maintain it. 

Tip: No one likes fake people so be yourself every time. 

 

3. Build a community: Since influencer marketing is big on loyalty and numbers, you should be focused on building a community. Your community is your tribe. You build one by responding to DMs and comments as respectfully and as often as you can. 

People like to be acknowledged. So if your content is relatable and speaks to your audience’s gain and pain points, they’ll appreciate you. Influencers are known for adding value to the lives of their communities so ensure that your posts are interactive and engaging.

Talking about engagements, most brands will only work with influencers who have a high engagement. So ensure that you can notice the active contributors in your community. A fair engagement rate for an influencer is between 6-7%. Any percentage above 10 is considered to be viral. Use influencer engagement tools to calculate your rates frequently.

 

4. Networking: The world is a global village and you never know who views your content. As much as you can, support the craft of other influencers, collaborate, and partner with other influencers. 

Attend events relevant to your niche and network. Talk about what you do as often as possible and just enjoy being you.

 

5. Sign up: If you are looking to take your influencer work seriously, then you have to sign up on the Bookings Africa Platform as an influencer. 

Ensure that you set up your profile properly and set comparative prices. This will help your visibility and help you make more money.

Becoming a Bookings Africa influencer is a great way to grow in your career but you need to have something going for you. You can become a Digital Influencer on Bookings Africa by registering on the website or filling out this form.

How to set Competitive Prices as a Service Provider

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

Congratulations! You’ve finally decided to sign up as a service provider on Bookings Africa. The next question on your mind is, “How do I get clients on Bookings Africa?”.

First, you must understand that an attractive profile is one of the determining factors that will set you apart. Therefore, it is imperative that you set up an outstanding profile and then go ahead to set your availability and prices.

Let’s talk about pricing a little. African local markets are known for one thing: haggling. Everyone who shops in any local market always haggles. Typically, the buyer has in mind a product he wants to buy and then goes on to find a seller that suits his budget, preference, and perception. 

At Bookings Africa, we allow our users have that same marketplace feel: Search, Compare, Book. So how do you become the choice service provider amongst many others?

Guide User’s Perception 

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. In setting up your profile, how you describe your service is key. Most users want to spend as less time as possible on the platform when choosing a service provider. Help them make that process faster by guiding their perception of you.

To win a client over, think like one. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Am I impressed by my profile?
  • Does my profile make a good first impression?
  • Will I book me?

If a haggard-looking salesman and a finely-dressed salesman approached you to sell you a book: HOW TO BE RICH, who would you rather buy from?

Perception is how something or someone is understood or regarded. It is true that you might know your onions and that you know your work well but if your packaging looks mediocre, no one will patronize your service. 

Always put your best foot forward. Fill up the video and picture segments in your profile with mouth-watering proofs of your work that leave your potential clients thirsty for your services. 

Conduct A Market Research

No one starts off building a house without considering the size of his pocket. That’s the same way no service provider should kick off their freelance career without first conducting market research. You should have an idea of what users look out for when considering booking services in your category. 

What amount is too high? Which is just right? 

Conducting market research saves you the stress of guessing or adjusting your prices now and then. 

Hers’s a quick way to conduct market research:

  1. Ask your friends, family, and acquaintances how much they would be willing to pay for the service you are offering.
  2. Create a questionnaire that will reach a wide range of audiences, asking them their pricing preferences for the services you offer. 
  3. Use the internet to your advantage and do deep research.
  4. Find out how much your competitors charge.

It is important to remember that your value matters in the decision process. Do not undercharge just to please a market you have no interest in serving and do not overcharge when you know you’ll underdeliver.

This takes us back to perception. How you want to be perceived determines your pricing strategy. When you think of Toyota, you think of affordability and durability. When you think of Ferrari, you think luxury. Depending on how you want to be perceived, conduct research in that line.  

If you want to be an affordable brand, research the unique selling points of an affordable service provider on Bookings Africa. If you only offer premium services, ensure that your target audience also book freelancers. 

The more informed you are, the more informed decisions you make and ultimately the more competitive your pricing. 

Pricing Strategy

Setting competitive prices is a strategic move businesses use. Freelancers can also adopt these strategies to their advantage.

  1. Sell your services in a bundle: Let’s assume Dave signed up as a Videographer on the Bookings Africa Platform. Dave can add as many services as he offers under the profession: Videographer. That means he can decide to sell his services in bundles.

His services can include:

  • Video Shoot only (N35,000/Physical)
  • Editing Only (N30,000/Physical)
  • Video Shoot and Editing only (N50,000/Physical)
  • Video Script Writing only (20,000/Virtual)
  • Scripting, Shooting, and Editing (70,000/Physical)

In actuality, Dave offers three major services under the Videographer profession but he has also created two extra bundle services. When potential clients know that they can save money booking a bundled service, they will most likely book. 

Coca-Cola uses a similar strategy. Customers always go for an offer that saves them money. 

This pricing strategy is highly effective and can also work for newbie freelancers on the Bookings Africa platform.

  1. Another pricing strategy is to gradually increase your pricing as your clientele increases. The strategy here is to start at a lower price than you would usually charge and then grow your client base on that fixed price.  After a while, you can gradually increase your rates. 

This goal is to ensure that all your booked clients rate your services and leave a review on your page. This enforces your credibility and professionalism as a freelancer. 

Setting your availability

Once your profile and pricing are sorted, the next thing will be to choose your available working hours. You want to choose days that work for you. 

Simple techniques for determining your availability include:

  • If you work a 9-5 alongside your freelance hustle, you might set your available hours for weekends. 
  • Leave a day open for all Bookings Africa gigs. For instance, depending on the type of services a hairstylist with a physical store offers, he/she shouldn’t fix any client’s books on Wednesdays. Wednesdays should be reserved for potential gigs from Bookings Africa. 
  • Work only when you can excellently deliver on the job. 

In summary, pricing and availability are two variables that must be set with precaution and honesty. Freelancers can grow their careers in no time. When the price and time are right, you are sure to get bookings. 

How to Upload Your Portfolio on Bookings Africa

Posted on by Sandra Adodo

 

Are you a service provider on the Bookings Africa platform, and you ask what steps to take to upload your portfolio? The good news is- you are not alone on this boat, as many other service providers are asking similar questions. But beyond that, the unspoken question is “how to make your portfolio stand out among the many freelancers in your niche”. In this article, we have highlighted the step-by-step process of what you need to do to upload your portfolio and a bonus point on how to make it unique. Ready to learn? Let’s dive in!

Step one: Open an account.

If you already have a service provider account on the Bookings Africa platform, you can skip step one to the next step. But, if you don’t, this is the best time to join the on-demand gig marketplace to position yourself properly as a freelancer in Africa. The account opening process is seamless. You can check out the basic things you need to open an account here before proceeding to step two.

Step two: Login to your account

Once you have successfully created a Bookings Africa service provider account, log in to the platform through your computer, IOS or Android device. This shouldn’t take more than five seconds for you to be in your new account.

Step three: Open the menu button.

To access where to upload your portfolio, you need to click on the menu button that shows different options. Among the options, you will see a ‘portfolio’ where everything you want your potential client to see can be uploaded.

Step four: Upload your portfolio.

On the upload option, you found in step three, click on it and see ‘add portfolio’. Once you click on it, it will take you to the media section of your phone or computer, and you can select as much as you want. When that is completed, your portfolio will automatically update and be visible to everyone that opens it.

Bonus step – Filtering

Having read all these steps, it is great to be eager to start uploading; but it is essential you filter the content. If you are a voice-over artist and want your portfolio to stand out, you should be more concerned about the audio quality of your recording. During the filtering stage, you should be able to spot the best recordings you have and disregard the less appealing ones. This is important, especially if you want your potential client to stay glued to your portfolio and eventually book you.

Ultimately, knowing how to upload your portfolio will only be beneficial when the right content is in the eyes of the clients. Therefore, follow these four above-listed steps but don’t forget to incorporate the bonus point to stand out in your field.

Four Ways You Can Achieve Your Goals Using Bookings Africa

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

Bookings Africa is one of Africa’s largest gig markets with over 15,000 registered service providers. Freelancers from many walks of life call it home. You can hire makeup artists, chefs, photographers, actors, event planners, accountants, and other professionals through the platform.

Since the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been compelled to adjust to new techniques of hiring and outsourcing. The innovation of technology has also helped facilitate this quick transition. 

Irrespective of whether you own a business or work as an employee, we all have goals. These goals stem from childhood dreams and our ever-evolving ambitions. Outsourcing or hiring a freelancer is one of the many ways you can achieve your goals faster.

Reasons Why Businesses Outsource to Freelancers

Businesses and organizations discovered that their employees don’t need to be seated behind a desk, dressed in business attire, and work a standard 9-5 schedule. With the stay-at-home policies that came with C0VID-19, most employees were under obligation to work remotely to meet and exceed deadlines.

As a result, businesses turned to expert freelancers to get their new goals achieved.

Apart from running their firms, business owners have other goals and priorities, and hiring full-time employees can be time-consuming and difficult at times. Having full-on staff will usually necessitate the presence of freelancers on-site, to supervise and, on occasion, take on additional tasks that should normally be handled by their employees. Business owners will have less time to devote to other areas of their lives as a result of this.

Some business owners and even employees require time to learn a skill or engage in recreational activities with friends and family. Others want to enroll in a professional training program, or simply travel. The central objective is that people want to free up time. More and more people are looking for ways to do less but earn more.

Rather than allowing their workload to suffocate them and prevent them from pursuing these goals, they hire freelancers to relieve the pressure and provide them with the time they require.

Four Ways to Achieve Your Goals

By hiring a freelancer, you can develop a flexible schedule and make more income or profit either at your job or business.

The following are four compelling reasons to hire a freelancer.

1. Cost-cutting: Employees who work full-time require a lot of upkeep. Business owners must also pay salaries in addition to paying costs for electricity, water, and office space. 

Not only that, but business owners are also responsible for expenses such as training, end-of-year incentives, and health insurance. Freelancers on the other hand help to reduce these costs. They do not require a space in the office. They also aren’t included in company and employee benefits. 

When you engage freelancers, the terms are laid out in advance. There is no expectation of long-term work, so if your numbers decline, you can abruptly stop sourcing tasks to freelancers.

You won’t have to worry about computer log-ins, health-care issues, or potential legal issues. Hiring a freelancer is simple, and you may change the contract before making a final decision to ensure that your business is set up for success at every stage of the process.

When it comes to employing freelancers, pricing is also a significant plus. The majority of freelancers charge industry-standard rates for their services.

This means that outsourcing tasks to a freelancer will boost your profits and free up funds for other uses in your small business budget. 

Individuals who also want to cut costs can Search, Compare and Book on the Bookings Africa platform to see the best fit for their budget.

2. Scheduling flexibility: Freelancers are known for their availability on-demand. Many freelancers in their various skills provide services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These experts are used to working in a variety of environments and have a track record of meeting deadlines. Because most freelancers don’t get paid by the hour, they’re also eager to complete projects. You can expect your work to be completed on time even if you engage a freelancer on a retainer or package agreement because the freelancer isn’t paid until the job is delivered to you.

It’s a win-win situation for both you and the freelancer you hire. 

They also want to establish a positive working connection with business owners like you so that they may anticipate more work in the future. This suggests they aren’t scared to go above and beyond to fulfill a tight deadline while still delivering high-quality results.

Once you’ve established a great working relationship with a highly competent freelancer, they’ll be able to provide you with the flexibility you need so that you and your full-time workers can focus on other time-sensitive projects.

3. Specialized expertise: You might not realize it, but the majority of freelancers are just as talented and capable as full-time employees. Some freelancers are specialists in their profession because they work to develop their skills regularly.

This is because, to get new freelance jobs, freelancers must keep up with industry trends, and businesses can easily tap into the expertise of these talented freelancers. 

As a business owner, if you need help with a project, such as a web design, copywriting, or creating templates for an e-mail campaign, you know that there are times when no one is available to pick up the slack. So, it all falls on you.

Finding a freelancer who has spent years honing that skill, offers more insights into how to make that project a success and also takes the pressure off you. 

A freelancer’s experience determines how much value they can add to your business. Without investing in internal resources or adding a permanent job to their payroll, the company can profit from the freelancer’s experience.

Freelancers are flexible with their time and so can meet targets, they are resilient and often have good time management.

4. New perspectives: Freelancers are hired primarily for their creative abilities. They can see beyond the situation and generate new ideas that can benefit businesses. They appear to be always relaxed working from home because they are not in a work environment that could put pressure on their performance. As a result, they can brainstorm and find business loopholes.

Taking breaks and setting their work hours are two things that help freelancers create a clean environment in which to generate fresh ideas.

These are just a handful of the reasons why freelancers rather than full-time staff should be hired.

More than 15,000 freelance service providers are available on the Bookings Africa platform. Bookings Africa can help you find whatever type of freelancer for your business and personal needs.

How to Attract More Clients for Your Business and Make More Money

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

There’s no debate that the freelance industry is highly profitable and almost everyone is asking, “How do I make more money online?”

There are several ways to make money online these days but for the purpose of this article, we will focus on freelancing as a source of income. It’s exciting to see the projections in the Gig industry and there are several ways you can partake in this growth. Before we proceed, you must understand what qualities clients look out for when choosing a freelancer to work with. 

How to earn from home

1. Become a Freelancer: One of the best ways to earn extra income right now is by freelancing. Becoming a freelancer is relatively easy. If you are still wondering why you should become one, you should read this.

Bookings Africa is one of Africa’s finest gig markets; created by Africans for the betterment of Africa. After you sign up, follow the steps below to begin your journey of earning from home.

2. Set up a professional booking page: In the online space, there are lots of distinguishing factors and presentation is one of them. Potential clients will sieve through your appearance i.e. your profile before they take a look at your offer (price).

Always put your best foot forward when setting up an online profile and by best foot, we mean to get all the professional help you can. You might want to hire a professional photographer to help out with your display picture. You need a clean and crisp image with all your facial features displayed clearly. 

In addition to a great headshot, you also need a great bio. Your bio should immediately tell us what you are about. A great bio should contain your name, your role as a service provider, and your biggest aspirations. 

Fun fact: You can also include a quirky fact about you that will help your target clients easily relate to your personality.

3. Create an inviting offer: Your offer is the unique selling point that distinguishes you from freelancers offering the same services as you. 

To set up an offer, you’ll need to ask the following questions:

i. What can I do effortlessly? Can I sell it as a service?

ii. Who will I sell this service to?

iii. At what price will I sell this service? What are my competitors offering?

Based on your expertise and brand, your offer will differ from other service providers. Ensure that you do not charge lower than your worth just because you want to get clients but set competitive prices that make your offer attractive to your target clients. 

In setting an offer, it is also important to package your services in a bundle. A make-up artist should not only offer make-up as the only service. You can include complementary or other services such as gele-tying. This way, you can charge higher and your clients will be happy to pay because you are saving them the cost of hiring more than one service provider. Likewise, a French Tutor can offer tutoring services and sell French materials that will aid learning. Whatever the offer you create, ensure that your clients will be happy to book your services. How you do that is up to you and your creativity. A great offer helps you to make money from home.

4. Excellent customer service: Clients love to be treated like royalty even if they aren’t.  As a service provider, it is your responsibility to assure your clients of first-class treatment regardless of the nature of your offer. 

From inception, always remember to speak politely, be honest about what you can do, and be your authentic self. You might not always like all the things your clients do or demand but you can learn to manage client expectations by being clear about what you offer and then taking your clients through an onboarding session. 

Always endeavor to keep your clients at ease and satisfied. Excellent customer service always brings about referrals and great reviews/ratings. 

At the end of every service, ask for a review.

5. Import clients: Before setting up your gig account, you might have had a few customers. If you do, inform them that they can only book you through your Bookings Africa page. This way, you add credibility to your sales page and you have access to analytics of how your freelance business is doing. 

Furthermore, importing these clients will give your freelancing a professional touch. To make the import stress free, you can offer to set up their customer profile on the Bookings Africa platform and also offer discounts to clients who book you through bookingsafrica.com. 

The use of referral codes will further boost your sales online. This is one sure way to make money online.

6. Broadcast: Do not sit on your hands waiting for clients to search you out. Be proactive. Post your business on your social pages, and tell your friends and family about what you do too. At events, network by informing people about how your freelance services can ease stress in their life. 

No matter what you do, never be silent about your work.

The Gig industry is gradually becoming saturated but that’s not a reason not to join this winning team. It has however become your responsibility to position your services in an attractive way potential clients cannot resist.

Working from home is very profitable. Play your cards right and you’ll earn more while doing less. 

How to Create Your Online Masterclass: Set Yourself for Success

Posted on by Sandra Adodo

One of the ways to build authority and show expertise is to host online masterclass sessions. You can be an expert in your unique field and be unknown until you take a step to show a more extensive audience your expertise through sessions like masterclasses. By teaching a topic in your niche, you will not only be creating a name for yourself, but you will make money whilst doing so. 

At Bookings Africa, we help individuals or organizations to host their masterclass session by using our online learning platform. Through hosting masterclasses you can build and increase brand awareness to a prospective audience. 

In this blog post, we will outline the essential steps you need to host a successful online masterclass.

Top tips for a successful masterclass 

  1. Know your audience 

When planning to host a masterclass session, one of the things to not overlook is finding out what kind of audience you will be speaking to. Many people often assume that all their audience falls into the same category, but that is often not true. There are three categories of audience you are likely to meet.

  1. The experts- those skilled like yourself looking for new information in your niche 
  2. The learners – those looking to become like you
  3. The onlookers- those who just want to know what you have to say because the topic interests them.

To satisfy these three categories, you must be able to share educational information, ingenious ideas and acknowledge them all. With that, you will be able to deliver effectively to all three classes of people. 

2. Choose a high-demand topic or content. 

Have a Masterclass checklist with a list of topics you can choose from (Take note to include value-add topics). Understand the problems you want to solve and have answers for definite questions your audience might likely ask. Going through a checklist would ensure that you have all your i’s dotted and t’s crossed.  

3. Use storytelling to construct content 

One of the significant-end goals of a masterclass session is to reach a bigger picture: online courses or webinars. Hence, if the content of your masterclass is not convincing or exciting, they won’t take action on any call to action. A good way to make your content engaging is through storytelling. By telling stories or relating the content to a story, it will help fuel the audience to listen to you more and even refer to your content. 

4. Drive engagement always 

A masterclass session is a live event, which means your audience needs to be captured throughout the lecture to encourage you to continue. During a session, you must ask questions to keep your audience engaged. Sometimes, the level of audience interaction will drop, which is possible if they need to attend to other things. Regardless, you can still keep the remaining people focused on you by throwing in a giveaway that many would love to respond to.

5. Check the competition. 

Without a doubt, your content will not be the first in the market, which means there are competitors to study. Before pushing your content out, look at what your competitors are offering and what they are yet to offer. This will help you differentiate what you bring to the table and that of your competitors. Plus, you can address the topic differently from how others have been delivering. It will be more interesting for your audience to listen to a different method of delivery which is what you will aim at. 

Here are your go-to tips you need to prepare for a successful masterclass session. Need assistance with setting up your first masterclass? Send us an email on the Bookings Africa platform.

Hire Quality Freelancers/Gig Workers

Posted on by Ugochi Obilonu

Trusting a freelancer who you have never met to deliver on a task you paid for is quite daunting but it doesn’t have to be rocket science. In four easy moves, you should be able to identify the right gig worker fit for you.

Attributes of a Quality Freelancer 

In the gig industry, one of the most troubling questions customers ask is, “How do I know which freelancer to hire amongst many options?”. With hundreds of individuals joining the gig market every day, it’s only expected that customers ask these questions. 

Every quality freelancer or gig worker should have the following:

  1. A good headshot: This seems inconsequential but it isn’t. If they take their appearance seriously, it is an indication that they also take their work seriously. A good headshot provides a brief insight into the personality of the freelancer. 

A clear, crisp image, revealing their facial features, immediately communicates to the potential customer that the freelancer is authentic.  A good headshot is a freelancer’s first take at making a good impression on the mind of the customer.

  1. A unique bio: What you say about yourself speaks volumes to a person who’s just meeting you. As a client, you should read your potential hire’s bio and immediately feel the urge to do business with him. 

A unique bio is concise yet carries all the relevant information. It highlights the unique value proposition of the freelancer and then shows the personality of the gig worker. When deciding on a quality freelancer to hire, look out for ingenuity.

  1. Organized Portfolio: If there’s no collection of work attributed to the gig-worker, you should keep searching. Irrespective of if the gig worker is new to the marketplace, there should be something that shows us what kind of work they’ve done or are into. 

An organized portfolio should showcase the style of work, the process of work, and the final result. For example, a makeup artist’s portfolio should show the before and after of a completed job; a graphic designer can upload a video reel showing the process of design from initiation to completion. 

Good work should be showcased creatively, and compactly.

  1. Reviews and Ratings: Based on the caliber of work a freelancer does, they should get ratings or reviews. Reviews give an insight into the quality of service a client received while ratings give an overview of how hire-able a freelancer is. 

In the case where a freelancer is new to the gig market, the first three qualities should be able to cover up for a lack of ratings/reviews.

Why Bookings Africa?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, how people view work has drastically changed. Most individuals have opted for an easier, simpler life; and freelancing is the go-to solution for most persons. Any work that stresses you out should be outsourced. If you feel overwhelmed by it, you should hire a freelancer to get the job done for you. 

The gig-industry has made it possible for customers to choose who they work with and pay at rates they can afford. There are also several gig platforms out there but if you are African rooting for Africans, Bookings Africa is your best bet. 

With Bookings Africa, you have the option to Search, Compare and Book. On our platform, you can search up to 500 different categories of service providers ranging from Make-up artists to Writers to Accountants for your small business. Our platform also gives you the option of comparing prices and services and it guarantees a seamless booking process.

As a client, you are only expected to pay after your service has been rendered. We also guarantee our clients a complete refund if they feel dissatisfied with the kind of service they received. 

How to Hire the Right Freelancer

As we stated earlier, choosing the best fit for you doesn’t have to be rocket science. Hire a quality freelancer in these four simple steps:

  1. Pay attention: We made a comprehensive list of qualities to look out for above. To avoid dissatisfaction with the service received, pay attention to that list. If freelancers on the platform will not put in the effort to fill out their profiles, they probably aren’t excellent at their work. 

It has therefore become imperative that any customer seeking to hire a freelancer on the Bookings Africa platform must be detailed in their choice of hire.

  1. Compare: We also encourage freelancers on our platform to set comparative prices. We never advocate that people should charge less than what they are worth, however, we do encourage them to set prices that portray them as bookable. 

While searching for your best fit, try to compare the prices, quality, and caliber of the freelancers in that category. Depending on the service you are looking for, we’d implore you to go for the best service provider your budget allows for.

  1. Verify: Because we understand the complexities of the internet, the Bookings Africa Platform ensures that all service providers registered on our platform are verified. However, we still encourage you to do deep research on the potential hires. 

You can certainly take our word for it but if you would like to further verify, that’s equally great. Check out their profiles on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. to verify their legitimacy. In case  you feel concerned about a certain service provider, you can reach out to the Bookings Africa team via email- [email protected] and we’d be happy to help.

On our end, we run background checks as it is very expedient to us but we encourage you to also verify to your satisfaction.

  1. Book: After verification, proceed to book your quality freelancer. Enjoy your service and don’t forget to leave a review.