Are you thinking about starting a career as a WordPress freelancer in Montreal? WordPress can be a great career choice but there are also some disadvantages as well. In this article we will discuss the pros and cons of WordPress freelancing.
Is WordPress a good choice for beginners?
The answer is yes. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for website development. I mention some of the big corporations that are using a website that is developed with WordPress in a previous blog post. Even an absolute beginner can learn WordPress in a few weeks and start building websites. WordPress is a great choice for beginning freelancers.
How long does it take to become a WordPress developer in Montreal?
While it is true that you can learn WordPress in a few weeks and be able to build a simple website, it will take some time to become proficient at it. You can learn a lot just by watching YouTube videos or online courses. Interested in taking a more formal course? If you are in Montreal you can take an in-depth course at Concordia University called CONTENT MANAGEMENT WITH WORDPRESS It is a very good place to start and it’s not very expensive.
PROS
Well-established platform
WordPress has become a well-established platform and is trusted and legitimate.
Low barrier of entry
WordPress is easy to learn and you can get started with little or no experience. There are about 268,377 businesses in Montreal Quebec. Since most of your clients are going to be business owners Montreal is a great place to be a WordPress freelancer. Montreal is a business city. The economy of Montreal is the second largest of all cities in Canada and the first in Quebec. Montreal is a center of commerce, industry, technology, culture, finance, and world affairs. In 2015, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $193 Billion CDN of Quebec’s $370 Billion CDN GDP.
Greater Montréal is made up of 82 municipalities and 4.2 million residents. Representing more than 55% of Québec’s GDP, the region has one of the strongest economic growths among Canada’s major urban centers.
Be your own boss
The reason people prefer freelancing to working a fulltime job is the freedom to work on their own terms. When you work a fulltime job you may have to sit in traffic every morning and work 9-5. A lot of people are trying to get away from that lifestyle in this post-covid society.
CONS
Highly competitive
We stated earlier that WordPress development has a low barrier of empty and we listed that as a pro. Unfortunately having a low barrier of entry is also a con. Because WordPress is easy to get into, the competition is high. You are going to have to find a way of differentiating yourself from everyone else.
You need to be bilingual
French is very important for conducting business in Montreal. You can get by as a WordPress Freelancer in Montreal without speaking French however your opportunities will be very limited. Montreal is a bilingual city (French-English) but most business owners are French speaking. If you are interested in learning French, you can register for a free French course in Montreal HERE.
Work uncertainty
Being a freelancer provides more flexibility and freedom but it’s also not as reliable as a 9-5 job. In the beginning it may be hard to obtain clients. The benefit of having a fulltime job is that it is secure and you know you’re going to get a pay check every 2 weeks regardless.
Where can I find clients?
Most beginner WordPress freelancers start off by using popular websites like Fiverr and Upwork, I think this is a big mistake. The problem with these platforms is that you are going to be competing with other developers that are in countries with weaker economies. This means that they are comfortable charging very little for their services. The fee they charge may be less than half of what you would charge here in Montreal. You are either not going to be able to compete with their prices or you are going to have to charge your clients a lot less than you are worth.
Do you need to learn to code to be a WordPress freelancer in Montreal.
You don’t need to learn to code but if you do learn, it will benefit you and give you the upper hand on competition who doesn’t have that skill. When you learn CSS, HTML, PHP and Javascript you will be able to build better websites with more customization and functionality.
Summary:
WordPress can be a great stepping stone if you want to develop websites as a freelancer. Its simplicity and popularity can go a great way towards building up a successful freelancing career. However, the market is extremely competitive and it can be challenging to become successful.
