Get hired: go freelance

1One profile, grown

The first thing to understand is what opting in does not do: it does not mint a second profile. You have one Collaborate profile, the professional face every creator has, and turning on Available for hire adds a for-hire section to it: your services, your portfolio, your client reviews, your level, and your availability. Studios browse the same one directory they always have, and find you by switching on a filter. Being for hire is a mode on your existing profile, not a new page to keep up to date.

2Turn on Available for hire

Go to Available for hire in your settings. It is a personal choice, per creator, not something a studio switches on. Fill in the card: your availability (Open for work, Limited availability, or Away), your disciplines (pick at least one from writing, drawing, inking, colouring, lettering, animation, music, voice, translation, and more), the asset skills you work on, a one-line headline, a bio, and your typical turnaround in days. Save it with Become a Freelancer and you are listed.

3Publish a service (this is what makes you hireable)

Here is the step people miss: opting in does not, by itself, let anyone hire you. You have to publish at least one service, an actual packaged offer. Each service has a title, the disciplines and asset kinds it covers, a description, and up to three tiers (basic, standard, premium), each with a price, a delivery time, how many revisions it includes, and a one-line scope. You can add paid add-ons (an extra revision, a rush) and a requirements checklist of what you need from the client before your clock starts.

4Portfolio and getting paid

Two things make your profile ready to earn. First, a portfolio: flip any of your galleries to Portfolio visibility (that is hiring-only, it shows to potential clients on your Collaborate profile and never to your readers), so studios can see your actual work. Second, your payout: payment and identity verification ride your own connected Stripe account, set it up under Payouts and get the Ready status. Until that verification is complete, money you have earned waits safely in escrow rather than reaching you.

5Your queue: the Jobs tab

All your paid work is in the Engagements portal. You land on Home, which leads with Action needed, a short queue of just the engagements that need you right now (accept an offer, deliver, revise, or review). Your freelancing itself is on the Jobs tab: your stats, an availability toggle, and your queue of offers and active work. The rest of the portal is Hiring (for when you hire someone yourself), Reviews, Statistics, and Settings (where you can save a signature ahead of time). Each job opens a shared Workroom, the one place you and the client both work from, with the chat, the deliveries, and the money all in it. The same Workroom page loads for both of you, showing each side the buttons that are theirs, so there is never a separate console where things get out of sync.

6When an offer arrives

A studio hires you against one of your services, and an offer lands in your queue. You have three moves: accept it, decline it, or send a counter-offer that changes the price or the turnaround (with a note explaining why). Accepting requires the agreement to be signed by both of you, that e-signature is what protects you, and only then does the studio fund the escrow. A counter re-opens the terms and needs a fresh signature before things move on.

7Do the work and deliver

Once the escrow is funded the engagement is In progress and your clock is running. Share works in progress in the Workroom chat freely, those are just drafts. When a piece is ready for sign-off, submit a formal Delivery: it has to carry the actual work (a note, attached files, or the asset), and it moves the job to Delivery in review. The client then approves it or requests a revision within the number of revisions your tier included. When that budget is spent, they either approve or buy an extra-revision add-on.

8Getting paid

When the client approves, the escrow releases to your connected payout account. The platform takes a 10 percent fee (freelance labour is raked like commissions) and you receive the rest. If the client never responds, an auto-accept timer approves and pays a delivery after three days, so you are never left hanging on a silent client. Jobs can be split into milestones that each release as that slice is approved, and a client can add a tip on top, which comes to you with no fee taken at all.

9Reviews, rating, and levels

After the funds release, both sides leave a review (a one-to-five rating and an optional note). Your client reviews feed your public rating, and the platform works out a level from your record: New, then Level 1, Level 2, Top Rated, each earned by clearing all of a few bars at once, enough completed jobs, a high on-time rate, a strong rating, and a quick response rate. Level up and your caps rise (more services, more add-ons, a bigger queue). You can also petition for a level review if you think you have earned it.

10If a job goes sideways

Most friction is a revision and a chat. But if delivered work and agreed terms genuinely part ways, either side can raise a dispute with a reason. That freezes the auto-accept clocks and sends the case to platform review. Neither you nor the client can pull the escrow yourselves; the platform decides, either releasing the funds to you or refunding the client. Before delivery, a client can also cancel, which refunds their escrow and ends the job.

Questions freelancers actually ask