An important part of business of anyone going freelance, in Spain as much as anywhere else, is finding new clients and advertising your services. Fortunately, there’s plenty of free business websites where you can do this which operate in Spain. As always on the web, keep your guard up, but you can have lots of success with finding new clients online.
Nubelo was developed in Barcelona (it’s won awards from Barcelona Activa) and is a great place for freelance workers to find new clients. It specialises in tech professionals – developers, designers and marketers – but caters for a far wider reach, too. I’ve found it particularly useful for finding work as a translator in Spain, as well as other projects like writing for the web. Nubelo works via an escrow system, where bank transfers is made before the project begins, so you can guarantee payment for your work. Charges 8% commision.
LinkedIn operates just as much in Spain as it does anywhere else. Employers normally have to pay to put jobs up, so it’s mainly used for professional, full-time jobs. I’ve found some good part-time work as a freelancer on here too, however – in fact, my main client is a LinkedIn contact.
Loquo is like the Spanish version of Gumtree. It lists plenty of part-time jobs, but the quality of the listings often isn’t great – look out for plenty of jobs as a “masseuse”/escort on here. However, it has a wide reach and I’ve found work on here before. Teachers rate it for picking up extra private classes. It also has the advantage of being the only website featured where you don’t have to upload a CV using the website’s own protocol.
InfoJobs is the largest Spanish website for finding work, and has an extra section for freelance workers, too. Again, the quality of adverts isn’t always great, but there are plenty of genuine people around, and you can definitely find a few new clients online here. In comparison to Loquo, possibly a better choice for those who offer their services to businesses rather than individuals. Charges 8% commision.
If you know any other Spanish business websites (or at least, ones which cover Spain) where you can find new clients, I’d love to hear about them – particularly ones which cover finding translation work, as this is often asked for.
Text and photos by Penelope
