The most specialized community out there
In the NLF community, you'll find seasoned IT freelancers and the best coaches in acquisition, recruitment, financial planning and more. For a monthly fee less than half of your hourly rate, you are constantly increasing your advantage over the crowd. Without noise from incompetent people or standard GPT advice.
The only place for IT Freelancers where you get non-standard advice
Acquaintances, anonymous keyboard warriors, and GPT summaries don't get any further than general advice, and often that's bad advice. We take a different approach.
Our community is born from IT professionals who have successfully completed our training and coaching process. It is now an active group of 90+ driven freelancers and experienced coaches who fact-check and contribute ideas.
Get assignments consistently
- Share jobs
- Connections at 600+ companies
- help eachother to get clients
High rates without agencies
- weekly coaching calls
- negotiation advice
- discussions in the community
- insights in market rates
- Recruiter black/whitelist
Ready for anything
- contract reviews
- channels for all your questions
- News updates
- validated answers
- specialized coaches
- experienced freelancers
Be part of a community
- connect with other freelancers
- challenge yourself
- Visit events
- Improve freelance skills
- get higher rates
Meet some freelancers you will join:
Not just ANY freelancer out there, but experienced, knowledgeable people you can actually learn from.
”You want the standard advice? Please don't join us and stick to the advice of recruiters, friends and random freelancers that “this is just how things go.” Do you want something more than the average result? Join the club, then we'll help you get the highest achievable outcome
“This community works way better than google, chatgpt or the random online forums/chat groups. These freelancers and coaches really did it themselves and know how it works, in contrast to some nonsense advice I see in whatsapp groups. When I ask a question, I immediately get five correct answers, including one from an experienced coach in my industry.”
“With this community I have a large network with other freelancers who think the same way and have the same goal. In addition, the inside information provided by the coaches is super valuable. You just know exactly how the market works and how to play it.”
Messing around on your own
or having a community behind you
Without Next Level
With Next Level
One system to rule them all
In our platform you have all the tools directly available from your browser or smartphone app.
“Only after joining I found out that i was just stumbling around with freelancing by myself. Since I've joined i litterally upgraded myself and keep on learning from these guys"
What do you get when you join:
- Acces after screening
- Waiting list opens up for a limited # of people
The benefits from joining us
“Inspired by yesterday's group call, I entered the negotiations a little harder and got a rate of € 90,- ! Which is great for my experianc level!"
“Super valuable to learn from other people's experiences and the situations they're in. Negotioating, insurances, financial planning, working project based.. So much to learn from!
“Thanks so much to everyone in the community for helping eachother and the assignments that get shared regularly! "
“I had an immediate headstart on other freelancers. In some other freelance chatgroups I see a lot of questions and insecurities that dont even matter for us, because we're way past that."
“Got a job directly with the end customer without an agency with our inside acces tool! Exactly what I wanted. Very happy with this assignment!"
“Lande my first freelance job at [censored] with a rate of 15,- more than i initially wanted! Thanks to everyone for the advice and inspiration!!😁"
Do you belong to our tribe?
FAQs
Below, we've already answered the most frequently asked questions about Next Level Freelancer for you. During our introduction, there is of course plenty of room to ask your individual questions.
For most IT freelancers, the question isn't whether NLF is worth it - it's how fast it pays for itself.
What €30/month gives you access to:
- A live rates database showing exactly what freelancers in your niche are actually charging
- Negotiation advice from coaches and freelancers who understand how recruiters and end clients think - and what margins they're working with
- A recruiter black/whitelist with 120+ reviews including agency margins, so you never lowball yourself going in
- Warm introductions to 600+ companies, cutting out recruitment agencies entirely
What members actually report:
- Landing assignments €15–25/hr above their initial target rate
- Reaching end clients directly without going through a recruiter
- Successfully negotiating rate increases mid-contract
The math: At 32 hours per week, an extra €5/hr is €640 more per month. One good piece of advice from the community pays for years of membership. At €30/month - less than half of one billable hour - the risk is essentially zero.
The difference isn't in the features - it's where the knowledge comes from and who's in the room.
The myths you encounter everywhere else:
"You always need to go through an agency." "Clients hardly change the contract" "You can't raise your rate mid-contract." In generic forums and WhatsApp groups, these assumptions get passed around by people without the context to challenge them. They feel like wisdom but are often just ignorance - or worse, narratives that recruiters and agencies have a vested interest in maintaining. In the NLF community they get dismantled with concrete examples and real market proof.
Where the knowledge comes from:
The NLF community grew out of a training program that has helped 130+ IT freelancers since 2017. The knowledge here isn't a collection of opinions - it's proven insight from real negotiations, real assignments, and real market experience. Erik van Duijn has 15+ years in IT mediation and knows exactly how recruiters and end clients think, because he's sat on both sides of the table.
Who's actually in the community:
The community is screened. No random people who just started out, no recruiters, no one still figuring out the basics. Only serious IT freelancers with the drive to keep improving and help others do the same. When you ask a question, you get an answer from someone who has been through it themselves, not someone repeating a market myth with confidence.
What you won't find anywhere else:
- Knowledge filtered specifically for IT freelancers - not generic advice for photographers or contractors
- A recruiter black/whitelist with reviews including agency margins
- Warm introductions to 600+ companies, built over 8+ years
- A screened, dedicated group invested in each other's success
Most members notice a difference within the first few weeks - not because the community works like magic, but because you immediately have access to knowledge that would otherwise take years to build up yourself.
What you have from day one:
- Access to the full knowledge base, past discussions and validated answers to questions you probably have too
- Hands-on calls to ask your questions directly
- The recruiter black/whitelist — so you immediately know who to work with and who to avoid
- The rates database — so you know what the market pays in your niche
- Direct access to coaches and experienced freelancers via the community chats
What members report:
Within days: insight into what they were undercharging
Within weeks: first concrete advice applied in negotiations or acquisition
Within months: higher rates, better assignments or direct end clients
One caveat:
The community works best when you're actively contributing. Members who ask questions, spar with others and join the weekly calls consistently get more out of it than people who just read along. The knowledge is there - you decide how fast you put it to work.
The international community is currently in its early access phase. We're opening up in batches to make sure the quality stays high from day one.
How the waiting list works:
Once we hit 100 people on the waitlist, we open access to the first 50 members. After which the acces closes again. We unlock the access in batches of 10 — so the earlier you sign up, the better your chances of being in the first 50. When we open for the next 50 will be announced later.
Why we work this way:
The NLF community only works because everyone in it is serious and dedicated. By opening in controlled batches we make sure the first members set the right tone - and that the community hits the ground running instead of slowly warming up.
This isn't an experiment — it's a proven model:
NLF has been running in the Netherlands for 8 years. In that time we've helped 130+ IT freelancers land better assignments, negotiate higher rates and reach end clients directly. Many of them were international freelancers aswell. We know what works, what doesn't, and exactly what a high-quality freelancer community needs to deliver real results. We're not figuring this out as we go - we're taking a proven playbook and opening it up internationally for the first time.
How screening works:
We review your LinkedIn profile to verify what you do and if you're actively freelancing. In most cases that's all it takes. Occasionally we'll reach out if something is unclear. The screening isn't there to make things difficult - it's there to protect the quality of the community for everyone in it.
After approval:
- You'll receive an automatic welcome email with your access details
- You land directly in Circle, our community platform
- On the Getting Started page you'll find a checklist that walks you through everything - where to ask questions, where to find information and how to get the most out of your membership
The NLF community provides validated, Dutch IT freelance-specific advice from 90+ experienced IT freelancers and specialized coaches — something no free forum or AI tool can replicate
What free alternatives lack:
- ChatGPT gives generic advice not tailored to Dutch IT freelance market rates, recruiter dynamics, or end-client acquisition
- Free forums and WhatsApp groups contain unverified advice from people with no relevant experience.
- Neither has access to NLF's proprietary data: a recruiter black/whitelist with 120+ reviews, a live rates database, or warm introductions to 600+ companies
What NLF members get instead:
- Answers from people who have personally negotiated rates, dealt with Dutch recruiters, and landed direct end-client contracts
- Market-specific coaching from Erik van Duijn (15+ years in IT mediation) and specialized coaches
- Concrete outcomes: members regularly land assignments €15–25/hr above their initial rate target
Cost: €30/month — typically less than half of your hourly rate.
About us
I’m Erik van Duijn, founder of Next Level Freelancer and 15 years of experience in the market. After years of watching talented professionals get pushed around by recruitment agencies and getting bad advice, I decided to teach freelancers how to take matters into their own hands.
8 years ago I've founded Next Level, ever since we've been helping IT people launch and grow their freelance career with a clear training program. 2 years ago we launched our dedicated Dutch community membership, which is a great succes. So now we're launching an international community under the same principles for a launching group of 50 people as soon as our waiting list hits 100 people.
The goal is simple: to show you how to do it yourself, with clarity and confidence, get help from others so you never have to guess or depend on the wrong people again. We teach how the IT freelance market really works, to find assignments, and how to get control instead of uncertainty.
Everything we teach comes from real cases, real negotiations, and real market experience. No fluff. Just the tools and strategies that actually work in the IT market today.
If you want to freelance with confidence, this community is the easiest way.
Here's where your new life as a freelancer starts
We've been running this community in the Netherlands for over 8 years and are now going international. As soon as we have 100 signups on the waiting list, we're going live for a maximum of 50 members to start. Lock in your place now!
