Happy Freelancer is run by me, Bharat Devana, from Hyderabad, India. This page explains what the site knows about you, where that information goes, and what you can ask me to do with it. The short version is that the site collects very little, you can switch off anything that tracks you, and I never sell your information.
What the site collects
| What | When | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address | Only if you sign up for the Friday email or ask for a template | Sender.net, the email service I use for the Friday email |
| Your ticks on the step-by-step plans | When you mark a step as done | Stays in your own browser. It never reaches me |
| The numbers you type into the tools | When you use a tool, such as the rate calculator | Stays in your own browser. The tools do the maths on your device |
| Standard request details, such as your IP address, browser and the page you asked for | Every time a page loads | Vercel, the company that hosts the site, keeps these in its server logs |
| Whether the law where you live needs me to ask before measuring visits | Every time a page loads | Stays in your own browser, under the name hf-region. It holds only "ask" or "notice", not your country |
| Your answer in the cookie banner or Cookie settings | Only if you answer | Stays in your own browser, under the name hf-consent |
| Anything you send me | Only if you message me on LinkedIn or reply to a Friday email | My LinkedIn or email inbox |
| Visits and ad results | Unless you say no. In Europe and the UK, only after you say yes | The measurement and advertising tools in Cookies and ads |
The site has measurement and advertising tools from Google, Meta and X. Visitors from Europe and the UK are asked before any of them load. Everyone else can switch them off with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page. The details are in Cookies and ads below. There is no advertising on the site itself.
The fonts are served from the site itself, so loading a page does not tell Google or anyone else that you visited.
The Friday email
When you sign up, your email address is stored with Sender.net (opens in a new tab), which sends the Friday email and the templates for me. Sender first sends you one email with a link to confirm your address, and nothing else is sent until you click it. If you never click, you will not hear from me. Sender also records whether an email was opened and which links were clicked, which is how most email services work.
I use your address only to send you the Friday email and anything you asked for, such as a template. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and one click removes you. I never sell, rent or share the list with anyone.
Your ticks and tool numbers
The step-by-step plans remember which steps you have finished by saving a small note in your browser's storage, under the name hf-path-progress. The tools keep what you type only while the page is open. Neither of these is sent to me. Clearing your browser's site data removes the ticks.
Cookies and ads
I may run ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or X to reach people who could use these guides. To know whether those ads are worth paying for, I use each company's measurement tool on this site. These tools also let me show ads to people who have already visited, which is called retargeting.
When these tools load, they can record:
- which pages you visit on this site, and whether you sign up for the Friday email,
- your browser, your device and your approximate location, which they work out from your IP address,
- an ID stored in a cookie, which the company can link to your account with them if you have one.
Each company handles that information under its own privacy policy, listed below. What they never receive from this site is the numbers you type into the tools. I also do not upload the Friday email list to any ad platform.
If you visit from the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the UK or Switzerland, a banner asks you first, and nothing loads until you say yes. Everywhere else, the measurement and advertising tools load without a banner, as soon as you scroll, tap or press a key, or a few seconds after a page opens if you do nothing.
You can say no at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page. Saying no removes their cookies from this site, and the site works exactly the same.
| Tool | What it does for me | Its own rules and settings |
|---|---|---|
| Google Tag Manager (runs Google Analytics and Google Ads tags) | Loads Google's measurement tags, which count visits and which pages are read, and tell me whether a Google ad or a search led to a visit or a signup. | Privacy policy (opens in a new tab) Ad settings (opens in a new tab) |
| Meta Pixel (Facebook and Instagram) | Tells me whether a Facebook or Instagram ad led to a visit or a signup, and lets me show ads to people who have visited. | Privacy policy (opens in a new tab) Ad settings (opens in a new tab) |
| X Pixel (formerly Twitter) | Tells me whether an ad on X led to a visit or a signup, and lets me show ads on X to people who have visited. | Privacy policy (opens in a new tab) Ad settings (opens in a new tab) |
Hosting
The site runs on Vercel (opens in a new tab). Like every web host, Vercel records basic details about each request so the site can load and stay secure. I do not use these logs to identify anyone.
Links to other sites
Articles link to other sites, such as the Reserve Bank of India or a payment company's fee page, so you can check a fact yourself. Those sites have their own privacy rules. Right now there are no affiliate or referral links on Happy Freelancer, so I earn nothing when you click a link. If I ever add a referral link, it will be marked as one where it appears, and this page will say so before it goes up.
I only recommend tools and services I use myself or trust. I cannot promise how they will work for you, or that their prices, fees and features will stay the way they are today, so check the details on their own site before you sign up.
What you can ask me to do
Wherever you live, you can send me a message on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab), or reply to any Friday email, and ask me to:
- tell you what information I hold about you,
- correct it,
- delete it, or
- stop sending you email.
To switch off measurement and advertising tools, use Cookie settings at the bottom of any page. You do not need to write to me for that.
I will reply within 30 days. These rights come from laws such as India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the European Union's GDPR, but I apply them to everyone.
Children
Happy Freelancer is written for working professionals. It is not meant for anyone under 18, and I do not knowingly collect information from children.
Changes to this page
If the site starts collecting something new, such as a contact form or a new advertising tool, I will update this page first and change the date at the top.