Make Money by Freelancing
Freelancing isn’t just another 9 to 5 job, it’s a completely different life altogether. Why do I say that? People tend to get swept away by two things:
- Not having a boss
- Working their own hours
These two factors lure people into a false belief about what freelancing is going to be like. First of all, everyone has a boss. Business owners’ bosses are their customers. For freelancers, it’s their clients. Second, although freelancing does offer more freedom than a normal job, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to work less hours. It just means that you can choose which hours you do work – but enough of that. I only wanted to drive a stake through those rumors right out of the gate. Don’t just up and quit your job to become a freelancer. Gradually build into it.
With that said, there are several advantages to freelancing that make the entire process well worth the extra work in the beginning. The one advantage that always stands out to me is the knowledge that is gained through working on projects for others. There is so much to learn and this knowledge can be invaluable. Freelancing give you an inside edge.
Still want to be a freelancer? That’s great! Getting started is the most difficult step. Once you establish yourself then it can really take off. Here are some of the more noteworthy basics of freelancing.
Managing Finances
It always seems to come down to money. Freelancers are required to pick up good financial habits in order to keep their life in order. While the part-time freelancer doesn’t feel this pressure, full-time is a completely different matter entirely. There is no automatic paycheck every week. All money that full-time freelancers earn is through work. Freelancing is the true definition of earned income.
The trick is to learn to balance your income in a way that generates both earned income (through freelancing) and passive income (through other opportunities). Typically, the goal is to generate a 50/50 balance of earned and passive income.
Maintaining a budget is the key to accomplishing a balance. Monthly expenses remain constant but income can fluctuate. If you’re only taking on part-time freelancing for some extra money, then don’t let yourself become dependant on it. Use this income to fuel other opportunities for passive income. Trust me, the more passive income you can generate, the easier your life will be.
Now it gets tricky. Freelancing is considered self-employment and all income is subject to different tax laws than other forms of earned income. I recommend setting up a completely separate savings account and placing a percentage of your earnings into this account. This should help to avoid problems in the future. Plus, this money will generate interest while waiting to be withdrawn to pay taxes. It’s a win-win scenario.
Your Workspace
This is an age old argument set about by swaying opinions. Can a person actually work from home and be productive. The answer to that question lies in the person attempting to achieve it. Motivation is determined by atmosphere. Productivity is determined by motivation. So as long as you can learn to keep your atmosphere professional, then working from home is the same as working from an office. A positive atmosphere includes:
- Organization
- No Distractions
- Solitude
So if you have your own room at home and your family knows not to distract you during work hours, then you will be just fine so long as you don’t succumb to other distractions. If, on the other hand, you find yourself constantly being distracted at home, then you should invest in an office. It’s really a personal decision.
A Portfolio
As far as successfully getting new freelancing projects, a portfolio is absolutely your most important tool. Since you’ve been working on a website and other projects, you will have content to out together into a portfolio. No matter what area you’re planning to freelance in, you will need a portfolio.
While you can add whatever you see fit into your resume, one thing you must never do is lie. Don’t even mention things that you have no experience with. With time, you will be able to add more to your resume. For now, just list items that you are 100% confident in.
All in all, the work you’ve done through your life should speak for itself. Your portfolio is just a place to let it shine.
Overcoming Adversity
Freelancers face a lot of controversy through the course of their careers. Whether it’s long droughts where they have no projects to work on or getting negative feedback from a job they know that was done correctly. It happens. Experience strengthens one’s ability to deal with these sorts of things.
I know you’re probably not planning to freelance for the rest of your life but you’re still likely to face some form on adversity. That’s why I’m bringing it up. So many people get frustrated and give up when they are faced with adversity. It’s going to happen – at one point or another. Go ahead and plan for it.
Save up enough money to deal with droughts. Plan a list of goals to accomplish during these droughts. Learn new skills. Work on content for your website. Anything that keeps you busy and working toward your main goals is a plus.
Planning ahead will save you grief and stress in the long-term. It will also keep you from giving up. It’s much simpler to face adversity when there is a plan in place that keeps you on track. Use any extra time to work on future passive income opportunities.
Elance
Elance is the number one destination on the web for freelancers. For those who don’t know Elance, it’s a bid-based website designed to connect experts with clients. It provides a base for freelancers of all skills and experience: including writing, programming, and graphics design. Here’s how it works.
Business owners and individuals post their project on Elance. They can even invite freelancers to bid or freelancers can search through all available projects and find one that suits their skills. In either case, freelancers then bid on the project. Then the individual or company who posted the job chooses the bid they feel most comfortable with.
There are three main factors that ultimately determine which freelancer is chosen:
- Feedback
- Profile
- Portfolio
We’ve already discussed building a portfolio so we can skip that one for now. Feedback is perhaps the most powerful tool at your disposal and the reason many beginners have problems getting started. They have to perform a job before getting feedback. Yet, it’s hard to get a proposal accepted without feedback. It’s a paradox. There is a way around this paradox though.
When you start out on Elance, offer your services at discounted prices and explain in your proposal that you are trying to establish feedback. Many clients will accept your terms for the discounted price. In return, you will get feedback. After you complete several projects, you will have established a reputation. At that point, you can start charging normal prices for your services.
How to Get Started
Setting up an account on Elance is very easy. Here’s a step-by-step look at the process.
Step 1
Visit www.elance.com and select My Elance. Then select Sign Up Here.
Step 2
There will be several options listed. To begin, just choose the Individual Plan. You can always change this at a later date.
Step 3
Here is where you choose your membership option. For now, choose the Free Plan. Take note of the other options because you will likely want to change this.
Step 4
Here is an important step. You will need to choose which category you want to freelance in. Elance offers several different freelancing categories but you only get free access to one. Additional categories cost an addition $5 per month each. Furthermore, all feedback is restricted to the category of the project. For example, if you perform a writing job and get feedback, it will only show up in your profile under Writing and Translation.
Step 5
Once you have chosen a category, you will find yourself at your profile. Go ahead and set this up now. Provide all information that’s required. Write a keyword rich description and list all services that you plan to offer. The more information you can get into your profile, the better.
Step 6
Post your photo. Unless you have a business account, you cannot use a logo here. A professional, high quality picture of you will do nicely. This picture will serve as a first impression to potential clients. Be sure it’s high quality and clearly displays your face.
Tips for Beginners
There are always questions that are asked by those starting out on Elance. Those questions usually relate to the same basic theme. So this section will go through some tips for beginners that will answer most questions beginners would ask.
Elance has grown into a very popular platform. This makes it that much harder for beginners to get their feet wet. One way to gain a quick advantage is to verify your identity. This will show potential clients that you’re legitimate and have nothing to hide. Establishing trust is important at early stages of building business relationships.
Elance provides a neat and organized way to post a portfolio. Use this to your advantage. Post any previous projects. Create content just for the purpose of adding it to your portfolio. Use every tool to your advantage. As a beginner, you will need all the help you can get.
Landing the first project is always the most difficult step. Don’t look at your first job as profitable. Instead, see it as a way to establish some feedback onto your profile. Post low prices in return for establishment. Explain to potential clients that you’re starting out and be prepared to offer them free samples of what you will provide. You will eventually land a job, so be patient. Most importantly, don’t let it discourage you when another freelancer is chosen over you.
There are times when there are no jobs on Elance worth bidding on. Everything looks either boring or sketchy. The budget set for the projects is too low. If you don’t feel comfortable bidding on a project, then don’t. If you can’t perform the job for the price indicated, then don’t worry about it. Use this spare time to work on other opportunities.
Most of the clients you will meet on Elance are honest people. However, there are some who just don’t want to pay. That’s why the Escrow system is essential – at least at first. Never start on a project until the milestone has been funded. Once you get to know a client and have formed a working relationship with them, you can bend this rule a little but always make sure a project is funded when working with a client for the first time.
Time is important for freelancers and makes up the majority of overhead costs. So learning to better manage your time can mean notable increases in income. Before reading a project description, check out the client’s profile. Judge for yourself whether or not you want to work for them. If not, then don’t waste time reading the project description. Just move on.
Furthermore, if you have problems understanding the project description or it’s vague, then either post a question or move on to another project. It’s up to the client to make sure that their needs are made clear in the beginning.
Look at Elance as a place where you are introducing yourself to people and building business relationships. Not everyone clicks nor will they see eye-to-eye. Some clients expect the world for pennies. Some freelancers expect gold for straw. There are bad apples on both sides. So understand that a client is just as cautious as you are. Answer questions when asked, be respectful, and most importantly, don’t be so proud that you get upset over critical feedback. I say this because some freelancers tend to take offence when asked to provide revisions. Don’t be one of these people. In fact, take the first step and tell the client that you are willing to revise if needed. You will learn little tricks along the way that will help lessen the strain of revising work.
iWriter
IWriter is an article based website that offers jobs ranging from simple articles to more complex projects. Pay depends on your level, which is increased as you write high quality content. IWriter is a great place to start because very little is required to get started. The part that takes time is raising your level in order to earn even more money.
New users don’t have access to all articles in the beginning. The ranking system is in place to protect buyers from low quality writers. Essentially, there are three overall ranks:
- Beginner
- Premium
- Elite
With each increase in rank, you will be expected to provide higher quality articles. Just write naturally and you will get to a rank that is perfect for your skill set. It’s fairly easy to get to the Premium level of writing. Elite pays the highest but these projects are only available to high quality writer.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a freelancing site based on what’s known as gigs. Don’t let that confuse you though. A gig is just a fancy way of saying project. The difference is that Fiverr gigs are very small and posted by freelancers rather than buyers looking for work. Buyers then browse through the list of gigs to find the service they need.
Most of them are priced at $5 and rightfully so. Needless to say, to be successful you will need to create small, compelling gigs. If set up correctly, you can actually generate a steady stream of work without having to take the time to post bids and search through thousands of projects for one that suits your needs. Here’s how it works:
1. Create a Profile
2. Create a Gig
3. Wait for Orders
4. Complete the Order
5. Send Order to the Buyer
Sounds simple right? It’s not that easy but the opportunity is definitely there. The greatest advantage of Fiverr is that it can be set up in a way that will automatically keep work coming in.
Tips for Setting up a Gig on Fiverr
While the actual process of creating a gig is easy, getting buyers to see it is the real challenge. As with other freelancing opportunities, landing your first order will be the most difficult. Setting up your gig is the best way to succeed at landing that tough order.
The title is the most important part of a gig. Confusing and vague titles will not convert. You must be as descriptive as you can with your title. Here are some examples:
BAD: “I will write a 300 word article for $5”
GOOD: “I will write a high quality 300 word article for $5”
BEST: “I will write a fully edited, high quality 300 word article for $5”
Notice how each title got more descriptive? Most will overlook the first while the second will get a few conversions. However, the third will express to the client that you are very serious and show them what to expect. Which one would grab your attention? Everyone is looking for the best deal. In the case of Fiverr, the best gig.
Once you have convinced a buyer to click on your gig, you need to reel them in even further. That’s where the description comes into play. Fiverr gives you 450 characters so use every letter to your advantage. Be exact. Be precise. More importantly, tell them why they should buy this gig right now!
Tags are next on our list. I cannot express the importance of choosing the right tags enough. You need to find keywords that match your gig and are highly searched by potential buyers. Use Google Keyword Generator to find the best keywords.
Adding an image to your gig will further grab buyer’s attention. While I don’t look at this as a requirement, I highly recommend it. Use your imagination and try to take the picture yourself. Be original and above all else, do not use an image from Google (or any other search engine).
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