ok heres the deal i have a crappy job and need to live life mein ....be it here in bc or travel with a lappy and work from were ever. i have seen some posts about freelanceing and that looks like the way to go, so i would like some insite from thoise who work from home and tell me the best way to tackle this issue or even the pros and cons.... thnaks for all your help and mustangs are gods gift to the world....j/k
Look at sites like Get-a-freelancer.com and Scriptlance. Study the jobs on there and make a list of past projects and see which ones you could have done and what you could have fetched and how long it would have taken you. That should give you an idea of earning potential in the early days.
First of all, and I'm really not saying this to be rude but, if you want to be a freelance professional, you need to be a good business person to be successful. That means being able to speak proper English (or whatever language you're doing business in). And a "crappy job" isn't reason enough to freelance. You need to first establish whether or not you can actually handle it (most people can't) as far as making it a fulltime thing. You also need to understand that you don't get to bill for 40 hours of your time. The average across the field of freelancers and independent consultants is 22-23 billable hours each week, so you have to remember to set your rates according that fact. You also need to prepare yourself for the administrative, marketing, and tax / legal issues you'll have to deal with. Freelancing fulltime often involves more work and time, not less. Aside from that, it's hard to give you any kind of feedback without knowing what field you want to get into. Do you plan to write? Do design work? Programming? Something else? What you want to do will play a big role in how you can go about it. If you're not sure yet, here's a list of 150 types of freelance jobs, and one of 65 types of consulting jobs just to give you some ideas. I have other articles that might help to get you started: The Ups and Downs of Working for Yourself as a Freelancer or Ind. Consultant Getting Started in Freelancing If you still have basic questions about starting, just ask. Jenn
Be prepared for a saturated field full of competitive prices. There are so many outsourcing companies out in the freelance world that you'll see its difficult to match their bids on projects. Just remember motivation is key in any self-employed venture; you have the right to sleep as long as you want, do what you want etc. I've seen many people let their business fail simply b/c of lack of motivation.
wow thats so true.....i am just sick of working for a company were i am a drone......thanks for the insite Jenn it seems that you have laid a foundation........thanks once again....to everyone and hope to make a better start for the winter months
What are your skills?? You not only need to have some skills that are in demand and you must also be good at what you are doing to start freelancing. What is your niche? Web Design, Graphic Design, Programming, Writing??? You also need to know where to find work. You can ask in your community, friends, family for some work. You can check out webmaster forums for jobs. Also, there are several freelance websites where you can find work. Here is an article that I hope will help. The Path To Freelance Success: The Secret Is Knowing Where To Look Best of Luck
Great thread. Great article Jenn & so true ablaye. I'm a bizwoman who hires freelancers all the time. Everyone & their brother & sister thinks they can be an IC & I'd say 90% of them suck not just b/c they don't have a clue what they are doing when they claim they do, but b/c they disappear at the drop of a hat when they can't handle things, but I still keep trying to find the diamonds in the rough I've even had ones try to rip me off by padding the bill, so I have to be very shrewd in guestimating how long a task should have taken in order to review invoices b/c most of my staff is paid by the hour. My current legal counsel guy gave up on hiring people after going thru the same headaches as myself & I thought it was just me. How he can run his biz by himself is beyond me All the best people. Michelle
well my skills are limited but i am going to start reading and applying myself to some of these skills that have been suggested...... i have been working in customer service for 5 years....be it tech support to ecom to billing issues and feature requests....but i am burning out dealing with rapid fire issues for 10 hours a day ......... but once agian i appreciate the help and will take all the pointers i can and hopefully make a chance for the better.....only live once right?......plus i want to go to italy and watch someone make a ferrari then to germany for the audi's/bmw ....if i work from home i can do it from there
Good luck to you in that & I know that there are freelancing c/s jobs available, but it will still be hard work. Jenn, your marketing site is down. Do you know when it will be back up? Thanks Michelle
One good point - word of mouth is the best form of advertising! Why not offer your services locally for cheaper than the going rate, build up a good reputation and portfolio and people will soon be knocking at your door asking for your services.
Not sure. We contacted the network that runs the sites for us, and it's a problem with their servers. It was glitchy on and off over the last day or two. Hopefully it's up and working again ok now. Jenn
You might consider affiliate work rather than consulting. You can start doing that kind of stuff in your free time and build it until you have enough income to quit. Many affiliates get into their business doing this. Plus, no clients!
But if the person or company you're an affiliate for drops their affiliate program or goes out of business, you're screwed. Think long term if you want to be successful in business. Building your own client list makes you more valuable in the long run. The bigger the demand on your time, the more it's worth. I'm not saying consulting is the best way for everyone. It works nicely for me. But you can make money selling your own product (physical or informational) or offer other types of online services. I'm just a little bit skeptical of running any kind of business venture where my future revolves around someone else's business. Personally, I went into business for myself to be completely independent, not just to make a lot of money (although a perk I won't argue with). So choose your business model based on why you want to work on your own in the first place, and don't forget to think about long-term benefits of reputation-building and other things, in addition to the quicker financial gain. I'm not knocking affiliate programs... just saying there are other things to consider. Jenn
I think sites like scriptlance and such are hardly worth it (being a US resident). I only do smaller jobs, in the 150-500 range but its very hard to compete with the foreign bids (Places where the US dollar is worth a lot more, because $50 can be worth a lot of work them)
Very well written. Will you marry me? I'm cute, people say I could be Ryan Cabrera's twin(http://images.google.com/images?q=ryan+cabrera&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images) Just kidding! but once again, very well said.
lol ... isn't he the kid that was dating one of those little pop tarts a while ago? Looks like a younger Howie Day. Anyway... glad I occasionally have something useful to say. Jenn