Freelancing for a Living

Most freelancers work part time while they work their full time job or the couch unemployed. However, freelancing can be done full time in a lucrative manner, which not a lot of people realize. All it takes is knowing the right way to do this and the places to find work. With the right connections, the perfect ideas and talent, everyone can be a freelancer, no matter what trade they are trying to self-employ. (Note: If you are unemployed, many states have financial provisions for unemployed people trying to start working for themselves through the unemployment compensation program. Just call your state’s Department of Labor and ask around.)

First of all, every freelancer should have an account with iFreelance, Guru, Elance, Freelancer.com, Sologig, and a lot of the other network sites. On the sidebar of this website is a long list of them with links directly to them. Find them, use them, like them, love them. These sites are made to hook freelancers up with project buyers. Freelancer.com is not the best one because that is where people from third-world countries can bid on writing projects very cheaply. If you go there, only bid on projects that ask for “native English speakers only”, or demand native speakers of the language you spoke first and best. (Hopefully, in time, we will be even closer to being able to hook quality freelancers up with quality work. We have a vision for this.)

Next, it is important to become a member of the different freelance forums. Over time, as traffic boosts and things come together, we hope to be one of the top competitors for your forum and research activity. (Which reminds me to shamelessly ask you to link to us anywhere you can so we can build traffic to the site, and your time here can be spent more lucratively.) This helps you network with other freelancers and find work.

Also, remember that you need your own website of some sort. A domain is nice (and necessary if you are doing anything with websites and such) but at least a blog (even Blogger or WordPress.com is acceptable) or a small site on a free web space like Bravenet, 000webhost, t35, Webs, or Doteasy is necessary. If you are working online (or anywhere in this day and age), you need some sort of a face on the web. It won’t necessarily get you work, but without something about your business online, you almost logistically cannot get any work.

Lastly, I have heard that some websites are acting as a third-party, and having clients place orders on their website, and have their team of writers log in and complete orders, and you are compensated decently for the work. I am in the process of compiling a list of these sites and will be letting you know about them soon. The one I am most familiar with is Prospect Solution. That one, however, seems to require extensive education for qualification as an affiliate. Writing through a third party site will rarely be a full time job for someone, but it is definitely a way you can guarantee yourself a few dollars each week. Please comment here with all the third party sites that you have found, and share them with the FWC community!

Lastly, I have three books I would like you all to borrow from the library and read if you get a chance. They are, in order, Freelancing for Dummies by Susan Drake, Six Figure Freelancing by Kelly James-Enger, and Get a freelance life : mediabistro.com’s insider guide to freelance writing. These books taught me the beginnings of everything I know now. Of course, I learned a lot more by actually doing it; finding out what works for me and finding out what doesn’t. I now use my own version of the combination of knowledge I learned. Maybe in the future Freelance Water Cooler will offer a free e-book with my freelance formula. Also, please leave comments with anything I might have missed!

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