April 6th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
In my search for work from home, I have come across a great many scams–so many, in fact, that I was nearly turned off from freelance-related products all together. However, when I came across Six-Figure Freelancer, I was immediately impressed with what I found. You see, Six-Figure Freelancer is something that is unlike anything else on the internet. It is something that will make you money right off the bat, and will continue to make you money time after time. I’ve used it myself and have made a good amount of money from it. It has definitely made me a better, more successful freelance writer. For that reason, I encourage to you to give Six-Figure Freelancer a chance. Click here to try it now.
- Michelle
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Question: I am looking to begin working from home as a freelancer. How difficult is it to break into this business? - K.P
Answer: I get asked this question all the time, K.P., and for good reason: breaking into freelancing can be a bit overwhelming. I know it was quite stressful and daunting for me when I first started. Thankfully, as long as you know what to do, it’s not too bad.
It’s all about deciding what you are good at and then rolling with that. Are you strong grammatically? If so, you may find a lot of work as a proofreader or maybe a writer. Are you an experienced programmer? Then there are lots of programming-related work opportunities available. How about web design? You could easily start selling your services to others and designing web sites for them. There are literally hundreds of different opportunities for you as a freelancer.
Next, when you decide what to do, you can begin exploring where to find work in that area. Try free sites like Craigslist.org, RentaCoder.com and ScriptLance. Often, you’ll be required to supply a sample or two of your work–in which case, you should spend a little time developing it, whether it’s a small web site or article. Even if it isn’t required, showing your experience to perspective buyers is a good idea as it shows that you have what it takes to complete their projects.
Finally, make sure you have a spreadsheet in place to carefully keep track of how much income you are receiving, expenses and also taxes. One of the biggest mistakes I see is freelancers who forget about taxes only to realize at the end of the year that they owe a bunch. Take the time now to set aside 15.3% of your profit (after expenses) for the self-employment tax. Also set aside enough to cover federal, state and city taxes.
Good luck!
- Michelle
Have questions about freelancing? Email them to mcar_2185@yahoo.com to have them answered here!
October 31st, 2007 at 9:44 am
In part 1 of our 5 part series on getting started in freelancing, we discussed the various things you can do as a freelancer. But how exactly do you put these to use? How do you find work in a particular field? That’s something we will discuss right here.
What Next?
After deciding what to do as a freelancer, it’s now time to find work. This part of the process is admittedly tougher, as there aren’t a ton of legitimate work at home freelance opportunities. However, there are some, and you just need to know where to look for them.
Where Do I Look?
OK, so where do you look? Well, you’re obviously not going to look in the local newspaper, as most jobs advertised in there are for jobs that you have to commute to and from, and if there are work at home listings, most of the time, they will be fake. Thus, you need to be prepared to go online and look.
RentACoder.com
RentACoder is a site I’ve had great success with. I’ve been a member of there since December 2006, and to date have earned several thousand dollars. The great thing about RentACoder is that it is completely free for freelancers to use–the only fees associated with it are taken out of project bids. Basically, RAC works like this:
- You sign up
- You look at projects
- You place a bid on the project for how much you want to be paid to complete it
- If the bid is accepted, you start work
- You complete the work and are paid every two weeks
RAC features literally thousands of open projects, available in fields ranging from Data Entry to Writing to Web Design to Programming. RentACoder is probably the best freelance web site around, so be sure to sign up here.
eLance.com
eLance is known to be one of the best freelance sites around. However, it does cost some money to use–the monthly/yearly fee will depend on the field which you want to bid on projects. Most who sign up for eLance end up making back all their money invested and then some.
ScriptLance.com
ScriptLance is a project web site in which freelancers can bid on projects and then complete them and get paid. This site isn’t quite as reliable as RentACoder, as funds aren’t always escrowed like on RAC, but it is still a site worth checking out. Project fees are usually $5, which is very cheap.
GetAFreelancer.com
GetAFreelancer is yet another project web site. Freelancers can sign up for a free, basic account and have 25 bids per month, or they can go Gold (and pay a monthly fee) to have an unlimited amount of bids. Work is done through the site, and once a project is completed, the freelancer is paid.
GetACoder.com
GetACoder, like the others mentioned, is a project bid web site. It doesn’t have quite as much work available as do the other sites, but is still a worthwhile place to sign up for.
GetAUSCoder.com
GetAUSCoder.com is a new, yet promising project bid web site for freelancers. It is only open to those freelancers located in the U.S., so you will have less competition for bids and a better chance of earning good money.
October 13th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Often, I am asked by aspiring freelancers just how to get started in freelancing. It’s something that, admittedly, isn’t as straight forward as one would expect. Thus, it is something that really requires a bit of an explanation. What I have decided to do is create a 5 part series on this site for aspiring freelancers. In it, you will find all the information you need to become a freelancer and make money.
First Things First
Before you can begin to freelance, it is important to first figure out where your strengths lie. If you’ve already done work in a particular field, you might already know this. If not, it’s time to figure it out. Let’s consider the opportunities in freelancing.
Writing
Believe it or not, but writing is perhaps one of the most opportunity-filled jobs in all of freelancing. There are lots of businesses and individuals who are looking just for good writers that can produce content for them. I should know, as it’s something I’ve done for a while now and made a good deal of money from it.
So why is good writing in such demand? Well, most freelance sites are filled with writers who may not speak English as their primary language. As a result, the content they produce is not of a very high quality. Therefore, many businesses and individuals are looking specifically for high quality American, British and Canadian writers.
By now you might be asking “what if I’m not an amazing writer?” It’s OK. Most people can’t pen a novel like Stephen King. You don’t have to be a great writer in order to become a freelance writer. All you need is decent English skills and the ability to follow the buyer’s directions. That’s it.
Web Development
Another in demand freelance field is that of web development. There are a lot of people who need simple or more complex web sites built, as well as those who just need someone to install a forum, Joomla, Wordpress or another piece of web software. You might be surprised at how much people will pay to get a web developer to install something as simple as Joomla. I myself have installed forums for as much as $85 a piece–and it only takes an hour or two to install them.
If you don’t know how to install such software, you might want to buy a web site, set it up and practice. Once you teach yourself how to install this software, you’ll have a lot more sell-ability to potential customers.
Should I Limit Myself?
Some potential freelancers think that they need to limit themselves to just one field. That’s not true, though. In fact, it is a good thing to be diverse and be able to do several different things. I currently do both writing and web development, allowing me to constantly stay busy and really make good money. So don’t think that you need to limit yourself–you can do as many things as you want as a freelancer.
This concludes Part 1 of the series. In part 2, I will be discussing where to find work and much more.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
For millions of people, working at home would be a dream come true. They could make money while also being available for their kids. Unfortunately, this dream isn’t as attainable as many scam sites would make it seem. But the dream does exist
One of the biggest work at home scams is that of data entry. Hundreds, if not thousands of sites claim to allow people to make hundreds/thousands of dollars by simply typing ads. People who are desparate for work from home will often fall for these data entry scams and pay money for “information”. They end up losing the money.
All of this raises the question: do legitimate data entry jobs even exist? The answer is, yes, they do! Below are a list of three of the legitimate data entry jobs that are currently well known:
DionData
AxionData
Working Solutions
By going to a site like WAHM.com, you can discover other legitimate data entry jobs. You should remember, though, that there aren’t a whole lot of legitimate data entry opportunities, so you may want to also look for other work from home such as writing or web design.
Avoiding the Scams
One thing to keep in mind is that you will not make the 6 figure salary scam sites say you will make as a data entry specialist. At most you’ll make $50,000, and that’s only if you find enough full time work.
Since there are so many data entry scam sites out there offering data entry “jobs”, how do you know which are real and which are fake? Follow the below guidelines to choose between legitimate and scam data entry sites:
No real data entry site requires money up front. You’ll usually come across sites that will tell you how to make money if you pay $49.95. Do not fall for these sites as they are always fake. It may all sound good, but paying money up front to join these sites will only result in one thing: the loss of the money paid to join them.
No real data entry site promises the potential to earn $100,000 a year. Another thing most fake data entry sites promise is the ability to effortlessly earn $100K a year. This will not happen. Data entry, whether done in the confines of an office or at home, is a typically lower paying position. No data entry worker I know makes anywhere close to $100,000 a year.
No real data entry site promises lots of money in exchange for little work. Fake data entry sites will often brag on the fact that you can do an hour or two of work each day and earn $2000. That’s a big fat lie. Legitimate data entry requires effort and a considerable amount of time. You will just about have to do 5-8 hours a day of work just to make a living as a data entry worker.
To summarize, you should always avoid any data entry site that promises huge wealth in exchange for a “one-time” fee. These are always fake and will do you no good.
