Need to Make Extra Money? Try Freelancing

freelance extra moneyNeed to make some extra money?  Whether you need money to meet a savings goal, pay off some debt, or just make ends meet in tough times, freelancing is an excellent way to make money using skills you already have.

 

What is Freelancing

So what is freelancing?

Freelancing is simply hiring out your skills for use outside of your normal job.

Once upon a time (in the prehistoric days before the internet) it could be much harder to make money freelancing because there were only so many people you could connect with who needed your skills and knew you were available.

But in this incredible era of high speed internet and WiFi,  You can make your skills available to anyone on the planet with an internet connection.

That’s literally BILLIONS of people!

It’s especially easy to find freelance work if your skills involve working on a computer or over the internet.  That could include skills like marketing, interior design, accounting, software development, transcribing, general office work, translation, IT, website building writing, , and tons more.

 

How to Start Freelancing

It only takes a few minutes to fill out a profile on sites such as Elance, Freelancer,  or Guru, among others, then start bidding on any available jobs you find interesting.

Potential clients can also find you by searching for specific skills listed in your profile and can check out projects that you’ve finished for others.  The sites also have excellent tools for tracking the progress of your projects for your client to see, and guaranteed payment once the project is complete.

Once you finish each job, the clients will rate your work.  The better job you do for your clients, the better reputation you build, resulting in more work for you.

However, if your skills are confined to a more local service area such as a landscaping, plumber, general maintenance, electrician, auto repair, child care, etc., you can still freelance your skills by advertising on sites such as Craigslist.

Craigslist has “Gigs” and “Jobs” sections where you can advertise your areas of expertise to anyone in your local area needing your services.

Of course it’s free, and if you take the time to write a great description that makes you stick out from the crowd by listing qualifications, testimonials, references, and photos from completed jobs, you can easily make a steady side income to use for paying down debt, savings or other financial goals.

 

The Golden Age of Freelancing

I am thoroughly convinced there has never been a better time in the history of the world to find ways to make money.  When you have the ability to hire yourself out to literally anyone else in the world, it’s so much easier to make that extra income you need.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. It will take some work to fill out several profiles and find projects, but it’s still so much easier than it was before these sites were available.

So if you’re ready to hustle, you just might be surprised at how much extra money you can make freelancing!

Have you ever made any money freelancing?  Leave a comment, I’d love to hear about it.

Resources:

Relentless People Get What They Want

How Do You Get Out of Debt (Part 1)- Get Mad and Naked

5 Ways to Make Extra Money In a Tough Economy

Another 5 Ways to Make Extra Money In a Tough Economy

Money Making Idea #4- Freelancing

About Dr. Jason Cabler

16 Responses to “Need to Make Extra Money? Try Freelancing”

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  1. Yeah, there literally are as many ways to make money out there as there are people. Just stand outside of your house and look around. You can find money everywhere you look. Think about how much was paid out for houses, vehicles, lawns, streets, street lights, street signs and so much more. There is money in almost everything you look at. It is just a matter of finding a way to tap into it.

  2. I totally agree with you Dr. Jason, the internet has opened up numerous opportunities for enterprising people to exploit and that do not require that much capital! I have been freelancing for some months now and I can say without a shred of doubt, its fun, its challenging and each day I wake up ready to try out even more things. The key to a remarkable freelancing career: a)Honesty b) Hardwork c) Constant learning and you’ll never be without a nice side-income!

  3. Michelle says:

    Freelancing is a great way to make extra money. My extra income is higher than my day job right now, and I love it!

  4. Thanks for the post complete with some links to other resources! I’m trying to get started as a freelance writer myself, so this was really helpful.

  5. Love this Jason! It really is easier than ever to supplement your primary income through freelancing. You just have to take a deep breath and put yourself out there….inhaling now…:-)

  6. Jake says:

    Getting out of debt was the primary reason I started freelancing on the side and then the freelancing started making more money than my real job.

    I am a full time freelancer on SEOClerks and oDesk now. I actually quit my day job. The key is providing an awesome service so you get ranked high and rated positive. Once people see a lot of positive ratings on your service listing (SEOClerks) or your profile (oDesk), you start getting more and more sales. It is like a snowball.

    Speaking of snowballs, this helped me get out of debt just like your article describes. The extra income is what I used to pay down small debts and create a debt snowball. 🙂

    • Great job! Building your freelancing reputation is no different than building any other business. You make people happy, you get more business. Very simple.

      Keep up the great work, thanks for the comment Jake!

  7. zimmy@moneyandpotatoes.com says:

    This is great stuff!

  8. Freelancing is one option. You could also try starting your own Network Marketing business. My friend Levy wanted to make extra money from home. Check out her story – http://catwoman.flp.com.

  9. yadavbharath says:

    Thank you for giving me the opportunity to visit this impressive website. There is plenty of valuable info listed on this site. I have seen a lot of tricks. It is too much to absorb at once, thus I definitely will return to view more.

  10. Carol says:

    Hi, and thank you for this piece! However, I believe you should mention XPlace among the websites for freelancers. This job board has some really great advantages your readers could use, such as higher hourly rates than the majority of other online freelancing platforms, a large number of various job opportunities (entry-level and more complex ones), and absence of commission fee.

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