Starting Out in Freelancing

Have you been looking for a way to start earning some money online, but never really known what you could do to make it? Most people will buy up all of the eBooks that they can find on the topics of online money making and working from home, decide that they don't have a product of their own that they can sell and just give up - little knowing that they do have a product to sell.

So, what's the one unique product that everyone has that they can sell? The thing that you'll be able to sell that nobody else will, is yourself. Over the years you'll have built up knowledge and interests in all manner of things, you're bound to know things that other people don't - and that's where you can make money.

Just like yourself there are going to be people wanting to make money online. Also, like yourself, they may not have a product, or much of an idea on how to go about creating one, and this is where you can come in. No, you won't necessarily be creating a product for them, but you could be using your knowledge and skills to help them along.

You may have skills in writing, designing, typing, or just have an in depth knowledge of a subject that's marketable. The chances are that you'll have some skill that someone will be willing to pay you to tap into. You don't have create a product of your own to sell because you can sell your expertise as a service - as a freelancer - and there are people out there that will bite your hand off to get what you can offer.

So, how do you go about cashing in on your unique abilities? Well there are a few things you'll need to know about first. Because you'll be a self employed freelancer you'll need to start up an actual business. This may sound quite daunting at first, but there are plenty of people who can give you all the advice you'll need so as to start up correctly. As a small business you're also going to need to keep records which, amongst other things, will make sure you pay the right amount of tax each year - that's something you really don't want to get wrong.

As a freelancer, and depending on your skills, you'll have the ability to pick up work in a number of different fields. You may want to specialize in one area, or if you have an office background, you may decide that you'd be equally as happy picking up jobs ranging from virtual assistant work to doing freelance typing for companies - you don't have to be restricted like you would in a 'normal' 9-5 job working of some large corporation.

Once you've narrowed down your options you'll need to look at where you're going to advertise your services, the best way to promote yourself as a freelancer, how much you're going to charge and how to come to an agreement on a contract for the work you'll be undertaking. Again, that all sounds like a fair bit to take on board, but it's essential to have a plan before trying to find your first freelance job.

If, for instance, you price yourself out of the market you'll never get any work. No work means no money. No money makes it difficult to advertise, and not being able to advertise means... no work. However, if you price yourself too low you'll be doing more work than you ever would have in a regular job, and quite possibly making a lot less money.

Having a proper contract is every bit as important as setting the right amount to charge. If there are delays in completing a job will you be held liable and have to pay back any of the money in compensation? If the work exceeds the original brief can you go back to the company and ask for more money? Do you hold any rights to any freelance writing you've done, or does the copyright pass to the people you're writing for? Make everything clear from the start.

There are a number of places online where you can sign up and start looking for freelance jobs that have already been posted, or you can advertise your own. They also take care of the payment side of things, as far as acting as a go between is concerned, and they'll also handle a lot of the contract work. But you still need to have a good grasp of what's involved. These sites won't be involved in where you set your prices levels or how you conduct your communication with the people whose jobs you accept.

Freelance work can be an enjoyable way of putting your skills to work for you. Also, though it may seem like there's a lot involved, it's all stuff you'll need to know to run you're work at home business successfully. So get out there and actually have some fun while doing something you're more than capable of doing.

It's not until you've started up your freelance business that you suddenly find that the whole thing can be a bit overwhelming. Although it takes time to put some of the behind the scenes elements of your business in place, they won't normally be the things that catch you out. Just as you'd have a business plan and business model when you look at the viability of the idea, you need something in place to be able to cope with the work when it does start coming in.

Many freelancers start out with the attitude that they may be lucky enough to pick up two or three projects a month, which they think will be easy enough for them to handle, but with out the proper project management they may still be on the first project when the second one come in. There's an art, may be even a science, to the way you should be managing your projects - and without it you may even have to start turning work away.

I know what you're thinking; if you got enough work that you had to start turning it away you'd be doing really well, and be quite happy with the way things are going, but that may not be the reason why you'll have to start turning work down.

You'll be providing a service for someone, which means you can only earn money by 'creating' something new each time, so you have to know how much time that will be. If you were to create an eBook, and then sell it, you would be writing it once and selling it over and over again, one lot of work for multiple sales. That could become a scalable business because the first month you may have one book and sell it twenty times, the second month you may have three books and sell each thirty times, and so on. With most freelancing jobs you only get paid once for each lot of work you do.

You need to be able to accurately cost your project, because you want to be able to get paid a fair price for the time you're putting in, to do that you need to how long it's likely to take you to complete and if there are any potential difficulties that may arise from the work you take on i.e. do you need to safe guard yourself by taking out some form of insurance that will cover you in the event that you can't complete a project, or, that the information you give them is inaccurate and leads to legal action?

Here's an example of something that might happen: You take on a project without properly finding out what the client wants, and therefore underestimate the amount of work involved. You're just happy to get some work coming in so you cost it at $97 for the complete project, thinking it will only take a day or two to complete. You enter into a contract that says you will have it all completed within two days, and everyone's happy. However, when you look at the actual work involved it turns out to be a one week project.

That then means you're being paid $97 for your week's worth of work, or around $3.23 per hour if it takes you 30 hours. The person you're freelancing for is unlikely to be too sympathetic because they're getting, what could be a time sensitive project, back days later than expected. They would have taken you on expecting you to have some idea of what you're doing; after all it is your business, so they may decide that they have some recourse against you for breach of contract. In the meantime you could be turning away work that's vital to keep the money coming in, and the bills being paid.

Planning ahead is a step you really don't want to overlook. As a freelancer you're only ever going to have twenty four hours in a day, you certainly aren't going to want to have to work all of them anyway, so learn to plan, devise a project management system, and you'll know from day to day where you should be on any project.

When you do have the planning aspect solved you should be able to quickly assess a project, see how long it will take, quote a price based on the time you need, and be able to complete the project within that time. When you get really good you may even be able to take on more than one project at a time because you'll know if you can fit it into your schedule i.e. you may have certain gaps that naturally occur in each job you're doing, and they may allow you to take on small projects to fill them.

When you start to learn these few project management steps life will begin to become that little bit easier for you. Everything will be done on time, you won't be under paid and struggling, and the people who employed you for the freelance work may keep coming back to you with more projects - because you know what you're doing.