Methods of Making Money for Freelancers 1

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Working freelance can be a way of expressing our freedom, being our own master but it can also become a nightmare, especially when the jobs don’t keep a’coming. What to do when there is a dry period? Well what I can tell you is to develop alternative methods of earning income. The web is a vast ocean for this, you can make a decent profit or you can also drown in the abyss. I can’t say I’ve gained a fortune at this, but with trial and error I’ve had some experience and reluctantly I have seen that it works. Thus, I would like to share some of my few dollars worth notes with you folks.

Firstly lets depict what freelancers do and we’ll continue from there.

Freelancers are self-employed people who work for employers on project basis according to the deal between them. When the project is finished generally the freelancer is free to go and work wherever he/she pleases. The freelancer gets to choose from a variety of jobs on the contrary of the normal worker and as having a variety of cients also has more than one income sources. Check this out for a more detailed explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer

If the job you do fits into the depiction above, working freelance for can be the all that you dreamed of from a profession or it can be quite the opposite. You don’t work for a single employer but get to choose from the employers you can reach out to; yeah that sounds nice but what if you can’t reach out to the number of employers you wished to, or think about if there are times when the workload is more that you can handle and then suddenly all work is cut off, and there are no more employers who wish to give you work? Sounds stupid but don’t laugh, it is very possible, ‘been there, done that’ many many times. Many times jobs would rain out of nowhere, sometimes 3-4 jobs at once would come. Because of the deadlines, I would have to reject many good jobs and then suddenly when the project at hand was finished I would have to wait sometimes for months to get a decent job. Freelance working isn’t always that nice. Sometimes there can be dry periods, and it is most likely that many freelancers are experiencing the dry period nowadays due to the global recession. So you have to keep your public profile nice and smiling. Networking is an important part of the freelancers workload. So if you work freelance you have to get out there and present yourself to get new projects. For this to easiliy happen you can become members of the freelancer service sites and boards listed below to display your profiles and portfolios . You can also blog and create your own communities on most of these sites. Some are for free but some have limited use unless you pay for subscription.

Reach out to new Employers

Although it seems attractive at first to become a free member of the paid sites your account will be limited to a limited type or number of employers and accordingly your options will be few. Also if you compare the paid sites to the free ones you will not be supported by some services that are applicable only by the paid sites such as the resolving of conflicts between the freelancer and employee. This can be releiving for freelancer during or after the job.

Here is a list of the sites I have come across:

crowdSPRING :Global marketplace for creative services: logo design, business card design, graphic design and website design.

AuthenticJobs :Full-time and freelance job opportunities for designers and developers.

Elance :Service for connecting employers with qualified professionals for all types of jobs.

Getafreelancer :Custom web design and programming. Freelance programmers. Web development outsourcing.

Eufreelance :European freelance market. Custom web design, programming, copywriting.

Coroflot esigners job board.

Krop :Creative & technical design jobs

Jobpile :List of Jobs on the web.

Freshwebjobs :Jobs board for web design.

Slashdot :Technical Jobs (Company Logo is “jobs for nerds”, get the idea?).

Guru aid listing service and marketplace.

Serebra Connect :Online Outsourcing and employment marketplace.

Freelancers.net :Freelancers, freelance jobs & freelance projects.

Freelanceswitch :Freelance advice and freelance jobs.

Talking about advice you can find some helpful links for freelancers from billing to management and orgnisation on Freelanceswitch:

http://freelanceswitch.com/general/101-essential-freelancing-resources/ Here you can find many links to freelance job sites and other practical information for freelancers.

This post is just an introduction to the ways of earning money in the freelance world. If you want to learn some more about increasing your income continue reading Short Guides for Freelancers

Methods of Making Money for Freelancers 2 About selling microstock.

Methods of Making Money for Freelancers 3 A Review of Microstock sites.