Having spent the last couple of months testing a plethora of freelance sites on offer I’ve come to this one conclusion, if you’ve seen our “Top 30 freelance sites” you’ll already know we’ve given Elance the top spot. This article aims to explain a bit further why that is, why you should use Elance and how you can start off your own freelance career with it.
What you need to get started
- You don’t need a particular profession or skill – There are 100′s job categories on Elance from highly specialist jobs like WordPress programming to less specialised jobs such as proofreading or article writing.
- The beauty of these websites is that you can take jobs as and when you want, you choose how long the job is going to take you and if the employer is happy with that then off you go! – The balls are all in your court, it’s how you want to play it. If you want to take one job a week or one job a month you can do that. If you want to go full time, you can do that too.
Why freelance?
If you’re struggling to get a job, want a few more strings to your bow or just want some extra money freelancing online is very quick and easy to set-up. There aren’t many strings involved like there are working full time for an employer, you have the freedom to work when you want and how you want.
Freelancing can be a great way to build up a portfolio of work which you can then take to a future employer greatly improving your chances of employment.
What jobs do people want?
As I mentioned before there are 100′s of jobs on Elance in all different areas, some are more specialist than others.
Jobs anyone could do
- Article writing (Can pay well, however a lot are looking to pay peanuts so just filter past these) – Many of the jobs are simply to write about general knowledge subjects, some offer you flexibility to write about your own interests such as business, fashion, games, parenthood. This is by far one most should be looking for and there is definitely something for everyone.
- Proofreading (Can pay well)
- Data entry (Often low pay here)
- Customer service
- Novel/report writing
- Online research
- Press release writing (If you are particularly good at selling) – Check out our guide to writing killer press releases.
- Deciding on business names, website names etc..
- Graphics design
- Business/Games/App Reviews
- Everything else – All sorts of jobs appear on Elance, you never know your luck!
Why Elance?
- There are lots of reasons that I could give as to why Elance is a good choice however the ones that stand out are:
- The site is very sophisticated, it has everything you need
- The pool of employers is huge and consistent, there are new jobs every day, if you don’t find one that suits you this time maybe tomorrow you will.
- The site has over 20,000 courses in their “Elance University” to help you succeed on their website: https://www.elance.com/q/university a lot of these cost.
- The site has tests that allow you to easily showcase your technical ability in 100′s areas.
- Good ability to filter the types of jobs you want, where they are from (i.e. country), how they pay etc..
- Pleasurable to use
How can I get trained?
There are two ways you can get trained in a particular skill, you can go away and work on a voluntary basis, develop your own projects or read up on books/online training courses. The other option is to go straight in and start working, you’ll earn money and get practical feedback + references.
It really comes down to how confident you are, not if you are going to jump straight in it might be best to offer a lower rate and undercut some of the more professional freelancers who charge a lot more.
Parting Tips
- You will find a lot of low paying jobs, you need to look past these. It’s probably easier if you start with fixed rate jobs, It can make a huge difference changing your preference of client location although this can single out a lot of good jobs.
- Always write personalised covering letters, far too many people use the same generic covering letters when applying for jobs.
- Consider undercutting to build up your profile, it’s unfortunately a necessary thing if you are looking to get anywhere quick.
- If you are looking for a full time income, chances are slim unless you are very, very dedicated
Consider registering to more freelance sites to increase your chance of a job:
http://www.youngwebbuilder.com/top-30-sites-to-sell-freelance-services/
If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below, Good Luck!
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