any freelancers here?

Philippines
April 20, 2009 11:07am CST
hi, I'm a full-time freelancer. i get my bread butter online and I'm just curious how many members in my lot are also doing freelance work. come to think of it, its not a bad idea to connect here also so add me up if you are interested.... my experience with freelancing over the years has been ups and downs. nevertheless, ive managed to find financial freedom since it opens alot of doors for you. however i still feel sometimes im losing corporate mileage hehe but to hell with that. i work as an illustrator and animator online. so how about you? interested in taking the plunge into the freelance abyss? or have you taken the step like i did? share me your thoughts and experiences and maybe some people who is contemplating this step might pick up a few points to ponder.
6 responses
2 May 09
hey this souns pretty cool but i went to your websights and im a weeee bit confused on what to do haha. So i sign up and nw what? and this is completly free to me right?
• Philippines
3 May 09
yea most of them are free... the next thing you need to do is build a profile and portfolio... and then bid on projects. if a project is awarded to you then you start work. :)
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
30 Apr 09
I am looking into getting into some of this kind of work. I do some work from home now on a few of the writing sites and stuff. I will look into some of the sites that you have mentioned on here and I will see what I can do. I don't know much about illustating or animation so I don't think that I would do well in those fields. ( By the way, I love your avatar!)
• Philippines
1 May 09
Best of luck to you then! I'm sure you'll find something that will fit you nicely... hehe yea that's my happy monkey :)
• United States
20 Apr 09
Hi, I am new to this, but I am interested in online freelancing. How did you get started, if you don't mind my asking?
• Philippines
20 Apr 09
hi, well the best way to start freelancing is by trying it, never too early and never too late. you should try sites like rentacoder, elance, getafreelancer, scriptlance or odesk. for starters id stick to rentacoder. as it does not require you to pay any form of membership fee, however you do pay them 15% of what you earn when the project is completed... depending on what you do, projects can range from $5-$25 for really simple jobs... and $100-$300 on the average ones... and $1000 up for really serious work. the sites offer work for almost all types of skill set so you'll definitely find something that you can do. my advice is to protect your reputation, it's good early on that when you commit to work on a project you should be giving 110% of your time and effort. so you're ratings will be nothing but excellent. this is important coz it will or wont bring you projects in the future. if you have a day job right now, i suggest you to take on small projects first and work your way up. assess if you can break free from your current job and do full time freelance...if you can do both then that will be better!
• United States
20 Apr 09
I am a freelance writer as of now and I must say I enjoy it very much so. However I am on the lookout for more jobs because I would like to get my monthly income up more. I make some good money but I would like to start doubling it here in the next few months. Take care and feel free to add me as a friend. Happy mylotting as well.
• Philippines
20 Apr 09
i did an experiment a few months back on how to double your earnings. the best solution is of course to double your work instead of doubling your price. fish on multiple spots instead of one so you'll have a wider coverage on the market. i find it easier to bid on small $50 projects i can finish in a day and have 10 of those projects than doing $1000 projects which will take you 2 weeks to finish... but still money is money, take all the projects you can do. :) even if it's a $5 5 min job.
@sblossom (2168)
20 Apr 09
I'm not freelancer but I want to be on in the future. Can you tell me some information that I can do at home as freelancer. Thank you in advance. Blossom
• Philippines
20 Apr 09
yea you can do this totally at home... i work with my PJ's instead of a suit and tie! :) the best advice i can give is to look for your assets, what can you provide the freelance market? a lot of buyers are looking for all sorts of stuff, here's a few clerical stuff that i see on the posts, data entry, forum posts, virtual secretaries, blog writers, ebook writers, ghost writers (for real books), transcriptionists (transcribers), and a lot more... if you're good with graphics, programming, or what not, you have a place in the market as long as you commit to the projects you've won and do them in a quality you promised your clients...
@sameeer (76)
• India
20 Apr 09
hi i am new to freelancing and was thinking of signing up for getafreelancer.com but not sure, i have some skills and can utelize it maybe can you share more of your experince with freelancing and the income we can expect by working as a freelancer? thx
• Philippines
20 Apr 09
hey, getafreelancer is ok.. but you can only bid a few times in a month... unless you purchase a membership with them and you will have considerable amounts of allowable bids. the up side to getafreelancer is that if you're a gold member, they wont charge you a single cent on commission. means you spend $10 a month for membership... bag a $200 project and its all yours. if your not a member you will be paying 10% per project from what you earn... well to be honest, figures are hard to give since the work load of freelancers vary from one person to the other. i think you should look at the current market you're in (let's say graphics) and check out the prices of each project... estimate how long it will take one project and how many projects will you take in a month... from there estimate also how much you're willing to bid. and set a goal for each month... the first month i started freelancing i earned $800, but now i earn way more than that amount. but again it depends on how many projects and how competitive your services and prices can be. it's also good to note that you're earning vary every month, since it's does not rain $$$ everyday :) well one good thing you should always consider when freelancing, is the common notion that you got all the time in the world and be you're own boss... the first is soo untrue. you'll be busier than ever, since you do all the things like emailing clients, bidding on projects, doing the actual work... you're the whole company rolled in one person. so it's a plus if you're a multi-tasker ;) and since you're the boss, you get to tell yourself to work since opportunity is at every corner and the sooner you finish a job the sooner you can get a new one... so you can just imagine it will become nasty at some point. hehehehe anyways, hope this helps and best of luck on your freelance career!