When it comes to earning money online, there are many things you can do. Many people turn to affiliate marketing or creating an online business. There are many great online business ideas that could earn you good money. But not everybody wants to run a business, whether due to costs, time constraints or lack of knowledge.
However there are ways you can earn money online working on your own terms by becoming an online freelancer. You don’t need lots of fancy skills. Although the more skills you do have the better your earnings potential will be.
Are you an employer? See the reasons why you should hire a freelancer for your business.
Advantages Of Working As An Online Freelancer
A freelancer basically means you are working on a self-employed basis. There are several advantages to working as an online freelancer including;
- Flexibility – you can work as much or as little as you like and work the hours to suit you. This is great to fit around those with other responsibilities such as childcare or working other jobs.
- No geographical barriers – as you are working online you can work from anywhere around the world without physical limitations.
- Greater earnings potential. Particularly the more expertise you have in a chosen field and the more you can offer than others.
- Freedom to be your own boss and freedom to choose who you work with and what jobs you take. Unlike a regular job, you are under no obligation to take on work. Choose something that is meaningful or lucrative to you. You can take on different job roles, you are not tied to one boring job!
Although there are many advantages to working as an online freelancer, there are also some disadvantages. This includes not having the security of a permanent work contract or income.
However, for most people, the benefits of being an online freelancer will outweigh the risks. It is ultimately down to each person’s individual situation. There are many different ways to work as a freelancer. We’ll look at a few below and some of the best sites to use.
See the different types of pricing strategies you can utilize.
Freelance Gig Ideas
Become A Virtual Assistant
We recently posted about how business owners can grow their businesses by hiring a virtual assistant. We realized that a lot of our followers don’t run a business but were interested to learn that they could earn money by offering their services as an online virtual assistant.
As a virtual assistant you would perform admin tasks for a company. This could include data entry, customer service and social media management. Unlike a regular job, working on a freelance basis allows you to work the hours you want. So you can fit it around your lifestyle and are not tied to a permanent contract.
Become An Online Freelance Writer
There are many freelance writing jobs that anybody can take on without having to be a qualified writer. Lots of companies pay for people to provide them with written content. This ranges from such things as product reviews to magazine articles and blog posts.
The greater your literacy and writing abilities will qualify you for higher paying work. This could cover more in depth articles and stories. However, many writing jobs are short and simple. These include reviews, document editing and proofreading, allowing pretty much anybody to do them.
There are several sites that specialize in freelance writing jobs such as Writing Paychecks. Writing paychecks is only open to the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand as they usually only cover the English language. A one off site subscription fee is required.
Freelance Photographer
Another great freelancing job you can do is photography. What we are talking about here is not strictly working as a photographer taking on physical photography jobs. We are referring to simply selling your photos online.
There are a lot of businesses that require new stock photography for their websites, catalogs, advertising etc. There are also several websites where you can sell your photos.
The great benefit of this is that you don’t need to be a professional photographer. You are not hiring yourself out for photo shoots but simply taking photos of whatever you like. Then upload these photos to the site and sell them. We have written a post about how to earn money selling your photos online.
Online Freelancer Platforms
There are popular freelancing platforms such as Fiverr that you can use to sell your skills. You can pick and choose which jobs to take on these platforms. These platforms are basically online marketplaces for skilled people to trade their services with prospective clients.
These platforms are more suited to people with knowledge and experience of more specialist or technical jobs. For instance they allow you to offer your services from many different specialisms. These include things such as web design, translation services, app development etc.
View this list of the best freelance websites.
Other Ways To Earn Money From Freelance Platforms
If you don’t feel like you have any skills to offer on Fiverr, then there is an alternative. A much easier way to earn money on this platform is through affiliate marketing. Fiverr have their own affiliates platform which anybody can join for free.
Simply promote Fiverr’s services and receive a commission payment every time somebody completes a purchase using your link. Register a free account on Fiverr affiliates.
Find more information in this post explaining how to make money with the Fiverr affiliates program.
One thing to note on these freelancer marketplaces is that there are huge numbers of people competing against each other for jobs. The more skilled you are in a particular field, the more likely you are of earning more.
It is usually necessary to ensure you can back up your claims with examples of your work. This ensures you stand out from the rest of the pack. Although for more enterprising individuals there is business opportunity here by outsourcing work.
For example, by using multiple platforms such as Fiverr and Latium, you can bid for jobs on one platform and then post the job on another platform for a higher amount and then you pocket the price difference as your profit!
Online Freelancer Conclusion
So as you can see, there are many different opportunities for freelancers with advantages and disadvantages to them. A lot of people enjoy being a freelancer for the freedom it brings them being their own boss and having the options to pick and choose their own work. Along with the increased earnings potential some of these roles can offer, so why not try it yourself?
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