There has been a great deal of talk about home businesses and online businesses over the past 10 years. In fact, as the U.S. Department of Labor reported, more than 20 million people work from home, and approximately half of them are not working from home as a part of their traditional job. Instead, they are working for themselves.

Now, among those numbers, you can bet that freelancers exist. A freelancer owns a business of their own, but they are not actually considered as business owners per se. A freelancer contracts their skills and services out to those who need them. The product that they sell is themselves — their skills or knowledge. While this operates on the same principle as owning a business and selling a product such as books, it is quite different. A freelancer does not work to find customers. Instead, they work to find clients.

Freelancers can either work from their home, or from a client’s office or home, depending on the job that they are doing. For example, a freelance writer typically works from his/her own home. A freelance consultant may, on the other hand, do the contracted job at the client’s place of business.

There are numerous skills that can be turned into a freelancing career. Writing seems to be the most popular, but freelancing can also include photography, web development, graphical design, proofreading, translating, tutoring, or any other number of careers. The only requirement for freelancing is to have a marketable skill; but of course, it takes more than that to actually become a successful freelancer. Continue Reading »

Starting a virtual assistant business is yet another lucrative way to freelance from home. Any past business experience as an administrative assistant or manager affords you a strong lead in being contracted for this type of service by busy executives.

To get started as a virtual assistant you merely have to offer your service to the online community. There is no formal credential process but there are several companies who offer training and their own credentialing. Although such training is not a particular necessity, they can help you obtain assignments when you’re first starting out. Before you sign up for any program or course, do your due diligence and investigate the company. Get recommendations from other successful virtual assistants and consider finding a mentor who can help you get started. A great alternative is to create your own administrative assistant jobs and become a virtual assistant.

Once you’ve set up your home office, you’ll need to establish your virtual office. On the Internet, you’ll use a website to advertise your services. Having a website is essential to establishing your presence. Shop wisely when it comes to finding the best web hosting for you and your business.

If web design is not in your skill set, find someone who can make a website for you. Try to contact other virtual assistants and see if you can barter for the design if it’s something that you cannot afford to begin with.

On your website you should, at minimum, list your services and who you are. You can also include an hourly rate, although many virtual assistants like to charge by the project instead of by the hour. As far as services go, don’t offer services that you don’t like to do. If you can make spreadsheets but don’t like to do it, then don’t offer that service. If you have background in a specific field, for example law, then list this as a specialty. You can also specialize in the type of work that you offer. Many virtual assistants limit their business to writing and editing, web design, data management or planning, but some offer a mixture of all types of services. Remember, this is your business and you can choose what tasks that you want to perform.

Legally, you’ll need a business license in order to become an independent contractor. By obtaining a business license you’ll be able to open up a business bank account and keep your business and personal finances separately. This is important as you can declare many of your business expenses as tax write offs.

The best way to get virtual assistant jobs to begin with is to start networking. Your best leads will come through people that you already know, whether they are online or in your hometown. Let people know what you are offering and promote your website address so people can see who you are and what you are doing. Make sure to include up to date contact information on your web page, including a phone number.

When you get your first client, its important to have a contract set in place before you start working on a project. You can get many sample contracts online that you can adapt for your needs. Make sure you and the client are both on the same page about the type of work that you will be doing. That way there are no surprises when you deliver the project and your bill.

After you have a few projects under your belt, you’ll begin to build a reputation. Then your virtual assistant business will grow naturally to include repeat clients and new projects. When you consistently do good work, your reputation will precede you and you may have more projects that you know what to do with in a short period of time. Make sure not to overbook yourself, and collect a network of other virtual assistants who are willing to take overflows for you if the need arises.

Starting your internet business will require next to no money, and you will need a plan to follow. If you’ve considered your own business or don’t have a plan, be sure to check out these opportunities.
Continue Reading »

Figure out what kind of writing you want to do. Most of freelance writing is non-fiction, so what topics do you feel passionate about, that is where you want to start.

• Schedule your time even though you are working at home. This is a real job, so treat it like one.
• Write a paragraph or two about yourself and the work you are best at. Paste it as needed on websites you visit.
• Familiarize yourself with search engine optimization and use it. Get subscriptions to several ezines and forums. Get involved with a writing club or online community. All of this networking should be able to be accomplished at no cost to you. Newsletters are a good source of information.

Continue Reading »

If you price your services too low, you may be inundated with work, but you will be working at a rate where you need to produce 2 to 3 times as much as your competitors in order to make the same amount of money.

All of these factors need to be considered when you are setting out to price jobs. In addition, you will want to do some market testing to see which price structure brings you the best results.

Bidding On Freelance Writing Assignments

When you look for work on the freelance auction sites, you need to know how to win the bidding war without bidding so low that you get the job but lose money on the production of the job.

This takes finesse and know how, but mostly it takes self-confidence in your writing ability and the willingness to stick to your guns. Rest assured that SEO article and copywriters are in high demand and it looks like it will remain that way for years to come. Continue Reading »

If you are planning to quit your current job and enter the world of the freelancer, then you had better be pretty darn well sure that this is something you want to do.

Even if you are totally sure that you want to become a freelancer in your chosen field, is it something that is financially possible for you?

Can you support your family on the salary you make from a freelancer?

What about healthcare, are you prepared to give that up too in pursuit of a future as a freelancer?

Can you handle the stress that comes from working with tight, often ridiculous deadlines on your projects?

Do you work well by yourself and can you speak well when talking with a potential client who may want to hire you for his next project?

Finally, do you have what it takes to constantly advertise yourself and your services to anyone who may be interested? Continue Reading »

If you’ve decided that working as a freelance writer is the best work at home job opportunity for you, then you’ll need to figure out how to get writing assignments. Fortunately, when you work as a web writer there is no shortage of job opportunities. It all depends on where you look and how much research you are willing to do.

Web writing can break down into several different categories. Before you begin looking for work, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want to get credit for your writing. If you insist on byline, you may have difficulty finding a lot of paying jobs. Byline jobs are out there if you look. However, the most money to be made is from working as a web ghostwriter.

Many freelancers find success with ghostwriting. When you work as a freelance ghostwriter you provide writing services for clients who will then use the work as their own. Ghostwriting as a freelance is a lucrative opportunity, especially when you focus on web writing. For the most part, the Internet is a text and image based platform. Companies and individuals who run websites constantly need text to make their websites attractive to visitors. Since writing is something that a lot of people would rather not do, this leaves plenty of opportunities for people who love to write. Continue Reading »

When you think of freelancing, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? You probably think of a writer, novelist or journalist right off hand.

That is primarily because for centuries, the only real job you could have as a freelancer had to do with your mastery of the written word.

But we are not still stuck back in the early nineteen hundreds – no we are in the twenty first century, a time that appreciates freelancers in hundreds of different jobs.

Sure, you have probably heard of freelance photographers too, you may have even met one or two in your life, but what about freelance software designers, freelance medical billing specialists, or even freelance scientific researchers? Continue Reading »

Having your own freelance website is one of the best ways to market or start your freelance business because it establishes you in the search engines and starts the process of getting your name out into the client community. The easiest way for new freelancers to create this online space is with a blog. Continue Reading »

If you’ve decided that working as a freelance writer is the best work at home job opportunity for you, then you’ll need to figure a few different ways to find and land those writing assignments. Continue Reading »