No cap on the income you can make, you get to set your own hours, you can take on the clients that you want to work with, sounds like a dream right? Below we will show you why freelancing is a great way to start an online business and earn some additional income along the way.
If you have a decent amount of savings that can tide you over until you build up enough regular income or clients then freelancing can be ideal, however when you are starting from scratch with no clients and no income, freelancing can be a little daunting. Never fear, we will show you ways to find clients and build a nice little side hustle or an online business to replace your current job income.
How do you become a freelancer?
Ask yourself what skills do you have that you can earn an income from? For most this would be based around their current job or any education they have studied. Other freelancing ideas could revolve around a hobby such as woodworking, a second language you have learnt or a musical instrument you have learnt. If this doesn’t help you can always rely on your manual labour skills or if you have a driver’s licence or a bike you can look for a driving or delivery gig.
One of the biggest issues is finding clients or customers, particularly when starting out. No worries, we have some suggestions for you. Depending on the type of freelancing you are looking to take on will determine the best place to find clients, however here we will focus on the online world to source clients/customers and provide freelance services.
Locally you could search your paper classifieds or go door to door or launch a flyer drop however the best way to find clients is to use a freelancer marketplace website.
For simple manual labour jobs using sites such as Airtasker, TaskRabbit, Gumtree or Craigslist or even applying to a local job agency.
Online freelance work can be found on sites such as Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr.
Let’s look at these freelance sites in more detail:
About: Airtasker is an online marketplace (founded in 2012 in Australia) that focuses on offering outsourcing services both for people looking for work or looking for outsourcing jobs. The site focus mainly on blue collar jobs or tasks and the type of outsourced jobs they offer includes home cleaning, building furniture or handyman jobs.
How to use the platform: Firstly set up your account. Providing you are aged 18 and over, set up your account by providing your relevant personal details. You will also have the option to register as a tasker (person who is being paid to complete a task) or a poster (person paying for the task to be completed) or both. When setting up your tasker profile you will have the ability to select the areas of interest that you can provide tasker services. Once you see a task you would like to complete you contact the poster with your offer and a description on why they should select your offer (all done through the platform) and the poster will either accept this or not. The better rating you have the more likely you are to get more work so whilst beginning on the platform you may need to offer lower than market pricing to build up your reviews. Once your offer has been accepted and the task completed to the satisfaction of the poster your fee is then credited to your account (minus the Airtasker fee). Do a good job and you might also get a bonus from the task poster!
Fees: There is no limit to what you can charge for your services, Airtasker will take a percentage from each successful post/task. (Depending on your country) Airtasker has 4 tiers or levels (the higher the tier the lower the service fee). The Bronze tier has a 20% service fee, the Silver tier ranges from 15% to a 16.4% service fee, the Gold tier has a range of 12.5% to 12.7% service fee and the Platinum tier has a 10% service fee. To get to a higher tier you will need to earn a certain level each month which can be tracked through your membership dashboard as well as performing at a certain completion rating over the month. Click here for more information on these tiers. When withdrawing funds from AirTasker this is usually in your account within 3-5 business days.
Depending on your country of residence Airtasker also offers liability insurance based for your task. Check the Airtasker website for more details on this.
Click here to set up your Airtasker account.
About: TaskRabbit is an online marketplace (founded in 2008 in Boston as RunMyErrand) that focuses on offering outsourcing services both for people looking for work or looking for outsourcing jobs. The site focus mainly on blue collar jobs or tasks and the type of outsourced jobs they offer includes home moving, cleaning and everyday errands or jobs.
How to use the platform: Firstly set up your account. Providing you are aged 18 and over, set up your account by providing your relevant personal details. You will also have the option to register as a tasker (person who is being paid to complete a task) or a poster (person paying for the task to be completed) or both. When setting up your tasker profile you can select the areas of expertise or interest that you can provide tasker services. Once you see a task you would like to complete you contact the poster with your offer and a description on why they should select your offer (all done through the platform) and the poster will either accept this or not. The better rating you have the more likely you are to get more work so whilst beginning on the platform you may need to offer lower than market pricing to build up your reviews. Once your offer has been accepted and the task completed to the satisfaction of the poster your fee is then credited to your account (minus the TaskRabbit fee). Do a good job and you might also get a tip from the task poster!
Fees: There is no limit to what you can charge for your services, TaskRabbit will take a percentage from each successful post/task. Taskrabbit has a level service fee of 15% (not tiered) and in applicable cities a $25 registration fee. TaskRabbit also has a Trust and Support Fee that applies to all hourly invoices however this doesn’t come from the Tasker fee. When withdrawing funds from TaskRabbit this is usually in your account within 3-5 business days. To get more jobs and/or charge a higher rate, aim for higher reviews on your TaskRabbit profile.
Click here to set up your TaskRabbit account.
About: Fiverr is an online marketplace (founded in 2010 in Israel) that focuses on offering outsourcing services both for people looking for work or looking for outsourcing jobs. The site also focuses mainly on white collar jobs (usually online or virtual jobs) or tasks and the type of outsourced jobs they offer includes social media management, copywriting and web design.
How to use the platform: As with other platforms in this niche, you set up your seller profile. Providing you are aged 13 and over, set up your account by providing your relevant personal details. Also similar to other providers in this area, you have the option to register as a seller or buyer though in this post we will focus on sellers. When setting up your seller profile list the areas of expertise you can offer services in and also create your description to catch the eye of buyers. Once you see a gig you would like to complete you contact the buyer with your offer and a description on why they should select your offer (all done through the platform) and the poster will either accept this or not. Alternatively you may have buyers directly approach you, obviously the better your rating (and competitive pricing) the more likely you will attract buyers. Similar to other employment marketplaces when building your name you may have to accept lower than market gigs whilst building your reviews. Once your offer has been accepted and the gig completed to the satisfaction of the buyer your fee is then credited to your account (minus the Fiverr fee). Fiverr is also big on helping you upsell your buyers (Fiverr also provides free selling courses for gig providers) such as additional work offering further to your basic service, offering several options for a job and getting tips or bonuses for gigs well done.
Fees: Similar to other providers in this area, there is no limit to what you can charge for your services, Fiverr will take a percentage from each successful gig. Fiverr has a level service fee of 20% (also taken from tips/bonuses) which is one of the highest fees in the employment marketplace space and this fee isn’t tiered either, with fees available for withdrawal (to a Fiverr eligible payment services provider) 14 days after completion and there may be transfer fees to your financial institution. As always the better your rating/profile the more income you will be able to make per job and overall.
Click here to set up your Fiverr account.
About: Freelancer is an online marketplace (founded in 2009 in Australia) that focuses on offering outsourcing services both for people looking for work or looking for outsourcing jobs. The site also focuses mainly on white collar jobs (usually online or virtual jobs) or tasks and the type of outsourced jobs they offer includes video editing, voice overs and financial analysis.
How to use the platform: As with other platforms in this niche, you set up your seller profile. Providing you are aged 16 and over, set up your account by providing your relevant personal details. Also similar to other providers in this area, you have the option to register as a seller or buyer though as per the other services reviewed we will focus on sellers. When setting up your seller profile list the areas of expertise you can offer services in (freelancer.com suggested changing your job brief for each job you apply for). Once you see a job you would like to complete you contact the buyer with your offer and a description on why they should select your offer (all done through the platform) and the poster will either accept this or not. Alternatively you may have buyers directly approach you, again the better your rating the more buyers you will attract. Similar to other employment marketplaces when building your name you may have to accept lower than market gigs whilst building your reviews. Once your offer has been accepted and the gig completed to the satisfaction of the buyer your fee is then credited to your account (minus the Freelancer fee).
Fees: Similar to other providers in this area, there is no limit to what you can charge for your services, Freelancer will take a percentage from each successful job. For fixed price projects or contests Freelancer has a level contest service fee of 11% or $5.50 AUD (whichever is greater). For services you are subsequently hired to perform the fee is 20%, equal highest in this area to Fiverr, when withdrawing funds from Freelancer this is usually in your account within 3-5 business days
Click here to set up your Freelancer account.
About: Upwork is an online marketplace (founded in 2015 in the US though as Elance started in 1999) that focuses on offering outsourcing services both for people looking for work or looking for outsourcing jobs. Similar to Fiverr and Freelancer, Upwork also focuses mainly on white collar jobs (usually online or virtual jobs) or tasks and the type of outsourced jobs they offer includes online marketing, customer service support and bookkeeping.
How to use the platform: As with other platforms in this niche, you set up your seller profile. Providing you are aged 18 and over, set up your account by providing your relevant personal details. Also similar to other providers in this area, you have the option to register as a seller or buyer though in this post we will focus on sellers. When setting up your seller profile list the areas of expertise you can offer services in and also create your description to catch the eye of buyers. Once you see a gig you would like to complete you contact the buyer with your offer and a description on why they should select your offer (all done through the platform) and the poster will either accept this or not. Alternatively you may have buyers directly approach you, obviously the better your rating (and competitive pricing) the more likely you will attract buyers. As per other employment marketplaces, when building your name you may have to accept lower than market gigs whilst building your reviews. Once your offer has been accepted and the gig completed to the satisfaction of the buyer your fee is then credited to your account (minus the Upwork fee). Upwork also allows jobs posters to provide bonuses for a job well done.
Fees: Similar to other providers in this area, there is no limit to what you can charge for your services, Upwork will take a percentage from each successful gig. Upwork has a sliding scale service fee start at 20% for the first $500 you bill a client, lowering to 10% for billings over $500 up to $10,000 for the same client, dropping to 5% with any of that client’s billings over $10,000. Hourly contracts are based on a weekly billing cycle and fixed priced contracts are based on milestones. If you are a top rated seller then you will have the 5 and 10 day security hold before the money is release to your Upwork account. Once you place a withdrawal from your Upwork account these funds should appear in your bank account within 3-5 business days. As always the better your rating/profile the more income you will be able to make per job and overall.
Click here to set up your Upwork account.
Tips for using these platforms:
- Like most online marketplaces these platforms use ratings. Essentially the better or higher rating your profile accumulates the more work or higher income you should be able to achieve.
- Get creative with your account headline/service description. If your English isn’t great or it’s your second language reach out to a copywriter to put together a great sales pitch to win you jobs.
- Be patient when starting out on a platform. Unless you have a unique in demand skill it’s likely that may struggle to get work and will have to take lower rates to get work and build up your ratings and testimonials
- Once you’ve started building your profile and rating you can look to expand your services or offer add-ons or upsells to your core offer.
- Further to the above point look if you getting successful at landing jobs and making money, look to expand this to a bigger side hustle or even build an online business you can scale around your service offerings. This could have include setting up a website, creating training videos or even building a course, creating a YouTube channel for some of your content, building an email list, creating e books or instructional content you can sell, etc.
- Provide quality work in a timely manner. As per above, the quicker turnaround for satisfied customers, the quicker you can increase your fees. Under promise over deliver.
- Be honest with your skill set. If you say you can do a whole range of jobs and manage to score a job based on these false qualifications the bigger the chance of letting down your customers which lead the poor reviews and little to no income! Focus on what you are good at and build your approval ratings!
- The devil is in the detail with fees. Look at the amount of business you can achieve from all of the major providers and work out the fee percentage that you will have to pay. Also look to see how long it takes to receive your money from your completed jobs and how long this appears in your bank account once you withdraw it.
- Each of these marketplaces offers referral programs for any person that signs up to their service so if you know of people looking to get some additional income you might also be able to make something from this. If this is something you are interested in contact each of the providers or just google the relevant provider plus affiliate program to find out their referral fees, terms, etc.
Freelancing is a great way to start your passive income journey. It can be a simple and easy way to utilise your skills to earn income in a short amount of time whilst helping you build a platform that could hopefully scale into an online business and passive income stream.