In part 1 of our 5 part series on getting started in freelancing, we
discussed the various things you can do as a freelancer. But how
exactly do you put these to use? How do you find work in a particular
field? That’s something we will discuss right here.
What Next?
After deciding what to do as a freelancer, it’s now time to find
work. This part of the process is admittedly tougher, as there aren’t a
ton of legitimate work at home freelance opportunities. However, there
are some, and you just need to know where to look for them.
Where Do I Look?
OK, so where do you look? Well, you’re obviously not going to look
in the local newspaper, as most jobs advertised in there are for jobs
that you have to commute to and from, and if there are work at home
listings, most of the time, they will be fake. Thus, you need to be
prepared to go online and look.
RentACoder.com
RentACoder is a site I’ve had great success with. I’ve been a member
of there since December 2006, and to date have earned several thousand
dollars. The great thing about RentACoder is that it is completely free
for freelancers to use–the only fees associated with it are taken out
of project bids. Basically, RAC works like this:
- You sign up
- You look at projects
- You place a bid on the project for how much you want to be paid to complete it
- If the bid is accepted, you start work
- You complete the work and are paid every two weeks
RAC features literally thousands of open projects, available in
fields ranging from Data Entry to Writing to Web Design to Programming.
RentACoder is probably the best freelance web site around, so be sure
to sign up here.
eLance.com
eLance is known to be one of the best freelance sites around.
However, it does cost some money to use–the monthly/yearly fee will
depend on the field which you want to bid on projects. Most who sign up
for eLance end up making back all their money invested and then some.
ScriptLance.com
ScriptLance is a project web site in which freelancers can bid on
projects and then complete them and get paid. This site isn’t quite as
reliable as RentACoder, as funds aren’t always escrowed like on RAC,
but it is still a site worth checking out. Project fees are usually $5,
which is very cheap.
GetAFreelancer.com
GetAFreelancer is yet another project web site. Freelancers can sign
up for a free, basic account and have 25 bids per month, or they can go
Gold (and pay a monthly fee) to have an unlimited amount of bids. Work
is done through the site, and once a project is completed, the
freelancer is paid.
GetACoder.com
GetACoder, like the others mentioned, is a project bid web site. It
doesn’t have quite as much work available as do the other sites, but is
still a worthwhile place to sign up for.
GetAUSCoder.com
GetAUSCoder.com is a new, yet promising project bid web site for
freelancers. It is only open to those freelancers located in the U.S.,
so you will have less competition for bids and a better chance of
earning good money.
