Freelancing: How I got started, and how you can too

I started freelancing pretty much on a whim, which is how many things in my life begin. I'd always edited small things for family and friends, throughout college and since graduation. "Jacki, can you review my resume?" ... "Hey, I have this one paragraph that just doesn't sound right, can you look at it?" I'm not really sure how that even started.

I don't have an English degree. I actually took zero English or writing classes in college because I exempted whatever English requirements by getting a 5 on the AP English test. I'd never considered myself a great writer at that point and the 5 on the test honestly shocked me. I guess for that one day I was really good at analyzing poetry ... or maybe the subjective scorer was just feeling generous.

Maybe this was the fateful, drunken night ...

So yeah, I don't know how my editing for friends and family really started, but I know it led to one drunken conversation that changed everything. Yep, I was drunk and I was bragging. I overheard a friend talking about writing business proposals for her MBA class, and how hard it was to meld the pieces together when writing as a team. I proceeded to tell her how awesome I am at "that kinda thing." Editing together different voices and making them sound like one cohesive and clear thought process. I told her I'd be glad to help if she was ever in a bind.

She took me up on it. I think I edited two group business projects for her team and I refused payment. I didn't feel "qualified" to charge for these services. (That feeling took a while to kick and still peeks its head back out at me sometimes.) Anyway, she asked if I'd ever heard of oDesk, an online community for finding freelance jobs that many of her classmates had used before. I hadn't and I was intrigued. I got online that night and started submitting for editing and some admin-related jobs. Fourteen months later I left my job to freelance full-time.

I'll fast forward a bit here ... I now basically use three sites (although not all my clients come through these sites now, this is how I started and I still use them):

• Elance.com
• oDesk.com
• Fiverr.com (Update: I now do not use and specifically do not recommend Fiverr)

... in that order. I've tried others and I never end up staying with them. That's not to say these are the only good ones, but they're the ones I'm settled on for now. If I had the time, the next one on the list would be craigslist. Some people like to hire local even if they've never met you. I've gotten great jobs through craigslist, but it's not exactly as user-friendly as the other sites, which are specifically designed for this type of work.

The quickest way to start freelancing is to make profiles on these sites for any service you can offer remotely. Of course writing and editing are on the top of my list, but check out this full list of categories from oDesk.com (with my personal categories checked) ... these sites go well beyond writing and editing.

Reference: oDesk.com

Quick notes about these sites:

Elance and oDesk jobs are mostly applied for by the freelancer. You have your profile, you can upload samples, and you can take skills tests. Then you search for jobs and apply by writing a cover letter and perhaps providing other information, and by bidding on the job. You may also be invited to apply for a job, but that is less frequent.

Both sites take a cut, but it's 10% or less and that's pretty standard. They are giving you a very valuable service in that they connect you with people all over the world and protect you financially from fraud. So you can feel pretty safe and have lots of options and it certainly seems worth it to me.

The fees aren't the annoying part of the sites, it's the competition and the expectation of cheap services. You are not only connected to hirers all over the world, you're also competing with freelancers all over the world. Depending on where someone is living, he or she is often willing to work for much less than you are. It boils down to these few pointers:

1. You have to be willing to work for less to build up your profile and rating. Most people aren't going to hire you for top rates when you have no street cred on the site. Leave your ego at the door, at least for now. At the same time, you will start to learn that certain hirers are really looking for the cheapest possible work, which is almost always someone outside of the U.S. ... so you'll learn to start ignoring these jobs over time.
2. It's a numbers game. You have to be persistent and patient. Some hirers do truly want a really good writer (or other skill) and are willing to pay for it, but you have to find them. You learn to look for clues or certain signs, but you also just have to apply to a lot of jobs. Think of it as putting in your time as a newbie, earning your stripes, whatever.

That's really it. If you do these two things and you're decent at the skill you're offering, you will build up your profile, rating, and "hireability" over time.

Note on next two paragraphs: See above link to why I no longer use Fiverr!

Fiverr is different. It's more like a shopping site. You offer something for $5 (called a "gig") and people can buy it. For example, I have gigs for 500 words of editing, 50 words of copy writing, and some other fun things I've tried over time ... like providing feedback on online dating profiles. The best thing about this site is that the jobs come to you. No searching, no cover letters. The worst thing about this site, and this actually angers me, is that it takes 20%. So not only do you often end up working too hard for $5, but then you only get $4. Then you transfer it to PayPal and lose another small percentage. It should really be called Three-point-ninety-two-err.

You might be wondering why I still use this site. Well, it's great to have tiny jobs that fill in the cracks. If I can ever drop a site because I'm just that busy, Fiverr will go first. I honestly think it's highway robbery for them to take 20%. I do pause my gigs pretty often when other work is keeping me busy (it's super-easy to do) ... but when I'm not, it's nice to have those little jobs. 

Okay, I think that's enough for now! Head to one of these sites and give it a try, what do you have to lose? Feel free to ask any questions below.