Work 9 to 5 without Going out the Front Door

Just how close have you come to giving up work? Barely appreciated and yet still having to trudge day after day to your 9-5, the daily grind, J.O.B (just over broke) – no matter how you out it there’s very few euphemisms for saying we have to work each day. However, there is a way that you can get all of those hard earned years of experience to start paying for themselves, and feel happy about putting them to good use into the bargain. Just how do you do that? Become a freelancer!

Most people will have dreamt about leaving work and doing something that they actually like to do, and making money doing it, but very few will have gone much further with the idea than that. There are many reasons why they won’t have taken the next step and these can range from not wanting to give up the security of their current job, through to just not knowing where to get started. Some people will have had great ideas for things that they could do, but will find the prospect of starting a business more than just a little bit daunting.

If you do want to go down the freelancing route to independence it needn’t be that difficult a thing to do.

The first thing you need to do is decide what you’re good at and how sellable that skill would be. There’s absolutely no point in being modest, not that everyone has that problem, because you’re going to have to sell yourself, and the particular skill set you have, to a prospective employer. Everyone will have a skill that an employer can make some use of, so it’s just a case of narrowing down what your particular one might be and turning it into a freelancing opportunity.

The quickest, easiest, and safest way for a new freelancer to dip their toe into the choppy waters of the job market is to join a freelancing website. Initially you can do this for free, but there will be some restrictions on the number of jobs and categories you can bid on each month, but it’s a great way to see how things work. One you get the hang of it, and build up a bit of money, you can start going for more jobs and in even more categories – but we’re just looking at getting started for the moment.

Each job you’re selected for will have a fee attached to it when it comes to settling up at the end of the project, but don’t worry too much about that, the fact that the freelancing company handles Paypal fees, keeps hold of the money to make sure the employer has paid up front, provides the contract you’ll agree with the employer, and has the jobs conveniently located for you, more than makes up for the amount they charge.

Now, once you’ve applied for a project that’s being offered, and have been lucky enough to be accepted, you’ll need to contact the employer to negotiate the fine details of the project. These fine details will include just what the actual project is about, how long it will take to complete, and, if it’s a long project, just where you’ll set your milestones. Milestones are just section of the project that needs to be completed and signed off by the employer so that you can get paid. This is a great way of doing it because it means you’ll be getting paid along the way and the person employing you will be able to see the progress being made.

When you accept the job to start with you should always factor in the possibility of things not going quite to plan. There may be delays along the way, for any number of reasons, so you should always allow a little bit more time than you actually think it will take, and give yourself room to go back to the employer and renegotiate the contract if need be. Remember, things don’t always go as we plan, so be realistic about what you think you can achieve.

Once you’ve successfully completed a few projects you’ll be able to start building up a reputation from the feedback that you get from each employer. When people are looking to employ you they’ll be interested in what work you’ve done before, and how you were rated by the people you were doing the work for. This is another reason why you should be realistic about things and keep the customer informed along the way, if you don’t it could give you poor feedback, and that could cause you problems when you bid on other projects.

So, has this managed to whet your appetite with a view to putting your skills to better use? If so there could be plenty of people out there just waiting for you to start bidding on their projects – and the best part – you shouldn’t need to give up the security of your day job until you’re making more than it from the freelancing.