Is it worth making money as a freelancer?

Hi guys,

you all know those sites like odesk and elance where you can post your skills and what you have to offer and hope someone hires you. My question is: Is it worth it? If I wanted to get started, what skill is the most appreciated skill for freelancing that I should develop and start to learn about?

I hope some of you guys can help me out with this.

Cheers,

"IMp"

Programmers make up to $100 per hour, it's sort of good.

That depends on you what is your area of expertise you can bid over a project according to that and if you are lucky you will win that project .

Well , I prefer elance .

where you can post your skills and what you have to offer and hope someone hires you.

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Actually that's not how it works. You don't post shit and you don't hope...It's like in the "real" life. You go after the clients and make awesome proposals that will make them hire you, that's how it is.

Job A pays you $100 on completion

If you can complete a task A within 1 hour, your pay will be great.
If you can complete a task A within 10 hours, your pay will be meh.

I hope you see a point.

I hired many freelancers myself in the past, and I still do.
It' viable job if you hit certain degree of skill that is unique.

IMpossible said:

Hi guys,

you all know those sites like odesk and elance where you can post your skills and what you have to offer and hope someone hires you. My question is: Is it worth it? If I wanted to get started, what skill is the most appreciated skill for freelancing that I should develop and start to learn about?

I hope some of you guys can help me out with this.

Cheers,

"IMp"

Click to expand...

I would say, pick something that you already have a skill set in, and develop the skill set to effectively make you a master at it. You'll want to blow people away with your proposals and knowledge if you want to win bids at a potentially higher rate.

Actually that's not how it works. You don't post shit and you don't hope...It's like in the "real" life. You go after the clients and make awesome proposals that will make them hire you, that's how it is.

Click to expand...

He hit the nail on the head. You just don't put up an ad and hope someone hires you. 80% of my income comes from freelancing. I pursued my first client, did the job and repeated the process. After awhile once your reputation is built, people start to find you. Starting out you definitely have to be the aggressor.

It depends on if you can handle annoying clients. A lot of people will do their best to try and make you work harder than their money's worth one way or another.
You should build up a portfolio by doing stuff for yourself and offer cheap services to others, and then after you have something to show for you make sure people pay you up-front and sign a contract stating exactly what work you will do. Only then will you be able to get out of the annoying parts of freelancing!

Yes it is......

To earn a good income from freelance site you need to build reputation and client base first. People hire freelancers on 2 basis...
1. quality work
2. Cheap

To start with, you need to create a good profile, post bunches of bids lower than others, PM the paln of work and eventually if you are awarded, complete the job perfectly as you described within given time frame.

Hope this helps

IMpossible said:

Hi guys,
What skill is the most appreciated skill for freelancing that I should develop and start to learn about?

Click to expand...

In order to be a successful freelancer, you have to love what you are doing ,
because you are going to do a LOT of it. So the first thing you need to do
is assess what it is you would enjoy doing. If you are simply looking for
an art or skill that will make the most money, you are dead from the start,
because there are people in every freelancing niche who DO love what they
are doing, and chances are, they are going to outperform you at every
turn. You've got to have a passion for it. Otherwise, it will be drudgery.

I was a freelance graphic designer for years, but I only do it occasionally
now, and there is a reason for that. A freelancer cannot "multiply"
himself as opposed to someone who is selling a product. What I mean
by that is that a freelancer must do the work for every project, whereas,
a marketer who is promoting/selling a product can make money while
he sleeps. That is what they call a "passive income".

Either way, best of luck to you . . . and above all, enjoy what you are doing.

Cheers! - "Wiz"

If you get a good client and you do what you love then freelancing will provide you with an opportunity to learn a lot, sharpen your skills in your area of expertise, interact with different people and earn an income while at it.

From experience good clients are clients who will not micro manage you, they give you room to grow and make errors in whatever you are doing, involve you in projects that are dynamic and test you skills in a reasonable way.

If you end up being involved in long term projects you may find some financial security in freelancing, but if what you are looking for is financial freedom then you've got to take risks and run your own businesses/ventures.

I've also been freelancing on oDesk for about two months now. From my experience, you can make a good 'salary' providing you work efficiently (time vs money) and can offer a skill that is in high demand. However, strong competition is also something to consider.

The best you can hope for anyway, is that you can strike a deal with a particularly good client to give you more contracts outside of oDesk after you gain his trust. That way you can omit the commission oDesk charges for every contract. I should also add that, in my opinion, freelancing can be profitable if you're a foreigner (good currency to dollar ratio). Otherwise you will see people undercut your offer like crazy, and most clients prefer to hire the cheapest freelancers available.