Freelance anyone?

Freelancing is one of the best ways to use your past workplace experience to make money working at home. There are tons of freelance sites that allow you to post a profile (including your resume and related experience) and then bid for jobs that you are qualified for.

Since virtual employment is so sought after these days, its pretty competitive. It took me nearly 8 months to get my first legitimate virtual project, then they started coming pretty consistently after that. I only recently came upon the freelancing sites, and have been doing quite well through them.

Here are some freelance sites for you to check out:

Guru
I have used this site and HIGHLY recommend it
Elance
I have not used this site, however it is quite popular and is worth looking into
ODesk
This site is good, however the majority of the employers are looking for vendors/contractors (freelancers) who will accept extremely low pay. You usually do not get the attention of employers until you've completed a few projects and have good feedback

These sites have a wide range of projects including Web Design and related fields, Administrative support, Art/Illustration, Finance/Accounting, Writing/Editing, Legal, Marketing/PR, and tons more.

The idea is you search for projects, find those you are interested in, and bid on them. You prepare a bid (which is quite easy!) displaying your experience and skills. Then, based on the listing the employer posted, you provide a bid on how much you will charge to complete this project and when you will have it done. This is honestly the trickiest part of it all. It took me a few bids to get this straight but once you get an idea of how long you take to complete projects (this comes with experience in freelance work) its quite simple. Then you wait... yes, wait. You wait to hear from the employer. They will contact you if they are interested in your services.

Tips:

• Post to all the projects you can! To all of the projects you have the experience to complete.
• Place low bids... ONLY at first!! This doesn't mean give away your services, ok? If your "normal" hourly pay is $12/hour, then bid for something like $9-10. Yes, its a cut but it will get you the feedback and experience, which will only help you in the end. I had to take a few low paying projects in the beginning. This gave me the positive feedback I needed raise my profile higher on the "List of Contractors". The more feedback you get, and the more invoices you have, the higher you rank. This makes you more appealing to employers. Now I'm making my "normal" hourly pay and more.
• Create a complete/full profile. Be sure to include all of your skills, no matter how small. I recommend browsing through your competitors (other contractors in the same category) just to see what they offer. It may remind you of skills you have, that you forgot to add to your profile, plus you know what you're up against -- maybe you could stand to get some additional training in certain aspects of your field to improve your experience/skills.
• Include a few project samples. This is great for the employers. It shows them what you can do, and this will make you stand out even more from the other contractors. If they have a list of contractors to search through, and they see that you have samples proving you can do the work they're asking for, and the other contractors don't, who do you think they'll contact first?
  

The only con of freelancing is the work is often sporadic. Its almost always on a project-by-project basis, meaning its temporary projects. Employers need you to help them complete a project that will take a few days, to a few months. Then its over, and you'll need to find another project. That's tough when you're needing consisten income, however that is why I say bid on EVERYTHING that you're qualified for. That way, you can have other projects lined up to keep you as busy as possible. Some employers post on these sites for Full Time/permanent positions. although for the most part they are temporary projects.

Freelancing is a great way to increase your experience in your field, while making some extra money on the side. You can make a career of it, as I have, once you get the hang of it and learn some tricks to the trade!

How to Avoid Work from Home Scams....

Unfortunately, one thing a newbie to the virtual world will find is SCAMS.... they're like a plague that never goes away, and they've infected the internet. To those of you who are new to the Virtual World, its quite hard to tell a scam from a real thing.

When I first started looking for "work from home" 2 years ago I was bombarded by WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES (yeah, right). I initially got caught up in one of those "Typing from Home" scams. How was I to know it wasn't real? I was new to this, and had no idea what to look for, or more importantly what to be careful of. I lost some money in the beginning, but learned quickly how to spot a scam a mile away:

1) A legitimate employer will NEVER ask you to pay money upfront. Never pay money to receive start-up materials, apply, or for more information. Just think, when applying for a job in the workplace, do they ever ask you to pay upfront? NO -- A legit job will NEVER ask you for money up front!!

2) You can tell a scam by the way the ad is written. An legit employer looking for someone will usually:
* List what he/she is looking for in a contractor (i.e. specific skills, not just "internet savvy", "good typing skills", etc. They will usually provide a specifics (i.e. Experienced with MS Office, ACT, Billing and Invoicing, Dreamweaver, MS PowerPoint presentations, etc)
* Provide an hourly rate for the position (not $300-500/week<--- SCAM!!)
* Provide a description of their company or who they are

A scam however, will:
* Almost always put "Work From Home" somewhere in their ad, either in the location or the description
* Will use "catch lines" like: Self starter, Ready to start immediately, Training provided, No experience necessary, and other vague words.
* Have a copy & pasted description of the "job". It just sounds like it was copied from somewhere else.

3) Anything that promises ridiculous amounts of money are scams. For example, "Get paid up to $75 for completing surveys!". Now honestly, use your common sense here. If you could get that much from completing survey's, there would be a LOT more rich people in the world ! You can tell when you're reading the ad whether it rings true or not. Don't fall for the "Jim Smith made over $89,000 in 2 days!". Complete bull...

Scammers are getting tricky. They're learning that people are watching out for these "hints" and changing their ways. They've now made websites and ask you to apply by filling out an application. They'll also try to hide it by posting the scam as an actual position (Looking for a Virtual assistant, etc) Just use the tips above, and your basic common sense, and you can be spared from losing money. I hate to use this overly used cliche, but it fits so well: If it sounds too good to be true, IT IS !!!!!!!!!!

There are PLENTY of legitimate jobs out there, trust me. It took me quite a while to find them, but I did - so will you. That's the point of this blog, to help you find the legitimate jobs and stay far away from the scams !!