It doesn't matter if you're looking for a long term income stream, or you're looking to make some quick money for the holidays, there are so many ways to make money online. Contrary to popular belief, it isn't as hard as you'd think.
The reality is it takes focus, discipline, patience, and persistence to be successful in the online gig economy.
Other people are reading: Websites to start Freelance career
Without any of the four aforementioned skill sets, making money online may be seemingly impossible; but with the proper application and a long term goal, success isn't a matter of if, but when.
Here are four steps to embrace the freelance lifestyle:
1 - Determine It's What You Truly Want
First and foremost, regardless of your freelance path, one must discard any preconceived notions about conventional careers.
Forget about the 9-5 schedules and bi-weekly paychecks, open your mind to embrace the change, instead of allowing it to discourage the new transition.
Don't be fooled by the countless online "gurus" with their get rich quick schemes, establishing an income online is gritty, determined work. Expect fallbacks and pushback, expect days of crippling anxiety where touching a keyboard and mouse is as impossible as learning how to fly.
Just be patient and forgiving with yourself and carry on when you're ready, this is a labor of love that requires hours upon hours of sweat equity, learning, and hard work.
2 - Adopt A Business Mindset
It's safe to say that a majority of people know little to nothing about managing and running a business, which a freelancer will need to know in order to be successful.
Starting out, most freelancers are the sole proprietors of their business so it's up to the individual to have a way to sort their work, communicate with clients, to send invoices and receive payments.
A quick online search will yield a number of task management programs that are simple and easy-to-use both for an individual, as well as a team.
Communication with clients is never been easier due to the advent of the Internet, instant messaging services, and email.
It's not until a freelancer needs to solve the dilemma of receiving payments where things start to get a little tricky.
Often, you'll be working with clients overseas, making International transfers funds difficult. To mitigate this issue, companies such as Remitly make sending and receiving money abroad almost instantaneous.
3 - Dedicate Time Each and Every Day
Economics pop quiz: what is the most important commodity on earth? Raw materials? Resources?
No: time is the most important commodity for a freelancer.
There are only so many hours in the day and one can only do so much with the time allotted for freelance work, which may not yield a sustainable income right away.
To be successful as a freelancer, one must be willing to think outside the box with a little creative problem-solving.
What is the solution to this complex problem?
Passive income, which if you did not know, is income generated with little to no work once this income stream has developed and matured.
Anyone who's serious about being successful should begin to develop and plan passive income sources such as writing books and starting a blog for generating traffic to begin affiliate marketing and so on.
A freelancer who's worth their salt knows this and will make establishing a passive income stream their number one priority.
Once everything is set in place, you can delve into the ragtag world of finding clients and making money producing content in the gig economy.
4 - Be Fine Working For Smaller Clients First
Now that your passive income stream established, so begins the quest of finding reputable clients that will pay you to generate some form of creative content for their services they offer to their customers.
This doesn't mean you'll necessarily be working for massive corporations or large businesses, often you may be working for smaller companies and websites run by sole proprietors who simply don't have the time to create content.
It's worth mentioning that you're not limited to clients in your demographic area, you could work for anyone anywhere in the world, as much or as little as you want.
The gig economy differs from a 9-to-5 job due to the fact that freelancers have the liberty of choosing who they work with and when. There're countless job sharing sites such as Upwork where aspiring freelancers can easily find clients and get a feel for the gig economy.
Earning A Living As A Freelancer
As you can see, getting established as a freelancer is a long and difficult process, but not impossible one. With a little ingenuity and determination, failure is the only impossibly a freelancer will face while working
If you still have any question, feel free to ask me via comments.
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