Since publishing my post Start With Nothing: Achieve Your Dreams With No Money, No Education and No Experience, I’ve received several emails and comments regarding how to get started working from home. Specifically, the questions have mostly been “what can I do?” and “where can I find jobs?” These are excellent questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.
What can I do?
- Find work you absolutely love. Taking a freelance job you hate will only result in sub-standard work. Remember, you are responsible for motivating yourself to get the job done. If you can’t stand the work, what do you have to look forward to when you wake up in the morning?
- Try, but don’t buy – If you aren’t sure what exactly you want to do, try a few things and see if anything interests you. Don’t invest any money or time into things you aren’t really that interested in doing full-time. When I started, I had no idea how to code a web site so I tried it and found I totally love doing it. You can learn to do any skill imaginable. Almost any job can be done from home. What sounds like fun to you?
- Take your time – If you take the time to really dig in and discover what your passion is, you will have a much more satisfying career as a freelancer. Keep your day job for a while and moonlight as a freelancer to get a taste of what is out there. You’ll discover what you do and don’t like about it and you can make adjustments while retaining the cushion of a day job.
Where do I find Jobs?
- Start locally. Some of your best clients are right in your own backyard. Most local clients will also turn into repeat business, especially if you have an established relationship with them from a prior job or connection.
- Network (aka “Work the Net”) – The Internet is a valuable resource for finding work as a freelancer (see my list below). I live in Illinois, but I have clients all over the US, in Australia and the UK. There really are no limits to the opportunities available. Local economy is a bust? Try international work. ;)
- Get Referrals – this is your bread and butter. Did you know that most people will just go with a referral instead of researching out any other possibilities? It’s true. If your clients are pleased with your work they won’t hesitate to refer you. Clients who were referred to you by another happy client are almost a guaranteed gig. Make it is easy as possible for others to refer you to their friends and associates.
Resources
Over the last few years I have been compiling a list of resources for freelancing opportunities for myself. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Don’t overlook the fact that there are numerous freelance forums and email lists for specific niches. For example, I code a lot for WordPress and Joomla, so I am subscribed to job lists specifically for these platforms. Google will be your best friend in finding these.
- ifreelance.com
- freelancejobsearch.com
- remotegurus.com
- sologig.com
- freelancewritinggigs.com
- jobs.freelanceswitch.com
- allfreelance.com
- project4hire.com
Want to know more? Feel free to ask questions or post suggestions in the comments below. :)
