So you want to make some extra money on the side, huh? Well, you should know that freelancing is one of the best ways to do so. There are many benefits to freelancing, but the best potential benefit of all is that freelancing can help you build a huge amount of passive income over time.
That’s because you can use your skills and experience to build products in your niche or service area that are much more accessible than an in-person consultation with far fewer headaches for both parties involved.
This way, when someone hires you for a job, they pay once and get something from it forever; when someone buys your product or subscribes to your newsletter, they pay once and get something from it forever as well!
| Takeaway |
|---|
| Freelancing can be a lucrative source of side hustle income, allowing you to leverage your skills and expertise for extra earnings. |
| Balancing freelancing with a part-time job requires effective time management and organization to ensure productivity and success. |
| Choosing the right freelancing platform can significantly impact your opportunities and potential clients, so research and select wisely. |
| Building a strong portfolio and showcasing your work can attract more clients and increase your chances of securing profitable projects. |
| Networking and promoting yourself as a freelancer can open doors to new opportunities and help you establish a solid client base. |
| Stay updated with industry trends and continuously upgrade your skills to remain competitive in the freelancing market. |
| Embrace challenges and learn from setbacks, as freelancing as a part-time job may come with its own set of hurdles and learning experiences. |
Find A Niche
The first thing you need to do is define your niche. What type of work, or what industry do you want to focus on? Are there any specific skills that are important for this kind of work?
The reason behind finding a niche will help set the stage for choosing the right people who will hire you and increase your chances of success as a freelancer.
You may not have any idea what industry or business model would be best for your side hustle income goal yet.
But being specific about it now, will help guide future decisions such as which websites where potential clients post jobs online or whether certain tools/software should be used for certain tasks later on down the road when someone does hire me as their virtual assistant (VA).
Building a successful side hustle while managing your part-time job requires proper planning and time management. Learn more about how to generate side hustle income through freelancing and make the most of your spare time.
Learn About The Market For Your Niche
One of the first things you should do is conduct some research. If you know what people are paying for similar services and products, it will be easier to figure out how much money you can make as a freelancer.
You can also find out where your market is by joining freelance websites like Upwork or Fiverr. These sites are great because they allow freelancers to compete with one another, but they can also be expensive if the work isn’t steady enough so make sure that this fits into your budget before signing up!
Read The Literature In Your Niche
In order to be successful, you need to educate yourself.
You should read everything you can about your niche. If you want to be a freelance writer and make money writing for people online, then read the books and magazines on writing that are available to you. You can also find great websites with helpful tips on freelance writing, like this one!
The more research you do into your side hustle field of interest, the better off you’ll be when it comes time to write that first article or start creating your first course or tutorial.
Become An Expert In Your Niche
Your first step to becoming an expert in your niche is to read the literature on it. This helps you learn who is already offering services and how they’re doing it. Get to know who’s writing about this topic, learn what they have to offer, and subscribe to their email lists if that’s possible.
You should also be following people who are leaders in the field of your interest, making sure you understand their work as well as possible so that you can later build upon it.
Once you’ve done this enough times and feel like you have a decent understanding of your field, begin creating a portfolio website where potential clients can see examples of what they can get from working with you (if relevant).
You may also want to consider getting testimonials from anyone else whose opinion matters within this community this will allow them to allude back to those examples when trying out new clients or negotiating rates for future projects!
Considering a fresh start on Upwork? Don’t miss our insightful article on whether you should delete your Upwork account and start over. Get valuable tips and make an informed decision.
Join The Community In Your Niche (Fb Groups, Linkedin Groups, Other Communities)
You’ll want to join communities that are relevant to your niche. That can mean finding Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups, but it might also mean joining other social media communities like Reddit or forums.
There are a few things you should keep in mind when searching for the right group(s) for you:
Make sure the group is active. If there haven’t been any recent posts, messages or comments in a while, it may not be worth your time.
Search through the previous posts on the page to see if they’re relevant to what you’re doing/interested in/etc., as well as how big of an influence they have on their members (i.e., how many people they’ve helped).
Get To Know People And Subscribe To Their Email Lists In Your Field
Get to know people and subscribe to their email lists in your field. Getting on someone’s email list is a great way to stay up-to-date on what’s happening within the industry, and it will also help you build relationships with well-known experts.
Join their groups and communities. If there are any groups or communities for your chosen niche, join them! Most of these places are open for anyone to join, but if they’re closed (such as LinkedIn Groups), ask a trusted contact or business acquaintance if they’re willing to add you as a member until you can get invited by one of the other members.
You’ll get access to valuable information that may help make your side hustle more successful or profitable than it could be otherwise and maybe even score yourself some freelance work!
Comment on their blogs, podcasts, videos and social media posts. This takes some effort but there’s no better way than this one when it comes down talking directly with influencers who can benefit from knowing how much value we bring them through our comments and who knows? They might just have some openings available!
Create A Portfolio Website (This Is Crucial!)
A portfolio website, or a place to showcase your work and skills, is essential for freelancers. It’s not just a place to show off your work a portfolio website is also a way to show the world who you are as a person and what you can do. So if you haven’t created one yet, what are you waiting for?
Your portfolio site should:
Showcase your expertise in the relevant field. This means including links to previous work that demonstrate what kind of projects you have done in the past, how long those projects took (and why), and any awards or recognition that project received.
It’s important not only because this shows clients that they can trust in your ability but also because it helps build up trust with potential clients who might be searching through portfolios before they hire someone new!
Showcase examples of previous clients happy with their experience working with them on their projects together over time this includes testimonials from people who have hired them before (either directly through their websites/social media platforms) as well as reviews left by customers after completing jobs.”
Wondering if it’s feasible to work as a freelancer on a part-time basis? Discover the possibilities and challenges of working part-time as a freelancer and find out how you can strike the right balance between work and personal life.
Get Testimonials From People You’ve Helped Or Worked With
When you get testimonials from people you’ve helped, it will help you attract more clients:
Testimonials build trust and credibility. A potential client doesn’t want to hire someone who has no experience or doesn’t have good reviews, so having a few stellar testimonials from satisfied clients can help convince them that you are the right person for the job.
Use them on your website as social proof. If someone visits your website and sees that other people have given positive feedback about working with you, they will be more likely to contact you themselves.
Use them in emails and ads when reaching out to new leads (ex: “I’ve helped hundreds of people just like…”). Showing off those glowing reviews is a great way to convince prospects that they should work with you!
Build An Email List For That Niche Or Topic Area
One of the first steps in any side hustle is building an email list. It’s important to have an email list because you can use it to market your products and services, as well as keep in touch with your customers. You can also leverage the power of social media by creating a Facebook group for people interested in that topic area or niche and inviting them to join it via email.
Once you’ve started building an e-mail list, focus on getting more people signed up so that when you’re ready to launch a product or service, there will already be some potential buyers waiting! Here are some tips on how best practices for growing and managing an audience:
Plan ahead: If someone clicks “subscribe” from one post or tweet but then doesn’t see anything else from us for weeks at a time (or worse yet forgets who we are), they’ll unsubscribe and disappear again before we even get started.
Keep things interesting: Posting new content every day won’t work unless what we’re posting is both timely enough for readers’ interests and also provides value above all else.
Stay consistent: It’s human nature not to want another boring thing coming into our inboxes every morning so if something feels repetitive after a while (even if it isn’t), readers may begin tuning out altogether.
Make it personal: Whether through sharing personal victories/struggles online or private messages sent only between friends/family members
Start A Blog/Podcast/Vlog And Attract Readers/Listeners/Viewers
For those of you who are interested in starting a blog, I’m sharing the steps I followed to create my own. If you don’t want to go through all that work, there are plenty of sites that offer free WordPress blogs. Some common ones include:
- WordPress
- Blogger
The first step is choosing a topic for your new blog or podcast/vlog (video blog). You may have something specific in mind already, but if not then it could be useful to brainstorm ideas with friends and family members before deciding on one thing over another.
Once you settle on an idea, decide how often you want to post content related to this topic weekly? daily? Every other day? It depends on what works best with your schedule and how much time you can devote towards writing posts each day/week/month etc.
Are you considering freelancing on a part-time basis? Learn about the potential of part-time freelancing as a job and how it can offer you flexibility and income without committing to full-time work.
Create Products Or Services You Can Sell Directly To People Who Want Them
You can also create a product or service that you can sell directly to people who want it. If you have a skill or expertise that other people need, offer your services as a freelancer. For example, if you know how to write well and have some experience editing others’ work, consider becoming an editor for hire.
You can also find products that other people need and then market them to those customers through social media marketing, email marketing, and more traditional advertising channels such as radio commercials or print ads in local newspapers or magazines.
The key is finding something that meets the needs of your target audience at the right time and price point so they will buy from you instead of someone else selling similar items nearby (or over the Internet).
Create A Way To Automate Product Sales (Ebooks, Software, Courses, Etc.)
You can also create passive income by selling products or services. You can do this by creating ebooks, software, courses, or other products.
To create passive income with ebooks:
- Create your ebook and make it available for sale on Amazon.
- Set a price that is fair to you and the customer (don’t expect to make a ton of money).
To create passive income with software:
- Create your software using an app builder like Appy Pie or Appyville that lets you customize themes and deploy apps easily.
- Price it reasonably so you’re not forcing people to purchase more than they need for their business or personal needs. If it’s above $5-10 per month, consider offering a free plan for new users so they can try out the product before deciding whether it’s worth paying for more features down the road!
This will also help increase customer loyalty since these customers feel valued enough not only from using the product but also from being given something back in return (such as a free trial).
Create A Way To Provide Services By Phone Or Online With No Actual Meeting Required (Coaching, Consulting, Etc.)
If you want to be able to provide services by phone or online with no actual meeting required (coaching, consulting, etc.), you have a few options.
For example, if you have a skill that can be taught over the phone, consider using a service like Talkforce or Grasshopper that lets you set up an automated system for taking calls and booking appointments.
You can also create an online software-as-a-service company like Business Catalyst. This will allow your customers to access your product on their own time and in their own space by simply logging in to a website or mobile app.
In this case, they’d be paying for access rather than receiving direct tangible benefits from it but it’s still helpful because people don’t usually feel comfortable making big purchases over the phone anyway!
Consider Learning How To Create Passive Income
Passive income means you’re making money online even when you aren’t working. It’s a lot different than earning an hourly wage and can sound pretty daunting to those who aren’t familiar with the concept. But if you’re looking to start your side hustle, passive income is a great way to make extra money without too much time commitment.
Here’s how it works: When you create a product or service that people want and will pay for, then your business is creating digital assets that can be sold over and over again at the push of a button (or click of a mouse).
These assets are often called products or services because they require some work from their creator, but then become “passive” after they’ve been created once meaning they generate revenue on their own without any additional effort required from the person who made them!
Now that we’ve covered some basics about what passive income is, let’s take a closer look at five different ways to generate it:
Generation Z brings unique perspectives to the workforce. Explore what freelancers from Generation Z want from their career and how they are reshaping the future of work and freelancing.
Conclusion
I hope that this has given you some insight into the world of freelance work, and provided you with actionable steps for getting started if it sounds like something that might be right for you.
If you are curious about what sort of income is possible as a freelancer or independent contractor, or if you have any questions about how to get started, please feel free to contact me.
Further Reading
How to Start Freelancing as a Side Hustle: A comprehensive guide on how to kickstart your freelancing journey and make it a successful side hustle.
Side Hustles Online: Finding the Right Fit: Explore various online side hustles and discover the best options that align with your skills and interests.
Common Flexible Side Jobs for Supplemental Income: Discover popular and flexible side jobs that can help you boost your income without compromising on your main career.
FAQs
What are the benefits of freelancing as a side hustle?
Freelancing as a side hustle allows you to earn extra income while maintaining the stability of your primary job. It provides flexibility and the opportunity to explore your passions outside of regular work.
How do I get started with freelancing?
To start freelancing, identify your skills, create a portfolio, and join freelance platforms to find clients. Networking and self-promotion can also play a crucial role in attracting potential clients.
Is freelancing suitable for full-time professionals?
Yes, freelancing can be a great fit for full-time professionals seeking additional income or career diversification. It offers the freedom to choose projects and work on a flexible schedule.
What are some popular online platforms for finding side hustles?
Online platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer are popular options for finding side hustles. These platforms connect freelancers with clients seeking various services.
How can I manage my time effectively with a side hustle?
Time management is essential when juggling a side hustle and a primary job. Create a schedule, set realistic goals, and prioritize tasks to ensure efficient time allocation.
What Is Freelancing?
Freelancing is the process of working for yourself, as a side gig or full-time career. It can be done on a part-time basis, or as a full-time career.
How Do I Get Started?
The first step to becoming a freelancer is deciding what kind of work you’re interested in doing. Are you good with computers? Do you have a knack for writing? Do you enjoy managing other people?
Once you know what kind of work you want to do, find out if there’s an existing need for that type of labor in your area. If there isn’t, then consider starting up your own business or consulting service and become an independent contractor (IC) for someone who already has clients in need of that type of labor.
How Do I Become A Freelancer?
All you need is an internet connection and a laptop or computer! Once you’ve signed up with a freelancing platform like [company name], all you need to do is accept jobs that match your skillset. You can even work on projects as they come in no need to wait around for a client’s approval before starting work.
How Much Money Will I Make?
That depends on many factors, including how often you work and how many hours per week/month/year, but there are plenty of people who make over $100k as full-time freelancers!
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.