Become A Freelancer

It probably seems like an obvious thing to say but one of the best ways to make a living is by putting your skills to good use. Freelancer.com gives you the opportunity to do just that, by connecting you with thousands of people looking to hire the services of people more able (or willing) than them in a wide variety of tasks.

With several million members worldwide, Freelancer is the world's largest outsourcing website, with literally thousands of jobs available at any one time. Whether you're an expert in PHP programming or are just looking for some data entry work, there should be plenty of projects to pique your interest.

Once registered with Freelancer (registration is free) you can browse through hundreds of categories to see what skills people are in need of. While some are minor projects that may earn you a few pounds / dollars, there are also many much bigger projects which could earn you several thousand, or even ongoing work, particularly if you are an expert in a particular niche.

If you see a job you could add value to you can choose to bid on it by stating how much you would do the job for and also give a bit of information about why you would like to take on the project. Much of the time the company / person listing the project will not just opt for the lowest bid as naturally they want the best person for the job, so it's always worth taking the time to provide a good pitch if it's something you think would be a good fit.

If, like me, you just want to use Freelancer to earn a bit of extra cash for utilising skills you enjoy using anyway, it's well worth completing a profile of your interests and skills on their website. They will then send you emails with any relevant jobs that match your skill set, which you can then choose to bid on if they look interesting.

One drawback of the size of the site is that there is a lot of competition from other bidders, so you may find initially you need to undercharge slightly for your services to attract work. Fortunately Freelancer has a feedback and rating system; once you have a couple of jobs under your belt and some positive (hopefully!) feedback, you should begin to see the work coming in more easily, along with some repeat business if you've impressed!

Freelancer is available to users and clients worldwide.