Thread: Made Over $400 Freelancing In One Month

Awesome, awesome! I remember reading about your rocky start and I'm so glad this is working out for you. I have actually heard of several people starting out trying to blog, etc. and end up realizing there was more money in freelancing. Sounds like this is your avenue. Way to go!

Thanks so much Lisa for your encouragement. I appreciate it.

That's interesting that you have heard of other people that have started out trying to blog, etc. and have ended up freelancing. You just never know in what path things are going to lead you. You can be headed in one direction and than that leads you on a completely different path.

From my limited experience freelancing, the biggest advice I'd give someone thinking of getting into freelancing is to take the time to create an awesome profile. Also, be sure that there are no spelling mistakes or other grammar errors in your profile. You would be amazed by the number of people who claim to be writers, for instance, and their profiles will be full of spelling and grammar errors. For example, they might say, "I have a pasion for writing". Well, that is nice, but can you really write well when you can't even spell "passion" right?

My other two pieces of advice are to over deliver (even if it is just a $20 job) and to resist the urge to write a one fits all, copy and paste proposal. Spend the time to write individual proposals for every job that you bid on. Tell the potential client how you can help them.

Have a great afternoon everyone, or a great whatever time of day it is in your time zone.

Valuable points. Thanks for sharing with everyone.

Being personal is so important. I get boiler plate requests to do guest posts on my financial blog and they get trash canned right off. But even though I am not accepting guest posts right now, I do save in a folder for later consideration those that show real personal involvement with my posts and often send a response. It does make a difference in all types of interaction to be personal.

Good job, 400 is significant. What are your plans next month? Will you try and grow your income? Any goals you want to reach? Also what advice would you give to someone new on Elance with no previous work and no reviews etc?

Excellent! I'm a little like you in that I originally wanted to get into blogging. Back in 2007 after I left an office job I hated (it was depressing and frustrating) I went to Google and simply typed "How to make money online".

I read about blogging and Adsense and "content" etc etc - after learning the basics I am now working for local businesses in my area setting up simple sites for an annually recurring income. You don't always end up where you start out.

Now of course, I have more interesting/original content to write about on my blog and just see that as a side gig. I remember initially writing crap content that was a rehash of other people's articles online. I took a break from all that and came back to internet marketing as a freelancer.

Originally Posted by DavidIsMyName

Good job, 400 is significant. What are your plans next month? Will you try and grow your income? Any goals you want to reach? Also what advice would you give to someone new on Elance with no previous work and no reviews etc?

Hi David,

Thanks so much for your reply. I just plan to continue working for two out of three of my regular clients. I am a full time student and due to all the time I have spent freelancing I have managed to get a bit behind in my studies, so I had to drop one of my clients. I am hoping though that this client will want to work with me more after I graduate, as when I graduate in May, I plan on pursuing freelance work full time on Elance and perhaps try to get some freelance work outside of Elance as well. The client that I had to drop was really happy with my work and a great client, so I am really hoping that she will consider working with me in May. I am actually hoping that I dropped the right client, as I'm thinking that there might have been a greater opportunity for close to full-time work with the client that I dropped.

I have discovered that I really like working out of my home. It is so nice not to have a two hour commute everyday, have to put up with all the "office politics" that comes with a 9-5 job, to have the flexibility to spend more time with family and friends, and to be able to work in my pajama's/sweat pants and not shave if I feel like it! The schooling that I am doing is also online, so I have gotten quite a taste the last 8 months or so for working out of my home.

My advice for someone new to Elance with no reviews, etc. is to create a really awesome profile and to take your time writing personal, unique and professional proposals. Don't create a one fits all, copy and paste proposal. Also, if the client has any questions be sure to answer them in your proposal. Don't hesitate to ask questions to the client either. This starts a dialogue and establishes trust with the client. What I personally did, is for the first couple of jobs I charged less than I normally would, just to get the reviews. I didn't have the lowest proposal though by any means, just less than what I would normally charge. Don't even try competing with the lowballers who will work for $2 an hour.

Hope this helps.

I hope thatt I find more success blogging. When I was freelancing I got those $5 articles. I type slow and it just became a chore. I was expecting bigger things for blogging. Do you really make more freelancing than blogging?

Hey Jennifer,

The freelancing work that I do is not writing articles. It is transcription. I do know that there are writers on Elance that do make decent money. I have heard that there are a lot of crazy low prices for articles in the writing category as well.

I personally am making more money in a shorter amount of time than if I were to put all my effort into blogging. I doubt I would be able to start a blog today and in one months time take in over $400. I know that there are bloggers though that are making far more money than I could ever make freelancing though.

I wish you the best of luck with blogging.

Wow, thank you for sharing this story with us. I am a student too and I know how 400$ can do you good. Thanks