In today's gig economy, it's very common to have other jobs other than your regular job. Many look to taking up side hustles, doing quick tasks for some money, and others freelance and offer their skills as online services for money. So, if you're new to this and are wondering if there are easy freelance jobs you can do, this post gives a list of 13 of these jobs that beginners can get started with as soon as possible.
Eventually, many freelancers go full-time with it. Just imagine a life where you can work while cozied up with your pet on the bed or anywhere in the house. No more stress from long commutes or the subway stench, only cash flow increase and a journey to achieving your financial goals.
Sounds pretty good, right?
In this article, we will tackle everything you need to know about online freelance jobs, what it takes to become a freelancer, and most importantly, how to start your very own freelance journey?
Brief Background
By definition, according to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, the term Freelance
- is a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization.
- a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer.
Its origin meaning dates back to when freelance first came into the English language in the early 1800s. It was used to refer to a medieval mercenary who would fight for whichever nation or person paid them the most.
Today, we have still retained its meaning or concept.
Who is a Freelancer?
Essentially, a freelancer is someone who offers his/her services or skills to various clients depending on agreed-to terms. Freelancers usually work and charge per hour, per day, per month, or per project. Ideally, freelance jobs are done remotely or while working from home.
Additionally, it has become a very popular practice among today’s workforce. The common sight of a freelancer in this day and age is someone working with a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone online.
Many have been switching to a full-time or part-time freelance job due to a number of reasons. On the other hand, businesses and organizations are taking advantage of freelancers by outsourcing their people, thus allowing them to save costs of hiring and training an actual contract employee.
Can I get a freelance job online with no experience?
Yes! of course, you can! I'll show you how, and some easy freelance jobs online for beginners like you.
How to get a freelance gig even if I have zero experience?
Speaking from personal experience, I was once a newbie too. Everyone was doing it. Before, I was very intimidated by the competition and all, because the freelancing space is now filled with both skilled and experienced and even newbies like me.
What I did was to think thoroughly about what I can offer. What was once a hobby for me, which is writing and blogging, has now become a good startup for me to showcase my skills.
So my advice first is to
- Start Knowing Your Whys – Ask yourself. Why do you want to become a freelancer? Is it because, it's the trend, this is where the most money comes from, to side hustle, or to achieve a personal or financial goal? What specific internal or external motivation will be your core guide?
- Decide On What You Can Offer – Think, think, and think some more! Dig deeper. Deep inside you’ve got those skills within. You definitely know something or even a little bit of some things that might be beneficial for your soon-to-be clients. Do you already have a skill that you can sell? Or do you need to learn a skill?
It's not a requirement to have a college degree in freelancing. Although, this can help, as formal education can help you with some of the basics. But, as long as you know how to find your way around working on a given task or skill, you're definitely good to go!
- Define what your ideal client looks like and pick your niche. – As for me, I know writing is somewhere I have an advantage, so I started off with it. But this depends on you, whether you want to just focus on one specialty or provide general virtual assistance.
- Start Freelancing Before Your Quit Your Day Job – This is also important to take note of. As you probably know, for some, freelancing is not sustainable.
If you’re a beginner with zero or no experience but with a full-time day job, hold on tight to your corporate work or anything else first.
Lucky are those who have landed on a job starting from five to six figures, but for those who are just new in the game, get the work done first.
- Build online presence – Create a website of your personal portfolio, of samples you have done in the past.
For the usual employee interview, the interviewee just starts by talking about all the achievements he/she has accomplished and done because it's face to face.
But for an online freelance job, you just don’t tell, but show. Show relevant samples of your work, establish a consistent online presence then increase your online networks.
- Upgrade your skills – Gain skills that you think might be what future employers are looking for. Keep in mind that the online job market is ever-changing — the jobs that are in demand the previous year may not be the same this time around.
If you want to know what skills you want to brush up on to be competitive, you can check out various job sites to see what today's in-demand jobs are. It helps to stack up on your skills and know-how.
Over time, with all knowledge and experience accumulated, you can level up your skills. Take advantage of youtube and google academy, they're free!
Note: There are so many job ideas on freelancing and other related topics, but for now, let me just briefly tackle the basics. I will most likely share future other articles related to it.
13 Easy Freelance Jobs Online for Beginners
Whether you’re a beginner, experienced or not, you’ve got to start somewhere. Here are the most common and easy job ideas for freelancing.
1. Administrative Tasks
For this type of role, you are more likely an online secretary. Your tasks are answering emails, taking notes from meetings or orders, return calls, data entry, and provide customer service.
2. Personal Assistant
You will basically provide assistance to the C Levels or the Executives. Most employers here set a standard for selected and qualified candidates since you will be assisting the owner of the company.
3. Marketing Specialist
For this, you will do Social Media Management. This typically includes scheduling posts from the company’s social media pages or website and posting graphics and content.
4. Operational Tasks
This is for Project Management and assisting in hiring other VAs, (Virtual Assistant) commonly providing service at the back-end office.
5. Sales Support
For Customer Support, more like a BPO or (Business Process Outsourcing) style. Responsible for driving sales and money to the organization and providing after-sales support.
6. IT Support
For technical related support. It requires a certain level of expertise.
7. SEO – (Search Engine Optimization)
The process of making websites more visible or searchable in the web engine/algorithm of google, yahoo, etc.
8. Web Content Writing
Writing blog posts, ebooks, create article blog contents, fiction writing, web content writing, and more.
9. Copywriting
Influence readers to make particular actions. Making sales and landing page writings.
10. Graphics Design
If you're an aspiring graphic artist, you can start creating logo designs. You can use Canva, Illustrator, or Photoshop editor among many others.
You can be a digital artist too and use any other advanced photo editing software and apps.
11. Marketing Automation
This is a task that creates and sets up marketing sales funnel, email marketing and the likes.
12. Advertising Creation and Monitoring
For Facebook Advertisement Specialist / Advertising Words Expert
13. E-Commerce Expert
For most retail websites like Amazon Virtual Assistant, eBay, Shopify, or Dropshipping. You will most likely provide customer service on their respective sites, chat support, coordinate the logistics, and a lot more.
The list doesn't end here! These are just some of the freelance jobs online for beginners but there are so many jobs available right now that you can pick and start with. For now, let's talk about the different pros and cons of going freelance.
Pros and Cons of Freelancing
Pros
- Flexibility – You are your own boss and can work at your own time. Since you are not bound by any commitments to any organization, you are free to work anytime you want depending on your agreed terms with your client, as long as you can deliver your quality tasks on the given deadline.
- You can choose your workplace, literally. – When I say literally, well your choice. You can start working from home, at a nearby coffee shop, or share a co-working space with a friend or a colleague.
Well, of course, you must be connected to the internet. This way, you can save on your transportation costs. Just make sure to invest in good equipment, like your laptop, and a reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP).
- Work doesn't have to be boring or stressful – Going freelance allows you to meet a lot of people in different countries across the globe with their unique set of cultures and values. Not only do you get to build rapport with them but you also learn from them, their business, and widen your network.
- You set your own rates – This is where your Power of Negotiation came into place. As long as you know your rate and your value, you can learn to work with a potential client at your desired rate. In this way, you can generate good cash flow.
- You have lots of opportunities for learning – With the growing demand for specific skills in the workforce and the pressures surrounding it, allow yourself to be trainable, learn and unlearn, and apply all of your knowledge and skills.
- You can take care of the people who matter most to you. – Working from home allows you to be with your family and take care of your kids or pet, allowing you to give them quality bonding time.
- Achieve your financial goals– Ultimately, if you're a side hustler, going freelance can help you achieve your financial goals. Working with many various clients will help you earn extra money.
Read more: 36 Best Ideas to Earn Extra Money Now and in the Future
Cons
- Distraction is your no.1 enemy – Well, if your area or space at home isn't conducive to working, then this can be a problem for you.
Tell your family or anyone with you at your home to make adjustments and understand that you're still working despite you wearing your tee and pj's.
- It can be hard to get things done – If you're a procrastinator this can pose a serious problem to you as well. But no worries because this has a workaround! A simple Time Management tool will do.
You can make use of Asana or Trello, and other applications out there. Remember that your deliverables are important to your client. Freelancing is serious stuff and not just all about the perks of working from home.
- Sometimes you have to drag yourself to get out of your house – It's not easy of course, but with the right mindset and motivation, you definitely can overcome it.
- Working from home can be isolating and lonely – It surely is, especially during a pandemic, right? But, it's important to take care of your mental health too.
- Some freelance work can have a feast and famine cycle – There are seasonal freelancers who landed a pretty good or high paying gig once or just twice. Sometimes clients are nowhere to be found. Sometimes all clients just hang out in a coffee shop. No, I'm just kidding on the latter statement.
But the reality is, there will be times when it will be difficult for you to find your One True Client. This may also be caused by the fluctuating demand and supply in the growing workforce.
So, never get discouraged and just keep on reaching out and pitching to people. The right person that actually needs your expertise might just be your next pitch
- Working from home can take a toll on your health – As I've mentioned before, it can greatly affect your mental and physical health. So, even if you're just chilling out there and doing your thing, take a moment to relax. Do some stretching and meditation if ever.
If you're in good shape, then your output will not compromised. You will likely be commended by your work output and ethics.
Working from home does not necessarily mean you will ignore and risks your own health. After all, your greatest wealth is your health.
So, Where can I find potential clients?
There are so many websites that caters to freelancers. You can start with
Fiverr
Upwork
Freelancer.com
These are just a few! In the future, we will do a comprehensive guide on how to join some of these websites as well as detailed reviews about these platforms to help you get started. So be on the lookout!
Which freelance job online is the best for beginners?
Unfortunately, there is no one, ultimate, best of the best freelance job out there. It all boils down to your skills and what can you offer.
For newbies, they can start doing data entry jobs and writing. This is where those that are mostly new in the market start from.
Then from there, you can focus on one niche or go over and beyond.
How to get paid as a freelancer?
You're probably familiar by now that freelancers set their own rates and negotiate them with the clients.
Usually, there is no income limit to this as long as you know how to pitch to your clients and make them realize the value you can bring to the table.
Most successful freelancers earn around $25,000 monthly and even more. However, this is not the norm especially if you're just starting out and it also depends on the niche.
If this is something that works for you, after some time, you can decide to quit your regular job then go full-time in freelancing.
The main point is that, freelancing surely does help you earn more money.
Key Takeaways
It’s important to remember that working as an online freelancer is different from building a freelance business. One is self-employed, while the other is an entrepreneur and business owner. And those who succeed the most in freelancing are those who nurture their entrepreneurial mindset.
Either way, freelancing will definitely help you gain some more cash, thereby allowing you to achieve your financial goals.
So what are you waiting for? Are you ready to meet your first client?
If you have any additional suggestions on how to join the freelancing movement and other easy freelance jobs online for beginners, comment down below.
Let me hear your thoughts and share about your journey to freelance.
I can't wait to see you hustling and winning those clients!
0 Comments