¡aseMUS!

Check out this blog if you’re interested in this topic.

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1. Choose your projects wisely.
   Bid specifically for projects which you know you can deliver on, that play to your strengths and that interest you. Avoid personal projects like the plague.
2. Use a personal touch.
   Don’t use a template reply for every single project you bid on; tailor your response to the actual project spec and address the project owner by name if it’s on the bid.
3. Don’t bid the lowest bid for the sake of winning the project.
   Not only is this selling yourself and everyone else short as well as de-valuing the skills in your industry, but if you win you’ll end up having to do the job for that price.
4. Have relevant pieces in your portfolio.
   It’s important that if a project requires a certain style or specific skills for the job, that your portfolio or the pieces you bid with reflect this.
5. Be prepared to demonstrate your suitability and expertise.
   Whilst I’m not advocating doing work on-spec or for free (see next point), there are times when you might want to consider doing some brief sketches or provide a tailored pitch, to demonstrate that you can provide the specific skills the project calls for. !
6. Don’t do on-spec work
   Don’t apply for projects which ask you to submit your actual designs or ideas so that they can then select the best one to win - this not only devalues the industry you work in, it encourages more people to use this tactic on the site.
7. Show professionalism at all stages in the process.
   As some FreelanceSwitch commenters noted, jobs you find through these sites can sometimes turn into long term clients.
8. Above all, be honest, realistic and authentic.
   Don’t over-commit to deliver a job with a deadline you know you can’t make; don’t promise things you can’t deliver and don’t bid for jobs for which your skills aren’t suitable.

As you cruise around the internet trying to pick up Freelance Writing gigs, take this into account : that there are aggregated job boards out there that do half the work for you.

What is an aggregated job board? Well, they use engines that get all the jobs listed around the place and put them all into one central website. This is especially handy in thevery confusing world of freelance writing. Here’s some good examples.

FreelanceWriting.com aggregates job offers from Get A Freelancer, eLance Marketplace, ScriptLance, RentACoder, Get A Coder, iFreelance, Online Writing Jobs, Indeed, CraigsList,
SimplyHired, WritingCareer, ProBlogger,
Morning Coffee and Go Freelance.

JobLighted.com You can move the map around to see the locations that have jobs available. A very handy function.

There’s a myth that exists in the head of every business n00b. Cheaper must be better, right?

Wrong.

For a customer maybe, but not for a businessman. Think BMW, think Nike, think McDonalds. BMW and Nike are clean, nice brands that get big margins on each sale and make a lot of easy money. McDonalds is a brand that’s all dirt, hard work and minimum wages.

The point is both types of business models can work, but the business model with the biggest margins yields the best lifestyle.

Not only that, but in a market where a business trades solely on price, all they have to do is wait for the next person to come along at a cheaper price and they are stuffed!

No. Trade on reputation. Trade on quality. This is where the money is and this is where you should be as well.

Academia Research offers up to $20 a page for academic writing. You’ll be writing college level research papers and upwards, being expected to write good essays with some research.

Constant Content Write articles, set a price and hope someone buys. It’s a good way to earn real compensation for your articles, but you gotta hope someone buys.

Mahalo Greenhouse Join this website and write search results pages for them. They pay $10-15 for the pages once approved. Non-US citizens must fill out a W8-BEN form and will be taxed 30%!! If PayPerPost can get around this so can Greenhouse. :angry:

Guru.com doesn’t seem to come highly recommended by anybody. Charges a membership fee to list your services to potential buyers.
About.com Always has a STACK of opportunities for those looking to write about their favourite topic. Remunerates well!

Opportunity cost is the cost of pursuing one choice instead of another.

Most freelancers are working on a variety of different projects at any given time and are constantly facing a decision between different options, and choosing which projects to take and which ones to pass up can be a daunting challenge.

Most of us typically make these decisions based on factors like the amount of money that can be made, the time the job will require, and our current availability. Obviously, these decisions aren’t always easy.

While the factors of money, time and availability will be major influences on any decision that you make, they don’t always tell the whole story. If you were to pass on a particular job, what would you be able to do with your time, and how would it affect your overall situation? Opportunity cost allows us to see the complete picture.

As a freelancer, you will be constantly passing up on something in order to take a specific job, whether you realize it or not. If you were to turn down the job, what else could you be doing with your time? Pursuing higher-paying jobs? Taking a job that would give you some great experience and new skills? Different types of work that you enjoy more? Continuing education that will improve your abilities? Spending time with family? Actually getting a full night of sleep?

Because opportunity cost involves much more than just financial numbers it is clearly not a black and white exercise. You’ll have to make some educated guesses and it will force you to explore things that you might not otherwise consider. The goal of determining the opportunity cost of taking a particular job is simply to help you to better understand the broad scope of your career and your life, and to make decisions that will put you in the best possible position.

The next time you’re faced with the decision of whether to accept or decline work, take a few moments to think about the opportunity cost that is involved. It can be a very helpful habit to develop for evaluating the costs and benefits of your options. You’ll see that your work becomes more profitable and productive and your life will be more enjoyable if you base your decisions on the big picture.

Financial management is an important part of freelancing. As soon as you quit your full-time job you also quit your regular pay cheque. In the initial period of freelancing, you must be able to survive financially assuming you have very little work on - or that you haven’t been paid yet for work you have done. Carpenter has been freelancing now for a little over three years: “Initially I wasn’t prepared for the enormous swings in my bank balance,” recalls Carpenter. “But after eight months or so, it began to level out - thankfully!”
In addition to giving up a regular pay cheque you have also given up your sick pay entitlement. Now, nobody ever thinks they’re going to get sick, but there are times when it happens. Prepare in advance for the eventuality by regularly putting some money away to cover your lost income.

Income protection is another aspect of financial management you should seriously consider when freelancing, talk to a financial adviser about how best to protect yourself financially.

It’s not all news bad on the finance front though; freelancing often enables you to claim expenses you can’t as a full-time employee. You may be able to claim part of your rent, your phone and power bills and travel if your office is at home.

In Freelancing, when people ask me the one main key to success I say this:

“Over Deliver”

Whatever your promise is, BEAT it!

See, the way to achieve success as a freelancer isn’t doing tons and tons of little one off jobs. It happens by doing a GREAT effort in your little one off jobs and having people come back to you again and again and again because they know they can rely on you.

By over deliver, I don’t mean in terms of the promised word count.

I mean two three things

Delivery Time Don’t deliver late, ever. Also, never deliver on time unless you can help it. Always deliver ahead of schedule as much as possible. BEAT their expectations and they will remember you forever and keep on lining your pockets with sweaty, dirty moolah. But it’s still moolah!

Writing Quality. No mistakes, son. NONE.

Make Your Research Strong and Make It Show! This is something that trips a lot of people up as they don’t see it as important as the other two. But let me tell you it’s the biggest key in getting return business. Whenever a client sees that I have put a lot of time and effort KNOWING the subject and so much that I can write with strong authority about it, he knows I am a true professional.

Another sweet apple tree for the freelancer is the freelance jobs board.

These have tons of people trying to get one off jobs done - and are willing to pay money for it. Don’t undersell yourself or bid down to the level of obviously inferior candidates. Value yourself properly, and while at first things will be slow, you’ll be earning a satisfying level of income once you have built a stable of happy clients.

Get A Freelancer is a marketplace for you to work… you guessed it… freelance. Writers can bid on

copywriting,
data entry,
proofreading, and

web promotion. Competition from lower-charging Indians is heavy.

eLance Create a provider profile describing your unique expertise and experience, and attract employers with an online portfolio highlighting your prize work samples. Writing, website development, programming…

Odesk

WriterLance Limited selection : only a few listed per month.

Every day, the first thing I do is go to job boards and check out the new jobs available. Why? Because I have to stay on top of the game.

Here’s some of the resources I use

ProBlogger.net has a jobs board for bloggers.

OnlineWritingJobs.com is a jobs forum split into categories of high and low paying writing jobs.

FreelanceSwitch Jobs Board split into three sections : Programming, Blogging and Design/Illustration.

aQuent A lot of these jobs are less freelance and more creative, but they have stacks in various countries. Use the location selector at the top left to get jobs for your country.