Is earning $1,000-$2,000/mo freelancing on the side doable w/o a portfolio?

davidle

davidle

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Aug 30, 2010
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Due to recent events, I've been entertaining the idea of signing up as a freelancer (even though I have a job) on Upwork and selling out my services as a copywriter or writer.

First of all, would it be possible to pull down a measly $1,000-$2,000 a month right out of the gate (assuming I apply to enough gigs)? Second, is this even the best use of my time? Obviously there are smarter ways to freelance than Upwork, but you have to start somewhere. Instead of limiting myself to writing, I could also just apply to any gig that pays well enough and seems to be within my capabilities.

If I can't generate enough to make an extra 1/2k a month, it's probably not the best use of my time. But, if that figure is within reach, I'd be willing to dedicate 100% of my time outside of work to making it happen. I don't know...has anyone had to resort to generating income freelancing on short-term notice, without a portfolio? How did it go, any advice on what to do or what not to do?
 


WTF are you talking about? Nobody makes money on the inter-pipes...

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I was a writer for 1-2 years before I started a writing agency. I don't think there was a month since the very beginning that I didn't make at least $2500 profit writing for myself.

If you're going to spend all this time writing, you need to seriously consider if it makes more sense to write for yourself and build an online property that will allow you earn money from that work for years to come....or, if you just want a fast dollar by writing for someone else.

If you opt for the latter.... be prepared to be reliable. You can't just dip your toe in the water to make $1000 and be out. You have to be prepared to give your clients the service they expect. If not, you won't be in business for very long.
 
I used to do a lot of contract work on nights/weekends. What I did was go to some local entrepreneurship meetups and form relationships with consultants who did other things than me. They would quite often have clients ask them for programming even though they were, for example, SEO consultants and they would send them to me and mark up my fee to the client. I didn't have trouble making $1k month that way.

It was a really good arrangement because I didn't have to deal with making proposals or marketing myself or meeting clients,etc. that can be too time consuming if you're just doing it on the side. The consultants I partnered with liked it because they were able to make some money off projects they would otherwise have to turn away and make nothing.

Might be an option for you.
 
3nyaw said:
you can easily earn 40 an hour on upwork if you have the right skills.
Click to expand...

What are the right skills? Some programming skills tend to be high paid, but you have to know how to know a lot of various shit other than just a single programming language. I could write.
 
StackCash said:
I was a writer for 1-2 years before I started a writing agency. I don't think there was a month since the very beginning that I didn't make at least $2500 profit writing for myself.

If you're going to spend all this time writing, you need to seriously consider if it makes more sense to write for yourself and build an online property that will allow you earn money from that work for years to come....or, if you just want a fast dollar by writing for someone else.

If you opt for the latter.... be prepared to be reliable. You can't just dip your toe in the water to make $1000 and be out. You have to be prepared to give your clients the service they expect. If not, you won't be in business for very long.
Click to expand...

Would you recommend sites like Upwork for landing writing gigs? I'm probably going to go the freelancing route to get extra cash coming in immediately.
 
Years back when I first quit my job and started earning online, that's how I began. I had side projects here and there but was lucky enough to get hooked up with a long term project, which lasted for quite some time but I saw it ending and it didn't feel like I was working for myself still. I found the long term job on this site as well. When I started doing this there were a ton of Indian/foreign writers that were competing for very low rates. I stood out from the crowd by being college-educated and fluent in English.

I saved the money from the writing gig and started buying traffic and I'm still very profitable doing that now.
 
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