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Freelance Your Way Home

© Leslie Truex

Many who begin the journey to work at home start with the desire to find a work-at-home job. Specifically, they want a company to pay them a salary and benefits to stay home and work. While these situations do exist, most people are not able to find these jobs or are not qualified to do them. The reason is that traditional telecommuting jobs usually occur when an employee negotiates the arrangement with the employer, or in highly technical fields in which the demand for skilled, experienced workers is quite high. But what about the people who don't have a job that translate into a work-at-home position or who don't know the first thing about programming? There are many options available to these people but they will likely need to give up the idea of a full-time salary and benefits.

The Internet has made it easier for people to work at home and for companies to outsource projects thereby saving them money on taxes and benefits. These jobs include everything from administrative assistance services, writing, proofing, sales, art, education, and much more. While most of these jobs are time limited projects, other are long term and others still turn into permanent positions. The demand for people to complete projects is high with thousands of projects posted all over the Internet. The pay is often very good ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars for a single project.

Those who have take advantage of freelance opportunities on the Internet report greater flexibility, potentially more income, and increased interest in work than in tradition jobs. Nevertheless, because work and therefore income isn't stable, one needs to plan for a freelance career. Here are some steps to freelancing your way home:

1. Begin by determining how much money you would need to earn. Don't automatically assume that you need to earn the same amount you are earning now. Working at home can save you a great deal of money in commuting, taxes, food, and more. To find out just how much it costs to work, and help you determine your required work-at-home income, visit http://www.workathomesuccess.com/workexp...

2. Take inventory of all your skills and experience not just in your work but in your interests and hobbies as well. Do you design, write, and publish the family newsletter? Do you know all the great places to do detailed searches for the most obscure topics on the Internet?

3. Visit the freelance job sites to see the types of jobs being offered, what companies using freelancers expect, and how much they are paying for various types of work. Take a morning or other block of time to really search these sites. Note all the jobs for which you feel you are qualified. In your notes, identify the time frame for the work and the pay. When you are finished, you should have a long list of potential jobs, the time frame for completion and how much they pay.

The copyright of the article Freelance Your Way Home in Telecommuting is owned by Leslie Truex. Permission to republish Freelance Your Way Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.