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Freelancing - The Wave Of The Future

© Lea Moore

Imagine yourself among the population that has decided to take their future into their own hands and give themselves the freedom that comes with freelancing.

No more timeclocks to punch. Set your own hours. Work as much or as little as you wish. Vacations taken at your leisure, or not. Take your child to the doctor without fear of being fired for having a family life and loving your kids enough to make sure they get that check-up.

Are you ready for that kind of freedom? Are you sure? If so, let me give you some advice. Start out slowly. Don't give up your day job until you have taken the time to research your market and found out how much it is going to cost to get medical insurance. Know your competitors. Learn how to use the internet to bid for freelance jobs and gain some experience, put some freelancing bullets on your resume.

Above all, remember, you can't work for $3.00 an hour and still pay the rent. So bid your jobs accordingly and remember that companies are willing to pay a little more when they don't have to provide fringe benefits and retirement plans.

The best way to get started is by preparing your resume. Make sure you know what you want to do and target those skills. Put together a file folder with all of your information ready to be typed or copied into the application forms. Prepare an ASCII version of your resume that can be copied and pasted into the "paste your resume here" box.

Know your strengths. You will be asked to tell about them over and over again. The more often you submit, the easier it will become to boast of your prowess in a particular field or skill set.

Expect to spend several months or even a year getting your name out there and getting enough experience as a freelancer to be able to earn a full-time living.

It is imperative that you have state-of-the-art computer applications and program software. If you are still using that old 486 with 428 megs of hard drive space, you will need to upgrade. Get the fastest Internet connection your geographical location will support. Learn to use as many software applications as your mind will allow. It makes you more marketable if you can diversify.

Now, if you are looking for some good freelancing sites to peruse here is a list of those I have found most helpful.

The copyright of the article Freelancing - The Wave Of The Future in Women in Business is owned by Lea Moore. Permission to republish Freelancing - The Wave Of The Future in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.