Hey everyone ! As you can see I'm new to this forum, I hope you all treat me Okay so let me tell you the beginning of my story, I' currently an Student following the University Foundation Course (From the IT section). So currently I have passed 6 Subjects 5 Compulsory and one elective they are (Communication I, Communication II, Advance Mathematics I, Introduction to Computing, Introduction to Programming, Management) I have Unfortunately failed Advance Mathematics II and Physics. Whithout passing all the subjects I cannot attend University (I had plans to go to Australia for Uni where my brother lives). So one of these subjects cost 23,000.00 LKR that is equivalent to around 230.00 USD. So since I failed two subjects my father doesn't want to pay for my education anymore. I know I am fully wrong here and I can't fix it. I am really into Designing and Web Designing and I've worked on a few projects and was planing to follow my higher education on that side. But since unfortunately I cannot continue my higher education I'm stuck here. So I was wondering if it IS really possible to freelance and earn some amount of money (As long as I can earn around 700.00 USD from about 3 months or less so I can pay and finish my Foundation Course) and if a educationally non qualified freelance can earn. And any possible advice as to where I can start, what I learn and anything kind of advice you can give me from your experience. Thankyou Very much and Best Regards, Hashen.
As a freelancer in the web design section you need to show a portfolio of sites you designed before. Nothing else matters when it comes to hiring, maybe a little when it comes to payment. My suggestions are to subscribe to freelancer.com and odesk.com and see if you can impress an employer with your portfolio and at the same time try to fix things with your dad because it matters more than your success in life and business.
Look locally for business owners who need a website and offer to create it before they pay you. Also build websites for yourself and friends to help them make money and build a portfolio. With a re-seller hosting account that allows unlimited domains you can sell cyber-space. Anyone can easily learn to use WordPress to create sites that google will rank quickly. You can charge any amount you want but $250 for a basic starter site is easy money. As a bonus they pay you space rent plus for updates and changes to the website. Word of mouth in your local market should bring you more business for free. Expect to spend $60-$100/yr for a shared hosting reseller account but your first client will pay for it. You can upgrade to private hosting later when you need more space or bandwidth. That is what I call Just2EZ and basically how I got started 20 years ago.
I just paid someone a nice sum of money to design my website. There is money in this no doubt. I found him on facebook by the way. There is a ton of opportunity as Just2EZ suggested in local market. I was searching for a place to get a message a few weeks ago and was shocked at how only 2 businesses in my area had a website or either the other business just did not know how to rank in Google. I recently helped a man rank his site on stump grinding higher in Google for $100 bucks. As far as the $700 why put a limit on it. I think you could make far more than that if you just take the first step and get started.
Through various banner advertising I have in several forums, I'm able to setup 3-5 websites a week at $97/ea. There is hardly any design involved at all - I'm literally setting up WordPress, writing 2 articles, adding the legal pages, and installing a few plugins. To make the $97, I'm spending 2-4 hours total. Don't let your skills cause you to over-think things. I'm an IT major and a 34 year old college kid, but I don't use a single piece of my (future) IT degree in what I do online. I write and click buttons and people pay me for it. Just market to your strengths and follow Juse2EZ's suggestion of starting locally. There is a TON of money in going to local shops, showing them a flyer, and designing a website for $249 for them. Trust me. -- j
There is a lot of potentional out there for you to reach your target. I would register your services with Elance where there are a lot of people requiring skills. Offline marketing is also good. One thing that really helped me when I started out was wearing a t-shirt with my ad and also putting an ad on the back window of my car. I like what Just2EZ said about creating a website before your potential customers pay. Good Luck!
I would strongly recommend creating a Facebook fan page for your skill and also join freelancer.com and submit your portfolio, as you may know however it will take a little bit of time for the word of your talents to catch enough ears to make a lot of money but it's definitely achievable
There is lot of truth in the above statement. Too many times, you tend to see the world from your point of view which may not be the reality. If you have an IT degree, you generally would like to complicate things, which may not be necessary at all. The same goes with any other skills you possess. Success is directly proportional to how many times you do simple things. Simplify life and keep taking those baby steps. People need solutions. It doesn't matter if it comes in a fancy box or just plain wrapped. The wrapper ultimately goes inside the bin
Hashen, Taking on some smaller projects that pay less may make sense initially. You can build up your experience and then go after the bigger jobs.
