3 Types of Freelance Writing Gigs and How to Find Them

Most freelance writers have several sources of writing work where they can get paid to write articles. Some are ongoing, some are one-off, and some are gap-fillers. All can be good. Read on for a bit about each of the above categories and how to go about getting those types of writing jobs.

Ongoing
Finding regular writing clients can be a good thing. Do a good job and you might get ongoing writing work.

One-Off Jobs
By marketing yourself, you can find writing jobs that are one-off scenarios. Someone might need a press release written, might decide that they want to write a new sales letter, want help re-vamping their website content, or want another freelance writing service. Marketing can help these clients find you.

Gap fillers.
There are content companies and busy clients that may offer you an all-you-can-write buffet. Having a few of these eggs can be a good thing because you can make fast money writing when you need to up your earnings or when you have a gap in your schedule. You an also spend some of your gaps working at upping your passive income streams through writing for revenue sharing sites, such as InfoBarrel and HubPages, or through developing content for your own sites and blogs.

How to find Writing Gigs:

Find ongoing and one-off clients by marketing on an ongoing basis. Freelance writers who market can get found by clients and some of those clients could provide you with regular work.

In terms of gap fillers, sign up with a writing agency, start a profile on a freelance bidding site such as Elance, sign up with content companies such as Textbroker, Internet Brands, and Demand Studios so you can dive into one of these options as and when you need to.

Getting paid to write articles can be a business of feasts and famines. By diversifying your incoming writing work sources and by continually marketing yourself you can have a wide array of options available.

Freelance Work At Home Tips: Diversifying The Egg Baskets

Working at home as a freelancer has its perks. Beyond the lax dress code you can save money on commuting, dry cleaning, lunches, etc. If you’ve found a great work at home gig, it can feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. If you’re a freelancer, you really don’t have just one boss and it can be liberating to be self-employed. A lot of freelancers find one big client to help pay the bulk of their expenses and extra clients are ‘gravy’ clients.

But is it save to work for one source?

If you’re a freelancer, you might consider diversifying your streams of income so you’re paid from more than one source. Or, do your best to get a contract. Freelance writers, freelance photographers, freelance web designers that get the bulk of their work from one client are in danger of being unemployed if they don’t have any type of work guarantee. Today could be payday and tomorrow could be the bread line if you’re not careful.

If freelancing and you have no guarantees of specific quantities of work from a big client, you need to diversify your income so that if there’s no chance of a contract and notice of any volume changes, you’ll be safe.

What if the big client eats up all your time?

If they keep you so busy you don’t have time for anyone else, do your best to put a buffer amount in savings and keep the pavement pounded regularly to watch for other jobs just in case.

Some clients don’t ever give you a contract and the work never runs out but if you’re not watchful, the rug could be quickly pulled out from under you and you could find yourself in trouble.

Budgeting, savings, a contingency plan and keeping up to date on available work at home jobs in your niche will all be helpful.

WAH Jobs: Telemarketing

There is an increasing number of telemarketing companies that have decided to use a remote workforce. The cost of office space makes this work really well and with technology advances, they know they can adequately train off site employees.

There are pros and cons to telemarketing jobs. If you enjoy sales or customer service work, this could be the work at home job for you. It could be something that’s self paced and doable in your spare time considering that calling customers could be done in various timezones so this can work around your schedule if the employer permits.

On the down side, this isn’t likely a job you’d do with children underfoot. Some work at home jobs can easily be done with your kids at home but when you need to talk to customers, you don’t want your two year old hollering in the background or trying to climb up on your knee.

On the down side, some of these jobs could be commission only so may not provide a guaranteed income. Some telemarketing companies will offer salaried positions plus bonuses so it could be lucrative for you if you find the right job marketing the right product.

Above and beyond selling stuff, you could do things like customer surveys on the phone which is in the telemarketing area but can be easier than having to sell items through cold calling.

This type of position could be a WAH job with benefits such as medical and dental and the company you work for should provide you with the equipment you need to do your job. There could also be some tax write offs for home expenses.

Should It Ever Cost Money To Work At Home?

Working at home is somethign a lot of people want to do for many reasons and whether they want to work at home full time or part time, most of them are worried about being scams.

Is there ever a time when a work at home job should cost you money to get into?

If you’re working for a company, generally NO unless you need to pay to get certified for that position first through an accredited course. This might be the case with something like medical transcription which is a popular wah job. Before you leap, LOOK at whether the school is accredited and what their placement rate is. Some schools will offer a practicum so that you can get employed easily and quickly.

Equipment may need to be purchased so you can do the job such as a computer or with a transcription job you might need special equipment to listen to the transcription recordings. For most cases, the employer will provide you with the equipment so if you’re being asked to shell out, beware.

Some companies such as call center jobs will require you to pay for their training. In this case, look deeply at whether or not a company offering paid training comes highly recommended before signing up!

When you decide to do something freelance, you could have expenses but these are expenses that you choose to pay in order to invest in your business such as knowledge, courseware or e-books that can help you get into areas like freelance writing or internet marketing.

It’s very wise to look at product reviews and look for honest testimonials before investing in a wah job. The vast majority of jobs where you telecommute and work for someone else will not require you to pay money.

How To Become A Medical Transcriptionist

Medical transcriptionist jobs are a popular work at home job for many reasons. Not only can this be a good paying and interesting job but it can be very flexible because you can work at your own pace. Working at home can offer great flexibility, especially if you have small children at home.

How to become a medical transcriptionist

Medical transcriptionists need to know more than just how to type quickly. They need to understand medical terminology (which can take time and training) and some basic information about procedures as well as record keeping and government guidelines. There are a lot of accredited transcription courses available either on campus or online.

When looking for a reputable campus based or online transcription school, you first want to be sure it is accredited and recognized. You also may consider looking at transcription companies to see what their preferences are. Some companies work specifically with schools for student placement. You’ll want statistics from the school you’re looking at about the placement rate as well.

Various companies have differing requirements as to how much experience they want so talk to the schools you’re looking at to determine whether or not they have a high success rate. Course fees can vary from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars so be sure you do your homework to ensure you’ve chosen the right school that can prepare and groom you for a successful career as a medical transcriptionist.

How much money does a medical transcriptionist make?

Transcriptionists in the medical industry can work at home or in medical offices and hospitals and pay can range from pennies per word transcribed to dollars per page based on a flat fee basis, depending on the client. You can potentially earn an average of $15/hourly as a beginner doing medical transcription and rates will vary depending on whether you’re working for a transcription agency or directly for a doctor.

Call Center WAH Job Options

When you call a company and end up speaking with a call center, you might be talking to someone who is working from home. Call center jobs are increasingly popular in the wah space. Whether it’s cold calling or taking orders, many companies will hire telecommuters.

  • Pizza order takers
  • Hotel reservation bookings
  • Rent a car bookings
  • Customer Service Reps
  • Virtual assistants

The above are just some of the jobs available. How do you find out which companies are hiring home-based call center reps? Many online resources exist to help you find work at home jobs. For instance, some companies are hiring regularly in Canada for wah call centre jobs such as: Contract XChange, Telepros and Advantis and Toucan.

Many call center jobs will let you work split shifts so you can be available to get your kids to school or off the school bus. Some will allow late night positions as well so you can work from home part-time during the evening. Some programs do require training and training may or may not be paid and may require you to pay for training so be very careful of scams. Tehre are many legitimate companies out there but if you’re not sure whether something is legit, do check online for WAH reviews about the company.

Real Tips for Using Your Computer to Create A New Career

There are a lot of opportunities for home based businesses. Some people think the dot com boom is over but there are still many opportunities to take advantage of. But how to you get started? There are a lot of websites dedicated to home based business reviews to help you learn all about what is out there for making money online. Depending on what you’re interested in doing and what time and financial commitments and goals you have, you can find many opportunities that suit those purposes. Here are a few examples of ways some people are making money part – time and full – time.

Type at Home Programs

Type at home programs require you to type up advertisements and you’ll get a commission if someone buys based on your advertisement. This can be expensive but can also be very lucrative if you understand copywriting secrets and can choose some profitable niches. Beware that you don’t spend more than you can earn. It might be best to start off with something that doesn’t require a major investment at first and these programs can require some hefty advertising fees.

Google Adsense

You can make money online with many affiliate marketing and advertising programs. Google will pay you based on advertising dollars when people click on their ads. You can set up blogs and websites about particular topics and make money from Google. When you visit a website and there are advertisements available, someone is paying to display those ads and someone is getting paid for each click. You can start a blog for free so this is a great way to start making money with no investment other than your time.

ClickBank

ClickBank offers digital products such as e-books and site memberships for expertise and knowledge and you can sell these products on your websites and make a commission. If you aren’t into selling, this can still be a great opportunity as you can simply direct people to the websites where these products are sold and make anywhere up to 75% commission for doing so.

Commission Junction, PepperJam Network and Others

You can display ads for companies on your website or blog and make commission from them as well. Some sites can be developed for multiple streams of income with products being sold and advertisements as well.

But you don’t even need a website for many programs through affiliate marketing programs; you can simply direct people to the right place through numerous things like e-mail marketing, hubs and lenses, newsletters and social media websites. There are a lot of ways to make money online and a lot of gurus who are willing to show you the ropes so you don’t have to learn the hard way and suffer through months of waiting for commission checks to come in.

As you can see, there are a lot of products that can help you make money online. You can find affiliate marketing programs like NetWebVideo and others to teach you the basics as well as help you go from basic to advanced and kick your earnings level up a notch or two.

For more information about home based business reviews, affiliate marketing programs and more information about learning how to make money through NetWebVideo, visit TheWebReviewer.

Is WAH Money Free Money? Taxman Implications

Work at home income is considered taxable income so it should be claimed at tax time. If you earn an income from any source, it shoudn’t be considered tax-free. Take care of your taxes promptly to avoid being audited.

Do WAH Jobs Take Off Tax?

Some companies that pay telecommuters pay them and withdraw applicable employment taxes with you if you work directly for them but the vast majority of companies leave you to deal with your own taxes. Whether or not you get any type of W-9 or T-4, etc at tax time, you are not off the hook.

What does that mean?

It means you need to be organized if you’re making an online income from many sources. Freelance professionals should consider buying tax or accounting software that enables them to track their work invoices and their expenses.

Some work at home professionals submit quarterly reports to their government and some experienced internet professionals hire an accountant. Here are some tips:

Track Your Income and Your Expenses

  • Assign a work order # to each client you work with. You might create a system based on a software package or even on a spreadsheet with numbers you’ve assigned.
  • Keep all bank statements and note any income that came in through direct deposits, and cheques.
  • Keep track of payments received through places like PayPal or Wire transfer companies such as MoneyBookers.
  • Keep track of your expenses.

Expenses may be helpful to you at tax time as a self-employed individual so keep track of office supplies and other expenses related to your at home job.

Budgeting Your WAH Income

Living on a budget is necessary whether you work outside the home or work at home. Some wah jobs pay regular pay cheques just like any other job but many are freelance jobs and you could have feasts and you could have famines. You can also find yourself waiting for what seems like forever to get paid.

You’ve got to pay your bills like everyone else and you’ve got taxes to pay for WAH money as well so budgeting is vital.

Visit The Money Jar Budgeting site for tips on living on less and putting more cash back in your pocket. Work at home jobs can pay well but sometimes payments are erratic. Learning to live on a budget and putting away money for a rainy day can make it easier when you don’t have a regular weekly paycheque.

5 WAHM Job Ideas

There are so many potential online jobs for you if you’re looking to do a WAHD / WAHM / telecommuting job. There are dozens more than just these so if you want more information, delve further into my blog, here.

Here are some ideas for you:

  1. Virtual Assistant
  2. Affiliate Marketer
  3. Dropshipping Business
  4. Freelance Blogger
  5. Freelance Writer
  6. Virtual Assistant

Companies will pay you to work for them in many capacities. Some will pay you to be on call and others will offer freelance opportunities for things like order taking, receptionist duties, telemarketing, bookkeeping and more. There are many bidding sites and job boards where you can find these types of jobs.

Affiliate Marketer

You can buy and sell products and services online by pointing people through your site to an affiliate link. The link will generate a commission for you when someone buys your product. Internet marketing businesses can be huge earners.

Dropshipping

You can set up wholesale stores and eBay businesses online and set up a virtual store. You don’t have to inbventory anything. When people buy from your store it ships direct to them via the wholesaler and you simply earn the commission. This can be very lucrative

Freelance Blogger

You can blog for yourself or ghostblog or ghostwrite for others. There are loads of copmanies out there that now run blogs for their websites. Many of them want people to post for them on their site. You can also post on your own website for advertising revenue.

Freelance Writer

Good with words? There are plenty of freelance writing opportunities on the web. Much like with blogging, companies will pay you to write for them for web copy and for offline content as well.

The internet provides endless wah opportunities. There are scams and there are great opportunities as well. Familiarise yourself with what’s available so you can make a decision about which area or areas to approach.

You can make a full or part time income with your computer doing all kinds of things.

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