Freelance work on top of my job - Is it right for me?

[gregpd96235]

Recently, I’m thinking about wanting to try out some freelance work to make some extra money on top of my full-time job.

Over the past two and a half months, I’ve tried three different things, and they’re not working. I’m not allowed to take marketing surveys, I’m not good at stock photography, nor am I good at blogging; I have yet to establish another income stream. Besides, I don’t think these help with my career development overall, as I need to learn a lot more engineering practices and tools for programming.

What are some realities I need to face if I decide to do freelance work? As the company I’m working for has a whole ton of rules, I need to provide them as much information as I can on the kind of freelance work I want to do. That way, I won’t end up showing a conflict of interest.

Here are some questions I got to make it easier to answer back:

• Will I need to work so late at night that it may disturb my sleep schedules?
• How would I be able to tackle orders that are fraud or illegal?
• What can I do to handle my clients properly and not get taken advantage of?
• Will I get a chance to learn some handy tools I can use?
• How would I be able to cope with order cancellations where I have to pay back?
• What can I do to attract some customers who want to place an order? For instance, what ads should I look at to find a rough estimate on the price of the order?
• Did any of you folks did this before? If yes, how was, or is it?

I’m not necessarily looking into get rich. I simply need to build extra income to help me out.

[druss22k]

• Watch the motivational speech of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Than you now what to think about sleep. Obviously to achieve something you`ll need to go the extra mile. But honestly, working as a freelancer on the Internet wont get you rich - I worked now for approx 1 month and made 1K with ~6 Gigs. Compared to your professional job it will not get you far.

• Ensure that you are not liable. However you achieve this it may be of importance.

• This is experience and personality - some people tend to be more exploitable than others. As this freelancer live of mine is something I do for fun only, I usually dont go the extra extra mile when buyers become pushy or think they can entrap you in reviews of your work just to avoid a bad rating.

• Whatever you want to learn. The internet is the best pretender-place there is :).

• If a order is cancelled you just wont receive the amount that was agreed upon. There is no payback as you think it is.

• Strongly depends on your skills. If you can program in anything this will get you started (not extremely profitable though).

• Not via the internet but its fun and always should be. If it stresses you out stop and stick to your “proper” job as it is the one giving you the most money.

[gregpd96235]

• Watch the motivational speech of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Than you now what to think about sleep. Obviously to achieve something you`ll need to go the extra mile. But honestly, working as a freelancer on the Internet wont get you rich - I worked now for approx 1 month and made 1K with ~6 Gigs. Compared to your professional job it will not get you far.

• Ensure that you are not liable. However you achieve this it may be of importance.

• This is experience and personality - some people tend to be more exploitable than others. As this freelancer live of mine is something I do for fun only, I usually dont go the extra extra mile when buyers become pushy or think they can entrap you in reviews of your work just to avoid a bad rating.

• Whatever you want to learn. The internet is the best pretender-place there is :).

• If a order is cancelled you just wont receive the amount that was agreed upon. There is no payback as you think it is.

• Strongly depends on your skills. If you can program in anything this will get you started (not extremely profitable though).

• Not via the internet but its fun and always should be. If it stresses you out stop and stick to your “proper” job as it is the one giving you the most money.

For now, I’m not looking at particularly getting rich, but I need to do at least something to make myself more useful and not get so bogged down with learning something new and working on side projects all the time. The truth is, when the pandemic is over, I do need to go out from time to time for personal development reasons.

[aychuck]

For now, I’m not looking at particularly getting rich, but I need to do at least something to make myself more useful and not get so bogged down with learning something new and working on side projects all the time. The truth is, when the pandemic is over, I do need to go out from time to time for personal development reasons.

Fiverr has become my main source of income, but I’m still not really considering on quitting my full-time job.

I’m from Mexico City, and honestly, we don’t earn much as compared to the US, although here everything’s cheaper. Not big news right?

So I started working on fiverr as a hobby, trying to make a little extra money on top of my regular job’s. In the beginning, everything was slow and very manageable. Almost one year later, I’ve not only managed to earn the same as in my regular job, but actually DOUBLE it, so right now, I’m earing three times as much.

I’m not gonna lie and it’s not been a walk in the park… I’ve had nights when I can’t sleep due to all of my orders, but it’s been extremely rewarding. At the moment, I’m trying to do my best to get even more orders in fiverr, and finally quit my job, but not until I find another stable source of income…

See, trusting all of your income in fiverr seems quite risky, as work is variable in here, and sometimes you won’t earn as much as expected. That’s why.

[phenomyv]

For now, I’m not looking at particularly getting rich, but I need to do at least something to make myself more useful and not get so bogged down with learning something new and working on side projects all the time. The truth is, when the pandemic is over, I do need to go out from time to time for personal development reasons.

Hey gregpd96235 I’ve been freelancing on for over fiverr 2yrs without much result. Made friends with a lot of top sellers and pro verified. I was happy here. I have been dealing with a 60hr+ work week, chargebacks, overhead and other unforeseen circumstances that comes with the job. I took break and create another online business, elevated my income and now I’m free. Here’s some tips the pros shared if you want on survive on fiverr.

1. You might want to have a low response rate say an hr maximum

2. You might want to send progress versions of the work… you know just let them know your doing right by them.

3.You might want to delivery on time

4. You might want to over-delivery (clients appreciates this must of all)

5. You will have do a few revisions

Simple things of that nature . Glad I could help and if you want to know how I elevated my income your welcome to inbox me

[mariashtelle1]

Recently, I’m thinking about wanting to try out some freelance work to make some extra money on top of my full-time job.

Over the past two and a half months, I’ve tried three different things, and they’re not working. I’m not allowed to take marketing surveys, I’m not good at stock photography, nor am I good at blogging; I have yet to establish another income stream. Besides, I don’t think these help with my career development overall, as I need to learn a lot more engineering practices and tools for programming.

What are some realities I need to face if I decide to do freelance work? As the company I’m working for has a whole ton of rules, I need to provide them as much information as I can on the kind of freelance work I want to do. That way, I won’t end up showing a conflict of interest.

Here are some questions I got to make it easier to answer back:

• Will I need to work so late at night that it may disturb my sleep schedules?
• How would I be able to tackle orders that are fraud or illegal?
• What can I do to handle my clients properly and not get taken advantage of?
• Will I get a chance to learn some handy tools I can use?
• How would I be able to cope with order cancellations where I have to pay back?
• What can I do to attract some customers who want to place an order? For instance, what ads should I look at to find a rough estimate on the price of the order?
• Did any of you folks did this before? If yes, how was, or is it?

I’m not necessarily looking into get rich. I simply need to build extra income to help me out.

I will try to be completely honest: it doesn’t seem that you are ready for a freelance work yet. You do need to have right mindset to do freelancing.

Over the past two and a half months, I’ve tried three different things, and they’re not working. I’m not allowed to take marketing surveys, I’m not good at stock photography, nor am I good at blogging;

It takes time to find what will work for you. Even if you already know what you want to pursue as your side income that can drastically change with time as you will be looking at what works the best and adjusting your offering. I started with my gigs drawing portraits, then it became calligraphy and now I work mostly with brand identities and drawings animations. That’s just an example of how your business can evolve depending on demand even if it’s still in the same niche.

I started my calligraphy business while I was working full time. And yes, I had to work at nights and spend only 40 min of my day with my family over dinner.

Will I need to work so late at night that it may disturb my sleep schedules?

You might or you might not. If you have great time management skills you might be able to manage it without affecting your personal life.

But for me All side or full time businesses are built on the idea. And I strongly believe that you can’t build successful business without investing yourself or sacrificing something (Eg sleep in this case).

How would I be able to tackle orders that are fraud or illegal?

There is not proper or improper way to handle it. There is no simple one sentence answer. Different situations require different actions. You will mostly learn how to handle clients as you gain more and more experience. And yes, you also might make mistakes at the beginning but it’s a learning process and on fiverr n most cases you are protected by their TOS

What can I do to handle my clients properly and not get taken advantage of?

Same, no single sentence answer. You will learn it with time as you work more and more with clients. You can also read forum or other sources on how to work with problematic clients.

Will I get a chance to learn some handy tools I can use?

:thinking: a lot of sellers that offer their services on fiverr already have an experience. It all depend on you if you want to learn new tools to implement in your side business or not.

How would I be able to cope with order cancellations where I have to pay back?

Fiverr handles all payments and all cancellations. The rest is on your communication skills.

What can I do to attract some customers who want to place an order? For instance, what ads should I look at to find a rough estimate on the price of the order?

Aso no single answer on that. You will have to understand who’s your target audience, what attracts them and design your gigs to fit into that.

Did any of you folks did this before? If yes, how was, or is it?

Yes, I started my side business when I was working full time. And I managed to get through that time only on the idea and my determination. Oh boy, it definitely was not easy. First, you wouldn’t have orders and you will have to figure out a way how to get more clients and that means that for some time you will be working without any income and you have to stay motivated during those times. And by “working” I don’t mean working on orders.

When activity started picking up I had to work till 2am and wake up at 6am to go to work. My lunch time at work I was spending answering clients, coming back from work, having dinner and working on my side business again till 2am. I had only 40 min of my day where I could rest and “calmly” eat dinner and spend time with my family.

So my point: you do have to have a determination and clear understanding of your motivations to go through periods of no sales and not to give up and later on to work hard and make sacrifices.

On a positive note: your experience might be different and you might start getting orders right away and time managing them where you don’t need to impact your “sleep schedules”.

I understand it’s tough times right now and everyone is looking on what they can do on the side to protect themselves more so good luck in your search and you can always come to forum for an advice.

[english_voice]

Hi Greg. Your background and restrictions sound a little similar to mine, although I don’t know your niche. I also have a near full-time job and I am also restricted to the services I can offer as a freelancer (I’m a writer by trade, but I only offer proofreading on here because of my restrictions). I came to Fiverr seven years ago to earn extra money. I stayed because I quite enjoy the experience and the steady income it brings me pays for a few treats for the family. Let me try and offer some general advice based around your questions. This is only my experience and perspective. Others will say different no doubt.

Once you’re up and running on Fiverr. The important thing is to remain in control of your life and your Fiverr business. There are certain things you can control, and sadly there are a couple of important things you can’t control. What you can control are: the quality of your profile and description and gigs. These will determine whether people think you’re a good person to do business with. Look around the hundreds of posts on these forums from people who say “why no sale?”. Answer. Their profile and gigs are littered with bad English and poor descriptions, they look unappealing, and contain no exemplary examples of work. Why would anyone hire them? They wouldn’t.

You can also control your time and stress. And this is a major one. While you do have to respond to all first messages within 24 hours for it to not affect your profile stats, you do not have to be online 24 / 7 to get expressions of interest or orders. I get orders or messages when I’m asleep. I’ll respond in the morning after a cup of coffee. Talking of time, this is a biggie that a lot of rookie or desperate sellers fail to utilise. Do not set unrealistic gig delivery times, if anything add time (an extra 24 hours) so that you can relax with an order and allow time for life and any issues to be resolved. In my case I offer a 72 hour turnaround service for a job that might take me just 20 minutes. I might choose to do the work at night, I might choose to do it in the morning. I might choose to split it across a couple of days if it’s a larger order. My point being, you are in control. Believe me, when you offer a 24 hour turnaround the clients tend to be of the desperate variety - they are not good to work with. That is experience talking.

You can also limit the number of orders buyers can make, so you don’t end up with a stack of work that will pile the pressure on.

Also, a good rule of thumb. The moment you feel stressed on Fiverr is the very same moment to put the brake on and work out why. You should not be thinking “it’s 2am, my wife is wondering when I’m coming to bed, I’ve got to leave for work at 7am, I’m feeling tired, grumpy, and I’ve not seen the kids in days - BUT I’ve got an order to complete”.

What you can’t control. When orders come in (although as stated you can limit the number of orders in the queue, and control how long you have to complete a job). You can’t also control who orders from you (although you can block people). In my experience most buyers are good people. But sooner or later you will likely come across either a total idiot or a scammer who wants their money back. The result is the same. They waste your time. A general tip should this happen. Stand up to these people politely. So long as what you’ve delivered meets what the gig promised, then you’re on safe ground. Explain this to them. And then if needs be, report them to customer service. Don’t ever fall into the trap of complying with them or accepting a cancellation.

You can’t also control feedback. Most buyers will leave 5 star feedback if you’ve done a good job. Some buyers won’t leave feedback at all. Scammers and idiots, should you choose to fight back, will leave 1 star feedback. It’s just the way it is.

I hope that’s of some help. Actually, an easier phase would be “do it on your terms only” - take control form the start, and don’t let potential buyers / buyers take control of you. It’s not worth it. From what I hear it’s not easy to get started on Fiverr now because the competition is immense, but if you’ve got a skill to offer, you present yourself well and price yourself fairly (I said fairly not cheap), then you’ll find the cream rises to the top eventually.

[druss22k]

Fiverr has become my main source of income, but I’m still not really considering on quitting my full-time job.

I’m from Mexico City, and honestly, we don’t earn much as compared to the US, although here everything’s cheaper. Not big news right?

So I started working on fiverr as a hobby, trying to make a little extra money on top of my regular job’s. In the beginning, everything was slow and very manageable. Almost one year later, I’ve not only managed to earn the same as in my regular job, but actually DOUBLE it, so right now, I’m earing three times as much.

I’m not gonna lie and it’s not been a walk in the park… I’ve had nights when I can’t sleep due to all of my orders, but it’s been extremely rewarding. At the moment, I’m trying to do my best to get even more orders in fiverr, and finally quit my job, but not until I find another stable source of income…

See, trusting all of your income in fiverr seems quite risky, as work is variable in here, and sometimes you won’t earn as much as expected. That’s why.

Glad to hear - If it makes you happy that is absolutely perfect.

What one needs to consider though is the social benefits that some companies provides and that a freelancer does not get.

If you earn 3 times as much that should not be a problem though - very very good to hear!!

[hamza1424]

Hi Greg. Your background and restrictions sound a little similar to mine, although I don’t know your niche. I also have a near full-time job and I am also restricted to the services I can offer as a freelancer (I’m a writer by trade, but I only offer proofreading on here because of my restrictions). I came to Fiverr seven years ago to earn extra money. I stayed because I quite enjoy the experience and the steady income it brings me pays for a few treats for the family. Let me try and offer some general advice based around your questions. This is only my experience and perspective. Others will say different no doubt.

Once you’re up and running on Fiverr. The important thing is to remain in control of your life and your Fiverr business. There are certain things you can control, and sadly there are a couple of important things you can’t control. What you can control are: the quality of your profile and description and gigs. These will determine whether people think you’re a good person to do business with. Look around the hundreds of posts on these forums from people who say “why no sale?”. Answer. Their profile and gigs are littered with bad English and poor descriptions, they look unappealing, and contain no exemplary examples of work. Why would anyone hire them? They wouldn’t.

You can also control your time and stress. And this is a major one. While you do have to respond to all first messages within 24 hours for it to not affect your profile stats, you do not have to be online 24 / 7 to get expressions of interest or orders. I get orders or messages when I’m asleep. I’ll respond in the morning after a cup of coffee. Talking of time, this is a biggie that a lot of rookie or desperate sellers fail to utilise. Do not set unrealistic gig delivery times, if anything add time (an extra 24 hours) so that you can relax with an order and allow time for life and any issues to be resolved. In my case I offer a 72 hour turnaround service for a job that might take me just 20 minutes. I might choose to do the work at night, I might choose to do it in the morning. I might choose to split it across a couple of days if it’s a larger order. My point being, you are in control. Believe me, when you offer a 24 hour turnaround the clients tend to be of the desperate variety - they are not good to work with. That is experience talking.

You can also limit the number of orders buyers can make, so you don’t end up with a stack of work that will pile the pressure on.

Also, a good rule of thumb. The moment you feel stressed on Fiverr is the very same moment to put the brake on and work out why. You should not be thinking “it’s 2am, my wife is wondering when I’m coming to bed, I’ve got to leave for work at 7am, I’m feeling tired, grumpy, and I’ve not seen the kids in days - BUT I’ve got an order to complete”.

What you can’t control. When orders come in (although as stated you can limit the number of orders in the queue, and control how long you have to complete a job). You can’t also control who orders from you (although you can block people). In my experience most buyers are good people. But sooner or later you will likely come across either a total idiot or a scammer who wants their money back. The result is the same. They waste your time. A general tip should this happen. Stand up to these people politely. So long as what you’ve delivered meets what the gig promised, then you’re on safe ground. Explain this to them. And then if needs be, report them to customer service. Don’t ever fall into the trap of complying with them or accepting a cancellation.

You can’t also control feedback. Most buyers will leave 5 star feedback if you’ve done a good job. Some buyers won’t leave feedback at all. Scammers and idiots, should you choose to fight back, will leave 1 star feedback. It’s just the way it is.

I hope that’s of some help. Actually, an easier phase would be “do it on your terms only” - take control form the start, and don’t let potential buyers / buyers take control of you. It’s not worth it. From what I hear it’s not easy to get started on Fiverr now because the competition is immense, but if you’ve got a skill to offer, you present yourself well and price yourself fairly (I said fairly not cheap), then you’ll find the cream rises to the top eventually.

Thank you so much. I am just glad to read all that. It helps me a lot.