You attended high school, got good grades, joined in helping your community, gathered up all sorts of community service points and hours, got into a great college, watched the student loan debt pile up, graduated, and oops, you can’t seem to find the right job.
Does this sound familiar? Too many people under the age of 30 are in this situation right now. Perhaps they have found a job, but it’s not a career, it’s not fulfilling, not even anything remotely to do with their major, and they are miserable.
What’s a person to do? You can work at minimum wage jobs and hope the right career opportunity comes along, or you can Feelance. If there is a certain task, or group of tasks you do particularly well, your friends and acquaintances are always asking for your help with these tasks, then perhaps you should start a business. Or at the very least become a Freelancer.
Let’s say that you are great at writing. You could offer your services with PR, or advertising, perhaps even blogging. You can sign up on a site like Writer Access and get paid to write.
You’re one of those Grammar Sticklers? Sites like Writer Access will pay you to proofread work which their clients submit to the site.
I have a friend who moved to the U.S. from Denmark. She is a full time paralegal, but in her spare time she translates documents from English into Danish, or vice versa. And because Danish translators are few and far between, she gets paid handsomely to do it.
If you are great at editing photos, you could do that. Maybe editing videos is your thing. Or what if you have to Midas touch with animals? There are people who can no longer walk their dogs, or perhaps they work long hours and need someone to take care of their pet for a small portion of the day.
The most effective way to start a Freelance life is to have some kind of steady work, even if it’s part time, and do your Freelance work on the side. At least until you have several months’ worth of rent and food money saved. Freelancing is a feast or a famine type of thing for most people. It’s important to have a cushion if it ‘s at all possible. If not, well, dive in, let everyone know what you are doing, and don’t fall for this line:” Hey, I can’t pay you, but you will get a ton of exposure to some great companies.” Tell them thanks, but great exposure is not a currency I can pay bills with!
It would probably also be a good idea to hire Central Comm as your virtual receptionist. That way you aren’t going to get in hot water answering phone calls at your “real Job”. We can take messages for you, answer every day ordinary questions just as an real receptionist does, and make you look like the big business you are destined to be.
Who knows? If you find enough other Freelancers along the way who complement your skills and you work well together, perhaps you can even start your own company!
Central Comm
Your Virtual Receptionist
