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Freelancing completely changed my life
at a time when I really needed it
and I think it could do that for you too.
Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake
helping you create something awesome today.
Today, I want to talk to you about freelancing
and how you can get started,
especially if you're struggling financially right now,
freelancing can be the thing
that completely changes the game for you.
It could really set you up to have
a little bit of something extra
and for those of you who are really ambitious,
it can grant you financial freedom.
There are a lot of times throughout my life
that I've been a freelancer.
I actually did a little bit of freelancing getting started
whether I realized it or not in high school.
But where it was really the most beneficial to me
was throughout my college years.
I actually paid for college cash,
a lot of you may not realize that.
I started my adult life with zero student loan debt
because between working a retail job at the mall
and then also doing freelance work,
both as a graphic designer
and being a freelance photographer
and an apprentice to one of my professors,
I was able to make the money that I needed
to not only pay for my tuition
but pay for my supplies, my gear,
and give me something to also take care
of some of my bills and it really
made a huge difference in my life
to be able to control some of my income
by deciding how much work I was going to do
and what I was going to charge for it.
Even when I got started into online ventures,
doing online freelance writing for publications
actually helped make me a few extra thousand dollars a year
and that makes a real difference in your life.
If you can make an extra four, eight, or $10,000
on the side doing a few hours of effort each and every week,
it could really change everything
and I'm not saying this lightly.
If you find the right websites and relationships
if you're a freelance writer,
you could be getting anywhere from $100 to $500 per article.
I think the most I ever made from any one individual article
was probably like $600 and when I first got started,
I started out reasonably cheap.
I started out with like $150 articles.
There are some of you who work eight hours a day
just to make $100 and so if you have the skills
and the ability and you find the right niche,
there's so much opportunity.
And that was just with writing,
we're not even talking about graphic design,
we're not even talking about photo editing,
we're not even talking about
freelance video editing project yet.
Now, a lot of people say,
"Well, Roberto, that's great and good for you
"but I can't find clients,"
or, "I don't know if any of these websites
"are legit or not."
There are so many actually really legit
freelance websites out there.
There are a lot of ones that are specific to copywriting,
you'd have to Google some of them.
I'll link some of these down below for you guys.
I would say focus on websites like
Upwork and Freelancer.com and 99designs.com
and things of that nature.
These are websites that give you an opportunity
to use your skills and to use your expertise
and then you can decide what you want to work for
and you can find clients that match your skills
and you can deliver for them.
And again, not every job is gonna
pay you hundreds of dollars.
I totally get that, especially not starting out.
But you have to think,
you have to find tasks that match your skills
so that you can do something in an hour or two,
something reasonable and you can make like
50, 150, 200 bucks.
And I think that for a lot of you
that's much better than the rate
that you're getting right now at your hourly job
if you're watching this
or if you are struggling or you're quote unquote broke.
It's also a faster way to make money
than starting a YouTube channel by far, okay?
So I want you to understand that
there's so many opportunities out there
to generate income for yourself,
to help yourself out and that not all of that
has to be passive.
I really do still focus on active income ventures.
In my case it's no longer doing freelance design
and freelance photography as much as it is
doing public speaking and training and workshops
and coaching and consulting and things of that nature
but I did start with freelancing
and just trading my creative and technical skills
in exchange for money.
Now one of the obvious websites
that people talk about is Fiverr.
I have a personal grudge,
I have a personal blood feud with Fiverr
but if you really think that it can help you
or that it is an access point
just because it has so much attention,
they market so well, then fine, use it.
I'm not a fan, I'm team Upwork,
team 99designs, team anybody but Fiverr
and it's partly because people on Fiverr
have tried to steal my work
and pass it off as their own
and Fiverr's never punished them
despite my community calling them out in Twitter.
So, you know, I have a grudge against Fiverr.
But with all that said,
I think that if you decide on what skills you have,
you like sit there and decide,
are you a graphic designer, are you a writer,
are you someone who's good with Photoshop and photo editing,
are you good with video editing?
I remember I did a freelance project for video editing,
it did involve some after effects work
but I was able to make $2,000 on that single project
and I think that that project probably took me
maybe eight hours to turn around.
That could be really good,
it just depends on your level of technical skill.
And if you need to develop those skills,
there's so many opportunities to do that.
Obviously there are free videos in YouTube
but you could also use websites like Skillshare
to develop your skills.
Hashtag not sponsored but they are an affiliate
and I am gonna link that up for you guys
over here in the info card and in the description down below
because it is wildly affordable
then you can learn some of these new skills
and you can grow.
You can use websites like CreativeLive,
you could use online courses from other creators.
I'm producing some stuff like that
over at AwesomeCreatorAcademy.com.
I'm teaching people in my mentoring group as well.
So, whatever you need to do to develop your skills,
whether it's free tutorials on YouTube for 30 days,
whether it's websites like Tuts Plus,
whether it's YouTube channels like
my friend tutvid Nathaniel Dodson
or Terry White or anyone like that out there.
Howard Pinsky, anyone who can
teach you a skill, Jared Polin.
There are so many people that want to give you a skill
and want to teach you something
because it changed our lives
to have these technical and creative skills
and to be able to execute on them
and to trade them for money on our own terms.
And you could always graduate from freelancer
and doing that as a side hustle
to building a real business around it.
The opportunity has never been better.
So again, if you are struggling financially,
if you are broke and this whole thing is not a joke to you,
and yes, I am aware that that rhymed,
then I would implore you,
spend the next 30 days, the next 60 days
building up a skill that you already have
around something that you're passionate about.
Find websites where people are willing to pay money for it.
Find local businesses where people
are already spending money on something and approach them,
show them a body of work,
show them your skills
and either do a few things up front for trade.
I mean literally find something
that they are willing to give you access to
as a resource that you might not have
because when you're first getting started,
especially if you're strapped for cash,
resources are a big deal.
Resources could be more important than money
or access to a network of people
that could become the clients that you need
that can afford you,
that could be very important to you.
Meaning that I'm talking about maybe you do free work
for an event marketing company
because then you can have access
to the events that they hold
and those conferences have people that pay for tickets
and might have a business that can hire you
either full time or as a freelancer.
So I believe somewhat in freelancing
and working for free as in working for trade
but exposure could matter because if it didn't
we wouldn't be leveraging things like YouTube
and we wouldn't be buying ads.
So don't let like the hype fool you when it comes to that,
just be very smart, be tactical,
be ruthless about how you make those decisions
and don't give it away to everybody who ask
but when you're first getting started
and you need to build a body of work
and you need people to trust you,
do whatever it takes to build that trust funnel.
Actually that's the name of a book by my friend
Brian G. Johnson, Trust Funnel,
you guys should read that.
But I would say that that could definitely help you.
Also, buy the book Creative, INC.
if you're building a freelance business.
This is your bible, read it cover to cover,
I'm not even joking with you.
I honestly believe that there are a lot of you
that might have the talent,
might have the technical ability,
and might have the ambition
to where if you just started freelancing
and looking at some of these websites
and resources and trying to hustle at this
for a few hours a day or on your nights and weekends,
I think that it could dramatically change your life.
I think there are so many of you
that have the potential to make an extra
$5,000, $10,000, $30,000 a year
and I think that it could make a real difference
in your life and for your family.
I think that could allow you to pursue some things
that you've been holding back on.
But I think you have to go for it,
I think you have to really try
and like I said, freelancing is what changed my entire life.
I feel like this is what helped me get through college,
especially when I was strapped for cash.
Every college student knows what that experience is like.
And I feel like it got me through some of the most
difficult times in my life
and today I think that the lessons from freelancing
have been instrumental in letting me build
my online businesses.
Anyway guys, I hope you found this helpful.
I'm gonna link up to a playlist that I put together
of videos on freelancing as well as some tutorials
and some skill builders for you.
I'm gonna link to a bunch of resources down below
that I honestly believe can help you.
I also encourage you to take a look at
AwesomeCreatorAcademy.com and see if any of the resources
there are something that could help you
or if you want part of the group mentoring program.
If you're strapped for cash,
don't even worry about it,
just look at the free content here on the YouTube channel,
listen to the Create Something Awesome Today podcast
and make sure you're hitting me up in Twitter
with your questions.
Like this video if you like it,
don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome stuff
here on the channel.
As always you guys, thanks so very much for watching
and don't forget, create something awesome today.
It really can change your life.
Take care.
(gentle music)