How would you like to make money helping out whoever needs it? Well, with freelancing, you can! If there’s something you’re really good at, offer it to the world and earn money. You can do it with these six freelance websites for beginners.
Unlike working for a boss, freelancing means you don’t work for the same people every single time and it also means you can work at your own pace. People will simply come to you and will offer to pay you for your skills. If you’re consistent with your work, freelancing can become a really good moneymaker for you.
If you’re not sure how freelancing works or how to make money with freelancing, you might want to check out my guide on making money freelancing for beginners.
In this article, I’ll show you the 6 best freelance websites for beginners like you where you can make money for your services. I’ll also show you how each site works because each one works a little differently.
So with that said, let’s begin!
1. Fiverr
If you’re new to freelancing or you would just like to start off easy as a freelancer, Fiverr is the place for you. Not only is it easy to make money with Fiverr, but you get some freedom when it comes to charging your customers.
How It Works
Fiverr gets its name from $5, the starting price for a service (called a “gig”) on Fiverr. But you can even offer your gig under packages at different price points. And the best part: Fiverr is completely free to join. Whenever you sell your gig, Fiverr gets a fraction of your sale.
If you sell at different price points, make sure you can live up to the benefits you offer for each price point. After all, that is the only way to maintain a good reputation in front of potential customers.
As you continue to serve customers with your gig, you will gain experience and in the process level up over time. And, if your gig proves highly successful with your customers, you could earn the designation of “Top Rated Seller” and earn yourself even more buyers, and thus make more money!
Payment Options
Your only two payment options with Fiverr are either PayPal or direct deposit.
Fiverr is really beginner-friendly. But if you specialize in professional service, consider trying one of the other five sites on this list instead.
2. Upwork
I recommend Upwork if you would like to take your freelancing to a higher, more businesslike level, rather than just treat it as a side hustle. Offering your high-quality service on Upwork can serve as a really good source of income.
How It Works
Upwork offers a wide range of features to make your freelancing service look appealing. Like Fiverr, you have a lot of freedom in pricing your services. You can also earn a top rating if you do well in your expertise.
Unlike Fiverr, however, your clients do not get to select you. Instead, clients post jobs for freelancers to complete and they will select their freelancers based on their reputation. So be ready to prove your skills before you can earn money for helping out.
Upwork is making sure that its customers get real satisfaction with the hard work of their freelancers. That’s why, on Upwork, you need to do the work like a real professional!
At the end of the day, Upwork will reward you a lot for the rapport you build with your customers. So if you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make money freelancing, go for Upwork. The reason is because many businesses and even amateurs are willing to pay that kind of money for quality service.
Payment Options
You will be able to withdraw your earnings through PayPal, Payoneer, direct deposit, and wire transfer.
Like Fiverr, Upwork is completely free to use, and they will obtain a fraction of every sale you make. The higher you sell your service, the less fraction they will obtain from your sale.
3. Toptal
Toptal is actually short for “top talent”, which means freelancers who work for Toptal have years of experience in their field. So I wouldn’t recommend Toptal if you’re a beginner. But, if you are a master at a certain professional skill, Toptal is a great place for you to become a freelancer!
Here are the different kinds of professional skills that Toptal freelancers have:
- Software developers
- Web and graphic design
- Project management
- Product management and analysis
- Finance experts
If none of these apply to you, I would recommend you either try a different site or gain experience in one of these skills.
Many top companies use Toptal for their freelancing needs, including Shopify and Airbnb. So, when you become a part of Toptal, your work needs to be definitely top notch!
So, if you want a freelancing company where you don’t have to deal with high standards of professionalism, Toptal is not for you.
SELL YOUR EXPERTISE WITH TOPTAL!
4. Freelancer.com
Freelancer.com is almost completely different from the other freelancing sites I’ve shown you. Instead of posting your service and getting customers to you, you need to go after customers who need you. To do this, you will be bidding on a particular service that the customer wants.
How It Works
All you have to do to achieve that is to be impressive and creative with the way you describe your service and be reasonable with the price you offer your service for. You may want to check this guide for more info.
And while you can’t really make a lot of money consistently with Freelancer.com, it is still a good way to make some extra cash.
Freelancer.com is free to sign up and become a freelancer. However, you have limitations, which is why they offer membership tiers that give you more benefits. You can learn about Freelancer.com’s membership plans here. There is also a Verified badge that you can purchase for $99 to make your profile look credible.
Payment Options
Payment options include PayPal, Skrill, and wire transfer. You can also send your payment to your bank account within a day or two, but it’s only available in certain countries.
So, while Freelancer.com may not be easy to find jobs you can work on, you can definitely earn really good money when you do get those jobs.
5. Guru
Guru is another website that is very similar to Freelancer.com. However, Guru does not have a lot of freelancers on its platform, making it a little easier for you to win projects that you can work on. The downside to this is that the number of jobs won’t be as big as the number on Freelancer.com.
How It Works
Again, the key is to bid on a project that will be posted by the customer (known on Guru as the Employer). You will need to submit a quote and prove to the customer that you are a great fit to meet their needs. If the customer is interested in what you have to offer, they may want to discuss your skills further before they hire you.
One good thing about Guru is that you can actually assign people in a team to help you fulfill the customer’s needs. This can help get the work done more efficiently.
Just like with Freelancer.com, Guru has paid membership plans that offer perks for you as a freelancer and fewer limitations than you would have as a free member. You can check Guru’s membership plans here.
Payment Options
When you’re ready to cash out your earnings, you can do so through direct deposit, PayPal, Payoneer, and wire transfer.
So, if you think you’re a “guru” and want to share your skills with the people who need them, you can get started making money freelancing with Guru.
6. PeoplePerHour
What’s cool about PeoplePerHour is that you have two options to get hired for work: you can either post your skills on the site (known as Offers) or bid on customers who need your skills (known as Proposals). This gives you the ability to maximize your chances of getting hired for work.
How It Works
It’s actually pretty simple to get started on PeoplePerHour. You can check out this PeoplePerHour quick start guide for new freelancers and see what I mean.
Now, when you sign up for PeoplePerHour, you will need to have your application verified before you can start working. And if you failed to get verified, here are some reasons why your application got denied.
As the name implies, PeoplePerHour allows you to earn by the hour. But this is if you post an Offer on the site, also known as an “Hourly”. This means you can offer your skills and set your price for every hour it’s going to take you to get the work done. Make sure, when you post an offer, keep your hourly price reasonable and be quick with your work as soon as you receive it.
Payment Options
It is completely free to be a freelancer with PeoplePerHour and you can withdraw your earnings through PayPal, Payoneer, or your bank account. Again, PeoplePerHour offers you several opportunities to make money as a freelancer for absolutely free!
Wrapping Up
Some Freelancing Tips
Before I end this article, I would like to share a few tips with you when it comes to being a freelancer, regardless of what site you choose. I hope these tips will help you reach success quicker when it comes to getting paid for your services.
- Practice your skill first. It’s easy to think that you are an expert in what you do just because it’s your interest or hobby. But honestly, you have to put your best foot forward when it comes to providing your service. So before you even sell it out there, master a little bit at your skill. You don’t have to be super professional, but you have to be good enough to at least impress your customers in some way. This is especially helpful if you choose Freelancer.com or Guru.com: if you are not 100% sure your skill is good enough for you to complete a project as expected by the customer, do not bid on that project.
- Charge your service wisely. As a beginner, I recommend charging your service at a very low price. I know the higher prices can be very tempting, but I think you should gain a good reputation with your customers before you can bump the price. Once you level up far enough and find your skills have improved, that would be the right time to charge more for your service.
- Don’t get distracted! Multitasking is such a bad habit that doing everything at once means that nothing is going to go too well. Put all your focus and attention on the work you provide in order to win the trust of your customers. Now if music helps you concentrate (like it helps me), you can listen to it, but don’t try to do your service and something else at one time. You can take regular breaks in your work as long as you concentrate on your work and ensure that it gets done at a time the customer expects it to.
Conclusion
And that’ll pretty much do it for the six best freelancing websites that you can get started with. Keep this in mind: if you work at it long enough, you can actually make a really good income with freelancing, one that could replace your nine-to-five job!
Keep in mind, though, that freelancing isn’t your only way to work from home. You may want to check out my best ways to work from home online. Even better, you can set up an online business where you make money passively. I have an article talking about the best ways you can earn passive income.
But, with that being said, I hope this article helped you out. As you can see, you really can help out other people and get paid for your work. It’s a win-win for both you and the customer. Freelancing is definitely a great way to work from home.