Ten Things I Have Learned About Self-Employment Over 30 Years

Nick Making Money 2 Comments

Yes, it’s true. I’ve been self-employed for over 30 years now (barring a short barren spell 20 years ago when I took a temporary job at the University of Wolverhampton to help make ends meet).

I worked primarily as a freelance writer, but also as a freelance proofreader and editor. As regular readers will know I am semi-retired these days, though still available for small to medium-sized projects that I can fit in around my other commitments 🙂

Inevitably over the last 30 years I’ve learned a few things about self-employment, so I thought today I’d share some of them here. I hope this will be helpful to anyone who may be contemplating going down this route.

1. You Need an Accountant

This is actually my top tip to anyone starting out in self-employment. Tax is complicated (Shock! Horror!) and there really is no substitute for getting advice from a professional in the field.

Yes, you can do your own book-keeping (and there is no shortage of clever software to help with this). But an accountant will do so much more. They will help you set up your record-keeping system, answer any queries you may have, draw up and submit annual accounts for you, and help if (for example) HMRC raise any queries about your tax return. True, an accountant will cost you a few hundred pounds a year, but I have never for one second resented this. It is money well spent for the peace of mind it gives you alone.

• Just one example. Some years ago I was offered a five-figure sum by a publisher in exchange for all rights in some online courses I had created. It seemed a good deal, but before signing on the dotted line thought I should run it past my accountant first. He pointed out that with one or two minor changes to the wording of the contract – which the publishers were happy to make – the fee would be regarded by HMRC as a capital gain rather than taxable income. As I had no other taxable gains that year I was able to keep the entire sum I was paid. Without my accountant’s advice, I could easily have ended up paying thousands of pounds in unnecessary tax.

So get an accountant before you do anything else – you know it makes sense. See also my recent blog post that goes into more detail about why you need one.

2. Controlling Workflow is Crucial

One thing you will soon discover if you take the road of self-employment is that it’s a very short distance from having too little work to too much (and back again). In a conventional job you will have colleagues to share the load, and a manager to complain to if it all gets too much. As a self-employed person, managing your workload is all down to you.

There is no doubt this can be stressful at times. One minute you are worrying about not having enough work to pay the bills. The next you are agonizing over how to keep all your clients happy and meet their deadlines without spreading yourself too thinly and burning yourself out.

There is no easy answer to this; it’s just one of those things all self-employed people have to manage as best they can. One thing I have found helpful, though, is building a network of trusted people in the same field as me. Then when I am feeling swamped I can ask if they would be interested in taking over some work from me – and vice versa, if they are very busy they may pass some of their excess work my way. This can be very helpful in smoothing out your workflow, although you need to be sure that anyone you recommend to a client will do a good job for them.

3. Business Is About People

Obviously to run a successful self-employed business, you need to be competent (and ideally better than that) at whatever it is you do.

Beyond that, however, business is about building and nurturing relationships. This is especially important in terms of getting repeat business, which for most self-employed people is crucial to maintaining a steady workflow (see above).

For any given job, there will be plenty of other people who could do it just as well as you (maybe even better). So you need to come across as someone who is pleasant and trustworthy as well as capable of doing the work. Once you have built a good working relationship with a client, chances are they will keep coming back to you in future, and recommend you to their friends or colleagues as well.

You don’t have to become best mates with everyone you work for, but making the effort to connect with them and build a good relationship will undoubtedly pay off many times over.

4. You Need to Network

However good you are at your work, no client is going to beat a path to your door. You need to network

Obviously social media like Twitter and Facebook can be a big help here. But it’s good to put yourself about in the flesh too. If you are a freelance writer, for example, join your local writers’ circle, go on writers’ courses and conferences, volunteer to give talks, apply for residencies, and run classes in adult education. All of this will help raise your profile, and make it more likely that potential clients will get in touch with you.

And also under this heading I’d add, build up your network of useful contacts. These can come from all sorts of places: business colleagues and former colleagues, suppliers, clients, people you meet on courses, people you connect with via social media, and so on. Many of the new opportunities that have come my way over the years did so as a result of networking.

5. Don’t Rely Solely on the Internet

The internet is a wonderful thing, and there are lots of great resources on it for the self-employed. It can also be great for marketing your services. However, there was no internet at all when I was starting out, and it didn’t hold me back!

I find that young people especially tend to rely heavily on the internet and sometimes forget about other, more traditional media. If I was starting out as a freelance today, one thing I would certainly do is approach potential clients directly by letter and even by phone call. This can be a lot more effective than sending an email, which will probably end up in their spam folder anyway.

I would also scour job ads in newspapers and magazines, looking for businesses who are hiring in related fields to my own specialism. They might well be in need of freelance assistance as well, and a speculative application could turn up a regular source of work. Again, this is a strategy that has worked well for me in the past.

6. You Must Be Reliable

This is one of the most important qualities any client wants. He/she wants to be confident that you will deliver your product or service by the agreed deadline. If the deadline passes and you haven’t met it, for business clients especially it can create all sorts of problems for them.

If you can see you’re going to have problems meeting a deadline, therefore, DON’T just cross your fingers and hope for the best. Tell your client. Given sufficient notice they may be able to make alternative arrangements. But if you don’t tell them in advance, it may be too late for this. Don’t then expect them to offer you any work in future.

7. You Must Be Accessible

Clients may sometimes need to contact you at short notice, e.g. to check a specification or request a progress update. You don’t have to be always just a phone call away (though that won’t hurt), but it should be possible for a client to contact you by some means and get a reply within 24 hours. Always aim to have your mobile with you, therefore, and check this and your email regularly, preferably at least twice a day.

And if you’re going away on holiday for more than a day or two, it’s a courtesy to let regular clients know, especially if you are in the middle of a job for them!

8. Don’t (Usually) Argue

OK, this one is a bit controversial. If you disagree with a client’s choice, you can say so. But don’t push it. At the end of the day, whoever pays the piper calls the tune.

Here’s an example from my own experience. In my capacity as a newsletter editor I was pitched an idea by a semi-regular contributor. Normally I liked his ideas, but for various reasons I couldn’t use this one, so I turned it down with a polite explanation. I then received a long, aggrieved email telling me quite forcibly that I was wrong and he was right, concluding with words to the effect, ‘I think I know our readership by now.’ As you might guess, I didn’t commission many more articles from him after that…

9. Be Friendly but Professional

As I said above, it’s good to build relationships with clients. Over a period of time you will inevitably get to know one another quite well, and genuine friendships often result.

However, remember that the client is also – in effect – your employer, so it’s important to remain professional in all your dealings with them. Don’t assume that because ‘John’ or ‘Mary’ is your buddy, they won’t mind if you palm them off with inferior work or take other liberties with them.

Another example here (all names changed to protect those concerned). A few years ago one of my regular clients, a guy I’ll call Phil, was looking for an additional freelance writer. I recommended a woman named Clare to him, whom I’d worked with on a couple of projects.

All seemed to go well at first, and then I heard that he had dropped Clare quite suddenly. As I knew Phil pretty well, I asked him what had happened. He was a bit reticent at first, but then he told me, ‘We’re a family company, Nick, and we choose the people we work with very carefully.’

A little more probing finally revealed that he had been on the phone to Clare one day, and she casually dropped the F-bomb into their conversation two or three times. Phil hadn’t said anything to her at the time, but I guess he was a bit shocked by this. Anyway, he decided that he couldn’t work with her any more.

I must admit, I don’t know why Clare did this. Maybe she wanted to show she was “one of the boys”, or maybe she’d just been watching too many Hollywood movies. In any event, it was exactly the wrong tack to take with Phil, who abhors bad language in any form. And so it cost Clare the opportunity of a continuing source of well-paid work.

That’s perhaps an extreme example, but it does illustrate an important point. A good, friendly relationship with a client can be very rewarding for both parties, but you should never let it become an excuse for behaving unprofessionally.

10. Keep Updating Your Skills!

Whatever line of business you’re in, you will need to keep updating your skills and even learning new ones.

That has certainly applied for me. When I set out as a freelance writer/editor, I was using an Amstrad PCW computer/word processor. It had no internal storage, no mouse, and used its own dedicated operating system called Locoscript. It came with a slow and cranky dot matrix printer, and had literally no bells and whistles. It had a key with the word OPTIONS on it, and when you pressed this a message came up on the screen saying NO OPTIONS. That summed it up really!

After a couple of years – maybe a bit longer – I realised I would have to dump my PCW and get a ‘proper’ home computer. This came with a mouse and used an early version of Windows (probably 3.1). I then had to learn a whole new set of skills, which I did largely through trial and error and reading books (the internet not being a thing then).

Over the years since I have had to acquire many more new skills, including how to proofread and edit electronically, how to do basic HTML coding, how to build and update a WordPress website, how to do search engine optimization and use social media to market my services, and much more. I also had to keep up with the latest software so I could deliver the services my clients needed using the software they used themselves.

If you’re in a normal job, your employer will generally arrange training for you when the need arises (and of course pay for it). As a self-employed person, once again, it’s all down to you. You will need to stay up to date with developments in your field and arrange training when necessary (or take time out to teach yourself) and pay your own costs (which are at least allowable against tax). If you don’t do this, you are likely to find yourself left high and dry as the world moves on and your old skills are no longer relevant.

Obviously this applies especially in fields such as mine that require the use of modern electronic technology. But whatever your field – even gardening or window-cleaning – there will inevitably be changes in fashion/tastes, technology, legal requirements, custom and practice, and so forth. It is essential to stay aware of what is going on in your chosen field, update your skills and learn new ones as required.

I do hope you find these tips helpful. If you have any comments or questions – or any other useful tips for people new to self-employment – feel free to add them below as comments.

Part 2: How to Make Money Selling Arts and Crafts Items on Etsy

Nick Making Money 0 Comments

In my last post I revealed how you can make money selling arts and crafts on Etsy, even if you don’t have any artistic skills or talents. I discussed how Etsy works and the types of product that are sold on it (and to whom). I also set out some suggestions for choosing products you could sell from an Etsy shop yourself.

Today I’m going to take you through the practicalities of setting up your shop on Etsy, listing your first item, taking photos, writing descriptions, promoting your shop to boost sales, and more.

Setting Up Your Shop

Before you can open an Etsy shop, you first have to join the site as a buyer. This is simple enough. Just click on the Register tab at the top of the Etsy homepage and enter the information required.

You have to provide a user name, and one tip here is to pick a name containing one or two of the keywords you want to target. This can help ensure that your shop is listed high in the search results for the keyword/s in question.

You can then set up your shop by clicking on Sell on Etsy. This is a simple, step-by-step process, and as mentioned last time no fee is charged. No coding is required either – it’s basically just a matter of providing some information and making a few choices.

Many new sellers agonize over their shop design, but it’s not worth wasting too much time on this. Most potential buyers will arrive via a search that takes them straight to a specific product listing, so this is where most of your effort should go.

Nonetheless, you do need to make some decisions about your shop’s overall look, so my advice would be to choose something simple but functional. You can always refine it later once you have made your first few sales.

One thing you should add at an early stage, however, is a banner or logo. This will be part of your branding, so it needs to be attractive and relevant to your product.

Unless you have skills in this area, it’s best to outsource logo design to someone who specializes in this. If you want to keep costs to a minimum, there are people on Fiverr.com who will create one for just $5 (about £4.00). At that price you could get a few done and choose the one you like best.

Your First Listing

My top tip here is to start small. Initially it is likely that only friends and family will see your shop, so there is no need to worry about offering a huge product range from day one.

In addition, if you spend hours making your products in a variety of sizes and colours and nobody wants to buy them, imagine how disappointed you will be. Much better to choose one particular product to start with, and make your listing for this the best it can be.

Product listings have two main components: the photo and the description. The photo is by far the most important, so let’s start by looking at that.

Taking Product Photos

The good news is you don’t need an expensive DSLR camera to take your product photos. A modern smartphone can produce more than acceptable results. Taking photos that sell well is an art, however, so here are some tips to get you started…

• Keep backgrounds plain and simple. The product should always be the star of the show.
• On the other hand, a strategically chosen prop (or props) can make even ordinary items look special.
• Use natural light if possible. This nearly always looks better than artificial.
• But if natural light isn’t available, use spotlights to ensure the product is brightly lit.
• For small items, get as close as you can while ensuring the product remains in focus.
• Use a tripod or stand to ensure your photos are as sharp as possible.
• Look at the photos in successful Etsy shops and see what you can learn from them.
• Try also searching on Pinterest for Etsy – this will produce image boards crammed with product photos from the site.
• Take lots of photos and use only the best. Digital cameras and smartphones don’t use expensive film, so take full advantage of this!

Another benefit of digital photography is that you can easily edit photos, e.g. to sharpen or crop them. There are various free photo editing tools online, including Canva and (my personal favourite) PicMonkey. If you’re using a smartphone, there are many free and low-cost photo-editing apps you can download.

Finally, you can also do some basic editing when you upload photos to your Etsy shop. Your member’s page will show a preview of how the photo will look, with edit options allowing you to crop, rotate and add filters.

Once you have your photo looking exactly how you want, click to save it. All that is left then is…

Adding a Description

While it’s not as crucial as the photo, having a good description is important too.

There’s no need to write reams about your product – the image will do most of the talking for you – but you still need to answer any obvious questions a potential buyer might have.

One good tactic is to study how similar products are sold in other shops. A quick keyword search on Etsy should unearth plenty of such shops for you.

Obviously, you shouldn’t copy descriptions word for word, but they will help you see the sort of points you should be covering. The chances are that the sellers have included those details in their listings because their customers have asked about them.

Note down also any words your competitors use regularly, such as rustic, customized or handmade, and try to incorporate at least some in your own listings. It can also be good to suggest possible uses for your product, e.g. ‘These make great gifts for bridesmaids’ or whatever.

Check your work for spelling and grammatical mistakes, and ensure that the description sounds as enticing as possible. Once you’ve done all that, there is just one other matter you need to attend to…

Pricing

This is something many new Etsy sellers find challenging, but essentially it’s a simple process.

Start by working out what it will cost you to produce and sell an item. That means adding up the cost of materials and adding Etsy’s listing and transaction fees. Obviously you won’t know the exact transaction fee until you have worked out your final price, so use your best guess initially.

Next you need to decide how much you want to earn per hour. Time is money, so the cost of your item will need to reflect this. Let’s say you aim to make £12 an hour, and it takes you half an hour to create your product. That means to make £12 an hour, you will need to make 12/2 = £6 from each item you sell.

Finally, I recommend adding an extra amount – say 10 percent – for profit. All real world businesses budget to make a profit, and even if you’re working part-time from your kitchen table, you should do likewise. Profits can be set against overheads such as heating and lighting, and can also be invested in tools to make you more productive. Or you can simply take them as additional earnings, of course!

Once you’ve come up with a total, the final thing you should do is compare this with what others are charging for comparable products. Ideally you should aim to be selling for a slightly lower price, initially at least, to make your items more attractive to potential buyers. That may mean reducing your target earnings a little, or finding ways to produce items more quickly.

Like other aspects of your operation, such as photos and descriptions, it is important to test various price levels and see which produces the best returns overall.

Promoting Your Shop

If you have followed all the steps above, it shouldn’t be long before potential buyers start arriving at your Etsy shop. But there are plenty of things you can do to attract more visitors and get the sales flowing. Below I have listed a variety of methods, some free, some paid for.

• Set up a Facebook fan page for your shop, with links to the items you are selling and other content that may interest potential buyers.
• Set up a Pinterest board as well, with photos of your products linking to the sales pages in question. This can be a powerful marketing tool for products that are visually appealing.
• You should also create an Instagram account on which to post photos of your arts and crafts products, again with a link back to your Etsy shop.
• Consider investing some money in paid advertising. You could spend a few pounds boosting your Facebook fan page posts, for example, so they reach a much larger target audience.
• Google Adwords is another advertising medium you could consider if your product is something people regularly search for using keywords. You won’t usually be able to show pictures using this method, of course.
• Share links to your Etsy shop and individual product listings on Twitter. You may wish to set up a Twitter account specifically for your shop as well.
• You can also pay to have your listings show up more prominently in search results on Etsy.

As sales start coming in, it’s important to keep in touch with your customers and answer any questions they ask promptly. This will help you get good reviews and ratings on Etsy, and may also turn some buyers into loyal customers who keep coming back for more. Plus the feedback you get can be invaluable for deciding what new products to offer in future. Etsy is in many ways a community of buyers and sellers, so grasp every opportunity to take advantage of this.

Final Thoughts

You won’t make a fortune from Etsy, but if you like arts and crafts, it can be a great way of earning money while doing something you enjoy.

It’s free to get started, and you can do it part-time or full-time. Etsy even lets you put up the virtual shutters on your shop for a week or two, if you want to go and spend some of your profits on a well-earned holiday. Check it out today, then take get out your scissors, your wire-cutters or your paintbrushes, and get crafting!

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

Part 1: How to Make Money Selling Arts and Crafts Items on Etsy

Nick Making Money 0 Comments

If you enjoy arts and crafts, did you know you could make money selling them on Etsy? In this two-part series, I’ll be revealing how you can do this to generate a second income or even a full-time living.

For anyone who may not know, Etsy is a website where anyone can set up an online store for handmade craft items. You can also sell ‘vintage’ items that are at least twenty years old, and art and craft supplies.

That means Etsy has a particular appeal to anyone with a creative talent. Even if you don’t, however, you can still sell items made by other people. You could even offer products sourced through online auctions, car boot sales, second-hand shops, and so on.

• Right now, as you may imagine, there is a huge demand for attractive face masks and coverings. This could be a great product to offer on Etsy at the moment, although of course you will be facing some serious competition!

All About Etsy

Etsy started in New York in 2005 and has grown in leaps and bounds ever since. It is now a world-wide operation with offices round the globe.

Today Etsy has over 46 million active buyers and 2.69 million sellers. As of October 2019, 60 million products were listed for sale on the site (source: http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/etsy-statistics).

One thing to note about Etsy is that a high proportion of users are women. Etsy doesn’t publish any figures itself, but an estimated 86% are female. One study reported that the typical Etsy customer was ‘an 18–34-year-old college-educated white female with no children, who makes less than $60,000 a year’.

Of course, that is a broad generalization, and in practice both buyers and sellers may be from other demographic groups as well. But it is still important to bear in mind that this is the typical profile of the potential buyers you will be targeting.

What Sells on Etsy?

Etsy is a marketplace for handmade craft items. Just a few examples include jewellery, tote bags, key chains, scarves, clothing, scented candles, duvet covers, sandals, mugs, soaps, cosmetics, phone cases, kitchen and garden accessories, and many more.

Many sellers offer buyers the opportunity to personalize their purchases. For example, they may be able to have their name and/or photograph incorporated in the design. Custom portraits (human or pets), usually created from photos, are also very popular.

Vintage items, especially clothing and jewellery, sell well too. And there are many people making good money on Etsy selling art and craft supplies, from beads to jewellery-making tools, yarns to knitting patterns.

How Does It Work?

Anyone can join Etsy and set up an online shop on the website. It’s easy to do, and no technical expertise is required.

Even better, there is no charge for creating a shop either. There are just a few fees you will have to pay once you’re up and running. One is a listing fee of 16p per item to have it displayed in your shop for four months. There is also a 5% transaction fee and a payment processing fee of 4% plus 20p.

Obviously these costs must be taken into account when pricing products (discussed next time). But they are still a lot less than the overheads you would have to pay if running a bricks-and-mortar store.

There are various ways you can collect payment in your shop, but the simplest (and most popular) is Direct Checkout. This will allow you to accept payments by credit or debit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, bank transfer, and more. If you use Direct Checkout, Etsy will accept payments on your behalf and transfer your earnings (less fees) to your bank on a fortnightly basis.

It is, of course, up to you to arrange shipping of purchases and you can charge what you like for this. You will also need to liaise with your customers and follow up any queries.

Other than that, all you have to do is make your products and count your profits!

Choosing What to Sell

This is clearly a crucial decision, and it isn’t something to rush. Spend some time browsing the Etsy website to see what the most successful shops are selling. You can get some idea how successful a shop is by noting how many reviews it has received and how many times it has been favourited.

Don’t make the mistake of choosing a product to sell simply because you like it. And, especially, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to offer something new or original.

On the contrary, there is much to be said for looking for products that are selling well on Etsy and offering something similar yourself. Remember that people will be actively searching for things such as tee-shirts, bracelets and handbags. By contrast, if you are selling a ‘pink thingumijig’ or some other unique item, nobody will be searching for that, so attracting potential buyers will be much harder.

Here are a few more tips for deciding what to sell…

• Other things being equal, try to choose small items that are easy to pack. The lighter the better as well, as this will keep postal costs down.
• But try to avoid choosing items that are delicate or fragile. We all know what can happen to them in the mail!
• Consider whether products can be customized or (even better) personalized in some way. As already mentioned, such items are very popular on Etsy.
• Choose something you like and enjoy making. If it sells well you’ll be making large numbers, so don’t pick something you will quickly get bored with.
• Choose something that photographs well too, as people make buying decisions largely based on this. More about photography shortly.
• Ensure that the supplies or raw materials you need are easy to obtain. You don’t want to have to close your shop because your only supplier has shut down.
• Finally, think about the cost of your time. If making the product in question is very time-consuming, will you be able to charge buyers enough to make it worth your while?

Naturally, if you have a particular creative talent, you will want to sell products that capitalize on this.

Even so, it’s important to think carefully about the matters above, and see how you could channel your skills into making something that not only showcases your talents but will also sell well and make you a decent profit.

Of course, whatever decision you make now isn’t set in stone. If your first choice product doesn’t sell, you can always try again with something else. Your only costs will be the raw materials and Etsy’s (low) listing fees. Even once you are selling successfully, you should be constantly refining your product range and looking for new things you can offer your customers.

Next time I will take you through opening your Etsy shop, pricing products, taking photos, promoting your shop, and more.

How to Make Real Money as a Virtual Assistant

Nick Making Money 6 Comments

If you’re looking for a way to make steady money from home, setting up as a virtual assistant (VA for short) has a lot to recommend it.

Most VAs work from home providing services to businesses and solo entrepreneurs. Services may include anything from secretarial support to book-keeping, answering calls and emails to updating the company blog. In all cases, though, the work involves using modern communication tools to perform tasks that in the past would typically have been performed in-house.

Opportunities for VAs have grown at an accelerating rate as businesses have come to understand the benefits they can offer. In particular, businesses save by not having to provide office space or equipment for VAs, and only paying them when there is a specific task they need doing. In these cash-strapped times, such savings can present a compelling argument for hiring a VA.

For VAs too, there are many attractions to the role. The main one, of course, is that you can work from home, with all the advantages this confers. These range from fitting in work around childcare responsibilities to big savings on commuting time and costs. In addition, the work can be varied and interesting, and you can specialize in those areas that appeal to you most.

Skills Required

Most virtual assistants have several years’ experience working in offices, whether in a managerial, administrative or secretarial capacity. It goes without saying that you need good keyboard skills. An excellent telephone manner is essential as well, as is a good command of written English.

You will need skills in popular software packages, especially Microsoft Office (ideally including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook). The ability to work on a Mac is an added bonus. Knowledge of social media is a big plus, as is website design and maintenance.

Many businesses nowadays use WordPress for running blogs and websites, so some knowledge of this platform will be very helpful too.

Beyond this, you will need the ability to communicate with a wide range of clients and quickly grasp what they require and deliver it. A good VA anticipates clients’ needs and suggests ways they may be able to help them boost their productivity and achieve their goals.

You will need to be well-organised and self-disciplined. As a VA you will be self-employed and won’t have a boss looking over your shoulder all the time. You must be able to resist distractions and focus on the task in hand, and be willing put in an extra shift when required to meet your clients’ deadlines.

Finally, you will require all of the personal qualities required by any self-employed person, including tenacity, stamina, perseverance, enthusiasm, and the ability to cope with (and even thrive on!) stress.

Tools and Equipment

You don’t need to spend thousands when you’re starting out, but some tools and equipment are pretty much essential. Here are the main things you are likely to need…

Computer – A desktop is fine for working from home, but really you need a laptop. You can take this with you to clients’ premises for meetings and presentations. It will also allow you to work on the go, anywhere from coffee shops and motorway service stations to your back garden 🙂

Printer – You won’t need this all the time, but for some tasks it’s essential. Get a good quality laser model that will print in black and white or in colour. You could also get a multi-function device that serves as a scanner and photocopier as well.

Internet Connection – You will need a reliable broadband internet connection for email, website work, research, etc. It will also let you use Skype for phoning clients across the world and apps like Zoom for meetings and tele-conferencing.

Smartphone – This will allow you to keep in touch with clients when you are away from home, and also keep you up to date with emails and social media. For some jobs a smartphone camera can come in useful.

Business Cards – These are an essential marketing tool. You don’t need anything too jazzy, but they should look smart and professional. Moo.com is a website offering high-quality business cards printed to your specifications, and you can order as few as 50 if you wish.

There may also be other tools and equipment you need, depending on the services you intend to provide.

• One thing you DON’T need when starting out is a dedicated office. If you have one in your home (or elsewhere) that’s great, but otherwise anywhere you can set up your laptop will be fine. Even a corner of the kitchen table is okay, as long as you aren’t being constantly interrupted. Many VAs work for at least some of the time in co-working spaces and even coffee shops and bars.

Services You Can Offer

I’ve already talked about some of the services offered by VAs, but there are plenty more as well. Here is a list to set you thinking. Clearly you don’t have to offer all the following, but the more you have in your repertoire, the more demand there is likely to be for your services.

• Website and Graphic Design
• Website Maintenance and Updates
• Online and Offline Marketing and Promotion
• Accounting/Bookkeeping
• Data Entry
• Creating PowerPoint and SlideShare Presentations
• Desktop Publishing
• Handling Travel Arrangements
• Proofreading and Editing
• Report and Article Writing
• Minute Taking
• Blogging and Podcasting
• Market Research
• Secretarial Services
• Transcription (General, Legal, Medical, and so on)
• Database Management
• Personal Assistant Services
• Event Planning
• Technical Support
• Coaching/Consulting
• Staff and Manager Training
• Customer Service

One thing to bear in mind is that the more specialized your services are, the less saturated the market will be. It is therefore important if you have specialist skills or expertise to look for ways you can use them to your advantage to create a niche for yourself (and boost your fees). If you speak a second language, for example, you may want to target potential clients who speak this language and/or have clients that do.

It’s also important to take the time to update your skills and add new ones. The 21st century workplace is constantly changing, with corresponding changes in the services clients are looking for. Be prepared to invest a proportion of your earnings in training and personal development, so your skills remain in high demand.

Your VA Website

However good your skills, nobody is going to beat a path to your door to hire you. You will need to market yourself, and one essential tool for doing this is a website.

Nowadays a basic one-page site with a photo and a bit of text won’t cut it. As an aspiring virtual assistant you need to come across as someone at ease in the world of business who knows how to present themselves professionally (online as well as off-). Your website is your shop window, and you will be judged on it!

Unless you have website design/building skills yourself, you may want to consider hiring a professional in this field and get them to create your site for you. The end result will look much more professional. Hiring a designer will cost you money, but it should more than repay itself in the higher fees you are able to negotiate. Search online for website designers and take time to check out examples of their work.

Your website should outline the range of services you offer, and be easy to read and navigate. There is no need for fancy graphics or animations – a clean, readable layout is far more likely to impress potential clients.

One other thing is to try to ensure that your website is search engine optimized by incorporating relevant keywords and phrases throughout the content. The aim here is to ensure that your site ranks high in the search results of people looking for someone providing the services you offer.

If money is tight initially, you could start by using a free website builder such as Blogger.com. Sooner or later, however, there is much to be said for building your website on a self-hosted WordPress platform (as I use for Pounds and Sense). There are many excellent free and low-cost themes you can use that would work well for a VA (I use Themify personally).

A well-designed WordPress site should send a strong message about your skills and professionalism to potential clients. In addition, running such a site will help hone your own WordPress skills, which (as mentioned earlier in this article) are much in demand among businesses.

Marketing Your Services

A website is, of course, an essential marketing tool, but there are many other things you can do as well.

One of the most powerful is networking. The chances are if you are setting up as a virtual assistant, you have previously worked for businesses and other organizations. So let them know that you are now offering your services on a freelance basis, and make full use of any contacts you may have.

In addition, there are agencies for VAs that you can join to find work. One of the best known is Time Etc. They match up virtual assistants with businesses (and solo entrepreneurs) who need their services, and pay them an agreed hourly rate. You can apply via this page of their website.

Some other marketing methods you can try include the following:

• Go to business conventions and exhibitions (once these are running again) and introduce yourself to any exhibitors you think might be in the market for your services. Don’t forget to take along a good supply of business cards.
• Set up a profile on the career networking website LinkedIn. As with your website, use this to set out the skills and services you offer. Send invitations to anyone you know in business to build your network, and join any relevant special interest groups.
• Set up a Facebook business page and Twitter account and use these to help promote yourself as well. Do this in a low-key way, to avoid putting people off following you. Share interesting links and even the occasional humorous item, along with reminders of the services you offer.
• You may also want to list yourself on job auction sites such as People Per Hour. On these sites would-be clients list tasks they want done and freelances can then bid on them. Fees are likely to be on the low side for VAs who are just starting out, but nonetheless they can provide a way to gain experience (and references) – and in some cases a one-off job can lead on to a long-term contract.

More Top Tips

Here are a few more tips for anyone starting out in this field…

• Always back up work you are doing for clients and (especially) any original documents you receive from them. Never assume clients have kept copies themselves! It’s best to back up everything at least twice, once to a separate device such as a USB stick and once to a cloud-based storage solution such as Google Drive.
• For many jobs you’ll be paid by the hour, so to keep a record it’s worth investing in some time-tracking software. Toggl is a good basic time-tracker that is free for use by individuals and can keep track of time spent on any number of projects.
• Ask for feedback from clients when you have completed a job for them. Good comments can be incorporated as testimonials on your website (with the clients’ permission), but criticisms are valuable as well, as they reveal ways you can improve the service you offer.
• Keep in touch with former clients and, without being pushy, try to ensure you remain at the forefront of their minds if another job comes up you might be suitable for. If you start offering a new service, for example, that could be a good pretext for an email or even a phone call.
• Consider joining one of the professional associations for VAs. There are several you can choose from, but my recommendation would be the IVAA (International Virtual Assistants Association). Members enjoy a range of benefits, including training and mentoring, a private Facebook group, a listing in a public directory of VAs, and more. For further information, see their website at www.ivaa.org.
• It’s also well worth checking out The VA Handbook website and blog. This is run by UK virtual assistant Joanne Munro and is a treasure trove of advice and resources for aspiring VAs.

Closing Thoughts

I hope in this article to have opened your eyes to a way of making money from home you may not have considered before. If you have administrative and/or secretarial skills, setting up as a virtual assistant can provide you with a good living that fits in with your lifestyle and family circumstances.

You can work full-time or part-time, whatever suits you best. You can specialize in the sort of work that interests you most, and can pretty much guarantee that every day will offer new challenges and surprises.

While a majority of VAs are female, there is nothing to stop men becoming VAs as well, as long as they have the skills and experience required. Being a VA can be a great option for older people too, allowing them to work flexibly from home while making use of skills they may have honed over many years in the workplace.

What’s more, now is a great time to be entering this field. With the coronavirus pandemic, more and more companies (and individuals) are realizing the benefits of engaging home-based VAs. If you can provide the services they want, an ever-expanding range of opportunities is out there.

Another attraction of VA work is that potential clients may be located anywhere. Most of the tasks a VA does can be performed remotely using the Internet and phone – so there is nothing to stop you working for anyone, anywhere in the world.

And equally, as a VA you can – if you choose – work in ‘real world’ locations as well. As the rules about lockdown and social distancing are eased, you might be asked to do anything from organizing events and conferences to training clients’ staff in their offices, or even looking after clients’ homes while they’re away. It’s entirely up to you what services you choose to offer, and when and where you want to do so.

Good luck, and I hope you make lots of real money as a virtual assistant!

As ever, if you have any comments or queries about this article, please do post them below.

How to Make Money on Fiverr

Nick Making Money 4 Comments

Today I’m focusing on a money-making opportunity that is literally open to anyone. It involves advertising your services on a website called Fiverr.

What is Fiverr?

Fiverr is a US-based site that lets anyone advertise ‘gigs’ (tasks) they are willing to perform for five dollars – hence the name, of course. You are also allowed to charge more than $5 as you gain positive feedback and experience.

Gigs range from the serious (e.g. write a press release) to the creative (e.g. design a tee-shirt – see cover image) to the downright quirky (e.g. write your message, name or URL in chocolate). Most gigs are services that are delivered electronically, though there is nothing to stop you selling physical products if you wish (you can charge extra for postage).

Fiverr was launched in 2009, and they recently revealed that freelance earnings via the site now exceed a billion dollars. Whatever your skills or interests, there is bound to be a service people will pay you to provide there.

Of course, you may already have noticed one potential drawback. Five dollars is only around £4.03 at current exchange rates. And in fact it’s worse than that, because Fiverr’s fees and charges have to be deducted, meaning that you will only receive about $4, or £3.22, for each $5 gig you complete.

Read on, though, because there are techniques you can use to boost your Fiverr income to something far more substantial. But first, you will need an account…

Getting Started on Fiverr

Joining Fiverr is straightforward (and free).

Navigate to the Fiverr homepage and at the top, click on ‘Join’. A sign-up box will then be displayed.

Fill in the fields for your email address, username, and password (your choice). Read and accept the terms of service, and complete the inevitable captcha form. Then click the Join button. You will see a page displayed with a message that says ‘Activation link was emailed to you’.

Check your email for a message from Fiverr with the subject line ‘Fiverr: Registration Confirmation’ and click the link inside the email message. You should then be taken to a page on Fiverr that says, ‘Account successfully activated. Hey, this is a great time to edit your Profile.’

Congratulations! You’ve completed the registration and sign-up process for Fiverr. Make a note of your user name, password, and the email address you used to sign up so that you can log in again in future.

One other thing you should do as soon as possible is to fill in all the fields in your profile, including a picture of yourself. It’s important to have a completed profile, so that potential clients can see the person they will be dealing with. In addition, your gigs will only be eligible for extra (free) promotion on Fiverr when your profile has all the blanks filled in.

Finally, you will need a Paypal account to receive your fees. If you don’t have one already, you can sign up here. As you will be running a business, you should get a business account rather than a personal one. Note that Fiverr operates primarily in US dollars, but with PayPal it’s very easy to change one currency in your account to another.

Listing Your First Gig

Once you’ve decided what service you are going to offer – spend some time browsing Fiverr for ideas if you’re not sure – you’ll want to list your first gig. Here are six tips for getting off to the best possible start…

1. Very important – create a high-quality digital image that’s relevant to the gig you’re selling. This will be different from your profile photo. Make the image colourful, vivid, and expressive. It should stand out and draw a potential customer’s eye.
2. Add keywords to the listing for your ad. This is important, too, as it increases the number of views your gigs will receive. The more views you receive, in general, the more sales you are likely to make.
3. Write a thorough, easy-to-understand description of your gig. If you’re unsure how to do this, search for other gigs that are generating a lot of ‘stars’ and positive comments.
4. State a realistic length of time it will take you to deliver the product. Get this wrong, and the negative comments will affect your ability to sell that gig in the future.
5. Provide clear instructions to the buyer. This will save you hours of answering unnecessary emails from customers. Tell them exactly what they must do, how they should do it, and what they can expect. If you still receive the same questions repeatedly, add another sentence or two to your instructions.
6. Consider creating a video to introduce your gigs.

The latter is becoming more and more common on Fiverr. For some types of gig nowadays, having a ‘gig video’ is virtually obligatory. In your video you can talk about (and preferably demonstrate) the service you are offering.

As well as adding interest to your listing, using a video will increase the exposure to your gig, not only on Fiverr, but in the search engines as well.

You can also use YouTube to promote your Fiverr videos. As Google owns YouTube, there’s a good chance your Fiverr video will be shown high in Google’s search results for your selected keyword/s.

If you don’t have a dedicated video camera, you can, of course, make perfectly serviceable videos nowadays using a mobile phone, smartphone, or even a webcam.

Another option is to use screencasting software, such as the free web-based Screenr. This will allow you to record a video up to five minutes long showing whatever is on your computer screen with your spoken commentary over it.

And, of course, there is no shortage of people on Fiverr offering to create a gig video for you!

Promoting Your Gig

Fiverr is one of the top 200 sites on the internet and attracts huge amount of traffic – so the very fact of listing your gig there will ensure plenty of people see it.

You should, however, make an effort to promote it yourself as well, especially when you’re just starting out and don’t have much of a track record.

Every Fiverr gig has its own unique web page URL, and you should share this as widely as possible. Put it in your email signature, and post it on Facebook, Twitter and any other social networks you belong to. If you use online forums, include the link in your signature text (most forums will permit this). If you’re a blogger, blog about it too.

As mentioned, it can also be a good idea to create a gig video and post it on YouTube. This is another site that generates huge amounts of traffic, and can provide another route for potential buyers (and search engines) to find you.

Techniques for Boosting Your Income

At first glance the earning potential of Fiverr looks limited. But with a little imagination, you can effectively boost your returns many times over. Here are three top techniques you can use…

1. Do the Work Once, Sell Multiple Times

This is a technique anyone can use, even if they are brand new to Fiverr. For example, you could write a short report or e-book and sell it through the site multiple times. This is slightly against the spirit of Fiverr, but I’ve seen plenty of people doing it. Here’s one current example…

‘I will list ten great under-appreciated horror movies by cult and old-school movie directors for you and write a brief synopsis for $5.’

I assume this individual has already written his report and simply sends it to anyone who pays the $5 for it.

One top tip here is to make it sound as if you are personalizing your offer for each recipient. As in the example above, refer to the reader as ‘you’ and explain exactly what you (and your report) are going to do for them. Essentially, by this method, you could sell the same report dozens of times, potentially making hundreds of pounds or more from a single short report.

2. Offer Multiples and Extras

This is really the key to making big money on Fiverr. ‘Multiples’ simply means that a client can buy the same gig from you multiple times (e.g. if you are offering logo design for $5, they could buy five different logo designs for $25).

Extras are additional features you offer on top of your basic gig. For example, someone offering to write a 250-word blog post for $5 might offer a 500 word article for $10, and so on.

As a newbie on the platform you will be quite limited in the multiples and extras you can offer. Currently you can offer just two gig extras ($5, $10 and $20) and five gig multiples

Once you have ten gigs on Fiverr completed with no complaints against you, you will be promoted to what the platform calls Level One. At this point you can add more multiples and extras to your gigs. The most you can charge for extras is $40 at Level One, and $50 at Level Two (for which you require 50 completed gigs).

You can read more about Levels on Fiverr, what is required to achieve them, and the benefits of reaching any particular level on this page of the Fiverr website.

As an example, a Level Two children’s book illustrator by the name of Yahyadaan (see screen capture below) is currently offering to draw a picture in black and white for $5. Paying $15 gets you a colour illustration, and $30 gets you a full colour illustration with ‘high quality detail’ and commercial use allowed. You can also pay an extra $10 for rapid delivery (within a day). The latter is a very common extra, incidentally, and in effect triples your fee for a basic $5 job.

The ability to offer multiples and extras greatly boosts the money-making potential of Fiverr, so it’s well worth putting in a bit of extra effort with your first few gigs to ensure you get good feedback and are quickly promoted to the higher levels.

3. Ask for a Tip

Buyers on Fiverr generally realise they are getting a good-value service, and many are happy to pay a bit extra to recognize this. This applies especially with US clients, as tipping there is pretty much a way of life!

There is an etiquette to asking for a tip on Fiverr, and you shouldn’t just demand one. The preferred approach is to set up a separate ‘tip gig’. This is just like any other gig, except you don’t have to do anything in return.

Just include a link to your ‘tip gig’ when delivering your gigs and let clients decide whether to pay. If you have given good service, there is every chance they will. As an example, here is a link to a tip gig for a Fiverr member I worked with a few years ago, although I see that her account is on hold (maybe she has moved on to bigger and better things by now).

By using the techniques set out here, you should realistically be able to generate a substantial part-time or even full-time income on Fiverr, while doing something you enjoy from the comfort of home.

• Although in this post I have focused on making money from Fiverr, of course it can also be a great way of getting assistance with a wide range of entrepreneurial and personal projects. I have hired other Fiverr members on various occasions for tasks ranging from designing a banner ad to removing malware from this blog after it was hacked. In general I have received excellent service for keen prices. And while on the subject, I highly recommend the WordPress specialist named Zerotech who came to my rescue in the aforementioned hacking attack and got my blog back to normal within 48 hours 🙂

Good luck, and if you have any comments or questions, as always, please do post therm below.