There are so many Freelance Job Boards on the web today, it seems like a viable option for many to earn a little extra cash. There are so many hired professionals on these boards, some having net earnings upwards of 6 figures! This isn’t too hard to believe when you consider some of the larger projects being sent through these boards, but what are the odds that a single freelancer can earn money competing with larger design firms out of India?

It can be difficult fighting for work against Indian web design firms and outsourced companies, but it’s not impossible! I’m going to be talking about one specific job board today, ScriptLance. I know many people who started their freelancing career finding jobs through here, and earning some decent money as well. And with jobs ranging from marketing, web design, banner graphics, blogging and article writing and web development, there’s bound to be something here for you.

After first graduating high school I was looking for some extra cash to help tide me over through the summer. Thinking about it being so long ago it’s like a distant memory, but I can say my experience with ScriptLance was very positive. The projects are all very fair, pricing isn’t too bad either. I also worked with a few different people, all extremely nice and supportive of their projects.

Checking out ScriptLance and Signing Up

The first piece of advice I can give is to sign up and update your profile. ScriptLance allows a place for you to add portfolio items, so I would highly recommend doing so. It will allow others to see your work and understand just what you can do. This is especially true if you’re interested in landing any type of graphics or web design work. And also, uploading a picture and putting in some bio details never hurt – it gives potential clients a chance to see what you’re all about!

The first part of joining is the easiest, though. Looking through projects and figuring out what to bid on and what price to put is one of the most complex parts of the process. My suggestion: search for jobs you genuinely would enjoy doing. This will make a huge different in the end, and you’ll be grateful you did.

So for example if you specialize in Wordpress customizations or designs, look in that area first. If there’s no jobs you can complete or feel you don’t have the time for, search in general web design or maybe graphic design. It all depends on the skills you have to offer, but overall just be honest with yourself about what you think is possible to accomplish

Don’t Have the Skills? What a Better Time to Learn!

The most important advice I can give about finding gigs on ScriptLance is to reach for the stars. If you don’t fully understand how to program in PHP but you find a small project you think you can handle with some research, take it! You may have to accept a smaller pay for the project and it make take you some time, but you’ll be getting paid to complete a project and study the subject while you learn what to do!

Just because your current toolbelt of knowledge doesn’t include something in a project doesn’t mean you should reject it entirely! There’s so many skills to master and only a short amount of time – so don’t get down on yourself if you don’t understand everything right away. Just take it slow at first, landing a few projects you can handle and if you get something a bit out of your range, what a better time to learn something new?

My final conclusion? It’s hard to find a job these days. Employers are not always fair about how much work they expect from you, you are often treated poorly and with bad hours. Freelancing is definitely a “perfect job” for some, and ScriptLance is a really awesome first step into the field. If you’re interested in becoming a full-time freelancer my advice is to just go for it. Join ScriptLance today and start bidding on projects, and dive head-in!

Have an experice about ScriptLance yourself? Share it here in the comments! I love getting discussions going about the articles, so let me know what your thoughts are on freelancing jobs and ScriptLance itself.