Income Report: April

My new obsession is about becoming future proof.

To be fair, a lot of this side hustle thinking has been about that anyway. It's the idea that I can stay on top of my future. That could mean being fully FIRE'd up, where I have enough saved to be able to live the life of sangrias and pink umbrellas on the beach.

It could also mean building enough skills and side hustles to navigate myself through the ever-changing world of work. At the end of the day, it's about me taking charge and not letting external circumstances dictate everything.

A lot of this is about attitude. It's about owning your shit and rolling with it. This isn't an overnight thing but it's something to play with.

The point of mentioning all of this is because my income building enterprise is still taking some time to gain traction. But if it was easy everyone would be doing it. I've also consciously slowed down on trading my time for money. That means some of the services I've been providing have been on pause while I try to build stuff.

Ultimately, though, I realize it needs to have the balance. The service provision side brings in cash flow and I can easily see some traction. Longer term, it's about building online income streams. That's where my site Finance Job Hunter will come in. It's going very slow, I need to do a design revamp and I have to work on the blogging aspect. But directionally it's showing my intent.

I still need to work on myself but I know I'm getting into a better place mentally.

So how was last month?

Resume Writing: $140. I got back to a bit of writing. I feel a bit rusty but I know it's something I can build upon and leverage. Cash is cash is cash.

Additional Writing: $0.  I've had a few offers but I have decided not to proceed. I have revamped my PeoplePerHour and Upwork profiles, raising my minimum fee. So if I do get offered work I may actually now start to take it up.

Stock Dividends: $363.  My goal is to keep building up my dividend income. I've bought a few more dividend stocks of late. While there's no consistent monthly figure, it's a long-term strategy I buy into. I even reinvested the cash back into buying more stock. This is a time-honored investment strategy that works.

Interest: $17. It doesn't look like interest rates will be rising fast anywhere soon so I can't expect this to kick on. But it's there.

Ebooks: $2. Still not kicking in. I've worked on the SEO on a couple of them so we'll see whether that works. I've also listed expanded versions of a couple of them on Fiverr. We'll see what happens. (Beginner's Guide to Online Side Hustles, Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume).

Coaching: $0. No sessions over the month.

Other: $0. Nothing doing here.

Total: $522. It's better than last month. But I can certainly do more. Importantly, passive income made up more than my active income. All I need to do is multiply it all by 10 and I'd be happy...Onwards and upwards.

Income Report: February

I just received a bonus. The first from a full-time role in many years.

It was far more than I made in an average month or two or three when I was working for myself. Great, right?

And yet it still left me with some weird mixed feelings.

I am grateful, truly grateful. But it's thrown me a little. I've been dabbling with the world of side hustles and working for myself for while, with the ultimate goal of not wanting to rely on a day job for my freedom.

But having been back in the world of the cubicle for about nine months, I've lost a bit of focus. There's less hunger. Less intensity. I've lost a bit of mojo.

My fundamental philosophy relates to not relying on "the Man", the government, anyone else. That requires being in a position to dictate personal and financial freedom. Working for myself kind of gave me that, limited as the income was.

Getting a regular income is great. I just have to make sure I don't get complacent and forget that I can't rely on a job. Things always change. The world of work will move on with or without me. That's why I know that I need to get back to building my side hustles, particularly as income generation has been pretty average in recent months.

One advance I did have this month was the building of my website (finally). Now I need to build up the blog and monetization strategy. Fundamentally, it's geared around what I've learned through my career coaching / resume writing side hustle, and focused on the finance industry (which is my background). So we'll see how my site Finance Job Hunter gets on. Slowly but surely.

And so to this last month:

Resume Writing: $71. I really didn't make much time for resume writing this month. I couldn't motivate myself, to be honest. The background work, the after-work calls, the re-writes. When I'm ready, I know the work is there. I just need to get psyched up and throw myself back into this.

Additional Writing: $0. I've had a few writing offers in recent months but none of them appealed. Too much time required for the money they were willing to pay. But I still want to have this as an income generator in the future. This isn't going to be about selling my soul to Freelancer or Upwork for less than I'm worth. No, I'm keeping in mind specialist content providers like Copylab that would pay pretty well.

Stock Dividends: $0. Ok, this approach does work. It's just that dividends don't get paid every month. I've bought some more stocks this month and plan to buy more with my bonus. As a result, I'll expect this figure to pick up a fair bit later this year.

Interest: $17. It doesn't look like interest rates will be rising fast anytime soon so I can't expect this to kick on. But it's there.

Ebooks: $0. Not a good month. The first month in a while I haven't sold any. I blame those damn Amazon algorithms. They keep changing.  Anyway, my books have been ticking over for a while now, making me a few dollars in the process, so I can have months like this once in a while. I am looking to add more ebooks to my existing collection (Beginner's Guide to Online Side Hustles, Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume).

Coaching: $0. No sessions over the month again.

Other: $0. Familiar pattern.

Total: $88. Well, that wasn't a great month was it? My lowest month on memory.

But that's fine. I'm all about the "slow and steady" approach. I'm convinced that once I get all my ducks in a row there will be a meaningful shift.

So, hopefully, I can build a bit of momentum with  Finance Job Hunter. I'll keep working on it and keep experimenting with my other income streams.

Income Report: November

I think a lot of people think that the push for financial freedom, "FIRE", or any version of the story, is something that can be achieved overnight. Clearly, that's not the case. It's a tough old grind, where you start in one direction before being shoved in another.

I might not have been focused all the time but I have tried to move in a positive direction. And I'm still a long way from where I want to be. Now that I have a full-time job, I don't have to chase short-term income to help pay the bills. I can build stuff. And that's really my focus now. This includes a new website and a new ebook. It's about playing the long game.

So while it wasn't a great month income-wise, I'm moving in a direction.

So how was November?

Resume Writing: $60. This is the lowest month I've had in a long time. Essentially, I wasn't able to make time for more work, even though there was plenty there. I did one LinkedIn gig and that was about it. I don't

Additional Writing: $116. I did a few of my consistent gig and that's great. I've also woken up to the fact that there's a hell of a lot of work out there that pays pretty well if I go out and look for it. It's not something I'm planning to do now but it's good to know.

Stock Dividends: $1297. This was my biggest earner this month. The long-term strategy remains in place - keep buying dividend yielding stocks and reinvest the dividends when I can. The payouts aren't going to be like this every month but it's nice when it does happen.

Interest: $20. I hadn't thought about adding this into the mix in a low-interest rate world. But now that rates are rising I'm making a few dollars on my cash holdings.

Ebooks: $2. I'm not sure what's happening with the algorithms on Amazon but my books haven't been seeing the traffic this month at all. In fact, had I not sold a book on the last day of the month it would have been my first month without a sale in over a year. My three books (Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume) are there and I'll be spending a bit of money in marketing them in the new year. In the meantime, I aim to finish writing another ebook before the end of year.

Coaching: $128. I did one session this week and so it's good to have that ticking over.

Other: $0. Nothing on the Amazon Merch and Amazon Affiliate Income front.

Total: $1623. A very good month, ultimately because of the dividend income. Without it, I would have made $326, which is a lot less than my normal underlying income. But money is money and it all counts.

December's going to be a low month and I'll be prepping for 2019. I need to think and act bigger.

Income Report: September

Not much to report this month, so I will keep it brief.

It was a period of trying hard to balance out my new job with my attempts to build my side hustle. Not easy at the moment.

I had a few disappointments on my business front. I didn't win the resume writing project with the local university that I mentioned before. Once again, I think I priced myself out of a deal. I was also approached for my pricing on resume writing and coaching but didn't hear back. I know I could / should chase but in reality I don't want to be building too much in the lower end "trading time for money" space.

So I really need to build out my online income. This will take time. In the meantime, I've got to stay focused and work towards the bigger picture.

So, how was September?

Resume Writing: $297. I did a few resumes this month. Cool. I've got some more work lined up next week. Slow and steady.

Additional Writing: $150. A bit more of my regular work here. Sweet.

Stock Dividends: $0. I continue to buy stocks that give me a bit of a dividend payout but I didn't receive any dividend payments over the month

Ebooks: $15. I've had my books listed on Amazon for some time now. My three books (Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume) are all ticking along. But what I'd forgotten about was that I also had a couple of these ebooks listed on Kobo as well. This also saw a few sales. Going forward, I think I need to get them onto more platforms.

Coaching: $0. No coaching this month. I haven't been marketing myself so it'll be easy come and go.

Other: $2. Nothing on the Amazon Merch and Amazon Affiliate Income front.  I made a couple of dollars on the UserCrowd testing site. I'll look into building on that in coming months.

Total: $464. Not a great month but that's that. For the next month, I'm going to be investing time in building longer-term income streams. Slowly but surely.

Income Report: July

July didn't happen. At least not from my business building / financial freedom perspective. Starting a new job has certainly drained a bit of the time / money / energy that I always thought I had in spades. But that's not to say I can't get back on track.

It's all about discipline. It's the kind of thing I've talked about in the past but now it's more important than ever. Focus, application, discipline. 

To be fair, I did take a one week break. Returning to my home city to catch up with friends, family and old work colleagues meant that the push for financial freedom was the last thing on my mind.

Well, that's actually not true. A few short chats with my disgruntled, frustrated and tired crowd simply reinforced the need to take control. To create a life that works for me and my family.

I've thought a lot about "purpose". It's that fuzzy, catchall term that gurus tell us that everyone is meant to have to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. I thought mine was going to be based purely on financial freedom. That's what this is all about, after all. Isn't it?

As it turns out, I'm finding that for me it's about a broader sense of freedom. Free to make mistakes, free to be happy, free to be sad, free to live a life that works for me at any one time. It's about being comfortable with whatever life throws at me. I've been reading up on spirituality as much as I have on business and finance. So for me, it's about getting more connected with myself. Anyway, I digress.

This financial freedom game is not going to be easy. Hell, I've been playing at this for a few years and am only now finding a bit of direction. But if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

So what did I learn this month? One thing is that we can't do it all by ourselves. I've been a long-term follower of the Side Hustle Nation podcast hosted by Nick Loper and have got plenty of value in his recent book Buy Buttons. Definitely, worth checking out if you're new to this game.

I've also recently discovered the FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early) movement. Ironically, I was already in that space I guess, ever since buying into the Robert Kiyosaki world of Rich Dad, Poor Dad many years ago. Anyway, having joined the "Choose FI" Facebook group I realise there are thousands of like-minded people out there. Joining the group has definitely given me a new spring in my step. I wish I'd been engaged with them earlier.

Not that I actually achieved much financially this month but I still have to note down the situation for consistency:

Resume Writing: $0. I've taken a bit of a break from this but will be kick-starting this later in August. I've already got three jobs lined up. I did pitch for a one-off contract with a university that would have been worth a few thousand dollars but I think I priced myself out - I worked for them last year and they clearly found a cheaper alternative.

Additional Writing: $287. My regular blog writing about careers continues. I've also got three articles lined up for this month.

Stock Dividends: $260. My dividend yield strategy is still working out well. I just need to keep on reinvesting my earnings into investments, preferably high dividend yield stocks to benefit from the cash flow. Because of my background in finance I was always going to play this as a key approach, using scrip dividends and compounding to build income slowly but surely. If you're not familiar with the approach, Amazon is stocked up on decent books that can explain the approach, such as Dividends Still Don't Lie.

Ebooks: $2. So my three books (Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies, The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume) aren't jumping off the shelves. But I was reminded of the power of social media by a 16-year old on the plane last week. Let's see where I can go with this.

Coaching: $0. No coaching during the month. However, an old client wants to do a session soon so that should make me a few dollars in August.

Amazon Merch: $0. No, this is a slow one...

Amazon Affiliate Income: $0. No, this is a slow one as well...

Total: $547. I'm happy enough with that. I now have a full-time job to navigate so I was never going to get the big numbers.

I have a bit of a pipeline and things are looking ok. August's numbers will be better. My near-term goal is to cover my basic living expenses excluding my rent. I think I should be on course for that.

Income Report: May

This is the last month for this income report in its current format. The reason? I've got myself a job. Back to the grindstone and all that.

But it's not the end of my money making ideals. Now my goal is to work towards replacing my full-time income. Or at least create income streams that allow me to have a sustainable portfolio career that gives me choices. Because that's what my version of financial freedom is about. Choices.

So there will be some changes to how my income streams look. Some elements may fall by the wayside to some extent, including my resume writing. Others, such as my coaching work, will from next month get added. I had originally framed this income report exercise as being about online income, which is why the coaching wasn't really mentioned. But now it's really about me growing my portfolio of hustles in general.

I still see plenty of value in this exercise - possibly even more than before. It's all about being able to make money without having to rely on a boss, company, government, etc. So if I ever get the "Thank you for all your efforts, but..." conversation, I'll be suitably in control of my future.

And that's the irony of getting back onto the hamster wheel of work. I'm more focused on using my free time wisely and know it's time to revisit the ton of income-generating resources I have collected.

As I've mentioned before I'm a massive fan of the Side Hustle Nation podcast hosted by Nick Loper and found great value in his recent book Buy Buttons. Definitely, worth checking out if you're new to this game - or even if you're not new but have got a little stale (like me). Going forward, I'm certainly going to be anchoring some of my approach to ideas from here.

Anyway, how have things stacked up?

Resume Writing: $2,346. This has been my best month income-wise for resume writing, which is ironic given that I'm going to have to drop a lot of it. This has been a major income provider for me in recent years, both in terms of directly consulting for one specific firm but also the spin-off work that I've benefited from (see below). It has served me well and I'm keen to keep this as part of my income arsenal.

Conference Project: $3,500. I mentioned before that one-off projects count if they are related to my online businesses. Well, this one related to my resume writing again. It involved working for three-and-a-half days at a finance industry conference and paid pretty well. Actually, very well as far as I'm concerned. Unless it takes place on a weekend, this type of gig will disappear now that I'm going full time. But at least I know my capabilities and can use it in the future.

Additional Writing: $130. My regular blog writing about careers continues. It doesn't especially pay that well ($0.07/word - and I miscalculated on my invoice so undercharged) but it's great branding for me and my career-related services.

Stock Dividends: $108. One strategy I will continue to build upon is my dividend yield strategy. This is about buying high dividend yield stocks to benefit from the cash flow. I'm not being as diligent as I should be. That is, I could be screening the stocks far better than I am. But so far it's worked out fine and I keep reinvesting the cash so as to buy more stocks.

Ebooks: $6. I started the month pretty strongly in that I sold three books in the first week ("pretty strongly" in my world anyway...). It was only the first proper month of my third book (Cryptocurrency Job Hunting for Non-Techies) to add to (The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume). I know that I need to market them but I simply haven't made the time. My hope is that seasonally the summer months are a good time for job hunting books, with all those graduates looking for roles all at the same time.

Amazon Merch: $0. It's not really happening at the moment. I'll still keep plugging away.

Amazon Affiliate Income: $0.04. I've finally made some affiliate income! I know this is an area I must build upon. This is the classic passive income stream. It's not really anything to write home about but I've brought some pennies in. If I can do that then I'm pretty sure I can do a lot more.

Total: $6,090. (my best month and well ahead of my $2,000 monthly target. Even if I stripped out my one-off gig, it still came to $2,590 so I'm happy).

Looking ahead

Before I look ahead, I think I should at least celebrate how far I've come to achieve my best income month. A lot of my efforts came out of necessity as I tried to find my footing "between jobs". But I've always put it in the bigger picture context of financial freedom.

My very first income report was for May 2016. So I've had two years to look at my progress.

I achieved the princely sum of $974.50 that month, of which $800 was resume-related. In May 2017, I made $1,489, with $1,353 from resumes. Yet my resume income alone for May 2018 almost matched my entire income for May 2016 and May 2017 combined.

The bottom line is, I've tried to consistently work towards building income streams. It hasn't been easy or straightforward. But I've seen some progress. And if I can do it, anyway can do it.

And so to now. It may take a week a two to sort out the new rhythm of work, but I'm going to push ahead with my portfolio career efforts.

One of my first tasks is to do a proper inventory of all my hustle interests to see whether they are worth the effort. I need to look at my ROE (return on energy, in this case) and make some hard choices. It also means putting in more efficient processes.

The goal is to still build passive income streams. They tend to require more effort and/or money upfront than the traditional "selling your time for money" approach, with the expectation that they'll pay in the long run and you'll be sipping pina coladas on a beach before you know it...The good thing about having the job in the background is that it gives me the money buffer to help with this, even if it takes away the time.

So I think I'll take a piecemeal approach this month and target a couple of websites I own to see whether I can properly monetize through Google Adsense.  That will probably require some blogging and such. I may also market the ebooks - but I've got to work out whether the effort is worth the return.

Regardless, I'm certainly going to see what I can get out of Buy Buttons - so much to learn from this book.

It's all change but fundamentally it will all stay the same...a portfolio career.

Income Report: February

Progress is gradual but noticeable.

The last few months have got me thinking hard about what the heck I'm doing, so I've certainly been more intentional in a few areas.

The coaching business I have, which I don't include here, is picking up. I have a very nice short-term consulting gig lined up, and I may even have a chance to be a part-time tutor on coaching as well, which is nice.

Separately, I've also reconnected with my wish to blog. This is in no small part down to the writer Seth Godin, who basically suggests that you should just get on with it and forget about SEO, perfection, selling a product and so on. So that will be my platform for future product and service sales.

In the meantime, let's look at the income streams and what's going on there:

Resume Writing: $1,950. A decent month for me, particularly as I've cut back on the amount I want to do. Some of the figure may reflect resumes written in January but this remains the pillar for much of my online-related income.

Writing: $270. It was never going to be as much as the January figure ($1400 or so) but it's certainly picked up when consider that I probably didn't make $200 over most of 2017 in this category. I'm in two minds as to how to push forward here. From a return on investment / energy perspective I can't always justify such writing gigs, particularly if there are plenty of revisions to be made to the work done. But it's a healthy place to start, both writing gigs have more work (if I want) and it is the diversification of income I always speak about.

Amazon Merch: $0. This is a space I haven't yet mastered. I've got some pretty cool, professionally designed T-shirts ready for purchase (Dog T-Shirt; Cool Dog; Pitbull) - I just need to be better at marketing them.

eBook: $6.50. I tried a free ebook promotion for a few days and, to be honest, I'm not actually sure whether it had an impact. Still, I'm all about experimenting and I'm glad that sales are still quietly ticking over.(The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume). If everything goes to plan I will launch another book in March.

Dividends: $0. None of my stocks paid a dividend during the month. But once again I've added to my high dividend yielding portfolio, which now has an overall yield of 3% (this was the first month I've actually calculated the return in this manner), which should give me a few thousand dollars over the year.

Total: $2,226.50 (better than January's so onwards and upwards)

Looking ahead:

The goal is to still shift out of the low-value income streams into higher value. Once I've got my next book out it's time to push on with the online courses. That's where I see my value being created.

I've also not been able to make any affiliate income so far. My underutilized sites need to get to work.

There's still plenty to do but I can honestly say that I can see progress. 

Income Report: November

It's as if the scales have fallen from my eyes. Well, at least a bit anyway.

For months I've been playing at my income generation world. There's nothing wrong with taking a step backwards to go one to two steps forward. The trouble is I seem to have been going one step back, then one forward, then one back...Looking back at old blog posts this all became clear.

But I've noticed in the last few months that I've started to wake up. Baby steps, perhaps. But woken up nonetheless.

I had an interesting chat with a guy a few weeks back, who initially was a potential client but actually turned out to be simply a font of knowledge. One concept he talked about was the idea of what he called the "Strategy-Tactical-Execution" pyramid. At the very top is Strategy. This is our big long-term goal, whether that's for a career, for building a business or creating a life. The Tactical stage below that is all about doing things that support your Strategy. For example, taking a new qualification or building new business relationships are ways in which you can better position yourself for being a success at the Strategy stage.

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The trouble is a lot of us tend to get caught up in the same old, same old because it serves a purpose (e.g. gives us cash) but doesn't actually move us forward towards a greater goal. That is the Execution stage. That is the level that isn't necessarily taking us forward, beyond giving us cash, something to do, putting food on the table and so on. It's obviously a necessary step, and sometimes it feels quite substantial. But in order to get ahead, we simply have to learn how to move up the pyramid.

And that's what I'm focusing on more. The Execution level is something I've been stuck in for too long. Low level, easy cash but a "no progress" level of existence. This month, however, I've (hopefully) started to think differently. I'm back on the mindset of building stuff.

I had a windfall of a gig that I hadn't been expecting. It was similar to the consulting role I had in the summer helping out a university with resumes for its MBA program. (Not "online" in any way shape or form but I still want to highlight it because it came out of online roots). The added dynamic to it is I had to do a mini-workshop/talk.

Now, I have never seen myself as a public speaker but in the space of one month, I have done two talks - one for a university, one for a women's forum.  Both tested me and both opened my eyes up to possibilities. I also managed to get a new coaching client as a result of the forum talk as well. I've been resisting a lot over the past year and I realized it was time I woke up to this fact and took a stand.

Time to stop playing at being an entrepreneur or self-employed or freelance or whatever moniker comes to mind. Time to see how far it can take me. Things will be very slow. No doubt. But it's time to stop the excuses and get on with it!

So, how was this month?

Resume Writing: $1460. This is always an interesting one. It's a staple that has been very consistent over the last year. But in many ways it's got "Execution" tendencies. I'm trading time for money, it's got little in the way of "Tactical" qualities (beyond giving me the skills to write my ebooks and giving me deeper insight into the banking industry), and it's certainly not something I plan on doing forever. I'm not going to get rid of it just yet but I would be disappointed if I read this in a year's time and it's still making up such a large percentage of my "hustle" income.

Project: $3840. I know, I know, this is a one-off. But it's the second one-off of its ilk and was, in fact, a direct result of working with someone at the previous university. These nice bonus payments won't be a monthly occurrence, but if I play my cards right I could find myself with a few more of these with other institutions in 2018.

eBooks: $2. I've got two books out there (The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile and Craft a Winning Resume) but I haven't consciously marketed them in recent months so traction has been limited. The algorithm that had worked quite well for me months ago isn't playing ball any longer. But because I've got these two products primed, I need to move beyond Amazon and think about also marketing them elsewhere. That's my target in January.

Writing: $120. I haven't actually collected the money yet, and I'm still waiting for the pieces to be accepted, but I'm pretty sure my two blog posts to be used on a careers site should be fine. This was another opportunity I saw available, having looked around my local Facebook forums and followed it through. I think there's scope for more there as well. And it's a great way for me to also promote my services as well.

Dividend: $70 (can't exactly remember but it was something like that). I haven't spent enough time looking at my investments and I do plan to start trading more actively as an additional hustle (my background is in investments, though I am pretty rusty). Still, my dividend approach is still something that appeals, and with each dividend I receive, I simply reinvest it in the same stock.

Total: $5492. Thanks to the project, this was one of my best months this year. I'm not going to pretend that this will be the norm, unless I consistently get awarded bonus projects. But it's certainly a pointer in the right direction.

Other projects I've looked at have included:

Zazzle: This is the second year running I'm going to try to take advantage of the Christmas season and sell some products. Last year I achieved zilch. This year, zero. But at least I'm giving it a go.

Domains: I bought some domains a couple of years ago and haven't used them at all. I don't want to flip them, as I do see some value in their names. I reached out to another Facebook forum for ideas and someone suggested using them for affiliate marketing. To do that I would need to build some websites, or pay someone to do it for me.

And then I have a eureka moment. I already have a website sitting there, doing very little, with a few half-hearted blog posts. Why don't I turn that into an affiliate site in the meantime? Far less time, money and effort required than the other sites and it's an asset that's being wasted doing nothing. I only came up with this idea today so it's still fresh. But my goal is to gradually optimize it over the next month just in time for those "get a new job" new year resolutions (it's a resume writing site).

Overall
So that's it for now. December will be quiet as I'm essentially switching off mid-month and taking a three-week break. I may do another entry towards year end with a forward-looking bias.

Either way, November was good and certainly on the right path. It wasn't just transactional execution. There were signs of some potential long term.

PeoplePerHour Review: Another Marketplace

I've recently tried my luck with PeoplePerHour, so while my interest is still hot I thought it would be worth putting down a few thoughts.

The interesting thing about all of these marketplace-type of sites for freelance talent is that they reflect the new world we live in. Companies and individuals simply want to outsource whatever they can, and rest assured there is someone out there willing and very able to provide the service. As a result, if you don't get lucky on this site, there are plenty of others out there to help you out.

Well, this site is another provider of this kind of service. You’ve seen it before: buyers looking for sellers, sellers looking for buyers, you get rated for the job you do, payment is done via PayPal.

So what do I like?

Targeting quality. One good thing about this site from the perspective of the buyer and the seller is that you have to be approved to join and I’m guessing the filter system is far more stringent than, say, Fiverr. That in turn means that (in theory) a buyer of a service will get better quality service providers, while service providers can charge a little more.

There are plenty of jobs. It’s maybe not exclusive to this site at all, but having fished around in categories that I’m not very familiar with it does look like there’s a wide availability of tasks to do across the board.   

Options of fixed prices or hourly rates. Depending on what type of tasks you want to undertake, you can sell your services on a fixed price basis or base it on an hourly rate. It’s great to have this flexibility. So far I’ve only looked into the fixed rates.

Affiliate program. You can earn $45 each time you invite a friend and they start their first project on the site. Along with that your friend will get a 5% discount voucher too. This has to be done via providing email details as opposed to using an affiliate link. 

What is more of a challenge?

It’s competitive. Getting rid of some of the lesser-quality service providers is a good thing in many ways. Unfortunately, that means you’re likely to be competing against some individuals with decent quality portfolios and lots of experience. That said, it’s probably not a bad thing or anything different to a lot of other marketplace sites.

Not everyone gets accepted. As mentioned before, PeoplePerHour does have a filter system which ensures that not everyone is accepted as a seller on it. In fact, once you have signed up you are also given a set period of time in which you can “qualify as a trusted member of our community”. To achieve that goal you need to make two sales receiving an average 4+ rating over the period. I’m currently on one 5-rating sale (which is why I thought I’d get this comment in now in case I don’t make my second sale…).

Anyway, I’m going to keep this review brief because: 1) I haven’t really worked hard on building any business on the site so far and haven't navigated around a great deal, even though I intend to; 2) If I don’t sort something out in coming weeks I’ll fail my probation period and I’ll be gone anyway…

Watch this space.