But anyway, this blog is about supplementing my income. Its basically something I'm using as a diary for myself in order to track how I get on with becoming a part-time freelancer and maybe give myself some clues as to where I'm going wrong. Perhaps someone will have the kindness to tell me if they happen to read this and just so happen to be a part-time freelancer also.
Well, better get on with it. I thought a guy like myself being a kind of general IT guy with a few commercial websites under his (expanding) belt, a degree in the field of computer science/computing, and 10 years IT support experience should be able to make some extra money on the side doing project work on one the many freelancing websites that have popped up all of sudden in this young era of the Internet. Yes it is still young because half of the world still live on less than $2.50 a day....source.
Er, with my current full-time IT support-related job, I take home £2215 monthly (after income tax and national insurance are deducted which accounts for about 30% of my gross income) thats £73 a day. So why do part-time IT freelancing at all? I live in the UK, one of the richest nations. Surely this is pure greed on my behalf (or the wife's)? Materialism?
Well there is that (probably good) reason: With money comes power and the ability to do more good in the world. Of course, unless mankind stops multiplying in population, we are going to have one devastating war and natural catastrophy so all the money in the world will probably not help.
There is the other reason that my mind has brought to the fore: With more money I can buy a house and then my child will not have to keep changing her school everytime the landlord feels like s/he wants to sell their house and kick us out. Children need a stable environment but perhaps this is not hugely important. Yes we rent at the moment. We are one of those families who dont earn enough to save any money each month (yes really, the cost of living in the UK is very high). We also earn too much to not qualify for cheap council housing.
So the need to be a freelancer isnt great but it would help. Well then now that I've cleared my conscience for now, what should I do to increase my income?
Here is the list of freelancing websites I think I'm suitable for given my skills and experience:
- Guru.com - claims to be the worlds largest online service marketplace - 100,000+ active freelancers.
- Elance.com - also 100,000 freelancers (doesnt say active or not).
- Rentacoder.com - 273,000 freelancers.
- Scriptlance.com - Over 2,000 active programmers (from FAQ).
- Freelancers.net - Has a UK focus.
- there are many more.
Another question I have is: Should I open a business bank account and register with HM Revenues and Customs first?
I will do some more research....
