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08-04-2011, 07:32 PM
#16
Jake B is offline Jake B
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Originally Posted by noisyscanner View Post
Okay, so say I got this Paypal account all set up. Where would I go to find a few odd jobs? I HAVE Googled around... Like Village Genius said, it's just like my neighbours paying me to mow the lawn (although I have no neighbours as I live in the countryside... it sucks).
I'd recommend getting a portfolio up. Suprisingly, a Tumblr is a great, free place to start. When deciding on a name, choose your online name, not your real name. Make a twitter, get connected and start following a lot of freelance sites (like this one). Post around and just get yourself out there.

One more thing: don't ever tell anyone your age or anything, just say stuff like "I can do that!" or "I can't do that" or something, but don't be like "I'm only 13 so...". The internet is a crazy place, and the business is also a crazy place. There are a lot of "shady" people who love to rip off kids for cheap labor. I started freelancing when I was 14-15, and I was doing crap jobs like cropping people out of pictures for $15 a batch. It wasn't bad at the time, as I just used it for buying videogames, but looking back I could've easily of made more money.

Random funny story: The guy who frequently gave me crap jobs recently started hitting me up again, asking me to do 2-3 weeks worth of work on a WP site (very complex design, lots of features, etc) for about $100. I ended up rejecting his offer (you can do that). In retrospect, telling him that I was very young really got myself into crappy deals, and I could've made a lot more money if I just kept that to myself and just did business.

I just thought I'd share. I'm 19 now and working full time at a web studio, I still prefer freelancing though.