I want to start off by saying, with the state of the economy, I don't know how one can only survive on one salary, because freelancing is definitely the answer to our economic state.
With so many opting to freelance, I'm often perplexed when I walk into spaces and find that companies expect you solely rely on their income.
Now don't get me wrong, having an income is way better than have none at all - trust me boo boo I know all about that! But I can't have all my eggs in basket, considering that living in South Africa there is a very fine line between freelancing and unemployment and one always has to be smart about how they make their shmoney💰(money).
And making that shmoney outside your 9-5 or 8-5 whatever time the Master wants you to walk in his doors. 😁🙃 (don't take this personally I'm only kidding)
All I'm saying is we need to be smart about how to diversify our money outside the daily job you have. If you're reading this, by all means, I'm not a God when it comes to this - I myself is learning how I can get extra cash outside my regular paying job.
Before I can get into some tips on how to make extra cash besides the regular 9-5 you have. I've learnt as a South African freelancer, (starting stage) you need to have multiple clients because some clients just don't pay on time - this has always been my biggest gripe because you plan around that income, especially on a bad month.
Another hard truth about being a freelance writer, you somehow find yourself defending the value of your writing-hard. Clients will always want to wrestle down your fee, however, they approach knowing the value of your work. And lastly here's a wake-up call for self, writing and only writing (in the 4th industrial era) isn't enough to approach more clients, you need to diversify, couple your writing with perhaps editing, and if you love the digital space as I do, then maybe couple your writing with photography, or SEO's and add more value to your client. Make them know that you're a one-stop-shop and that's why your charge the prices you do.
And remember, since you like the "freedom" at the end of the month it all boils down to you, to do all the admin, to make sure that the business is sustainable and that you can afford to this for the rest of your life without having to go back to your office job.
In the meantime, I've put together a few options of where you can make extra cash.
Tips on how to be a top hustler and make extra cash
If you're a student:
Find out how you can be a Campus Assistant.
The first week of class can be daunting for newbies and showing them around campus can actually get you some extra cash. Also, there's a library, I know you millenials would be shocked that a human can actually make extra cash by sitting around a bunch of books, but try it, it might just get you whatever it is that you want. And if you want to be extreme, being a lab guinea pig, health science students are always in the need of healthy friends who they would experiment on, why not be that friend, however, be careful though, you don't want to find yourself inhabiting other conditions just because you wanted an extra buck or two.
On the more safer side, you can also be a tutor.
There are so many options for Uni Kids and the best part is You don’t even have to travel to your job, so everything you earn gets pocketed!!💰 🙂 Just find out from your university how you can get involved.
Now back to the grown folks stuff like
ADULTING!!!!
You can make money by selling stuff that you don't need. I love Instagram for this, just set up a business page and get going, like your own little online store and host these regularly, ask friends if they have things they would like to sell and offer your page to them, akiri you have already grown your community, so instead of them starting out, you can offer your portal to them.
If you're still old school and you want to still interact with your customers physically, then arrange pop up stores and make these like socials and take lots of pictures to build an online community so that you have other people curious about your next pop up store.
Now if you really can't make extra hours between your full-time job, you can book out your weekends to Pet or House sit, there's a lot of people leaving for business trips or holiday and they worry about their home and animals and that's where you come in - you can offer the service of looking after their house. However, you can't have itchy fingers (if you know what I mean) the owner has to trust you with their house and furry family members, now if you're going to host house parties and misuse their property or even worse steal from them, do yourself a favour
DONT EVEN BOTHER!!!
Whether you’re a student or have been working for years, sign up for free at Rent-a-student.co.za and you’ll receive alerts for short-term jobs all over the country. From distributing flyers to seasonal waitressing jobs, Rent-a-student.co.za provides a safe platform that easily matches you to casual jobs – including weekend gigs if you’re working full-time but need extra cash for your Holiday Fund.
Even better: as the site is a not-for-profit, they don’t charge you any fees or commission for jobs you work.
Another one for me is nosweat being a creative it's the perfect portal to find your freelancing gigs.
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