Working Remotely can be considered the cornerstone of Living a Digital Nomad Lifestyle. Most digital nomads have a side hustle, something that we are good at that generates a reliable income. Many people have a skill they can sell but may not know how to make money. If you have a skill set that allows you to work from home, you’re already well on your way to living and working from anywhere!
Monetizing Your Skills and Hobbies
Do you enjoy writing? Creating Music? Cutting Videos? Doodling? Singing? You already have something to offer, and you just don’t realize that you can make money at it. There is an entire marketplace dedicated to anything you can think of.
Do You Need to be an Expert?
NO! This common myth prevents people from earning money by selling their skills online. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN EXPERT! You only need to be better at it than the person hiring you. Go back and read that again. Strange as that may sound, people will pay someone to do something because it saves them time doing it themselves. Could they learn how to do it themselves? Of course, but why would they when someone better at it can do it for them? Time is our most precious commodity. Once time is spent, you can’t get it back. We never know how much time we have to spend, only that it’s finite. When you think of your time in those terms, money becomes a SMALL price for anything that saves you time.
The Value You Provide
Saving your client’s time is the value that you provide when you sell your skills online. Gig Marketplaces exist, for this reason, so don’t let the myth of “needing to be an expert” at something stop you. If you have something to offer, give yourself permission to kick up your cash flow by taking advantage of Gig Marketplaces.
Sell Your Skills on Gig Marketplaces
You have many options to start selling your skills online. The most common places to do it are called Gig Market Places. However, my favourite place to offer my skills is Fiverr. Fiverr is a fantastic gig marketplace because it has an incredible number of skills you can offer compared to other marketplaces.
How to Market Your Skills
Selling your skills online can be competitive, but there are many ways to set yourself apart from your competition. The best way to do this is to have more “social proof” than those offering their skills in your niche. Your gig is the skin, the very first thing your potential customers see, the thing that attracts them to your offer. Social Proof is the lifeblood of your business, and you are the heart. Have a website, a LinkedIn page and samples of your work. If your skillset is Graphic Design, design your social media profiles appropriately.
Keeping Your Clients Happy
Once you have your first clients, make them happy by always under-promising and over-deliver. The best way to do this is to provide an additional service your client didn’t expect. Of course, always do this within reason, as it will often mean the difference between getting good reviews. This is essential when you’re first starting out. Let’s face it, people will usually choose people with more good reviews over those with less. This feeds back into social proof and why it is essential; the more you have, the more likely your clients will choose you. Especially these days when you can pay for good reviews.
Fewer Clients, More Money
When you first start your first side hustle, you might be tempted to price your skills at a lower price. This is okay initially because you will need to build your credibility. However, when you start to have a steady flow of clients, you now have the credibility to charge more for your services. This may sound like greed, but it is not; it is essential to your business. The reason is that as your client base grows, the more valuable your time becomes. Do not get sucked into the common mistake of remaining in the discount section.
When to Scale Your Business
Always have a plan to scale your business. It’s great if you enjoy the work you do but never forget that there are only 24 hours in a day. You should always plan to bring a partner on board at some point. As your social proof grows, there will come a time when you can’t handle the volume of clients requesting your services. While this is a GREAT problem at first, it can harm your business if you’re not prepared for it. Your business will start to wither as your clients find others with similar skills when you are unavailable to provide them. Word of mouth travels at the speed of social media in the online business world. If you’re not careful, you will find yourself as yesterday’s news faster than you think. I know because it has happened to me before.
Avoid Being Overwhelmed
One way to avoid becoming overwhelmed by new clients is to raise your prices as your client base grows. Suppose you consistently find yourself unable to meet the number of client requests. In that case, it is often a symptom of your services being priced too low. So always Price your skills appropriately; you don’t want to be the “discount go-to-gig” forever. A lot of people do that, and it can be exhausting. Online business allows you to choose how the value of your time. If you had a choice between being a luxury hotel or a motel 6, which would you choose?
Conclusion
Working Remotely by offering your talents on gig marketplaces is an excellent way to make money online. I would rank it as the top online business model if you already have an in-demand skill that you can offer. There are many options to learn new, profitable skills for a relatively low price, so don’t limit yourself to only one. Ideally, you want to earn a passive income by doing something you enjoy, but ALWAYS make sure you price it appropriately.
Until next time,
-Kyle
