#freelancing

#freelancing

Before having children, I worked as a journalist for years. I loved my job, and after my daughter was born in 2021, I returned to work full time at a magazine. My monthly salary just covered her childcare fees with little left over. This meant my husband had to cover all other living expenses, with only tiny contributions from me. When we had our second baby, a son in 2023, something had to change.

While it's not unusual for young people to work multiple jobs through college and early in their career, Gen Zers are stacking jobs on top of jobs as a way to DIY their own careers. (One Gen Zer, Carissa Ferguson, says she's earned more than $144,0000 selling voiceovers, content creation, and copywriting on Fiverr's platform.) Of those surveyed, 67% said that multiple streams of income were essential for a sense of financial security.

This is market research plus iteration, not prompting and hoping. You study a niche, save dozens of top-performing thumbnails and reverse-engineer common patterns. Then you deliver variants and test their click-through rate. What you're selling is better performance, not a JPEG. You have to justify why someone should pay you to design their thumbnail instead of doing it themselves. You have to show that you understand which thumbnails perform well and which ones don't, and why.

Imagine spending your work day posted up under a thatch roofed cabana next to the ocean. The clicking of your laptop keyboard merges with the sound of crashing waves and once your work day wraps up you spend the rest of the evening surfing. Perhaps you'd rather spend rainy mornings working in a cozy cafe before wandering cobblestone streets in Europe.

I started at Disney in 2011 with an eight-month internship as a cast member. My end goal was to go back after finishing my degree and rise through the company's ranks.

For years, living abroad felt like a dream. In my mid-20s, I'd left my home in Canada in 2012 with an EU passport in hand. I moved to Brussels, where I built a marketing career and earned a Ph.D. During a stint living in Rio, I even met my now-husband. Together, around 2020, we landed in Portugal, which we'd thought would be our forever home. It seemed like a great fit as we both spoke fluent Portuguese and wanted to stay in Europe.

It was super structured and ran like a well-oiled machine; I needed a little more ownership and a little more chaos. After about three years, I quit to scale my side business: I'm a full-stack email marketer who creates email campaigns - including email copy, design, development, and implementation - for direct-to-consumer and business-to-business companies globally. I use the platform Fiverr to find clients. My prices range from $100 for a single brief to $3,000+ per month for a done-for-you service.

The average U.S. salary for a 40-hour working week is $62,191; you can make this figure and even more without working full time or putting in crazy hours.

A well-crafted contract sets the stage for smooth collaboration, making sure both sides are on the same page, protected, and ready to hit the ground running.

Moxie provides essential tools like contracts, invoices, and client communication for solo freelancers and micro-businesses, but lacks advanced features as businesses scale.

AI agents can actually execute the work for you. Now, managers will need to know how to lead humans and how to lead a team of AI agents.

Lee Carter has spent 14 years freelancing from home after 13 years with Bizarre Creations, where his dog has been a constant studio companion.

"Upwork's Bonus Payment Trap. Warning to Freelancers."

Most budding entrepreneurs and professionals only use AI tools like ChatGPT for basic tasks, missing out on their ability to significantly enhance income and career prospects.

Partnerships can scale your income significantly by increasing visibility, simplifying marketing, and unlocking lucrative opportunities with high-value collaborations.

Providing web hosting can offer recurring revenue for freelancers while allowing them control over site performance and security; however, it comes with serious responsibilities.

"Nothing about the creative industries is linear, and I think you should think about the things that can help you excel, but in the most valuable way."

If you're new to freelancing in Germany, or still have questions about billing and taxes, here's a look at everything you should include on your invoices.