Can you invest in yourself for free?
Interesting question, right?
If you’re a pessimist, you’ll say there is nothing for free in this life. If you’re an optimist, then you’ll say the best things in life are free. If you’re a philosopher, this story will never end.
I’m an optimist…so you know my take on this already.
Free in this context defines things that you will not spend actual money on. Of course you’ll spend a lot of time and energy, but you won’t have to spend a single cent.
Note that these free methods can have powerful returns. Read them carefully, implement and share with your friends.
Follow Top Blogs to Get Free, Premium Content
Nowadays, there are blogs about almost anything. Whether you’re a freelance graphic designer, writer, programmer or web designer, there is a blog that has free information on how you can make more money.
Personally, I am a freelance writer and internet marketer so I follow these top blogs on my niche and always get lots of premium content for free.
Check out knowledgebase info
Most top freelancing websites have a knowledgebase where people can learn how to make more money on the site. For example, in Elance, you can get lots of content from the Elance University. It also runs a lot of free webinars and shares PDFs on how one can succeed on Elance. Most people who are signed up are already seeing these things but they simply never take their time to read and learn.
Outsource
Do you know you can double or even triple your income simply by outsourcing? Think about it.
Let’s say you’re comfortable making $50 daily. That’s great, it will get you around Sh. 80,000 per month. On the other hand, you can use the same skill you used to get more clients then outsource the work to other freelancers.
For example, if you’re a writer being paid $4 per article on Elance or Fiverr, you can hire them out for $2 per article and get a profit of $2 per article. You can then have 50 articles written in a day.
This way, you double your income and get $100 per day for just giving out instructions and submitting. This is just an example, there are people who get a design from Fiverr for $5 and sell it elsewhere for $100 and above.
Therefore, to get the real power of outsourcing, you need to know the right buyers and the right sellers.
Get better paying sites
Which site are you working on? Are you still on Freelancer or oDesk? Maybe it’s time to move on to better paying sites such as Elance, Fiverr or iWriter. As stated above, there are tons of free resources online that can help you succeed in these sites. You just need to find the right one.
Start a free blog
Quality rules! I started my blog as a free blog on WordPress.com making $0 per month. My aim was just to help people, hoping that they will also help other people and make the online world a better place for everyone.
You can do the same. Start a blog about your passion and focus on helping people out. You never know what financial and social returns blogging can get you.
Take care of yourself physically, mentally and socially
Yes, take care of yourself.
You can easily become a withdrawn introvert once you get lots of clients and money online. Note that life is not about money, you need to be a joyful, all-rounded person. Some things you can do to take care of yourself include:
- Being spiritual (For example, if you’re a Christian, live strictly by biblical standards)
- Hanging out with family and friends
- Eating healthy
- Exercising
- Going for regular checkups
- Taking good care of your finances – spending carefully, saving and investing
PLR Stuff
Have you ever heard of PLR (Private Label Rights)? These are materials that give you the right to republish, reuse and sometimes even own and sell the content.
There are lots of free content online that you can take and use whichever way you like. These can come in the form of eBooks, articles, graphics, software programs etc. Look out for private label rights stuff and feel free to use them to get people to your mailing lists or even sell them as guides on Fiverr.
Don’t use PLR content on your blog since duplicate content will mess you up with search engines. In case you choose to use PLR articles, make sure you rewrite them completely to create unique content.
Amazon Free eBooks
You can go to Amazon right now, grab an eBook about your favorite topic and read all you want about it. If you can’t afford an online course, Amazon would be the best place to start. Don’t undermine what you can get there.
Help people
People out there need your help!
You don’t always have to charge for helping them out. As stated above, you can start a blog and give out free stuff, give out free consultations to people who need your expertise, write an eBook and give it out for free or even donate your old laptop to a struggling new freelancer.
Will helping others help you invest? Yes, helping others should be done for their good but it silently becomes an investment in people. Somehow, you’ll end up being happier and more and more blessings will come your way.
When starting out, I didn’t have even a quarter of the information I had. Worse still, I didn’t have the money to pay for the information. There was only one blogger who had an online course but this was going for Sh. 1,400 which I couldn’t afford.
I therefore turned to the above free methods and they pushed me through till when I was able to afford premium stuff. I am speaking this all from experience and the above methods come highly recommended.
Which free methods do you use to invest in yourself?
Will helping others help you invest? Yes, helping others should be done for their good but it silently becomes an investment in people. Somehow, you’ll end up being happier and more and more blessings will come your way.
When starting out, I didn’t have even a quarter of the information I had. Worse still, I didn’t have the money to pay for the information. There was only one blogger who had an online course but this was going for Sh. 1,400 which I couldn’t afford.
I therefore turned to the above free methods and they pushed me through till when I was able to afford premium stuff. I am speaking this all from experience and the above methods come highly recommended.
Which free methods do you use to invest in yourself?
Hi Walter,
Thanks for taking the time to write and share this post, I especially like your advice on using PLR as content. And yes it you really should take time to make the content unique with your own insights so for SEO purposes and to avoid duplicate penalties.
The best my to use PLR in my opinion is as a lead magnet to “bribe” people to sign up to your email list and then to repupose PLR articles into an autoresponder series of helpful emails to help and teach your list about problematic topics in youe niche. I hope that helps 🙂
Keep up the great work on your blog!
Mozie
Thanks Mozie for your comment. Sure, quality PLR content can really be useful.
kindly update me on ways and sites i can use to make money online
I can give you great guidance on my mailing list. Join here https://freelancerkenya.com/go/list
You can unsubscribe at any time.
this is wonderful walter please let me know where precisely to start.i am ever present to start working
Hi Kipkirui
If I start explaining I may confuse you. Kindly join my mailing list so that you get step by step tips on what to do.
peter
wow, i must say am humbled by your posts. To be honest with you, i have been looking for a mentor in freelancing and i must the search ended when i landed on your blog. I sent you a comment about the training in article writing. Still awaiting response. Thanks.
Hi Kinuthia,
Thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate. I responded to your comment. Please check it out.
Thanks
I like this “You can easily become a withdrawn introvert once you get lots of clients and money online.”
It is directly applicable to me because since I got online, though I am transforming. I can tell you that even my neighbors at times wonder whether I traveled upcountry. But I believe its because of the new found “greener pastures” but ideally, someone needs to take care of him or herself even when in online business. Thanks Walter for the great advice right there.
Hi Matts,
True, if you’re not careful, you lose your social life. That should be dearly protected since life is not all about work alone.
Thanks,
Walter
hi walter
Your site is so informative and inspirational that i cannot afford to not read even the fullstops.
Hi Moses,
Thanks a lot for your kind words. Much appreciated.
Okay, Walter. My intention is not to flatter you, but your content resonates in a much more deeper level than most of what I read online. I just wonder how much time you spend producing that one article, or is it an inspiration thing where you sit and voila! The words come flowing…?
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for your coomment.
I read a lot, do many courses and also get lots of feedback from readers. Through all these, I am able to develop content based on what the readers want.
Thanks again,
Walter
Beautiful article Walter. I agree 100% with you. If someone uses PLR, use them as guides and for reference. Rewrite them in your words and make them of excellent quality. If you target hot niches in Amazon for instance, you can process them into a Kindle book. I would encourage Kenyan writers to publish for Kindle as returns are long lasting. Thanks Water.
-Sam Kariuki
Thanks a lot Samuel,
I really appreciate your comment. I agree that we should delve into the Kindle option. Very true what you say on PLR.
Cheers 🙂
You when helping self there are must have tools. So how much does copyscape cost? I am asking this because I know I will get one straight answer compared to reading hundred of information about it somewhere and getting an answer after i have bought. Thank you.
200 searches = 200 credits = 10$. Each search should contain less or equal to 2000 words. So you can combine 4, 500 worded articles for a single search. This way, you save your credits.
Hope I have helped.
Thanks for the additional tips Mukuria…though sometimes when you combine articles, the results may be different when compared to running individual articles.
I once run an article on my Copyscape account, found it clean and sent it to the client.
The client sent it back with duplicate content. Alarmed, I sent him my screenshot showing the work was clean.
He requested me to remove the heading and run again and Voila! There was duplicate content.
My advice is simple:
1. Never repeat 5 words in a row from any website. Copyscape searches strings of 5. When you get used to this you’ll never need Copyscape
2. Run one article at a time
3. Run all articles done by new writers in your team, at least for the first two weeks.
I guess I need to do a blog post about this soon 🙂
Thank you Mukiria I have got the point right.
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for your comment.
Copyscape costs $5 per 100 searches or $10 per 200 searches. If paying by PayPal, you can only buy the 200 searches for $10. The $5 per 100 searches can be bought by credit/debit card so you can use your ATM or your Payoneer card for that.
I am doing two parts of investing in yourself, the second part will include the paid methods including copyscape and some other cool stuff.
Thanks and be blessed.
i Trully agree on helping people. if you are starting, the best way is to help people and get yourself noticed. if you help one person, they will spread the word. and it gives a good feeling when you get someone else coming and asking for your help. it works for me, and most of the time new people are from referrals of previously helped people.
Once again you provide premium help. Keep it up Walter.
thanks.
That is true Dean.
…and to get noticed, you need to know what most people are looking for.
For example, my iWriter Suspends Kenya and Bullish Trade Scam articles targeted problems that were being experienced by thousands. It was impossible not to get noticed and in the end, solutions were found, problems solved and my site started getting more money and traffic.
In short, provide real help and it will somehow be reciprocated.
Thanks a lot Dean for your kind words.
you are welcome. You truly deserve them. It was from the free pdf that you sent in one of your emails on ” How to start a blog that will make money.”, that helped me from scratch on getting a website on my own. You helped me for free, and i am completely grateful. You probably did not know and you can only just imagine how many people you have helped from your articles. Many of which, you might not know about… You offered real help.
thanks once again Walter.
Hi Dean,
Wow. I am glad to hear that it was out of that PDF that you managed to start your blog. Good work by the way.
You are most welcome!
Many blessings Dean!
I saw this post on my mail and decided I will check it later. I wish I had started the day with it. You see why I like posts here is because they’re real and applicable in life. If it would have been another blog you would see a paragraph and then see “buy this right now” and so on and so on. By the time you’re halfway you’re gone home even if you’re browsing from home. Here you will read and yearn for more. I think someone can’t hide the joy of reading this blog. Hear here! before I was never getting any comment on what I post in my facebook wall. So I thought fb is for some class, Nowadays I spend enough time there answering questions. Now, how about socially making money like in fiverr.
Hi Dennis,
Thanks a lot for your great comments on this site. I always appreciate your great support.
Walter,
I didn’t know starting a website could cost me that much. There are two forums I have seen where writers post their details, though I have not got any job. These are essaychat.com and freelancevenue.com. How reliable are these sites?
Hi Simon,
Yes, a website costs that much.
To minimize costs, I advice people to take long-term hosting plans. For example, HostGator’s 3 year plan costs $133 which is around Sh. 11,200. That takes care of your site’s hosting for 3 good years!
Otherwise, when a site is well optimized, the costs are negligible compared to the benefits.
Sorry I have never heard of the two sites you’ve mentioned.
Thanks and stay blessed.
Thanks a lot Walter. You respond to each and every question.
You are most welcome Simon. Yes, I respond to everyone.
Very nice info. However, the outsourcing has not worked for me as most writers like to copy paste content from sites. Do have any websites or links that I can get good writers?
Hi,
Sorry for the challenge.
Depending on your pay, you have two options.
1. You can decide to go to a professional site like iWriter and handpick Premium writers who can be working for you. This is good if you’re paying well ($5 per 500 words).
2. If you go by the $2 in this article, then you’ll have to get lots of writers, shortlist them and train the ones you’ll have left. Also get a Copyscape account and run all work through it. If someone repeatedly fails Copyscape, you can’t continue working with them.
All the best 🙂
Millie outsourcing can be tricky. Sometimes you will find not so good writers, those who are good ask you more than you get from your client. Anyway pick those who don’t write soo well and spend a moment teaching them. If they’re willing to learn, they will make good royal writers. Of course, they will run a way sometime but not until you agree mutually. Thats how I survive, atleast if one writer can stay with you for 3 months or more. You will still benefit. Again don’t rush to training if you’re not into it. You see online newbies come with unrealistic expectations and if you don’t offer them the money they see printed on adverts, you know what next.
Well said Dennis. It’s either you pay the big moneys or you train the unexperienced. You can’t get awesome writers at low prices. In fact, excellent writers need to be paid well. Therefore, if you want an outsourcing business, either you should get really high paying clients or keep training newbies since after they know how it goes, they’ll move on to higher paying clients.
Millie,
I am a writer. I can write for you part time if you wish.
Get in touch with me and we can strike a deal.
Thanks. (abondolevis@gmail.com)
Hi Walter, thanks for the info. I would like to write academic papers without registering for a writing company. I want to get orders directly from students/clients and get paid. Please advise of genuine ways of doing so.
Hi Simon,
The best way for this is to start your own website. It may cost you roughly $600 to set it up. After that, you can spend a similar amount marketing it and God willing you’ll get some good direct clients.
All the best
600 dollars is a lot. Walter. 20 dollars is enough though you will need to work a lot.
Hey James,
Thanks for your input.
If I just count the domain and hosting for a year, it already covers over $100. Add a few other important features such as custom phone numbers, custom themes and marketing, it would take much more than the $20.
I agree that $600 is on the higher side though. One can start with roughly $200 and yes, do a lot of work and waiting before it gets good traffic.
WordPress hosting goes for roughly 18 dollars, so if u know coding n themes customisation that 18 dollars is enough. However, if you don’t know how to do it, employing someone is expensive. But 100 dollars is good since most hosting will give u ad credits that you can use for marketing.
Hi James,
$18 is actually the cost of a WordPress.com domain, where you change from, say FreelancerKenya.WordPress.com to FreelancerKenya.com.
A self-hosted site has to have the basics of hosting and a domain, which inevitably would get to somewhere like $120 per year for a good web host.
Sure, if you can code then you’re fine. If not, you’ll need to buy a good theme or web design. Eventually, for people to see it, there has to be some marketing.
All these will contribute to the cost.
Al need to keenly follow up with you 2 professional people, cz it seems I will gain alot and be able to create my own website so that I can get my own direct clients. If it wasn’t for this comment I would never have known that one can make such a site…I can already see the amount of money that one can attain through this..nice
Great Joan. You need to get started on that ASAP.
Blessings.
you did it again walter. nice one.
Thanks Kevin. Much appreciated!
Wow! This is awesome. I liked it
Hi Michael,
Thanks a lot for your comment. Stay tuned here for even better things to come.
Cheers 🙂
This blog is quite informative and every time I read it I get new insights. Great work Walter…Keep it up.
Thanks a lot Benjamin. Much much appreciated.
Warrior forum provides great info about earning online.
Yeah James. Warrior is more than a forum. I personally am an “Active Warrior”.