How can the high school student make money?

For the freelancers out there, this one might seem like a pretty easy question to answer, but I think that for the younger aspiring freelancers, the answers below are key in learning what you could do to make money. Obviously, this article is geared towards online businesses, but you could take the principles in this article and build them into an offline business also.

• Web Designer
• Web Developer
• Writer
• Stock images/graphics/photos/audios

If I could give one quick piece of advice though – just because you’re a high school student and you’re just starting out, please do not let people bully you around on pricing and projects. If you’re sticking to your guns on pricing, don’t let people knock you on that. You could also just not even mention your age – it’s not really required and not something a lot of people ask for – just make sure you’re acting like a professional and thats all that will matter to your clients.

3 things every high school freelancer should remember

If you had only 2 minutes to read this article and take away a couple of points, these are the ones I’d hope you take away.

1. Find something you love, and do it – even if people say not to
2. Present yourself as a 30 year old seasoned businessman – even if you’re only 14
3. Stick to your deadlines and keep everything positive

Breaking down the numbers to hit $30,000

O.K. here’s where we get to the actual numbers, so I can prove my point and show you that it IS possible to make this much money as a high school student.

Web Designing

• $400.00 per website design (no coding)
• 7 jobs per month (around 2 on average per week)
• $2,800.00 total per month
• $33,600.00 total per year*

Web Development

• $50.00 per hour (php, css, xhtml, jquery, ruby on rails, ect)
• 50 hours per month / 600 hours per year
• $2,500 total per month
• $30,000 total per year

Writer

• $20.00 per 500 words
• 1,500 total articles
• 125 articles per month
• 31 articles per week
• 4-5 articles per day

There are just three examples. The numbers don’t lie – they’re even on the low end of the pay scale and tend to keep your time needed small. This doesn’t take the time needed for invoicing, conversations, networking, ect – just strictly money making time. I hope this article helps the aspiring high school freelancers out there to realize that you can make a solid income without having to flip burgers, bag groceries or even go to college if you don’t really feel like it.

*thanks to Ali for the typo note. I appreciate it

The high-school freelancer: $30K per year before graduating? is a post from Guerrilla Freelancing For our regular subscribers, we've got a relaunch in order in the next week or two. Keep your eyes peeled :)

In the previous article, I covered 15 of the draw backs to working as a freelancer full time. I only felt that it would be right to share the negative side of it before telling you how great it actually is. I love freelancing and I wouldn’t change my life for anything. Yes, I can take the negative’s from freelancing and outweigh them with the good – and I do, on a regular basis. Things will get rough, but life is rough – work through it

So below are 15 great benefits to freelancing. Feel free to drop a comment and let me know any other benefits you don’t see on the list – or the ones on the list you do agree with.

1. No boss breathing down your neck – You’re the boss – you make the rules, which generally leave you more relaxed and happy.
2. Spend more time with family – During the summer, I can pack up and go to the water park at a moments notice. I love spending time with my family and with the freelance lifestyle, it’s easier than ever before.
3. Job security – If you lose your job, its (9 times out of 10) because you slacked off too much and/or did something stupid. The harder you work, the more you’ll benefit.
4. Creating your own hours – If you want to work late into the evening, or you enjoy getting up early in the morning, you can set your own hours, build your own schedule and fit work around your personal life – instead of the other way around.
5. You learn more about personal finances - Being a freelancer will help you learn how to manage money and also keep up with your financial paperwork which is always a plus.
6. No daily commute (and traffic jams) – Roll out of bed, put your slippers on and head to the computer. It’s that simple
7. Complete control over your rates – If you want to charge more, do it. If you feel you’re making too little money per hour, change your hourly rate. No more begging for a raise.
8. You can do the work you love – Are you passionate about drawing, but you’re stuck in accounting? Leave that all behind with a full time freelance career.
9. Wake up whenever you want – This is a great plus for me as well as a lot of early risers or late risers. There’s no need for a buzzer to wake you up at 6am to get to work by 7am anymore. (thanks to StephenTiano for the twitter response)
10. Unforseen emergencies are easier to deal with – As stated above in number 2, any time something pops up, you’re able to leave and don’t have to worry about taking a sick day, lose pay or jeapordize your position with your boss.
11. Mobile workstations make work fun – Like the picture for this post, you can work anywhere there’s internet connection (and if you’re a writer, you don’t even need that – just a pen and pad).
12. No need to spend 4-8 years in college – I haven’t even graduated high school, yet I know more about web design and development than most people I know who spent years in college classes. Plus, I got started early and didn’t have to wait to graduate before I started working and learning the ins and outs of business.
13. The ability to keep (or cut) clients – When working from a big office for a big corporation, you take the clients they give you. When working for yourself as a freelancer, you can cut any unruly clients or keep the ones you love and nurture those relationships.
14. Noone is to blame for your stolen red stapler – Anyone who’s seen Office Space will know that a stolen red stapler can be a big problem. Noone is around to steal yours though if you’re a freelancer – except your kids or your cat/dog
15. Working in your underwear is not a crime – It’s no secret that working from home can give you a ton of added benefits – the biggest (in some peoples eyes) being that you don’t have to wear pants – even if you’re doing video chats or conversating on the phone.

15 benefits to working as a full time freelancer is a post from Guerrilla Freelancing For our regular subscribers, we've got a relaunch in order in the next week or two. Keep your eyes peeled :)

Below is a list of 15 draw backs to working as a full time freelancer that were compiled by myself as well as some great people on twitter. Thank you to everyone on twitter who sent their replies in – and for those of you reading this now who have something to add to the list, feel free to drop a comment and let me know.

15 draw backs to working as a full time freelancer

1. Freelancing doesn’t give you any dependable income. You could make a thousand dollars today and none for the next month. (submitted by @RS_Designs and @AliciaMae)
2. Less time with family because you are busy doing 10 different jobs (accounting, designing, sales, ect)
3. Spending more time finding work than actually doing the work. (submitted by @kevincrafts)
4. You lose the ability to bounce ideas off your co-workers because, well, you’re (9 times out of 10) working alone in your home office.
5. The distraction level in your house can be tremendous (family, television, sleeping in, ect)
6. People don’t take you as seriously as someone with a 9-5 job (yes, they’re close minded, but it does happen – a lot)
7. You have to be your own taskmaster, even if you “just don’t feel like it” – and if you don’t, you fall behind work and a whole mess of trouble starts
8. Health insurance is not a given – and obtaining it can be a struggle. (I’d suggest checking out this article for information on it)
9. If you get sick – you’re screwed. There’s noone there to take over your job while you’re out with the flu.
10. There are a lot of freelancers out there right now so u had better have work lined up first and great connections that yield referrals. (submitted by @rachelakay)
11. Marketing yourself against the “big guns” in your industry can be extremely hard as you will generally not have the same budgets as they do
12. I’m not paid for all of the hours I work. It takes a lot more of my time and energy to be a freelancer than to work for “the man.” (submitted by @RS_Designs)
13. Doing everything on your own will generally make your stress levels a lot higher than a normal 9-5
14. Sitting in your computer chair for multiple hours at a time working, prospecting and notekeeping will put massive strain on your back
15. big drawback: admin tasks (invoicing, time tracking, emails, etc). too easy to put off but real pain in ass to catch up on. (submitted by @freelancerant)

For those of you who would like to contribute to questions I may be asking my readers to answer with, feel free to follow me on twitter and keep an eye out – I’ve got a follow up to this article I will need your input on as well

UPDATE: The follow up article – 15 benefits to being a full time freelancer has been published!

15 draw backs to working as a full time freelancer is a post from Guerrilla Freelancing For our regular subscribers, we've got a relaunch in order in the next week or two. Keep your eyes peeled :)

I recently in the past month have hit this very question head on. For the past few months my income stream from blog designs has been level, give or take a few hundred dollars. However, in October, the revenue I brought in has dropped 25% Not only has it dropped 25%, but I wasn’t planning for this like I should have and have been hit with a few financial obstacles I need to now hurdle over.

Social Media is a great TOOL for business – not the business itself

For those who don’t know yet, I am currently trying to slide from a full time design career which has been very good to me over the past year and a half and moving more towards a full time writing career, specifically a social media geared article writing job. So currently, social media is something I am tending to focus more on in order to leverage it correctly, but while I do this I need to also remember that a blog design company is not solely built off social media. Go figure, after a solid month of social media networking and a lackluster month of design income I figure it out.

Balance. Balance. Balance. Social media is a great way to connect with potential clients and interact with people who can become part of your tribe and help broadcast your business to even more people. But social media is not the entire business, as I have rudely found out in this past month. Finding balance is the key to a happy relationship in your home, at your job or with yourself. Finding that balance can be a bit harder then it sounds though.

Creating a set of goals to challenge yourself

I am now siting down as I write this post and crafting some goals for this month. With the upcoming holidays, I truly cannot afford another month like October. I announced on twitter recently that I am aiming for double my income of October in the month of November. While this might seem like a giant leap, it’s only the stretches we make with ourselves that really test our drive and show what we’re made of. Of course I could easily say “I want to make my normal revenue again” but where would the challenge be in that?

Limiting your social media time

I know some people who spend 3-4 hours tweeting each day, while others only tweet for an hour or so while they’re stumbling and looking for other interesting links to read. Myself, I’ve been stumbling and tweeting for a good 5-6 hours a day, constantly checking @ replies on twitter and stumbling until my fingers get sore (ok, not literally, but you get the picture).

I am now setting a limit of the time I spend on social media for the rest of November. I am limiting it to 1 hour per day during the early morning so I can get it done and get that energy flowing which I can then transfer to my design work. After all, I still need to make double my income from October this month and we’re already 1 week in!

Anyone else have this issue or am I stranded all alone here?

I know someone out there has to be in the same boat as me right now. Or maybe you’ve gone through it already and can offer up some solid advice for me and the rest of the readers here? Or just maybe, you’re reading this article right now and feeling like you’re going down this same path and want to cut the head off the beast before it gets too big.

Whatever your current situation, I want to hear from you. I need help! Drop me a comment and let me know what your thoughts are on the entire situation. I’d love to hear from you.

When social media becomes too time consuming is a post from Guerrilla Freelancing For our regular subscribers, we've got a relaunch in order in the next week or two. Keep your eyes peeled :)