2 Sites Where You can Make Money

November 2008 was a turning point in my life. It was then that I decided I will look for a part-time job. Not only a part-time job, but a part-time online job. As if my full-time accounting practice wasn't enough, I wanted to try my hand on what I know a lot of people are doing already, earning money from the Internet.

So there I was, looking for a good website, anything that can make me earn money. I've tried some sites, paid for other sites, paid for e-books, etc. etc. Finally, I stumbled upon two websites which gave me the jobs that I desire.

My Part-Time Jobs

My first part-time online job - writing academic articles in www.academia-research.com. I submitted a sample article (an essay), got myself accepted and started writing. What did I write? Of course, my major expertise (if you can call it that) - accounting, finance, management and auditing. The writers in this site are paid by page (minimum of $5.00 per page). There are deadlines imposed by the customers, although more often times than not, you can still request for an extension (politely, of course). After you finish the articles and the customers accept them, the amount specified will be credited to your account but you can only withdraw them after the end of each month (usually by the 10th of the following month).I have been writing for this site for more than 7 months now and I can honestly say I'm enjoying myself so far.

My second part-time online job - freelance writing in www.elance.com, which I started last March 2009. This is a site were customers look for people or providers who can deliver what they need when they need it. Bookkeeping, web programming, writing, administrative work, legal - these are just some of the types of work done by the providers for their customers in this website. Jobs are obtained through bidding for the order. As with any other freelance jobs, there are also deadlines, expectations and job specifications. What's good about this is that you get to do what you want to do and you get to choose the jobs that you feel are most suited for you.

Earnings

As with any jobs (full-time or part-time) the main concern is always how much one will earn from the job. I will not brag and say I've earned thousands and thousands of dollars from these sites. Honestly speaking, my total income from these two sites is just around $1,300 for the past seven months or an average of $200 per month. Not enough to live my life doing full-time online writing but more than enough to augment my current income. Added to this is the fact that I'm living in a country where the exchange rate is almost 50:$1 and you'll have an idea on how much impact the $200 has in my pocket. All in all, I'd say - Not Bad!

Of course, how much you earn is not the only positive side to this. One of the things that I really like is that I get repeat customers who leave positive feedback and who recommend me to their friends. More than anything else, these positive comments show me that my work is being appreciated by other people.

But...

Okay, I've written about the positive side so far. I won't say that I'm going to the negative side but really, there are things that need to be said so that you will not get back to me and say "hey you didn't write about this". First of all, the flow of money is not constant. You notice that I did not specify my actual monthly income. It's because I earn different amounts. One month I earned more than $300, another month I only earned $40. It really depends on how many orders you can get and how many customers place the orders that are in your area of expertise. Right now, it's the summer holiday in some parts of the world. Read: Academic articles are not really in demand right now (and for the rest of the summer, either). So, this is, more or less, a lean season for academic writing in one of the sites I mentioned.

Secondly, both sites are free (hurray!). However, with elance, there's only a limited number of bids you can place. You want more than that, you need to pay elance. The amount is small (less than $10 per month) and easily recovered (one job in elance can earn you $50), but if you are just starting, it may seem surprising at first. Thankfully, I have earned more than enough to cover a few months' worth of fees even if I don't get an order within those months.

Thirdly, the competition is tough. There are a lot of providers and writers and you will have to compete with them to get the orders that you want. In this case, patience is really a virtue. Don't lose hope if you don't get orders at first. I spent two months bidding in elance before I got my first project. Based on the feedback I received, I did well. Hopefully, the orders will keep coming in. For academia, one tip is to strive to become a premium writer at the soonest possible time because if you become one, you don't need to request for the job, you can just "get" it.

Finally...

So there you have it. My two income-earning part-time online jobs. I'm hoping Hub Pages will provide me with my third revenue source. Right now, I'm only earning "additional" income but in the future? Who knows? Maybe I'll earn enough to make online writing my full-time job.