Side gigs: experience with freelance websites like Fiverr or Upwork?

[pedanticromantic]

I'm looking to make some money on the side to get my mortgage paid off. I've been learning about investing for the past couple of weeks and I'm ready to try to put in 5-10 hours a week in evenings to earn some extra dough.
Does anyone have experience freelancing on Fiverr or Upwork (or another site)? I'm wondering if there's a sweet spot for rate, what your experiences were, etc.

[Morris Zapp]

Signed up on upwork. A guy posted his PhD advisors notes and tried to hire me to fix 3 chapters and write 4 of his dissertation!! Um, nope.

[pigou]

If you have a car and live in an area where not everyone does (e.g. a city or a college town), I don't see how this kind of work would beat driving for Uber. Despite complaints on forums and general negative sentiment about the company, there are enough empirical research papers that it's pretty clear the average wage is actually quite high (especially considering the formal requirement is a driver's license). The wage is terrible if you limit your driving to 12pm-4pm on weekends, obviously, but most drivers figure out pretty quickly that demand follows predictable patterns (e.g. before/after work, early morning rides to the airport, rides to/from bars) and drive those hours.

[pedanticromantic]

If you have a car and live in an area where not everyone does (e.g. a city or a college town), I don't see how this kind of work would beat driving for Uber. Despite complaints on forums and general negative sentiment about the company, there are enough empirical research papers that it's pretty clear the average wage is actually quite high (especially considering the formal requirement is a driver's license). The wage is terrible if you limit your driving to 12pm-4pm on weekends, obviously, but most drivers figure out pretty quickly that demand follows predictable patterns (e.g. before/after work, early morning rides to the airport, rides to/from bars) and drive those hours.

I think I can make much more with my skills doing freelance computer-related work, and not have the hassle of potential issues with insurance, car accidents, or having to drive my drunk students places.

[mamselle]

Time to post the links to the academic editing networks again!!

There are several groups of individuals who work together, either loosely, as an internal referral system, with an email/listserv kind of connection, or more formally, as a referral team, who can help you find editing work that is more....umm....let's say, "dignified" than ghostwriting some kid's thesis for them. (One still gets those, too, but the listserv group will ID them to each other so no-one takes them up on their postings a second time.)

Try:

1. Cambridge Academic Editing Network (CAEN) which lists editors by topic and by other criterion:
        http://www.cambridge-editors.org/
    While focused on the Cambridge, MA area originally, it is more open than the name suggests.
     Email the contact page:
        http://www.cambridge-editors.org/contact.html
     to inquire about joining. As far as I recall, there's no fee, or at least there never used to be one. (I was active with them for awhile).

2. Editorial Freelance Network: has regional subdivisions and meetings (roughly monthly) in various areas.
        These chapters meet in various places and times, with a presenter speaking on some topic of interest to editors in various fields.
           (The most recent in our area is on writing and editing game script narratives; other topics, including IRS issues, topics of
             concern for specific editing sub-fields, and so on, surface throughout the year).
        Main site is at:
            http://www.the-efa.org
        It will lead you to sites in your region. (Most charge a fee for attendance that covers the speaker's fees.)

3. Regional groups in, say, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Paul-Minneapolis, and NYC also exist; a search for "Freelance editing,
            ("your town") will usually surface those.
    Most function both as a referral venue and a sort of "editors' support network" and have a place for editors to list their areas
         of expertise, etc.

Hope that helps!

M.

[pigou]

If you have a car and live in an area where not everyone does (e.g. a city or a college town), I don't see how this kind of work would beat driving for Uber. Despite complaints on forums and general negative sentiment about the company, there are enough empirical research papers that it's pretty clear the average wage is actually quite high (especially considering the formal requirement is a driver's license). The wage is terrible if you limit your driving to 12pm-4pm on weekends, obviously, but most drivers figure out pretty quickly that demand follows predictable patterns (e.g. before/after work, early morning rides to the airport, rides to/from bars) and drive those hours.

I think I can make much more with my skills doing freelance computer-related work, and not have the hassle of potential issues with insurance, car accidents, or having to drive my drunk students places.

Probably, but most jobs come with more commitment and less flexibility: something like Uber is easy to turn on/off, whereas if you commit to consulting, you generally have deadline that may interfere with your primary work.

The insurance issue has long since been resolved, for what it's worth. Uber's insurance covers you when the app is open and you're accepting rides as well as when you're providing rides.

[pedanticromantic]

Thanks for the advice so far--appreciate the links and thoughts about Uber (Still not enough to get me to want to drive for Uber though!)... would appreciate any other thoughts/suggestions, particularly looking for people who have experience doing freelance work (beyond academic editing, I have a lot of computer skills)!
Thanks

[Puget]

If you're in a field where practitioners need continuing ed credits that can be a good side line that also can serve as outreach. I do a 3-hour webinar once every two months on the weekend for $400 a pop, for an accredited CE provider in my field -- it was a fair amount of work to put together but now doesn't take any time beyond the actual webinar and I enjoy my virtual interactions with the practitioners. They approached me but you could google around and find such providers if relevant in your field.

[Anselm]

Odesk is now Upwork.com.  I have not used it but there you can offer your freelance services at the hourly rate you choose.

[pedanticromantic]

Odesk is now Upwork.com.  I have not used it but there you can offer your freelance services at the hourly rate you choose.

Yes, I'm aware, and I'm looking for people's thoughts if they have experience with such sites.

[BlueberryBagel]

I freelanced through Upwork last summer to make some extra cash as an editor.

Pros:
You can be choosy about jobs you want to submit a proposal* for, so you can avoid things that look like writing someone's comps or theses.
I do editing, and got to do an interesting array of projects.
*Proposals include how you will approach the job, time to completion, how much you want to charge, and your qualifications. They can be a little time-intensive to write.

Cons
Upwork takes 20% of your wages and also charges $.15 to contact people through the system. Getting paid can take a long time.
You must be constantly on the site to try to be one of the first to submit a proposal for an advertised job, and there are people who systematically offer jobs through the site meant for specific freelancers. (This can be good for you if it works out that way).
You will submit on average 10 proposals to land your first job.
You can set your pay however you want, doesn't mean you are going to get it. People offering jobs offer a pay rate which they generally won't go over.
If you don't submit frequent enough proposals or land enough jobs, the site makes you harder to find.

It was useful for me for a time, but I absolutely will not do it again unless I have no other choice. I have a lot of professional editing experience in and out of academia, and really find this Uber-ification to be gross. I've got a stable of a few people who offer me freelance jobs now and then outside the site, and the wage is closer to fair and I like having an on-going relationship with the people whose work I edit. It helps me do a better job by them. If it is possible to do something like that, it would be preferable.

[pedanticromantic]

Thanks Blueberry. That is very useful.

[BlueberryBagel]

I'm glad you found that useful. These things often have hidden frustrations.