Do You Have a Talent You Want to Market for Extra Money? I’ll Tell You Where To Go!

Listen, we’ve all got those little-used talents we probably enjoy doing but can’t seem to justify spending time on—or are just too busy otherwise to spend time on. I can admit—I am not the most talented person if you were to categorize my strengths and weaknesses.

I’m certainly no Martha Stewart.  I have the short-term memory of a three-month old cat. I’m not the most organized person with my things on the block. In fact, I don’t even think I know the definition of what organization is (as it applies to a house or a closet). I am artistically messy, I suppose. I can find anything I need to if I created the mess, but once I organize that mess, I can’t find a thing. My long-term memory is fantastic and it makes me an academic, but if you tell me to buy milk on the way home, I’m positive I’ll forget to because that takes some short-term-memory capabilities I simply don’t have. Yes, I’m pretty sure my cat’s got a better short-term memory than I have.

My Story of My One-Talent Success

But I had one talent I was not using much of for a very long time—I was always a strong writer—in grade school, high school, and college, and even working as a professor. But writing took a huge, huge backburner to my career teaching, and it’s only lately that I’ve been able to find balance and learned that I could create that hidden seldom used talent that I loved—that of writing—into a real money making career.

It’s taken a leap of faith and some good research, but in all honesty, it’s true. You can use that fantastically hidden talent of yours, and freelance it, to make an income—whether it be full time or just for extra money. And you really can do this, even if you have the short-term memory skills below that of the average kitten or the inability to organize your items and then find them later (I’m living proof).

Don’t Be Shy: Advertise Yourself

Some of the best places to go mean you have to advertise yourself a bit. But this gives you the freedom to pick the types of work you wish to do, and that’s a bonus. So, what’s the harm in advertising your skills a bit to see where it might take you? For the most part, the services don’t cost much, and they put you in contact with others that are either interested in services like yours, or requesting services like yours.

So, where can you get started? I’ll tell you my favorite place, and I’ll tell you why it’s my favorite.

Here it is:

SEO CLERKS

With this website, SEO CLERKS, you’re able to post services that you want to sell—say you’ll sell a 500 word blog for $5. Or, you’ll make a website for $150. Whatever your service or talent, you make the ad. You need to think of a catchy title to your ad to get people to click, and describe in the ad both your background (why people should pick you) and what the service is all about.

From there on SEO CLERKS, you’ll be able to select ad-ons and other features you offer with this ad (maybe additional services), your turnaround time, and really anything else you want to feature. It’s really in your hands as the freelancer.

Seller Manage Services Area

Next, a really cool service that will get you noticed more at SEO CLERKS is the Seller—Manage Services Area. After you’ve created your ads, you can actually bump 5 advertisements every 24 hours for free (there is also a paid option), category feature your ad ($50/per ad/month) or highlight your ad ($15/per ad/per month). So yes, it may take a little bit of investment to get noticed, but these prices are pretty affordable.

Category Feature: Use It!

The regular feature program on SEO CLERKS currently isn’t working, but I highly recommend the category feature option, which does work. It’s worth the money and people will see your ad. If they aren’t clicking through and ordering, then you may need to consider changing your title to something better, lowering your prices, changing your ad a bit, or adding a bump and a highlight to it. However, sometimes when people aren’t ordering, it’s because of the price being too high for the website’s clients or the title not being catchy. So yes, your ad needs to be good, and if you’re just getting started, be realistic about price. You may need to do some work just to build up a reputation.

Emails You About Potential Customers For Your Bids

Once you’ve got your ads up and selected, if a person posts a service in your category and is still looking for a freelancer, you’ll get an Email and an opportunity to come bid on the service. This is another great way to get noticed—don’t overlook this feature. It’s led me to some new clients who otherwise would have never found me.

So notice customers can look and order straight from you, but even if they don’t there is a way to get your freelancing on here started simply by watching for those Emails, and posting bids to customers looking to hire freelancers in categories you fit into.

Discussion Forum Activity Can Boost Sales

I’ve also found it very helpful to be active in the forums. You’ll meet clients and freelancers that way and they’ll see you as a more interested and available freelancer than somebody that isn’t in the forums. Basically, you are getting free advertising by participating in the discussions, and I’ve found plenty of interested parties that way.

So if you’re not ready for freelancer.com or upwork.com, and you want to post a service first to see how things go, I highly suggest this website. I think it’s got more offerings and capabilities for freelancers than many of the other websites out there like it. And it’s certainly easier to break into than say, the overloaded but popular Fiverr.com.

At SEO CLERKS, you’ll get your feet wet faster. You control the ads and the categories, and you can bid on those open projects that fit you. Really, the sky is the limit here, but the key is to be realistic about the fact you are just starting out either at SEO CLERKS or freelancing as a writer. You aren’t going to be able to get high-paying gigs right away—plan on doing some work for the feedback at first. And if you’re willing to do that, you will get those high-paying gigs.

With these lessons in mind, you should be able to do just fine. Isn’t it time to follow your dream, even if you just want a side income? I’m sure as heck glad I did, and even my lame shortcomings don’t seem to make a difference to my clients. They don’t care if I’m not Martha Stewart, they don’t live near me anyway. And they don’t care if I forgot the milk. They just care about me being a good writer.

So rock on writing, and good luck!