In this ever changing world we are continually looking for ways to earn some extra cash. Unfortunately as the cost of living continually rises our salaries never seem rise enough to meet the spiralling costs, as a result people are having to find work outside their daytime jobs in order to afford to live!
The burning questions on everyone's lips though are - How can I find work, that will fit in around my job?, What can I actually do to get some extra cash? and How can I do both and still have a life?
Well one solution is to create a skills profile. There are websites offering opportunities for people to advertise and demonstrate their skills to the local community.
Where do you start? - Here some ideas to help you create a successful skills profile:
Step 1 - Identifying skills that you can offer within the local community or even globally. It is important to remember that in today's society people want to learn everything and anything, people often have no time and need others to help out in the running of their daily lives and there is a market for all things weird, wonderful and unusual. So to find work begin to think out of the box. It will be easy if you already possess sought after skills in the workplace for example plumbers, teachers, photographers etc, you can offer these services in your skills profile without a second thought. If however no skills immediately come to mind, you are going to have to be a little more creative when building your skills profile.
-Have you considered using your creativity to make or teach something? Can you draw, act, design etc?
- Do you possess traditional skills that have become rare in today's society?
- Homemade everything is now the 'trend' could you leap on this band wagon?
- There is a lot of demand for oragnic items, can you provide this service?
Step 2 - Choosing a platform on which to create your skills profile. There are many websites out there that will allow you to advertise to find work. However a quick word of caution, many of these websites do charge fees and so this may eat into any cash that you may make, so just bear this in mind when making your decision. Others may be built for one specific specialism or target market. Look for websites that are:
- Free to use
- Easy to use
- Easy to edit, delete and add information
- Allows you to create an extensive skills profile
- Are safe, protect your personal details
- Advertise globally as well as in the local community
Step 3 - Creating a successful skills profile. They key to making your skills profile successful is providing the potential customer with as much information as possible. If you have chosen a good platform, for example www.profiletree.com they will allow you to add as much or as little detail as possible. Customers want to see what they are buying into, they want reassurance that they are making the correct decision, in order to find work you must add every little relevant detail to your skills profile. This should include:
- Experience
- Location
- Availability
- Price
- Qualifications
- Photos of your work
- Testimonials/Reviews
The more details you provide the more willing a customer will be when it comes to making the final decision and purchase!
Step 4 - Work life balance. This is just as important as finding extra work. Although you may need the extra cash you will be useless if you suffer burnout and customers will not return if they are offered a less than perfect service. So be careful to set your availability realistically. Remember you still need time to unwind and rebuild the energy required to be successful in the skills profile world!
If you are interested in more detailed advice on achieving a more even work life balance, check out our most recent article - Work Life Balance - Is your new business taking over your life?
We have mentioned www.profiletree.com in this article simply for its ease of use and well presented skills profile system. This website helps people find work by advertising their skills for free. It also allows you to create an extensive skills profile and upload your photos, videos and even make your own blog posts. One of the main reasons we chose to highlight this unique platform is that it also gives clients the option to make/accept reviews and more importantly allows you to accept credit card payments which as an individual trader is nigh on impossible!
So click here and start to complete your new skill profile - the first steps to being self employed. It does not matter if you are creating a driver profile, plumbers profile or builders profile. The most important thing is to start - Now!!