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While many of us dream of going straight for a startup, it’s not as easy as it sounds- especially while in school or working on a masters degree. Lots of us end up freelancing and gaining clients over time, in hopes that one day we can start a full fledged business.

With that said, as a college student, it can also be a real challenge to find work that will allow you to pay your expenses without interfering with your busy schedule. This is true whether you’re enrolled in a community college or are pursuing your master’s degree. One option that is increasingly appealing these days is hunting down freelance work. Here are some basic tips for approaching the freelance market in today’s fast moving world.

Why Freelancing is a Student’s Dream Job

As a student, it’s more than likely that you have a long list of classes, a set of clubs to which you belong, social events to attend, and bills and tuition to pay. The flexible schedule provided by freelance work will allow you to keep everything that you would like in your schedule, including whatever class schedule best suits your area of focus. With freelance work, you are also able to select the workload that best meets both your financial needs and available time. You can even adapt your workload to meet your study needs, reducing your freelance work during finals and other heavy study times. You will also be gaining valuable industry experience, learning time management skills that will assist you in future jobs, and developing a top notch resume.

Picking the Freelance Job That’s Right for You

First off, you must make your home or dorm room the ideal place to freelance. You’re going to need certain things in place to even attempt freelancing. Then starts the hunt- there are multiple types of freelance jobs available, ranging from web design to writing jobs to music, art, acting, and more. There are two important factors to consider in selecting freelance work. First, the freelance work must be consistent and pay enough to allow you to pay your bills. Second, you will want to choose work that will build your resume and open up career possibilities in the future.

Making a Masterpiece Portfolio

To ensure that you can keep on acquiring work that meets your financial needs, you will need to create an effective portfolio and have an up to date resume. Considering the main methods used to acquire work, an online portfolio is absolutely essential. It should include examples of your best work, and high quality images of your examples if there is any visual aspect to the work you do. If you would like to have the option of meeting with clients in person, having a physical portfolio is also a good idea.

Another key element of this is social media- when you’re in college, you are in the perfect position to utilize social media to get your portfolio and resume out there. Want someone to see your stuff? Throw it out in the network.
Finding Freelance Work

Once your portfolio is set up, you will need to determine the details of what you’re willing to do. What sort of work are you willing to accept? What pay rates do you prefer? Once you hammer out these important details, you will want to start developing a client base. You can use online classifieds, as well as sites like elance, to locate people who are actively looking for freelancers in your field. It’s also a wise idea to publicize yourself in these locations and through word of mouth to maximize the amount of work that you receive.

Follow all these tips and hopefully you can freelance- and eventually turn your fun part time, into your own business.