There is always never enough money to do what you really want to!

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average weekly ordinary earnings (both private and public sector) is about $1180+. This makes it approximately $60K pre-tax (varies from case to case). After taking into account taxes and levies and etc, most people will only be left with $47K per annum in their pockets. This amount equates to around $900 a week. This measly $900 a week does not go very far especially when median house rental prices in Sydney is around $450 per week! This only really leaves $450 for you each week to pay for transport, eat, pay your bills and live.

Solutions:

Ideally, we would all love for money to just fall from the sky without having to put in any work. Well, that can happen but not overnight. Instead of scrimping and saving and not being able to live the life that you want, why not make use of the weekends or after work hours earning some extra cash? Here are two of my favourite sites that I have used successfully. The best part is that most of the work listed here can be performed from the comfort of your home in your PJs! Check them out.

Elance.com

Elance is a great place for finding work of all types. From web design, writing, telemarketing, data entry to web development. The process works like this:

1. Sign up for a free account as a service provider (The basic membership is free and allows you to bid up to 3 proposals).

2. Update your profile (look at other people’s profile if you are stuck for ideas).

3. Search for jobs or projects that interest you.

4. Bid for the project/s. Depending on the budget set by the employer, some projects require more “connects” (Elance uses this to call their tokens. You will need these tokens when you bid for projects) than others.

Tip: The more projects that you bid for, the higher the chance of actually being awarded at least one. You may decide to start out by offering your services for cheap in order to gain some positive feedback as a service provider. Also, the basic membership only provides 3 free “connects”. This means that you will need to upgrade your membership if you do bid for more than 3 projects.

Tip: When bidding, make sure you take into account the fees associated with Escrow. Elance charges a commission for the use of Escrow.

Guru.com

Guru is similar to Elance where it is a marketplace for employers and freelancers. The only main difference is the membership structure. Guru’s subscription fee varies according to the category that you choose. The Basic Membership is very restricting as compared to Elance’s basic membership. It is often more difficult finding a job to bid for in Guru because most employers will only allow you to bid if you have either the “Guru” or “Guru VENDOR” status. There are also commission fees involved in Guru.com when you have completed the project.

Besides Elance and Guru, it is also worth checking out iFreelance. This is a smaller website but works along the same objectives as Guru and Elance. In general, if you are just starting out, Elance will probably be the best place to start out.

Feel free to add your comments or share your stories on successful bids and proposals with everyone! Good Luck.