3 Baby Steps to Finding an Online Side Gig

3 Baby Steps to Finding an Online Side Gig 3 Baby Steps to Finding an Online Side Gig While there are more legitimate online job opportunities than ever before, there are also plenty of bogus jobs, less-than-worthwhile gigs, and outright scams in this job market. was actually founded 10 years ago to help job seekers steer clear of all that junk and discover the legitimate, high-quality opportunities out there. If youre considering remote freelance or project work, youll want to figure out whether a job is worth your while before accepting. That includes both watching out for online scams and finding work that matches your career interests and pay levels. Wade into the process of finding an online  side gig with these baby steps: 1. Understand the gig market in your field. At, we see all sorts of online freelance jobs, from entry-level opportunities to projects for senior-level career professionals. These listings include both temporary and ongoing projects that require anywhere from a few hours each week to 30 or more. Figure out what type of work youre looking for before you start applying, and youll have a much better sense of what to expect in terms of the amount of time youll spend on a side gig and how much youll be paid. 2. Figure out your general pay rates for both hourly and flat-rate work. First-time freelancers often feel nervous about setting their rates or talking about pay, but its a vital part of the process. Heres how to figure out your rate: Take your most recent annual salary and calculate your hourly rate from that (pre-tax). Then, increase that by anywhere from 20-30 percent to cover business expenses, tax obligations, and related costs associated with freelancing. Also, do some research to figure out what clients and employers are offering for the type of work youre looking to do. As I told NerdWallet in a recent interview about online jobs, searching the Internet, scrutinizing job ads, polling colleagues, asking LinkedIn groups for assistance, and contacting professional organizations in your industry can help in determining what the market will bear. NerdWallet’s Laura McMullen offers this great example: “Say you earned $35,000 before taxes. For this example, we’ll divide that salary by 2,087 hours, which is the figure the federal government uses to determine its employees’ hourly rates. Your hourly rate would be $16.77 ($35,000/2,087 = $16.77). Then hike up that $16.77 by 20% to 30% to account for business expenses, tax obligations and other costs related to freelancing, Reynolds says. With an additional 20%, your rate is about $20 per hour.” 3. Watch out for sophisticated job scams. Recruitment fraud happens in all sorts of ways. Red flags of job scams include: being asked for personal data up front being offered a job right away or out of the blue being asked to invest or pay for training, materials, equipment, or other work-related items being sent to a URL that does not match the real companys web address Always triple-check the URL from which youre applying to make sure its a real company, and not a fake company with a copycat website that looks similar to the real companys site. Online side gigs are increasingly common, and a great way to increase your income even if you have limited time. Know what the gig market in your field looks like, how much you can charge, and the warning signs of scams, and you’ll be baby stepping into a freelance gig in no time. Start Your Job Search Today!