Freelancing with no skills ?

[Andy Black]

I have read on the forum that you can learn webdesign pretty fast, is it true ?

If it is, what other skills can you learn quickly ?

My goal is to go freelance and make enough money to quit my 8-5, and focus on building an E-commerce store.

Thank you, you awesome people

PS: Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

Check out:

• MARKETPLACE - Fox's Web Design Guide: Earn $100K this year (Yes, 2020!) and Go Fastlane
• GOLD! - Moved to Scottsdale, Growing a Web Design Firm
• GOLD! - CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days
• EXECUTION - To Those Panicked/Discouraged by the PANDEMIC (or New to FLF)

You don't need to be an expert:

• You don't need to be an expert
• NOTABLE! - (Radio interview) How to quickly get started in business
• HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped?

 

[Andy Black]

PS: Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

I've no idea as I don't do eCommerce. I do get paid to provide a service to eCommerce business owners though, so I'm earning while I'm learning.

Question for you:
(Product-Founder fit) What can YOU do to help someone and get paid this week?

 

[Madame Peccato]

I have read on the forum that you can learn webdesign pretty fast, is it true ?

If it is, what other skills can you learn quickly ?

My goal is to go freelance and make enough money to quit my 8-5, and focus on building an E-commerce store.

Thank you, you awesome people

I've done it with 0 skills and 0 school degrees. I don't earn great money (yet) and there has been a lot of figuring stuff out by myself plus the help of some threads on this forum like the ones linked by Andy.

I know English well and I'm Italian, so I started out as a translator. Amidst my translation works I've had some people ask me if I was up to write new content, and I accepted.

They were happy with it and I've been slowly abandoning the translation route, as I wasn't enjoying it much and I don't have much faith in the field, but I'd say you can still make it big if you have a better mindset.

Yes, you can learn web design relatively quickly enough to get profitable. What helped me the most with the fear of not being good enough was framing the problem this way: you aren't trying to make a website for a huge media company like Disney (at least, for now), just to help out your city's plumbers or electricians or brick & mortar stores or landscaping business.

Other fields that don't require formal training and that can be learned while you get paid for them are copywriting and digital marketing.

 

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[Andy Black]

1. Signup to Wix.
2. Create a simple website for yourself.
3. Ask people you know if they know anyone who needs a simple website created. *

* Read this carefully. You're not asking people if THEY need a simple website.

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

Thankss I'll look it up.

If those peanuts allow me to quit my job, I'm in !

That's just the freelancer sites.
Approach the right unsexy companies & you can virtually name your price.

For example, a butcher I use does a brisk trade, retail, wholesale, for collection & delivery.

Their online shop sucks, it doesn't list half the things they sell & my collection order is taken by phone, I have to give my personal details every time, order exactly the same thing, they write it by hand on paper & stick it to the order.

Not only that, I buy fresh chicken carcass for my dogs from them.
It's half what the raw dog food suppliers charge & it's much better quality.
Raw dog food is a huge market & it's largely online delivered by courier.

I know they sell a lot of product, my orders are written in the back of supplier invoices LOL.

Imagine how they could scale with the right proposal: web design, e-commerce, SEO, FB & Google ads, sales funnels etc.

There's loads of local companies around if you're observant.

I live in the country, the town sucks, all the usual small retail businesses, no budget, small value transactions, but there's quarries, farms, machinery, garments.

Omg now I think about it, I'm living in a goldmine.

Food for thought...

 

[Kak]

Generally when someone asks what to do when they have no (insert something here) I tell them to get that thing. We are all capable of doing that, you are in charge, so do it.

In this case, you need to build some skills. Don’t try to freelance without skills.

Don’t put the cart before the horse. Go get a horse (skills, not literally) and then, if you really want to be a freelancer, sell those skills.

 

[foodiepersecond]

PS: Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

You should listen to @Kak podcast with guest @MoneyDoc on a bullish/bearish approach to FBA

Kill Bigger Radio with Kyle Keegan

Enjoy engaging discussions on entrepreneurship, economics, leadership, investing, personal finance, value, purpose, and wealth with entrepreneur and economics enthusiast Kyle Keegan. We build things that matter. We build things that last. We Kill Bigger. New episodes are recorded several...

www.spreaker.com

 

[Andy Black]

No worries Andy you've done enough with your first post

What I mean is: if you find those threads you’ll find more good advice on them applicable to your situation, and with answer to questions you’re now asking.

You have time to exchange for money. People can and will hire people to do things just because they don’t have the time.

 

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[Menery]

I have read on the forum that you can learn webdesign pretty fast, is it true ?

If it is, what other skills can you learn quickly ?

My goal is to go freelance and make enough money to quit my 8-5, and focus on building an E-commerce store.

Thank you, you awesome people

PS: Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

calling yourself a web designer is easy. Building websites that produce real results for a business is hard and requires work. Just get started tho as andy already said.

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

Are you a Freelancer yourself ??

A long time ago I worked through agencies in education, training & fashion but only because it was practical for that kind of work.

I'm not a big fan of depending on others for my livelihood. I didn't even know what Upwork was until I joined this forum.

Yeahh you're right, and now that I think about it I know a lot of company that don't even have a website.

Ahah I am living in a goldmine too, I need to go buy me a shovel.

Go for it. Use your imagination & show them how you can grow their business.
You'll need to know what they do & how they do it before you can help them.
Visit them as a prospective customer, ask questions, get their brochure.
Check newspapers for articles, even old ones.

If you're really going to help a business you have to know them well enough to put yourself in their position & find solutions to their problems, or better yet identify solutions to problems they didn't even know they had.

Or put another way, find ways to grow their business that they haven't thought of.

But they have to be concrete plans you can demonstrate by knowing their business & the potential they have, not just "you don't have a website, I can design one."

You may have to make their website & host it on your own domain to show them. I'd do that if I did web design.

The benefits are twofold, develop your skills & a visual of your concept.

 

[Madame Peccato]

Did you stop translating because it wasn't profitable enough ?
How writing content is going for you ? Did you have any previous experience in it ?

Great English btw

Yes, it wasn't profitable for me, but I had a couple of really nice clients, so if I tried harder I could have probably done well for myself. It'd have helped if I could join a freelancer list of a translation agency, but these all want degrees and qualifications, so I couldn't.

Content writing is going well for me. I did not have any previous experience in it, nor I ever cared about writing in school. I read a copywriting book (Ca$hvertising) and I was good to go. It taught me everything I know about how to write content.

 

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[Madame Peccato]

Could you tell me when did you start learning English if you don't mind me asking ?
Are you as fluent as a native speaker ?

I started in school when I was 9 years old, but truth be told, I learned it mostly by speaking English regularly on the Internet, as school was a terrible environment for learning it.

I cannot speak English as well as I write it. I can talk about complex topics (provided I have knowledge about them), but my pronunciation is mediocre, and sometimes you can feel I am not a natural by the way I construct phrases. I'm Italian so that creeps into my spoken English sometimes

 

[EliE77]

What do you currently do?

Reason I ask is that you say you have no skills. Yet someone is paying you tens of thousands for this skill you don't think you have.

Dan

Hey Dan,
I'm a plumber and that's the only skill I have for now. Now I know that I could make something out of it, but it won't be fastlane. Plus I really don't want to keep working in this industry. Looking for a way out.

 

[Kak]

In my most recent thread I'm being told that just having the basics of Html and CSS will be enough for me to get started. This is really confusing LOL.

Thanks for your reply

Try to check out some scalable business models.

You can absolutely start something that is bigger than our own skills.

You are just starting out... There is ZERO reason to sell yourself short and pigeonhole yourself into some freelance work. Just a word of advice you might be thankful for later or you might not consider at all.

If you want to at least ponder what I just told you... Go read Zero to One by Peter Thiel.

 

[leonrobinson1]

I have read on the forum that you can learn webdesign pretty fast, is it true ?

If it is, what other skills can you learn quickly ?

My goal is to go freelance and make enough money to quit my 8-5, and focus on building an E-commerce store.

Thank you, you awesome people

PS: Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

I've been in the web/graphic design game for 10+ years now, and yes, it's fairly easy to learn. The real challenges are:
1. Getting business - This ain't 1999 kid. Most companies have a website. Most of your projects will be website revamps by companies who believe their basic Wordpress site no longer represents their corporate image.
2. Getting good - The field is crowded, and in a world of templates, you will have to know HTML, CSS and graphic design to stand out.
3. Plug and play websites - You know Wix and Shopify? Well your potential clients know them too. Why should they pay you, an unknown, when they can use an established company? Costs more in the long run, but they have a reputation you don't.
4. Getting noticed - Need I say more?

Not to discourage you, but these are things to think about. As for e-commerce, use Prestashop, Magento or WooCommerce.

 

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[EliE77]

I have read on the forum that you can learn webdesign pretty fast, is it true ?

If it is, what other skills can you learn quickly ?

My goal is to go freelance and make enough money to quit my 8-5, and focus on building an E-commerce store.

Thank you, you awesome people

PS: Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[alexkuzmov]

I have read on the forum that you can learn webdesign pretty fast, is it true ?

Yes and no.
As with anything else, you can get started pretty fast, sure.
To get good enough at it to get paid, you`ll have to put in the hours.
How quickly you`ll progress largely depends on your current skills and knowledge.
There is art to making a web design so dont think its like learning to ride a bike.

If it is, what other skills can you learn quickly ?

What other skills do people need you to learn?

My goal is to go freelance and make enough money to quit my 8-5, and focus on building an E-commerce store.

I recommend you read: The ONE Thing
Its available on audible as well.

Is Amazon FBA the best way to get started on E-commerce ?

Proboboly not.
I`m no expert here, but I rather not hand over control of my inventory to 3rd parties if I`m going to be running a online store.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

You could also subscribe to Adobe CC, make logos, produce flyers, brochures, marketing materials etc. It's not rocket science to learn, more like glorified word processing.

You can target local businesses as well as the freelancer sites while you're honing your skills.
It synergizes with web design too.

It's like any low barrier business, you're working for peanuts against a large talent pool on those sites.

But if you're resourceful you can create perceived value by targeting the right businesses.

I am going to start an E-commerce.
I have no idea what I am doing, I know close to nothing about this business, all I know is I will make it happen.
I've been dreaming about financial freedom for too long, wasted too much time, now it's time for me to take action.
No turning back, no plan B, I am going ALL IN.

Since the birth of this forum you must have seen a lot of posts of this kind, people that were fired up after reading the book. Talking big game and then a year later you no longer hear from them.
I won't be those guys, I will succeed and when I do I will give back to this forum tenfold.

 

[EliE77]

Check out:

• MARKETPLACE - Fox's Web Design Guide: Earn $100K this year (Yes, 2020!) and Go Fastlane
• GOLD! - Moved to Scottsdale, Growing a Web Design Firm
• GOLD! - CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days
• EXECUTION - To Those Panicked/Discouraged by the PANDEMIC (or New to FLF)

You don't need to be an expert:

• You don't need to be an expert
• NOTABLE! - (Radio interview) How to quickly get started in business
• HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped?

Thank you Andy

 

[Andy Black]

Thank you Andy

There’s been a few similar threads to yours recently with lots of good replies. I can’t remember their name or find them.

 

[EliE77]

You could also subscribe to Adobe CC, make logos, produce flyers, brochures, marketing materials etc. It's not rocket science to learn, more like glorified word processing.

You can target local businesses as well as the freelancer sites while you're honing your skills.
It synergizes with web design too.

It's like any low barrier business, you're working for peanuts against a large talent pool on those sites.

But if you're resourceful you can create perceived value by targeting the right businesses.

Thankss I'll look it up.

If those peanuts allow me to quit my job, I'm in !

 

[Andy Black]

That's just the freelancer sites.
Approach the right unsexy companies & you can virtually name your price.

For example, a butcher I use does a brisk trade, retail, wholesale, for collection & delivery.

Their online shop sucks, it doesn't list half the things they sell & my collection order is taken by phone, I have to give my personal details every time, order exactly the same thing, they write it by hand on paper & stick it to the order.

Not only that, I buy fresh chicken carcass for my dogs from them.
It's half what the raw dog food suppliers charge & it's much better quality.
Raw dog food is a huge market & it's largely online delivered by courier.

I know they sell a lot of product, my orders are written in the back of supplier invoices LOL.

Imagine how they could scale with the right proposal: web design, e-commerce, SEO, FB & Google ads, sales funnels etc.

There's loads of local companies around if you're observant.

I live in the country, the town sucks, all the usual small retail businesses, no budget, small value transactions, but there's quarries, farms, machinery, garments.

Omg now I think about it, I'm living in a goldmine.

Food for thought...

I wonder if more businesses want to get online with this coronacrisis and lockdown?

 

[Menery]

I've no idea as I don't do eCommerce. I do get paid to provide a service to eCommerce business owners though, so I'm earning while I'm learning.

Question for you:
(Product-Founder fit) What can YOU do to help someone and get paid this week?

what services do you provide andy?

 

[Andy Black]

I need to go buy me a shovel.

Please don't buy a shovel. Just get started.

These threads might help:

• NOTABLE! - What if you already know enough?
• HOT TOPIC - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

what services do you provide andy?

Google Ads and landing pages to go with the Google Ads. To date I've been trying to avoid doing websites.

 

[Stargazer]

What do you currently do?

Reason I ask is that you say you have no skills. Yet someone is paying you tens of thousands for this skill you don't think you have.

Dan

 

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[Stargazer]

Ok.

So the skills you have are as follows.

1) You know how to - hopefully - turn up on time, get on with things, talk to a wide range of people and leave them happy. Some of whom will either have their own little business or be starting their own little business. So keep your ears and eyes open when talking to customers from now on.

2) You know the secret language of plumbers. Whether to other plumbers or to the suppliers of plumbing equipment or building contractors who use plumbers, that sort of thing.

An important element of selling anything is trust. Which is nothing more than a feeling if you think about it. Whatever it is you decide to provide - whether physical product or a service,start with where you are as in both scenarios you will have a degree of trust from the start.

I am not suggesting you buy this on Kindle but this plumber is worth £70 million. The bit you can read by clicking 'Look inside' gives you an inkling of the differentiator he brought to the industry. (Back in the 80's and not even standard now)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00U58TZ4O/?tag=

Dan

 

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[EliE77]

Ok.

So the skills you have are as follows.

1) You know how to - hopefully - turn up on time, get on with things, talk to a wide range of people and leave them happy. Some of whom will either have their own little business or be starting their own little business. So keep your ears and eyes open when talking to customers from now on.

2) You know the secret language of plumbers. Whether to other plumbers or to the suppliers of plumbing equipment or building contractors who use plumbers, that sort of thing.

An important element of selling anything is trust. Which is nothing more than a feeling if you think about it. Whatever it is you decide to provide - whether physical product or a service,start with where you are as in both scenarios you will have a degree of trust from the start.

I am not suggesting you buy this on Kindle but this plumber is worth £70 million. The bit you can read by clicking 'Look inside' gives you an inkling of the differentiator he brought to the industry. (Back in the 80's and not even standard now)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00U58TZ4O/?tag=

Dan

Right, good point.

Hopefully these skills can translate into my freelance venture.
I just bought a 23 hours course on webdesign, I give myself 4 months maximum to hone my skills, then I'll start the hustle.

I know about Charlie Mullins, the guy is crazy,
I've heard him say in an interview that he only hired good looking people and he believe that it's part of his success lol. He did great though, I believe he's the richest plumber on earth

 

[EliE77]

OP shouldn't read one thing. He still needs to figure out what hes best at, so he can start by learning web design but can drop it if he doesn't feel hes improving after hours of hard work.

OP shouldn't read one thing. He still needs to figure out what hes best at, so he can start by learning web design but can drop it if he doesn't feel hes improving after hours of hard work.

Why shoudn't I read "One thing" ?

I won't quit, I am going to stick to it.
There's no way that I won't improve after hours of hard work.

 

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[RealDreams]

Why shoudn't I read "One thing" ?

I won't quit, I am going to stick to it.
There's no way that I won't improve after hours of hard work.

One of the worst mistakes I've ever done was quitting after encountering some defeat.
"Nah it's not for me" I thought, every single time.
And guess what, with that line of thought I ended up nowhere.

Web design (and web development) is about solving problems and bugs.. Solving problems is the essence of coding. It's actually normal to experience defeat when coding. The key is not to quit.

I personally found HTML and CSS quite easy and fun to work with, but I'm hating JavaScript cause I find it hard. But there's no point in quitting just because you can't learn something. If you keep trying, you'll eventually understand anything.

Whenever I feel like quitting I tell myself "What makes you think that if you try something else, you will not face obstacles once again?", in the sense that, obstacles are in any path. If you try to avoid the obstacles, you are basically avoiding success and going to ground zero over and over again.

 

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[Einfamilienhaus]

I've been in the web/graphic design game for 10+ years now, and yes, it's fairly easy to learn. The real challenges are:
1. Getting business - This ain't 1999 kid. Most companies have a website. Most of your projects will be website revamps by companies who believe their basic Wordpress site no longer represents their corporate image.
2. Getting good - The field is crowded, and in a world of templates, you will have to know HTML, CSS and graphic design to stand out.
3. Plug and play websites - You know Wix and Shopify? Well your potential clients know them too. Why should they pay you, an unknown, when they can use an established company? Costs more in the long run, but they have a reputation you don't.
4. Getting noticed - Need I say more?

Not to discourage you, but these are things to think about. As for e-commerce, use Prestashop, Magento or WooCommerce.

Yes, it is true. That is the reason why you should sell as a web designer the website in the second place. Creating the website is just a foot on the customer's door. Depending on the complexity of the website, the skills of the customer and his time, your real selling starts to show why it is important to work with you in long term. Like a monthly service, with a contract for at least 6+ months. Over deliver and you will increase your chances to get recommended to more offline businesses.