So far with my planning stages I have been focusing on specific steps that I can take to improve my own positioning to work independently. I have covered my large scale goals for the year, a breakdown of that large goal into several areas I believe I can have success in, and I have started applying  measurable targets to help identify how I am or am not achieving said goals. These are all vital parts of thinking aloud and organizing my thoughts in a way that direct my energy towards the changes I want in my life. Now though I am ready to start turning the wheel to look at strategies for finding the most important aspect of this whole deal.

Namely: paying clients.

So far this year, both in shared work with my wife and individually, I have been able to find numerous clients across many aspects of my work-independence-plan (for lack of a better term at present). There has not been one predominant channel for these, but instead an awkward flow of work acquired from places both well-known, remote, expected and from out of nowhere. The appearance of this work in addition to its increase at the  merest push from my end has given me a lot of confidence. I believe that if I continue pushing and developing these sources, I will be able to reach and extend past many of the goals I have outlined on this blog.

I am happy to say that the most successful avenue of work so far has been through word of mouth. A number of exciting jobs have come to us just by putting ourselves out and beginning other work. By working hard and completing those tasks we have generated a bit of goodwill that has reverberated. This is actually very exciting for me, because I tend to be fairly introverted and it’s somewhat of a new experience. But by pushing myself out even a little bit, I have not only generated these opportunities, but also increased my contact with the local community, made friends and opened many other non-work-related doors.

The other major source of work has of course been through the web. Through persistence and some fortunate timing, I have been able to get a number of jobs as well as make a number of contacts through various sites. Here again, a little achievement has led to a great deal of goodwill that has pushed things forward. And I have also seen opportunities present themselves beyond the realm of work.

And while there seems to be countless sites out there for finding freelance and other work. There are a select few that have really seemed to come through for me. They are:

For Flatting:

Gutterzombie

Digital Webbing

For Translating and Photoshop

Elance

Guru

And then of course for the random job that seemingly appears out of nowhere, I have also made use of Craigslist.

So far all of my experiences with these sites have been entirely positive. I have made contacts, finished several jobs and received and given positive feedback.

This I realize is but scratching the surface of all that is available out on the web for those who wish to work independently and by freelancing. I have been somewhat reticent to dig too far for fear of being overwhelmed by a sudden workload. But I am interested in finding more and more places for opportunities. I maintain the belief that the more sources I have to find work the better my averages in the long run to maintaining a steady work flow. To that end I am compiling lists of work sources for each of my six aspects of work. I will hopefully post about them over the next year or so as I work with them and see their good points and bad. I also plan on exploring my experiences with the sites listed above as well.

Have you found work with any of the sites I mentioned above? I have heard the occasional horror story and wonder what can be learned from any bad experiences. Also, are there any other go-to sites for finding work? Would love to discuss it out in the comments below.