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It’s the ultimate fantasy: working at home, in your pajamas, setting your own hours, answering to no one, and making money doing what you love to do.  But many of us have been scared away from even attempting this by all the scam stories.  Working at home doesn’t have to be a fantasy, though.  It can be done, especially if you start with the right mindset.  You can be a freelancer for just about any job in existence.  Writing, photography, administrative assistant, web management…the list is long, and it probably contains a field that you’re passionate about.

You’re not going to get rich right away.  In fact, you might not ever become rich as a freelancer, but you can pull in a comfortable salary.  How much you make is dependent not only on what people in your field tend to be paid but also on how much time and effort you are willing to put forth.  The beginning may be uncomfortable and scary, but you have to realize that you are really starting your own small business.  You don’t have to register yourself as such unless you want to, but you are now a business in the start-up phase.

You’ll need some tools outside of the obvious requirements for your field (camera for a photographer, internet access for web developers, and so on) and there’s a variety of help on the web.  If you’re more comfortable with a hand to guide you, you can start with websites like GoFreelance, odesk.com, elance.com, and sologig.com.  These are trusted and proven sites for freelancers.  They not only offer jobs for you to apply for and/or bid on, but they offer secure payment.  This is especially helpful when you are getting started with little to no business contacts.  You can be sure that you will be paid by your temporary employer, and they won’t have access to any of your personal account information that could open you up to being scammed.

No matter where you look for work, whether it’s on these sites or with people you networked with while in your previous job, make sure there’s a contract in place.  Don’t respond to vague job postings and/or people that refuse to tell you basic information like the company name and location, a full and honest description of the job that is to be completed, and how and when you’ll be paid.  You don’t want to be left in the lurch after committing serious time and energy to produce a good product.  And don’t pay anybody for the opportunity to work for them.  That defeats the purpose.

Regarding pay, don’t be afraid to negotiate for what you know your services are worth.  You have to be your own advocate.  If you accept low pay or agree to do the work in exchange for “building your portfolio,” you’re devaluing yourself and hurting the market for other freelancers in your field, as the employer will know they can find someone who will do the work for cheap.  If anything, start with a price that you know is a bit too high and let them talk you down.  You never know…they might accept your high price immediately.  At worst, you’ll end up receiving average pay.

Treat yourself like a business all the way.  Have business cards handy for potential prospects.  Set up a website as a way for people to find you, read about your services, peruse your portfolio, and hopefully hire you.  Network and establish references just like you would with any other job.

A couple of helpful websites I’ve found are VistaPrint and dawnaturservice.wordpress.com.  VistaPrint offers numerous deals on supplies for your business like free business cards, pens, postcards, car magnets, websites, etc.  You can use their templates or upload your own.  Dawnaturservice offers advice for virtual assistants that really applies to all freelancers.  You’ll find helpful hints and lists of other helpful websites to help you keep track of hours and accounting, maintain your own website, store files, create a successful blog, etc.

You can be successful working at home.  Utilize every tool at your disposal and invest yourself fully and you can get yourself off the ground and living the dream before you know it.