Introduction
If you’re a student trying to figure out ways to earn extra income while balancing your studies, you’re at the right place. I will share with you the top 5 freelance jobs that you can do as a student.
Not only that, but you’ll also get an idea of where to start freelancing and how to find clients for each job.
Note: if you’re someone who thinks you can earn from freelancing with very little effort or by doing nothing, this post may not be for you. Freelancing is a 100% skill-based game, and you can only earn by putting in the required effort.
Consider Before Reading
The five types of jobs I’m going to share with you are ranked from very easy—skills you can probably learn in a few days to get started in the freelance world—to more complex skills that may take months or even a year to master.
The difference is simple: complex jobs usually pay more than simple ones, so let’s begin with a quick recommendation.
Recommended to Learn
What you can do is start by learning a very easy skill first, while simultaneously working on a more complex skill in parallel. The easy skill won’t take months to learn—you can pick it up in a few days and begin freelancing to build your reputation while continuing to learn the complex skill alongside it.
By following this approach, you’ll be able to earn while learning a skill that could lead to high-budget projects. Plus, you’ll build a reputation in the market, making it easier to get future projects.
Jobs to Start With
There’s no limit to the kinds of jobs you can take on in the freelance market, but these are my personal recommendations, ranked from easy to more challenging, as discussed earlier:
Content Writing
If you’re good with language, content writing is a great place to start. And before you raise any doubts, let me clarify: there are countless content writing jobs available in the freelance market. Not only can you begin earning as a freelance content writer, but you can also build your own community over time.
How to Start in Content Writing
First, make sure you’re confident in the language you’ll be writing in. Learn the basics of SEO—what it is and how search rankings work—then start by writing a few blog posts on platforms like Medium to get a feel for how it all works.
How to Start Earning
Once you’re confident in your writing—which shouldn’t take more than a week to reach a basic level—you can join one or more freelance platforms to start offering your services.
Popular Platforms to Start Freelancing With
There are many platforms that connect you with clients who need your services. Platforms like Freelancer, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, and others are great places to start. Complete your profile and begin offering your services.
Hard to Get Projects
At times, it may feel difficult to land your first project because you don’t yet have a reputation on the platform. If you want to avoid this, you can check out our blog post, “How to Win Your First Project Without Reviews.”
Keep Publishing on Medium
Even if you don’t immediately land projects on freelance platforms, Medium can be a good source of long-term income. Many writers have earned substantial income from Medium. For example, one user shared his earnings stats from recent months—see below.
As you can see, this blogger is earning thousands of dollars per month. However, this isn’t how you’ll start out. It may take months to receive your first payment, but the fact remains: as a blog writer on Medium, you can earn a significant income over time.
Photo Editor
This is a job that doesn’t require any prior knowledge like content writing does, where you need to be good with language. Here, you can start from scratch and learn the necessary skills in a few weeks to be ready for the market.
Jobs You Can Do
As a photo editor, you can take on various jobs such as designing thumbnails, posters, ads, and more. You can follow the same approach by joining freelance platforms to offer your services.
Recommendation for Joining
Don’t limit yourself to just freelance platforms. Reach out to creators on YouTube, Facebook, blogs, and more. By offering your editing services directly to businesses and content creators, you can boost your income.
Video Editor
While this skill may take some time to learn, it’s a highly rewarding one. Nowadays, brands are constantly looking for editors who can create viral content, and editing plays a key role in that. You can learn video editing through platforms like YouTube, and once you’re ready, start offering your services on freelance platforms.
Jobs You Can Do
There are many types of video editing jobs you can take on as a freelancer, including editing reels, ads, YouTube videos, and more.
Recommendation
Start by dedicating about half an hour each day to learning. Within a month, you’ll be ready to enter the freelance world and take on basic editing jobs to build your experience.
Beta Tester
Have you seen beta versions of apps like Instagram and others? Probably yes. Small businesses also use this approach to test new features before launching them. Since they don’t have a large user base, they hire beta testers who can thoroughly test their apps, report bugs, and suggest improvements from a user’s perspective.
While this job may seem easy, brands often prefer testers with some initial experience, making it harder to land projects at first. Also, these jobs aren’t as abundant as the ones mentioned earlier, which is why I’ve placed it at number 4. Still, you can start with this, as I’ve seen many people earn well doing beta testing.
Website Development
This job requires a good amount of expertise, but as a student, you can dedicate about an hour each day and still do really well. Keep in mind, this isn’t a skill that allows you to earn from just one source—you can explore multiple income streams with it.
If you enjoy it, you can even consider it as a career later on, but learning it does require effort, especially if you’re just starting with programming.
Since almost every business today needs a website, the demand for developers who can code efficiently remains high. As a freelancer, you’ll face various challenges as a developer. If you want to learn more about those challenges, check out how I got my first project in website development here.
How to Learn Web Development for Freelancing
There are many ways to learn web development for freelancing, such as reading documentation and tutorials. However, I recommend keeping it simple—don’t spend money on paid courses; instead, learn for free on YouTube.
Currently, I’ve found a course that just started where you can learn the entire process of web development for free. I’ll share the overview video below, which explains what you’ll learn in the course. If you find it interesting, you can start right away. The good news is that it’s newly launched!
Conclusion
These are some of the freelance jobs you can start as a student. I hope you enjoyed reading the entire blog post—if you did, please consider liking it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comment section.
If you want to explore more of our freelancing content, visit our blog page and read the posts that interest you. Thank you for taking the time to read this post!