FREELANCING YOUR SKILLS!

One very 'decent' and 'real' way of making money on the net is - FREELANCING. 

How it works primarily is - there are sites which act as 'middlemen' between the service provider(that's you) and Employer(one who wants the job to be done).  Employers post their available projects, and you can post your profile on the site and scan the jobs offered, according to your interest and skill set. 

Now, most of these jobs follow the 'BIDDING' process - that means, you, along with many many others who have the same skill set, bid for a particular job, keeping in mind the difficulty level of the job and the budget offered.  After the bidding process is over, the employer would make his/her decision, and the project would be awarded to the best suited according to the employer.

POPULAR SKILL SETS
Mind you, this is just a representative list.  End of the day, there is hardly any skill these days which doesn't have a virtual counterpart! In my research I've found these skill sets more in demand on these sites - Writers, editors, translators, proofreaders, web developers, all programming people, virtual assistants, accountants, and the like.  I'd advise you to browse through the pages of the links I provide in my next post to get a feel of what is 'in demand' on a particular day.

PROS -

• Like I mentioned earlier, this is as REAL as it could get in your quest for earning online.
• You utilise your unique skill set/experience/educational background to switch from the 'physical office' mindset to the 'virtual office'.
• You are paid decently enough - depending upon your skill level you could earn almost close to /even more than a full time job.

CONS -

• The biggest downside of this is, the VERY TOUGH competition to get accepted after you have placed your bid for the project along with people who may be veterans in this arena; this is especially true if you are a novice in this game.  For a typical project, you could easily find 25-30 people (with formidable resumes) vying for the employer's attention.
• Another thing which I find annoying about this is the WAIT PERIOD.  It could be 2-3 WEEKS before you would get to know the results - positive or negative.  So, if you want to start earning right away, well, you can't depend on this option.