One problem about being a freelancer is that it's not like a normal 9-to-5 job. You're not always guaranteed a paycheck at the end of the week. You have to make it a point to keep busy and to track your clients and your invoices. Luckily, I've been able to keep myself consistently busy. Whether it be with a client's design or one of my own projects, I've had about 1 week of *nothing* on my to-do list in the past 6 months. (Literally, this week was about 2 weeks ago, right before I started work on Rock Solid. Yeah, it was a nice break.)

Now, counting Rock Solid, I have 3 big projects on my schedule, 2 of which are from clients. I'm lucky that I don't have to go out and find work, work finds me. If I ever went a long period without income, I'd just head to a freelance job board somewhere. There are literally hundreds of them online. In this post, you'll see that I've done some searching and found what I feel are 10 of the best and most populated freelance job sites out there to help you out when you're running low on cash.

#1 - FreelanceSwitch

This is one of the most beautiful job-boards I've ever seen. Not surprising, FreelanceSwitch.com is known for being a very professional name, I would expect nothing less from it's job listings page. This isn't only for website designers either, it's also for flash professionals, writers, or graphic designers.

#2 - AuthenticJobs

AuthenticJobs.com is for both website designers and developers. It offers job listings for either part-time (freelancing) or full-time. it also informs you if you need to be on-location or if you can work from home.

#3 - SmashingJobs

We only expect the best of the best from SmashingMagazine.com, that's one of the downsides of being one of the biggest names in the web design industry. They don't disappoint here with their extensive job board full of work for designers and programmers.

#4 - Coroflot

An immense library of job listings for all you freelancers out there. Listings include in-depth details of the job you'll be expected to accomplish as well as a simple system of applying for them.

#5 - WebmasterTalk Forums

Forums are also a great place to look for work. The Graphic Design Contests forum on the WebMasterTalk Forums is a perfect place for freelancers to get a quick job done. There's no guarantee of payment for most of these jobs being that they're contests, but if you do win, however, you usually get a pretty penny.

#6 - Get a Freelancer

Another huge library of freelancer jobs, Get a Freelancer allows freelancers to ask for a certain amount of money before beginning projects initiated by the lister.

#7 - TalkFreelance Forums

Another nicely populated forum built just for freelancers (and the design is just brilliant, if I do say so myself). Not only for finding jobs, TalkFreelance.com is a great place to just sit back and shoot the breeze with other freelancers.

#8 - Project4Hire

At Project4Hire.com, freelancers can bid on what they feel is reasonable pay for certain projects and hope to be selected by the client to fulfill the job.

#9 - Guru

Guru.com is for pretty much any type of freelancer out there. Whether you be a writer, programmer, designer, photographer, cartoonist, engineer, marketer, or in one of the countless other professions, this is the site for you.

#10 - 99Designs

I've posted about this site before, but it's worth mentioning again as it fits this category perfectly. 99Designs.com is one of the biggest and most popular sites for design contests on the web. Either find a contest you like, check out the pay for being chosen as the winner, and enter, or post a job you need done yourself. Prizes range from $100 to $2,000+ for a single job!

I hope this list I've compiled for you here will come in useful one day. I know I myself be referring to this list sometime in the future.

If you liked this post, stay updated. Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS Feed via email.

Post Tags: design, freelance, money

February 16, 2009 -- I Want to Be a Freelance Web Designer
March 25, 2009 -- How To: Use a jQuery Plugin to Display a Post Carousel
March 11, 2009 -- How to Make Money Online With Wordpress Themes
March 9, 2009 -- How to Sell Your Designs the Right Way
March 6, 2009 -- WPWebhost.com: Web Hosting for Wordpress – Promotional Coupon Code for March

Like this post? Spread it!

There are 22 comments to this post.

Cristhian Bedon had this to say, Feb 20, 2009 @ 8:16 pm.

Nice list of site Ralph, an other site you might want to check out is http://www.odesk.com.

Cristhian Bedon´s last blog post: What is an FTP and how to use it.

Admin

Ralph had this to say, Feb 20, 2009 @ 8:22 pm.

Wow, that looks like a really legit site. I'll keep that in mind for a possible round two of more of these types of sites. Thanks.

Stevie B had this to say, Feb 20, 2009 @ 8:33 pm.

Awesome list here, never heard of 99Designs before. They look like a pretty cool site.

Dan had this to say, Feb 20, 2009 @ 8:55 pm.

Bookmarked this, in case I need some more work. Trouble is, a lot of freelance jobs require some kind of diplomas or actually meeting the people.

Dan´s last blog post: Spelling and BMTH.

Cristhian Bedon had this to say, Feb 20, 2009 @ 9:17 pm.

Meeting people is not just in the Freelancer field, its in every field. It is also a good way to promote yourself. Now you don't always have to meet people face-to-face, freelancing gives you the option to do work at home and with people overseas. So what is left is a lot of email'ing and/or twittering.

Cristhian Bedon´s last blog post: WordPress Cheatsheet.

Wes Wilson had this to say, Feb 21, 2009 @ 11:48 am.

Thanks for sharing! Don't forget to add http://incspring.com to this list. It's a way to sell your unused designs and get additional work in the process.

Matt_fig21b had this to say, Feb 21, 2009 @ 12:45 pm.

It's an interesting list, but as a designer I have serious objections to 'contest' sites. It undermines the industry and treats designers with contempt.

Tell me if any of you have ever done the following:

Gone to a different restaurant each night for a week on the understanding that at the end of the week you will only pay for one meal, the one you enjoyed the most.

Of course you haven't and why? Because Chefs know what their trade and produce is worth and they get paid for it. Creatives are no different. We have a trade, we produce, we deserve the compensation for our time and expertise.

viciousDuck had this to say, Feb 21, 2009 @ 11:58 pm.

@blogsarticle
very original comment >_>

viciousDuck´s last blog post: How to Theme Your iPod.

Admin

Ralph had this to say, Feb 22, 2009 @ 2:32 am.

@Matt - When you look at it that way, I definitely agree with you. Thing is, contest sometimes pay a very generous amount of money to a winning entry.

Admin

Ralph had this to say, Feb 22, 2009 @ 2:32 am.

@Wes - Nice, another good site I'll remember. Thanks.

joyoge designers' bookmark had this to say, Feb 22, 2009 @ 7:55 am.

Thanks for sharing

joyoge designers' bookmark´s last blog post: 19 Sites with Creative Solutions | Kreative Garden.

Matt Fig21b had this to say, Feb 24, 2009 @ 12:11 pm.

@Ralph

I'm not disputing the amounts of money being put up for some competitions (although I have to say even if I were still a junior designer I wouldn't open my pencil case for some of the 'prizes'), but I object with the concept in general.

What other profession is shown the lack of respect as design in this manner? I can't think of one. These 'contests' (you may have gathered that I hate that word in this context so I shall no refer to them as professional rapings) These professional rapings are not like real industry spec work, it's not a pitch between a handful of designers; this is people wanting the moon on a stick. Nobody should have to work for free. And nobody should have to 'pitch' for amounts of money so low.

There is no type of designer or level of design career where this kind of site offers anything useful in advancing said career or more importantly their skills. If you have little work on at the moment and want to just design, find a real contest, where your creativity is recognised - not where you are competing against clip art jockeys at the whims of some civilian who believes they know what is best for them in terms of design.

NNNGGGHHH it makes me mad, it really does!

Gabriella had this to say, Feb 27, 2009 @ 8:37 am.

Another site you may want to add to your list is http://www.walsaq.com/walsaq/Authentication/Home.aspx Imho

I would remove a few you have listed since they don't really care for the Freelancers. They allow crooks on there and do not help you get your $ even if you can prove you have done the work. Their response to me was "we will keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do this again" Wtf I lost $350 but they did not want to loose him as a client.

The competition is fierce no matter where you get your work from. Our new company policy is we want "ALL" funds up front otherwise we do not want you as a client.

As far as I am concerned the best clients a freelancer can get is via referrals and I have to admit even those sometimes don't pay. Bottom line is I appreciate you taking the time to find these sites but honesty integrity and trust is not what it used to be among professionals

Gabriella´s last blog post: Do-It-Yourself SEO: A Beginner's Checklist.

Anonymous had this to say, Feb 27, 2009 @ 9:37 am.

Wow, thank you for degrading the already limping ethics of this industry. Promoting sites that promote contest? Really? Touting that $200-$1000 is good as a prize IF YOU WIN THE CONTEST!? Seriously man? Do you WANT to see this industry suffer more?

It's post like these that remind the rest of us why the industry is limping.

Admin

Ralph had this to say, Feb 27, 2009 @ 11:38 am.

Oh I see. So your logic is "contests are crap". If you have an opinion to make, don't insult others right off the bat. Also don't hide yourself behind anonymity like a coward.

sanami had this to say, Sep 16, 2009 @ 6:32 pm.

I have been looking for freelance work for quite some time and here is my answer thanks for the post.

Guildford had this to say, Dec 19, 2009 @ 6:17 pm.

thats for sharing these great sites. they will definitely help people looking for freelance web and graphgic design work. You may also add getafreelancer.com in your lst.

Dizi İzle had this to say, Jan 2, 2010 @ 5:26 pm.

Awesome list here, never heard of 99Designs before. They look like a pretty cool site.
.-= Dizi İzle´s last blog ..kasaba 12 bölüm özeti =-.

Trackbacks to this post. Thanks for the linkage.