Any of you guys do IT side jobs?

I have a pretty decent IT job right now and it pays well for being a help desk guy in my 2nd year in IT but I can't help think about making just a little bit more in these tough economic times.

Now, I realized I really enjoy doing in home side jobs a lot. It's stuff that isn't totally time consuming, and its relatively easy to do a job in 2-6 hours and be done with it.

My only issue is I have had probably 10 side jobs in the past 12 months but they were like one every 1.5 months. I need to find ways to keep the work more consistent so I can be doing this once or twice a week which would be nice. Any tips? Tricks?

I printed had some free business cards printed up, but beyond handing out the business cards, or people spreading my work by word of mouth I don't have much exposure.

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Comments

darkerosxx

Make a website and include your information so you can eventually show up in google searches for your area.

Find free places to post your information, like craigslist or local newspaper websites you can post in and include your company information as a signature. Stuff like that.

laidbackfreak

yep start advertising.... everywhere and anywhere you can for free.... get a few flyers printed n post them in the neighbourhood....

tell your friends n family your doing it too... nothing beats word of mouth... and personal recomendations.....

JDMurray

You need to advertise, yes, but that costs money. Look for free ad placement, like on craigslist.org and public business bulletin boards. Dust off that old desktop publishing software and make yourself flyers and business cards too. Advertising is hard work; you need to do it continually for it to pay-off.

TechBoy22

Hey, Im looking into doing in home jobs myself. If you dont mind me asking what is your going rate per job? I think I've figured mine out but Im still not sure as I have been searching for prices to compare to. Not that easy finding. Maybe im looking in the wrong places. Websites are good ideas. I posted a free website for my service on Weebly.com. Plenty of free sites out there. Flyers should help too.

techster79

Check out onforce.com they have competitive in-home/business jobs for different rates. They charge 10% of the fee which isn't bad. I've made up to 8k/year doing just after hours and weekend work.

dynamik

techster79 wrote:

Check out onforce.com they have competitive in-home/business jobs for different rates. They charge 10% of the fee which isn't bad. I've made up to 8k/year doing just after hours and weekend work.

That's interesting. I hadn't seen that before. How do you like the work? Is it anything interesting or is it cleaning spyware off of grandma's computer?

ScottFern

techster79 wrote:

Check out onforce.com they have competitive in-home/business jobs for different rates. They charge 10% of the fee which isn't bad. I've made up to 8k/year doing just after hours and weekend work.

This site looks interesting maybe I will sign up and see how it goes. How do taxes work for this site? I have done so little in terms of side jobs I have never reported taxes or anything.

Any other sites out there I can get exposure with?

To the person who asked my rate, I am charging $45/hour. I think its pretty competitive, but I still don't get a lot of repeat business unfortunately.

Thanks for all the tips!

dynamik

You'll probably get 1099'd. It'll just show up as additional income on your taxes. I think you lose roughly 40% to taxes, so figure that in to your hourly rate (and don't forget to put some aside for when you actually have to pay them). What are you doing for $45/hr? Is that home/consumer work?

ScottFern

dynamik wrote:

You'll probably get 1099'd. It'll just show up as additional income on your taxes. I think you lose roughly 40% to taxes, so figure that in to your hourly rate (and don't forget to put some aside for when you actually have to pay them). What are you doing for $45/hr? Is that home/consumer work?

The $45/hr is basically tax free in home router/wireless, printer, format OS, new parts type stuff. Why is that too low?

I didn't realize I would probably lose 40% to taxes that's crazy! But now I will factor that into my profile on OnForce.com.

dynamik

That's fine for basic, tax-free work like that. It would definitely be low for MCSE-level work.

vincentnyc10

if i do anything on the side...i will probably insist cash. make sure irs dont get a dime!!! waste of our taxpayer money on iraq and military spending.

cisco_trooper

vincentnyc10 wrote:

if i do anything on the side...i will probably insist cash. make sure irs dont get a dime!!! waste of our taxpayer money on iraq and military spending.

Good luck with that. If you do any substantial job the employer will require you to fill out an I9 (i think that is right) so that they can submit your earnings as 1099 income to the IRS. I believe the magic number is $600. Obviously your residential customer's are unlikely to do this...

ULWiz

I would say the number one way to get business is to advertise and get your name published in the news paper.

techster79

Onforce does not allow you to bill the customer directly. They pay by direct deposit to checking account and yes they keep a 1099 on you. There is no tax-free income unless you make under $6k/year total from all income sources. Most extra income would have 15% self-employment tax(social security), and 15-28% federal income tax, for a total of 30-43% taxed income. So if you charge $90/hour, you clear $81 from onforce and $46-57/hour after taxes not bad pay for part-time work.

jamesp1983

techster79 wrote:

Check out onforce.com they have competitive in-home/business jobs for different rates. They charge 10% of the fee which isn't bad. I've made up to 8k/year doing just after hours and weekend work.

that's a pretty sweet site, but im hesitant due to this:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/192/RipOff0192807.htm

dynamik

jimmypizzle83 wrote:

that's a pretty sweet site, but im hesitant due to this:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/192/RipOff0192807.htm

Why? They clearly state that they take 10% of your hourly rate. I think that's a fair referral rate. If you don't like it, don't use them and find your own work. There's nothing about it that's a rip-off or deceptive though.

It sounds like they suspended him due to a complaint. That seems like a reasonable course of action until they can investigate it. It just seems like that guy's bitter.

jamesp1983

dynamik wrote:

jimmypizzle83 wrote:

that's a pretty sweet site, but im hesitant due to this:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/192/RipOff0192807.htm

Why? They clearly state that they take 10% of your hourly rate. I think that's a fair referral rate. If you don't like it, don't use them and find your own work. There's nothing about it that's a rip-off or deceptive though.

It sounds like they suspended him due to a complaint. That seems like a reasonable course of action until they can investigate it. It just seems like that guy's bitter.

I don't mind the fact that they take 10%, but it seems like that guy was pretty upset. I think you're right though about him being bitter now that I've read it more thoroughly.

jamesp1983

anybody know of anymore OnForce.com like sites?

/usr

Captovis and Syntechs are similar companies.

I can't vouch for them, I only know they exist.

jamesp1983

what methods do you guys use to advertise?

vCole

jimmypizzle83 wrote:

what methods do you guys use to advertise?

I've only used Craigslist.org, looking for other options as well.

jamesp1983

FadeToBright wrote:

jimmypizzle83 wrote:

what methods do you guys use to advertise?

I've only used Craigslist.org, looking for other options as well.

i've used smartpages.com, superpages.com, yahoo local, and craigslist as well. also the local newspaper

SEM

Hey guys, most things that you see on Rip Off Report are posted by people that gives techs and OnForce,( www.onforce.com ) a bad name. Most likely these are people you wouldn't want to be associated with especially on a professional level. Keeping these type of shady techs off the platform gives credit to those who do quality work making the tech base a professional, qualified and desirable one. This keeps the work orders flowing to OnForce and to the tech base ie more work, more cash. OnForce suspends people for a reason and takes no joy in doing so. They need the Techs and hope more join.

It is a great way to earn some extra cash especially now when extra cash is tough to come by. Trust me we are all feeling the pinch.

What would be very helpful would be to take the hyper link down from these blogs. These links keep Rip Off report on search results and may scare away good business and good techs. Feel free to discuss the Rip Off report and make your own decisions but linking to it is an all around bad practice. If you have any other questions I will answer the best I can! Happy Holidays.

SEM

Interesting link about Rip Off Report

http://www.goodbusinessbureau.com/

unerau

i am trying to go to medical school , have taken lots of biochemistry and bio courses in college, leaning towards bioinformatics, biotechnology, doing an interview at FSU in January, hehe