Fastest thing to learn to make a quick buck?

[d08fc0d9]

Hi everyone. 

I made a quick search, for some lucrative skills, etc. I didn't find anything.

The academy/certification, seems to be for people who already have skills. 

I am sure this question has been asked before but I couldn't find it, or maybe you have new perspective on the subject.

I am not looking for jobs like press 'like 1000 times' on a facebook page. nor do I want flukes(like someone who pays a good amount to find him really old music)

[spectralua]

Search with "quick job", "small task" or so. Maybe you can find something useful. But be aware from huge proposed budget. Quick money is small money always, or scam.

[6bfcdaf8]

Needless to say, pursue quick buck, stay poor forever.

Browse through job posts and see what skills are in demand.

[d08fc0d9]

I am just asking for something lucrative. I want to put in the work 

I've been learning finance for the past 7 months.  

Maybe quick buck is the wrong request. I just want charts or just an expansive answer. What's safe etc. Or course mastery in a niche(?) thing will pay for the lowest amount of time. 

thanks

[the-right-writer]

What's safe is for you to learn the rules, and recognize this is not the place to learn. "Lucrative" is going to get you into big trouble, and leave you penniless.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Ayman B wrote:

I am just asking for something lucrative. I want to put in the work.

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And yet, you're not putting in any work, just looking for somebody to give you a quick fix. Do some research and figure out what's best for you. You'll find that the most lucrative jobs are the ones that require years of specialised knowledge, training and experience, and there's no quick way to acquire this.

[d08fc0d9]

I keep using wrong words i swear.

Like I said, I've been (trying) to learn finance, which obviously would hopefully be lucrative. But I keep slacking. that's why I wanted something else.

I skimmed through Academy, and it sounded exactly like academic jargon for people who are already really good at something. and possibly wanted to market it better, and build something with a business with what they know. and am not one of those people

[feed_my_eyes]

You're still not listening to what people are telling you - there is no such thing as "get rich quick", on Upwork or anywhere else. I could say "become an actor" because that's a potentially lucrative profession that  doesn't require years of training, but your odds of actually getting work as an actor would be tiny. You mention caligraphy in another post; you don't need to go to college for that either, but it would require lots of practicing, and you might never become really good at it (I once took a class just for fun - it's not as easy as it looks, and I'm a person who's generally good at other arty things). Again, not the quick fix that you're looking for.

Even when you do acquire a skill, you'll still need to work hard to market yourself. I already had experience when I joined Upwork, and even then, it took a month to land my first client here, and a couple more years before I could make a good living from it.

It's telling that you say you've been trying to learn finance, but keep slacking. It sounds like you're just drifting from one thing to another, hoping to get lucky while putting in minimal effort. Your mindset is all wrong. You need to find something that you enjoy and that you're good at, then spend years building up experience. There are no shortcuts.

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Ayman B wrote:

I skimmed through Academy, and it sounded exactly like academic jargon for people who are already really good at something. and possibly wanted to market it better, and build something with a business with what they know.

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Well, yes - what did you expect? Freelancing means that you're running a business. If you have no marketable skills, what will you sell to clients? It would be like trying to open a store without having any products to put on the shelves.

[tlsanders]

That's not really a thing, because anything that can be learned quickly and easily is flooded with competition.

[d08fc0d9]

What would you recommend? 

a quick google search says software development is lucrative

is there something more specific that's very often requested?

[the-right-writer]

Ayman, you need to start at the beginning. You need to read the Terms and everything in the Academy. You are not ready to freelance and will only be scammed.

I recommend you develop some real skills and return to freelancing once you have mastered them. Everyone looking for a quick buck will either break the Terms, the law, be scammed, or a combination.

"I want to learn about math" and "I need money" are all signals to the scammers you are ready to violate the rules.

[d08fc0d9]

Quick buck isn't the right word. at the time I was distracted, and hoped others would give me some credit. and give a generous answer for a broad question.

As for ethics part: I haven't applied for many:

-Someone asked to make a list of old unused libraries(I don't remember the exact word). Having 0 knowledge about IT, I texted a friend who did study computer science to give me tl;dr. through which I tried to make sense of what Wikipedia had to say. then I spent the night finding a list. Then I sent them the list, and asked 'is this what you guys are looking for?'

-Another client said, that they didn't have time. and they had a big list of music titles, that they wanted to find on the internet. I looked up a couple of them, and wrote them. "Seems easy enough, is it okay if they're just torrents or mp3 youtube videos if I couldn't find elsewhere?"

- I wrote an Essay for someone which I thought was good(I didn't study marketing) and wrote my email. and said 'my montages/videos' will be very crude. If you think my thoughts on what I your badly marketed website -didnt say that-(which I might be wrong about about the website being bad/I could be dumb) 

-Someone didn't want to go through an online Mooc. they said, they have trouble going through those. In college, being the dork who was always excited to explain really hard concepts to every person who was worried, they were going to fail, or said this is too hard. "saying stuffs like: Don't worry I will explain it I swear it will be easy". and being the person who skipped most of senior high school classes. started studying 2 weeks before exam. and getting the highest score in my class.  
I simply wrote to the client: I am perfect for this and put 20 boost points. (That was stupid of me, I thought she would have such a good experience, She'll write a good review. I also thought boost points come back after a while)

-I also write "I will refund your pay, if you're unhappy with my job" every time, I think. It's not as if they're risking much. I would rather have a good review. And I have no interest going through arbitration

tl;dr 

Even if I get 0 matches. what is an effective skill that I can learn(at youtube/edx, etc)?
What is a 'real skill' that I can learn and get money now. and make more money once I learn stuffs around it. 
Thanks for reading my profile, I know you're trying to help. I'll go through the terms. I thought writing a 10 minute post will give me a shortcut. as there are many fields. 

I wasn't looking for a hack. just where to start.

[the-right-writer]

I recommend you take all the courses offered in the Academy. You are not going to get anything but scammed with your profile. Clients can spot desperate freelancers, and will not hire or take advantage.  I'm not being mean; I'm being honest. Do not apply for a single job until you have done the work.

As for skill, you need to make career decisions based on your current abilities, means, and goals. Take some business classes to learn about being self-employed, which you are as a freelancer. There are no quick, legitimate ways to earn lucrative amounts at your level. Income like that comes from years or decades, and can't be earned in a few months. Try talking with a career advisor to discuss your options.

[feed_my_eyes]

tl;dr - So, with all of the jobs that you've applied for so far, you've tried to take shortcuts/fake your way through while putting in minimal effort, and even said to clients, "Hey, I'm not really qualified for this, but I'll refund your money if I fail, so what have you got to lose?"

You're just wasting clients' time and wasting your own time. 

[tlsanders]

Software development CAN be lucrative. What you must understand is that there are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of freelancers offering software development on Upwork. Some of them are hig-end experts in a niche area. Some are self-taught and relatively new to the field. Some charge upwards of $100/hour. Some charge $8/hour. 

Almost any field can be quite lucrative if you are better at it than most people or offer something specialized that most people can't do. Any field can be a struggle if there are a lot of other people who can do exactly what you do at the same level.

[d08fc0d9]

thanks.

a while back, Meghan markle said that caligraphy was a weirdly lucrative skill(for weddings, etc).
A quick search(to a wedding planner) can confirm, that there is indeed search demand. You have to know the right people of course. but that's the type of answers I expected. 

I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask

[williamtcooper]

Ayman,

There truly isn't anything to learn for a fast buck. I went to college for six years to get Degrees in Economics and Computer Science and promise you it wasn't a a route to a fast buck, but instead time consuming and expensive.

[pujadhunna]

👍

[ericaandrews]

I always tell me people "If it was EASY, everybody would do it".  Yes, as other people have mentioned on this thread, there are people that try to become 'overnight' software programmers, engineers, etc. but they usually do NOT do well on this platform where clients are looking for true experts. I've had plenty relatives, friends, former friends, and past colleagues throughout my career that asked me for a 'quick' way to teach them all the IT expertise I have. There is no such thing.  If there were a 'quick' way to gain 25+ years  expertise in the field, I can promise you that I would have used it over a quarter century ago for my own personal benefit before I 'informed' everybody else about it.  😃   I can promise you that even if you went to a library right now and 'crammed' non-stop in software engineering for the next year, it is still not going to replace YEARS of real-world expertise in the field.  It's just not.  There are some things that cannot be 'quickly learned' to 'get a quick buck' that can only be gained through experience, which is why people that try to become programmers, engineers, or 'project managers' overnight rarely succeed on this platform, because the true clients looking for quality can immediately tell the difference.

Most of the LUCRATIVE fields are only 'lucrative' when a person is an expert in that field.  Law is a 'lucrative' field. However, it may not be 'lucrative' for a lawyer who is low quality, inexperienced, or gets poor results.  There is no 'instant coffee' to finding a lucrative field or making a field 'lucrative' for you. This is like asking to be awarded 'stripes' on the battlefield when you haven't even served in the war yet. Life just doesn't work that way.  That's starts with putting in the WORK , and YEARS needed to LEARN and master a field to  become an expert in a field.   If you don't really 'care' what you do so long as it's 'lucrative', that will be your first downfall on this platform, because people only produce quality work when they actually care about and are geniunely interested in the work they   are doing and focus on constantly improving their craft.   

The only jobs that I know of that are 'highly lucrative' but require little to no skill are illegal jobs and elected offices.  LOL

[d08fc0d9]

I appreciate the long answer.

If you have no skills, and want to start earning on upwork. what would you recommend for me to do?

I wanted suggestions, and I think I used all the wrong words for it.

By quick buck. I meant precisely not something that you cram for 1 year and fail because you are not a 'true expert'. but also not a niche that will make you a millionaire.

(So basically just a few suggestions with pros and cons)

[prestonhunter]

The quickest path to wealth is to be born wealthy.

Try doing that. Then, if your parents are generous and don't really care whether you do or learn anything, they'll just give you money.

[elisa_b · Accepted solution]

"If you have no skills, and want to start earning on upwork. what would you recommend for me to do?"

Upwork is not the right place for aspiring freelancers with no skills or still trying to find out their way.

Experience and knowledge must be acquired before looking for work here, and not by trying to use clients for a trial-and-error learning approach.

[ericaandrews]

The very statement "if you have no skills...." is more than alarming because it raises SERIOUS questions about Upwork's screening process for allowing the creation of new freelancer accounts, which UW promised would become more "strict" to deal with the issue of more freelancers flooding onto the board than there are jobs available. If the freelancer is admitting they have no skills to offer, the better question is how and why did Upwork approve the new account / profile. That shouldn't be happening: Clients are not looking for somebody to "train" or somebody that wants to "learn" at their expense. Clients come here expecting / hoping to find the EXPERTISE Upwork boasts about on its TV commercials. This makes the entire freelance community / platform look bad when people are joining with the intentions of wasting client time and money while they "learn on the job" and try to "find their calling" in life. Not fair to clients at all, and Upwork needs to RAISE its standards for who can create a new account. 

[feed_my_eyes]

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CJ A wrote:

The very statement "if you have no skills...." is more than alarming because it raises SERIOUS questions about Upwork's screening process for allowing the creation of new freelancer accounts, which UW promised would become more "strict" to deal with the issue of more freelancers flooding onto the board than there are jobs available. 

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When did they promise that? For at least the past 2 years, they've accepted absolutely everyone. Now that they're making so much money from connects, they're not going to want to reduce the number of freelancers here; increased competition and desperation means that freelancers will spend more and more money on boosting.