Making Money as a Freelancer (Coursera)

Making Money as a Freelancer (Coursera)

The second course in the Building Your Freelancing Career specialization is aimed at freelancers looking to integrate financial analysis and strategy into their business. Learners will discover and apply accounting best practices through creating a budget and financial plan and using it to set financial goals with rates and prices backed up by their own research.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Course 2 of 5 in the Building Your Freelancing Career Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Overview
In this section, you'll review the course introduction and student expectations. You'll also get to know some of the successful freelancers in our community and hear practical advice about how they handle financial decisions. Lastly, you'll have the opportunity to have a meet and greet with your peers.
Personal and Business Finances
In this section, we'll dig into key financial concepts that will create a solid foundation for a successful freelance career. You'll explore the factors to consider when transitioning from a job to a freelance career, how to set up healthy habits for personal and business financial management, and how to plan for your future.

WEEK 2
Making and Managing Money in Your Business
In this section, you'll consider how to price your offerings, how to forecast the number of sales you'll need, and how to consider all the costs that go into running a business. These factors will help you consider many options and choose a business model that fits your goals for your financial future as a freelancer.

WEEK 3
How are you doing?
How will you get the help you need to run a freelancing business? In this section, you'll learn the importance of key business advisors and professional tools to manage your finances. You'll also learn how to look at your financial reports so that you can understand the financial aspects of your business.

WEEK 4
Making Financial Decisions
In managing a business, you'll need to make many important decisions that will have a financial impact. It is important to track and interpret information to help you make wise decisions, and know when to consult with experts to help you plan and stay on track.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera)

Impact your financial decisions and learn how to affect the performance of your unit's profitability and of your organization. In this course gain a basic understanding of finance and accounting concepts to drive your organization's growth. Upon completion of this course, you will have gained general financial knowledge and an in-depth understanding of the impact of your decisions outside your functional area. Content of the course includes selected aspects of finance from a non-financial specialist perspective. Specific topics include: financial analysis; planning, forecasting, and budgeting; cash flow, and strategic financing. This class will be interactive and will require the active involvement of the participants in finance related activities.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Accounting for Decision Making (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Accounting for Decision Making (Coursera)

Through this course, you will start by addressing the two “big questions” of accounting: “What do I have?” and “How did I do over time?” You will see how the two key financial statements – the balance sheet and the income statement - are designed to answer these questions and then move on to consider how individual transactions aggregate to make up these financial statements.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Financial Reporting Capstone (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Financial Reporting Capstone (Coursera)

The Capstone is the culminating project in the Financial Reporting Specialization. You will have the opportunity to combine the concepts and techniques obtained through all the courses in this specialization (Accounting Analysis I: The Role of Accounting as an Information System, Accounting Analysis I: Measurement and Disclosure of Assets, Accounting Analysis II: Measurement and Disclosure of Liabilities, and Accounting Analysis II: Accounting for Liabilities and Equity) and apply them to a real world accounting project.

Sep 21st 2026
3 Weeks
Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Foundations (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Foundations (Coursera)

This course aims at assisting you in interpreting financial accounting information related to inter-corporate investments. The course will cover three main topics over four modules: (i) accounting for passive, significant influence, and control type of inter-corporate investments, (ii) special issues and considerations in inter-corporate investments, and (iii) special types of inter-corporate investments.

Sep 28th 2026
4 Weeks
Entrepreneurship II: Preparing for Launch (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Entrepreneurship II: Preparing for Launch (Coursera)

This course builds on previous concepts and outlines strategies and tactics for forming, financing and launching a new venture. Topics to be addressed will include building the new venture’s initial management team, identifying and reaching out to early customers, developing financial plans, raising startup and initial growth financing, and preparing for and managing rapid growth.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Infonomics I: Business Information Economics and Data Monetization (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Infonomics I: Business Information Economics and Data Monetization (Coursera)

Thriving in the Information Age compels organizations to deploy information as an actual business asset, not as an IT asset or merely as a business byproduct. This demands creativity in conceiving and implementing new ways to generate economic benefits from the wide array of information assets available to an organization. Unfortunately, information too frequently is underappreciated and therefore underutilized.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
More Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

More Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera)

The course builds on my Introduction to Financial Accounting course, which you should complete first. In this course, you will learn how to read, understand, and analyze most of the information provided by companies in their financial statements. These skills will help you make more informed decisions using financial information.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera)

Master the technical skills needed to analyze financial statements and disclosures for use in financial analysis, and learn how accounting standards and managerial incentives affect the financial reporting process. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to read the three most common financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. Then you can apply these skills to a real-world business challenge as part of the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Infonomics II: Business Information Management and Measurement (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Infonomics II: Business Information Management and Measurement (Coursera)

Even decades into the Information Age, accounting practices yet fail to recognize the financial value of information. Moreover, traditional asset management practices fail to recognize information as an asset to be managed with earnest discipline. This has led to a business culture of complacence, and the inability for most organizations to fully leverage available information assets. This second course in the two-part Infonomics series explores how and why to adapt well-honed asset management principles and practices to information, and how to apply accepted and new valuation models to gauge information’s potential and realized economic benefits.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks