Referrals are the lifeblood of every business. It’s a fact. There is no better business than the one you didn’t have to chase and invest any time and energy on winning. Having said that, getting a referral is probably one of the hardest things to do when running your own company.

I hear a lot of freelancers complaining that they do not get any referrals. And, I can understand why. Over the years I had struggled myself to be recommended by my clients. I would read everything I could get my hands on about winning new work through referrals and tried the advice there. Nothing worked. Eventually I realized that the problem was somewhere else, changed my ways and referrals started rolling in. Because, you see, in order to get a referral you have to do a bit more than just provide a great service.

Freelancing is a great way to make a living independently or to supplement income from another full-time job. However, the work can be quite unpredictable, and revenue can be sparse at times. Finding ways to make extra money can help you through the lean times. Here are five easy ways to make additional money online:

1. Affiliate Marketing

Start with your own blog or Web site. Affiliate programs allow you to earn a commission on sales generated through advertising links on your page. Some programs pay a percentage of the sale, while others pay a flat fee based on each sale. The key to success with affiliate marketing is to choose a reputable program — Amazon is a popular choice for many bloggers — and to feature quality products that have some natural connection to your site. For example, if you blog about health, you should feature health products. The more organic the affiliate ads appear to be for your site, the less they will appear like ads, which can be a turn off for many readers.

As 2011 draws to a close, I’ve been revisiting the posts I have written during the course of the year and thought you might find it useful to read my Top Ten choices from over the past 12 months.

Five ways to achieve your freelance goals for 2011

Three tips for progressing the goals you set for 2011

Nine ways to improve your cashflow

14 tips for a successful blog

Freelancing gives you a beautiful amount of professional and personal freedom. That beautiful freedom comes with one all-important price tag though—cash flow management.

It’s not quite like a traditional business model where you can get software to take care of your inventory management, it’s more like a second job in and of itself. You have to keep track of hours and work load, invoice and save for taxes, while managing the actual work and saving for the near and distant future.

If you haven’t made the leap into freelancing yet, you may still be taking for granted the structure of traditional jobs. Here are a few tips to help you handle your cash flow as a freelancer.

Tip 1: Look for new jobs before the old one is finished. There is a sizable amount of time lost between jobs, and as much as you may think you’re distracting from your current job, having zero to little downtime between jobs is important to keeping a steady flow of income.

In my part of the world, the whole country seems to come to a grinding halt between Christmas Eve and New Year. For us freelancers, it’s a great time to go on holiday, as no clients are around. (If you’ve got the dosh to go away, in these straitened times.)

If you’re not one of the lucky few who can afford a festive vacation, it’s still a great time to take a break and put your feet up. Sweep aside invoices, marketing plans and timesheets. Instead, watch old movies, catch up with friends and go for walks.

For me, I’ll be seeing friends who will be over from the US, friends who now live in the country, as well as my sister and her family. And I’ll be sure to have my nose in a novel or two. I also like playing tourist in my own city so I’ll be going to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, visiting the new Scandinavian Christmas market in south west London and catching up on one or two art exhibitions.

VAT returns. Income tax returns. Anything to do with accounts makes me want to yawn. However it’s important that we freelancers ensure we operate as tax efficiently as possible. If you’re new to freelancing, one of the first things you should do is hire a good accountant or book keeper who can advise you on how to go about this.

As I’m neither an accountant nor a book keeper, I’m not qualified to advise on this subject. But luckily I came across this article in Money Observer last week that gives an excellent overview of the things you should consider in order to be tax efficient. Please note that this information applies to the UK only.