Archive for January, 2008
Jan
29
Posted by Mary
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I recently came across an article on The Simple Dollar website entitled “Dealing With A Bad Day Without Spending Money.” The author, Trent Hamm, listed 6 things that help him to chill out after a bad day and don’t cost a thing. I was inspired by the suggestions he listed and came up with 13 of my own that are directed toward women.
Men and women often have a completely different idea of what it means to relax at the end of a bad day. My husband enjoys playing X-box to relax, which is the last thing I would consider. The following ideas may appeal to men as well, but I think they tend to have a softer spot for women.
www.savingadvice.com/blog/2008/01/29/102014_13-ways-women-can-avoid-emotional-spending.html
Jan
29
Posted by Mary
Jaguar Marketing has been a very powerful and influential force in the world of
internet marketing for almost 4 years now. Founder and CEO Al Turnquist continues
to improve all aspects of Jaguar Marketing on a daily basis, propelling it to
one of the hottest home based internet marketing businesses to date!
read more | digg story
Jan
26
Posted by Mary
Not everyone wants to be involved in a business opportunity or want to ebay. Some people just want a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the week while being home taking care of their children. This article gives you a heads up on where to begin your search for that Work at Home Job.
read more | digg story
Jan
25
Posted by Mary
A few tips and tricks to get you making the most out of your working day, particularly good advice for those who are trying to work from home and professional bloggers.
read more | digg story
Jan
22
Posted by Mary
Here are a few suggestions to those of you who have told your bosses that you are “working from home” today: Some of my favorites: 1. DO NOT leave your cell phone back in the living room when you step out to the diner for a couple of hours. 2. DO take your BlackBerry and cell phone when you go to the bathroom.
read more | digg story
Jan
22
Posted by Mary
NSFW - Problems while working at home. Commercial for Sony.
read more | digg story
Jan
20
Posted by Mary
Working at home can be more promising if you do the right things. Read this post how it pays to work at home these days.
read more | digg story
Jan
20
Posted by Mary
Many of you know that I’ve worked from home since 2001. The transition was tougher than anticipated but after making some adjustments, I’ll never go back to a cube - not alive at least. Here’s how to successfully work from home
read more | digg story
Jan
20
Posted by Mary
Internet has created a lot of “work from home” opportunities. Home based online jobs have given financial freedom to a lot of people.
Some great ideas to get legitimate work from home jobs from a successful freelancer.
read more | digg story
Jan
18
Posted by eddysalomon
Another day and another scam. I recently received an emailed job offer allegedly from the "Derby House Fabrics" company. I’ll spare you the suspense. It’s a scam. Let me start off by saying that there may actually be a legitimate company named "Derby House Fabrics".
Scam artists are like a viruses they spread and adapt quickly. [...]
Jan
17
Posted by eddysalomon
When people think of work at home, they are usually just limiting themselves to work at home jobs. That is a major no no and might be the reason you’re reading this article and haven’t started making money at home yet. Not many people realize that there are actually many types of work from home [...]
Jan
15
Posted by Deb
Thanks for your understanding. I don’t have much of an appetite but I’m out of bed and that’s a good thing. Best wishes to Jodee’s family for a speedy recovery. Here are your Monday Markets:
(more…)
Please help keep us going.
Jan
15
Posted by Jodee
Hi All,
The stomach bug is over here today as well. I’m OK but my daughter is feeling awful. I’m running a little late this morning as a result. I’ll have job leads up soon, though.
Jodee
Please help keep us going.
Jan
15
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
If you’ve been listening to the podcasts here at FreelanceSwitch.com, you know that I am a sucker for nice office supplies. Anything with color, anything with a cute design…these are the things that make my office a restful, organized place for me.
But there is that time of year that stirs it all up for me—when I need to refill my planner.
Don’t ask me why, but I can never find the pages with the layout that I like. I go from store to store each year searching for weekly pages with horizontal daily planning room. Instead, I find pages with tiny one-inch columns and scores of hourly markers down the side that are ideal mostly for busy doctors. This is my challenge.
I own one of those fake leather binder types of planners, which cost me about $40 a few years back. (It’s about 5”x8”, and a dull shade of wondrous lavender, to boot!) To save on buying a new planner each year, I always plan on getting refill pages for it to kick off the New Year when I’ve run out of old pages. Simple, right?
This is always a nightmare for me. Every. Single. Year.
I began this year’s hunt in December, as dates were starting to fill up for January. Having nowhere to write things down, I began to panic and reach for the Post-It’s. I’m a very visual kind of gal and I need to have things organized in simple, bulleted lists. I also need the right planner pages. To me, this means having a yearly tabbed calendar and weekly pages where I can prioritize my to-do list horizontally. It’s just what works for me.
After hunting around on the Internet and finding the pages I liked, I balked at the price. Here they were—perfect pristine refill pages without the number slots. There were simply about 10 or so lines to write out my list of to-do’s each day. There were no restrictive columns or unsightly extras—just what I needed. They ran about $25. But they had a garden design. I can’t even grow weeds in a pot. I decided to shop around.
Then came the Moleskine. I was set on getting one of their planners because everyone raves about them. So I thought I’d give Old Lav a rest. Just when I ordered it on Amazon, the universe must have somehow collided. About a week later (and closer to January, with dates piling up on Post-It™ notes, now) Amazon emails me to tell me they’re out of that planner. Do I want to reorder in the smaller size?
No way, Jose. Again, I need simple clean pages. Why is this so hard? And is everyone on earth really writing in one-inch columns and enjoying it? (It’s okay if you are.)
Back to the Drawing Board
Finally, after popping in countless office supply stores, I decided to follow the bread crumbs back to Target, where I found my pages last year after weeks of toil. Surely, they would have them!
But no! The small selection of pages all that had vertical columns running down the pages, with those ever-so-annoying hourly slots. There are tons of pages that enable you to plan your whole day over the span of two pages, but I realize I would be wasting paper that way.
Alas, there is a light. I found the tabbed calendar pages where you can see a month over two pages and bought those there. They were six bucks. Came home and put them in. Okay, Kristen, I thought to myself. You’re halfway there. You just need the pages where you have your week spread out over two pages and you have plenty of space to make your obsessive (sometimes color-coded) to-do lists.
A few days later, after a trip to Barnes and Noble, I score a cute lavender planner for just six bucks. I decided to stop being fanatical and just settle for what’s out there. Now my Target pages are obsolete, but at least I have a planner. After going through and writing birthdays and now importing my January reminders into the thing, I realize it’s true—I just can’t do this all year. I can’t ignore the numbers running down the sides of the pages. I can’t make my handwriting smaller to fit in these puny columns. So I slept on it. Woke up, tossed the planner in the garbage, and went to a different Staples.
Perfection at Last
There before me, like a Christmas miracle, are my pages. On the bottom row where no one would ever see them, among countless planner refill pages with icky designs and planner pages that promise maximum organization but make me want to shoot myself, they are there. Unfortunately the only design is pink and purple flowers, but they are at least there. I can live with flowers after all. The pages are about 12 dollars. But I don’t care—I’ve got to have them. If I don’t end this debacle once and for all, I may start writing February’s deadlines into the wood on my desk.
And so, the great calendar debacle ends. After weeks of countless shopping. After seeing droves of brand new organizers with the pages I like in them staring before me, I have managed not to rip them out and run out of stores. After seeing thousands of columns on plain black-and-white pages, I have risen above and not given in. I’ve conquered.
What You Need to Run Your Business—No Matter How Bizarre
Aside from my bizarre quirk about the right planner refill pages, there is a moral to the story, I swear.
Whatever you need to do business, get it. It could be the right lamp or that desk that’s perfectly ergonomical. It could be the printer that flawlessly fits on your desk, as opposed to the one you’d have to rewire your entire office to accommodate. It could be planner refill pages that suit your to-do list style.
Whatever it is, don’t sacrifice your comfort. These things may seem small, but they are everything when it comes to helping you run your business smoothly. And you’re worth it.
I do realize I am a bit obsessive. But after filling in dates and writing my infamous to-do lists in this, my official new calendar of 2008, I can tell you the year already looks even better. At least on paper.
Kristen Fischer is a freelance writer and author living in New Jersey. Her first book, Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs is available at www.creativelyselfemployed.com.
Jan
15
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
Today is a month since we launched the book as a for-download PDF ebook. I’m happy to announce we now have it available via Lulu.com as a paperback!
The book costs $35 (to account for publishing fees and Lulu’s commissions) and you can grab it immediately from the Lulu site.
You can also view the first few pages along with the contents pages in the Lulu Book Preview.
And of course the PDF is still available for $29 and has been purchased by over 700 people!
Purchase It
Purchase a PDF copy of the book online and pay via PayPal.
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Purchase a paperback copy of the book, via Lulu.com
Feedback and Suggestions
Because we believe in continually improving things, we’ve now set about creating a second edition of the book. We’re trying to address any criticisms found in reviews of the book or from customers. If you have any feedback or suggestions you’d like to give or make, then please do fill in this feedback form, and thank you in advance for helping us better our product!
Coming Soon - Rockstarbooks Website + More Books
We’re working hard on a Rockstarbooks website and more books, so look out for more announcements soon!
Jan
14
Posted by eddysalomon
Because there are so many work at home scams out there people have become very wary of all work from home opportunities. They don’t know who to believe or trust. Most work at home websites and consumer protection agencies tend to agree that "The Better Business Bureau" is a good place to do your research [...]
Jan
14
Posted by Deb
Hi friends, I know I promised Monday markets but my whole family is suffering from a stomach virus. We’ll have Monday Markets up in the next day or two.
- Deb
Please help keep us going.
Jan
14
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
Ad Break: Post Freelance Jobs for Free! It costs nothing to post a job, and just $7 a month to become a freelance member
Jan
14
Posted by Jodee
Leads…
Good Luck!
Jodee
Please help keep us going.
Jan
14
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
Probably the most glamorous aspect of the web freelance lifestyle — aside from working when you want, how you want — is the ability to work from anywhere in the world.
Theoretically, all you need is a computer and some kind of internet connection. As you know, these key ingredients are available everywhere from Romania to Peru (especially if you BYO a laptop).
Achieving the kind of flexibility that will allow you to take a working holiday anywhere in the world does take some time and effort, though it’s certainly worth the pay-off. In this final part of the Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series I’ll be explaining how you can achieve ultimate flexibility as a freelancer by working when you want, how you want, where you want.
Part 1: Eliminating Externalities
The essence of building a mobile office is to eliminate externalities. Lugging around books, paperwork, a PDA, calendars, ledgers and diaries isn’t exactly conducive to breezy, light-weight travel.
Ultimately, your office should exist on your laptop and spill out as little as possible.
While every home office is different, you can begin the transformation with a two question process:
1. Will I really need this when working remotely?
If no, don’t take it with you. If yes, proceed to question two.
2. Can I put this on my laptop, or achieve the same effect using a laptop?
These days you can replicate almost any aspect of a home office using technology (and mostly free technology).
- Manage your important dates with Google Calendar.
- Manage your To Do lists with, well, any one of these.
- Scan your paperwork and important files and keep them on your hard drive.
- Manage payment and invoices with PayPal.
- Etc.
To find more digital equivalents for your home office, Google is your friend.
Part 2: Becoming paperless
Paperwork is another aspect of working from home that will tie you to one location. The second half of building a mobile office is to eliminate paperwork, or deal with it online.
This will be most difficult when you’re just getting started with web freelancing. This is because fully-fledged web freelancers will, more often than not, invoice and get paid online. In some ways, becoming paperless is easier for us than for others. Correspondence and payment from clients is primarily carried out online.
If you still expect to receive work-related mail, a service like Earth Class Mail (currently US only and starting at $9.95 p/month) will send you scans of your sealed mail via email. You can then have the contents securely scanned and emailed to you in .pdf format, shredded, forwarded, and so on.
Alternately, you can enlist a friend, family member or virtual assistant to open your mail and either summarize by email what you need to know, or scan and send you copies — possibly in exchange for a nice bottle of wine upon your return ;-).
You’ll also want to enable online banking and, if possible, online bill-pay to manage expenses online. The kind of services you can use will depend on where you’re based internationally.
You can use a secure web app like Mint to keep track of your finances, debt, income, expenses and anything else involving dollars and cents.
Remember: while the computer crash that destroyed your last big project was heart-breaking, the loss of essential paperwork can have serious implications. Make sure than every aspect of your paperless office is regularly backed up and stored in multiple locations.
Part 3: Connectivity, anywhere
International mobile broadband and equivalents are expensive and probably out of reach for most of us, so I won’t go into much detail about those options here. Ideally, you’ll want to locate yourself near free wireless locations or pick accommodation that provides internet connectivity for lodgers.
Wi-Fi Free Spot is a comprehensive directory listing of free wireless locations across the US and elsewhere. For countries with few listings, a simple Google search for ‘free wireless’ + ‘location’ will likely yield some results you can use to help plan your trip.
If you want to go somewhere particularly remote or not so wealthy, internet cafes become another workable option. You’ll want to do as much as possible offline and use them only when necessary (they tend to be chaotic working environments, particularly in places where not many people have home internet access).
You can use a USB thumb drive to transfer your work to an internet cafe computer and send it to clients, or to download files you may need while offline.
Part 4: A holiday that pays for itself?
Once you’ve built a mobile office and have found a place to connect, you’re in the enviable position of being able to earn an income anywhere. If you’re in a place where the exchange rate is favorable, you may be able to earn just as much as you would at home, while spending much less.
If you’re doing some work as you travel (how much is up to you), the trip will, at least partially, pay for itself.
If you’re single, or if you have an adventurous spouse/family, you could relocate overseas for an extended period and run your freelance business from a dream location. The Caribbean? Hawaii? Brazil? France? The choice is yours.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series on becoming a web freelancer. While I don’t expect everyone who reads this to drop everything, build a digital office and relocate to the Bahamas, I do hope it will at least get you thinking about the kind of freedom offered by working online.
Getting there is not as hard as you think. You just have to allow yourself the freedom to do it.
This concludes this four part series of posts. You can read more from Skellie at her brand new blog Anywired
Jan
13
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
The web worker has a very different kind of working day. Clients are lined up and liaised with through email, payments come in via PayPal and Facebook trumps the television when procrastination time comes around.
To be efficient and effective as a web worker you’ll need to come to grips with a few important tools and change some rusted-on behaviours. In part 3 of the Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series I’ll describe exactly what you need to make it through your first working day (and every day after that) as a wired freelancer.
Equipment
Computer — if you want to go mobile a laptop is essential, but if you’re content working from home any half-decent computer will do. Some web workers swear by Macs, others swear by Linux, others are PC devotees. My advice is to go for the operating system you find easiest to use — or the one you can afford. The Web 2.0 hipsters might have their preference, but they’re not doing your work for you, are they?
Fast internet connection — while it’s possible to be a dial-up web worker (I’m doing it at the moment, but only out of financial necessity!), it’s not very cool — or very productive. If a fast connection allows you to do a day’s extra work each year, it pays for itself.
USB thumb drive — I’d suggest getting a USB thumb drive big enough to store your current project on it. If you’re a freelance writer you’ll be storing mainly documents and text files, so you can get something really cheap. If you’re a web developer or designer you’ll need a more heavy-duty option — but you’re also probably a technophile, so I don’t need to tell you that.
Optional: Scanner – sometimes nothing beats a pen and paper for getting an idea across, sketching and brainstorming. A scanner will allow you to share your pen and paper sketches with clients instantly. You can also make digital copies of paperwork (if you need it). If you’re an illustrator or animator, a scanner is a must-have.
Client liaison
Email — the only option for me, I’ve had no troubles working with clients over email. It encourages a kind of professionalism that’s hard to capture through other mediums. The relatively slow response time means you’ll soon learn to ask the right questions from the outset.
That being said, I’m a freelance web writer and that gives me a lot of autonomy. If you’re working closely with a client on a design, for example, you’ll probably need to make heavier use of more immediate options.
(For many web workers, there’s email, and then there’s Gmail. You can use a different email client, but prepare to be mildly teased/socially ostracized).
Skype — if you’re missing the sound of your clients’ voices over the phone (or just feeling lonely), Skype is the liaising option for you. It can take 5 minutes to work out something that would take three days via email. That being said, a call through Skype is a bigger interruption than a new email in your inbox — particularly if you’ve started working online to finally escape the sound of forever ringing phones…
Instant Messenger — if you’re searching for the immediacy of Skype without the awkward silences, IM could be the client liaison option for you.
Just remember not to LOL in the wrong places.
Getting paid
PayPal — corporate clients will often want to pay you old-school style, but individuals will favor PayPal. You lose a few dollars in the transfer process, but the immediacy and control is worth it. You can invoice and get paid within minutes if your client is online. PayPal will also handle the conversion of foreign dollars into your home currency for you.
If you’re one of those people who’ve been somehow wronged by PayPal and don’t want to use it, there are alternatives (but clients happily using PayPal might be a bit grumpy about the inconvenience).
Time management
Resisting temptation — I’ve always thought freelance ink illustrators would be masters of productivity, because none of the tools of their trade actively encourage procrastination — unless doodling counts?
If you thought the temptations of traditional freelancing were bad, for a web worker, they’re just one click away. We’re also good at convincing ourselves that procrastination is work. Reading feeds is “research”. Facebook is “networking”. StumbleUpon is for “inspiration”.
I can’t really think of a solution for this. I’m too busy writing an update on Twitter.
Anti-procrastination charms and pendants — usually called ‘Web Apps’ and ‘Firefox extensions’, a common piece of advice given to web workers can be summed up like this: more web apps and extensions = more productivity — though the sources of this advice wouldn’t like it being so brutally paraphrased.
I’m going to be a luddite here and say this equation is wrong. Technology won’t magically make you more productive. In fact, I think a lot of web workers fall into the trap of spending more time reading about productivity and learning to use new productivity tools than they do actually being productive!
My rule: if it’s faster than doing the same thing with pen and paper, keep it. If not, scrap it, be old-school and proud of it (and more productive).
Having said that, keeping your paperwork to a minimum is essential if you want to work anywhere in the world… something I’ll be covering in the last part of the series, Part 4 — coming soon.
Part 4 of the series will be online tomorrow, you can also read more from Skellie at her brand new blog Anywired
Jan
12
Posted by Deb
Here’s what I’m reading this weekend:
Enjoy and have a nice weekend!
Deb
Please visit some of my other blogs:
Please help keep us going.
Jan
12
Posted by Deb
I always say my blogs are nothing without my community. I get all my ideas and inspiration from you and I’m always touched by how helpful you are to each other. Even though I’m surprised Freelance Writing Jobs won the Performancing’s Reader’s Choice Awards for "Best Blog Community", I’m not surprised because you’re the most loyal, helpful and interactive blog community out there. Plus you’re genuinely nice people. A community isn’t one person, it’s a collection of people. This isn’t my award, it’s your award. So pat yourselves on the back for a job well done, you truly are the best.
Freelance Writing Jobs also came in second to Copy Blogger for Best Writing/Blogging blog. This came as a major surprise. While Copy Blogger is indeed my choice for number one, others such as ProBlogger, Dosh Dosh, Daily Blog Tips and Lorelle on WordPress are bigger and better blogs. I honestly didn’t find myself worthy of this list. Thanks for putting me there. Glaringly missing is my favorite blogger about blogging, Chris Garrett and my all time favorite blogger Liz Strauss. I’d like to share my second place trophy with them as they’re the folks I draw on for inspiration. Even though they don’t know it, they’ve been helping me out for years.
See the complete list of winners at Performancing.
Please help keep us going.
Jan
12
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
Freelance web work gives you the flexibility to work for clients anywhere in the world, drastically increasing the size of your target market. Because work is arranged through the web, you can liaise with clients from any city in the world. You’re no longer tied to a single location.
‘International Freelancer’ sounds a lot cooler than ‘San Diego Freelancer’, doesn’t it?
In Part 2 of the ‘Becoming a Freelance Web Worker‘ series I’ll be sharing 23 ways freelancers can find work online. Once you find your clients through the web, most of the hard work is done. You’ll be well on your way to becoming a web-only freelancer with the ability to work (and be paid) from anywhere in the world.
All freelancers
- Build a solid online portfolio
A killer online portfolio will be something you can show prospective clients to turn them into done-deals. A well-promoted portfolio can also get you job offers on autopilot as web traffic flows in steadily.
- Create a thriving blog
My own blog, Skelliewag.org, has functioned as my portfolio and client generating machine all in one. Creating a thriving blog does take time but in my experience will be worth the effort. A tip: write for an audience who are also likely to be prospective clients.
- Get work through Linkedin
Collis has shared 8 great tips on how to do this. Linkedin is steadily growing and it’s really worth developing a profile there.
- Get clients to come to you
Chris has written a nice primer on this strategy. By building a profile within your target market, clients will begin to seek you out, rather than the other way around.
- Use your forum signature
Aim to become a helpful and interesting voice on a forum frequented by your target market. Use your forum signature to advertise your freelancing services.
- Send out email to your contacts
Send out an email to your address book explaining what you can do for them as a freelancer. This list should include former clients and personal acquaintances — both a good source of potential work.
- Cold email
Cold emailing is a lot less scary than cold-calling. Search out members of your target market and email/contact them offering your services. You could hook them in with a free consultation or a can’t resist introductory deal. A tip: target people who look like they’re in need of your services.
- Run a Google AdWords campaign
As a web worker you won’t need to make your advertisements location based (but you can if you want). AdWords is an advertising method favored by many freelancers.
- Advertise in online directories
With a bit of searching you’ll be able to unearth several online directories where you can advertise your services. Here’s one to get you started: Sologig. Our Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites has plenty more sites you can use to get noticed.
- Write an eBook or report for your target market
A free eBook or report is a great way to build your profile. There’s also a chance it will go viral. Include your freelance details somewhere in the eBook and, if it’s successful, it might just send you a stream of new clients.
- Trawl online job boards
Probably the most traditional method of the lot, applying via online job boards is a tried and tested way to get work when the clients aren’t coming to you. Get started at the FSw job boards. Our Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites is another essential reference for anyone looking for work.
- Search engine optimize your portfolio or website
Search traffic is another targeted source of potential clients. The great thing is that once you get it, the traffic will trickle in constantly. Try this beginner’s guide to search engine optimization to get you started.
Photographers
- Optimize your Flickr account
Add your freelancing details and availability to the blurb of your favorite photos. Optimize your Flickr profile to inform and convert prospective clients, too. Create a Flickr set called ‘Portfolio’ to give interested visitors somewhere to go.
- Start an online photojournal or photography blog
Photojournals and blogs will allow you to showcase your work and bring in potential clients.
Programmers and developers
- Write a simple, useful web app
Offer it as a download from your website or portfolio. It will generate traffic, build your profile and bring prospective clients closer to your details.
- Become a forum authority
Forums on programming and web development are generally full of people who want their questions answered. Be helpful and informative. Some people might just say thanks by hiring you!
Illustrators and animators
- Start a comic strip blog
These blogs have the potential to be really popular (see: xkcd and gaping void) and they’ll also showcase your skills to prospective clients.
- Do a comic strip/illustration for a big blog or website
Make it free, with one caveat: that each strip/illustration contains a link to your portfolio or website and a by-line explaining that you’re a freelancer available for hire.
- Optimize your DeviantArt profile
DeviantArt remains the web’s number 1 art community. Share your work and include freelancing details in your profile and in the description of your best stuff.
Writers
- Pitch yourself to blogs and websites
An ever-increasing number of clever web entrepreneurs are running their blogs and websites on autopilot. They pay others to write the content and pocket the left-over profits. Contact established blogs and let them know you want to be a part of their success (blogs with only a small readership probably won’t have the funds to hire writers).
- Guest-post and use your byline to advertise
A guest-post is the perfect advertisement for your writing skills. If the blog’s owner isn’t interested in hiring you, one of their readers might be. Use your guest-post byline to advertise your freelancing services.
Designers
- List your profile at design sites
Coroflot and Design Is Kinky are two good places to start.
- Create a free Wordpress theme
WP themes are in high demand. Create a good one and link to your portfolio in the footer. You’ll get a link each time someone uses your theme. If it’s good, admirers will look to the footer to see who’s responsible.
In Part 3 of the series I’ll be sharing how you can liaise with clients and carry out all your freelance work online. Stay tuned!
Part 3 of the series will be online tomorrow, you can also read more from Skellie at her brand new blog Anywired
Jan
11
Posted by Deb
Do you request a deposit from your client before you begin a project? Many writers, especially those who write for the web, don’t request deposits at all. In fact, many clients won’t hire a writer who requests a deposit.
Here’s why you should and why many don’t.
(more…)
Please help keep us going.
Jan
11
Posted by Jodee
Leads…
Good Luck!
Jodee
Please help keep us going.
Jan
11
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
It’s becoming increasingly common for freelancers to have an online component to their work. You might find clients online, have an online portfolio or work for some clients completely through the web.
In this post, I want to go a step further and answer the question: what if all aspects of your freelancing work were done online?
In this Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series of posts I’ll be outlining a complete guide to becoming a web-only freelancer: how to find clients, how to work completely online and how to run your freelancing business from anywhere in the world.
Why I think you need this guide
At the end of January I’ll be a web worker in the purest sense of the term: my freelancing and income will be completely online based. I find clients online, I work online and I get paid online.
I’m still coming to terms with what this means for me. Working as an offline freelancer is already more flexible than almost any job you can name: you have the power to work for who you want, when you want.
Working as an online-only freelancer takes this flexibility to another level. You can work for who you want, when you want, in any state or country in the world (all you need is an internet connection and a computer).
Traveling — as wonderful as it is — no longer needs to be a money sink. You could be working from an internet cafe in London, a coffee shop in Tokyo or a library in New York and your clients wouldn’t know the difference.
Another advantage of web freelancing for non-US based freelancers is that the primary currency of web work is the US Dollar, which will almost always equate to more in your home currency.
If being paid in US dollars and having the freedom to work (and get paid) anywhere in the world appeals to you, this series will explain how you can make that dream a reality.
- From finding all your work online…
There are a number of strategies you can use to source-out future clients online. As long as you’re still getting clients through offline methods you’ll stay tethered to one particular location. In the next post in the series I’ll explain how you can attract a steady stream of potential clients through the web.
- … to working through the web
Web work is a unique freelancing environment with a lot of opportunities (and some potential pitfalls you should avoid). Part 3 of the series will explain how to effectively do all your freelancing work (and get paid for it) online.
- … anywhere in the world.
Part 4 of the series will outline what you need to do freelance work as you travel interstate or internationally.
Give some thought to your own situation and how becoming a web-only freelancer would (or wouldn’t) benefit you. Feel free to share your thoughts below. I’d also be interested to hear what you’d like included in the rest of the series, if you have any specific questions or requests. Stay tuned to learn how to source-out all your clients online.
Part 2 of the series will be online tomorrow, you can also read more from Skellie at her brand new blog Anywired
Jan
11
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
One of my many day jobs — among them were bodyguarding, selling roses in bars, and sports reporting for the American Thoroughbred industry — was teaching writing at the college level. Faced with a roomful of pilots at an aeronautical university who really, really did not wish to be bothered with comma splices, I threw out the textbook the English department gave me with its carefully chosen, PC-balanced literary selections and ordered Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit instead. If these captains-in-training were going to learn how to love words, they were going to do it with a horse story written by a girl.
They soon realized that the book was really about a man clinging to an outside power to free him — just as they felt every time they climbed into a cockpit. Hillenbrand describes Seabiscuit’s jockey, the constantly injured Red Pollard, as a “caged bird.” The pilots and I talked about that phrase a great deal, and although they eyed me as their own jailer when I handed out essay assignments, I never told them about my own corporate cage.
My Own Corporate Cage
Before teaching was a year and a half of listless toil at an engineering firm. Near the end of it, my day job supervisor had summoned me for a reckoning.
Her voice through the office intercom was quite normal, was extremely Wednesday afternoon, and I had long since wearied of being beckoned to this woman’s desk in varying shades of terror by what sounded like a very angry vocal range, only to be asked my opinion on brochure color schemes.
That day I leaned my head into her office, eyebrows raised. There were no brochures in sight.
“Close the door,” she said.
I closed my eyes instead.
“Sit down.”
I sat.
There had, it seemed, been complaints. I was distracted. I was making mistakes. I was not taking initiative. I was not purchasing the company spiritwear. And I was, for the next forty-five days, on probation.
“You are completely unmotivated,” my supervisor told me. “It’s like you’re fighting your own job. I’m getting the impression that you’re not happy here.”
I did not disagree.
“You’re going to need retraining,” she said.
The Rock—“lightly raced,”
In New York at that very moment, a high school quarterback of a young Thoroughbred stood outside the starting gate of Belmont Park. He was massive. He was hunky. He was Rock Hard Ten, and he was rapidly developing a reputation as a wondrously talented, hugely athletic head case.
The Rock—“lightly raced,” the press calls him, to the point where one began to think these words are part of his name—the Lightly Raced Rock Hard Ten has had his problems. Bumped out of the Kentucky Derby, he pounded his way to a many-lengths-behind finish in the Preakness.
The Lightly Raced Rock Hard Ten’s big gigantic media moment in the Preakness, however, came before the race went anywhere at all. He took being the last to load in the starting gate with excessive literalness. The Rock took one look at that unforgiving metal filing cabinet of a stall and did not cotton to it in the slightest. He kicked. He spun. He balked. He did everything but ask his jockey, Gary Stevens, for one more story and a glass of water before lights out.
This was not a stupid horse. This was a large horse, seventeen hands and then some, I am told. The angels touched his four hooves to this Earth to run upon it. He was not, however, made for a starting gate. It was like watching somebody try to maneuver an SUV into a parking space for a Yugo.
Every now and then a horse and a jockey, saddled and legged up by the trainer but paired by God, will wrap their consciousness around one another, their souls connected through the thin leather of a racing saddle. They will talk together, these two. Pollard and Seabiscuit had it. Turcotte and Secretariat had it. George Woolf had it with everything on four legs and a steady hay diet.
The best jockeys have it with many mounts. They form a nearly telepathic relationship with the horse, seeing the best position on the track a single fluid glance, writing the race in beautiful tandem cursive, creating the win as one. I do not possess this type of intelligence—the only thing a horse has ever said to me was “Bombs away, beyotch,” when she did her level best to scrape me to ground beneath a pine branch at a high trot—but sometimes if you lean in real close you can overhear the conversation:
STEVENS: We need to get in the gate now.
ROCK HARD TEN: Mmmmmmmmmmmm… no.
STEVENS: Seriously. I took an eight hour plane trip to ride your overgrown hide for two minutes. Get in the gate.
ROCK HARD TEN: I don’t wanna. Gary, I don’t want to get in the gate.
STEVENS: Get in the gate. GETINTHEGATEGETINTHEGATE.
ROCK HARD TEN: NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO….
They resorted to physical force, in the end.
Stevens dismounted, and six grown men locked arms behind the Rock and just manhandled him into the gate. For all his natural gifts, for his big huge open stride and rugged win-making, The Lightly Raced Rock Hard Ten simply could not bear to be closed into that tiny little space. He was having none of this business of being trapped—even if a big fat winner’s circle check was waiting for him once he was sprung free. He didn’t care about the money; he just cared about not getting into that scary-looking box.
I watched all this at the time, sitting on my futon with a notebook in my lap, heavy in the knowledge that the day job loomed there steely and cold a mere thirty-six hours away. I saw Stevens watching his mount get into the gate without him and the other horses standing quietly and I thought: “Have a nice run, soul foal.”
Driving in Heels
When I was in the corporate world, I drove to work wearing high heels. It’s a tough thing, you know, driving in high heels. They get caught under the accelerator and rub against the floor mat and sometimes you can’t get the dirt out of the backs of them.
It was a bad scene, my car in the morning. Some days I just stood there with my key in the driver’s side door, the gorgeous morning I was about to be shut away from just barely grazing my face: Did I really have to do this all over again? Really?
“I wish I could write like you,” people have said to me, and I thank them sincerely and tell them not to ask me to attempt any long division, and all the while I am mentally shaking my head, for nooooo, you don’t. You really, really don’t. I do not wish professional writerdom on anybody. I live it, and thank God for it, and cannot imagine anything else; but on no other human being do I wish this daily business of attempting to cram a beach ball into a coffeemaker. That’s daily existence on a day job, for a writer. “I can handle it, ” you think, “I can handle it I can handle it…” until you just can’t anymore. In the meantime you just stop bothering with mascara in the morning because it gets all cried off by the time you get to the parking garage anyway. It’s simply a matter of shoving yourself into that little space to in order to make the rent, day in and day out, with the prospect of a couple minutes of free and clear running on the other side of it.
Retrained
If Rock Hard Ten was pulling these stunts beneath the steadying hand of his buddy Gary Stevens–watching them together, you kind of got the feeling that they hang out at happy hour once the racing is done, Gary and the Rock, smoking cigars and talking fillies– then there was no frickin’ way he was relaxing under a new jockey at the starting gate of the final race for the Triple Crown, located approximately four millimeters from all the noise in the world.
And so he was retrained.
They took him Rock Hard Ten the gate. For days before the race, a starter specialist led the colt into the gate, assistants petting him all the way. They stood him, turned him, talked softly to him. Pet pet pet. There was wine and after-dinner mints. You see, Rock? This is not so bad. This is not so bad, is it?
The Rock reconciled. I can do this! I can do this I can do this. It will suck but I can do this. He settled down, stopped resisting, stopped pouring his considerable might into fighting a battle he could never really win.
And on the big day, at the Belmont, before the world, when it really counted, when the paycheck was on the line… he fought and kicked and spun and bucked. The new jockey, too, had to dismount before Rock Hard Ten at last consented to enter his cell.
They could retrain him, they could shove him, they could coax him, they could bribe him, this lightly raced Rock Hard Ten.
But they could not change who he was, and how badly he wanted to just get out.
Jan
11
Posted by FreelanceSwitch.com
The seventh episode of Freelance Radio, the official FreelanceSwitch podcast, is now available! This episode, the first of 2008, and we talk about resolutions for the New Year, illness, geographic marketing and more!
Subscriptions to the podcast are available via iTunes and an archive of all podcasts will appear in the podcast section. We hope you enjoy it!
Subscribe to Freelance Radio on iTunes
You can subscribe on other podcast aggregators by using our podcast feed–it’s simply http://feeds.feedburner.com/FreelanceRadio.
The Shownotes:
- Theme of the Episode: This episode’s theme is New Year’s resolutions, and we all share our resolutions for 2008.
- Fantastic Forum Post and Mailbag: We talk about dealing with illness as a freelancer and have an audio question from Elliot from Hawaii, who asks about geographic marketing.
- Freelance Radio Recommends…: Each panelist recommends a freelancing tool. John goes with AntiRSI and Workrave (Windows/Linux), two tools for staving off carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive stress injury (RSI) and other workplace injuries. Dickie suggests the book Real World Digital Photography. Cyan recommends resolution-keeping site http://www.startaresolution.com and Kristen proposes the book Eat, Pray, Love.
- Outro: This week’s song is by Burn Back and is called Make the Logo Bigger. Visit them online at http://www.burn-back.com and http://www.myspace.com/burnback.
And that’s the sixth episode! If you like it, please feel free to rate it in iTunes or your favorite podcast aggregator (check us out on Digg at http://www.digg.com/podcasts/Freelance_Radio), and don’t forget to email your questions/comments via the Freelance Radio form. If you’d like to record a question/comment or submit an original outro song, you can upload them via this form!
Ad Break: Post Freelance Jobs for Free! It costs nothing to post a job, and just $7 a month to become a freelance member
Jan
10
Posted by Deb
We are seeking a talented independent contractor who will work from home.
It’s been said that writing for some is like an incurable itch. If you have experience scratching that itch and can write with a purpose, you could be the copywriter extraordinaire we are searching for.
If you can create slogans that make people laugh, develop content that makes them think, and produce ads that compel them to act, then we want to hear from you. We are looking for someone with previous experience in creating and developing website content and online ads and who is currently looking for a home as part of a dynamic, professional, (and always excitable) creative team.
Still got that itch? Click below to find out more and then send us your info ("Apply Now" button at the bottom of the page).
Job Description Page: http://www.mediarich.net/jobs/07Dec_CW.php
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Please help keep us going.
Jan
10
Posted by Deb
The good thing about the Internet is how you don’t have to leave the house to learn. While it’s nice to be able to take courses at one’s local college, time and money are sometimes an issue. Don’t let either keep you from excelling at what you do. Here are some great places to find courses for writers. Some are free and some are a lot of money, but they’re all available to us online.
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