In college I took up a Business course which to my dismay was nowhere near as interesting as I thought it would be. Not to say that it isn't useful with my current employment or rather self employment. While the money is good, I find the job rather monotonous and too much routine based. Going back to what I enjoyed most in college other than the parties is the availability of errr "part time" jobs I had. NO i was not into the trade of err... personal fleshy services. I spent a great deal of time providing people with articles and research data.
After getting out of college I spent most of my time at my store, bossing people around and doing most of the manual labor. Which I really do not mind as much however as I've said it got rather boring and it does tend to stagnate the mind. In terms of not having the same " level" of thinking or intellect as subordinates can be frustrating as I've found that there are some matters you cannot enjoy discussing with them. What I did then was indulge in a lot of book reading to continuously stimulate my mind. When it became too costly as I can consume books in a blink of an eye, I started browsing the Internet. Once again I found my way back to writing. The idea of being able to earn money while keeping my day job was definitely enticing and fulfilling.
Writing freelance is an easy task as long as you know several things which I refer to as the basics. Here are several questions to ask yourself before delving into the land of freelance writing or freelance anything.
1) Do you have a regular job?
2) What are your expectations?
Freelance work is easy once you get your groove on. Finding your area of expertise or being a Jack of all trades requires that you are equipped with patience and the ability to be persistent. If you don't succeed the first time, try and try again.
3) Personal Data
Have a personal info sheet ready. Employers usually ask for information sheet. Only state general information. Such as your name, contact info/details. Email address, messenger ids like yahoo, msn, skype etc. Abilities, skills, references, attach sample work etc. This works two way, ask your would be employer one as well. For freelance beginners register in reliable sites like Get a Freelancer or Freelance.com. Transactions are done within the site and its easier for you to check each others credentials and user reviews.
4) Know the current going rates
Be familiar with the rates for certain areas of expertise. If your would be employer has a tight budget, think it over before accepting the job even if you're desperate to land that first project. Know the currency conversions, keep track of its constant fluctuations.
5) Terms of Payments
Now that you are familiar with the rates where do you want your money sent? Through the bank, via your bank account, atm, checking account? I recently received an email saying that PAYPAL is now available in my territory. Check the site to find out if its available in yours, make an account and you can have monetary transactions done safely. For Asia and especially the Philippines you can go to Xoom to avail of similar Paypal services. If online transactions make you uneasy and there are no banking options available, there are couriers such as Western Union that can course the money from your employer to you.
6) Timezone Differences
Know the time. Install a world clock, download a timetable for all cities/ territories. Ask your client/ employer about their timezone. Synchronize your time to theirs. Doing this ensures that you deliver your projects on time. Meeting deadlines is essential in creating a stable and reliable client base.
7) Help Desk
Word counts are one of the requirements in writing. COPYSCAPE not only does a word count, it also makes sure to check if there are any articles out there that are similar to yours. This will ensure that you will not be accused of plagiarizing other peoples work or vice versa.
When you're lost and you need answers to grammar, style, organization, or general research, its just a click away at Answers.com
Wikipedia gives you all the information you need on a subject matter. Wiki is your online encyclopedia resource center. If you want to go old school there's also Ask Jeeves to give you that instant retro feel.
These sites are just some of the examples of tools available online to help you produce quality pieces.
8) Always Proof read
Don't rely on your Office writing tool to do it for you. Your system auto corrects to a random word that would complete your sentence. DONT without the apostrophe could be auto corrected as DONUT. Your system isn't perfect it can only go as far as assuming what output you want, it is still in your hands to make the inputs. Your computer, program, system is there to guide you and make work faster and easier.
9) Don't bite off more than you can chew
As much as you want to show your new employer how diligent, productive, and reliable you are, make sure to only accept projects you can finish efficiently and effectively. One of the things I learned in Business school is that the best output is work done efficiently and effectively, this means getting the work done at a least probable cost. Simply put, you don't just get things done like some Survivor contestant racing to build a raft, instead you're the survivor contestant wanting to get a working raft done without compromising the quality in the fastest time possible.
10) R & R
Working too much isn't fun if you don't reap your rewards. For any type of job, its important to have fun. Rest and relax at the end of very long projects. You earned it, therefore enjoy it! I'm not saying go crazy, just do something reasonably enjoyable.
After getting out of college I spent most of my time at my store, bossing people around and doing most of the manual labor. Which I really do not mind as much however as I've said it got rather boring and it does tend to stagnate the mind. In terms of not having the same " level" of thinking or intellect as subordinates can be frustrating as I've found that there are some matters you cannot enjoy discussing with them. What I did then was indulge in a lot of book reading to continuously stimulate my mind. When it became too costly as I can consume books in a blink of an eye, I started browsing the Internet. Once again I found my way back to writing. The idea of being able to earn money while keeping my day job was definitely enticing and fulfilling.
Writing freelance is an easy task as long as you know several things which I refer to as the basics. Here are several questions to ask yourself before delving into the land of freelance writing or freelance anything.1) Do you have a regular job?
If you do, ask yourself why you want to do freelance work or in this case freelance writing. Understandably a lot of people do freelance work to earn extra income. Of course freelance writing can very much be a full time job as well.
2) What are your expectations?
Freelance work is easy once you get your groove on. Finding your area of expertise or being a Jack of all trades requires that you are equipped with patience and the ability to be persistent. If you don't succeed the first time, try and try again.
3) Personal Data
Have a personal info sheet ready. Employers usually ask for information sheet. Only state general information. Such as your name, contact info/details. Email address, messenger ids like yahoo, msn, skype etc. Abilities, skills, references, attach sample work etc. This works two way, ask your would be employer one as well. For freelance beginners register in reliable sites like Get a Freelancer or Freelance.com. Transactions are done within the site and its easier for you to check each others credentials and user reviews.
4) Know the current going rates
Be familiar with the rates for certain areas of expertise. If your would be employer has a tight budget, think it over before accepting the job even if you're desperate to land that first project. Know the currency conversions, keep track of its constant fluctuations.
5) Terms of Payments
Now that you are familiar with the rates where do you want your money sent? Through the bank, via your bank account, atm, checking account? I recently received an email saying that PAYPAL is now available in my territory. Check the site to find out if its available in yours, make an account and you can have monetary transactions done safely. For Asia and especially the Philippines you can go to Xoom to avail of similar Paypal services. If online transactions make you uneasy and there are no banking options available, there are couriers such as Western Union that can course the money from your employer to you.
6) Timezone Differences
Know the time. Install a world clock, download a timetable for all cities/ territories. Ask your client/ employer about their timezone. Synchronize your time to theirs. Doing this ensures that you deliver your projects on time. Meeting deadlines is essential in creating a stable and reliable client base.
7) Help Desk
Word counts are one of the requirements in writing. COPYSCAPE not only does a word count, it also makes sure to check if there are any articles out there that are similar to yours. This will ensure that you will not be accused of plagiarizing other peoples work or vice versa.
When you're lost and you need answers to grammar, style, organization, or general research, its just a click away at Answers.com
Wikipedia gives you all the information you need on a subject matter. Wiki is your online encyclopedia resource center. If you want to go old school there's also Ask Jeeves to give you that instant retro feel.
These sites are just some of the examples of tools available online to help you produce quality pieces.
8) Always Proof read
Don't rely on your Office writing tool to do it for you. Your system auto corrects to a random word that would complete your sentence. DONT without the apostrophe could be auto corrected as DONUT. Your system isn't perfect it can only go as far as assuming what output you want, it is still in your hands to make the inputs. Your computer, program, system is there to guide you and make work faster and easier.
9) Don't bite off more than you can chew
As much as you want to show your new employer how diligent, productive, and reliable you are, make sure to only accept projects you can finish efficiently and effectively. One of the things I learned in Business school is that the best output is work done efficiently and effectively, this means getting the work done at a least probable cost. Simply put, you don't just get things done like some Survivor contestant racing to build a raft, instead you're the survivor contestant wanting to get a working raft done without compromising the quality in the fastest time possible.
10) R & R
Working too much isn't fun if you don't reap your rewards. For any type of job, its important to have fun. Rest and relax at the end of very long projects. You earned it, therefore enjoy it! I'm not saying go crazy, just do something reasonably enjoyable.
1 comment:
This is amazing.
@^*_÷×÷^&5÷$;4"÷#,4%_$^÷%
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