Monday, August 31, 2009

The Ins and Outs of Freelancing by Tony Jacowski

What Is Freelancing?

Freelancing is doing work for an employer without contractual commitments to any one employer or company, working in one's own office, usually paid by the job, and the number and importance of jobs depends largely on reputation.

The freelancer often takes on the responsibility for getting a job done by identifying and hiring the necessary experts.

Benefits

Both the organization and the freelancer benefit from this arrangement. An organization gets a job done and pays less than it would to a salaried person. A freelancer learns from the variety of projects handled thereby building a rich and diverse background.

Freelancers may work simultaneously on more than one assignment.

Drawbacks

There are certain drawbacks to freelancing. Since there is no commitment beyond the current project, the freelancer is not under the wing of an employer and has no assurance of work.

No regular salary is paid and there are no fringe benefits.

What Kinds Of Jobs Do Freelancers Do?

The range of jobs is vast. Some typical jobs are writing, editing, web design, graphic design, and legal and medical transcription. Other jobs might be project development, administration, and data entry. Some freelancers do strictly research.

Many companies and organizations have projects that can be done by freelancers. Often a retired executive is appointed in the capacity of a consultant. Part-time help is sought for inventory control and management.

Today, one of the most sought-after skills is writing. Web designers are also in demand, and this can bring ongoing and continuous work.

The Obligations of Freelancing

Freelancers need to bear certain things in mind. Flexibility and adaptability are very important. The requirements of the employer need to be met. Work procedures should conform to client requirements.

Another important consideration is doing work the freelancer knows and is competent in rather than the kind of work available. It is the freelancer's responsibility to keep the client posted on the progress of the job and to check if alterations are needed. This helps build good reputation and rapport.

Freelancers need to be easy to get in touch with by phone, email or webcam.

Success in Freelancing

Reputation goes a long way in succeeding as a freelancer. It is best to settle into the work style of freelancing part-time before venturing into it full-time. Freelancing can be done locally, nationally, and even internationally.

Advertising and building a website and maintaining a mailing list will promote your efforts. In short, good networking is beneficial. The best thing about freelancing is that you can own your own business and work from home.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online ( rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/">http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for six sigma professionals including, lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Sick of Corporate Stress? Try Freelancing by Diana Schneidman

If you've spent any time online learning about the benefits of becoming a freelancer, consultant or some other type of entrepreneur, you are well aware of Johnny Paycheck's example and why you should tell them to "shove it."

Writers expand on the pleasures of self-employment: wear what you want, do what you want, sleep when you want, amuse yourself when you want, and ideally, have enough money to pursue all these pursuits and more.

Anything is better than your last job, whether you are now drop shipping Chinese-manufactured exercise equipment or selling old stuff from your basement on eBay, they argue. You just may be able to afford a second (or third) home and still have spare time to coach your child's T-ball team.

But lately there is an even more compelling justification for self employment: the commonplace, yet extreme, dysfunction of many corporate workplaces.

Now I don't have numbers to support my theory-I can't even suggest ways the Departments of Commerce or Labor would measure it-but the anecdotal evidence is pretty convincing. The atmosphere in the modern office is highly toxic. Psychological cyanide is billowing out the A/C vents and saturating those long gray hallways and gray cubicles.

What a time and energy drain the typical office has become.

Today, the very best part of freelancing is removing yourself from omnipresent corporate stress!

Let me reminisce about the early 1990s. The receptionist would get a call at 10:30 that everyone must be back from lunch by 1 for an ad hoc staff meeting. Right at 10:30 work would come to a complete stand-still and we'd gather to speculate about the big message.

Often if was merely that a different executive was being rotated in to head our department. We'd think that was big news, but it pales in importance to the major layoff notices coming down more recently.

Well, the stress is huge lately, in case you haven't noticed. Corporate employees are falling apart from the craziness.

If you've been working inside this environment, you know what I mean. It's the insanity that makes unemployment seem desirable. It is the underlying cause of silly arguments, temperamental blow-ups, withholding of critical info and most important, conflicting and impossible demands on staff.

The best thing about freelancing is that you can limit exposure to tension to 10 minute blocks of time, all of them by phone. We commiserate when the client is pressured or fearful, try to distill meaningful input, and convince them we know what we're doing and the results will be fine.

Then we hang up, go about our work, and thank God we don't work there. Or we sit back with our coffee, turn on Oprah or go for a walk. But mostly you smile, knowing it is their problem, not yours.

Or perhaps it is your problem. Your contact's job may be in jeopardy, and in turn, you may lose out on future assignments if they are let go.

There's a solution for this too. As a freelancer, you are always looking for the next assignment. So simply redouble your efforts, just in case.

Diana Schneidman helps unemployed and underemployed people who want to start earning money quickly as a freelancer or consultant. She has successfully practiced freelancing and editorial consulting in marketing communications and market research for the insurance and asset management industries since 1992. Access her free report that reveals "Two Secrets to Start Getting Freelance and Consulting Assignments Quickly and Two Dangerous Questions Guaranteed to Lock You Up in Analysis-Paralysis Prison" and other free information at http://www.StandUp8Times.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

Building an Internet Reputation For Successful Freelancing by M. Rivard

Developing a powerful Internet reputation and promoting your freelance business is not about income. It is about using the web to build your individual brand and enhance worth.

In order to build a successful Internet reputation, you must make connections within your industry and develop visibility. If you want to get people talking about you and spreading the word about your freelancing, they must be aware of your existence. It is important to develop a positive online persona that is visible in the right places.

First, you need to establish a base location online where existing and prospective customers are able to find additional information on you and your freelancing skills. The majority of freelance workers do this with their own blog, online portfolio or through one of the many available social sites.

A website associated with your business name is an ideal way to establish Internet presence, allowing you to build recognition for personality, form and style. Profiles on popular social networking sites and blogs effectively create an identity online that will aid you in developing relationships with prospective and existing customers as well as other freelance workers.

A base location is critical to building an Internet reputation for successful freelancing. If you do not already maintain a website, online portfolio or blog, then you should get started right away on one. It is best to create a brand name or use your name as a domain name. You do not have to go to extremes developing an online base, a basic blog or static site with a portfolio, biography, or resume should suffice.

When you create your blog, designate a couple of pages for your resume or portfolio, and then write posts on your niche. Your online base will give you a URL address that you can post on your social networking profile, blog comments and several other online communities.

Once you have developed a base location for your freelance business on the Internet, the next thing to do is make a list of the online communities of which you are interested in becoming a member. Be sure to include the most popular news sites, forums, blogs and social media networks. When you are creating your list, try to focus on location as well as on your particular niche. It is important to familiarize yourself with others in the same industry.

Once you have your list, come up with a schedule to register your profile on the social networks and contribute to your choice on online communities through article submissions, comments, discussions and much more. In no time, you will have built a powerful Internet reputation to help you succeed as a thriving freelancer.

Manage your online reputation and find legitimate work at home jobs at WhyDoWork.com, the Internet's leading community for freelancers and work at home job seekers.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Six Tips to Help Your Business Prosper in the New Economy

What's your strategy for emerging from the current recession with a stronger, healthier business? It's no longer business as usual and the economic recovery will take place in a new business landscape. Main Street businesses unable to adapt to this “new business norm” will find themselves struggling. Companies will need to quickly adjust to smaller consumer budgets, higher taxes, globalization, tighter credit and a new breed of empowered customers.

Here are six tips from executive coaching organization, Vistage international, to help your company adjust and remain competitive in this new business landscape.

#1 Take advantage of the stimulus plan

The U.S. stimulus plan has numerous tax deductions, credits and incentives that benefit businesses. It might be time to become an approved government supplier or vendor so you can take advantage of the federal dollars.

#2 Pursue innovation

There's one essential post-financial-crisis action that all businesses need to undertake: Add more value to your offering. To figure out where to add value, tap the brain trust of both your customers and your employees.

#3 Understand your customer better

To figure out what your customers want, spend time with them and listen to what they have to say. You'll deepen your relationship and get ideas for new products.

#4 Strengthen your value proposition

If you don't have a simple sentence to describe your business, then you need one. Vistage speaker Mark Satterfield has devised a do-it-yourself template to help you state what you do in a concise, memorable way. Just fill in the blanks in this sentence: “I specialize in working with ---- (who?) helping them --- (to do what?). Don't get too technical or too general in your description.

#5 Use tactical advertising and marketing

Negotiate discounted ad rates and then use analytics to track the results--do more of what works and less of what doesn't. When your competitors stop marketing and advertising, step up your campaign and take their customers.

#6 Build your social media presence

Social media is here to stay and your business needs to be onboard. You can use sites like Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to your Web site or you can use them (or a blog) to build a place where your industry or audience connects with your brand. When people connect with you in positive ways, they spread the word. Create brand evangelists and your company will be better for it.

New York-Based Technology Entrepreneur Plans to "Digitize His Life"

New York City-based technology entrepreneur Mark Davis plans to completely digitize his life by the end of 2009.

The daunting task will include digitizing more than 20,000 family photographs spanning 150 years; 2,000 slides from the fifties and sixties; 50 videotapes of home movies; a hundred years of family archival documents; 3 boxes of vinyl LP's; about 50 mix tapes; 10 boxes of financial records and business documents; and all of his family's financial records.

Davis will convert all of this content into digital format, which he will then store on his iPhone 3GS for easy and instant storage and retrieval. If successful, Davis will shrink a "closet full" of paper and plastic into his pocket. This has profound implications in terms of the management of personal data, and Davis will share what he learns on his video blog and Twitter feed.

Davis is a respected technology and media entrepreneur based in New York City. He is CEO and founder of digital services provider Digitize My Life, Inc, www.digitizemylife.net which helps consumers transfer their old photo albums and videos into their computers, easily and affordably.

"Most families don't have time to consolidate and preserve their assets in a digital format," said Davis. "Photos, film reels, slides and videotapes are assets just like money, but their value is priceless, when considering their sentimental significance. Videotapes, for example, start to degrade after about 15 years. If these memories are not converted into a digital format, they can be lost forever. Our mission is to help people digitize those assets for safe keeping and enjoyment."

"We feel strongly that digitizing one's life provides a real sense of peace of mind, so I have embarked on a personal journey to completely digitize mine", emphasizes Davis. "I'll share everything I learn through the video blog and on Twitter, which I hope will be helpful to other people who may want to do the same."

You can follow Mark's story on his video blog and on Twitter.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Top Tips On How To Get A Small Business Up And Running

For many parents, running their own business and having the ability to fit work around the family is the answer to their dreams. Coming up with the idea for a business can be the easy part -- the tricky bit is getting the business up and running.

Family-friendly-working expert and author, Antonia Chitty, says a successful business is all about planning. In her book, The Mumpreneur Guide (released on 1st September 2009), Antonia gives top tips to help turn the dreams of a business idea into reality. "It is important to start a business by first planning how it will all work. Get it right early on and you will not only find it easier to succeed, but you will save yourself time, trouble, and often money," advises Antonia.

Based on her work with hundreds of successful mumpreneurs, Antonia has the following tips to get a business off to a flying start:

1. Support - who can help you out? You are not the only person starting up or running a business. Join a women's networking forum or group, such as: www.giantpotential.ning.com or www.mumsclub.co.uk. Contact your local enterprise agency, they have business advisers who give free advice and can arrange free business start-up courses. Join an online forum, such as www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk or www.a1businessforums.co.uk, where you will find an enormous number of people running their own businesses and willing to share their expertise.

2. Expenses - what will you need to spend? Try to estimate what resources you will need over the next year and take a broad view by looking at possible longer-term expenses in the next five years. Allow a certain amount to get your business going, e.g. business stationery and a simple website plus e-mail address are essential investments. You will need access to a computer. Most businesses need a phone number: you could get a second line or an additional number on your existing line so you don't need to use your home number. You may also want to use a mobile specifically for business.

3. Equipment - will you need more than a PC? If you are making or creating something, or offering a service, you may need more equipment. Plan out the basics of what you will need and guesstimate how often you will need to replace things. You may need to move from using basic home office equipment to something more robust: if you offer a home ironing service you could find your iron needs replacing more often. Another example is that industrial sewing machines can help you work faster than domestic models.

4. Location - where will you work? Most mumpreneurs start their business in the home - there can be tax advantages if you set aside a room part of the time for business. If you are selling products, be aware that your stock will grow over time and this can take its toll on your living space. Look at the cost of renting a unit in the local business centre. While your plans may be for working from home it helps if you know the approximate cost if you do need more space. If you are catering from home your kitchen will need to meet health & safety requirements. If you offer complementary therapies or beauty treatments from home, you may need to redecorate one room, or some mumpreneurs remortgage to create an extension to house the business.

5. Marketing - how will you boost your business? Allow a small budget for advertising and promotion. You may want to start by running off flyers on your home printer, but you will soon find out that it is cheaper to order in bulk from a printer. A small budget for promotional materials, and a little bit each year for a carefully planned advertising campaign can make your business grow. Factor this into your pricing from day one and you will avoid the dual dilemmas of no promotional budget or having to raise prices to create one.

6. Stock - what suppliers will you use? If you are going to sell a product you are likely to need money to invest in stock. Before you can spend you need to find suppliers, which can take time and involves persistence and detective work – finding suppliers is an ongoing job. You are likely to have to pay for your first order in advance and be subject to a minimum order value. Once you have built up some trust you may be able to get credit and improve the payment terms.

7. Time - how much time can you devote? Resources don't just involve money: think about the time you need to start your enterprise. Most mumpreneurs say they invested every spare moment into getting their businesses going in the early years. Be creative with your time: think about your business when you are cooking dinner or bathing the kids. Think about your day and work out how you can carve up your time. If your children are young, then start by working during nap time. As your children get older you will have more time to devote to your business, such as when they are at school.

"Starting a business is an exciting journey and one with lots of decisions to be made along the way. Investing some time in planning upfront, including what you need to do and what you need to put in place will pay dividends later on," advises Antonia. To find out more go to The Mumpreneur Guide.

From Homeless to Hollywood

Veteran screenwriter Michael Elliot has created an online resource to help new and unrepresented screenwriters break into Hollywood by selling their first screenplay. Elliot announced the launch of the website WritersLittleBlackBook.com today.

WritersLittleBlackBook.com is an online directory of more than 1,200 feature film producers and the contacts at each company that Elliot believes are most likely to consider material from new, unrepresented writers. "Getting your script read by a Hollywood producer is a new writer's best chance of selling their screenplay," says Elliot.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Elliot was once a homeless, high-school drop-out with no formal training in screenwriting. However, in 1998, after reading a "how-to" book on screenwriting, Elliot sold his screenplay in seven days to a major film studio, and he did so without an agent or manager. "I had less than $300 to my name when 20th Century Fox bought my script for $250,000," Elliot recalls. "It was life-changing."

Eleven years and over 20 sold projects later, Elliot's story and his strategy became the inspiration behind his new website: WritersLittleBlackBook.com. "Eleven years ago, I was able to identify the one person at this producer's company that I had the best chance of getting read by," states Elliot. "This person read my script within three hours of me dropping it off. By 7 p.m. that evening, I was having coffee with this guy and his boss, a Hollywood producer. A week later, my wildest dreams came true. I want other writers with a similar dream to land their script on the desk of that one Hollywood producer who will rally behind their screenplay and help get it sold."

Aspiring writers now have access to these Hollywood producers through WritersLittleBlackBook.com. WritersLittleBlackBook.com is a members-only resource. Each of the more than 1,200 listings include the producer's contact information, produced credits, and more importantly, the one person at the producer's company that Elliot recommends writers contact.

Elliot's produced credits include 2001's "MTV's Hip-Hopera: Carmen" for MTV, which marked the acting debut of Beyonce Knowles; 2002's family film "Like Mike" for 20th Century Fox; and the urban romantic comedy "Brown Sugar" for Fox Searchlight Pictures. Elliot's next film, "Just Wright," is currently shooting in New York. The romantic comedy stars Queen Latifah, Common and Paula Patton, and will be released in theaters in 2010.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Free Online Flash Website Designer

iWebTemplate, the internets leading supplier of iWeb, Flash, Wordpress and Rapidweaver Website Templates, today released its own FREE online flash website builder application - iWeb SiteBuilder-FX v3.0 - is an easy to use website creation and publishing system that enables you to easily build your own multimedia website. No programming, FTP, HTML, or Flash knowledge is required!

Publish Your Own Multimedia Flash WebSite Today! If you can point, click, and type, you can build a professional website in minutes! No bulky software to download, you can login to edit your website anytime, anywhere, from any computer, using only a web browser.

Website: http://www.iwebtemplate.com/sitebuilder/

Monday, August 3, 2009

Freelancing - The Fastest Way to Become Self Employed on a Small Budget by John Purfield

The biggest excuse I hear from people is they don't have a lot of money to become self employed. While money (if used properly) can help speed up business growth, hard work and persistence is really the key. This can be true if you're a freelancer.

The good thing is freelancing is it's a great way to start your own business with out spending a lot. You really need is your skills and a desire to get clients. Here are a few things you can do to launch your freelancing business without breaking the bank.

Get your resume and portfolio together. Taking the time to build your own resume and portfolio of your work can do wonders for your mind set. It's a good exercise in helping you define the market you want to service. You'll need these for the next items mentioned below.

Get the word out. Call your contacts. You want to let people know what you are doing. The best way to do this is start with your contacts. Make a short call to them explaining what you do. Ask if anyone may is interested to let you know. In fact, you never know if they happen to have a project for you.

Get the word out again. Look for projects on freelancing or job sites. Find one site where you can bid for freelancing projects or you can look on job sites for temporary consulting assignments. Some sites charge a small fee to give you the opportunity to set up a profile and bid on desirable projects.

While there are a lot of things you can do to get freelancing work, the best thing to do is focus on yourself first. to help you decide the markets you want to service.

With this approach, you can refine your niche and learn potential clients needs before you spend a lot of money on marketing that you may not need.

Finding out more about how to become self employed is easy.
Click here for my free report to help you get started.