Management

K Saravana Kumar October 3, 2013

Taking your work across boundaries

Few freelancers have had the opportunity to work across the boundaries. This means that some of you have worked across organizations and country borders. Teams located across the world usually operate at a time which is convenient for all the members of the team.

The teams that work across borders mostly do not see each other face to face. They would have seen each other only through company websites which host their photographs. But these teams have an understanding with each other. This understanding is mostly on professional grounds. The agreement would be to cooperate with each other to get work done. This is to ensure that the work gets complete well in time. There are no other emotions etc which run in between.

While working across boundaries, the most important factor to keep in mind is whether you understand the communication between teams. Many times, there are issues on understanding the accent, language and the words used and also the actual communication. So it is better to have conferences where the communicator communicates well and asks for affirmation form the audience if the same is clear to the team and understood.

There are net meeting devices which customarily help to project the required training material and information sheets across to the laptops or desktops of the team members. This ensures that all the members are on the same page and communication becomes easier. While doing presentations or while sharing spread sheets and diagrams of the project, this becomes an easier method to quickly do comparisons, reports and to send the right message across. Many times when more than two people are in the conference, this is an easier way to share expectations for the future. While confirming the same through telecom is a secondary measure.

Where there are clarifications from team members, they could use online forums or chat messengers to clarify on what they need to do. Emails confirming the topics can then affirm the agreed points.

It is foolishness to think that working across borders sitting at your desk top is easy. Small misunderstanding pave way for bigger problems and hence it is important to have the communication right.

Weekly online meeting can solve issues to a large extend. Noting down what needs more coverage, clarification and clarity needs discussion with all key stake holders. Such collaborative work is always rewarding at the end when the project takes shape well.

It takes competency both in your work and in relationship building to work across borders. To be sensitive to the cultural and personal background of the person at the other end will help you to fare better, while being with them. Once the comfort level is established, you could leverage on it to get superior work done.

Tone of voice used while speaking, matter a lot. Please ensure that you use a very subtle clear tone, with neutral accent, while speaking. This will ensure right warmth in the communication. Together with the right words, your communication will appear trustworthy to the diverse resources that are listening to you at the other end.

Many a times the change required is in the way we interpret the whole work in front of us. There are times when, as freelancers, we may have to take a higher responsibility in understanding the work that needs delivery since the responsibility of creating it lies with us.

Understanding others is of utmost importance here, since the role we play in the team will be successful only depending on the understanding we have with them. Building consensus on certain project plans and action plans are basis this collaboration. The influence we have on others matters as it reflects on the work we do and the opinion others have on us. Active collaboration impacts the greater idea and output.

Milestones are helpful while planning your projects across borders. Each team and member will have to have a milestone of achievement for their work. These needs close monitoring for results. Last but not the least is enrolling the right people to work together. If there are hiccups, it is better to replace people who do not gel together as a team. This is to ensure that work gets the right focus.

So dear friends if you are part of a larger team or plan to work across borders, I hope this provides a good insight for you. Let this give you guidance to working conditions and expectations that arise in such situations.

K Saravana Kumar

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K Saravana Kumar September 30, 2013

Keeping in touch with your clients even after completion of the project

It is easy to keep in touch in today’s world. There are more ways to be in touch than to be away, from people. So why not continue association with someone who has employed you for some time? It is important to keep in touch with past employers. Especially for freelancers who have been on a project for a longer period of time, say six months.

To find ways to be in touch is not difficult. There are ample opportunities that present itself for such a situation. Freelancers can take this opportunity to inform clients about the new things they have learnt. They may also talk about some prestigious projects undertaken. Talking about your achievements will create a positive picture in the minds of the client about you.

After completing a job well, don’t you think that your earlier employers should know what you are up to? You may update them in many ways. One such way is to occasionally give a courtesy call to the employer. You may have a casual chat with the contact point and inform him about what you are up to. You may also update him a bout you latest achievements.

There are networking sites like LinkedIn where you could update your latest projects, learning, interests etc. This gives you visibility. Not only past employers but also future recruiters who are looking for people who have talents like yours, are able to see your work profile.

If you have a website that publishes your work, you have visibility in the web as well. You may promote your website on social network sites. There are ways to advertise your work well. News letters can be a medium through which you may publicize your work. It is used by many to keep the clients updated on their work profile use this mode.

Well, that said, why is it important to be in touch? Keeping touch can be a follow up of what has transpired earlier. Hence, it need not necessarily be on work related matter and meetings. It can be a regular exercise you do, to exchange information or ideas or just casual chat. It further leads to more work from potential clients who were also past employers.

Always remember to appreciate the client for giving you an opportunity. This is another strategy that could earn you brownies. Clients will appreciate that you remembered them. Sending them a New Year gift or a Christmas gift as a token of appreciation will have an impact on their view about you and how you maintain professional relationships.

Remember to invite your clients to promotional events that you are participating in. This could be in the form of a trade meeting or a community event that you are using as a platform to promote your skills or product. The clients will have an opportunity to attend the event and also view some interesting products and promoters as well. This way you are extending good will to both the client and others around.

Sponsorship of events is another way to promote your business. While clients may have sponsorship requirements, you may take up this opportunity to meet more people from the client’s side as well as other participants who might be interested in your work.

While all the above are mandatory, there is no comparison to the occasional face to face meeting that you might want to have with the client. This may not be a true professional meeting, but these meetings could turn out to be great relationship building exercise that will benefit both parties. You could deliver some important facts and figures while you are at it. This could make you an integral part of your client’s contact list.

Refer your clients to prospective business contacts as well. This way you are opening up another channel for mutual help. The client may also appreciate the fact that you are extending support to them. Refer good people to them who might be of mutual help. Remember, what goes around come around. You never know when you will get a similar help from people you have been in business with.

Ultimately, it is these small gestures that will pave way for greater things to happen in future. All individuals great or small will reciprocate the good will shown to them. The results may turn out to be amazing experiences that one can never forget. Or they may just promote your work and business to higher levels ensuring your success.

K Saravana Kumar

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K Saravana Kumar September 11, 2013

Updating your skills – Freelancers

A freelancer thrives in an environment full of various skills. That is precisely the reason why he has chosen freelancing. He feels at home in a breeding ground of such skilled people. Else, he would be elsewhere working on a mundane job. It is his confidence in his skill sets that has leaded him to choose freelancing as a career.

A freelancer is often a big dreamer. He will have dreams of being successful. Dreams in which he will see himself as a successful business man running his own freelancing unit. There are very creative dreamers as well. Those dreamers, who read this and identify themselves with this role, will have more to add to this statement.

Let us continue with an intention of success, to everyone who reads this. Let us also peep into the pre-requisites that will enable freelancers realize their dreams. First and foremost, a freelancer should know why he is doing the job, which he is doing, as a freelancer.

Freelancers who consciously choose their particular jobs, knows how to go about it, is confident of delivering the work well and knows his strengths and weaknesses. He will know if the project is favorable or not, to him. He will know exactly how much effort needs to go in.

But at times, freelancers are at a loss to understand why they are doing a particular kind of job. To overcome this sense of deficiency a freelancer has to update him frequently on all the topics that summons his interest.

Learning is essential for a freelancer. It may be through work or through colleagues or by any other means including training classes. Individual learning again, can be diverse, ranging from the core subject matter to personal development. Advantages of meaningful learning are that the freelancer is full of information required for his work. Day to day situations that he may face also helps him with informal learning. These lessons, each freelancer has to identify and inculcate within him.

Learning is easiest while teaching others. A freelancer who has the knowledge can offer to impart his knowledge to teach others. The students may have new ideas and questions to ask. The freelancer gets an opportunity to learn while answering those questions. Teaching is the best way to learn as it helps further your knowledge, and gives a foundation that is stronger. Teaching can open up new avenues that you can explore to pursue your interests.

Good people are a boon to be around. Since freelancers do not get an opportunity to work with a team of members, they are isolated, except when they work as part of teams. So when there is an appropriate opportunity, for a freelancer to work with good people, the suggestion is to grab it. You may find people who can be your role models, especially, with regard to their approach to life and work. People who do work with a good attitude and also teaches you lessons that are worth learning, without offending you. Friends and mentors and bosses and peers, who will hand hold you and groom you, bringing happiness around. People who can get work done!

While working with good people it is also important that we have to change ourselves a bit. We should learn to take criticisms, both positive and negative. Work on the positive criticism and improvise on the work that we do. Positive criticism coming from people worth listening to, and learning from it is a boon. Only well meaning people will give you criticism worth working on.

Take on new challenges as part of your learning. You may inform your team that these are not your core strengths, but attempt to work at it and do a good job. There are times when you are in the right mental frame work; and the attempts that you make bring positive results. When this happens, you know that it is worthwhile doing another attempt and try to hone your skills further. Freelancers are lucky to get openings where the client is willing to experiment with their talent. If you a lucky person, you will find the right kind of person to give you the right opening.

Last but not the least is the inspiration and motivation that one has, which helps you to learn by yourself. It is essential that one has the motivation and inspiration to learn more. Only when the passion comes from within, can a person go about learning new and more beneficial things. One has to align the instructions received, the practice he has had and the assessment of the job at hand, and connect these thus enabling one to benefit from what he has learnt.

K Saravana Kumar

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K Saravana Kumar August 29, 2013

Evident positive outcomes of freelancing – story of a freelancer

Success stories about freelancing are available everywhere, on the internet and in magazines. What does it take to become a successful freelancer? A good question. But many cannot answer this well. But some can answer this with confidence.

What success does freelancing offer? What are the positive attributes associated with this work? What do freelancers have to say about their work and benefits?

Well, to begin with, this is a relatively new area of work. People across the globe are taking to freelancing because of the positive attributes it has to offer. The most outstanding among them is the freedom to work from any where on the globe at any time. Money involved in this work is another bonus. Admirable work commands good remuneration. Specialized work gets paid even better.

Freelancers always write realistically, but there are a lot of times when editors require good fiction as well. When you are too good at imaginative writing, try your hand at writing fiction as well. To be truthful is being original, but to write a good story which is as good as true is sheer genius.

Inherent talent needs polishing. Freelancers pick up business skills while at work. They do not have another person to market their skills, they do it themselves. That turns a freelancer, into a marketing professional, finance expert, writer, and manager all at one go.

Negotiating skills strengthen with each work that you accept. As the work increases in volume, the market value of the freelancer tends to increase. This in turn affects the remuneration earned. Yes, there would be good alternatives available in the market at lesser prices. If your work is credible, the client would pay a handsome reward.

Most of the time positive results appear while the writer does a free sample or a guest post. The quality inspires the client to offer a valuable project to the freelancer. There are times when a client sees the quality of work at done by the freelancer and calls in to offer a project.

The worst critic a freelancer or a writer can have is himself. Every time the work done gets a review, keep in mind that there will be handful changes that needs better execution. Each time the freelancer is able to recognize these, he is doing a great help to himself. This reflects in improved quality of work and enhances his confidence to do better and better.

When you work with a team, often people share their fears and desperate moments. But freelancers do not have such comfort. The disadvantage is that bad moods, etc affect some. But smart individuals learn to control their mind. There are exercises that help to overcome bad moods, so that you emerge a winner even during testing times. Keeping a friendly and positive attitude will help a freelancer earn a whole lot of network in their business.

Here’s a story of a freelancer. He started quite late but tried his best to do a good job of every assignment. The first few jobs were a little tough to cope up with. The clients were not too happy. But he kept his communication channels open. He accepted criticism about the work and worked on it. He went about enquiring with his friends about how they became successful.

His learning curve was quite impressive after reaching out to peers in the industry. He started with a positive attitude. Yes, of course, he did his prayers and homework well. Each project that he landed from then on was his baby. He took care to write down carefully what went well on each project to make it stand out. And today, he is writing for very successful magazines. He is continuing to build his career.

You will not know the name of this freelancer. But he can be you. So gear up to do your homework and put your best foot forward. Work that is sustainable has takers anywhere in the world. The idea, skill, knowledge, and time put in for work that sells, is the key to success.

Value your talents and you will find others valuing them too. This is another aspect of freelancing. Many freelancers just write for fun and are not serious about a career. If you are not too good at freelancing, do not attempt it. Attempt writing that works for you, that will pay you well. That will bring you success.

Once you identify what works for you, attempt advancement in your area of work. But if you do not know your strengths then it is better not to even think of writing.

K Saravana Kumar

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K Saravana Kumar August 21, 2013

How to defeat desolation as a freelancer

Freelancer’s life is a puzzle. Each day an individual will have to go through surprises, joy, learning, pain, disappointment, growth and the list goes on. Staying motivated and energetic is a tip to solve this. Naturally you ought to develop best practices to reach your benchmark.

Beginning with everyday schedule of a freelancer, it’s certain that his calendar is blocked for the whole day. Human nature is that someone has to keep pushing to do a task, while working as a freelancer from home; you will not have managers or leaders to control you and help you manage the work you do. This sits as a load on the top of the day to day activities and remains a burden. Know that, it’s your responsibility to plan and implement it right. You must maintain a clean slate and reorder your work every time it’s complete.

To help you tackle the solitude, here are some basic rules:

Maintain a work routine:

Make it as a habit to wake up soon daily. We tend to be lazy as we need not report our work and no one watches us. However its important we need to stick to healthy habits, start working as soon as you can. The longer break you take the lesser is the quality you provide to the clients.

Divide the tasks and put them in timeslots. Give yourself a buffer time and finish the task ahead and do a check on the work. When you do work in an orderly manner you will be well engaged and will not know the difficulty of being alone.

Exercises & break time

It’s always a good practice to freshen up mind and body to get new ideas. When you concentrate on a particular subject, sometimes you enter the level of saturation and will not be able to focus. The stress level builds up as you are not in the office oriented environment where people work together with you. It’s obvious that you need some break at that point of time.

Follow some exercises and keep your body fit to rejuvenate your ideas. Take a small walk, make yourself a cup of coffee, and hear some music. This will help clear your mind and reduce stress.

Create a stop line for yourself

Some of the tasks we do might extend late than expected to drive business. It’s because we would not have arrived at the best results. However it’s wise to know when we should really stop working on it. While you spend more time on it, you will lose focus and accumulate stress.

You must always have free time for you to enjoy rest of the things. You need to recover and get your mind filled with other things or you will get burned out and ruin the beautiful things for yourself. The more hours you work at once, the less productive you get. Remember to follow the timeslots created and your own rules on when to start and stop the day at work.

Keep your environment lively

Like i mentioned, the environment is a critical factor affecting one’s mood and the actions caused out of it.

While you work in Office you will have an entire team to take care of yourself and assist you in the job if you are stuck, whereas at home you are the master and the creator of your work. There are a wide range of forums which can guide you solve this. Join in a forum where people of your interest are present. Post your queries and you will get a quick fix.

One of the other reasons of isolation as a freelancer is we keep working from one place. To get a good productivity and be an efficient freelancer you must be able to handle this by,

Often changing the place where you work. Get some fresh air in the mornings and sit on a balcony. Change sceneries in your room to not get bored. Play some mild music and feel fresh. You have the advantage of visiting different states as you can work from home. Make use of the benefits and tackle desolation.

Stay communicated with the loop

You can create your own team of people and can stay connected. You can be relieved to know how far the rest of the people have progressed, what new trends comes in, how people manage their work. This motivation will drive you to work smarter and handle the competitive world.

Spend your leisure time with this group of people you have formed. Meet them for lunch and share your ideas. You can organize events of your own and keep in touch. You will not only support yourselves but all the contributors who undergo the same.

Manage projects you take:

You ought to manage your assignments as they come in. Do not take too many and get cornered to work. As much as staying productive is important, sometimes you just can’t. Taking multiple projects is one of them. This will lower down your spirits and leaves you alone making you to finish the job.

Opportunity keeps knocking for those who can do a neat job. Keep it light and simple so that you have the time to enjoy what you do. It will provoke the passion in you. Building up work will make you stick on it as a result will smash your schedule.

Focus on your personal life

After the long day that you have, do not get influenced to extend more. The bareness of being alone will prolong and make everything incomplete. Remind yourself to breathe and relax. At times like this playing games, working on your hobbies and spending time with your family and friends will polish and make you set for the following day!

The famous poet Wordsworth’s lines come to my mind “I wandered lonely as a cloud… “

When you can find a silver lining by assisting yourself and following some best practices there’s none who will have to survive alone in this world. It’s our perception of looking into things and managing them effectively.

Keep working smart and stay cheerful to develop new products each day..

K Saravana Kumar

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K Saravana Kumar July 22, 2013

Reasons Why Freelancers Should Be Paid More Than Employees

In our last post about ‘How to know when you are being paid enough’ we talked about freelancers being paid more than ‘regular’ employees are. There has always been a debate on whether a freelancer should be paid higher than an employee should. Many a times you will have clients claiming that xyz is the amount they pay to their employees and as a freelancer you should large less than that because they are giving you a ‘chance’. But, that is not true as a freelancer you should be paid more. Here are some of the reasons why:

You are always available

A freelancer does not follow the regular office times of 9 to 5 but is available all the time. Therefore if there is some work that the client needs to get done urgently then they can easily approach a freelancer to deliver within the time restrictions. Therefore for a freelancer who is available for contacts at all times deserves to be paid more.

You are flexible

The biggest advantage that a company/client gets when employing a freelancer is flexibility. In a company to make a change in the work plan or requirements employees have to go through proper channels, proposals, presentations and justifications. When giving work to a freelancer the client gets the advantage of making changes on the fly without wasting any time. Greater flexibility means better payment.

You are the expert

No freelancer can succeed without having some sort of expertise in his or her chosen field. Therefore when a client hires you as a freelancer he or she expects the best. And as they say no price is too great for the best! When the client hires a company to work for them then they do not know who actually will be doing their work for them and it is difficult to get one to one interactions. But you as a freelancer are always available with your expertise.

You do not ask for extra benefit

As a freelancer you don’t have to ask for extra benefits such as insurance, travel allowance, paid leave etc. that means that you save the client a lot of money so why should you not get your piece of the profit. When you look at any company’s financial growth you will see that the companies earn much more than the employees. Therefore you as a freelancer should be paid more than the employees because you are not overcharging or asking for extras.

You are more efficient

As a freelancer you are not time bound by any rules you are your own boss and you don’t answer to anybody. Therefore you get to organize your work schedule. This means that you are more efficient than employees who have to follow a particular schedule for work. This does not mean that you don’t need a schedule but the plus side is that the amount of flexibility you have you can plan your work the way you want. This means that the client gets a more efficient work and efficiency pays, right?

You can negotiate the charges

As a freelancer you deserve to be paid more because you negotiate the charges. This point is purely in your favor. Have you even been to an interview and accepted the first salary offer that you got only to find out later that the work is much more than you expected. As a freelancer you can always scale the charges up and down by negotiating with the client. The client will have to clearly define the work expected out of you.

There are a lot of negotiations involved when talking about money with a client but if you know how much you should be paid the road becomes much more easier.

K Saravana Kumar

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K Saravana Kumar March 12, 2013

Working remote and benefits

Over 43 million people in this works have taken the advantage of working remotely from their homes or other locations. 21st century has seen a revolution in remote working which many people thought was impossible. Of course technological development has contributed in a great way to this revolution but mainly it has been because of the many advantages or benefits that it has.

What is working remotely?

You will be working remotely if you are working away from your employers business place. Even if you are in the next block it is still working remotely. Working remotely largely happens over computers and internet.

Working remotely should not be confused with freelancing though. You are freelancing when you are not working for a particular employer but choosing the projects you want to work on whereas in working remotely you can be working for a particular employer or freelancing.

There are many reasons on why working remote is fast gaining popularity. Let us take a look at the most popular benefits of working remotely:

More family time: Around 51% of people who were working remotely have confirmed that they get more family time. The flexible working hours and the time saved in commuting gives them more time to concentrate on their children, spouses and relatives and be more involved in family activities. A better work and life balance is good for your own well being too.

Better productivity: Both the employers and the employees will confirm the fact that the ability to work remotely gives better productivity. This has also enables the employers to post a better retention. Also working remotely you can concentrate more on the job because there are no unnecessary distractions, not surprise meetings and no cooler talks. One more factor that contributes to increased productivity is the need of remote works to prove them because they are not present in office.

Less Stress: When you work remotely, you are subjected to less stress than the regular office environment. There are a number of factors that contribute to this; the first once is the reduction of commuting stress, secondly there is a reduction of stress from peers and thirdly there is a reduction of stress caused due to extra activities.

More earnings: This may sound a little strange to you but working remotely does save you a lot of money. You get to work in the environment that you are comfortable in and therefore you work more, which means more earnings. You save money on commuting and other small expenses that you may incur during traveling to and fro from office.

Remote working also benefits the employers because they do not have to invest in office space, heating costs, security, transports etc.

Better for the environment: Working remotely decreases the net CO2 emission. Telepresence, paper less working, less emissions from the building all contribute to reducing the CO2 emission in the environment. Therefore, by working in the remote office you are contributing to making the world a better place to live in.

Flexibility: The most popular benefit of working remotely is the amount of flexibility that you get when working. Most employers are not concerned with the timings you keep as long as you turn in your work in time and do it correctly. You can set up your own work timings. This also helps cuts down on absent employees in the organization. Flexible working hours also mean that leave planning becomes easier.

Working remotely is a win-win situation for both the parties and it definitely makes more sense than opening a new office in the world of today. All you need a laptop, the adequate skills and the willingness to try something new to make a success of it.