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.

What should be your goal when you decide to freelance

What most freelancers forget to think about, when they decide to freelance is what goal should they set for themselves? Starting to work without a definite goal in mind will only lead to certain confusion, especially once the project is half way through.

First of all, goals ensure that the project is on the right track. Combine it with the right effort and you will achieve success in what you do.

To make an out line of what your goal is the first step in successfully completing the project. Once you land a project ensure that you are you have a clear idea about the content, the delivery schedules and the amount of work that will go in, to complete the project. Once that is done plan out each detail so that you don’t encounter surprises on the way.

Delivering the responsibilities well is another important factor in goal setting. Factor out SMART goals to measure and attain relevant goals. Bind then with specific and time bound vision and success is sure to follow! Further, focus on building on achievements such that you can quantify your work. Focus on achievements is yet another method in goal setting for a successful career in writing.

Apart from the above, one needs to also take into account how freelancing affects your lifestyle. Does your job allow you to have ample time with your family? Do you get enough space for yourself? Are you able to pursue your interests whatever is important to you?

Once you ponder on these questions, you will know where and how you need to scale up. Development of oneself as an individual is an important goal and this is as important as the work you are doing. You might be an achiever as far as your freelancing work is concerned but you need to have balance and all round development in life to ensure that you stay fit for the long run.

Another goal that needs focus in the freelancing arena is on the income you earn. Now, this depends solely on the individual and most times income seems important for survival. One has to work his way up to earn the income he has in mind. There are quite a few factors that are not in our control, where income is concerned. One can line up enough work to meet the income goals. But creative and good quality projects only qualify for better income or remuneration. Thus, income generation is significant with to goals related to improvement in output quality.

How do you manage your writing business? Most freelancers are in a difficult situation as far as managing their business is concerned. While you are the singular person managing your business, ensure that you are in the right track by setting relevant goals. Focus on your strengths thus enhancing your specialty and talent.

Priority deadlines need to be in the spotlight to manage your writing business effectively. Knowing what to zoom in on is important. Enhancing visibility is another aspect of goal setting. Your vision can lead you to greater opportunities.

Staying positive about your work is a goal that is set internally. Having a contract or agreement which is clear and concise will act as a foundation for your business. The goals set in earlier contracts can be redrafted to suit your current goals and requirements

Identify mentors and trainers to develop your talents. Having a mentor ensures availability of guidance to set a correct track for new and more advanced goals. Training is a requisite that will bring talent to the next level. Hence, it is important to identify mentors and trainers to improve your business and goals.

We now move on to the personal life of a freelancer. To achieve your goals on having a good personal life and to balance your career as a successful freelancer, one has to work on oneself. Self development to suit your work patterns and need should be high on the list of goals. Stream lining helps to achieve work life balance. Never let your duties sap your energy or make you fall sick. Balance your life to ensure more productivity. This is a skill which will last life long if polished. Set short term goals and then make long term solid goals to reach your destination.

Goals need writing down and have a look at them each time you sit down to write. It will help you focus on what you are doing. Do not allow other thoughts to enter your mind. Write down as per the flow and you will achieve what others have not done in quite some time.

Why do many writers prefer freelancing

A question worth pondering over is why do writers prefer to freelance? In today’s world, writing is a hobby or a vocation for many who are educated. While some write while at work, as part of their key result area, some do it as a hobby to showcase their creativity. There is another section of writers who publish the articles or books written by them. Yet another section uses their creative talents to do the work that interests them while also earning remuneration.

Yes, doing work that is interesting to oneself is the sole reason why an individual writer chooses to be a freelancer. While writing on any topic of interest, it is convenient to choose the area of expertise and join groups which require skills of similar nature. This results in growth of the writer, in the respective area of interest in terms of knowledge, experience, and exposure. Here the freelancer focuses only on a few known and interesting sections of writing.

Choice of language is a criterion which most writers are choosy about. While many are comfortable writing in English, there are quite a few who have flair in writing in their own local language. Translation related work – from one language to another – is one such area which offers real challenges to experts in vernacular language. Here again a writer freelancer who prefers to work on a particular language, as a specialized writer, benefits.

Education is another vast area of where experts in the field, as writers can contribute effectively. The role here is that of a Subject Matter Expert, developing content for curriculum. Good quality educational content will contribute to development of the intellectuals who are capable of creating a better world. Educational content has the power to influence children of a very young age, to mould their character. Imparting lessons and moral stories are a great way to inculcate values in the younger generation. So, here’s another specialized sector for freelancers to choose to work and showcase their expertise.

Opportunity lies in the translation of epics and religious books into languages which are popular. Epics have a lot to convey and someone who understands the complexity of the language used can do a very good work here. Again, the challenge present here, is to capture the accurate meaning of the word in the context of the situation, to deliver an effective translation. Here again freelancers and publishers compete with each other to write and publish abridged versions for the benefit of the readers.

What more can be said on freelance writers and writing? The above and more reasons contribute, to decision of the writer, to choosing freelancing as the preferred area of work. As you can see, if you have the expertise and knowledge to be independent and to contribute effectively, and ample creativity to support these, there are enough and more you can do, as a freelancer.

Some of the other decisive factors for a freelance writer does not concern the area of work as such but contributes to determining what the best option is.

Since a freelancer does not have a regular work schedule, he is free to manage his time effectively to get the best result. He may choose a convenient time to work, even have breaks whenever he feels up to it. All this without supervision and hence he is forced to be responsible for each of his action which directly impacts his creativity, his stance with his clients, and his success as freelancer.

As long as work is completed and delivered, there are no clear check points in this field of work. Complying with schedules set by the writer for self, and delivering quality work is important. But there are no set processes that will tie a writer down, except self discipline.

Talking about discipline, a disciplined worker can easily complete his work without much hassle. Whether he works as a freelancer or as a regular employee does not affect his decisions and determination to excel in his are of work.

Whether you are an accomplished writer or a beginner does not matter when it comes to output that you are creating as a freelancer. In any area, be it writing or development of software or photography etc, a first timer has the same opportunity as a veteran to showcase his abilities.

Hence, the trick is to try to give the best shot in whatever you do. Information pertaining to what needs to go into the output has to be top priority for a writer. The topic of interest of the reader needs top priority in the mind of the writer, as the most important guideline. Now, some readers may be choosy about the information that they are looking for. But as long as the writer is able to keep the interest of the mass, he is termed to be popular and effective!

Are there any guidelines to writing? A freelancer can enquire into this as well. There are guidelines to effective writing. As mentioned above, there are guidelines as to how to keep the interest of the readers. There exists a guideline on effective the communication and how it happens. Well, we shall cover all those topics one by one in the next few articles.

So, if you have chosen to be freelancer, here’s wishing you a great career!

How to be an expert freelance Web designer

A web designer is a person who puts the dreams and vision of people in to reality on the Web. Ever since the advent of Internet , the demand of qualified and good Web designers has skyrocketed. There are many individuals as well as companies who offer various types of web designing services. In fact, each page that you open on the Internet has been ‘web designed’ by somebody. Therefore as a freelance Web designer, the opportunities in front of you are limitless. However, we all know that the best jobs go to people who know what they are talking about.

So what does it take to be an expert freelance Web designer? In this post, we will touch upon the ingredients needed to make you the expert and then in subsequent posts we will elaborate on each of these points.

Learn how websites work

As a freelance web designer, it is expected that you know about how different websites work. You need to know what the different types of websites are and what makes them work. You should be an expert in one programing language, Java script, databases, content management systems, RSS and mailing lists, and integrating social media.

Know how to troubleshoot problems

There is no such thing as a perfect website. As you work towards integrating the client demands you will face glitches therefore you should have a determined outlook towards troubleshooting problems. Sometimes you can work around them and sometimes you will just have to find a solution.

Keep searching for what is new in the web world

As a freelance web designer your search for what is the latest in the designing world should never end. You have to work hard towards keeping yourself updated to what is the latest your world. You can also check out the magazine and newspaper layouts to know what the client wants.

Work towards improving your communication skills

You cannot justify your skills if you don’t know how to communicate with the client. Since most of the freelancing work takes place online therefore you need be very concise in your communications. Also communication is a two way street therefore if you don’t understand what a client wants in the early stages, you will end up wasting a lot of time in correction and changes later on.

Be clear on the expectations

When negotiating for a project be clear about your expectations from the beginning. Let them know what payment you expect. This will help you in winning the client confidence and prevent any problems on the later stage. As to figuring out how much you can charge you will have to work that out by checking out the competition and doing a honest analysis of your skills.

Don’t say you can do it and then learn later on

The biggest mistake that a freelance web designer can make is to commit for something which they don’t know about and think that they can always learn it in the due course of the project. This is a big no-no. If you don’t know it then say that you don’t know it. It is very easy to detect a novice’s work and an expert’s work.

If you have messed up own it

In the course of your work, it is natural that you will make mistakes. The bigger mistake will be when you don’t own up to it. If you have made a mistake then accept it and do whatever you can to rectify it without wasting any time. Don’t wait for your clients to call you out, take the first step.

Knowledge sharing

There are many ways to learn…One such way of learning for a freelancer is by sharing knowledge. Few of us restrict ourselves to share the knowledge that we gained. May be at a few cases its valid but not always.

An individual must possess the nature of being curious and in the motive of getting inclined to improve oneself and use the full potential of the tools. It is important that a freelancer is aware of his environment to be able to act effectively.

Pros of Passing knowledge

The invention and the discoveries of many things in the world are known to us only because an individual has shared it. The base to know anything is by sharing it. You will not get emptied when you share it, you will have wide opportunities then.

When you tell someone about what you have learnt, none will agree to it in the first go. Millions of questions might arise, through which you will have the possibility of exploring more. The loop followed is infinite once shared.

Same way a Freelancer gets the chance to work in many sectors and technologies as his goals are short term. He gains more knowledge and if not shared it will go waste. He/she can’t hold remembering it for years and next time they will have to dig it again and might not find the desired results then.

It’s a good practice to pin down any new thing done and share. We now got many tools these days such as blogs, forums, portals, social networking sites and others to accomplish this. After learning a new advancement, make a video or take a screenshot write few notes about it and post. The comments that you get in as a response to it will make you a better person.

For instance, if the code developed for software weren’t shared on the Internet every organization had to work from the scratch and when they are done with it, the delivery time would be nearing. This wouldn’t have let us do any new inventions and have resulted in sitting idle working on the same technology.

One must understand the reason behind sharing. It reduces the amount of time one will take to work on the task. The stress will be reduced leading to better results.

We will be one among the individuals who has stepped forward to develop the technology, or anything for that matter.

For Freelancers who work on hiring people

Let’s now put things in a different perspective. Freelancers not only do work on codes, blogs but there are many volunteered to hire people. Why not we concentrate on collecting the materials, white papers published for that specific job and provide to individuals who has a passion in improving in that specific field. Give them a timeline to go through stuff that you have shared and employ them. This will result in having quality freelancers for your organization.

Why fear to lose

Freelancing is not always for earnings and investment. It’s more valuable than one might think. Have in mind that when you have a question there will be loads of people who come forward to help you.

These days there are a lot of sources from where information could be gained. In an evolution such as this one might not have the need to depend on an individual… The search engines are well advanced and they will be able to help you find out what’s required in fraction of secondly. However this will not last long, one must keep gaining knowledge and make sharing as a practice. It can take different forms.

Always two heads are better than one. If you are not willing to share knowledge to an entire group share it among people of your interest. Form a group of individuals who has the same like as yours. It’s always good to process the information through different number of people to get better inputs. This is because that individual would have undergone various situations where the application was used likewise with the other person. This type of collective thoughts put together and a new product is developed. All the members of the group should be involved in the learning process but also the transmission of knowledge, without which its integration is useless.

Recognition received

As you are the master of the work you do, many people come and approach you. More than you getting to know many advanced techniques from them your recognition is spread across.

The individual you trained might became a popular person one day but know that if you are not given the initial education and knowledge you will not be the person you are today.

Create your own blog space and share knowledge. You will have a greater audience and people will be waiting to get your inputs. The satisfaction you gain out of it is enormous. There’s enough room for everyone to grow.

Make learning interesting

Knowledge sharing not only helps you grow but sharpens your brain by sharing your thoughts to others. Make the way you learn interesting. While you learn, prepare some slides and put the knowledge gained in points. You should also look at innovative approaches to showcase your learning. None wants to read a lengthy document nowadays as the people wants the work done as soon as possible.

People’s expectation is high and so is the demand. Unless we share great content, our thoughts won’t be valid and will suffer because we are in the era of content marketing.

This allows accelerated decision-making in business situations. It also brings different competitive advantages, either internally, or towards a client. You will be considered as the leader of the market strategy with the way you project your inputs. This will give a better industry exposure. The more complex the requirement is more we gain out of it .

These types of approach greatly contribute to building a strong freelancing culture, allowing great people to stick to a great human adventure!

Stay Updated to survive

A freelancer’s life is most of the time prone to danger as there is a wide competition. There are a lot of new graduates passing out of the college every day and they all come to work life knowing better technology and are advanced. The technology changes might not be very diverse and immediate but the ideas to approach the tasks might take different forms. It doesn’t strike our mind when we work on the same thing; we need to keep our minds open to all the upcoming trends.

The difficult part of staying up to date is trying to learn everything that’s new. That’s when an individual tries to make a mistake.

Tips to stay updated:

You need to focus on one particular objective. Decide what’s best for you, what your passion is all about. How the market trend is rising and the benefits you gain out of it. Once you have streamlined your goals you can concentrate learning about that specific phenomenon.

Make sure you focus on the path to accomplish the goal every time you tend to get diverted. Dig to the core part where you feel the trends get changed on the technology you have in mind, and subscribe to it. This helps you filter out all the other noises from super Internet gateway. This type of subscription also reminds you, the times you get switched to other diversions.

Most of us would be aware:

In Order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different” – Coco Chanel

Give yourself a deadline to learn some topics, try implementing them so that you can always remember what you have done. Stay committed, you can make use of the time you allocate to the Coffee breaks, while you commute and the list goes on.

Take some small projects and work on it till you have the confidence to work independent. Initially it wouldn’t be interesting and you might feel lazy and lagging behind but after all that one day you can be sure that you are going to shine.

Keep trading knowledge. You can achieve this by archiving the notes you collect while browsing, saving your favorite links and going through them when you find your leisure time, taking a look at some reputed blogs, videos and social networking sites such as LinkedIn where you find the topic of your interest and get together with people of that group. To keep up with the progress in the field, it’s always best to identify the sources to use. It’s effective to attend conferences, trainings related to your objective which will kindle your thoughts and gives you fresh ideas. Talk to your colleagues or in forums where you think you can find people of your interest. Sharing your knowledge and gaining from them is the best exercise for attaining your focused objective.

Always have in mind the scope is global with many talented people and the comparison is huge. The intense of attraction by the clients towards you will be more when you stay current and updated. Make sure your resumes are updated when you are looking for projects. They speak for you and help you get more chances.

Interests of individuals keep changing with time. For example , An individual does business for about 20 years now and he has not updated enough to survive in the market it not only affects his growth but the entire network gets affected. He will not be able to pay the employees nor satisfy his own benefits he enjoyed earlier.

People get easily bored of the most common stuffs we see every day.

As a freelancer staying updated, can make you fit into the market changes anytime. The opportunities keep growing and you will be able to sustain for a long period of time. The advantage of being in this field is you will be able to work on multiple tasks and get a wide exposure. You will be able to make better decisions and you will be the first to grab when any opportunity comes. Having said, you might also have a chance of owning a complete project having peers to complete the job, just because you have mastered the skill well before others. You will earn the respect of others being a leader.

Stated by the naturalists already:

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” ― Charles Darwin, We must be flexible enough to learn and approach the path to our desire. The passion in us must keep growing and inspire us to finish what we have started with. It must be hand in hand and without them we might tend to lose the string where we holding on to.

While we wake up, the dreams in us should push us to stay excited boosting us to learn more and more. Learning will take you very less time than searching for clients to approach you. You ought to be wise to pick up the best choices to get rewarded out of it.

There’s a greater probability of finding jobs when you have prolonged connectivity to the work group you know. As the market trends are changing every day, it’s always wise to stay updated. To specify, a blogger can’t always write about one topic and stick on it. He/ She might lose readers then. For the first few instances it will stream praise-worthy but later on the comments and the views will reduce. The conception of projecting a particular thing must change with time. An individual’s creativity also plays a role in it. Not all bloggers get the most number of readers.

It’s not about being updated, but also projecting ourselves to the crowd outside. If there seem to be new possibilities sticking to your ideas people will rely on you. The Survival of the fittest always is applauded and gets plenty of shots. Hence as a Freelancer one must have in mind the set of rules they must make for themselves.

Women as freelancer

Need of a women to work

Women from the ancient times did not think on the other side of home. They always concentrated on family and its betterments. With necessity came the intention to work. This kept growing as the society provided numerous benefits for the women kind.

As everyone agrees to the fact that women manage work effectively and has the patience and work towards the goal organizations focus more on hiring women employees.

To make them sustain, policies and benefits are put forth. One of its kinds is working as a Freelancer.

Women handle work and home

As freelancing women enjoy more rights compared to men. Men work as a freelancer generally to improve their skill and enjoy their passion. Whereas women has many reasons to work as a freelance contributor.

While she works from home she can take care of her family and as well work. She achieves this by splitting up her work based on the relaxed time she gets. As the work is not for a long term she doesn’t fall under any huge commitments and can plan to finish that particular job before she takes up the next assignment.

Women get together with other people quite fast and hence she can survive in the freelancing world with friends of her interest and keep developing talent. The trend of freelancing is spread and many individuals take this up because the stress levels depend on the amount of work we take and its purely based on our need.

Women are more attracted towards self employment than men. They have the freedom to work and manage. It usually diverts a women from the routine things she does everyday.

Doing a work of her interest makes her feel good and keeps her motivated the entire day.

Going by the reports published every year after the survey, we have a strong evidence that the growth of women freelancers is increasing.When a woman is married and if she could not meet the family requirements she gets an extra paid income out of freelancing.

Online career advantages for a woman freelancer:

Women are more successful in online career and have achieved. Some tips as below

  • Freelancing jobs help female employees manage their schedule appropriately. This gives them more fresh ideas and helps increase in quality of work and productivity
  • Women find herself independent and feels motivated as they handle the tasks by oneself. As online freelancing doesn’t affect their career growth and it’s not time bounded women are interested in taking these kind of flexible jobs
  • In a virtual world such as internet, women find themselves optimistic about their future success in technology and make them feel they are competitive enough to challenge racial discrimination that is a strong perception about women’s jobs in the job market.
  • With the increasing number of tools available online women are able to develop their skill and stay competitive. The chances of improving and learning are high. like stated, Women has amazing skill of doing multitasking; a research states that around 70% of women say online job has enabled them to easily manage their personal and professional lives. Jobs available on the internet have helped them balance their personal and professional roles simultaneously.
  • As every women has to satisfy the family commitment and has various responsibilities freelancing jobs helps them and provides an ease to work without a strong burden.

There’s a new growing field where women have taken a dominating position over their male counterparts: the freelance sector.At first instance, the benefits and the improvements may not seem to be convincing. But as time passes you will have a strong focus working when you can and not. Though some people have issues working from home there are many successful female freelancers who feel they face new challenging opportunities and have improved their skills. The level of personal improvement and career orientation has highly improved for the freelancing women.

Expectations for more contract work for women remain high. Most of the women are optimistic about the future success of women in technology. This is a good sign as the momentum is building for even more gains for women in the freelance sector.

Travel issues

With the challenging work environment and the clients being distributed across continents, women are unable to travel losing her commitments and responsibilities.Freelancing solves this.It helps women to get rid of the major problem travel. The work can be done sitting just at her home. She gets more time to concentrate and lesser running around time.

Quoting, Margaret Thatcher,

Freelancing is not a last resort for failures; it’s a career choice for many

Most of the people outside think that people who end up with failures take freelancing to succeed.

But its the other way around. People earn a lot of money and skill. Its the smartness and the level of passion you show towards a work you do.

Freelancing can be your career by choice and not by fate.Its you who are willing to take it up so anytime a women who work as a freelancer should have it in mind. This will boost the level of interest.You must have the attitude to project yourself as a successful women in freelancing.

Women are strongly determined and don’t easily give up. Freelancing women also has the satisfaction of the work performed. They need not worry about the project stress, reporting to managers or lay-off. The freedom to work resides on their hands and the will to succeed.

Some tips for Women to achieve more:
1. Take center stage

Project yourself as a leader. Sign up for meetings and take the chances to speak, host sessions or conduct workshops. Of course, you’re there to help others and teach them, but an advantage that you’re showing yourself and your company to a new audience. Every person in the crowd is a potential customer, and your inputs are recognised.

2. Form groups of people with similar interest as yours

Organise a lunch/ dinner outing. Create yourself a network through social groups, business associations. While conversing get the knowledge and resources from people who are willing to share. Make some simple notes and try implementing.

3.Never give up.

At hard times, don’t lose interest.Keep yourself updated. Work on some innovative projects and keep applying.

Hope this article helped you rejuvenate.

How To Become An Expert Blogger

A writer’s block is something which every writer faces one time or the other. There will be times when you might not have anything to write about and just keep sitting on front of the computer or the notepad and nothing will come to your mind. You might start worrying whether you will always have something to write about or not. Don’t worry there are plenty of things and topics in the world to write about and a writer’s block is a very common thing. The simple answer to the question: will you always have enough to write about? Is yes, provided you know what you are writing about. We just don’t mean the topic, we mean an in depth knowledge and understanding of the subject you are writing about. Remember knowledge and understanding are two different things and both complement each other. The easiest way to make sure that a writer always has something to write about is to keep the three Rs in mind: Read, Research and Reflect. If you have mastered these three Rs then you will not have to ask the above question.

Read:

As we have said before in all of our previous posts ‘a well-read blogger is a well-read blogger’ this means that, a blogger whose blog is well read is a blogger whose blogs are widely read. Therefore, set some time aside to read. Read books, newspapers, other blogs, magazines and basically anything you can lay your hand on to increase your understanding of things. Don’t be afraid to have your own view points and make them known. Every reader appreciates a different point of view. Reading other blogs can be a great advantage for any writer. It will give you an insight of designs, layouts, content, keywords, advertisements, SEO, RSS feed, Permalink, ease of navigation etc. that will help you build your own blog. In our next post in this segment, we will discuss in great detail about the same.

Research:

In our part II of the expert blogger post, we talked in detail about the important and use of research for a blogger. Your research will include the reach of your blog, what other are reading and what you need to get started. Research does not happen in a day, it takes time and like reading, it is a continuous process. Needless to say, your research will be based on your readings. One important thing to keep in mind when reading and researching is to not to be bogged down by the amount of information that will be deflected to you.

Reflect:

Once you feel that you are done researching and you have read up as much as you can, it is then time to reflect on your finding. Take this time to think in depth about what exactly do you want and will you achieve this by writing on the topic or the niche that you have selected. I find that the best way to do this is by sitting alone in front of a laptop or with your notepad and carefully jotting down things that come to your mind. This way it will be easier to draw order to chaos. Write about at least 20 post topics in your niche to get you started. Most writers have told me that most difficult thing to do is to think of a topic. If you have a topic in front of you then things become easier. Remember it is what you read and research that reflects in your writing.

Pages Your Website Must Have

An online and updated website is the need of the clay for any freelancer. It does not matter what type of freelancing jobs you do, a web page can help you land many jobs easily. Since most of the freelancing jobs happen online and most of the searches happen online, an attractive web site will definitely put you above the rest.

However, a cluttered and unorganised website will do you more harm than good. The website should be clean and carry information and not useless things. Therefore, what pages should a freelancer’s website have? Here is a list:

Home Page:

Think of the home page of your favourite shopping website and think what makes you buy products from them. This will give you an idea of how the home page of your website should look like. The home page should:

→ have clear and definite links to all other pages

→have your recent photo

→ have your work and self-intro

→ have a readable theme

Select a hosting service that is fast because you want the web page to load quickly and not keep people waiting

About page:

The About page of your website is your mirror. This page should contain all the professional information about you. You can also write about your achievements and thoughts. Do not forget to include you photograph on the page. Readers will feel more comfortable if they have a picture to associate with what you have written.

Do not hide your interest or opinions on the page. Your fresh outlook to things is what most clients are looking for from a freelancer.

Samples /work/Portfolio:

This is the most important part of the website. This page should have the samples of your work listed in a neat manner. List a sample of each one of type of work that you have done. If there are any links, they should be updated and working. Also, make sure that you get the proper permission from clients before posting samples.

Your services

It is always a good idea to let the prospective clients know about what service you offer. This will present you a focused person. Be very specific of the services that you offer. Do not be too general like writing or web designing. On this page, you should also mention what you charge for the services. It is not a bad idea to let the clients know whether they can afford you or not. This will also help prevent misunderstandings after the discussions. Saves time too!

Testimonials:

This is the page that will speak of your success. Don’t be afraid to ask your clients to write testimonials for you that you can post on the website. The testimonials will take your profile to another level. Also if possible, post the client information with the testimonials.

Contact Information:

This one is pretty obvious. On this page post your picture and contact details (all updated and latest). You can integrate a direct messaging option in the website to enable people to contact you directly

Interest:

If someone is going to hire you then feel she will want to know more about you, so why not tell them on the interest page. You can write down all your thoughts or the page, and other activities etc. Another good idea is to make the page interactive big polls, comments, etc. which will encourage the users to participate.

Always remember to keep the website neat and easy to navigate and read. Another important thing that I find helps a lot is to respond to comments and queries as soon as you get them.

 

Freelance Mystery Shopper

According to Oprah Winfrey, being a mystery shopper is one of the most uniquely satisfying careers ever. It can never go out of style and there is always a demand for mystery shoppers. Freelance mystery shoppers have a lot of potential in their hands to make it really big for themselves. Every organization values independent and unbiased opinions about their services and products to stay about the competition.

Mystery shopper is a person who is hired by a company or independent agencies to literally ‘check out’ the services. Mystery shopping can include tasting food, evaluating customer care services, checking the quality of products etc. A freelance mystery shopper has the freedom to say no for a job. In order to become a successful mystery shopper you need to have the following skills/qualities:

Excellent Memory

As a freelance mystery shopper, you can’t just walk in to a store and start noting down points and observation. You will have to do after you are out of the store and therefore you need to have excellent memory to retain what you saw and observed. Having a good memory will also help you keep in mind the employer guidelines when on a project and this way you will be able to observe better.

Ability to remain Unnamed

A mystery shopper must know how to conceal his/her true identity. You have to remain unnamed and carry out the instructions precisely. There are a number of showrooms that have web cameras, which the employer will use to verify your shopping experience. If you reveal your identity then the whole object of mystery shopping fails.

Great observation skills

Most people have good observations skill but a mystery shopper has to have great observation stills. Being aware of what is going around you when you are on a project is very important. Missing out a single detail can lead to a faulty report.

Writing Skills

Most employers don’t ask for a very good writing skill but you should have basic and good writing skills. Basic knowledge of grammar and punctuation will help a lot on writing a good report. You must also have a basic knowledge of excel sheets to maintain a record.

Availability at all times

Mystery shopping is not a 9 to 5 job. The projects can have various timelines. Sometimes you might have to visit just as the store/service is opening or sometime you have visit during rush hour or sometimes during the closing time. Therefore, you need to be available at all time to take on a job. Another thing to keep in mind that freelance mystery shopping is not a regular job and there are no fixed durations.

Ability to meet deadlines

As we said in the last point mystery shopping assignment, don’t give you much time to complete them. Most service checks or mystery shopping assignments have to be completed in a day or two of assignment. Therefore, you much be committed and reliable in terms of meeting deadlines.

Honesty and Professionalism

When you submit your report as a mystery writer it will be read by the location which you have visited therefore you must at all times keep your report professional at all times. Offensive comments and works are unnecessary. Be honest at all times and don’t try to fib in your report. Many mystery shoppers tend to make the mistake of lying on the report or being biased in their opinion in order to appear good. This kind of practice is to be avoided at all times.

Mystery shopping can be a lot of fun and highly satisfying if you do it by the book.