Sunday, July 29, 2007

Earning money through freelance work exchange

Working as a freelancer has several advantages. Hence, many people prefer to work as a freelancer than an employee in a firm. Moreover, freelancing is recognized as a profession in its own right. Furthermore, a number of people find that their skills attain more recognition if they work as a freelance consultant than an employee for a firm. Some of the benefits of being a freelancer are listed below.
* You have the freedom to choose your own hours of work. As a freelancer, you decide what your working hours are. You can choose to take a half day off anytime when you need to attend to family matters, etc. If you think that you are over stressed at work and need a vacation, you can plan for one anytime you wish.
* You are your own boss. Being a freelancer allows you to set your own priorities. If you work in an office, you need to comply with certain standards of discipline set by your employer, managers or colleagues. However, as a freelancer, you set your own standards of discipline. You have the independence to decide what you want to do with your time and how you want to execute your work.
* You choose how much you want earn. If you are working for a company, you receive the same amount of salary every month no matter how hard you work. Whereas, as a freelancer, you determine how many jobs you want to do at one time. Hence, the more hours of work you put in each day, the more money you earn. Being a freelancer gives you the flexibility to determine how much you wish to earn.
* You choose how you want your office to look like. You can use one of your rooms at home as your office and decorate it the way you want it. You can pick your own furniture and interior furnishings to create a wonderful surrounding which will make you comfortable while you work.
* You have an improved quality of life. As you have the flexibility to choose when, where and how you want to work, you have more control over your life. You can exercise an ideal distribution of your time between work and leisure, hence achieving a better quality of life.
* You can have the chance of working on a variety of different projects. This could help you to improve your skills in different areas.
Choosing the kind of projects to work on depends very much on the skills you have, for example, writing, art work, graphics, accounting, training skills, administrative skills, etc. However, some basic computer skills are certainly necessary for freelance work, such as being internet savvy, able to type and able send emails.
One of the ways to find freelance jobs is to go to freelance job boards available in the internet. Freelance work employers advertise the available jobs for freelance workers in these job boards. You can browse through the jobs posted, select the one you want to do and bid for it. One advantage of using these freelance job boards to find freelance jobs is that it saves you time and effort in doing marketing. Another way of attracting new clients is to create a website and place it in the internet. You can advertise your experience and services through this website. Most potential clients will request to see some references or samples of your work before they assess whether you are suitable for the job. Hence, you need to prepare your portfolio as well as a list of some excellent references when you start looking for jobs.
Due to the advantages of working as a freelancer, many people prefer freelancing than working as an employee. Being a freelancer, you will enjoy lots of freedom and flexibility in your work. There are some ways of finding freelance jobs via the internet. Depending on the skills you have, you need to select projects relevant to your skills.

Defining freelance and telecommuting employment

One of the most sought after privileges in the IT community (and many others), is the privilege of being allowed to telecommute when not actually needed in the office. However, some people confuse the term 'telecommute' with the term 'freelance'. What actually is the difference between these two terms?
A telecommuter is a person who works for a company, yet is permitted to do a certain subset (maybe all) of their work from home. They may have a computer provided to them, secure access via dial-up or VPN into their home office, and possibly even a small monthly stipend to help offset the costs of maintaining an office in their home.
A freelancer is a person who also may work from home; however, they work for themselves, bidding out for work to a multitude of client companies. For example, a company may need some type of 'widget' developed for their network, yet not have a person on staff who can build that widget. The company may then ask a freelancer to build the widget for them, and submit an invoice for the charges. A freelancer will provide his own computer, his own internet connection, and will generally not be granted remote access into a client's network.

In summary, a telecommuter is a full-time employee who works from home, whereas a freelancer is an independent contractor called in for a specific length of time to fulfill a business need.

Successful self employment on a budget for artists and other freelancers

Being a business takes a lot of hard work, to put it mildly. Artists generally have experience in creating beauty, but are usually less than knowledgeable about the world of business and self-employment. It pays to work hard, to avoid that horrible starving artist cliche. Who needs to starve? By spending a lot of time building a reputation and trust in clients, the business will grow all by itself. The trick is to think like a savvy businessperson, not a fine artist.
First of all, advertising is very important. Without it, nobody knows who you are and what you have to sell. Learn how to sell, read, and absorb as much marketing knowledge as possible. The Internet is a wealth of information. Focus your study on basic business building and marketing concepts, and then grow that knowledge by adding more study on it, later.
Join many clubs and organizations. Think like a business not a hobby. Don't go crazy with fees and big titles. Just get your name out there, and do it as cheaply as possible. Word travels fast if you're good and have products that people like.
Be realistic. Don't expect to take over the marketing world overnight. Build on your knowledge. It may take years but that's OK, it's to be expected unless you have an unlimited marketing budget or an MBA to move ahead quicker.
Be professional. Copyright everything. Keep up with the legal side of everything. It pays to be professional and expect nothing but professionalism back from others you deal with. Customers will try to get something for nothing. Don't take it personally but don't cave in, be firm with what you think your items are worth, document everything and believe in yourself. Don't let others control your business decisions unless you hire them to do so.
Put out a quality product. That goes without saying. Lousy product, no repeat customers, and your reputation suffers. Craftsmanship and professionalism. Don't be late in delivering items, dress appropriately when meeting clients and be businesslike. Sloppy presentations will put you at a disadvantage. To stand out you must be a class act and so must your products.
Network, network, network. Attend functions, luncheons, fairs, whatever fits your niche in the world. Get to know others. Big executives do their networking on golf courses. You can network yourself anywhere. Keep business cards on hand and pass them out, don't be shy.
Be picky about assignments. Don't accept anything that comes along. This keeps your standard of work high and uncompromised. It's good to get exposure but don't give your work away to anyone who asks for it. If you do, you'll be inundated with those who will tell you "I don't have any money, but I can give you exposure if you just do ___ for me". Nope. Get exposure on your own. You can bog yourself down with these kinds of projects and make nothing from it. If you want to donate work then be discriminating about it.
Have a budget and stick to it. Don't get extravagant with spending or you'll end up broke. The income of a freelance artist can be a windfall of cash one minute, and absolutely nothing, the next. Work towards more steady income without wild peaks and valleys. It pays to be sensible with money. Save a little whenever possible, to be used for strictly business purposes in the future. It takes practice.
Paying for a separate studio is great if you're independently wealthy, if you aren't, having one room of your living space for your art is best. It pays off not to have an extra rent to pay for. It's all about the profit at the end of each month.
Promote others, and they will in turn promote you. Spread the word about yourself and others, and it's amazing how fast good news travels.
If you aren't fully self-supporting, get a side job. It's part of paying your dues. Learn from any part-time job you have, try to get something that will teach you something about marketing, art or whatever your business is about.
The key is persistence, discipline and never to stop learning. If you're an artist, it's fun to do art you like doing, but also keep in mind, if you plan to sell what you do, you must appeal to your audience. Who is your audience? Target your work to them. You can still be yourself, you still call the shots. In art, whatever you do is your right. Artistic license. To be successful it is important to balance your uniqueness with being appealing to your customers. Make it work for you, and enjoy doing it.

Freelancing online

Making a reasonable income through freelancing online can be a difficult task at times. Sometimes you will find more roadblocks that successes, but as a freelancer, you have to stay motivated at all times. You are your own boss, you make your own decisions, and you ultimately have to find your own work.
One of the biggest issues with freelancing is getting the pay that you deserve for the work that you do. This isn't always the easiest of tasks. With the internet, there are multitudes of freelancing jobs available, but the pool of capable freelancers has grown substantially as well. Now those that originally wouldn't have been freelancers are capable of competing with those that are fully qualified for the same jobs.
In freelancing you need to decide what type of writing you are looking to do. If you want to write to make money and are capable of writing in bulk, and have a little time to wait for the money to come in, there are a variety of sites that you can use.
Epinions - This site reviews a variety of products and services. While the pay isn't the greatest, you can make a substantial amount of monthly income off of your work the longer it is online and the more people you have that read what you write. I have found that on average, I make about $1.50-$3.00 per review that I write. Because I have found a way of writing these reviews quickly, I generally write 5-10 per hour. If you do the math, that equates to $15-$30 per hour. However, as I become more popular on the site, my earnings grow substantially. The best part is that once I achieve a certain status, I will make money without writing any additional reviews. I currently have almost 300 reviews and I make about $50-$100 per month on average. While this isn't a lot of money, I don't have to work to make this money anymore. I just let it flow in while writing a few new reviews every few days.
Helium - This is another site where the amount you make is purely based on quantity as well as quality. You aren't going to make your money here by writing one article that is incredible, you are going to make your money off of writing 500 great articles. The idea again is to have as many articles as possible in order to ensure that you have more articles working to make money for you. This will greatly increase your income. I have just started the site recently, and with my nearly 40 articles so far, I have found that I'm making about $.40 per day. This isn't great, but I realize that as the site grows, and I write more, this will increase day by day.
While the above sites aren't for everyone, they allow freelancers to practice their craft while making a little extra money at the same time. You aren't going to always have paying jobs, so to make sure that you always have some form of income, it is important that you find ways to make ends meet. These sites really help to fill the gaps in income flow that you may have.
Other options include writing essays. I have found that I can make hundreds of dollars each month, writing academic papers. While these papers grow old quickly and require a great deal of research, it is good money, and I generally find that I can make about $10-$15 per hour. Again, it's not great money, but to me it is all extra money and a means of improving my skills whie gaining extra income.
Another option for those of you that want a full time gig is to become an about.com guide. This is a difficult, time consuming process, but if you do become a guide, you are guaranteed $725 per month and if your area continuously grows in traffic, which it should if you are contributed to it regularly, then you will receive quite a bit more. I have currently applied to become a guide in automatic customization, but it has been about 2-3 weeks and I have yet to hear anything about when my unpaid 7 weeks of training begins. The process is long, the pain is great, but after the 2 months that they say it takes to get you into training, and the 2 months of training, you'll be up and running making money. This of course all depends upon if you are the best candidate through training. The competition can be tough, but ultimately, it can be quite worth it as some guides are making upwards of $100K per year.
There are a variety of options out there for you, just stay motivated and keep looking and you are sure to find them. The main thing is to use whatever resources you have available to keep your skills fresh and making money. Receiving regular checks really help to keep you positive, regardless of how big they are.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

how to become free lancer

here you will learn every thing