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Want To Start Freelancing? Don’t Get Scammed!

Freelance writer beware. Not all websites that offer guidance to freelance writers are legitimate. Look for signs that the site may be less than professional and protect your interests.

There are plenty of companies online that offer advice and tips on starting your own business, or getting into freelancing easily. Although many are legit, and may actually give you good ideas on starting off on your own, others are there only to make money out of your naïveté and inexperience. So how can you tell which ones are in the right and which ones are cons? Truth is, you can’t.

Every newbie out there who wants to get into freelancing or into a home-based business will start off by surfing online. Odds are you’ll type out the major keywords for this business. Freelancing, home based ideas, starting a freelancing career; are all keyword phrases which will give you results, but not the right ones.

First of all, the first few sites are likely to have won the Google honor by spamming, whereby the content is only key-word rich, but doesn’t actually tell you anything new, or it may not even make proper sense! The best thing to do in this case is to skip the first few pages of the search and settle on the solid websites that offer plenty of good advice and tips.

How to tell if a website is solid:

Good Grammar- No website worth its domain space will risk offending prospective customers with bad language, bad sentence construction or typos. Seeing these means the website is not cared for properly, and any e-books or tips to making it big are just big air floaters.

Legitimate Facts: Someone who cares about what they’re selling will be certain to have a logical outlook and facts that can be verified on their website to pull in prospective clients. This person will also give you a good deal.

Remember, that as a newbie, you don’t have to be spending money on advice, or big ideas that are way out of your league. You’re better off getting it from those who’ve already made their careers in it before. But if you do have to get paid advice to get started, be smart and get it from the right source. Don’t go for someone who offers you a million dollars in a week. Sounds interesting, but it ain’t worth the page it’s written on.

Want to start a freelance business? FreelanceSprout.com has the resources you need to help you get started.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

April Boone is the owner of Global Marketing Solutions based in Foley Alabama.

Experiences at Telecommunication Freelance Consultant

What's the inside scoop on Telecommunication Freelance Consultant? 1 person is talking about their experiences with the organization. Get a look behind the scenes by reading their answers below.

http://www.jobster.com/at/company/Telecommunication+Freelance+Consultant

7 Rules of Successful Freelancer

The article is a brief summary of my personal freelance experience in a form of 7 relatively simple and straightforward rules I used to follow (as I understood retrospectively) since I started freelancing in 18. I can not guarantee you'll succeed with them, too, but they'll give you an idea of what to expect if you want to try freelancing.

I've been a freelance programmer, web developer and system administrator for three years. Not that much, you'd probably say, you may be right. You may be wrong either. Anyway, when you're 21, three years don't seem to be a little time.

I started when I was 18. I had a part-time job in dental clinic (I'm terribly afraid of dentists since then, though I wasn't afraid of them before) and my salary could just cover my Internet bills (in a small town ISPs have very high prices while students can't get much money for work) and leave a little spare money to spend them later on my friends' and parents' birthdays and New Year. I'll tell you the full story some day, now I just want to note that I started from barely nothing and today I only get money from freelance. No full-time office work.

1. Work regularly. Don't depend on you mood.

You should choose time for you to work, and you must work every day from, eg. 6 pm to midnight, and you mustn't do anything but work during this time. Yes, it's very tempting to have a break, read forums, chat, play quake, make love, go skating, etc, and finish the work next morning. That's completely wrong attitude. You work at home, it gives you more freedom and more flexibility, but it's still work.

Of course, if you feel tired, you should rest. Make coffee, smoke a cigarette, clean your cat's toilet, but do not start doing anything time-consuming and interesting – you'll lose a working day.

If you don't want to do anything right now, force yourself to do. You want money? You want to finish this project? So work, you bastard! Start from simple things, do some routine stuff you didn't want to do the day before.

Also, it is very important to make your family understand, that this is work, too, and they should try to not to disturb you when you're working.

It's hard at the beginning, but soon you'll get used to working on schedule, and become as productive as never before.

2. Don't lie to your clients.

“Of course, I do not!” – you'd say. Lie! Terrible lie. There are three kinds of lie to client I know:

• When you weren't working or didn't yet do something, but you say you were or you did.

  Sure, you don't want to look lazy. But you aren't, are you? So what are you afraid of? Tell you client honestly, that you lost a couple days, tell him, why is it so. Don't make him distrust you. Tell him, what are you going to do to outweigh lost time.

• When you have problems with some part of work, but you say that everything's okay or that there were some difficulties, but you overcame them.

  Are you afraid to look not good enough? You aren't then. I'll tell you more about that a bit later. Remember, noone can know everything, no one can overcome each and every difficulty. You understand it, right? So why do you think, your client doesn't? Don't let him think you're a lier. Tell him, that you are not very familiar with 'XXX', but you can work it out, and say how much time do you need to do that.

• When it was easy to do something, but you say it was a great achievement and you had to go through terrible difficulties to implement that feature.

  Are you afraid to get less money than you could? If you want higher prices, take harder work. Any work should cost what it is worth. And do you really want to look that bad, so you are hard to do even simple things? Clients are not coders, but in most cases they realize what is easy and what is not.

3. Don't think you're smarter than your customer.

If you're that smart, where's you money then? You not smarter, and neither he is. You now how to code, he know to make money. Everyone is an expert in his own sphere, so cooperate. Ask him, why he needs the features he needs. Understand what are priorities. Tell him, why is 'XXX' bad in your opinion, and how could it be improved. Extreme programming adepts call it 'planning game'. Work together. You'll see the resuls.

4. Communicate.

Yes, it's obvious, but many people underestimate the importance of communication. At first, people like when you're open and communicative. Be a nice guy. Let them like working with you. Of course, you met to work, not to chat, but a couple lines in IM isn't a big deal. Just let client know what are you working at right now. Be alive. It is okay to say “Be right back, gonna make some coffee”, you're a coder, coders are known to drink litres of coffee every day. That's thought to be funny, use it. Be a geek and be a normal person at the same time. But do not chat too much, you should be working. And your client surely have things to do, too. Remember (or write somewhere) clients' names. Let them feel you remember them.

And the second, not that obvious, benefit of communication is that it helps you track the progress. When you tell someone what are you doing, you know better where you are now and what are you going to do. IM is optional, but weekly email reports are the must, even if client doesn't require them. It would be very good if it's your idea to file the reports. They are not only to let client know how much he has to pay you. they are for you, too. Without them you may have lost the feel of progress and start working slow and inefficiently. I recently made that mistake, and right now I'm finishing the project I would finish two months ago, if I had reported regularly.

5. Do what you can do and a little above it.

If you're afraid you aren't good enough, you aren't. We are programmers. We can do anything. If we don't know how to do something, we read manuals, look at the examples, and do it. But, on the other hand, you must clearly know, what you aren't good at. Never take the work you're sure you can't do. But don't be afraid if you have to deal with something new. Ask for more. Get experience. You can't get experience in any other way but working.

6. Love your work.

Obvious. Never deal with what you don't like. Be good at what you are interested in. Find your niche, but ensure it's not too narrow. Discover new areas of expertise for yourself, but always keep yourself interested. Enjoy your work, programming is almost like sex, didn't you know? If you don't get any pleasure from your work itself, maybe you should try to find someting more suitable and joyful for you?

7. No step back.

Never ask for less bucks/hour than on previous project. No, I don't mean asking more and more and more. You'll lose all your client then. But the work should be paid what it is worth. So don't take the work that is too cheap'n'nasty for you. Be professional.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maybe not all the mentioned rules are the must, but I did follow them and it brought me to success. My freelance experience is not limited to these rules, check my blog at http://www.miheev.info/ for updates of this article, my other experience, including reviews of freelance sites and general freelance and programming tips and tricks.

How to Stay Focused in Freelancing

Do you have the discipline to stay focused as a freelancer? Can you say no to a party invitation with friends because you have a deadline approaching? Make sure you answer these questions honestly before you make the jump to a freelance career.

A freelancer always has plenty to see, and plenty to do. A project deadline here, a football match there; a meeting on one hand and a party on the other. As compared to people who work full-time, freelancers can have more hours of leisure to fill their day and still be at the top of their game. Or so they think. Why miss out on a rugby game when you don’t have a boss waiting for you at the office?

Well, here’s a piece of information for you. You DO have a boss; and that boss is you. You decide how best to spend your time and stay focused. For a freelancer, focus is what differentiates between success and failure. If you’re looking to make $100,000 rather than $20,000 per year as a freelancer, you know what you’re going to need in plentiful quantity: Focus!

So how do you achieve this elusive quality: Easy. All you need to do is follow these three basic steps.

Set Goals

Setting goals has always proved to be a surefire method of success. Setting goals helps you focus, since it creates an awareness of having to complete a task by a certain deadline. Setting goals can be done, not only monetarily, but also project-wise via timeline setting. It is one way of ensuring that you retain your focus.

Follow your Time-plan

Most freelancers work with time plans. It’s not a new innovation. Keeping a time plan not only helps you avoid temptations, but also serves to do you a lot of good. Every work at home freelancer should have an effective time plan to keep themselves productive. Apparently, with no boss to chain you to your desk, the mind drifts towards the better things you could be doing at this moment. Mine does too. In fact, my time plan works better if I dangle a suitable reward in front of my table.

Concentrate

For a freelancer, concentration holds the same value as focus. When you can’t concentrate on your work, it’s time to shift to a new career which will hold your interest. Some people tend to have a short attention span, and should hence make provisions for it in their time plan. Set a timer, and start it when you begin working. And then ignore the timer whilst you work. When your mind starts wandering, you’ve reached your saturation point. Stop the timer. Is it forty minutes? Fifty? An hour? Three hours? Now you know how much time to give yourself for work between breaks.

Get more freelance business ideas at FreelanceSprout.com.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

April Boone is the owner of Global Marketing Solutions based in Foley Alabama.

Jobsathome - Earn money online via working at top freelance sites

Jobsathome - Earn money online via working at top freelance sites. You need to learn few very basics things about freelance sites in order to successfully start an online jobs career at freelance sites. Working at freelance sites is fun and it's easy to work there once you learn few basics things.

You need to learn few very basics things about freelance sites in order to successfully start an online jobs career at freelance sites. Working at freelance sites is fun and it's easy to work there once you learn few basics things.
First of all, I suggest you only work at freelance sites where its 100% free to join and work. At these freelance sites, you don't need to pay any membership fee in order to apply for online jobs. Here, when you successfully complete a job and get paid for it, freelance site will then give you 95% of the total money that you earned from that job instead of 100% money. It is because they are charging a small fee of 5% on the total amount of money you get for any work
I think this fee is a fair deal as you are not giving this fee from your own pocket. You are earning money at these sites and from that money, you will be charged a small fee. At these freelance sites, you also don't have to worry about any scams as you are not giving money from your own pocket to anyone.
On the other hand, there are freelance sites where you need to pay a membership fee in order to apply for online jobs. Here you will first spend money from your own pocket and then you will be able to make some money. Here you will worry about scams, so I suggest you only work at free to join freelance sites.
Secondly, while registering at freelance sites, make sure that you professionally fill all the important fields in the registration form. These fields include "Area of Expertise" etc; all information that is entered here will be shown in your profile. Many buyers first take a look at service provider's profile before they give them any job to do. So, make sure that you have a very professional looking profile at freelance sites.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In order to find more information about making money online, visit data entry, to find useful information about online jobs visit data entry jobs, also check this site free online jobs. You can start to make money online without investing any money.

Advantages of low cost contract programmers in freelance programming

It observed that web industry is getting tougher thus the necessity of freelance contract programmer is required for developing more effective website with flexible features. This article states the fruitful advantages of freelance programmers in contract programming.

As we all know, nowadays small business owners are looking for dynamic websites for many reasons and we also know that web designers are only specialized in web designing. Thus a complete swing is noticed towards web programming for more flexible websites in last 8-10 years.

Through this web programming industry we all have a wish to present our site more programming specifically for displaying our product gallery or services list in front of our visitors without any hazards. Through smart programming skill we can easily present our business in front of our audience to achieve more profit which will increase the business growth.

Freelance web programmers have the perfect ability to maintain many things such as build more flexible website, more accessible, sharp presentation, solving graphic problems, script handling, successful database connectivity, superb form processing, different types of error handling, proper navigation maintaining etc and many more.

Some of specialized advantages of contract programmers are follows:

Constructing more flexible website

a website needs to be designed in such a way that it is user friendly as well as search engine friendly, and with the ability that the visitors can effortlessly navigate all pages of your website. More flexibility can be attained by contract programmers by placing special scripts or by W3 validation which gives your website the perfect edge for greater gain.

More accessibility

Professional freelance programmers know that accessibility is the main key which will increase the business growth. They highlight important part through various coding scripts for all kinds of audience of your website. If your website is accessible for all visitors then your can receive more business form all possible ways.

Sharp presentation

Web programmers are keen to produce sharp stylish web presentation through their coding. All kinds of drop down facilities, swinging images, impressive scripts for displaying large images of small icons and many more things can be done by contract programmers for generating a unique appeal to your website.

Solving designing problems and script handling

Low cost programmers will fix all kind of graphical errors too while validating all web pages through their expert coding capability. These people are masters in handling various scripts which will produce more reflex to your site.

Successful database connectivity

Handling a database of any site is a usual knack of any contract programmer. Basically they are playing with databases in various web servers. Database design, database development, database maintenance and database connectivity with web server will by done properly by freelance programmers for presenting all kinds of information, product list and business portfolio in front of visitor very easily.

Superb form processing

Recently it is viewed that small business owners are using many kinds of forms at their website to accrue more inquires from their customers regarding more sales information about their product list or services. Gathering those records in an errorless manner, storing them into databases and enabling the right person to access the collected data is superbly done by web programmers for increasing the web performance.

Different types of error handling

In the web world we find specially two types of errors such as physical and logical errors. The efficiency of any freelance contract programmer can be judge through error handling ability. Smart web programmer can handle those things smoothly by debugging process.

Maintaining proper navigation

Navigation is known as the base of any website. A faulty navigation system can damage the business growth of your website. Thus you should take advices regarding proper navigation for your site from contract programmers to maintain it properly which will produce more business to your site.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanna Gadel has good faith on java programmers (http://www.getaprogrammer.com.au/) and she previously worked with PHP programmers (http://www.getaprogrammer.com.au/) at a reputed freelance programming firm. Her article helps her readers to understand modern web programming inclination.

The Second Biggest Mistake Freelancers Make

What is the second biggest mistake freelancers make? There are many mistakes to be made, so here is my second biggest.

When you first begin your freelance career–whether as a writer, photographer, web designer, graphic artist or whatever–you have to face the ultimate challenge: getting clients.

So you scour all the marketing books and Internet articles, and you talk with others who have gone before you to see if they have a secret.

Then, one day, you take the plunge. You begin to market your freelance business. You come to realize that if you don't aggressively market, you are going to get nowhere fast. And that's not why you became a freelancer. You became a freelancer because you wanted to call your own shots and you believed you could make more money working for yourself than for someone else.

If you are diligent and determined, your marketing efforts soon begin to pay off. You land a couple of clients. One of them, in fact, may be a big one. It's a large company with tons of work for you to do and plenty of money to give you in return. Best of all, you've managed to impress them.

Welcome to the gravy train!

Well, not so fast. It is extremely tempting to climb onto this gravy train and go along for the ride as long as it will take you. But "putting all your eggs in one basket," or devoting most of your freelance work to just one client, will end in disaster…sooner or later.

While you are so busy with your big client, you tend to curtail or even stop marketing, so no one else ever learns about you. You eschew smaller clients and projects because you don't have the time and you can make a lot more money with your big client.

Worst of all, the day will come (I promise) that your gravy train will derail. The company will be swallowed up by some bigger, impersonal corporation that doesn't know you and doesn't care. Your job will become so important that the company will decide it needs a full-timer instead of a freelancer. Or your job will become obsolete as the company moves in a new direction. The contact people you have so carefully cultivated over time will gradually move on to other jobs, so you will have no one on your side. Or, heaven forbid, you will make an egregious mistake that just cannot be forgiven…and you will be shown the door.

I know this from firsthand experience. For more than 12 years I road the gravy train of a company that handed me thousands of dollars every month. Then things began to change. The company is no longer operating, and my contacts have all departed for parts unknown.

Too many freelancers make the mistake of allowing a large percentage of their income to come from one source. If one client supplies more than 20 percent of your revenue on a consistent basis, you need to find more clients and other sources of revenue…as soon as possible.

I've also known people who worked full-time and then decided to freelance almost exclusively for their former employer! Same mistake. Don't let familiarity doom your bottom line. Always be on the lookout for new clients.

(One caveat: In the very beginning of your freelance career, you may have only one or two clients to start, so they will, of course, contribute a large percentage of your income. But after about six months, you really need to have multiple clients and many baskets full of all those golden eggs.)

In a previous article, I mentioned that the Number One mistake freelancers make is turning self-employment into an excuse for self-indulgence. Having one big, lucrative client is a surefire way to fall into the trap of self-indulgence. Self-indulgence leads to all kinds of excuses for not working. And when you're a non-working freelancer, you are a broke freelancer.

While it's okay–and quite wonderful!--to have a big, lucrative client, don't let that client dominate your time or make you financially dependent on him or her for your livelihood. Unless, of course, you'd rather quit freelancing and go back to work in a cubicle with half-hour lunch breaks, constant pressure, few if any chances, a dismal destiny, little prospect for advancing in your field, and no chance to make more money–no matter how hard you work.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kathy Poole has been a Prosperous Writer since she launched her highly profitable freelance copywriting business in 1985. She is also a Writer's Coach who empowers other writers to prosper in this opportunity-rich field. Kathy gives writers the confidence, knowledge and action plans they need to start, run and grow their own lucrative copywriting businesses – much sooner and more easily than they could by themselves. For information, resources, more articles and a complimentary Special Report, visit http://www.prosperouswriter.com. Send e-mails to kathy@prosperouswriter.com.

Why Network With Other Freelancers

Discover the many reasons why networking is so important for freelancers. This is one line of work where you simply can’t hide away and work in isolation. Learning from others is key to the success of any freelance business.

Networking is one of the most important aspects of freelancing. While the established freelancer may not find much time or inclination to network, the newbies generally need to spend quite a few hours at it, for the immense benefits that networking can provide. However, even the established freelancers know better than to totally avoid the networking scene.

This is because every field is continuously moving forward, be it writing, programming or even photography. If you’re completely absorbed in your work and have no time for networking, you will not be able to keep track of these changes, and getting another project will be harder to come by. Plenty of opportunities are up for grabs, but how do you discover them if you do not network?

Another main reason as to why freelancers need to network is discovery. Networking online showcases your skills and talents. Showing intelligent and specialized knowledge of your field can lead indirectly to contracts, since many employers frequent networking websites such as forums and the like when searching for the right person to outsource their project to.

While established freelancers are into networking to gain leads, the newcomers are in for advice and tips that carry some weight in Beginners 101. Every freelancer who has been through the ropes has a wee bit of advice that can prevent you as a newbie from a similar difficult experience. Where else can you get the right advice than from people who’ve already been there, done that?

Networking with your fellow work compatriots also comes in handy when you need a bit of advice or hit a spot of trouble on a project. They are there to offer advice and help. It also helps you figure out how much to charge for specific projects and how to prevent undercharging clients.

All in all, there are plenty of reasons as to why you should network with other freelancers. In fact, it is one of the key pathways in getting where you want to go!

Get more about freelancing tactics at FreelanceSprout.com.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

April Boone is the owner of Global Marketing Solutions and a pro at networking.

Networking With Other Freelancers- The How Of It

If you are a freelancer it is important that you learn how to network and why it is so valuable to your business. Your networking is about much more than just making friends. It is about making more money and being more successful.

Every freelancer needs a solid foundation: In terms of skills, knowledge and support. Skills and knowledge come with learning and experience. Support, however, is another matter. Support goes hand in hand with networking. Only by networking with other freelancers can you get to know and understand the nuances that matter within the industry.

There are many reasons as to why a freelancer needs to be in constant contact with other freelancers who work in the same or similar fields. Apart from getting tips about the latest projects which are to be outsourced, bids placed, charges levied, and advice on business and legal matters, networking also helps you find a few friends on whom you can rely for any unexpected happenings. So how does one get about networking?

For a start, let’s look at the physical manner of networking. It’s all about showing up, mingling and getting to know people. Be it a glittering party, a freelancers’ symposium, or a book fair; the enterprising freelancer must try to mingle and get himself known to those in the same field of business.

However, in the last decade, the physical aspect of networking has been taken over by the internet. Virtual networking only began with the advent of blogging. The true potential of networking was first discovered with sites such as Blogger and Wordpress, where being placed on the blogroll of a friend or work mate could lead to amazing opportunities opening up. Soon, every leading website had a blog to its name. And then started the social media craze.

Sites such as My Space, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter and Orkut all began to make their mark in the world of freelancers. They still do. However, different social networking sites work in different ways. For Twitter, you need to have a following, and be a follower yourself. Orkut has forums. My Space has it all. Facebook: The new economy. You get it? Digg it.

All one needs to do is to sign up, and go with the flow. The rewards may be even greater than you could ever have imagined. And all it takes is an hour a day.

Get more about freelance ideas at FreelanceSprout.com.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

April Boone is the owner of Global Marketing Solutions in Foley Alabama.