Elance.Com and Others

I read a post in one of the freelance writing blogs I usually follow. The author discussed about the usual experiences one can get out of freelance sites. The blog post can be read below.

This reminds me of my first time in GetaFreelancer.com. I tried to bid just for a couple times, trying to find a good catch from a dozen employers. I realized there’s no room for me to elbow in. A lot of people are bidding and most of them have three stars to five stars for reviews. Then it hit me. I don’t want to be rated this way. What if my employer just happens to be a perfectionist, one who doesn’t stop his daily dose of nitpicks? Would I even care for the stars? Of course not, I love myself too much that I won’t allow it to mess up my peace of mind.

The author/writer of the said post had another decision. She opted to choose carefully. Good for her cause she really intends to look for a client in that site. As for me, I would seek for better alternatives. I lost count of the number of projects that I bid on and didn’t win. In fact, I didn’t pursue that long for me to have my first win.

That’s fine with me but just for the heck of it, please do read this post:

Elance Lessons: Bidding Selectively

I talked recently about the gamble I took on bidding on freelance writing jobs on Elance. I’ve only been using the site for three months but it seems that I’m a bit of gambler that way because I’ve not just rolled the dice but I just had to also learn about folding ‘em and knowing when to walk away. I’ve learned some things this month that will change the way I bid on Elance in the future.

A few times in my writing career so far, I’ve had to walk away from clients because of various reasons such as not being suitable for their project, personality conflicts, finding their demands unrealistic, payment problems, and finding the pay to be unworthy of the effort required. I don’t take ending relationships lightly but I am trying to remember that as a self-employed individual I get the benefit of deciding what I want to work on and of deciding who I want to work with. With Elance, this can get tricky. Why? The feedback mechanism. Once you accept a job, the buyer can have a big impact on your reputation so my new advice to myself is to be sure I really want to do the job before bidding.

Elance Feedback Scores

Part of the big appeal to buyers on Elance is the ability to get detailed history about providers. They can see how many projects you’ve worked on, what categories those projects are in, how much it costs the buyer to do business with you and they can see what others thought of your work. So, this means that as a provider on this job bidding site, you want stellar reviews from clients. I’ve already taken a few lower paying jobs that would help me build a positive reputation on the site but because my stats are still low due to being new to the site, one bad review could ruin all my hard work. I’ve seen a writer friend of mine have stellar reviews with five stars and a single bad review from a difficult buyer has made her score plummet.

Due to recent events, I’ve learned that if I want to use this freelance job bidding site, I have to be very choosy about providers I deal with, otherwise a bad review could ruin my ability to make money. I’m currently crossing my fingers that a buyer I’ve just dealt with won’t hit 2 stars out of five because I’ve had to bow out of a project.

Bowing Out Of Elance Projects

This week I’ve come to the realisation that a project I’ve been working on is just not profitable and no longer enjoyable. I expected about 3-4 hours of work so priced it out accordingly. The project subject looked like an enjoyable one and one a topic I have a lot of experience in. The description made it appear like it would be easy money and good for my portfolio. I made two mistakes, though.

1. I didn’t take into account the fact that the buyer was new and probably not real familiar with Elance policies. As a provider, I now realise that I should look for history with a buyer before I accept a project. Other providers can leave feedback too!
2. I didn’t notice at first that the buyer, who invited me to bid on their project, didn’t specify the project as escrow. That meant I was taking a financial risk by doing the project and would have to just hope they’d pay me.

Reading Reviews of Buyers

So, as much as I know how valuable reviews of my services are, I’m now going to seriously consider the feedback scores and history of the buyers I deal with before bidding and accepting a job.

• Do they have feedback scores that are positive?
• What kind of feedback have they left for other providers they’ve dealt with?
• And, does the project have an Escrow symbol?

Here’s what happened to me recently, prompting this blog post:
Almost a month after a particular job, a project was still on my to-do list. The buyer didn’t seem satisfied and has requested multiple rewrites. I understand the client has a vision for the finished product and it’s a ghostwriting project so they should feel my writing style fits their voice but for some reason we’ve had trouble effectively communicating. This isn’t something that typically happens to me with clients but I need to realise that not everyone is suited to work together and not everyone will love my writing style the first time I try to turn their vision into a written product.

This buyer isn’t very quick to respond so this was dragging out well beyond the anticipated project scope and creating scheduling difficulties for me. So, because it didn’t look like it’d end any time soon or end well so I finally decided to cut my losses and discount the project rate so I can bow out and move on. Hopefully my efforts will make this just ‘go away’ and hopefully the buyer chooses to ignore the feedback feature on the site. I did remark in my updated terms that we would choose to NOT leave negative feedback for one another. If they do, I’ll be sure to defend myself in the hopes it doesn’t hurt my ability to attract future buyers. I feel comfortable that I have made more than reasonable efforts to deliver what my bid was for but at this point if I have no desire to read over and revise my words again. I’ve definitely lost money and sadly, I’ve lost passion for the project. Passion is an essential ingredient for great writing ( in my humble opinion).

Things can go wrong even if you do your due diligence and investigate up front but I now know that I’ll be a little more careful in future and hope that translates into a positive experience with this bidding site.

Instead of just feeling bad that I had a difficult experience and lost money, instead I’ll take my own advice and learn from the experience. As I always say, “If you can’t earn from it, make sure you learn from it.”

Source: http://danaprince.blogspot.com/

Handling New Clients

I must have done something that made God so good to me that in the middle of major layoffs and global crisis, I found my niche in marketing and writing. I know I know you must have thought I’m crazy for shifting to marketing when all I’ve talked about is writing. Well, one thing, Barack Obama won the presidency and one of the things he is pushing hard for is change.

I am not totally changing. Not that kind that women do when they turn thirty and start noticing about moisturizers and anti-aging skin care products. There’s a thin line between marketing and writing, the main reason why I call my position a marketer writer. God, I’m so lucky to have found a great coach for marketing. A coach for whom I work and learn. I’m in fact hitting two birds with one stone, not to mention that my coach is young, available, hardworking, and Jewish.

Although I’m learning it seems like I’m playing all along. Just today I finished the first video I’ve ever made. Of course,  modeled myself. Who else can make me love me but me, right? So I took a few snapshots from my travel photo collection and added some music on them as I run all of these in Animoto. My how I love videos. Sorry, Youtube you didn’t get the luxury of teaching me. Here goes my first video. Enjoy!

http://animoto.com/play/W06tJWJZtnVYUZKfuzb8VA

More about Blogs: What Experts Have to Say

In my quest for understanding more about blogging, outside the realm of Technorati updates, I read up on what the experienced have to say about it.
I got an excerpt from The Golden Pencil blog which featured Jen Miller, a New Jersey–based freelancer, who started blogging to promote her new book. Here’s to say how a blog can have so many uses.
“Some writers have a hard time justifying starting a blog—they take time and they often do not involve pay. Do you think all writers should have a blog?
This topic has benefited from a blog. The great thing about the Web is that it crosses all borders. If someone from California has fond memories of the Jersey Shore, they can still find and buy the book by just typing in some key words in a search engine. It’s been a the perfect way to promote the book to a very niche audience.
I only tell people to blog if they have something to say. I could probably have a general interest “Hey, here’s Jen’s blog!” type thing, but I didn’t see anything unique about that. I put some personal stuff into my shore blog, and that’s OK because of the title “Down the Shore with Jen.” But a general interest blog? I’m not sure it would find as big an audience.
How have your blogs benefited your freelance career? Have they led to paying assignments? What about any other opportunities?
The shore blog has helped position me as an expert about the shore. Of course I had the book, but the blog was easier to find through search engines, and I told my editors about it. I’ve already been assigned shore articles for Summer 2009, in part because editors found out about me and my book BECAUSE of my blog.
I’ve already made more money on freelance assignments about the shore than I have so far from the book, writing about the shore for The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, New Jersey Monthly, and USAirways magazine, among others. And that was just last year. Now editors are coming to me. I don’t think I’d have been nearly so successful freelance-wise in writing about the shore without the blog. I’ve been surprised of late by PR people who are pitching me stories for the blog! It’s great that I’m on their radar, and I usually try to turn those into paying magazine or newspaper articles.
The book blog is different. I still feel like I’m doing that for myself, though I don’t think it’s a waste of time. It’s a place where I can almost doodle about how I react to a book, and it produces a lot of ideas. I just finished book 4 of 52 of round two, and I already got two article assignments based on the reading.”
I also found out there are personal blogs and company blogs. Let me cite Seth Godin, a known American author and speaker who popularized permission marketing, in his e-book Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web. He said there are three kinds of blogs: Cat blogs, Boss blogs, and Viral blogs. Cat blogs are by, for and about the blogger himself. A boss blog is one that speaks to a circle of people. This is where company blogs fall. The blogger knows from the onset what he’s going to say and to whom. Third kind is viral blogs. These blogs are the kind we usually imagine like Instapundit, gapingvoid.com., or Boing Boing. Seth Godin said in his e-book: “These are the blogs that are changing the face of marketing, journalism, and the spread of ideas.” 
Well, from the start I know why I have to blog. It’s more of how to get myself read. Now there’s the issue: clutter; that’s the reason why we need to be reminded about why we’re blogging in the first place, to bring us back to reason, away from clutter. Get me?

Getting to Know Paypal

Due to my bruised ego, an effect of being an outsider from Paypal’s circle of users, I spent time reading about it. I found myself learning from a site where there’s a detailed account of how to use it. Of course, the first step is to look for the sign-up button. I don’t think I have to tell you this, but anyway, after that, you choose the language you prefer to use and country you’re in. If you’ll lie here then you’ll be in great trouble.

Paypal has three account types: Personal, Premier, and Business. As a freelance writer, the most advisable is the first two account types. You don’t have to pay anything unless you’re paying for your own group of writers; then you’re charged for every transaction, depending on the amount of money.

Your requirements will be an ATM card or debit card; this will serve as proof of identity and that card can also be used when you want to withdraw the money.

And because I want to have other options, just in case Paypal will bring me trouble, I continued searching and got a couple of good alternatives: Xoom, Visa, Mastercard, Eurocard, wire transfer. I just got blown off with how easy it is to get paid online. Well, for one, you just have to search the how-tos in Google, and you’ll know to go about it.

One thing that’s not so easy when it comes to online payment though, and that is getting some of your clients pay.

Meeting Paypal

In all of my entrepreneurial life, I have never come across online accounts until my dear poker client. So technically when I accepted the project, it was my baptism in fire. It was in that situation when I first heard the word Paypal. You can just imagine how my fellow writers had a good laugh when I thought it was another courier company, which I presumed to be FedEx’s newest rival.

If they could have seen me using it for the first time, they would have lost their respect of me; why in God’s universe can’t I put in the right security code for my Visa card? Well, it was after almost thirty minutes of not giving up did I realize that I was typing in the last three digits of my account number. And that’s not all, here comes withdrawal, I simply didn’t know how to do it. So I swallowed my pretentious pride and asked my client. My alibi? I used another payment method before as I exasperatedly said, “How can Paypal be so troublesome?” Luckily, my client is a good level-headed man, who seems to have a calm attitude about everything. I’m now on my way of making Paypal my best pal for now until I discover other means of online payment.

And so there goes my first Paypal encounter; The lesson to learn here is, just like any other business in its early stages, going into freelance work has birthing pains. It starts from how to direct the flow of your blog (by the way, how am I doing?), learning the ropes around the trade, but nothing beats rejections; you should know how to handle them. A freelancer should have a high threshold for rejection pain. It’s that kick and punch you give the air when you’re given a no or more nos than yesses.

Poker Client

Chris Ferguson

I’d come across several blogs pointing out do’s and don’ts for freelance writing. Then I didn’t think about my own run-ins with different people as clients not to mention the products that they want me to work on. It’s funny how when you’re just starting to get hold of your freelancing career, you realize there’s so much to learn out there.

My first client is a poker site account. They wanted to put in a tab on their site for poker-related articles. And mind you, these articles are some sort of press releases. For somebody who’s more into literature, poetry, and the arts, the idea of writing about gambling is like a pie in the sky. But in a freelancing writing career, something about you has to give. For me, it’s my self-restrained idea of adventure. The result is it made me want to travel alone to a place I barely know of. I don’t know but I really think it was that trigger.

Anyway, all throughout my reading, I learned some famous people in poker. I wanted to understand what made them hooked to the game so I read up about their past. I bumped into Chris Ferguson and how he plays poker intellectually. He’s believed to have been using some self-conjured theories in poker as much as he does for his profession; Ferguson has an exemplary academic backgound. Some professional poker players are coming from communist countries. And I remember one recounting not being able to afford buying a ball for a toy when he was a child; so he resorted to blowing up some cattle’s innards and making a ball out of it; he now lives in a mansion, driving a Ferrari.

Interesting I’d say but it’s not just that. If only it were… I have to learn to play the game myself; otherwise I won’t know what the rules of the game are and that translates to not knowing what I’m writing about. Poker is not a theoretical game; it’s a skill-based game and writing about it demands learning the skills myself.

Right now I can’t say I’m a pro but I pretty much learned a lot of poker; thanks to my client!

First Steps in Blogging

Besides the fact that I took to blogging because it is inevitable anyway, I also took in another challenging feat and that is to discipline myself: no idle time for malling or indiscriminate time for snacking or just sneaking around looking for another date, which more often than not is lousy.

I have to read and make myself knowledgeable of a lot of things that pertain to my niche. All right, I give in I still watch a couple DVDs at slack time, just when my brain tank is about to go empty. And sometimes too I’m confused on how to go about this.

Luckily, this one great guy of a blogger helped me out. I landed on this blog post that somehow gives me an idea on what to do for my words to make it out there in the public, not just hiding around the sites of my closest friends.

This guy, Darren Rowes, posted a blog of a guest blogger on his site. The post tackles what to do with your young blog and how to make it mature in the market. Let’s give it up to him:

7 Essential Things You Should Be Doing When Your Blog Is Still Young 

This is a guest post from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and Write To Done.

These days my blog, Zen Habits, no longer has the problems of finding its identity and finding an audience … but there was a time not too long ago when Zen Habits was just a baby going through the inevitable growing pains.

And yes, I remember struggling to find new readers — to just let people know I was even there. The early days of a blog are the toughest, by far.

But they don’t have to be. When a blog is still young, just as in childhood, it can be freer, carefree, and fun. Everything is a learning experience. Best yet, a young blog has endless potential — it can be anything (except perhaps President of the United States).

So if you’re the owner of a young blog, here are seven things I recommend you do, based on my experiences:

Create amazingly useful content. This is the most important thing you can do the first month or two of your blog’s existence. The next item (branding) is also important to think about as you start, but in terms of how you spend your time, writing amazing and useful content should be 95% of what you do. Your design, ads, technical stuff … all that can be worked on later. Right now, write your butt off. Create tip-packed posts that will knock the reader’s socks off. Read more: What Makes Great Blogwriting?
Create a great brand. When you first create your blog, you should think a bit about the brand you’re going to create. When you create a brand, you are sending an unspoken message. What unspoken message do you want to send? Start by defining your target audience, then by figuring out what desires you will tap into. Then craft an unspoken message that will be true to yourself while tapping into those desires. Use that unspoken message to craft your brand (the title of your blog) as well as everything else you do, from blog design to post topics to the tone you write with and more. Read more: Branding 101: How to Promote Your Blog Like the Big Guys Do.
Network with other bloggers. When you first start out, you might not know many other bloggers. Rectify that situation by commenting on other blogs in your niche, and sending friendly emails to other bloggers whose blogs you enjoy. Offer to collaborate with them, to do guest posts for them (see next item) and in general be helpful and friendly. Develop a relationship with other bloggers — it’ll pay off in the long run.
Write guest posts. One of the absolute best ways to promote your blog and your brand, and to find new readers, is to write guest posts on other blogs with readers who are among your target audience. Of course, it’s hard to get a guest post slot on big blogs when you’re just a little guy. So start with blogs that are just a little bigger than you — if you have 10 readers, go for a blog with 100-200 readers. If you have 100 readers, go for a blog with 300-500 readers, and so on. Before you start doing guest posts, however, be sure to have 10-12 solid, powerful, insanely useful posts on your blog. You want your new readers to come to your blog and be struck by a great first impression. Every guest post you write should be as amazingly useful and tip-packed as the ones on your blog (see first item).
Experiment and have fun. Once you’re a blogging powerhouse, you have thousands of readers’ expectations to live up to. You have to put up great content every day, and each word is scrutinized. So take advantage of your youth as a blog — have a blast! Experiment, try out different writing techniques, imitate other blogs, try humor and rants and moving personal essays. Try to write a post that will become popular in the social media. Find your voice as a writer. Seek inspiration and write whatever you’re inspired to write.
Get out there, often. Now is the time to start becoming more visible, and to spread your brand as much as possible. Comment on many other blogs, participate in blog carnivals, send links to other bloggers and see if they’ll share them with their readers, participate in contests. Be visible.
Seek out your potential. You can be anything you want to be when you’re just starting out. Figure out what that will be. Aspire to great heights, and seek to raise your level of blogging each step of the way. Find your path to greatness as a blogger. Try new paths, and find what fits you. Follow your passion, your inspiration, and above all, enjoy the journey!

Writer’s Perks

All right, let me tell you the truth. I didn’t plan on blogging about my writing services. The irony of it all, is that a client was the one shoving me to do it (how very kind of him). I was about to give up on my writing, cause like many in my league I’m afraid of poverty and I have such grandiose ambitions (a grand vacation to Europe and living in an eighteenth-century mansion).

Then I started reading about what some other freelance writers are blogging about. I found out that we are in pretty much the same shape although they may have resigned to the idea of writing as a lifetime profession so long ago. So to give me a boost, I wrote a list of all the perks a writer can have:

Respect- I don’t know with you but the moment I finished my Journalism degree and went out to the world to make myself useful, people started believing in whatever I say whenever they know I’m a journalist, no matter if I’m practicing it or not. Then I realized just recently it’s not the degree but the fact that I write that makes them look up to me like I’m John the Baptist.

Freedom from Conventions- I can dress, say, do, eat, go, and sing about anything I want to even if it’s the most unusual thing for someone to do and people will just say, “Oh, she’s always like that; she’s a writer.” So I can gate crash a party wearing my nightie and let it pass off as a dress.

Variety of Friends- I don’t think being a writer demands you to rub elbows with only the great and mighty; you’ll never encounter real life characters in that line of business. Since a writer is a person who’s mind isn’t restrained to one mold, he can easily go by with different people. Oh, unless you’re Danielle Steel or John Grisham, but even so, they still need a dose of inspiration from people.

Creativity- When you’re born with it, the very thing of letting it off in any medium you are inclined to is a gift and a lifetime opportunity. Most people just express but not create. Creativity is more like finding a seed and making it grow into a eucalyptus tree with a poinsettia on top.

Love and Life- Although writers are believed to be suicide prone, I have a different manner of looking at it. Virginia Woolf killed herself cause she didn’t want to hurt her husband of the truth that she’s a lesbian. Sylvia Plath burned her head in an oven to escape the path of not raising her children well. As you can see, writers are filled with life and love to the brim; it’s only that they have peculiarities in showing it.

This may be just a good shot at rationalizing my existence, but one thing I’m sure of: you are born once with it; there’s no way you’re born again without it.