May 11th, 2008
After reading Victor Epand’s Great Freelancing Tips For Magazine Writers on workoninternet.com, I agree that most of his advice in on the up-and-up. Because above everything else, Victor wants you to value the worth of your writing (in terms of how much the magazine will pay you), and to meet deadlines.
I just have something to add to his advice: make your articles easily scannable. The latest in-advice is to use sub-headers, bold and italics to make your content easy to browse through. All the magazine editors I’ve written insist on using sub-headers to divide the article into easily-read sections.
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By Rico -- 0 comments
May 10th, 2008
Apryl (not a typo) Duncan of about.com knows. Check out What to Do When You Don’t Get Paid for a Freelance Job? In the article, she writes about going from gently reminding the client about the contract, to the absolute last resort, going to court.
It’s articles like these that remind me why freelancers should save money, and commit to some regular gigs. You never know when that rainy day will suddenly arrive.
Image from newscom.com
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By Rico -- 1 comment
May 10th, 2008
Livejournal may be emo-haven, but sometimes there are post worth paying attention to for “serious” readers. How much work/personal info on freelance site? by Skellington1 is one of them.
Personally, I think it’s important to maintain a clear division between the personal- and business-related aspects of your online profile. Such division could be two different websites, or simply two different web pages on the same domain.
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May 9th, 2008
Talk about freelancers who wake up early, and the probable reaction would be amazement. But stereotypes aside, freelancers do have to get up early. Even if there’s no boss or HR department to punish you for tardiness, you’ve still got to on time for meetings right?. Freelance cliches work against us here (you have full control over your schedule, and you were still late?!). Not to mention it’s so much easier to get a lot done if you start the day early.
But the question remains: How do you train yourself to wake up early? Luckily, Matthew’s got ten answers.
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By Rico -- 0 comments
May 9th, 2008
So you’ve spent hours writing something, putting together a layout, or coding a site. Do you think you’ll be able to spot any and all errors before submission?
QA (Quality Assurance) is a fact of every freelancer’s life. Unless said freelancer has no qualms about submitting shoddy work. But the problem is that, since we’ve spent hours looking at our own work, chances are we’ll miss out some mistakes. Even obvious ones.
The answer lies in asking someone else to review your work. Obviously, it can be quite cumbersome to look through something and catalog all the mistakes for revision. Some people will automatically think that you have to pay someone else to proofread your work for you.
But here’s where the concept of freelance friendship comes in: find a freelancing partner, and make a pinky promise together: you will both review each other’s work. It’s a I’ll-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-my-back arrangement. It’s mutually beneficial, and the exchange aspect means all the work is done for free.
Do you think such an arrangement is viable? I’ve yet to try it, and I will share the results as soon as I can.
Images froms newscom.com
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By Rico -- 2 comments
May 8th, 2008
Not bad at all: For a 3-month old article, Ten Practical Tips for Writing in English does a good job of staying relevant. Aside from establishing why English is the de facto language of anyone seeking online success, it obviously provides ten practical tips for writing in English!
And you know what? Even if I’ve spent my entire life communicating in English, Jarkko’s tips have done a great job of keeping my English sharp. So even if you think you don’t need any help with your English, I suggest you read the article and follow its advice. At the risk of over-simplification, the better you can reach out online, the greater your chances of building connections that lead to freelancing success. (northxeast.com)
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By Rico -- 0 comments
May 8th, 2008
Negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have broken down, with the latter walking out over “unreasonable demands.” Like the breakdown that eventually led to the Writer’s Guild Strike, these negotiations centered on the profits made from DVDs and online content.
Technically, this news applies only to Contract Worker’s North American readers. But with US TV experiencing a renaissance in terms of quality, boob tube fans all over the world—who download episodes legitimately or not—are sure to be affected
So Why is This Important to Freelancers?
The news that the SAG may be starting their own strike is relevant to freelancers, because it will allow them to avoid any potential boredom. Without network television to keep them entertained, freelancers—and people in general—may be forced to take up other activities such as getting out of the house more often. If the SAG does hold a strike, it will mean that mostly reruns will appear on TV for the foreseeable future.
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By Rico -- 1 comment
May 7th, 2008
Ready to be scared about the prospects of freelancing? Check out Freelance Folder’s Eight Violent Truths About Freelancing. Bob Younce creates some horror by talking about how freelancing isn’t for lazy people who shun hard work, how freelancers work for jerks, and how freelancing is a “thankless profession.”
Then, on a succeeding article, Mr. Younce switches gears, citing the cool freelancing community and flexibility, He also asserts that freelancing gives one control over their own destiny, and calls it “The Best Damn Job You’ll Ever Have“. Find out why over at freelancefolder.com.
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By Rico -- 0 comments
May 7th, 2008
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of freelancing for a living is its relatively instability. Unlike that 9 to 5 job where the paycheck is assured, a freelancer needs to take a more active role in acquiring new work—and even the most steady job lookers have a hard time attracting new clients for reasons beyond their control.
That being said, there’s at least one way to make a consistent living and keep bread on your table. Unless your work requires that you be onsite (a slight minority I’m assume?), you can market your skills online, get hired by a foreign client, and submit your work to someone halfway around the world.
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By Rico -- 1 comment
May 6th, 2008
I’ve already how established how Excel is important to productivity. Now make use of these key combinations to get things done faster:Alt+Enter - Start a new line within the same cellCtrl+Enter - Replaces all selected cells with whatever you’ve typed inShift+Enter - Moves to the cell above whatever you were typing inCan anyone out there tell me if these key combinations work in other spreadsheet applications as well? Or, what their equivalents are?
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By Rico -- 4 comments
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