Accidental Freelancer

It’s always interesting to find out how people wound up doing freelance work and my story isn’t much different from others except that I have a few varying twists in my tale.

I never considered being a freelancer! In fact, I simply couldn’t imagine depending on chance for a paycheck every week, I really liked the stability of the brick and mortar workplace.  What changed?  Well for me there are multiple changing points in my road to freelancing.  The first occurred in 1991 when I was informed that I had retinitis pigmentosa.  Web MD Says this about RP: 

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is one name for a large group of inherited vision disorders that causes progressive degeneration of the retina of the eyes. Peripheral (or side) vision gradually decreases and eventually is lost.

Rather frightening prognosis! But then again, such is life – I had to give up my driver’s license but frankly, I felt lucky I could see at all! At the time I worked full time for a financial services firm and had been there for a few years so I continued to plug away at my job day after day – something of note here: I was a telecommuter – which was very convenient since I could no longer drive. In 2005 I was laid off. I was not too worried, I was actually doing some heavy duty volunteer work at the time and decided that I would in fact take the next year (2006) off as well, I could afford it at the time and this would allow me to focus more on that. I really did not consider the challenges of working after that!

So in 2006 I did my volunteer work (and separated from a very long term relationship) and towards the end of my time in that role (July 2006) I decided it was time to start searching for real. I was fortunate in some ways that I had been in financial services for so long that I had a strong background. I did however have two distinct problems! (A) I was getting really close to 50 and I was looking for a substantial amount of money (B) I was competing with students graduating college with MBA’s (and I’m degree-less). None the less I plugged away and I finally wound up in a very unlikely job – I was hired to build an internal database for a high tech company (which had a lot of low tech filing solutions)! I was told I could work at home and that while I would be temporary that in March of 2007 I would be able to go permanent! Perfect – just what the doctor ordered!

Alas, this was not to be – In February of 2007 I was laid off as part of a ’sweeping’ cost cutting measure my position was cut – interestingly enough I still hold the theory that had they gone ahead with their original premise that they would have saved a bundle but that’s another story for another day! So I was back on the job hunting trail again. My unemployment benefits ran out quickly and my savings was a tad strained but I was determined to get back to work. I bet I sent out some 800 resumes and cover letters between February and July. I am convinced they went into some ‘black hole’ someplace!

In July, a friend of mine notified me about a class that was being conducted online for people who had visual ‘disabilities’ that helped them promote themselves better for obtaining jobs. I figured I had nothing to lose, the registration fee was very minimal and what could it hurt? Well, it was a great class – and after the first couple of assignments my instructor asked me if I’d ever considered freelance writing. I laughed at him and said no – I wasn’t a writer!

Ya, right!! Anyway, someone mentioned oDesk in a chat room one day (one of the attendees in the class I mentioned above). I already had profiles at LinkedIn, eLance and frankly, I wasn’t too excited about oDesk at the time but when I saw it was free I decided hey, why not try it. My first profile overview was awful (and so was my first job!) as I basically focused on my data entry skills. But, then I picked up an SEO job from CraigsList in August and the person convinced me that I could actually write and I could do SEO work as well, so I started building Squidoo Pages and Hub Pages (many of which I’ve since converted to articles on Helium). Thus began my freelance writing!

Since then I’ve changed my focus to more article writing (though right now the bulk of my work is blogs), I have substantially increased my rates. Currently, I’m practicing use of voice recognition software. I am doing this because my eyes are getting much worse and I see no other alternative to continue my freelancing. Loss of vision is going to mean that I’ll need to find a way to have my assignments read to me and my work will have to be read to me as well. My proofreading will have to literally be done by computer – I’ll have to depend on my ears to pick up words that are not where they belong. So, that’s my story (and I am sticking to it!).

Onward and upward! Happy Freelancing

Getting Started in Freelancing

This post is actually an excerpt of an article I submitted to Helium comparing oDesk and eLance.  I pulled all the comparison data but here’s some helpful hints!

Current Economic Crisis

We have hit a current unemployment rate of 7.2 percent as of December 31, 2008. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics release that was published on January 9, 2009 in a period of only four (4) months, 1.9 million people have lost their jobs.

When you combine this frightening statistic with the increased cost of gas to get around, increased cost of food and clothing, it’s not that difficult to understand that people are going to have some challenges living for too long on unemployment.

Sadly, more people who are unemployed with begin having difficulty paying their mortgages, they’ll possibly lose medical benefits and many will drain their savings while they’re unemployed just to make everyday ends meet.

Transferable Skills

Fortunately, in today’s high-tech environment, most of us have what I like to call ‘transferable skills’. These are skills that you can take from one job and bring with you to begin seeking jobs in another field. For example, those who have worked in customer service often have keen data entry skills. Many who have worked in the financial services industry for instance are accustomed to writing reviews for clients, and the list goes on and on.

One of the first things you should consider when you’re considering looking for freelance opportunities is to clearly set out for yourself (you will need it later) exactly what skills you have available. This can help you further narrow down the type of work you’ll be able to do.

Update your Resume

While you are seeking freelance opportunities, this is a great time to sit down and bring your resume up to date. Regardless of whether you decide to pursue brick and mortar opportunities or freelance opportunities, this will help you prepare a fair overview of what you have to offer to potential employers or potential clients.

When you are preparing your resume make sure you don’t overlook such things as special projects you took on while with an employer, any training you participated in and other facts that can add to your credentials.

Create your online presence

You might be wondering how you will go about marketing yourself since it’s not like you can actually walk into a persons room and explain everything to them! This is true – this requires establishing yourself as a presence in the online marketplace. You are probably wondering how you would go about this. For starters, you can start with a profile at oDesk and beef it up! Put as much relevant information into your profile as you possibly can especially focusing in on your skills.

A) A blog - set up a free blog and do a thorough “About Me” page that talks about your skills and includes relevant parts of your resume. Thorough profiles, resume and a good about me page will help you get started. I personally recommend putting your name in the tags of each posting you put on your blog.

B) LinkedIn – LinkedIn is actually a networking and job site. However, for those who are looking for Freelance opportunities, they offer a free profile, online resume and they also offer you the ability to request references from prior business associates, employers, etc. This is a perfect way to set up a link to your resume and provide references immediately for potential new employers and if you’re looking for Freelance opportunities it allows you to have instant credibility. Once you set up your profile, search the network and find out if others whom you have worked with in the past in any capacity are signed up and request that they provide you recommendations. Not everyone will, but some will and you’ll soon develop instant credibility and you’ll have references to offset your lack of feedback.

C) Social Networking – I am not as familiar with social networking as I probably should be but I do know enough about them to recommend that you set up profiles with one or more of them. You can even create a YouTube video that is a resume of sorts that talks about you, talks about your personal goals and your skills which can be linked in job postings.

Beginning the job hunt

The first thing you need to do is be realistic. Chances are it’s going to take you as long (or longer) to find a freelance job than it may take you to find a new job at a brick and mortar establishment. Remember that all freelance opportunities are global and you’re often going to compete with people from all over the globe. This means that rates may be low, you may find yourself bidding on jobs that upwards of a hundred people are going to be bidding on.  Don’t get discouraged. If you believe your skills warrant higher rates, stick with it and let people know why you’re worth the extra rate!!

Applying for jobs

One of the things that will help you stand out here at oDesk is a good strong cover letter. Each position you bid on you should write a unique cover letter, it should clearly detail why you’re the right person for a job and you should also refer to parts of the job posting as they are appropriate. If you are asked for a sample of your work in the posting, you should make sure you include the sample as well.

Above all else, be consistent, keep applying for jobs and make yourself stand out each day!  You can succeed at freelancing if you are consistent and stick with it!

Spread your wings!

If you’re a freelance writer and you are looking for (a) additional experience; (b) additional income; (c) an opportunity to build your portfolio, there are some websites that are available to you to help you do this!

Here are some examples:

Helium – if you’re interested in writing about a wide variety of topics and you want the opportunity to practice your writing, Helium offers you a wide range of topics that include poetry, creative writing, business, legal, family issues and the list goes on and on.

One of the nice things about Helium is that you will earn residual income off hits to your articles.  Now you’re not going to get rich off these but they do add up.  If you’re looking for additional income opportunities take a look at their Marketplace as well.

Associated Content is another site that basically allows you to submit articles.  One of the advantages over Helium is that you basically don’t have to write on existing titles, instead you have the opportunity to write about anything that falls in their categories.

Again you’re not going to make a lot of money on these articles, but they go a long way in helping you create a portfolio for your freelance writing business.

Both of these sites will give you an opportunity to flex your writing muscles and create a portfolio. Remember, various categories invite more views so read up on the rules.

Both sites offer you the opportunity to cross-post articles as well so feel free to post them on both sites (read all the rules that apply to the content first!).

Happy freelancing!

Great American Job Fair Attendance

I’ve attended a lot of job fairs in my day, but I’ve never been so taken back by the number of people who attended a job fair at this hour of the day!

I was asked by oDesk to consider manning a table a the Great American Job Fair hosted by Tory Johnson who does the work segments on  Good Morning America. This job fair was going to be held in Boston.   Here’s the catch: We had to be there at 5am and the job fair ran from 6am to 10am.  So here’s my story:

First off  I want to commend oDesk staff Josh and Elizabeth for giving us so much information up front and I also want to thank my fellow partner in crime for the day Erin.  Thank heavens there were two of us!  Actually job fairs where you are the ‘displayer’ versus the ‘job seeker’ are two different things!

I arrived at the Boston Sheraton at 4:45am to set up for the job fair. There were at least 50 tables set up for display as well as a ‘Resume Critique’ area where specialists from the area where invited to participate and review folks resumes as they came through the job fair.

From our spot (right in front of the doors) the immediate ‘neighbor’ displays were Westinghouse (yes the light bulb folks), Poland Springs, a multi level marketing company, a security company and if you can believe this we even saw a display from the Secret Service!

As one would expect in Boston, a number of the area hospitals also had tables set up with folks there to talk about job opportunities. No doubt, in this economy there are more job seekers than there are jobs to go around!

The doors to the Grand Ballroom where the job fair was being held opened at 6am – from then until 10am the traffic was very steady.  In fact, when I arrived at 4:45 there were at least 30 people who were already lined up with their resumes in hand. Go figure (even when I was looking for work full time you would NOT have found me there!).  (we even wondered if some folks skipped work or school to show up there!)

For those who don’t know much about Boston we have a large college area in Boston (and surrounding communities) and we also have a significant health care community in Boston proper (some of the leading researchers in the country come from Boston).  So I wasn’t too sure how much interest  we would see in oDesk at this job fair! I was more than pleasantly surprised.

We had a steady stream (and often 3-4 people at one time) of people approach us at the job fair, and all of them asked the same first question “What is oDesk?”. As best as we could Erin and I talked about oDesk from the providers perspective (and in a couple of cases I talked about it from the buyers perspective since I’m a buyer as well).  I think a few people thought we were off our rockers (i.e. no job site is legit) or we were just there ’selling something’.

We first had to dispel the myth that we were employees of oDesk which was pretty simple to do and then we basically discussed our own experiences on oDesk and explained what we found as benefits:

A)  Guaranteed pay on hourly work

B)  Variety of Jobs

C)  No up front costs

D)  Set your own hours

All of these things appealed to the people we talked to at the job fair once they understood what we were doing.

In all I would estimate that the bulk of people we spoke with were in fact writers (which is interesting) though we did run into a few graphic artists, IT people and others with an interest (more than passing) in the entire notion of working at home.  We even talked to a few who had been laid off from the financial services industry and were looking for other opportunities and that’s why they were at the job fair.

All in all, it was unlike any other job fair I’ve ever attended. And being on the ‘other’ side of the table instead of the one trying to get someone to look at my resume was interesting and fun!

If oDesk offers you the opportunity to represent them at one of these job fairs, consider doing so! It’s fun and you can spread the word about oDesk and how you work effectively with them!

Happy Freelancing!

Why oDesk

I have heard a lot of comments about various work at home opportunities through blogs that I’ve read, Yahoo Answers, and any other numbers of locations (including Helium) and many of them either (a) are negative about oDesk (more about this later) or don’t refer to them at all as a source of potential work.

First I’d like to address some of the negative things I have heard/read about oDesk.

1.  My work is monitored – I am a freelancer because I don’t want someone monitoring my work

Let’s start with this one first because this is the one that I find the most laughable.  First of all if you work on fixed rate jobs (which are not guaranteed payment by the way) you never have to run the monitor.  Even if you are working on an hourly rate job this thing isn’t exactly what I’d call intrusive.  Sure it monitors your keystrokes and it takes a snapshot of your screen but so what.  I worked as a telecommuter for years and they monitored my activity all the time. If you have a real problem with this then don’t accept hourly jobs.

2. The rates are too low

OK first things first – you set your own rates, you bid on jobs and you set the per job rate.  If you can’t get a job then fine lower the rates a little bit, but don’t sell yourself short.  Make sure if you are bidding $30 an hour on a job that you are telling a buyer why you’re asking for that kind of money. It’s that simple.

3. There is too much competition

Fair enough, but that’s life! Basically you need to let folks know why you’re the best person for the job.  It’s not all that unusual to apply for a job and see 99 other people applying for the same job.  Make sure your cover letter is standing out from the crowd!

So here’s why I use oDesk

When I first started looking for work I signed up for job board after job board.  Elance, Linked in, you name it I have open accounts with them.  So with eLance you have to select your category and if you want to work at the ‘premier’ level you can’t do that unless you’re paying a subscription fee.  If you’re not using a subscription fee, you can look at jobs in one (1) category and you can bid on jobs up to three (3) ‘credits’ that they provide you. Additional credits cost money. The things that kill me are that you need to do all sorts of weird things to even bid on the job then on top of that the jobs are not even going to be awarded for weeks on end.   Also one other thing – when you change your job category you cannot bid in that category until the beginning of your next billing cycle.

Let’s talk Profiles – another weird feature at eLance is that they want to be paid for verifying information in your profile.  Sure, you don’t have to have it verified but frankly according to everything I’ve ever seen I think that most buyers there really depend on the ‘verified credentials’.

Without paying you’re limited to five (5) skill tests too which is another bizarre feature. And of course although eLance uses escrow they don’t guarantee payment.

OK I’m ranting I’ll be quiet now Happy Freelancing

Portfolio Chatter

A while back we discussed building up and displaying your portfolio. Many of you may have noticed that my ‘portfolio’ pages have disappeared from this site. There’s a reason for that. One of my clients complained because I linked his items here on my blog and I included work on the site.

Make sure before you add a persons work to your portfolio they don’t have issues or restrictions that you need to adhere to as it could create issues for you.  I’ve removed my portfolio completely and am using only generic links on my oDesk portfolio since this happened.

Another item: I also had an instance where an article that I wrote for a client was posted on a very active blog and I was assigned the ‘by line’ as the author of the work.   I put it into my portfolio and when I applied for a similar job I used that link (without looking at it) to show off the work.

I received a very curt email from that potential buyer asking me why I was trying to pass off someone elses work as mine. It appears the final buyer made a few minor changes (i.e. adding hyperlinks and photos) to my original article and assigned it to another person hence resulting in my byline vanishing.  I looked like an idiot (and lost the assignment) because I didn’t take two seconds to make sure the article was still active.

Use caution when making your freelance portfolio public.

Freelance Rates

There always seems to be a lot of discussion about rates that a freelance writer can or should charge.  For most of us, starting out meant our rates were lower than we might like but once we gain momentum we often increase our rates incrementally based on (a) experience; (b) our portfolio and (c) the market.

How much is too little

It’s pretty difficult to set a ‘low end’ for your freelance writing based on the experience of others.   I am of the opinion that each freelance writer offers a different set of skills and in addition they offer different levels of experience.

As a ‘first timer’ I took some incredibly low paying jobs – in fact I remember one job where I wrote 100 articles on a topic I literally knew nothing about and was paid $125.  Of course today, those types of jobs are definitely an exception though I admit to taking a lower rate (read fixed rate) job here and there to fill in gaps.

You alone have to determine the lowest rate that you’re willing to work as a freelance writer.  If you’re bidding on jobs on oDesk you can readily see what the ‘average’ rate on a job is and if you’re curious enough, you can look at individual profiles and determine from there what you’re going to bid on a job.  Let’s face it, it makes no sense at all to bid on a freelance writing job at $30 per hour when the average bidder is bidding $7 per hour.

How much is too much?

Freelance writers make a wide variety of rates, from very low (3 to 4 dollars per hour) to very high (50 to 60 per hour).  Personally I think a lot of this is dependent on the factors you want to make part of the package you are selling to your potential clients.

I don’t think any amount is ‘too much’.  Recently I sold a 300 word article that took me slightly over 30 minutes to research and write for what was the equivalent of $80 per hour.  Other jobs I have I work for $15 per hour. It’s really up to you to determine what’s right for you and more importantly what will sell to the buyer.

Finding that happy medium

As a freelance writer it’s difficult to find that ‘happy medium’ in setting your rates.  The rule of thumb I like to use is really pretty simple:

1)  Do I have any freelance writing jobs that are paying me my current rate? (if yes go to #2 if no go to #3)

2)  Can I increase my freelance writing rate and still attract new clients?

3) Is it time to consider lowering my rate

It’s pretty simple when you think about it. If you constantly bid on freelance writing jobs at $30 per hour and you’re regularly being turned down then it’s a pretty good chance your freelance writing rates are too high (for whatever reason).

Increases are fine!

I have increased my freelance writing rate several times over the past year (my hourly rate) and I have done so successfully. But, it must be done with a few things in mind:

A)  Have I added new skills to my portfolio?

B)  Have I improved my writing skills?

C)  Do I have a broader base of knowledge?

D)  What do I bring to the table that validates my increased rate?

Increasing your freelance writing rates ‘just because’ doesn’t make a lot of sense.  Make sure you’re not cutting off your nose to spite your face!

Happy Freelancing (do take our poll)

The line between enough and too much

As a freelance writer  one of the hazards of looking for ongoing work is finding the line between enough work and too much work.

It’s up to you to decide how many hours you wish to devote to working daily.  If you have regular clients with ongoing assignments for freelance writing it may be fairly simple to keep your schedule on track.  However, if like most freelance writers  you have a combination of long-term and short term clients finding the balance between enough been too much work can be tricky.

Balancing your time is critical to your success as a freelance writer .  Whether you determine that setting a weekly schedule, or a monthly schedule works best for you you must ensure that all assignments can be completed before their deadline.

For those with regular ongoing assignments, this is typically significantly easier than for those who depend on a variety of small assignments to keep them active.  If you have a blend of ongoing assignments that you mix one of into, your balancing act could become more difficult.

Weekly schedule

Whether you elect to wait until Monday morning or you opt to deal with it on Sunday night, your freelance writing weekly schedule should be prepared so you understand what your tasks are for the week.

For ongoing freelance writing assignments without deadlines, you may want to consider breaking them into weekly pieces and subsequently into daily pieces.  This will allow you to quickly identify gaps in your schedule that may allow you to take on additional assignments.

Monthly assignments

Do you have freelance writing clients who give you a fixed number of hours per month to deal with blogs, articles, or other type of projects?  If so you can easily fill your monthly calendar in based on the workload you’ve been assigned.

A perfect example of this would be the client who keeps an open freelance writing assignment and asks you to spend eight hours per month writing new articles.  Whether you elect to do all the hours in one day, or spread those eight hours out over the month is strictly up to you.  While spreading  the eight hours out over the entire month may allow you to spread your income out over the month, completing all eight hours of freelance writing in one day might actually free up additional time.

Summary

You will need to determine which method of tracking time works best for you as a freelance writing professional.  Always be sure when taking on new freelance writing assignments that you are not crossing that line between having enough work and having too much work.

While having too much freelance writing  work may be considered a good problem by some, failure to meet deadlines set by your buyers can haven’t long lasting negative impact on your freelance writing.

SEO Mystery

There seems to be a significant amount of mystery that surrounds appropriate use of SEO and everyone is trying to find themselves at the ‘top of the heap’ as it were.  SEO doesn’t have to be a huge mystery, you simply need to understand the ‘basic’ premise of SEO marketing.

SEO in Blogs

If you’re trying to get an SEO ranking in your blog you first need to ensure that your blog is relevant.  Let’s face it if you have a blog about writing you certainly wouldn’t suddenly start adding information about sports right?

Try to keep your posts relevant to the topic that you are discussing!

SEO in Websites

In order to make sure that your website is properly calibrated for effective SEO marketing there are some tips you need to make sure you’re using:

A)  Make sure your primary key words are contained in the first paragraph of your page;

B)  Make sure the key words flow naturally (this is one that often gets abused);

C)  Try for no more than 10% density – in other words if you have a 500 word page you should mention your key words approximately 50 times through the page – but don’t stuff!;

D)  Make sure your closing paragraph contains the key word

Don’t force it

Nothing is more disturbing than trying to read an article that is so stuffed with key words that the article starts sounding repetitive. I actually had a little bit of fun with this article on SEO Marketing.

Make sure that your text flows naturally and has the feel you’re looking for! SEO doesn’t have to make you crazy, you just need to exercise some common sense!

We’ll have more about this in upcoming posts so feel free to chime in!

Non Specialized Freelance Writing

If you’re just getting started freelancing you might be wondering if you should be focusing on just one field of freelance writing or if you should be expanding your horizons.

There is something to be said for both options, let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of both types of freelance writing:

Specialized Writing

It’s been said by many that freelance writers who specialize in one field (finance for example) often garner higher wages for their services. While this may be true, not all freelance writers have a single base of knowledge that is marketable.

Advantages of Specialized Freelance Writing

1. Higher per article wages – if you can specialize in one field of writing you probably will make a better wage than those who write about multiple topics;

2. Client base – there’s a pretty good chance if you are specializing in one field that your client base is easier to find;

3.  Consistency – typically the more your freelance writing sticks to one topic the better you’ll be discussing that topic in a variety of ‘voices’

Disadvantages to Specialized Freelance Writing

1. Higher per article wages -yes, it can be a disadvantage as well! The reason that a specialized freelance writer is at a disadvantage with higher per article wages is that it often cuts off a portion of clients who might otherwise be attracted;

2. Client base – your client base is limited to the one field that your freelance writing skills are based on.  This allows for a ceiling on growth;

3.  Consistency – read boredom.  As a freelance writer you can grow quickly bored with writing about the same thing all the time!

Non Specialized Freelance Writing

If you overlook the individual topics that non specialized freelance writers can deal with (if they chose to) there are some other freelance writing opportunities that you might not otherwise have as a specialized freelance writer including:

1.  Variety of challenges – if you’re a single topic writer chances are probably good that you’re not as versatile as you could be. This might mean that you focus on only one potential avenue of income such as article submission;

2.  Variety of Subjects - as a freelance writer who is ‘non-specialized’ you could write about a wide range of topics in one day from the alphabet to zoos ensuring you’ll never get bored with your writing;

3.  Referral business – if you find a client who is happy with your work you’re even more likely to get referral business if your freelance writing isn’t locked into single subjects.

As a freelance writer, it’s helpful if you can expand your horizons. If you’re not sure that you have the skills that you need to do that you can sign up for a free “Helium” account and practice there!  Helium offers a variety of subject matter that can help you practice your writing skills in a non-threatening manner.