The Lady Programmer

For most days the previous week I’ve taken my sweet time off from posting new entries here. I’ve ventured out from my home to refresh my mind and perhaps learn a bit or two from the world. I ended up learning more than what I can jot down.

A Friendly Visit

Last week, I’ve visited a friend who has been up almost whole the night before preparing a presentation for a group of out-of-school students. I listened to his discussion, which lasted for two hours. It was my first time for me to watch my friend give a lecture.

photo credit: mzacha (SXC)

He started off by a little ice breaker to get the attention of his audience. It was creative and unexpected: something that a few speakers adapt to conquer their audience. He had us laughing over the course of the discussion, but this humor helped him explain his points well. His two-hour long discussion really had us entertained all throughout. We ended up learning the lessons that he wants us, the audience, to remember.

I was amazed that these are young people, all of them out-of-school youths. Despite the difference in generation he was still able to conquer them all. To me, he had conquered the attention of the audience. He ended up his discussion with his audience liking and respecting him that much.

Comparing that Experience to Freelance

I suddenly realized that this tactic applies well to freelance. A freelancer’s profile could have been the presentation and the speaker is the freelancer himself. A good cover letter and a catchy title is all that it takes to keep the client interested in getting him to view the freelancer’s profile.

Even with a captivating cover letter and an interesting title is nothing when a client finds out an empty profile staring right at him. A great profile should have all the necessary elements to convince the client into the hard coded skills of the job. The client is much like the audience who responds to what is written in the profile.

Even with a content-filled profile, consider its presentation. I’ve seen a lot of profiles where it has a lot of content but remains to be disorganized. A speaker’s speech is interesting if there is a little humor that will help his audience grasps the meaning of his discussion. Similarly, a profile should be organized in a manner that is pleasing and easier for the client to skim through.

I am not saying that the profile should end up humorous, because this will piss off the client. Use bullets, numbering, indentations, spaces and other means to help organize the profile.

Keep in mind that the client may have dozens of profiles to look at, so a quick skim should be effective enough to make an impression.

What have you learned about freelance and the world?

I really wish that that I had known this earlier, because my dad had just gone down to meet a friend in Manila, which is around 5 hours away from our place. He has to claim the distance measuring instrument that he will use for his part-time surveying job.

Would you believe that this instrument was ordered off from the internet? He figured out that to save on shipping fees, he’d rather have someone from the US buy the instrument for him then claim it from someone who will be visiting our country.

He enlisted my help in finding the cheapest seller. We discovered that most US-based sites offer the cheapest deals for the same model. However, these deals are not available for non-US customers. There are those other sites, but we found out that shipment costs a lot. He could end up paying a hundred dollars more!

He’d rather wait for his friend to come into the country and meet him. This had taken several weeks, but to him, the huge savings was worth the wait.

Now I’ve learned about MyUS.com website, I really wished we had bought stuff that way. At least we did not have to do this special arrangement. We could have that instrument without paying a lot on shipment. We could even order that instrument even if the particular site only ships within the US.

Would you believe me that this blog had fallen from PR3 to PR0?

At least this is what is going on over at PayPerPost. A few bloggers had noticed this particular problem that had been going on for a few days.

If you had been wondering why there are less opportunities at PPP, then perhaps your blog is listed as having Google PR0, which has an impact on taking available opportunities. However, the IZEA and Alexa ranks remain unchanged.

If you notice a drop in qualified opportunities when you have a good PR4 blog then you may be suffering from this bug. The problem seemed not to be confined on a few members.

UPDATE: As of this time this blog is now back at PR3 level. Now I’m ready to take opportunities available at that level.

Can we ever blame people who do NOT like to venture into online freelance opportunities?

I’ve been taking out some payments out from online payment sites to my local Philippine bank account a number of times. I never had problems using oDesk debit Mastercard or Paypal. I can just tell that my earnings match the monthly paycheck that I get when I was still employed.

Just like other bloggers, holding the cold cash out from a local ATM is enough for me to jump for joy and tell everyone about my find.

Then, people ask me how I do it.

As a freelancer I get most of my earnings from various sources. I’ve worked on some projects and earn well from blogging too. Sometimes I’d get surprised that I’ve earned something from passive sources too.

I could comfortably say I’m doing a variety of freelance jobs. At least I’m not in the group of the unemployed.

Image credit to dougwoods

Some people even seem to get genuinely interested in freelance jobs. I’ve noticed that those who really persevere to find ways to learn the hard ropes of freelancing, but majority of those that I’ve convinced did not really made it and moved on.

My Convincing Prowess

I’ve convinced a close friend to earn residual from blogging. But he eventually realized that he is more of a better speaker than a writer.

I’ve tried to convince my best friend to earn from blogging. She is actually aware that the internet is a gold mine, but she is prefers to exert efforts in making herself a better full-time guidance counselor. She is skilled at writing than I am.

I’ve invited two former office mates to sign up under my account and take up freelance jobs as I did. Unfortunately, their skills are not a match to the online opportunities around, so they did not make it.

Finally, I was not able to convince my father to join with me in blogging about his life experience, or his interest in making water-powered car technology, or even about his engineering job. He is a better writer than I am, and he IS computer-literate. He can surf the web to find information and write documents in MS Word despite his age. He knows that paid blogging is a good way to earn income, but still he tells me that he is not interested.

A Lesson Learned

I’ve finally realized that online jobs are not really for everyone. Everyone has his reason for doing so. Eventually everybody finds the one opportunity that they like doing for the most of their working lives.

But this WILL NOT STOP ME from finding people who are truly interested in the internet gold mine. After all, I’ve discovered freelance opportunities online through a friend. If not for him then I’ve never known that earning online existed.

And even blogging.

Have you ever tried convincing someone to money-making opportunities from the internet?

Have you ever think of quitting your day job?

Getting into a freelance career is often associated with the image of freedom, coffee shops, travel and huge opportunities. In truth, this kind of life is achieved by the successful few who had managed to reach this nirvana. Most freelancers are struggling through both extremes of the “feast and famine” of freelance careers.

Unstable Career Option?

A close friend of mine often argue that freelance is not a stable job. It is NOT a stable job indeed. On some months you’d get projects that seem to come one after another which leaves the freelancer tired but feeling rich. On some days there are no jobs that await the freelancer which leaves this guy rested but pocket-poor.

Road to Riches

A freelancer often starts at the rock-bottom going up. He starts up with hundreds and thousands of freelancers throughout the site.

Only a few manages to get ahead. Those who own impressive profiles and exempt ag