Check out this great clip that I found today.

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?

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

Most profiles stand out when there are portfolios associated with these. A portfolio shows a solid proof of a freelancer’s working experience. Here’s how to build a great portfolio for one to stand out.

Why Should I Blog?

Blogging started out as a personal journal, a past time for people who like to write about their personal struggles, or simply write about their rants during the day. It is often used by expressive people who can express their thoughts.

photo credit: lusi (SXC)

As blogging gets to become more famous, big and small companies add blogs to a section of the website. A blog on a website reaches out to the site visitor that an active community is in place. It fosters interaction between the company and customer. It enables the feeling that there are “people” that are operating behind a website.

For freelancers, maintaining a blog can also give them fruitful benefits. Entries may not be done daily, but at least three entries per week are enough to keep loyal blog readers hooked. Blogs are not purely written in English: I’ve seen a lot of blogs in Filipino, Chinese, Indonesia and other languages.

Blogs are not all in written text. Others maintain picture blogs, video blogs which requires a few written sentences to explain what the picture or video is all about.

Blogging about one’s job often gives a deep understanding about the victories and difficulties of doing such job. Potential clients get to see the person behind a given profile. A blog portrays a unique personality in each freelancer through the words that he or she leaves with each post.

A profile is not enough anymore. Even a website of portfolio may not be enough. Start blogging about your job – it can attract a new group of potential clients not found on online job freelance sites.

Do you blog about your job?

What should be my right price?

One good thing about online job marketplaces and paid blogging sites is that most of the information is transparent. It is easy to see the profiles of other freelancers offering the same job with their hourly rates posted out on most online resumes. Some freelance sites even offer information such as graphs and charts based on the pay rate of their active members. In one site that I’ve been working with, there is a suggested range of prices for each blog post that I can choose from.

photo credits: conmani (SXC)

The price is used for clients to handpick their freelancers. Clients often prefer freelancers who are in the middle of both extremes of high and low priced services. It is not true that the cheapest freelancer gets to do the job, because quality is often an issue in this case. The most expensive freelancer may also turn off the client, because there are other freelancers who can do the job. In the end the freelancer that gets the job is the one that is not too expensive and too cheap either, and delivers the sufficient quality of work that the client expects.

photo credit: channah (SXC)

What are the ways of avoiding non-paying clients? Here are some ways to avoid these clients:

1. Check the history of the client. Did that client hire somebody before? What is the general feedback? If you are meeting clients within your locality, does that client maintain or work with a business or is the client an individual?
2. If you are looking for jobs in a freelance site, take note of the measures that the freelance site is giving to its members. Does it perform payment verification checks like oDesk does? Does it have escrow services for huge projects similar to the one performed in Elance? Do you get guaranteed payment for each successful post just like PayPerPost?
3. Ask the client thoroughly not about the details of the project. If the client bids for outrageously lower bids or early deadlines than the usual market average then the client has unrealistic expectations for the duration of the project.
4. Try new clients by accepting clients offering low priced jobs. In many cases new clients are often excited about hiring an offshore job and finding success in it and would probably settle down for the first freelancer that they had found.
5. Avoid a client that lets you do a significant amount of sample work. You can opt to submit sample work that is unrelated to the theme of the requirement but speaks to more to the

In outsourced freelance jobs, non-paying clients is highly likely because job is done without any written contract at all, unlike accepting freelance jobs in companies around town. Remember that if you get caught with non-paying clients and you have exhausted all the means to make them pay for work done, just get that project added to your portfolio and leverage that for that next big freelance job – it can be counted as a good job experience instead.