Archive from Juni 2009
Getafreelancer vs Scriptlance
Dienstag, 30.Juni 2009People around the world are feeling the pressure of this ongoing global depression. It is reminiscent of the Great Depression of the early1930’s which resurfaced in 1937. But as they say “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. People have a “never say die” attitude. They keep on looking for opportunities in related and unrelated fields as well. As salaries and jobs continue to be slashed, people are seeking solace in online job portals some of which offer work from home opportunities.
These types of websites help buyers and sellers to meet on a common platform and work under certain rules. The services offered are generally related to programming, designing, copywriting, accounting, data processing and transcription. The buyer has to post a project stating his requirements along with his budget and effective deadline for the completed work. The sellers then keep bidding on this project and try to outbid the other on parameters such as skills, experience, price, timeline and past reviews. It is not necessary that the lowest bid would be chosen in every case. It all depends on the buyer and his comfort level with particular bids.
Many programmers, freelancer and fully employed workers bid on these projects. Countries like India and Russia offer high value as the bidders from these locations are ready to work for lower wages and provide good quality work. This has had serious implication for high-cost workers from developed nations like UK and the US. Though, at times there are projects marked strictly for them. If one is able to select a good provider with good project management skills, the advantages of using such sites far outweigh the disadvantages.
Getafreelancer is one of the many similar sites currently available online. It might be a bit confusing initially for people that are new to the world of freelancing. However, one gets accustomed as he starts using these services. Buyers can have varying demands, like a buyer setting up a new website might require a web designer and developer whereas another buyer may require accounting skills for his account work.
Moreover, this site is open for both individuals and companies. Sellers and buyers both can register in any one of these categories. Getafreelancer is however, a more popular and genuine site recognized globally. It does not require any upfront payment to buy or sell services on this marketplace. The memberships are optional. Free membership has it own restrictions on the number of projects that can be bid in a month and the commission that would be charged on every project won. Paid or Gold members can bid on a maximum of 150 bids over a month and do not have to pay commissions on each project they undertake. They however, have to give a flat monthly fee. Free members can upgrade to gold membership whenever they want.
One disadvantage that getafreelancer has over scriptlance is that buyers request for samples of work. At times these samples are tailor made according to their needs. This allows heinous buyers to get their work done for free and they flee away thus duping the service provider. Scriptlance, however, has a portfolio section where you can upload pre-determined samples of your relevant work. You can even have different portfolios for different types of skills which you can forward to the buyer while bidding on their project.
The bigger disadvantage is that on being duped by these buyers, one cannot do anything. There are times when buyers have to pay and release the fund to the seller for incomplete or partly finished work, the seller then disappears without completing the work. Though, getafreelancer has a customer support system in place also known as getahelpdesk, yet it does very little to resolve these issues and waits for parties to resolve it on their own which is a time and money consuming process.
Getafreelancer offers projects for as low as 30 dollars and talented people from developed countries find it difficult to compete against people from low-wage countries like India and Russia. Since talented people have spent so much time and money on their education and past jobs, it does not suit them to work for wages as low as 5 dollars an hour. This could be termed as another drawback.
The site also needs to be revamped as it looks outdated and has to include some more functionalities. Moreover, people use this site to process their illegitimate funds and try to transfer or convert it into legal money.
Scriptlance is another such freelancing site offering a common platform for buyers and sellers of services. This site has an advantage as it runs on Perl technology which is fast and secure. Although, the design and font sizes are not quite good, it can be used for freelance activities, though the responses and reviews about this site have not been that heartening.
There are many unprofessional people that have posted their profiles on this site. They don’t take your work seriously and do not bother to meet deadlines. They are just interested in minting money by whatever means possible.
They charge buyers heavily for posting projects; charge for depositing money and also for refunding money if the project is not completed or the seller goes missing which is quite often the case.
Another problem is with their withdrawal. They do not support each and every option; take quite a lot of time and charge a commission to release your own payment.
People working on this site can be termed as bottom fishers or stealers at best. They have no regards for your time, energy or money. This site is not very highly rated and accepted by the developer communities online.
One way for buyers to prevent fraud is by dividing the entire project into smaller modules and keep on paying partially as each module gets completed and delivered successfully on time. Even if one module goes awry, you can stop sending further work. In that case, you would only lose a small portion of your budget amount.
The one big disadvantage is that it is difficult to select good providers on these sites. It is a type of minefield with very few gems hidden there. One has to carefully unearth those. (weiterlesen…)
Getafreelancer – Promoting Freelancing
Dienstag, 30.Juni 2009
The current economic downturn has left many people jobless while many more are waiting for their layoff notices. Most people have no option than to settle for a lesser pay package or live on government help. Other people are launching their small start-ups or taking up freelancing.
There are number of freelance job portals on the internet. Most of them are doing good business. However, please check their authenticity before applying for any job or putting your money and financial information there.
There are many sites like getacoder.com, scriptlance.com and elance.com. One such site that is quite popular amongst freelancers is www.getafreelancer.com
The signup process is simple. This site offers projects for people in data entry, accounting, IT services, writing and many other job categories. The best part is people can choose many skill sets while creating their profile on this site. This helps them to get project offers for all those categories. People can apply to multiple projects within separate categories simultaneously. However, there is a catch here. The site offers free and paid membership.
People that have a free member profile are able to bid for only a limited number of projects in a month. Their bid quantity is set to the previous level after each month of their activity on this site. Paid members however can bid on any number of projects in one month. Moreover, there are certain projects strictly for paid members on which ordinary members cannot bid. The good part is that there are certain featured projects that do not charge a single penny from both types of providers, whatsoever.
Getafreelancer has a very irritating commission policy. It immediately debits your account with the commission account once you start doing a project. Normally, it is 10% or $5, whichever is higher in case of ordinary members. Paid members are leveraging this, as they do not have to pay any commission charges.
Withdrawal policies of this site are also quite dubious. However, it offers many withdrawal options like money bookers, PayPal and wire transfer. There is a fixed fee deductable for every withdrawal. Moreover, one cannot withdraw any amount less than $30 in a single withdrawal. Also, when one is about to make his very first withdrawal, the site takes up to 15 days to verify the providers financial information before allowing him to make the withdrawal. E-Gold withdrawal method can take up to even 45 days. Wire transfer is even more costly and time consuming. This also raises credibility issues for the site. The other drawback is those withdrawal requests received until Sunday is send for processing on the following Monday or Tuesday. The site is useful for buyers and providers in the US as it is setup to meet their needs along with payment options. International service providers find it difficult to work through this portal.
GAF also offers a very effective and unique affiliate program where in people can sign up and make money even when they are not directly working on GAF. This affiliate program is popular by the name of GAFcash on the web. This affiliate program does not require you to have any knowledge of programming or graphic designing. After signing up at GAF, one is entitled to use GAF ads on his personal blog or website. This program is useful for entrepreneurs, webmasters, bloggers and many small online businesses. It is a quick and easy method to earn cash. The payment is collectible instantly whereas on other programs there could b a delay of one to two months. People having good flow of traffic on their website stand to gain a lot of money from this program.
GAF even states that one can generate up to a whopping US$ 100,000 in commission if one can redirect their subscribers to become GAF paid subscribers.
Getafreelancer has started posting fake projects recently, as found out by some sources. They even bid on these projects and keep them open for months without selecting any bidder. This is just to ensure more and more traffic. At times, the project description is very vague. Moreover, the Australian company that has taken over this site recently, needs to prove its intent.
There are even reports of people’s money becoming unusable in GAF’s escrow account without any provider giving them a service for months. GAF does very little to resolve disputes and is provider friendly rather than being buyer friendly. In fact, it needs to have a balanced approach and set of rules for both providers and buyers.
Other issues that are common with this site are of anonymous providers creating fake profiles to lure buyers to put money in the escrow account. They then somehow manage to get the work done from somewhere and request for release of escrow, which the buyer cannot deny even if he is dissatisfied. Moreover, some people use this site as a social networking site only to come into contact directly outside the GAF network. There are reports of people transferring illegal funds in escrow account run by GAF. This is helping them in converting their black money into white, as GAF rules are not that stringent.
This review is personal to the author and has no implied interest in any party. The website has had a new makeover recently with a new design and some more security features which should help in addressing these issues to a certain extent. It is a personal choice to join GAF. The author takes no responsibility whatsoever for any dealings with GAF.
However, we highly recommend the affiliate program of this site.
The freelance portal business has a lot of potential and this market is charging up. Other sites are catching up and filling the gap, which was created by GAF due to its first mover advantage and by providing of good services and solutions, initially! GAF would need to tighten up its seat belt if it wants to walk the course.
Advantages Of Working At Home
Donnerstag, 25.Juni 2009When you become a freelance writer, you have opened yourself to great advantages. No more do you have to go to the 9-5 rat race. You can get up, turn on your computer and you are at work – short commute! There are other great advantages to being a freelancer.
Set your own schedule
The greatest advantage to freelance home writer is you are able to set your own schedule. You can work a few hours a day or for the entire day – the choice is yours. You do not have a boss telling you “you’re late”, because you are the boss. If you want to get a few extra hours of sleep – the choice is yours. From experience, the more articles you can write in a day, the better the pay you will receive. You can even work a full time job while freelancing due to the advantage of setting your own hours.
Job satisfaction
You get the satisfaction of a job well done. When you see your finished product, you will feel immense satisfaction that you may not feel in a regular job after toiling so hard. When you did the work from home, you know it is of great quality, because you have performed it with minimal tension.
Your personal development
When you become a freelancer, you may work on something you may know nothing about. As you do this work, you have a chance to raise your own development and chances of being an expert on the subject. Your friends will be impressed when they find out how much you have learned from being a freelancer. Basically, your general knowledge improves and so does your awareness.
You are able to work from anywhere in the world and still be a freelancer. You might be in one location and your client could be half way around the world. You may never meet your client but through all the emails, you create between you and your client a bond on professional level is formed.
Spend less money
When you become a freelancer, you will do away with that long commute. In the long run this will save you on fuel which ultimately saves you money. You do not even have to get in your car to work. All you have to do is just slide right into your favorite office chair.
Work comfortably
You do not need to dress professionally for work. You can even come to work in your pajamas. Remember you are your own boss and you set the dress code. If you want to work in sweats and a t-shirt who will know? It is important though, since you will be sitting for hours a day, to wear loose fitting clothing that will give as you move.
As you can see, being a freelancer and working from home has many advantages. With all these great advantages, are you not lured you give up that awful 9-5 rat race?
Starting As A Freelance Writer
Donnerstag, 25.Juni 2009Becoming a freelance home writer can be a fun and challenging career. From personal experience, freelancing is a great way for someone to supplement his or her income or you can even make it full time. You do not need a lot of experience either. All you need to do is build a client base and from experience the happier, your clients are the better off you will be. There are other factors to consider though when starting your own home based freelance writing career.
Work ethic
Freelance writers work on deadlines. You must meet these deadlines but you must meet them ethically. You cannot just simply locate an article on the subject you are working on, copy, and paste it. This is both unethical and illegal. You must also be willing to work hard while following your ethics. If you are not willing to work hard then this will not be a career for you. You must also be willing to pitch in when your client needs you. If someone is unable to finish the work in time, offer to take it over. This will build your work ethic as a hardworking freelance writer.
Writing skills
You do not need a degree in writing to get a job as a freelance home writer, but you do need to have a basic knowledge of writing in a professional manner. The more professional your writing appears the better you look. You also need to either know how to spell well or have a good spell check program. When you turn an article in that has spelling errors it makes you look non-committed and it is unprofessional.
Find a mentor
A mentor that is already in the freelance home writing business will be able to offer you advice on how to get started and what you will need to do. From experience, your first mentor may even be your first client. They will assist you in being your best and improving your skills. If your mentor does happen to be your first client listen to their criticism and suggestions, they will help you in the long run.
Have samples
Having samples will help you land the jobs. The more professional appearance that your sample portrays the better chance you will get the job.
These are just a few things that you should do to get started with if you want to become a freelance home writer. The others will come to you as you go along. A great place to check out to start your career would be freelancehomewriters.com. This site offers several different sites inside their program that can help you get started with your freelance career.
No matter what the reason is that you wish to start your freelance home writing career – it is a great career to have. Where else can you go to work with a cup of coffee and in your pajamas? The advantage of working in your own hours is the greatest advantage. However, bear in mind that sometimes you have to work according to your client’s hours too!
Strategize your professional communication to cast the first impression!
Montag, 22.Juni 2009In the corporate realm, your first impression is the last impression and there are no second chances! When you are targeting at winning over your client, your talking has to be much more than just mere words. Right from your body language to your facial expressions to even the color of your hair – every impression counts. Whether the series of your communication begins with simple email or a telephonic conversation, make sure your ice-breaking first statements are the most impressive! When you carry a conversation, adopt an approach based on a thorough understanding of your client and his goals, so that he sees a potential partner in you for his varied business endeavors.
Here are a few tips on how to leave an impressionable impact on your potential client through your professional communication strategies.
1. Cast your best impression on a new client by cracking a winning first statement. Your first statement can be the door to success and ensure the opening of new horizons of business opportunities. Your opening line should be between 15-40 seconds to create interest in your client for your company. The key to a successful opening statement is to show your immense knowledge on your clients’ products rather than just boasting your own products. Make sure that the opening statement is not replete with in-appropriate jargons and mispronounced names. Keep the statement short and focused.
2. It is important to prepare your first ever communication before you fix up a meeting with him. Conduct comprehensive research work on the profile of the client you are addressing and his company. Read the company’s progress status through surveys and channel strategies to help the company aspire for new business goals. Knowledge on the company’s history would position you better to analyze the prospects of your client’s needs. Address these aspirations and goals in your first interaction so as to convince him of your capabilities.
3. It is good to keep a list of questions you want to subject to your client handy, however, reserve them for the end of the interview when you see him quite impressed with your answers. Let the client get over with his 30 minutes of speech on his expectations from you and your prospective role in his company and then you can shoot with your questions one by one.
4. Before going for the interview or another round of discussions it is always better to structure few of your statements before you get started with the client. Structuring of sentences on one hand instills confidence for facing the client and second, it helps you to pen professionally correct statements. As per the rule, your statements should not end as open-ended questions. For example, “We had set up a meeting, didn’t we?” Your statements should be informative, plain with a conversational tone, rather than a questioning tone.
5. Avoid verbal ticks like, “you know, ummm, like” etc. These are unnecessary pauses that cast your bad impression on your interviewer. This also gives a sign of your lack of confidence and nervousness. Ignore butterflies in your stomach and present a more calm and confident self of yours. Instead of using verbal ticks, take a pause of 1-2 seconds to think and gather knowledge before responding your client. The key lies in starting on with the information which you know the most. This will give you a push to carry even hour’s interviews.
6. Your body also speaks of a language which is as important as your verbal language. The posture of your body, eye contact, hand-shakes, style of walk all reflects signals of your personality. A good eye contact shows that you are interested in what is being said by your client. A pleasant smiling face expresses your pleasure at meeting him. Therefore, in the interview with your client, every body action reflects signals of your mind-frame and thus your interest. So, plan your move and rehearse for the interview before fixing up the appointment with your potential clients. Make every move count as an impression to interest your client and show your core capabilities at handling his projects.
7. Your interview with your client isn’t really the appropriate place to test your funny bone. Many people, out of nervousness or as an attempt to meet a common ground indulge themselves into cracking jokes to create a light environment. This on the other hand is your interviewer’s job to soothe a tense environment for you. Instead of you cracking the jokes, you must concentrate on giving them short and targeted answers to their questions. Remember, your interview is your test to check your professional skills and not your socializing skills.
8. Never badmouth your previous boss while sitting for the current interview. Even though your previous recruiter was next to a Hitler, badmouthing him is a serious professional offence. You ought to talk about your attributes and achievements in your previous company than badmouthing them.
9. Talk about your failures as your accomplishments. This can be achieved by stressing how your failures have been major landmarks in your life and how much you’ve learned from them. Presenting your mistakes as achievements project you as a growing person eager to learn from your mistakes.
10. Talk about your goals and aspirations you’d like to meet while working with this company. Where would you like to see yourself five years down the line in this company? Talk about what kind of changes would you like to bring for this company. It is imperative to address these goals to your interviewer lest he takes you for an un-ambitious and lazy person. He ought to see a potential employee in you, so, give him what he expects from you. However, make sure that you do not portray your goals in an exaggerated manner as that might cast your fake impression on the interviewer. The key lies in conversing focused, short and targeted sentences and avoiding fluffing of sorts.
Do you agree with this ten points?
The first post!
Montag, 22.Juni 2009My blog freelancer-online.com just came online.
With this blog i want to show people how easy it is to make money online on the internet. I’ll give you tipps on how to do it.
Hope you guys enjoy reading my blog!