Becoming A Freelance Writer

For many people, freelance writing is the ideal job. You can work from anywhere, you get to express yourself creatively, you are exposed to a variety of formats, and if you are dedicated you can make a substantial amount of money by doing what you love. This is obviously not the easiest or most consistent vocation on Earth – your pay will fluctuate and sometimes finding work is tough – but if you go about the process correctly, you can really enjoy the work and become a thriving freelance writer. I’ve outlined the entire of process of becoming a freelance writer below – literally every aspect is covered. Reading through this should give you a good idea if the work is for you or not. Obviously this is not an exhaustive life plan, but the four steps below should provide you with an indication of how to go about becoming a freelance writer.

Getting Educated

Writing in itself is not difficult, but becoming a proficient writer with the necessary talent to become a freelance writer is quite tricky. There are a number of courses that may help you in your mission. Obviously, you need to have excellent command of the English language – most clients will contact you because they are not skilled enough to communicate their ideas clearly, and that is where you step in. Speaking from personal experience, having a university or college degree will put you way ahead of the game, and if you make it to the postgraduate level you will make quite a rapid rise to the top.

If you can, add to your knowledge base wherever you can. A creative writing course is highly recommended, as is a course in editing. Some of the work you will be doing might require you to re-word articles instead of actually producing them (re-writes). Editing will teach you a number of vital skills – extracting sense, the inner workings of syntax, and most importantly, the ability to shorten or extend work. One of the trickiest parts of being a freelance writer is the extremely strict word requirements, and often you will have to cut your work (or extend it) to make sure that you are within limits.

Apart from these courses, a second language may help you, particularly if you are writing for a client with limited knowledge of English, simply because it facilitates communication and fosters understanding, but this is by no means a prerequisite. Some people also take typing classes to enhance their productivity, but you will be able to up your tempo fairly easily on your own – you are going to need to work extremely accurately and quickly.

Adjusting to the work setting

If you are considering freelance writing as a career path, you probably have some flair with language and writing in general. People like things that you write, the way in which you express yourself. If you were an awful writer you would probably hate it, and freelance writing would not be an option for you.

It’s all well and good if your grade school teacher liked a story you wrote when you were little, but being a freelance writer is totally different. The stakes are higher, the clients are more demanding, and the deadlines are extreme – this is not an easy job to handle. Do not get caught up in the fact that you are working from home – you need to prepare yourself for long hours at the computer, straining to get through your workload in time. This is not a joke, it is your job, and you need to be as professional as you possibly can.

Becoming visible

Now that you are mentally ready for the job, you need to go about getting it. There are a number of avenues available to you as a freelance writer. You can operate independently, or choose to work as part of a stable of freelancers writers. The latter is option the best work if you are just starting out so that you can gain experience. Also, working beneath someone will mean easy work, as you will be sent tasks on a daily basis.

Regardless of which option you choose, it is imperative that people know who you are. The best way to do this is through social media. Yes, you can utilize print media and send CV’s, but most potential employers trawl sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Freelanced.com in order to find someone to get their language-based work done. You will need to create profiles on as many of these sites as possible, link them if you so choose. Monitor them regularly – you might only have a matter of hours to apply for a specific job. Your profile will also showcase a portfolio of your work – be sure that it is diverse enough to highlight your style and flexibility.

Once you progress to the level of guest blogger you will be allowed to include links to your profiles, and this is supremely helpful when you are getting your name out there. Networking is key!

Building a network

Truly successful freelance writers become successful because they know people. The cliché that it is who you know applies at all times, even in this most solitary of fields, so rack up contacts wherever you can. Again, social media will help here, but at the end of the day you need to go out and make contacts. Consulting your local newspaper is a useful start – they may use you occasionally, or point you in the direction of people looking for a freelancer. Also, ask people who like your work to recommend you – word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Just make sure that your work is worthy of the referral.

Being a freelance writer can be interesting, engaging and rewarding. IF you follow the above steps you should be able to succeed in this surprisingly competitive field. Do your best and always work hard.

This guest post comes from Victoria. She is a freelance writer who has recently written articles about investment banks and TD securities.

Building an Online Career in Health Writing

Just as with any other type of online writing from home, building a business isn’t easy. Even if you are an expert in your field, money doesn’t flow like water once you decide to go into business for yourself, especially if you haven’t spent the time and effort necessary to build an online presence for yourself.

So how do you go about launching a writing career in the health field online? Follow these tips to build a business and make a serious splash in revenue very quickly.

Make Money in Health Writing Online

1.  Get a blogging venue. This will serve as a personal profile, your business website, your portfolio for luring in clients, and your digital communication platform. Whether you choose WordPress, BlogSpot, or sign up to blog on community or professional group sites  (like www.patch.com or WomensHealthBase.com), you need an online presence and home base for your health writing business. Use it to share information about your availability, expertise, goals and challenges, and personality). Sell yourself!  Plus, always link back to your site when bidding for clients online or promoting yourself through commenting on other pages or creating profiles under other sites.

2.  Join online freelance writing communities. One of the fastest ways to bring in money writing online is to sign up for a freelance writing community that helps you connect with clients. Get yourself an account on www.elance.com or www.freelancewriting.com and actively bid for jobs. Don’t get discouraged if nothing comes your way at first – after writing and getting ratings or feedback, you will begin to appeal to more clients, and the number of your proposals that get accepted will start to skyrocket.

3.  Focus on your strong suit. If you have a non-health background, it might be difficult at first to write about medical procedures, diet and nutrition, exercise and lifestyle, or mental health. Don’t over-represent your technical background, but flaunt whatever qualifications and experience you have.  For instance, promote any credentials and degrees, industry experience, and personal experiences (such as parenting if it is relevant). If you lack formal skills or experience in the field, promote yourself based on your blog writings (you need example articles!) and your interests – it’s okay to say you are a health food junkie or a swimming nut! Personal interest can get you just as many jobs as credentials, provided you have writing samples to demonstrate.

4.  Write what people want to read. If you are writing for your personal blog or if you have free reign over the health and wellness topics you can write about, then choose wisely! Writing about what is popular or “trending” at the moment will work wonders for your ratings and make your page or work seem more appealing to readers. Topics like alternative therapies for depression or what to eat to make your skin look great are more likely to get your writing noticed than a story on wart removal or how to clean your ears.

5.  Stay committed. It may take multiple tries to get a client, and even once you get your clients you may have to search long and hard to find clients who will bring you valuable repeat business. Just remember that if you aren’t online keeping busy by promoting yourself through other sites, submitting proposals for jobs, and building your online image, then you are losing money. Building a career in health writing online can be slow and painful at first, but it can be lucrative, convenient, and rewarding with a regular commitment of your time and effort.

So go ahead, get your name out there – build your career in online health writing, one post and proposal at a time!

Katie Brind’Amour is a health and wellness writer and Certified Health Education Specialist. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Health Services Management and Policy, and she enjoys blogging about friendship and life in the not-so-fast lane.

Six Steps to Setting up a Money Blog

Making money blogging doesn’t happen overnight, but with patience and persistence it can be a fun way to earn money without leaving the house. There are six steps to setting up a successful blog and making money from it, which are…

1. Decide on a niche
2. Set up a site
3. Produce Content
4. Be Patient (Yes, this is a real step)
5. Add whistles and bells
6. Monetize

Let’s look at each step in greater detail.

Decide on a niche

A great niche for you is one that you are both passionate about and has enough people willing to spend enough money for the niche to be profitable. Once you have decided on a niche that has enough people who spend money in it, consider the competition in that niche. If you are interested in an extremely competitive niche, “such as health,” don’t be discouraged by the heavy competition. In that case, you can choose a “sub-niche.” A sub-niche, for example, would be people of a certain age group, ethnic group, religious group, or local area within the general niche. For example, a sub-niche of “health” would be “University students interested in health.”

Set up a site at WordPress, Blogger, or Typepad

Although there are numerous ways of setting up blog sites, WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad are the best. If you have limited resources, and you have never set up a blog before try Blogger or WordPress.com. They are both free, very powerful, and easy to use. For more experienced bloggers, who want a top-notch blog I recommend WordPress.org or Typepad. Be warned, WordPress.org does require that you have your own hosting account and domain name, which both cost money, and Typepad requires a monthly fee.

It’s a good idea to include “like” buttons and other such social media buttons on the site so that readers who like what they see can share your greatness with their social groups. Additionally, consider having a newsletter sign up. When you begin to build a newsletter email list you can continuously engage your readers by sending them emails about new posts, upcoming events, and eventually you can market to them too.

Produce awesome content

Producing great content requires considering who your readers are, and considering what they will be interested in learning about. Be sure to give your readers information that they are looking for and will appreciate.

Writing is not the only content that bloggers produce, consider making videos too. Often ideas or directions can be communicated much more clearly through a video than in the written word.

Include pictures of either yourself of something relevant to your post. A great resource for free pictures is stock xchng.

Find awesome information. If you have access to sources of information other than regular search engine results include that type of unique and fresh information. What often happens on the internet is what I call “content recycling.” Content recycling is a phenomenon where the same information is reprinted by everyone on the internet simply because everyone decided to search for information on their topics from the top ranked sites in Google. Fresh content engages readers and it draws the attention of the search engines.

Give it some time

Before jumping to monetize a new blog, it’s a good idea to let it gain some momentum. After a few months of producing great content, you can hope to gain some exposure through search engines and social media. Monetizing a site too early can stunt it’s search engine rankings, so continuously producing great content without monetizing is a strategically valuable step.

Add whistles and bells (optional)

Once you have spawned some interest in your blog you can begin to tactfully flaunt it. Consider adding any of the Facebook social plugins or include your Twitterfeed on your site itself. Also, if you are getting great feedback from readers, you can add a page of things that your readers are saying about you, accompanied by their pictures, of course.

Monetize

Once you have built of a base of people that trust you, they are eligible to be your customers. Now you can monetize your blog with banner advertisements. It is also possible to affiliate market through links in your blog posts.
It is important to monetize the blog tactfully. Here are two good advertizing rules to follow…

* Only recommend products that you really know about

* Produce enough great content that the advertizing remains secondary and the content remains primary.

Conclusion

Of course each niche is different, and each blogger is different, so in addition to these 6 steps you are free to be creative, experiment, and have fun with your blog.

Author Bio:
Scott Hersh is a business blogger for BCAblog.com the official blog of BCA: leaders in merchant cash advances.

Stop Procrastinate: Practice Do-it Mentality

Procrastination – is the act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or deferring a task to another time. Deliberation as a result of not getting to do it.

Some individual has procrastinated for so long, it has become an deep-rooted reaction. They no longer consider why they do it, they feel it has just a part of themselves. It becomes a self-activating reply to say, “I’m too tired”, “it’s late” or I will do it tomorrow.

Once you recognize your style of procrastination, you can take steps to curb it.

1. Many individuals find themselves procrastinating because they experience stressful lives. Start by dealing with your stress in a healthy way. Start getting enough sleep. Allow time to relax. Ask for help once you need it.

2. You may put off a large project because it seems overwhelming. Break Large Projects into small chunks. Dividing a big job into a series of smaller tasks will make it seem less overwhelming.

3. Set a Schedule. Not having one is among the primary reasons why so many individuals procrastinate. It’s easy to forget to do something, or to avoid doing something if you are not deeming yourself responsible. View your schedule throughout the day and make sure that you bind to it.

4. Set do-able goals for yourself. Don’t try to jam too much into one day, or your body and mind will fight back it with procrastination. In addition to, make a point to allow yourself time to relax as well.

5. Take Breaks. To overcoming procrastination, you must take breaks to relax, to recharge yourself. If you push yourself too hard, you could sooner or later burn out. After you carry out each small task, give yourself some time to relax. Don’t take breaks that are too long.

6. All those small things could add up to some real stress if you carry on to procrastinate. If you find some small chores around the house need to be done, just do it. Stop telling yourself that you can do it later.

7. Place a dead line on yourself to complete it. When you have a task that you must fulfill, do not leave anything unsettled. Give yourself a firm dead line that you must stick to the finish.

8. Get your mate or a friend to hold you accountable. It’s easy to feel alone with your problems, but, if you have someone check up on you during regular intervals. It well definitely be a good way to hold yourself accountable in the long run.

9. Itemize the things you have been putting off by  starting from most to least the important, or in order of when each item needs to be completed. Cross items off as you finish.

10. Don’t Give Yourself an Excuse to Procrastinate. Just practice the “do it” mentality. You will find all your small chores get done jolly fast.

Eat That Frog! – is a short video on procrastination. Relax and enjoy, you earn it!!

An Extra Income Make People Happier

An Extra Income Make People Happier

Extra Income means an income that you can earn apart from the regular income from employment or normal work. This earning can be used to payoff your outstanding debts or build up a capital account or spend it on luxuries that you could only think about before.

When compare income levels in different countries, it is evident that the average income per person is less than $15,000 a year – in other words, where many people are near the breadline, extra Income really does make people happier and improves their lifestyle.

Countries which have average income above the normal subsistence level of approximately $15,000 a year, happiness seems to be income independent.

Why does this happen?

People always look at their income relatively with some norm or the other and the norm keeps rising all the time. And this norm is what increases the spending, more or less in direct proportion to the income. Two things drive up the norm with which people compare their incomes. One is the income that they themselves have experienced – which habituates them to higher standards of living. And the other is the income that their colleagues or neighbors get, and which they try to outdo.

Many extra income options available today are targeted to generate employment and are targeted specifically at people who can use their skills to make some extra money for themselves. To achieve a moderate success in generating more income one should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

One should ask themselves of an honest opinion of their strengths, what they excel at? For instance, if you are a computer literate person you could help your neighborhood in upgrade their computers or installation of software and you may offer computer lessons.

Today the internet and the general market have a lot of ideas for generating extra income. Network marketing in general market terms has been successful to some extent. Internet offers something similar similar to affiliate marketing. The internet also offers a host of other options like writing articles and reports, advertising and technical and non-technical jobs which can highly augment your regular income. The extra income that can be earned form these opportunities depends on how good your skills in the field of your choice.

Imaginative Methods To Monetize Your Blog

If your new blog have some decent traffic, then you are 90% of the way to start making some real money or monetization from your blog. The “conventional” methods of monetization blogs is to use such methods like Google AdSense, affiliate offers, and CPA offers. Google AdSense is those little ads you see on blogs and content sites. Generally, this is all you need to make a respectable amount of money from your blog. But if these familiar ways are not working for you, then here are some ingenious techniques you can use to monetize your blog.

1. Google your main keyword phrase and maybe a few of your secondary keyword phrases as well. Next, take a look at each and every AdWords ad on the right hand side of the search results. You can also do the same through Yahoo and MSN, and other search engines. These ads are from businesses and entrepreneurs who believe that your particular niche is a money maker for them. You know they are willing to spend money advertising for your keywords, so why not contact them and see if they want to advertise on your blog. They could put a banner on your blog, or you could charge them X amount per month for text links.

2. Go to Technorati and find the top blogs in your niche. Now, go to each of these blogs and make a thorough study of their advertisers. Figure out where those advertisers come from and why not contact them and see if they want to advertise on your blog as well.

3. Take a look at Commission Junction or other affiliate networks and see if you can find merchants who might be interested in advertising on your blog.

4. Take a look at off line advertisers. This one is a little more complicated because you are not dealing with people who understand the Internet. Look in newspapers and magazines in your niche or your local area and see who might be interested in advertising on your blog. You will have to do a little more research here. Probably preparing a little report with screen shots of traffic would be a good idea.

Certainly there are other, imaginative methods to monetize your blog, thinking out of the box often leads to great opportunities to making more money!

Want Huge Income In Your Home Based Business?

Whether or not you have asked yourself before… what’s the key to huge results working from home?

There are many things that contribute to a person’s success however, nothing can be better for your success than good old fashioned hard work!

Hard work appears to be a concept that is lost for some business owners nowadays. We want everything fast and easy. Why cook something in an oven when you can cook it in a microwave right?

Let me assure you something… there is no microwave equivalent to success in a home based business! Any companies that promise you fast and easy money with zero or little effort on your part are either lying to you or scamming you because no free lunch in the real world.

It just dumbfounding how many people expect to make 6 figure income overnight without any effort at all! Everything in life that is worth anything takes time and hard work.

If you want to make 6 figure income in your home based business in the next couple of years then it can happen! However the faster you want it the harder you have to work to accomplish it.

If home based business success or any other business was that easy everybody’s uncles and aunties would be working from home and be come filthy stinking rich!

Big time success and a huge income is always the result of hard work and consistent effort. No matter how goofy your product is (and we hope you have a good one) or how little you know about business anything can be overcome with hard work!

So start putting in that extra effort and your success will be that much faster. No one can stop someone who has a goal in mind and is willing to work hard to attain it!

If You Don’t Have It… FAKE IT!

You mat have no doubt heard the phrase “If you got it… flaunt it” right? Well, here’s something a little different, “Even if you don’t got it… flaunt it”

When you are trying to build your home based business it’s easy to lose your confidence. When you don’t have confidence the people you are talking to will know and that can bad for your business.

This is not lying by telling people you are more successful than you are… you are just saying that no matter what happen you have the self-confidence to succeed. People love to be with individuals who have confidence in themselves, and when you exudate it people will want to be a part of your business.

Frankly, would you want to do business with someone who sounded unsure of themselves? I don’t think so!

Having confidence in the way you speak, or carry yourself or just in the way that you conduct business in general will give people you are dealing with some peace of mind that they are making the right choice.

When you exude confidence you also help yourself, your brain really doesn’t know the difference when you fake it. If you act a certain way for long enough sooner or later you will begin to believe it too.

It is true, what you tell yourself is what you are becoming. So, if you are constantly telling yourself that you are a failure guess what, you will become a failure. Therefore it just makes sense that when you tell yourself you are awesome, and successful, and smart and motivated you will eventually start to feel like all those things too.

Once more, this Is not about lying to yourself or other people. But in order to be successful you have to have confidence in yourself and see your business how it really is and set clear goals, and don’t let yourself thinking that you are working when you are really not.

It is about talking to yourself in a positive way on the inside so that it manifests it self on the outside! Become a stronger, more confident you and your business will be changed forever! Remember: “If you don’t have it… FAKE IT!”

The Five Steps to Success Online

Using a unique website to insure the success of your internet business venture is an important part of your business blueprint, it is also important that you develop a five-step action plan for creating websites that meet your customers goals. Whether it is a small business anxious to generate leads, marketing online, supply information, connect their vendors, or commence a brand-new service, this five-step action plan not only takes it from concept to completion, but also is the earmark of any Internet company.

1. Consulting Stage:

All internet site starts with an theme. Maybe you have been toying with developing a website, or redesigning your existing one. At the consulting stage, a professional website development firm could help to clear up all uncertainties and requirements.

2. Website Design:

After the initial consultation, the website development firm solidifies the clients’ ideas by creating a blueprint for your site by employing something they call “Strategic Design”.

3. Parts of the site development:

For successful website development, it is essential to be dealt by a versatile team of expert graphic artists, content writers, programmers, database specialists and technical personnel. This ensures that a qualified professional handles each task of the given project.

4. Website Hosting:

Since websites are an intricate part of the internet, hosting your site on a rock-solid web hosting service is critical to its marketing success.

5. Website Maintenance:

Once your site is uploaded and available to the public, it must be maintained and update with quality content and information and continued development to the site so that visitors will want to come back.

Why You Must Set Your Business Hours

The very best reason you work at home is that you can work whenever you want to. You are not bound by a set hours as in a regular job. If you want to sleep late or take the morning off to go do some shopping or if you want to take a long lunch and just relax for a while you can do that too.

However, if you really want to take your business to the next level and be as successful as possible you must set business hours… here’s why.

Keep in mind that business hours does not mean that they have to be 9-5 Monday through Friday. They can be from 7 at night until 11 at night or 6 in the morning until your kids get out of school at 3. Whatever and whenever they are doesn’t really matter. It just matters that you have them and you stick to them.

A lot of people who work from home incline to think that they’re working a lot harder than they actually are. That’s because they might be doing a few minutes here or 20 minutes there and because they’re working through the whole day they feel like they’ve gotten a lot done when actually they’ve barely worked at all.

If you live with other people like a spouse, kids or a roommate you’ll want to make sure that they all know that during your specific work hours you need to be left to do your work. That doesn’t mean that you have to shut yourself off completely. You can still pick your kids up from school and hang out with them, but when it’s time to work it’s time to work!

Set your business hours and stick with them, work when you need to work and relax when you need to relax it’s all about balance and boundaries. You will see results in your home based business a whole lot sooner.

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