Freelance Tips: Should You Quit Your Job?

There comes a time in everyone's life when they think that their job sucks, and that they really cannot spend even another day in their job.  During these times, they look at the various options they have, so that they can try their luck at them - one of them being freelancing, or working from home.  If you are at a situation in your professional life where you are being offered a plump work at home opportunity, you should definitely keep these aspects in mind. 

Be a Good Ten Years into a Profession to Quit: 

There is something known as quitting a job when you are the peak, and if you have spent a good ten years into your profession, or your job, you would be ready to get onto the next step, that is going solo. With ten years of experience, you are at a very good position to quit your day job and get begin your freelance or consulting career.

Don't Quit Before 2 Years:

Two years is just the minimum time that you would have to spend in a business and profession to understand the intricacies and what it all about. Also, if you are trying to work from home or even start a small business in the same profession, you would require a bulky portfolio, which would take at least five years to make. 

How Many Bridges Have You Burnt?

It's ok. We all have had jobs where we would never want to go back and bosses whom we secretly fantasise of when we see a horror/slasher movie. But we also have to understand that we will always need a back up plan, if something goes haywire in our current scenario. Therefore, consider how many doorways to safety you have, if your freelancing opportunity does not work. If the situation looks glum, you should stay put in your job for a while more. 

Are you getting Burnt Out in a Dead End Job?

There are several cases where you have taken up a job because your financial condition was bad, but the job did nothing to either use your talents, nor did it give you a chance to enhance your professional skills. Whenever you find yourself in such a  situation, make sure that you get out of whatever muck you are and get a real job immediately. 

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Refusing a Freelance Job: How to Refuse a Freelancing Assignment.

Consider freelance to be a business and you will agree that there are some assignments that are good for you and some assignments that are not. In fact, there are several reasons that a person takes up assignments, some may be financial reasons, other assignments may be taken because it actually interests you, and some assignments are only taken as a favor for someone.  However, there are some assignments that can be a devil for you, and you would not be able to take up the assignment for several reasons. If you ever come across such an assignment, there is a typical way in which you can refuse such assignments. Here are some don't you should keep in mind while you refuse a job:

Never Place a Call about It: 

Giving and taking an assignment is a professional thing, and there may be one or more people who are actually associated with the project. Therefore, when you are refusing an assignment, make sure that you either send them an email or even a written document that tells the same. This is not only a professional manner to refuse the job, but it also helps in the documentation of the assignment for the client. This professional outlook may leave a lasting impression on the client and you might even be contacted for some other assignment later.

Use a Three Step Negate:

No person or organization likes to be negated at the very first step. If you have been asked whether you are free for an assignment,  it seems bad to negate immediately. Make sure that you at least give a professional hi hello and ask them what the assignment is all about. If you are genuinely busy, you can inform the would be client by the third e-mail that you share. 

Give a Genuine Reason:

This actually depends on what kind of relation you have with your clients. I have several clients whom I know for a few many years. If they ask me whether I am free for  a quick job and if I have a hangover, I am frank enough to tell them that I have a hangover.

These are just some of the aspects that you should keep in mind while refusing a freelancing assignment. Remember that refusing a freelancing assignment is quite a critical and serious step. If not done correctly, you might actually lose the chance to work with the client at a later date too

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Getting that Freelance Job: Some Aspects to Keep in Mind

Once you have decided to become a freelancer, your work day consists of several activities that are different from the actual work that you ought to be doing. With a freelance job, you are basically the sales person, the worker, the boss and the human resources, all rolled into one, unless you work with a team of freelancers. One such activity that we all have to look into in our time as a freelancer is getting that freelance job. There are several ways in which you can get freelance jobs, the main amongst them being your own network, the various sites on the Internet, and several other sources. If you are looking for freelance jobs, here are some aspects to keep in mind. 

Keep a Profile Ready: Freelancing means that you work on an assignment, and move on. Therefore, you would have to show your credentials and previous work for every freelance job work that you have applied for. Therefore, make sure that you have an offline as well as online profile, so that the prospective employer can get a better idea of your capabilities. 

Keep Interacting: Once you have applied for a freelance job, try to keep in touch with the employer, of course, that does not mean that you should bombard their inbox with email, but you can at least keep a two week window between sending them a friendly or a reminder email.  In such cases, thank you emails work the trick a lot. 

Keep in Touch:  If you had applied for the freelance job, but was given to someone else, do not fret and keep networking with the employer. there are every chances that the employer may hit you up for the next freelance gig that they have in mind. In fact, networking is the greatest and strongest tool that one can have in the realms of freelancing. 

Keep Applying: No freelancer writer has ever got the first gig that they applied for easily. If you do not get the first gig, do not lose heart and keep applying for other freelance jobs. Sooner or later, you will hit paydirt!

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Why Freelance Jobs are Low Paying.

There are a lot of organizations, institutions and individuals who have work that they want done on a freelance basis. In fact, go to any freelance website or a website that helps people get a freelancer, you will be exhausted by just going through the amount of work that is available. But as you deeper and deeper into the website, you will see that the freelance jobs that you are looking for are being paid a pittance. In fact, there may even be some jobs available on freelance sites that are very lucrative, but you are put off by the pay that the freelance job is offering. Of course, there are some reasons that are behind freelance jobs being so inexpensive. Here are some of them. 

Most are Experiments for the Employer: I have worked with many employers who either hire freelance for their personal projects, and have a small budget to start with, or at least they try to hire others on a lower budget, so that it is easier for them to cut their losses and grin and bear it.Basically, the project that you are working on is an 'experiment that they are doing' or 'something that they are doing in their spare time', or very rarely, 'it is a hobby of mine, and I want to find out whether I can make some money out of it'. With this being the scenario, you might find it very difficult to get a fat paying freelance job. 

Most Freelance Jobs are Outsourced Jobs: Freelancing was not as hot a few decades ago as it is today. That is simply because the world was a closed economy and the business organizations all over the world did not know that their dollar or euro or whatever has a lot more value in other countries. Due to this, you will see jobs from the UK or the US being outsourced to India in the corporate world. There have been cases where companies in the UK, US, Australia,etc have directly interacted with freelancers all over the world, and they offer prices that are much less than what they would pay to have them done in their own countries.

Most Freelance Jobs are actually Non Critical Jobs:  Most freelance jobs are such that the company or the organization can live without. Like if its a data entry job that is offered, it would make little or no difference to the company if it is not done,all of it is just a matter of due diligence or following the business plan to the T. This simple reason gives the businesses a chance to have a leverage when it comes to paying power and the freelancer. Buoyed by this, the companies begin looking for the most economic freelancer that they might get, and this is from where the ante goes down.

This does not mean that all the freelance jobs available are low paying. There have been many instances where a freelancer has had only one freelance job and it has been enough to keep them financially secure. Mostly, it just about the time that you spend working with your employer.

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Freelance Jobs Vs Office Jobs: Advantages and Disadvantages

Almost everyone I know wants to freelance, well at least they do, but their parents still swear from a proper 9-5 Job  that gets home a set amount at the end of the month, or whenever your employer deems it feasible to pay you.  Frankly speaking, both Office Jobs and Freelance Jobs have their advantages and disadvantages, and these too depend from person to person and situation to situation.

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages and disadvantages of working in an office. 

Advantage of Office Job # 1 - Stability: This may be one of the greatest advantages that one might find in a office job. After all, once you are employed by a company, you become part of a process, there is a probation period, and then you are taken in as an employee, and then you rise from being a part of the process to a important part of the process, from there you move on to become an indispensable part of the process. 

Actually speaking, a company must have already spend at least three months of the salary that it is paying you to just get you into the system, if you count the  day salaries of the people who have interviewed you,  the CTC of the interview room where you were interviewed, etc. Therefore, if you are employed by a company, ti would be safe to think that you are in for at least six months, and if you are proficient in your profile and perform consistently, you are in for the long haul with the company.

Working with a good company that respects its employees has a lot of advantages. There are perks, there is medical insurance, and of course, there is the salary, and a set road of progress where you just have to be good at your job.  In other words, a day job translates into stability, unless you have made a mistake while choosing which company to work for. 

Advantage of Office Job # 2 - Networking: If you are working for a company with a substantial number of people, you automatically become a part of their network. As time passes  your network increases and you become known for your work as well as nature. This opens up a new vista for you, which you can use for your professional growth. Most jobs today are given to people via a network of either the hirer or people who are close to the hirer.

Advantage of Office Jobs # 3 - Telling it as is: Working from home since the past six years has given me one trait - I can finally describe to people what I am doing for a living,without having them roll their eyes or look to a side painting trying to change the topic. When you work with a company, you get the right to name drop, and your social positioning actually increases. 

This advantage might seem trivial, but in some social circles this is quite important, where the value of a person is actually understood from what they do for a living.

Disadvantages of Office Job # 1 - Restrictive Progress: Yes, a job has its own scope of progress, but you should understand that the path of that progress is already written down, unless and until you take a drastic step. For example, if you join a company as a graphics designer, you will grow to become a senior graphics designer, then you will handle a team of graphic designers, and then finally you may come up to the level of a visualiser, etc. 

However, there is little chance that you will have a opportunity to get into web programming, because that is a totally different profile. This may seem to be a advantage to many, but to some individuals, this may hamper their style of working. 

Disadvantage of Office Job #2 - Handling People: Seriously, if you are no comfortable socializing with people you should not think of getting into a office job. In an office, you will meet several people with different attitudes and lifestyles. Of course, you will be meeting these kind of people even in a freelancing profile, but then you do not have to spend the whole day with them, whereas in a office, you will have to spend the entire day with them. 

With office jobs having such advantages and disadvantages, people are looking towards freelance jobs as a formidable option to office jobs. 

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of  freelance jobs:

Advantage of Freelance Job # 1 - You make your own hours: This may be one of the most cliched advantages of freelancing, but it is the truth that with freelancing, you make your own hours, and more importantly you decide when to place those hours in your day. 

Advantage of Freelance Job # 2 - You make a lot of Money: This of course depends on how experienced you are in your profile and what kind of work you do, but spend a considerable time as a freelancer and you will find out that with the right connections and clients, you will be making more money than any office job.

While the advantages of a freelancing post are well known (and thats why there are only two sentences for it) here are the disadvantage of Freelance Jobs:

Disadvantage of Freelance Job # 1 - You are your Own Boss: This might seem all good and nice for the first few months, but in a few months, you will realise what your bosses were actually doing. As a business owner, or a freelance lancer, it is up to you to monitor and oversee all the aspects that are related to getting the work done for the client in the given timeframe. If you slip up on even one of the aspects, you may not face as much success as you would have thought, as a freelancer. 

Disadvantage of Freelance Job # 2 - No Stability: While this is more experienced with people who have freshly come into the world of freelancing, even veterans in the world of freelancing have experienced a lull in their work. And as a freelancer, no work means no money, and that acts as the beginner of many problems. But this cannot be helped, though solved by keeping two or three clients together.

These are just some of the advantages and disadvantages of freelance working. 

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Freelance Jobs: Where to Get the Best

If you have been freelancing for a while, you will know that the more is always merrier. It always pays to have a client on the side when your main client doesn't have many assignments for you, of if your main client is not actually paying you a great amount. Therefore, a freelancer is on the constant lookout for freelance jobs. With the advent of the Internet, it is simpler to look for freelance jobs, because a freelance no longer has to do some cold calling or impromptu visits to companies or individuals who are looking to outsource their requirements. Here is a quick list of where you can get the get the best freelance jobs: 

Bid for Work Websites: 

Whether you are a novice into the world of freelancing or a veteran, you will always require those accounts you made on the Bid for Work Websites. Bid for Work Websites may or many not offer those big assignments that have you all busy for six to eight months, but these websites do offer a consistent flow of assignments. albeit low paying for the freelancer.  

Like every other site on the Internet, you should be careful about what kind of people you are dealing with, and should know that the world of Freelancing is fraught with risks and scams and Bid for Work websites have their fair share of scammers, but more often than not, you will find genuine people trying to make a decent living. 

Job Portals:  

This may seem surprising, but nowadays there are many mainstream job portals that are inviting people to apply for temporary jobs, or work at home profiles that are open in companies. These kind of jobs basically come up when a company has a short time use of a certain profile and are not sure whether they would be able to retain them on a permanent basis. Such a situation sees its roots in the fact that more and more companies are outsourcing some of their services and products to other, smaller known companies.

Networking:

Of course, the best freelance gigs that you can ever get is via networking. This is simply because the people whom you network with will already know the quality of the work that you will or are capable of providing, and therefore the work will already be tailormade for you. With networking jobs, you do not need to bargain, simply because the person know sabout you, and with the right job, it may even become a long time affair.

These are some of the best places where you can look around for freelance jobs. Before going on any of these sites, make sure that you have your profile and resume ready.A crisp resume is sometimes the major thing that stands between you and that freelance job that you are looking for.

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Freelance Tips: Four Ways of Keeping that Freelance Job

Believe me when I tell you, people have spent a better part of two to three years looking for a good, stable and consistent freelance job. If you are one of those who has got a consistent work at home job, you should also know that one of the biggest disadvantages of working as a freelancer is that freelancing is a fickle profession. Unless and until you are not roaring on all cylinders at all times, you may just lose that freelance job that you bagged after a long while. Here are some tips for you to keep that job:

 Deliver, on Time: This tip comes in handy not only in the freelance world but in also your day to day life. This tip is more important in the world of freelancing because more often than not, you do not have any physical contact with the freelance employer, and the only way to prove to the employer that you are serious about the freelance job is to deliver your commitment on time.  In fact, not delivering on time or delivering slipshod assignments is one of the main reasons that the average freelancer has to do away with the good freelance assignment.

Communicate: This is another Biblical commandment for the freelancer. If the freelancer already has a freelance gig  and the gig is to be done over a period of time, or whether the freelancer comes into some problem while in the midst of the assignment, he or she should first communicate their problem to the assignment giver.  Even if you are not in some trouble with the assignment, it is a sign of a professional freelancer to keep in contact with the assignment giver till the time the assignment is not actually over.

Network and Socialize: Ok, keep this in mind. Even the best freelancer or freelance manager will not have freelance jobs to give out to you all through the years. There will be lean time and then there will be padded stretches of time.  Not only is it human decency but also good professional tactics to keep in contact with the freelancer manager even when they do not have any work to provide. Of course, you would have to know the difference between keeping in contact and hopelessly stalking the freelance manager. the best way to network subtly is through the social networking websites

Own Up to Your Mistake:  This is another major aspect that should be kept in mind by the freelancer. Remember that the freelance manager is also a cog in the wheel, who has given a commitment to someone else about  a job being done. Therefore, if you just disappear because of a mistake you have committed or any reason, you create a greater problem for the freelance manager. Therefore, always speak to the person who gives you the freelance job, whether the conversation goes this way or that.

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Freelance Job: How easy is it to get one?

Everyone would like to freelance. Be it the CEO of a company or a new recruit into the company. Everyone would like to work from the confines of their homes and have some flexible timing. However, sometimes a person cannot take up a work at home while sometimes they can. Basically, whether it is easy or hard to get a freelance job depends on the profile of the person and what they have been working as. 

Getting a freelance job is quite easy for the people who are working in the manufacturing or rendering service part of a organization. For example, if a person is a painter, or a plumber, or if in the world of IT, if the person is a software professional or a graphic designer, or even a web designer, they will get  freelance job at the much cliched 'click of a button.' It is however, more difficult to get a work at home position for people in the overseeing or managerial profile.  There are very few who would like to get a freelancer for handling a entire project. 

Also, the ease in getting a freelance job increases if the person is Internet savvy. Because freelance is looked down upon in most corporate circles, people who are offering freelance jobs sometimes get on the Internet to look for freelancers looking for jobs, simply because they wish to hire someone who would not know them personally.  Therefore, it is always a case that freelance jobs are more widely available online than in the offline world. 

Basically, the person gets a freelance job depending on their work in their day jobs. Mostly, people are approached for freelance jobs and assignments by people who know them and therefore know that they are thorough professionals.   So, it can be said that how you perform in your day job is actually the base of whether you get freelance jobs or whether people think that you can handle freelance jobs

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Three Most Paid Freelance Careers

With the advent of the Internet and the growth of technology, almost every job today can be done from home, thereby adding to the number of profiles that can think of a work from home position. However, there are few freelance professions that actually pay a lot. Here are the top three:

Web Designer/Programmer: The web designer job or the web programmer job can be considered to be one of the most well paid jobs in the realms of freelance. Even in a day job, the programmer will always have a chunk more than the other profiles, so why not freelance? Along with the web programmer, the web designer also is considered to be a very lucrative freelance profile. What makes both these profiles so lucrative for freelancing is that the profiles can work from a simple computer.

Event Manager/DJ: AN Event Manager or DJ is another profile that is considered to be in the list of the top three highly paid freelance jobs. The event manager, or the DJ is basically the soul of the whole event and has a lot of responsibilities.

Game Designer: Game Designers are those individuals who are specifically into game designing. These individuals may either work on PC CD games or on the new rage, the online flash games. This is another of the most lucrative freelance careers

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