The 10 Freelancing Commandments

Hi everyone. Today, I am going to share with you about simple things that cost you clients and stop you from making money online as a freelancer. Earlier in the week I wrote an article about making over $300 genuinely writing online, if you missed it, you can read it here. The article garnered slightly below 1,000 views on the very first day, thank you all. After reading this article, my readers have been sending me emails asking almost the same line of questions like “how do you manage to make money online,” “what keeps you going,” “how have you managed to fully depend on freelancing online full time” and many others. I have therefore been motivated to write about the mistakes I think do pin me down, but I work around them to keep me at the top of my game.

In the beginning, I made a lot of mistakes; almost everything I did seemed to be a disaster. At one point I felt I was going to give up because I spend the whole week online, but still fail to make enough money to complement for a lot of time spent. Am happy we have the power in our hands to correct mistakes.

Here are The 10 Freelancing Commandments:

1.      Love Your Marketing, Like you Love thy Money

It seems difficult marketing to most people. Earlier on, I was used to doing my marketing vigorously for only one day then take a long break. No effort is worthless, today, I ensure that I reach at least 5 blogs, contribute impactfully, and afterwards get new friends. I also update my Facebook profiles, and several others. I also do email marketing and paid ads. At least do something on a daily basis towards marketing. It is true that on the days that I make an effort, there is a recommendable change in the number of views reported on my Hootsuite and Google analytics dashboards. Market all days; do not develop the habit of marketing only when the business is slow.

Run promotions, update your website, make your portfolio enviable, allow for customers testimonials and comments. Good communication skill is key to marketing. Reply to your emails promptly, reply to all stupid questions appropriately, follow up on all your emails, only share what is necessary on your pages, accept customer negotiations, only do things you want to do, and give straight answers. Do not be irritated when talking to clients, just be humble and treat your clients equally.

2.      Though Must Have your Working Terms and Conditions

Before I begin working on a project, I email my clients with a terms and conditions that they read to let them know the limits and rules that will govern our contract. If a client feels not happy with them, they will definitely write me back. However, I have nothing fishy kept inside my rules, they are just simple guidelines that will keep professionalism while we deal together.

3.      Thou Must Meet Your Deadlines

Out of 100% of the jobs you do, you are likely to default on 3% or more on deadlines, even if you are very efficient. The key to being successful in meeting your deadlines is to keep in touch with your client. Ask him or her how missing the deadline will impact them. Try to fix a new deadline keeping in mind that you must not fail again.

Sometimes things just happen; life brings forth things that make you leave your daily routine to attend to them. When making deadlines, ensure you give enough room for life to continue. Don’t promise what you cannot deliver. And do not over-promise, for heaven’s sake, promise what you can deliver, but do it in action by over-delivering. When you miss deadlines, also try and give your customer and an extra something to compensate for the late delivery, it works like a charm (only don’t make it a habit).

Freelance is purely based on deadlines, if you have three tasks to accomplish and you do not properly plan for your time, then you are most likely to miss on one or more deadlines. Keep a calendar; if possible, invest in some to do list software, or a calendar.

Make use of the tools that will help you save on time, for example Gmailnotifier, Hootsuite, Yoono, grammar checker, do it list and many others. I will soon be writing an article on freelance tools to make your work easier.

4.      Remember to Save, You Will need it During Scarcity

“I cannot save when I missed a meal yesterday,” “I bought a pair of shoes yesterday, therefore I cannot save”. These are common excuses. What about the rainy days? Save 10% of your freelance earnings because a day comes when you will lose an opportunity because you do not have $100 to strike the deal, and you are also not in a position to borrow. Save for emergencies, because when you do not have money when you need it most you will not be in a position to freelance. Saving gives you peace of mind, and it starts from saving as little as $1.

5.      Thou Must Say NO when Necessary

When a new client comes on board, I do over-deliver to ensure that they continue coming back for more. After a few jobs down the line, the very same client begins to be bossy (not all of them). It is almost a must that a client will start to request for several revisions, want jobs done on credit, some even want to miss-use you. Am a writer, despite the fact that am passionate about what I do, sometimes some clients are annoying. I have learnt to tell my clients no when I feel something is going wrong.  When it reaches this point, I know it is that time when a client may leave, so, I handle them delicately while at the same time not allow them to misuse me by suggesting alternatives and saying an intelligent no.

With the same spirit, when you have too much work in your hands, learn to say NO, when a client gives you more.

6.      Thou Should Charge on Pay Per Hour Basis

When I started freelancing, I looked for jobs mainly from bidding sites like Odesk and Elance. This gave me the perception that I must always charge my clients on the hours I worked for them. When I started doing my own marketing, I charged clients on the number of hours I spent writing e-books, and doing several other things. I went by the rule that only those who can pay for my working hours will get my services; I’d rather get some dollars than spend hours doing just one project that does not compensate for my time.

I realized I was wrong. First, work per hour is expensive for clients, a fact I ignored. Second, I became smarter in my work, and I could deliver a task in less than an hour, meaning clients will pay me only for half an hour’s work instead of an hour’s work. When I changed to charge my clients per article, did a little marketing, my income jumped instantly. And I found better ways of packaging good plans to clients.

7.      Though Must Not Repeat the Same Mistakes Again, For you do not have a Second Chance in Freelancing

Repeating the same mistake over and over again is what spoils everything. When something goes wrong, try as much as possible and look for the solution. When you finally work around it, look for better ways to shield from the same happening. Do not allow the same mistake that almost put you down earlier bug you again. In a freelance world, there is nothing like a second chance, you screw it a second time, your client goes away.

8.      Freelancing is Your Job not a Hobby

Am a full time freelancer. I was once employed and quit “to do what I love most,” it was only a matter of time when I realized it is not a hobby any more. I had to figure out real ways how to make money to pay for all my bills. Treat freelancing as your daytime job. If you work from home, your kids and friends must stay away when you are at work. Keep time for everything, a time to work, a time to rest and time to spend time with your family.

Also invest in education to empower yourself. Read other blogs to get equipped with lots of knowledge in your field. Plough back part of your income; you are likely to get more when you do so.

9.      You Shall Not Keep All Your  Eggs in One Basket

Have more than one stream of income. When you begin, you realize you have one source bringing you more income; you want to quit others which are not giving you more, to focus on the single source of income. What happens if the major source bounces back? You are dead.

10.  Thou Must Discover your Niche

Am a writer, and writing is my profession. You cannot do everything; you can only do one or a few things perfectly at a go. Today, people are known for what they do, am known as a professional writer because I have mastered my skills. It is easier being successful in a given field; people find it easier referring to you as an expert in a specific field and not as a general freelancer. It is also not a good idea taking too much work for you, delegate to others when you have too much on your hands. My policy has been to work with the best, know how to separate the chuffs from the grains. Along the way, you will get people who will serve you well, others will be messy, get along with the best.

When I started, I used to write my ass off, day long and night. Today, I have a list of writers who work alongside me. I have developed networks that allow me to get what I want how I want it. When I have too much to accomplish, I outsource it out. The truth is, you cannot handle a growing business on your own, at least according to my experience. Get others to help you where you can’t.

What is your experience freelancing? What are the challenges you are facing. Share them and we will find solutions together.

How to Make $500 Weekly at iWriter.com: Sharing My Expereince with Proof

My names are Godfrey Linnex, I work full time online, doing several things. Today I want to share with you one way that I have successfully used to make money online, and am still using it. I write articles part time on iWriter to make a few dollars. I’ve been able to make between $20 to $300 weekly online writing for iWriter. I have a 5 star rating for iWriter, though it drops regularly, but I manage to bring it up. I have done several articles and get lots of special requests. I keep communicating to my list of special requesters to keep the articles streaming in.

Other reliable platforms are Texbroker (US only), Londonbrokers, and maybe bidding sites like Odesk and Elance (am recommending these two bidding sites because I have seen others make money on them, I have however not made a dime from them). If you are good in academics, try Uvocorp (Is the best in the industry, I however, once worked for essaywriters.net which was a big scam, I hear Google removed their website from search engines). Keep reading to learn from my experience on how to make good money on iWriter, starting today. A big thank you to Brad Callen, the founder iWriter.

Here are reasons why you may want to write for iWriter:

1.       Once you register, you start to work immediately

2.       You don’t need a degree to work here, as long as you have basic writing skills

3.       They pay weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, monthly on 5^th or 25^th depending on your preference

4.       There is plenty of work for everybody, just master the game of refreshing and you are good to go

5.       You are paid through PayPal, (How to safely and cheaply withdraw from PayPal)

Take a look at what I have been able to earn from iWriter every week, most recently. I will however be showing you huge figures I will be earning from iWriter in the next coming months. Click to expand. I earned more than $460 from iWriter in August 2014 alone, I however plan to increase my earnings to $700 on iWriter weekly and I will post it here for everyone to see. (I have filtered this to only reflect iWriter Payment)

Follow Me:       Facebook       Twitter    gmail contact

Good news for iWriters

The company recently (August 2014) added a new ranking to the usual three, the super elite writers. You will be able to earn 37 dollars for a 700 article, this pay range favorably compete with the US only content mill textbroker.com. This is for the writers who ranks from 4.9 and above.

Making Real Money with iWriter

There is no short cut making money at iWriter. You need to deliver quality. High rating in iWriter means more money. To put it simpler, you need a premium level rating and above to make some reasonable cash which is about $7 per 700 words. The more effort you put, the more you make. I personally can handle about 8 articles, each taking two hours or less. Sometimes I fail to write simply because the board is suffering from a shortage or I just don’t want to. So, focus on getting a five star rating from the very moment you start writing. When your article gets cancelled, don’t give up, especially when it is your first article. It is also not a bad idea talking to an experienced fellow like me for insights; see my contacts at the need of the article at the end of the article. Here is a show of my 5 star rating in iWriter:

They iWriter Requesters Love my content:

When you write good articles, you will always be in demand. I have very many requesters who have me in their favourite list. Here is a screenshot of just a section of those who gives me direct jobs in my profile:

 

Getting 5 star iWriter Ratings

You will need to work on 30 articles before you are actually rated by iWriter, otherwise you will be working on standard level articles until then. You want to be ranked higher for the first thirty articles; you therefore need to befriend all the people you write for. Just engage your providers, send them questions if any, if something is not clear, send them a private message.

Here are things that will help you get a lot of five star rating in iWriter (I call them my iwriter commandments)

1.       Look for the requester approval rating, do not go for anything below 80%, the lower the percentage, the likelihood that the requester will reject your work. Approval rating simply shows you the number of projects rejected and those approved.

2.       Only write an article you understand, if anything is not clear, ignore, however much the approval rating

3.       Write several 150 word articles to boost your rating (you are likely to write a high quality short article and the requester is likely to rate you high when you over-do a 150 word article)

4.       If a requester cancels your work, do not write for him or her again

5.       You must check your work for plagiarism and grammar before submitting. First, do a personal proofreading on your editor, use word spell checker, then run a grammar check. Use paper rater for plagiarism and grammar. Alternatively use ginger software, though it does not have plagiarism check. Both tools are free of charge, they however have premium plans which you may not require. If you have to invest on plagiarism and grammar check, then I’d prefer Grammarly or Copyscape.

6.       Master iWriter editor: when you copy and paste your content on iWriter editor from the word document, some funny articles are generated. Use notepad, and play around to understand how to add bullet points (I do use hyphen - for bullets).

7.       Make article presentable: Use bold, italic, underline, numbers, and bullet points to give your article a good structure. Use 12 pt. for a Word doc and 1.5 spacing (I also get good results with word Calibri font). Triple enter after every paragraph to give a good paragraph spacing. Double enter to give good headline-Paragraph spacing.

8.       Detecting scam requesters: They will not pay you even if you write a high quality article. Some scam requesters are easy to identify;

a.       Very long instructions

b.      Giving ultimatums like “I will reject,” “I will report you to iWriter,” or “I will blah blah.”

c.       Require personal information

d.      A scam requester will request for a 150 word article, but instruct that you give a minimum 300 words, if this does not make sense to you then do not write the article. However, some pay genuinely and request for a reasonable extra number of words. This should not be an issue however if the requester has a better approval rating and is not asking for ridiculous numbers of words.

e.      Scammers create several new iWriter accounts and post jobs, I personally avoid new requesters. However, from my experience, a new scam requester will give very long instructions, they will be using the above threatening words like I will report you, they seem to be familiar with iWriter board yet they are requesting jobs for the first time. I use this to separate a genuine iWriter newcomer from a new scammer account.

9.       Be patient, don’t look at the money, look at the rating and you will not go wrong

1.   Follow instructions, very important

1.   If a requester wants a “native English,” “English is your first language,” or “English must be your mother tongue” or something like that, avoid if you are not from the United States

Simple illustration of Sample Articles to reject or write

The first one is a clean reject for me, it has stayed on the board for longer, everytime I refresh I find it there. It has 7 rejected and only 2 approved projects giving a bad rating of 22%. The article keyword is very simple, "used car dealership," I dont’nt think seven people failed to give quality on such a simple topic. The second one is a take for me, but I will still go inside it to review it further: the figure below shows the instructions window for the second job in the above picture.

These instructions are simple, the keywords shows me what I need to write about and the writer gives a hint on what he wants written. If I have time I would take the second article.

Note that not all long instructions are scam, some requesters just want to give you guidelines and clear instructions. You can separate genuine long instructions by looking at good ratings of 80% with several articles approved. In my view, requesters with 80% approval rating and more than 5 jobs approved is a good guy, he or she will only reject if you deliver crap, out of context or your language/ article is not appealing.

iWriter Weaknesses

 iWriter is one of my major sources of finances. While I have tried as much as possible not to bite the very fingers that feeds me, even the best platforms like eBay and Amazon have flows.

1.       You cannot have more than one iWriter account, if you have more, your accounts will be closed and if you had funds in the account, you lose it. I have seen complaints online about people losing their money. Every dog has its day, I wonder what will happen the day when my only account get closed down without notice or explanation. The worst part when a full week funds are blocked inside. This is one good reason not to depend on iWriter alone.

2.       iWriter requester scammers. I ensure that every article I write are quality, but somehow, they still get rejected. Am however thankful that I spot a lot of activities and attempts by the Brad team to deal with such scammers “Do not write this, you will be rejected if……,” and several others.

3.       While every writer on iWriter platform gets some work on a daily basis, I think Brad is not doing enough in marketing this thing (I believe there is more potential). I’ve never met any iWriter Google ad, yet I get cookie ads for sites I frequent (you gitch?). The iWriter marketing is largely based on existing blogs and does not target new customers. We need to see a dedicated marketing for iWriter, just like we are dedicated to take every good job that lands on the board.
Am also not happy that I continue writing as a ghost writer in iWriter. The system does not document my history to allow me show to the world how am doing a recommendable work. Am just a ghost writer that even the best work I deliver does not show me as the author. 

I have gathered a lot of experience writing content; I will be updating this article frequently if I think of something I have not written. Your contributions are welcome. You can invite me or contact me for any help, or questions related to working online.

I can also write you an awesome, well researched, thoroughly structured and informative article for your blog.

Skype: godlenn

Gmail: infoqlansa@gmail.com

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