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Freelance Writing Sites - The Good

2/12/2012

Working from home is convenient and these days offers people a chance to earn some money when jobs are hard to find. But you need to be strong and you have to be committed because it's too easy to get sidetracked or taken away from your work in a home environment. You need a to set up a place within your house where you are not likely to be disturbed when you are in 'work mode'. But then you need to know when to clock off too – many people find they put in too many hours when working from home and ultimately 'burn' themselves out.

For writers, having peace and quiet is really important because you need a calm, quiet working environment not only when you write, but also when doing any research. You don't actually need much to set yourself up as a writer – obviously you need to have writing skills, a creative mind helps and the ability and passion to carry out any research needed for a topic you have to write about. You also need a computer and an Internet connection, but that's about it.

Read more of the article at the link below:
http://opticopy.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/freelance-writing-sites-the-good/

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Freelancer Job Sites - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

24/11/2012

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There are quite a few freelance writing sites out there these days - some are pretty small online affairs that don't inspire confidence whilst others have grown so big they have lost sight of quality, value and more importantly integrity. The sad truth about a couple of these successful online freelancer job sites, is that since they have made their mark on the world, and naturally a lot of money, their members, users and project creators appear to have been put on the back burner.

So let's look at these freelancing job sites - let's take a look at some positive aspects of the sites and then let's take a close look at some of the negative reviews these sites have received over recent times and let's do this one at a time. This week it's the turn of Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com AKA GetaFreelancer.com

The site that claims to be the biggest Freelancer job site on the Internet - Freelancer.com aka GetaFreelancer.com. However, there's been quite a lot of speculation as to the accuracy of these claims. A little like the site itself, many of the people who use Freelancer.com have got several identities. It would be quite fair to say that a good percentage of registered users have at least 4 other IDs - shocking or what?

Now, obviously this changes things somewhat - 4 million plus users could suddenly become 1 million plus users - and that's quite a BIG difference. In fact, it is one that just cannot be ignored. Claiming to have so many users would need to be confirmed, verified or else it could be conceived as a little deceptive - some might even want to call it a "scam".

This is a word that's frequently associated with Freelancer.com - all one has to do is check out a few of the online review sites to read what's being bandied around about them on the Internet. SiteJabber, the ComplaintsBoard and many other review sites, are places where people go to vent their feelings - and a good job they can too! After all "a problem shared is a problem halved" and all that. Thank goodness for the Internet!

The problem, however, does not simply stop there because these fake IDs allow users to get up to all sorts of shenanigans, normally at the expense of an innocent person or two. These innocents just happen to use the site occasionally. Or it could be the hapless user who stumbles into a maze of deception when they first start using Freelancer.com either to find work or to seek freelancers for jobs they need doing. And this is where it gets really sticky.............

And it doesn't get any stickier than trying to get any help from the so called "support team". It would be pretty fair to say that most of the people who work wherever it is they do work for Freelancer.com, cannot boast that the universal language of English is their mother tongue. AND believe it or not, this can cause serious issues - getting a complaint over to someone who does not have a clue what you are talking about, can, it would seem, make an already frustrating scenario a thousand times worse! Scary or what?

The founder of the site is a bloke called Matt Barrie, and hats off to the guy for getting to where he is today, which is somewhere between not being able to find a hat that fits his head and a tie to go with his suits - BUT - and there is a but, Mr Barrie reckons he can be likened to Sir Richard Branson and other earth moving entrepreneurs who have made a serious impact on the modern world.

Well.............begging Mr. Barrie's pardon - but I don't think so. I mean come on - we are talking different stratospheres here (literally) - we're talking about a guy who is hands on and who employs 'la crème de la crème' to ensure that his numerous ultra successful companies run smoothly - talking about Branson here, by the way, just thought I needed to make that clear!

Barrie on the other hand gave a talk recently titled 'The art of making $30k a year for doing nothing ' and that just about sums up how he lets his staff run the Freelancer site - c'est terrible - as the French would say, but hey, it seems to work for Barrie. It is just a shame it does not work for the people who actually use his site and therefore the people who got him to where he is in the first place.

Conclusion

Freelancer.com alias whatever it was before - has to be thought of as a freelancing job site where anything goes. It is not a site where good writers who know their worth would look for work - BUT - it is a site that offers lots of job opportunities for people in countries where there is no minimum wage issues and it is here that I remain polite.

When it comes to the site being one of the biggest on the Internet - I think this really does need to be looked into and then verified because at the moment this is a very, very grey area. Needless to say, Mr Barrie is hardly likely to look into it - I mean who would want to admit the fruit of their labours is not as big as they claim it to be?

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Bully Boy Tactics To Use On Bully Boy Bad Paying Clients!

2/11/2012

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There are times when as a writer, you have to take the 'boxing gloves' off and hit bad paying clients where it hurts. I am talking of course, about the times when clients start playing silly games and when payment is not forthcoming for the work you have provided them with - but the excuses for NOT paying come ten a penny!

So – Where Does It Hurt a Bad Paying Client?

Public relations is something all successful businesses and companies need to have in place – today the speed with which a bit of bad PR can hit the news is quite frightening. But it is also a very useful tool for writers who have to chase clients for their money.

If a client is quick to offer excuses not to pay a bill but slow to come up with the readies, then a nice 'little tweet' about them will work wonders – don't mention the bad payers by name - to begin with anyway – simply say something like 'unbelievably a company in Western Australia is giving me grief over a payment'. This is the first step in creating an embarrassing phase of bad PR for the company – and it works a treat. After all – what company in the virtual world today wants any bad press!

If at first you don't succeed – then try and try again. Each time you need to raise your game and then report any bad paying clients to writers' websites and scam sites in the country the client operates out of.

Protect Your Work – Register Your Copyright

It goes without saying that you need to 'vet' your clients before you write any articles, copy or content for them. But this is not always possible. This means you need to take the necessary steps to protect your hard labours and you can do this by registering your work with a copyright site like SampleSafe.

If any of your work remains unpaid – it still belongs to YOU. Until you have got your dosh in the bank from a client – the copyright remains yours and this means you can publish, sell or use your work any way you wish to and if the client threatens you – all the better because they are in the wrong.

So, remember if you come across a bad paying client – don't give up instead take your boxing gloves off and hit them where it hurts! It is not only very rewarding to get paid for the work you have provided but the whole process can be extremely cathartic too!

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Freelance Writing Sites - The Good

Freelancer Job Sites - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Bully Boy Tactics To Use On Bully Boy Bad Paying Clients!

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