Finding Freelance Work Over The Internet

Posted on February 9, 2012 by E. James

The internet has been a boon for freelancers of all kinds: designers, writers, computer programmers, etc. While there are many websites that broker freelance contract work, two of the most prominent are elance.com and guru.com. However, before you quit your day job and dive in to the exciting and challenging world of freelance, there are a few things you should consider first:

Expect to start slow. Remember, clients choose their freelancers based on their online reputation (this process is similar to the rating system used on eBay). At the beginning, you will not have any reputation, so you’ll want to bid low and work extra hard, delivering a product that’s probably worth a lot more than you paid for, so as to insure that you’ll get good ratings. This is parallel to a startup factoring in advertising and promotional costs. Regardless, the net effect will mean less money for you, at least at first.

Find a niche. While the money can be plentiful for freelancers, so is the competition. You are almost certainly going up against other experts in your field from all over the world, and some of them inevitably come from developing nations with much lower living expenses. There is no way you can undersell everyone. Instead, focus on what makes you special and valuable, and cultivate a niche marketplace for what you have to offer. If you work in a specialized field, for example coding a particular computer language, search for freelance websites that only focus on your skill, which will bring you into a niche network much faster.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. No matter how good a thing you have going on one site or with one client, always try to diversify over different sites or even different kinds of media. Maintain a good website, blog, or about.me site where a potential client can see all of your activities in one place.

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The Rise Of Service Work In The U.S. Economy

Posted on February 8, 2012 by E. James

portrait of a male pharmacist at a pharmacy Recent economic studies prove what many people are seeing all around them: traditionally middle-class jobs in manufacturing and office work are rapidly disappearing to outsourcing and computerized systems. While there is a miniscule uptick in highly skilled work such as technology engineering, much of the workforce is being pushed into the service sector. Whereas manufacturers such as GE and GM used to be the largest American employers, they have long since given way to service companies like Wal-Mart and Target, which now employ more Americans than an manufacturer. As the recession eats away at positions requiring higher levels of education, stories are appearing in the news of Target managers working for $12 an hour who were previously employed as administrators or architects with six-figure salaries.

However, the perception of service work has changed much slower than the realities of this recent shift in the American economy. Most Americans regard service workers as the uneducated poor, who could leave the service sector at any time simply by seeking an education.

Still, there have been recent signs that the American public and the American judiciary are taking the side of service workers. Some states allow employers to calculate tips into their workers’ salaries, some even allowing restaurants to pay wait staff less than $3 an hour, on the justification that they make minimum wage with tips factored in. In a shocking new decision, the Supreme Court just ruled that service workers may sue their employers for higher pay if they can show that a significant portion of their working hours are spent doing tasks that receive no tips, such as cleaning, closing at night, etc.

This ruling is a small victory for service workers, and we conclude with the following advice: during these hard times, many highly skilled workers are temping in the service industry. If you are one of them, hold your head high, and make the most of it. The American legal system is slowly turning its eyes on the unsustainable wage structure of this sector, but by the time there is any major reform, you may have already moved on to a higher paying job as the economy recovers.

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Increasing Your Productivity

Posted on February 7, 2012 by E. James

get things done Regardless of your line of work, productivity is the simplest measurement of your workday. Here are two helpful tips to get more done in less time:

Start with the hardest, most unpleasant tasks: Almost every day, there is something that you dread doing. It could be responding to a nasty email, making a high-stakes phone call, fixing a scheduling problem that stresses you, or countless other boring, tedious, or intimidating tasks. Most likely, the stress causes by putting this work off will haunt and distract you throughout your workday, so best possible course of action is to do these things first. Then, you can concentrate on a clean, clear, stress-free day doing the things you enjoy.

Only do the jobs that must be done by you: There are many ways to delegate. Even if you don’t have employees or a secretary or assistant helping you, you still have the option of finding help. If you are employed by a large company, there are people in other department who may be about to take the load off. Otherwise, you can find contractors who will do it for a fee. If you’re low on both time and money, check out websites like fiverr.com (and its sister site “twenty fiverr”) or freelance sites like guru or elance. Nobody is good at everything, and everyone has a skill that they excel at. By delegating, you ensure that your weaknesses are covered by someone else’s strengths, and can get back to doing what you do best.

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The Cities With The Highest Wages

Posted on February 6, 2012 by E. James

The jobs trends website payscale.com just released their list of the cities with the highest wage increases in the fourth quarter of 2011. Here are the cities that topped the list:

1. Houston, Texas. Houston led the list, with a 2.2% increase in wages throughout Q4 of 2011. Houston has now returned to the heights of 2008, its pre-recession levels. Houston has a wide variety of industries, but the one that has contributed the most to the wage increase is the booming oil and gas industries. However, Houston has more than oil to offer. As the largest city in Texas, it also has strong aeronautics and health industry offerings. In addition to wage increases, the Houston job market added 75,800 new jobs over the course of 2011. Unemployment in Houston is 7.3 percent, which is below the national average.

2. Miami, Florida. Miami saw a wage increase of about 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Despite high unemployment in Florida, Miami has seen job growth in computer and IT sectors, and in the logging industry.

3. Chicago, Illinois. These two cities tied at about 1.7% wage increase in the fourth quarter. Although both cities were hit hard by the recession, they have shown significant wage increases in recent months.

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Common Myths About Starting Your Own Business (Part 2)

Posted on February 5, 2012 by E. James

I could never learn all the skills it takes to run a business. The truth is actually somewhere between “Yes, you can,” and “You actually don’t have to.” The reality is that online trainings are often free or extremely affordable, and you can learn almost any skill on your computer, iPod, or TV these days. Additionally, there are many time-consuming tasks such as bookkeeping and tax preparation that can be accomplished either by hiring a local expert (or “outsourcing” the work you trust to a site like guru.com or elance.com) or by purchasing special software to assist you. These arrangements must be factored into your initial budget, but they will pay off very quickly by saving you time to focus on the skills you are best at.

Self-employment puts you at a greater risk of being put out of business. The truth is that running your own business is a much more flexible position than being an employee. As a business owner, you are in control of how your work interfaces with larger market forces, allowing you to diversify. As an employee, you are generally paid to do one job and one job only, and when that job is no longer needed, you can quickly find yourself becoming expendable. Once your business is up and running, you can add to it whenever and however you choose. Entrepreneurialism is, by its very nature, a more versatile enterprise than other forms of employment.

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Common Myths About Starting Your Own Business (Part 1)

Posted on February 4, 2012 by E. James

Starting your own business makes you more vulnerable financially. When you have a steady job with a regular paycheck, it’s tempting to thinking that the entrepreneurial route is much riskier. While there is a certain amount of truth in this, the brutal facts of today’s economy is that no employee is 100% secure in a salaried position. Even high-level executives are only a “you’re fired” away from having to look elsewhere. As an entrepreneur, you do assume more risk, but you also assume a much greater amount of control, so much that it often puts you in a more secure position than working as an employee. Also, being the head of your own company allows you to move the company’s money around, meaning that you can grow your business during the good times and shift more revenue into salaries during lean times, a luxury that employees never have.

Starting your own business is prohibitively expensive. Although it’s certainly true that some large enterprises require enormous amounts of start-up funding, an often overlooked fact is that many others do not. In today’s internet age, starting a company costs about $10/year to register a domain name and about $100/year for basic hosting services. From there, you can build using your initial revenue, not your investor’s pocketbook. This model works especially well for blogs and information-based products that have no overhead such as printing, manufacturing, or shipping. You can begin selling your knowledge as an eBook or blog post today, using advertising or paid subscriptions for revenue, and then use your revenue to print physical books down the road to sell on your store, so to speak. You can even add Amazon products to your store via the Amazon affiliate program, and start making money immediately for selling other people’s products.

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The Ins And Outs Of Dating Your Coworkers

Posted on February 1, 2012 by J. L. Eisenberg

romantic office place While most people warn to avoid dating your co-workers like the plague, a recent survey from Glamour shows that almost 41% of Americans have been involved in some sort of romantic relationship with a co-worker. This high number is understandable – after spending so much time with your co-workers, it’s only natural that you find you have a lot in common.

If you find that you’ve hopelessly fallen for one of your co-workers, it’s possible to make a relationship work out. So long as your love interest works at the same level as you (aka no supervisors or underlings), it’s legal for you to date. Although it may be difficult to disguise your relationship in the office place, it’s important to draw a sharp line between your life in the office and your life outside of it. Not only will this prevent other co-workers from gossiping, it will make things easier should you break up.

If your paramour is a supervisor or an underling on the other hand, it’s a whole different story. Many company codes prohibit dating somebody at a lower or higher level than you because it creates a conflict of interest. Even if you don’t think you’re giving preferential treatment to your significant other, other workers may take it that way and become disgruntled. Another problem commonly run in to is the risk of sexual harassment claims – if the couple breaks up, the underling may claim sexual harassment regardless of its veracity. Since there’s no way to prove that your significant other didn’t just succumb to your advances in order to keep his or her job, cases such as these usually end with the underling walking away with a huge chunk of money, not to mention your professional reputation.

If you’re determined to date a co-worker, you need to be absolutely sure that you can both keep your professionalism around each other regardless of your personal situation. Ideally, it will lead to a healthy, long-term relationship. Be sure to confirm that this is the end goal for the both of you before putting yourself in a situation that could easily damage your professional life.

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The Dangers Of Overdependence

Posted on January 31, 2012 by J. L. Eisenberg

Older worker mentoring younger worker Within an office environment, there are many types of relationships. There are the bosses that you can barely stand to sit through a meeting with, and those whom you don’t know what you would do without. If you’re particularly close to one of your superiors, stop and consider whether he or she is a mentor or a crutch. A mentor is somebody who will help you to succeed based on your own merits; whereas a crutch tries to help you by taking care of things that you feel unconfident about. If you find that you have a friend who you go to for help with every little problem, you may be hurting your career by your overdependence.

If you think you’re overdependant on one of your co-workers but don’t want to hurt his or her feelings by pulling away from their offers of help, try weaning yourself away slowly. Pick one of your current projects and stop asking your friend for advice with it. If you find yourself truly stuck, reach out to somebody else in the office. In this way, you can discuss less and less work-related issues with him or her and instead focus on your outside-of-work friendship.

If your crutch notices you pulling away from his or her work-related assistance, explain that you feel like you’re ready to try projects on your own, thanks to his or her previous guidance. Be sure to make it explicit that you’re very grateful for his or her help – you don’t want him or her to think that you’re pulling away out of malice.

Once you liberate yourself from your dependence on a crutch, you may find that your job suddenly gets a lot harder. It may be difficult at first, but if you hope to continue advancing your career, you need to prove that you can excel at the job you’ve got without any support, for there’s certain to be even less the higher up you go.

Working While Pregnant

Posted on January 30, 2012 by J. L. Eisenberg

Pregnant woman smiling If you’ve been trying to have a child, finding out that you’re pregnant is a great feeling. Unluckily, it may provoke some less-than-ecstatic feelings in your co-workers. Whether they assume that you’ll turn in to a weepy bundle of pregnancy stereotypes or are worried about having to cover for you during attacks of morning sickness, it’s important to manage your pregnancy such as not to put any undue burden on your co-workers and boss.

If your wishes and health allows you to continue working through the majority of your pregnancy, do your homework on the options available to you. Go over the company’s maternity leave policy and decide when you want to leave and return in advance – this way you can time your departure to create the smallest possible ripple as well as give your boss plenty of time to find and train a replacement.

While you’re still working, you must make it absolutely clear how large and how challenging you expect your assignments to be. If you find yourself struggling with your regular job, ask your boss if you can temporarily transfer to a less challenging position. She or he would rather have you doing well in a lower position than putting out shoddy work in your current one. If you feel that you can perform as well as ever despite your pregnancy, make sure your boss and co-workers know that you don’t expect to be treated any differently. Although you may think this should go without saying, many people will subconsciously treat you as though you’re less competent unless you make it clear that your pregnancy will not affect your performance at work.

When you’re ready to have your baby, the right preparations can ensure that you will be able to relax and enjoy this time without worrying about how it will affect your prospects at work. Enjoy it!

Turning Your Review Into A Raise

Posted on January 29, 2012 by J. L. Eisenberg

raise in pay It’s been a productive 2011 for you, and your performance review was all congratulations and slaps on the back. But did you come out of that office with a promotion, bonus, or raise? If not any of the above, here’s how to turn those congratulations to cold hard cash.

Before you walk in to your boss’s office, make a list of all new things you would like to take on in the new year. Don’t be afraid to be ambitious – if you see a project that needs a new manager, write it down and be prepared to explain how your 2011 performance qualifies you for the job. If there are no openings that you can see, pick a couple areas of interest and come up with some projects that you could spearhead on your own.

When you ask for your promotion, raise, or bonus, don’t use your 2011 performance as justification. The raise should not be a reward for good behavior, but compensation for the additional work you will take on in 2012 that your work in 2011 has qualified you for. And don’t be afraid to ask – once you’ve secured some additional responsibility in the office, it will feel natural to ask for your compensation to be raised to reflect your additional duties.

If your office is strapped for cash or otherwise can’t offer you any additional monetary compensation, don’t drop your bargaining chip entirely. Suggest that instead of money the company could offer you more vacation days or a bigger office. Whatever you do, don’t let your employer increase your workload without some type of compensation. Being seen as a pushover will set a negative precedent for raises or bonuses to come.

Even if you don’t leave the meeting with a new nameplate and the corner office, don’t be discouraged. Whatever new responsibilities you have been assigned will give you a great way to further your case for a promotion in 2013.