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How do you improve your chances of getting jobs on bidding sites? Usually you’re competing against several other freelancers, some of whom may have more experience and more testimonials. Keep in mind that freelancers with a great deal of experience are probably going to place high bids. On the low end of the scale will be people from third world countries, who often don’t speak English as their native language. The new freelancer will probably fit somewhere in between these two extremes.

Write the best profile you can and make sure it doesn’t have spelling or grammatical errors. Spend some time reading the profiles of successful freelancers to get ideas on what to emphasize. You could even hire one of the very successful freelancers to help you write your profile. Be sure to include a variety of samples of your work for potential buyers to read.

For ideas on how much to bid, watch what other freelancers are bidding. Some ghostwriters post their rates on their own websites. Some bidding sites allow you to see what other people are bidding, like http://www.rent-a-ghostwriter.com. Even on sites where bidding is sealed, there is often a way to see the range of bids.

Technorati Tags: freelance, Work At Home, work at home business

If you want to get started working as a freelancer, the best place to start is with freelance bidding sites. These sites are usually free to register. Each site then has different requirements, often with different levels of membership. Depending on the site, a fee might be charged to the buyer or the service provider or both. Choose a membership level, build a profile and start bidding on jobs.

Bidding sites are a great way to begin to develop a portfolio. They allow a new freelancer to gain valuable experience as well as testimonials to the quality of their work. Projects are usually posted daily, so they offer a great opportunity for a new service provider to find work. There is also some protection for new service providers in the sense that buyers pay up front for projects and the bidding site holds the money in an escrow account. This takes away the fear of not getting paid for projects you complete.

There are several bidding sites to choose from. Take your time exploring the sites and evaluating what membership options there are. These are the top freelance bidding sites:

• http://www.elance.com is one of the largest bidding sites and offers quite a few new job postings every day. Opportunities are available in programming, design, writing, engineering, administrative support, sales and marketing.
• http://www.getafreelancer.com offers opportunities in programming, web design, copywriting and technical writing.
• http://www.rentacoder.com is a great source of opportunity for software coders. There are also opportunities for graphic designers, writers and virtual assistants.
• http://www.guru.com has opportunities in web and graphic design, writing, programming, sales and telemarketing, engineering, finance and accounting and administrative support.
• http://www.ifreelance.com is one of the lower priced bidding sites and does not charge commission on the money you earn. Opportunities are available for writers, photographers, artists and programmers.

Check out these bidding sites and start bidding on jobs. To improve your chances of getting jobs on these sites, read my next post.

Technorati Tags: Freelancing, Work At Home, work at home business

Ryan McLean from Smarter Wealth is giving away a brand new Flip Mino HD to one lucky reader. This will be the easiest Flip Mino HD to win because barely anyone is going to enter meaning more chances that you can win.

The Flip Mino HD is the coolest gadget around. You can shoot one hour of video in HD (so you can play it on your plasma) and you can even edit your footage right on your device. This device is so small that it will fit in your pocket so you will never miss capturing a moment ever again.

To enter all you have to do is sign up for Ryan’s newsletter and post about the competition.

Check out all the details of how you can enter the Win a Flip Mino HD competition now.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, work at home business, Work At Home Jobs

For those seeking work at home opportunities, what most people are really looking for is freedom. Freedom from time clocks, nerve-wracking commutes, performance reviews, asking permission to go to the restroom, etc.

One path to freedom is working as a freelancer. Freelancing means contracting a particular skill or service, often on a per project basis.  You are contracted to do a particular job, but you are not employed by the person who contracts you. Some of the skills that are offered on a freelance basis are writing, photography, graphic design, editing and computer programming.

Some of the advantages of freelancing include:

• Variety of projects and people you work for. When a project is complete, you have no obligation to continue working for a particular company. You can work for more than one company or client.
• Control over what your time is worth. At a regular job, your income is limited to what your employer thinks you are worth. As a freelancer, you charge what you feel your services are worth, and you can adjust your bids at any time.
• Scheduling freedom. If you are a night person, you have the freedom to do the bulk of your work at 10 p.m. or later. Likewise, you can work at 5 a.m. if you’re most alert in the morning, and you can take the afternoon off to do errands or spend time with your kids.

The disadvantages of freelancing include:

• Lack of steady income.  There is something to be said for knowing where your next paycheck is coming from.  In the freelancing world, until you have established yourself with several steady clients, there is an absence of a steady paycheck.
• Time required finding jobs. For a freelancer, part of your business plan has to include spending part of your work day marketing yourself and looking for more work.
• Income taxes. Being self-employed means being responsible for your own record-keeping and income taxes. If you are single, you also need to worry about health insurance and retirement planning.

If you believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, learn more about freelance bidding sites in my next post.

Technorati Tags: Freelancing, make money at home, Work At Home, work at home business

Why do so many new businesses fail? Many people start new businesses - particularly online businesses - with a lot of drive and hope, but only a small fraction of people who start online businesses actually succeed.

Here are some of the reasons so many online businesses fail. A lot of these reasons apply to any type of small business.

1. Failure to plan.  Business success is not something that just happens. It’s something you have to make happen. The way to make it happen is to make a plan with specific steps. Your plan has to include a strategy for making your business grow. For example, if you start your own website, you have to make a plan for getting traffic to your website. This may include free methods and paid methods or both. Above all, it must include paying attention to what’s working and what’s not working. Your plan needs to include getting a handle on what you’re doing with your time, because in business, time is money.
2. Lack of action. Many people talk about starting an internet business. They purchase ebooks, software and other products. They read ebooks, watch videos, listen to audios. But they never get started. They never set up a marketing campaign to promote a particular project, or they never get started writing their ebook, even though that’s what they mean to do. This ties in with #1:  what do you plan to accomplish today or this week or this month? What deadlines do you have for completing what you’re starting?
3. Going in too many directions. Internet marketing has a huge learning curve, and you can’t learn everything in a day or a week. You need to pick a direction and go in it. You can only learn one thing at a time. Slow down. Learn one thing thoroughly, then move on.

If you are new to internet marketing, there is a ton of information coming at you on a daily basis. How do you stay focused? Learn more about information overload in my next post.

Technorati Tags: Start Your Own Work at Home Business, Work At Home, work at home business

Keeping good business records is an important part of owning a home business. You need to be able to document how much money is coming in and how much is going out for several reasons:

• You need a clear sense of whether your business is actually making a profit. It’s only by clearly seeing your business trends that you can make decisions such as whether to invest more, spend less, or change your strategy.
• You need to be able to document your income for tax purposes.
• Good business records will be required if you seek outside financing. The larger your business grows, the more documentation will be required by outside auditors and investor.

For many business owners, record keeping is one of the less pleasant aspects of running a business. But if you develop good habits of organization early in the game, you won’t find yourself digging through mountains of paperwork at tax time.

Here are some basic tips for keeping good business records:

1. Open a separate checking account for your business and keep business transactions separate from personal transactions.
2. Keep receipts and invoices in a folder labeled “Expenses”. Also create clear documentation of any cash transactions. Expenses included advertising, bank fees, licenses and permits and inventory.
3. Document all income in a spreadsheet or a separate folder labeled “Income.” Track any cash or checks received as well as PayPal payments.

Spreadsheets are a great tool for documenting income versus expenses. Consult with a tax professional to find out what expenses should be tracked besides those listed above. Get in the habit of filing and recording transactions daily

Keeping good records is the only way you will know for sure whether your business is actually making a profit.  Good habits developed early will ensure that you are able to stay on top of your business decisions at all times.

Technorati Tags: business records, record keeping, Work At Home, work at home business

Job boards such as http://www.elance.com, http://www.guru.com and http://www.rentacoder.com are sites where jobs for freelancers are posted. There are several marketable skills in demand on these sites including web programming and design, translation, administrative support and sales and marketing.

One of the most in-demand skills at these sites is writing. If you enjoy writing and need money, there is no need for you to be a starving artist. All over the web, there are website owners hungry for people to help them fill their websites and blogs with content. They are searching for writers to outsource this work to.

If you have no experience, spend some time browsing websites and become familiar with the type of content that is typically displayed on websites. Remember that people online are scanning the web pages, not reading them. Content needs to be brief and to the point. Subheadings are helpful to break up large blocks of text.

Practice writing articles modeling them against articles that appear online. Web content is typically 300-600 words an article. A good place to review sample articles is http://www.ezinearticles.com.

Put together a small portfolio of articles on various topics such as money, health, parenting, self-improvement, etc. Most of these freelance sites will allow you to upload sample articles to your portfolio on their site. Better yet is if you have your own website to showcase your work along with contact information.

Most freelance job sites allow you to browse available jobs before becoming a member. You may need to bid on the low side to get your first jobs, but if you deliver quality content in a timely manner, you will quickly have more work than you know what to do with.

Be sure to network with other writers. One good place to start is http://www.wahm.com/forum/ . Look for the forum titled “Wahms who write.” Another good place to get information is to do a google search on freelance writing blogs. One freelance writing blog that also posts writing jobs is http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/.

If you want to write for money, there is plenty of opportunity out there. Get started today.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, writing at home, writing for money, writing for profit

The explosion of the internet has opened up dozens of possibilities for people who are computer literate. One of the best starting opportunities for someone who wants to work from home is to work as a virtual assistant.

According to Wikepedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_assistant) a virtual assistant is defined as:

“a business owner providing professional level administrative, technical or sometimes creative assistance to clients, usually to other independent entrepreneurs and solo and small business practices. Virtual assistants work from their own office, hence ‘virtual’, thus making it a fairly popular and growing profession.”

Wikepedia goes on to state that there are currently 5,000-8,000 virtual assistants in the world, and that a minimum of five years experience in an office setting as an administrative assistant, office manager, secretary or similar jobs is usually expected.

Some skills needed to become a virtual assistant are:

• Writing. A virtual assistant should have solid language and grammar skills.
• Organization. Exemplary organizational skills are needed to be able to keep projects in order.
• Good communication skills. You will find quickly that many clients expect you to be able to read their minds. Being able to keep channels of communication open is a necessary skill for VAs.
• Good internet skills. You have to be comfortable using the internet to succeed as a virtual assistant.
• Entrepreneurial spirit. Starting a virtual assistant business is exactly that: a business. You have to be willing to do the work, whatever that entails, from hustling work to juggling more than one client to keeping your business records straight. You have to be self-disciplined enough to get the work done and to set a schedule for yourself when no one is looking over your shoulder telling you when to show up for work or what to do.
• Marketing skills. You need to have or be willing to develop the ability to market yourself.

You can charge by the hour, the project or the page. You may be able to get started finding work on sites such as http://www.elance.com.

For more information on becoming a virtual assistant, visit the International Virtual Assistants Association at http://www.ivaa.org/ or the Virtual Assistant Networking Association at http://www.vanetworking.com/.

Technorati Tags: Virtual Assistant, Work from Home Job

Can you really make money blogging? For many people, a blog is just a place to share their thoughts and opinions. But if you approach a blog as a business, there are several ways to make money blogging.

Selling advertising is probably the most common way to make money blogging. The more traffic your blog receives and the more you establish yourself in a particular niche, the more advertising opportunities will present themselves. You can get started by placing ads on your blog using the Google Adsense program. These ads will be consistent with the theme of your blog. You will be paid for ads that your readers click on.

Selling goods and services from your blog is another way to make money blogging. The most common way to do this is through affiliate links. You can also set up feeds to www.amazon.com or to www.ebay.com. If you are just getting started, establish a blog at www.blogger.com. It is very user-friendly to newcomers and will show you exactly how to do this.

A blog can be used as a way to advertise services. For example, if you are trying to establish yourself as a resume writer, you could set up a blog offering tips for resume preparation, but also establish that you are available to do this service. A blog allows you to show your expertise in a given area.

Consistent blog posting also establishes you as a blogger, and once you have done this you can bid on jobs that are geared to professional bloggers. Visit http://jobs.problogger.net/ for examples.

Keep in mind having an income from this source won’t happen overnight. It will require frequent and consistent posting and actively promoting your blog. One of the best ways to promote a blog or any other website is through forum posting.

Learn more about forums in my next post.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, work at home business

You’re staring at your computer wondering how to make money online. You know it can be done, but how? The possible ways of making money online are probably about as numerous as the people who have tried them. But there are a few paths that are more likely to lead to success than others.

Here are the best ways to make money online:

Create a blog. Whatever your passion, you can write about it on a blog. This is a format that makes creating your own website informal, and allows you to have a place to drive traffic. It allows you to have a “home page” where people can find you and contact you if you are offering your own product, or if you are selling services.

Affiliate marketing. An affiliate is basically someone who makes money selling other people’s products. You get a commission from purchases made by people who have seen ads or text links on your site or blog. The key to success as an affiliate is actively marketing your product or the page with your affiliate links.

Auction sites. Auction sites such as eBay offer a way to begin making money online. Get started selling junk around the house. Consider buying items wholesale or through a dropshipping service.

Create your own product. By creating your own product, you can have something to sell that is uniquely your own. Many marketers say having their own product was the turning point to finally beginning to make money online.

Selling services. If you have marketable skills you can get started making money online by offering your services on sites like elance.com or guru.com. Some in-demand skills include writing, web design, translation, etc.

These are just a few of the ways people are making money at home with their computer.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at blogging in my next post.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, work at home business