Big but nothing concrete

November 18, 2011 by · 2 Comments

I have been planning to build my own freelance business for the longest time (Since May 2011). I am inspired by virtual companies such as Blue Global Media and the independent contractors from Odesk. But somehow it seems that I’m not yet ready for it. Admittedly, I have a lot of excuses. I’m not yet stable. I’d rather save my money than to invest it. I’m lazy. Etc.

Last July, I almost accepted a writing contract in a freelance website. The deal is to submit a total of 500 x 500-word articles for $8 each.  The buyer’s budget is $4000. I know it is impossible for me to finish all 500 articles in one month. So, I planned to hire other people to do it for me and pay them $6 for every completed article. But before anything else, I need a back up capital.

Let’s face it, $4000 is a huge amount. What if it’s just a scam? I may be lazy, but I’m not stupid. All I want is to hire other writers to do the things that I can no longer handle. But I will NEVER involve other people until I have enough funds. If you’ve been following my blog, you might have read a post about me being scammed of $110. I don’t want that to ever happen again.

So anyway, I emailed an online friend from Norway to ask if he is interested to team up with me. We’ve already met in person last year so I kind of trust him. However, it turned out he’s not into it as he is already running lots of businesses. He has online employees in India and they are currently busy developing a VOIP software. He said there is a market for this kind of business but there’s just no time for it.

I could have asked Vienna or Ruthi, my other online friends, but I was particularly looking for someone who has the “money.” :P Of course, these girls have lots of it, I’m just not sure if they’d be willing to invest it in my business idea. Plus I don’t want to do anything that would ruin our friendship. Anyway, the other option is to borrow money from an Affiliate Network but I realized I also don’t want to bury myself in debts.

I again emailed my Norwegian friend because he is the perfect partner for this venture. He is a business person and so personal matters would be set aside. Well, guess what? A couple of hours after sending him the message, I decided to delete my email account because of embarrassment. I don’t want to be a pain in the you-know-where. I guess it’s pride that is getting in the way.

I’m not starving. I don’t need to push myself too hard. Needless to say, I did not pursue the contract. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t even bother to contact the buyer to inform him that I lost interest. There are plenty of opportunities in the internet. But before I grab one, I learned to think 10 times.

Another thing is I don’t have the guts to resort to a cash advance affiliate program. Although business is about taking risks, I’m not a businesswoman. I’m an entrepreneur. There is a big difference between the two. Businessmen make money through investments. Entrepreneurs make money from zero capital. We use our expertise to make a living.

Filed Under: a career booger?, blogging career, future plans, in the name of money ·

Back to school?

September 8, 2011 by · 2 Comments

I was very studious back then. Something my mother always tells to her friends’ children. Like I’m some kind of a model student. It’s embarrassing because it’s been 7 years since I got my degree and until today, it’s the same old story that she tells neighbors and relatives. LOL. She’s a proud mama. Now, this is not to say that I’m the brainy kind of student. As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite. I needed to study harder to cope up with lessons and other school requirements.

After college, I wanted to enroll in PNU (Philippine Normal University) for further studies. At the time, I felt teaching was my calling. But maybe it wasn’t because I always had reasons to postpone my plans of getting a certification in TEFL. I was busy and I couldn’t leave my job. Then I learned about Online Degree Programs that offer plenty of courses including teaching English as a foreign language. I planned to save for those expensive online schools. But before I was able to save half the price of the tuition fee, I lost interest.

Today, I am no longer interested in becoming a teacher. I just have an inkling that it’s not for me and that my two-years stint in teaching preschoolers is enough. I had a “taste” of it and I enjoyed it a lot so that should be enough. What interest me now is designing web pages. The problem is I don’t have the required skills in Photoshop and coding. I am confused if I should enroll in a real school or in online degree programs in art. I saw a $29-worth e-book that promises to teach everything about PHP, graphics and web customization.

I want that e-book! Although there are tons and tons of tutorials in the internet, I’m so tired of searching for the right solutions to my coding problems. Aside from searching is tiring, it’s also time-consuming. You see, between photoshop and coding, the latter is very difficult. At least, for me. Maybe for you it’s a piece of cake but for me it’s really “brain-crashing.”

Anyway, I saw this link hours ago: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. The headline says “Get help paying for college.” It made me wonder if such offers are available for non-US citizens? Because I want to send my application. LOL. I wish there was a way to learn web customization without fees and charges. But it seems that I will have to pay for everything including templates, pdf tutorials, graphical elements, etc. Sigh.

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, blogging career, buying things i really don't need, Consider This, exploring the world, future plans, in the name of money, money desperate, money well spent, products and services ·

Saving for the future

July 19, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

To say that I own my time just because I do freelance is foolish. I now realized that for freelancers, time is very important. When I was still working as an employee, I was just waiting for the hours to pass. Please don’t get me wrong. I was working hard but at the back of my mind I couldn’t wait for the clock to hit 5PM, then go home and just forget about paper works.

In freelance, there are no weekends, there are no holidays, there are no days off. There are no Mondays to hate and no Fridays to look forward to. There are no vacation and service incentive leave. But to say that we don’t care about hours and days is just plain idiotic. You know how people tell you not to bring your problems from work to home and vice versa? Well, tell me how am I going to apply that with the nature of my present job :)

Anyway as I’ve said, I don’t have time. I’ve been in the writing business for 2 months already and I would like to start saving at least 10% of my income in the coming months. Earnings are good but I’m still on a phase where I just want to enjoy and keep things “light.” But I do have some plans of depositing modest amount of money to my Savings Account soon. I’m just in the adjustment phase. Maybe reading savings and financing articles from http://banktime.com/ will inspire me.

I keep on telling myself that now it’s just me. There is no company that would give me a fixed salary every pay day. My salary now is based on how many articles I finished and how many hours I spent for SEO campaigns. No finished article means no food on the table, no chocolate chips, no zesto, no cheese cake … haha! Gradually, I would increase my working hours in Odesk from 20 to 40.

You see, I’m not working much. Last week, I only rendered 22 hours. I earned $101.75 from odesk plus $55 from my blogs. I bought something from the internet for $5, so my income less expense is $151.75 (for July 11-17, 2011). Starting this week I will try my best to render at least 40 hours. I have enough tasks, it’s my laziness that’s getting in the way. Help me Lord :)

PS. I really need a new blog. I’ve toyed with the idea of buying www[dot]freelanceearnings[dot]com but I don’t want to subtract another $10.99 dollars from my last week’s income. But it’s going to be an investment. Sigh. Why is it so hard to shell out money these days?

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, blogging career, buying things i really don't need, future plans, in the name of money, link-building, money desperate, talking booger ·

New blog, not again

July 16, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

I have been planning to buy a new domain from a web hosting company. I’m too busy but I want another blog that will chronicle my income from freelancing. Although my basic rate as article writer / virtual assistant / SEO specialist / blogger is not that much (just enough to eat 3 times a day :) ), I think I have to keep a journal where I can track my online earnings.

To tell you frankly, since the beginning until today, I have no idea how much I’ve already earned from the internet. It was something I didn’t consider important. At the back of my mind, it’s okay as long as I’m not hitting below $100 per week. What matters is that I am surviving in freelance. It’s just recently that I realized the importance of knowing how much I’m able to make in a daily basis.

I don’t know if I need to pay for another managed hosting service from my current provider. And I also have not decided yet what domain name to buy. I’m choosing among these domains: (1) www.freelanceearnings.com, (2) www.freelancebread.com, or (3) www.daily20dollars.com. I think option number 1 is brilliant. But I also like number 2 and number 3 sounds special because there is a numeral character in it.

I have until next week to make a decision. After that, I will probably forget about it. As I’ve said I’m so busy. I don’t even have time to update all my existing blogs except for sterndal because obviously, this is my favorite. My webhost is offering me a colocation service but I can’t understand why it’s necessary. Everything seems to be working fine and I’m also avoiding additional fees. Haha.

If you think you need this type of service, check out Superb.net, specially if your website is intended for small to medium businesses. They can help you find a good domain name, host it for you, and they also have a colocation service if you need power, space and connectivity.

Going back to creating a new blog AGAIN, I’m not sure if I still have time to manage another one but I really want. I already have 4 blogs but I don’t have a niche blog yet. So Freelance Earnings or Freelance Bread will be my first, if ever. That is, if these are still available until I make up my mind. Please don’t buy it.

Filed Under: a career booger?, blogging career, Consider This, future plans, in the name of money, money desperate, money well spent, Portfolio, products and services ·

Brave but not stupid

May 6, 2011 by · 2 Comments

As I’ve said in my other blog, many things are happening in my life right now. Still no love life, though I’m crushing on someone, but I’m still very happy. Life’s almost perfect if not for the wound on my left leg. Eczema :( I can’t believe I’m going to have scars at this age. Yay!

So anyway, it’s raining opportunities, literally. Somehow, I’m already confused on which among these offers to grab. First off, I’ve come to realize that there is really no “asenso” in being an employee. Specially in my case: always best in tardiness, never the employee of the quarter. Haha!
What I’m trying to say is that if I can’t be a role model office staff, then maybe I can be something else. Like a full-time freelancer, maybe?

Since last month, I’ve been sending my resume to companies and offices in Makati. I never intended to work in that place because they said that the people there speak in fluent English and that they are really “sosyal” and all. Not that I’m intimidated. I just feel like I don’t belong there. Joke. Drama! Nothing. In fact, I think Makati is not that glamorous, contrary to popular beliefs. My dream working place is Paris! So, Makati is “so-so” for me. LOL.

Kidding aside, I was invited to 8 job interviews for the position of Copy Writer | Web Content Writer | Content Writer | Online Marketing Writer. Basically, I want to work as a writer in a big company that pays me a minimum of 36K a month. Am I asking for too much? That is the amount that I can earn in a month if I’m going to work full-time in my online jobs. So, if I’m going to work in a company in a full-time basis, they should be able to exceed that amount, right?

Out of those 8 invitations, I went to just one and the rest, well, I was tied up with lots of writing commitments, I wasn’t able to attend anymore. Funny, when the employer asked about my expected salary, I said 18K. LOL. I was too shy to say my real expectation. I was scheduled for another interview this morning but I have writing assignments in Odesk, so I decided not to go.

I am thinking, why do I need to apply for jobs in Makati when I already have a lot of writing gigs online? And I can have more if I wanted to. If I really really wanted to. If I had more time. If I had no full-time job to think about. If only HMO, SSS, PAGIBIG, etc., were not important to me, I would have given up my office job long ago. Freelancers don’t have such benefits. That’s the main problem.

I’m confused. Which is better? To work at home or to work in a company? Hmmmm … I’m single. I have very few responsibilities. I’m renting a small place. My electric and water bills do not cost that much because I’m alone. I eat a lot but I’m happy with Jollibee meals, I mean no fancy restaurants for me. In other words, I only need P500 or $12 a day in order to survive. That’s all I NEED. But I WANT more money for my caprices. Hehe.

I’m currently looking at my options. I can work full-time in my office job and be a part-time freelancer. Or, quit my office job and work full-time in freelance writing, where I truly belong. If I could earn $50 dollars a day, then I’m going to resign now! Haha! But I’m going to work really hard for that huge amount and definitely, it’s not going to come from only one source or just one contract. I’ll need at least 3 long-term contracts in Odesk.

As of now, I have 2 fixed-priced assignments, both employers told me that if my performance passed their standards, they’re going to give me more projects ;) I also have 4 hourly-based contracts and they’re not giving me much tasks but I’m not complaining. I’m able to earn $75 a week for a few hours of writing and editing. Okay, they said there are tons of work to do and that we need to discuss it via Skype. Problem is, I’m online when they’re offline and vice versa. Apparently, the Phillippines and the US have a 12 or 13 hours time difference.

So, do you think it’s possible? Or should I wait for things to be stable first? I can earn 12 dollars a day and more than that. But I doubt if $50 dollars daily is feasible. Haha! My plan is to stay in my full-time job while I’m doing freelance jobs. But holy smokes, I can’t serve two masters at the same time. Eventually, I will have to choose and that time is now. I have to make a decision.

Presently, my target is just $50 a week but if I’m going to work full-time in this online industry, I can raise my target income to $100, that’s $400 a month. What do you think? Well, I think that it’s too small for an amount. Haha! I’m really ambitious. I want to earn $1000 a month. That’s $250 a week. That’s $50 a day. Question is where will I get that $50? I have ideas but I’m going to kill myself writing and blogging. Maybe I should be contented with $100 a week and that’s just 20 hours of writing :)

one more thing, if I’m going to work full-time in Odesk, then maybe I should start accepting very low job offers like this one?

Or maybe I should still accept a full-time home-based job! How about this one?

It’s one my most wonderful job offers. They asked me to submit a sample and until now I haven’t written it yet because after office hours I still need to meet the deadlines in my writing gigs :( Sayang. But I’d still submit my sample article about Korean festivals even if it’s already late. Just so they wouldn’t think that I disregarded them. And then I’ll ask if there is a part-time position as well. Hehe.

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, Amour-finding adventures, blogging career, Consider This, exploring the world, future plans, health and body, I'm Just a Human, in the name of money, living life!, money desperate, personal thoughts, talking booger ·
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