Why You Need A Portfolio

Every freelancer needs a portfolio. This is a fact of life and applies to every single freelance worker, no matter what job they have and no matter how much or how little experience they have. Even if you have never worked for anyone in your life you should have a portfolio. (If you don’t have a work portfolio, you should consider either writing up examples such as resume or blog for a writer, taking photos for a photographer or building a website template for a web designer).

1. 1.       Proves You Have the Know How

There’s nothing like giving someone an example of what they want to prove that you can do it. A portfolio tells your employer that you have the know-how to do the job you are applying for. This means that you will be more likely to be hired because they have verified proof that you can do it.

1. 2.       Can Supersede a Resume

As great as a resume is, it’s easy to fake. While this is frowned upon and even illegal, it is still done. It’s hard to fake the experience and knowledge required to write up a portfolio, even if you haven’t written the work in it for anyone. Also, if you just wrote something in your portfolio as a sample rather than for a job, don’t be afraid to tell your employer that. You can often get points for honesty and they can take into consideration that you did it 100% on your own without any outside help or direction.

1. 3.       Gives Employer an Idea of Your Style

Many employers are looking for a specific style or type of writing. Giving them a portfolio gives them a good example of what your writing style is. In most cases, this will work to your advantage if you have different pieces in your portfolio that show you are adaptable. Otherwise it can work against you if the employer is looking for something that you don’t have in your portfolio.

1. 4.       Represents You

Your portfolio doesn’t just represent what you can do to your future employer; it represents you as a person. A carefully organized, well presented and quality portfolio will say more about you to an employer than any amount of careful questions ever will. Make your portfolio what you want your employer to see you as because it will greatly influence their view of you.

1. 5.       Will Get You The Job

At the end of the day, the real value of a portfolio lies in that it will get you the job. If you provide a portfolio and other applicants do not, you will automatically be prioritized. Your portfolio gives you the tools to get the job you want!

Five Easy Copyright Tips

You work hard. As a freelancer and college student, your time is not your own; even if you study at an online college. This is just one of the reasons why you don’t want anyone stealing your work. Whether you are a freelance photographer, media journalist or writer, you should copyright your work.

Most people think that copyrighting is difficult, costs money and will take time but that’s not really true. According the Berne Convention copyright law, any and all intellectual property is in your possession and copyrighted by you as soon as you have written it down. Thinking of it doesn’t count.

However; the catch to this is proving when and where you created the idea. Here are five methods to protect your copyright.

Publish Online

Online publishing is the new method of ‘Poor Man’s publishing.’ It creates a very set and certain date as to when you created the material. Therefore, anyone else who tries to steal or plagiarize your work can be proved wrong if they claim it is in fact their work.  However; online publishing is not suitable for anything that you create under an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) or that you intend to publish later in a place that requires items to be unpublished. However; if it is simply your intellectual property that you would like to use for advertisement, your portfolio or etc.; online publishing is perfect.

Blog about It

If you have a blog; a great way to claim your copyright is to blog about it. The best thing about a blog is you don’t have to publish the whole thing. Just the first full paragraphs and when you wrote it is usually good enough. Unless someone decides to try and say that they wrote the rest of it (which is highly unbelievable) your copyright is pretty much in the clear. If your content is photography, you can post one or two of a ‘set’ that are similar and state very clearly how many photos are in the set and what they look like. This will protect your work without forcing you to upload all of it.

Mail It to Yourself

This is the original Poor Man’s Copyright. Take your content, stick it in an envelope (or manila), put a stamp and a date on it and mail it to yourself. This is a copyright that very, very definitely proves your copyright. However; while it does prove the date of when you copyrighted the work, it is not a registered copyright. Therefore if someone else has produced the same content slightly before you mailed yourself the content, they may have registered it themselves.

Place a Copy in a Safe

If you have the money for a safe, it’s a great way to keep your material, well, safe (pun intended). Label and date your material and place it in your safe. The best thing about this is that it will be photographed, dated and put in a file that the bank will keep safe for you. This is a great way to provide proof of copyright without letting anyone else even see your content!  The downside is, it’s pretty easy to forget what and why you have things in a bank safe.

Register It

Registering your copyright is not free ($35 charge) however; it is the most effective way of claiming and proving your copyright. With an actual registered copyright you can rest assured that your work is completely safe. Because registering a copyright can be expensive, the best way to do it is to either combine a large amount of content into one ‘book’ or to only register important and valuable items.

Spring Break For Freelancing Students

Spring break is right around the corner and you are probably wondering how you are going to manage your freelancing job while still having fun at the same time. If you’re thinking about skipping out on the fun to work; think again, spring break only comes around a few times in your life and once you finish college, your chances are over.

 

Here are a few tips to keep you happy, healthy and sane over spring break!

1. 1.       Pick a nearby Destination

A nearby destination might not be quiet as exotic for your spring break vacation but it will let you spend less time traveling which means you will have more time on your hands. Is there a big lake nearby? You should try going there. A lot of times you won’t even have to cross state lines to find a nice vacation spot, so, look around and pick something cool. And chances are; an in state vacation will be more affordable too.

1. 2.       Don’t Overdo it

Partying is great; partying is fun. Partying to much leaves you with a headache and the desire to sleep all day. Have fun but make sure you set yourself limits. If you want to go to extremes; set aside a few days where you will not have to work the next day and have at it. Remember, fun isn’t much fun if you have to work the next day with a pounding headache.

1. 3.       Set aside hours to work

This one is important. Pick hours that are most convenient for you to work. If you plan on staying up late at night; then you should try to set your hours later in the day but before you want to go out and have fun. A good idea is to work between 10-2 so you can get in 4 hours of work per day with little to no interruption. Some of your less cautious classmates might even still be sleeping!!

1. 4.       Find a Quiet Place

A quiet place to work is important. It can keep you focused and working instead of finding more fun things to do. And guess what; laying on the beach, tanning is actually a quiet place. Bring your laptop, a towel to put it on and enjoy the sun and the beach while you work. (Who says freelancing doesn’t have its perks.) Just remember to make sure you can log into internet to submit your work or etc.

1. 5.       Have Fun

Its spring break! Relax, have fun and enjoy your vacation as much as you can without neglecting your work.  You only have a short amount of time to enjoy yourself so do it. And if it means a few late nights and drinking coffee to survive the next day, so be it.

Whether you’re working as a freelance writer or a freelance accountant, you probably know the one major dilemma of working as a freelancer. While there is a lot of freedom and benefits to freelancing, the cons can get pretty tough as well. Its easy enough to say you are going to go freelance, to quit your daytime job and spend more time at college, or to just spend more time with your career. However; actually finding work is another matter entirely. In today’s economy finding a job can be pretty tough, especially if you are a student without tons of work experience. But don’t worry, while there aren’t millions of freelancing jobs, there are a lot of places to look which will make your job of finding work that much easier.

Twitter is actually a great place to find a job, whether you believe it or not, while it does take a little bit of networking and finding people, not only can you find a job through meeting contacts on twitter but there are a lot of people who actually post job links from other sources! Here are a few tips to help you get started finding your very own freelance jobs on Twitter.

1. 1.       Follow

Guess what, the first step to getting anywhere with Twitter is to follow people. If you aren’t following at least 100 people you are doing something wrong. Following more people allows you to get more followers, to make more connections and of course, to have the possibility of finding more jobs.

1. 2.       Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Looking for a job, tweet about it. Learn a new skill, you guessed it, tweet about it. No one knows you can do something if you don’t tell them so tweet about your business jobs, your skills, the fact that you are looking for employment and your accomplishments in your job. All of this will attract attention from people who actually need to hire someone and if you are lucky, you will get job offers from a simple post that you finished a contract and are looking for a new one!

1. 3.       Search Users

Twitter features a search bar, use it. Search for users with similar jobs, search for companies who hire people with your skills, search for people who post tips and tricks for your industry and so on. Remember that someone with the same skills as you could offer you a job if a co-worker quits, a company might hire you and people often post links to job positions on and off of twitter in the hopes of getting followers.

1. 4.       Use Links

Did you just finish a website as a freelance graphic designer, post a link with “Check this out,” and be sure to mention that you designed it. Twitter is designed to encourage people to follow links so chances are, people will not only see your link but will congratulate you on a job well done which is great for your hype and getting a job!

1. 5.       Keep It Professional

Probably one of the most important factors of using your Twitter to find jobs is keeping it professional. Don’t post complaints about your work or how you’re going to go out and get drunk. None of these are good for your professional reputation and will damage your ability to use Twitter to get a job.

The Pro’s & Con’s of Using Linkedn

Linkedn is the world’s largest social networking site that is dedicated almost solely to business individuals. Why? Because it allows you to interact with your co-workers and past, present, future employers in order to get to know them, learn about them and keep up with what they are doing. However; for a student there are a few downsides to the job position as well. Here are the pros and cons of using Linkedn for students.

Pros

There are a lot of good things about Linkedn and here are just a few of them!

1. You can use Linkedn to find work
2. Linkedn is a great place to build work related contacts that will help you in the future
3. If you like networking, this is the place for you!
4. You can link Linkedn to your Twitter, Facebook, whatever and not have to worry about posting to it.
5. Linkedn is a great place to promote yourself
6. You can use Linkedn to create a professional and formal online representation of yourself while using your other social media for your friends and fun.
7. Linkedn allows you to post your entire resume and work experience for potential employers to view and become familiar with before they even think about hiring you.
8. Connect Linkedn to your blog for easy promotion and even tips on how to make it better!
9. Your Linkedn allows you to post questions for professionals to help you answer!
10. Linkedn gives you access to several million other users which means that with only a little bit of work you can find employees, friends studying the same things as you and potential employers!

 

Cons

1. You are a student; this will show up on your profile and potentially damage your ability to get a job.
2. Your experience is outlined for anyone to see; if you plan on applying for a job without being 100% qualified than your employer will know about it.
3. If you are not good with people or networking, your professional profile could possible damage your reputation.
4. Linkedn can sometimes be abused and some people use it for spam which can be somewhat annoying.
5. You can choose either to set your entire profile to private or to let everyone see it. This can be a bit of a disadvantage either way.

 

As you can see, there are twice as many Pro’s as Con’s, but here are a few things to consider before you actually create your Linkedn profile.

1. Will you use Linkedn to create professional relationships?
2. Do you have the social skills necessary to maintain a professional profile, devoid of your personal ramblings and day to day information?
3. Will you need professional connections after you graduate?
4. Do you currently have acquaintances that would be useful after graduation?

If you have said yes to 1 or more of these questions than yes, you should get a Linkedn account. Otherwise you might want to skip because you really don’t need it.

 

As a student, it doesn’t matter if you are studying for your pharmacy technician certificate or your doctorate. You are living on a college budget and any money that you can make is money that you need! The only problem is that even while studying at an online college you will often find that your job gets in the way of your study or vice versa. Which is where freelancing comes into play.

Freelancing, or working as an independent contractor allows you to work for hire for different employers. Being a freelancer has a lot of advantages but they all boil down to one thing; freedom.

Work When You Want

Working as a freelancer is a lot like studying at an online college. You can do your work at any time of day or night as long as you have a computer for some jobs and as long as you have electricity for others (like freelance building).

Work As Much As You Want

Guess what! As a freelancer, you get to decide how much you work. Don’t accept more work than you want to do and you are all set. It’s as easy as that. This is really handy if you like having a lot of free time or if you have an especially busy study schedule. Working as a freelance writer makes it no problem to cut your workload for the week and give yourself extra time for your other responsibilities!

Do Whatever You Want

As a freelancer you can be hired for pretty much any job that you show proficiency in! Want to write blogs? Construct buildings? Build websites? Do graphic design? Good at a little of each? It’s all up to you because you choose what you would like to do and how often you would like to do it!

Vacations Whenever You Want

With a ‘real’ job you have to apply for a vacation and hope that you get it or vacation at a set time. With freelancing, all you have to do is clear your work schedule for the period that you would like to vacation! Yet another great freedom of freelancing!

Work From Wherever

One of the best things about freelancing is that usually you work from home, or McDonalds, or the library or the local beach or wherever else happens to have internet. THAT is freedom! You have the ability to work from wherever you like, whenever you like and at whatever time schedule you would like!!

What You Can Do As A Freelance Writer

If you plan on working as a freelance writer than you are probably interested in knowing what types of jobs you can work with.  Freelancing writing is the process of working as a contract writer and working for hire for anyone who hires you. You can choose to specialize in one field of writing or write in all fields in order to expand your job possibilities. Here is a short list of different job openings you might find while working as a freelance writer.

Business Writer

As a business writer you will write resumes, business plans, advertisements, marketing plans, instructions, educational material and etc. This type of writing requires a strong command of business English, a very formal tone and in many cases, a good understanding of research, statistics and marketing techniques. In most cases, large companies will hire you to do this type of work and in many cases will like to either see a degree or an example of your previous work. If you have no experience in business writing, it is a good idea to write up samples ahead of time.

Web Writer

A web writer will write website articles, website content (such as home page, about and etc.) for this type of writing you should have an understanding of marketing, what appeals to readers and how to make a sale I.E. create text that makes the reader interested in the website or its merchandise. Many companies will ask that you have a degree or samples for this type of writing because it is very important that it is done well, however; website content writing will usually pay quite well.

Blogger

Working as a blogger is one of the easiest freelance writing jobs to get because it is relatively simple and does not actually require experience or learning. Anyone can blog and therefore anyone can get a job blogging which makes it a great entry freelance job. The main goals for working as a freelance blogger are to be creative, stick with the goals of the company you are blogging for and to keep your grammar and spelling 100% correct!

Technical Writer

A technical writer will often write either technical information such as scientific, medicine, machine based or mathematic based information or will write code based information such as HTML, XHTML or etc. This type of writing requires an in depth knowledge about what you are writing about and most often, companies who wish to hire you for this position will require you to have a degree and samples of your work.

SEO Writer

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a type of writing that can be employed in most if not all web type writing. Search Engine Optimization is the process of using certain keywords to bring your article or website up when people search for that keyword. This usually requires information on how to use density, article length and quality of article. This type of writing job can usually be gotten with nothing more than a sample of SEO writing.

Being a Freelance Graphic Designer

If you are interested in earning a degree in graphic design or already have one than you should be interested in becoming a freelance graphic designer. While there are many benefits to working for a company, showing up to work on time every day and leaving at the same time (like receiving an exact set wage, less taxes, etc.) there are also many benefits to working as a freelance graphic designer.

How to Become a Graphic Designer

If you want to know how to become a graphic designer, the answer is quite simple. You will need a degree in graphic design. Your graphic design degree can be an associate, bachelor or master degree and can be earned at an online school or an on campus college. The higher your degree level, the higher paying jobs you will qualify for and a good method to gain both work experience and education quickly is to earn your associate graphic des

 

Freelance Graphic Designer Salary

Your salary as a freelance graphic designer will greatly vary depending upon how much work you do and at what price but the average salary for a 40 hour work week is a median of $59,000 per year with a high of $79,000 and a low of $51,000. That is about $35 to $50 per hour on average with higher degree levels earning a great deal more.

Freelance Graphic Designer Work Environment

A freelance graphic designer will often work from home which means that you do not have to spend time or money on transport and you do not have to pack lunch or etc. Most communication is done through email, phone or other distance communication method which means that for the most part, your work environment will depend on what you want it to be!! The advantages of this include that you do not have to travel, do not have to put up with annoying people and can work from almost anywhere that you have the tools necessary to do your work (generally internet & computer though you will not always need that)

Freelance Graphic Designer Job Responsibilities

Working as a freelance writer means that your job responsibilities can greatly change from project to project so on any given day you might find yourself creating mock up designs, brainstorming/coming up with ideas, communicating with your clients, creating schedules, project budgets and etc., designing content either on paper or on computer programs, organizing content, reworking content and taking criticism.

5 Tips For Getting The Job

As a freelancing student, you can sometimes be short on both time and cash, it doesn’t matter if you’re studying online criminal justice careers or nursing; your schedule is busy and so are you! That’s why you want to spend less time looking for work and more time actually doing it! Here are five easy tips to help you get the job!

1. 1.       Be More Interesting

Guess what, no one wants to hire someone who is going to bore them, produce boring work or etc. Be more interesting, be more creative and give your ideas, thoughts and feelings about a project to your boss. Most of the time they will appreciate creative feedback in order to help make the project you are working on better!

1. 2.       Have a Great Resume

In most cases, your resume is the key to getting a job. If you don’t have any work experience, list training experience or what you feel qualifies you for the job. List that you are currently attending school and when you are started and try to keep your resume as short as possible. No one wants to look over a resume that is more than one page long. If you don’t have the skills to write a resume, try giving another freelancing student a job and hiring them to write one for you!

1. 3.       Have a Good Portfolio

Your portfolio is what your potential employer uses to judge whether or not you can actually do the work he would like you to do. Save the work you have done, save school projects and if you don’t have any of either, take a few hours and make a few samples of your work. This will help you to get a job so that you can spend less time looking for work and more time working.

1. 4.       Have References

Whether it’s from your mom for good behavior, your teacher for good grades or a past employer for work well done, a reference can help you to get a job because it tells your potential employer that other people think highly enough of you that they took the time to write something down about you and are willing to back that up via email or phone. If you don’t have any work references, try getting a few of your friends to give out moral references until you can earn some real ones!

1. 5.       Act Professional

Act like a professional and you will be treated like one. This means more hires and more jobs. Don’t use slang, abbreviations or informal language when interviewing and try to use professional photos of yourself in your resume. If you aren’t sure what is professional and what isn’t, try looking up an easy guide such as Career Advice Monster.

How To Freelance

As a student at one of the best online schools, you might have thought that the freelancing world has a lot to offer for you. You can work from home, on your computer and you can do the work at any time you like! That’s almost better than being able to study whenever you like right?

First of all, as a student at an online school, freelancing is uniquely perfect for you because, just like your study, you choose when to do it which means that its relatively easy to fit both work and study into your schedule, have an assignment due? Hold off on the work and focus on study, have a tight deadline with work, wait a bit on study and catch up on work. It’s a near perfect marriage between your work and study!  Here are five easy tips to help you learn how to freelance!

1. 1.       Choose Your Field

Choosing your field of work is the most important step in becoming a freelancer. While you can work across fields, you will usually find more jobs if you appear to be more specialized in one individual field. You can become a freelance writer, freelance graphics designer, freelance web developer, freelance manager, web assistant, virtual agent and many more. In some cases, you may work in several fields such as a freelance writer and web developer offering complete websites from graphics to text.

1. 2.       Find Jobs

Finding freelance jobs can be a daunting task at first but; half of the battle is knowing the right places to look. Try job websites such as Odesk, Elance, Bizcasts and etc. these sights cater to freelance work while other sites such as Monster Jobs and etc. cater towards full time on site work. You should sign up for as many sites as you feel comfortable with (or just one) and build a reputation on that site. Remember, the more experience you gain, the easier it will be to find work.

1. 3.       Collect References

References can be an invaluable tool in finding additional work. For example, a reference will let a prospective employer learn what your previous employer thought of you. This can be of great benefit when you are working online and the employer has no real way to gauge your morals, intent or personality. Try asking each employer for a short reference after you have completed their work. You will probably often find that most employers would like you to draft up a reference for them.

1. 4.       Keep a Portfolio

Your portfolio is your best proof to your future boss that you actually can do what you say you can. Keep records of all, most, or of your best work and show them to employers who demand a sample. If you don’t have a sample from a specific element, feel free to write one and add it to your portfolio. If you think this might end up being too large to keep on your computer, you can try storing your portfolio online or on a hard drive. Remember, the best way to get a job is to prove that you can do it well!

1. 5.       Quality & Speed

Quality & Speed are actually essential to being a freelancer of any kind. Producing good quality work will keep employers coming back for more and will earn you good references while producing work quickly will help you to meet deadlines and of course, have enough time to study