How To Start Freelancing

Freelancer, How To Find Clients
Talent is not enough, you need strong networking skills and client list

By James P. Ong
Editor, 88DB.com

FIRST of all, let's be clear what we mean by freelance.

According to Dictionary.com, a freelancer is "a person who works as a writer, designer, performer or the like, selling work or services by the hour, day, job, etcetera, rather than working on a regular salary basis for one employer."

Advantage: You’re your own boss, you control your time. Disadvantage: You’re your own boss, yet your own paycheck is not guaranteed.

Is being a freelancer difficult? No, after all, you will still be using the same skill sets you used to in your previous job. But it can be challenging, because you will need to multi-task and take care of such things as billing statements, bookkeeping, and filing. Just think of it as preparing yourself to become a business owner.

In the current economic scenario where people are losing jobs, some have no choice but to become a freelancer. Take heed, it’s not just the creative fields that employ freelancers. If you are an accountant, sales agent or a banker, you can also make a living out of freelancing or consultancy. And because companies are also working on a tighter budget, they are more open to outsourcing jobs to freelancers.

You still need to work hard at getting gigs, however. Talent is not enough, you also need to know people who can refer you to potential clients. Tell everyone what you’re doing, post ads online and in community billboards. Spread the word.

Here are more tips from Entrepreneur.com on how to find clients:

1. Develop a portfolio to demonstrate the scope of your skills. If that means working for no pay or low pay initially, do it. Samples of your work will be your best calling card.

2. Tell everyone you know―colleagues, friends, family, neighbors―about your new freelance gig. Referrals will make up the bulk of your business initially.

3. Join professional organizations―online or in the community―that serve your field. In addition to all the other benefits you'll gain, you'll also pick up insider tips of where to find work.

4. Join local organizations, like the chamber of commerce or Rotary club. "Creative people often overlook organizations like these, thinking they'll be filled with stiff bankers and businesspeople,” notes an authority. “And they may be―but that's who'll be hiring you to do your creative work.”

5. Volunteer in the community doing something you love, and you'll broaden your network of potential clients.

6. Cold call. Yes, everyone hates cold calling, but the reason freelancers need to do this is because it works. Another important point to remember is that freelancing doesn't solely mean doing the thing you love. It also means knowing how to sell and market your services. When starting out, about 90 percent of your time will be spent on sales and marketing tasks.

Source: How To Start Freelancing

The Death of Passwords

3 Easy steps to increasing user productivity, enhancing authentication, and lowering password reset costs with Enterprise Single Sign-On.

Every user has personally experienced password frustration: the inability to remember a password for an important application when you need it, and the difficulty and delay in getting the password reset by the IT help desk. This results in frequent calls to the help desk for password resets, which are estimated to cost USD$25 (SGD$38) to USD$40 (SGD$61) per call. Whilst waiting for the password to return to the application, there is lost productivity of the user too.

In an attempt to counter this problem, most users end up selecting easily remembered “obvious” passwords like a variation on their name, birth date, or social security number. Unfortunately, these passwords become vulnerable to cyber attacks from hackers, leading to security breaches.

Computer industry gurus such as Bill Gates are now calling for the elimination of passwords. “There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. In time, we will completely replace passwords”, he concluded.

Read more on the Enterprise Single Sign-On.

3Par Partners With PTC To Introduce Utility Storage To Malaysia, Singapore And Indonesia

3PAR Expands Presence in Asia to Address Cloud Computing Demand through Partnership with Longstanding Data Management Provider

Singapore, January 21, 2009 -- 3PAR ® (NYSE: PAR ), the leading global provider of utility storage, announced today that it has expanded sales in Asia through a new channel partnership with data management provider PTC System (S) Pte Ltd., based in Singapore. PTC has agreed to sell and support 3PAR Utility Storage systems to enterprise customers in Southeast Asia—including Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia—as part of a focus on delivering storage integration for utility and cloud computing datacenters. PTC was incorporated in 1991 to address data management needs for the manufacturing sector and today has evolved to provide integrated IT across multiple industries and government organizations. PTC leverages advanced storage technologies with the goal of giving customers a competitive edge.

“Customers in Asia are facing the same challenges encountered by enterprises across the globe, such as the need to reduce costs, shrink datacenter footprint, ease data management, and speed time to resolution in support situations,” said SS Lim, Managing Director, PTC. ”Not only are 3PAR’s highly virtualized systems purpose-built to address these needs, but the unique performance, cost-effective scalability, and automation features of 3PAR Utility Storage make it the ideal infrastructure for Software- and Storage-as-a-Service offerings that have emerged to address these same pain points.”

Read more about 3Par partnership with PTC.

StreetDirectory is back on!

Streetdirectory re-launches with all new maps and new features for the loyal visitors.

Streetdirectory.com launches their new maps with much more value-added features this 1st of August. Read on for the press coverage from Straits Times...

Aug 1, 2008
Streetdirectory.com back in business
Online map website relaunched with new owner and maps created from scratch
By Irene Tham

STREETDIRECTORY.COM is back online.

The website, whose street maps were found by a court to have violated the copyright of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), was taken offline in late March but is being relaunched today.

Two things are new about it: The site has new maps, created from scratch over the past nine months, and a new owner.

JobsDB, Asia's largest online recruitment firm based in Hong Kong, bought the streetdirectory. com Web address and its assets from Singapore-based Virtual Map in the fourth quarter of last year for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was kept under wraps until yesterday.

Mr Samuel Sung, chairman of JobsDB, told The Straits Times: 'Our online recruitment and classified ads businesses need maps. And streetdirectory.com is a good domain name to own.'

The revamped site offers users the conveniences of its predecessor, such as location search by postal code, building and street names.

But the site now also allows map users to pan across a particular neighbourhood by holding down and dragging the mouse.

Users will also be able to look for jobs based on location, since the online street directory has been integrated with JobsDB's recruitment engine.

A new company, called Streetdirectory, was recently incorporated here to run the online map business spanning three countries.

The outfit has about 70 people, including land surveyors and cartographers who chart the landmarks, buildings and roads here and in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Sung, asked why he chose to build the maps from scratch when he could buy them from other providers, said: 'We're starting on a clean slate. No one can question our maps. We own them.'

More than 10 senior managers from Virtual Map have joined the new entity, including former Virtual Map managing director Firdhaus Akber, now the managing editor at Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map is still awaiting judgment from the Court of Appeal, Singapore's highest court, on its application to file an appeal against an earlier High Court decision.

Meanwhile, SLA has applied to strike out Virtual Map's notice of appeal.

The problem between the two former business partners began in 2004, when SLA filed a suit against Virtual Map for using its copyrighted materials after it no longer had the permission to do so.

SLA won the case in a district court. Virtual Map then appealed to the High Court against the decision but was turned down.

When the High Court ordered Virtual Map to take down the maps that infringed SLA's copyright in March, the map company went to the Court of Appeal, the judgment of which is pending.

Whatever the Court of Appeal decides, Mr Akber said, Virtual Map will 'fulfil its obligations to SLA and the lawyers'.

'We're not going to run away,' he said.

At its peak, Virtual Map had about 500 corporate customers in Asia, for whom it customised maps used, for example, on company websites and brochures.

Today, that customer base has under 100 names, said Mr Akber, who expressed hope that customers would recontract with Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map will remain open till the end of this year to service existing contracts. Until then, it will resell Streetdirectory's new maps to these customers.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_263261.html

Go and take a peek at Streetdirectory.com now!

Know Of A Diaper Cake Baker?

34-year-old Siti Mariam shares some secrets on being in the baby gift business
By Mavis Ang

DIAPER cakes have been around for more than a decade, but only gained global recognition when Carrie presented Miranda with a huge blue one for her baby shower in the TV series Sex and the City.

These non-edible cakes are made up mainly of rolls of diapers, and are usually adorned creatively with towels, bibs, baby shoes, stuffed toys. They are popular baby gifts at baby showers — a Western tradition where friends of soon-to-be-parents get-together and present the couple with gifts for their baby.

Read more about Diaper Cakes.

Entertainment For Hire

A balloonist can contribute a different kind of fun vibe to your party, especially if it’s ‘Mr. Lightning Finger the Balloon Clown,’ who sculpts balloons so fast you won’t know what hit you
By James P. Ong

IF YOU’RE looking for party entertainment or events management, you can’t go wrong with Mr. Lightning Finger, recognised as one of the best local party entertainers in the island. As a balloonist, “he is not only good in twisting balloons to various shapes,” his publicity material claims, “but is also very good in twisting [them] into various cartoon characters, for example: Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, etcetera.”

He also holds ginormous appeal to both children and female adults. He’s a babe magnet! Balloons are doing for him what Golden Retrievers do for hunks in sweatshirts: attracting the crowd and garnering the attention.

Read more about this Entertainment for Hire.

Watch Out For Our Buses!

88DB.com rolls out bus 2008 campaign with 15 buses
By James P. Ong

ON January 16, we finally rolled out our 2008 bus advertising campaign: “Shop For Services” at 88DB.com”. The buses illustrate the different kinds of unique services that can be found in your favourite website—including party entertainment, dog training, real estate brokerage, wedding photography, gown making, golf training and auto repair.

To achieve the colorful illustrations and straight-to-the-point copy, we collaborated with the super talented and patient folks at Religion advertising. “The campaign reflects the infinite number of services that can be found in the 88DB.com marketplace,” says JobsDB.com Managing Director Steven Seek. 88DB.com is a member of the JobsDB group of companies.

So watch out for these Bus Service Numbers (if you like, you can even take photos of it and submit to editor@88db.com.sg):

* 12 * 21 * 28 * 51 * 74 * 88 * 107 * 133 * 147 * 161 * 198 * 65 * 143 *

Read more on Watch Out For Our Buses!

Speak Well, Earn Well

Effective communication skills are an advantage in business and relationshiips, so learn the tricks of being clear, concise and persuasives

COMMUNICATION skills simply do not refer to the way in which we communicate with another person. It encompasses many other things: the way in which we respond to the person we are speaking, body gestures including the facial ones, pitch and tone of our voice and a lot of other things.

And the importance of communication skills is not just limited to the management world, since effective communication skills are now required in each and every aspect of our life.

Read more on Speak Well, Earn Well.

Succeed In A Freelance Writing Job

Students cum writers share invaluable tips based on their own experience
By Mavis Ang

Brand Yourself
Just like any company, begin by branding yourself. Set up a blog that highlights your freelance services, or be a little more creative and upload a video promoting your part-time business.

A professional looking website can impress a potential client, and it’s also easier for interested companies to understand more about you, and your works. A website is an excellent space to compile your portfolio, and you can buy a domain with APC at a rate of only $30 per year. Even a well-written (and well read) blog can attract potential employers. Juliana Lau, currently a first year student at Murdoch University in Perth, keeps a personal blog which gets around 300 hits a day. Although she receives offers from media firms from time to time, she thinks it’s not a medium to be counted on if one is considering serious employment.

Read more on how to Succeed In A Freelance Writing Job.