Am I that boring?

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A view of  a single tower may be boring but offering
your opinions should not, and you can get paid for it
(c) 2017 P. Lynne Designs 

Today, actually yesterday, I was looking at some Haro assignments.  In case you are not familiar with this website, the purpose of the website, according to them is actually Haro stands for Help a Reporter Out.  Reporters, of course, have assignments, and instead of them going around looking for people to comment on their articles, they actually sign up to temporary hire people like me to give their opinion on a topic.  New drinking game, everyone who reads this, takes a drink of their favorite beverage when you read the word “actually”-JK.
So, for example, if a reporter is looking for people who actually (take a drink) decorated with some of Nate Berkus' products, he may request a short review of the products and be as descriptive as possible.  The best answer will win a shout out on his article.  From all the answer that reporter gets, say, 100 people, he may pick 5 people out of that 100.  Of course, the reporter by law has to notify you that he is using your information.   Once he uses that information, you get paid. There are several sites on the internet like that.  I am subscribed to Haro, as well as guest blogging opportunities, and a couple other sites in that category.
The questions are all the same and I sometimes wonder if my life, as I know it, is that boring.  So far, I have not answer one single question, except Quora.  There is one catch with this site, you do not get paid for your opinion.  I will talk more about this site in a moment.
How to use Haro, Quora, and other sites like these?
If you are a least curious about these writing sites, I can answer that.  First of all, you have to sign up for an account.  Most of these sites are free to sign-up.  Once you get the approval to become a member, you can dive right in to find your assignment.  Don’t forget to fill out the rest of your account, which allows you to fine tune things like, what is your writing style, what topics do you write about, and some may even have you take a little test to make sure that English is your native language, or you speak it well enough to pass the test.  You may also have to tell them a little bit about yourself.  In that section, do not write a whole book, but write enough to make you at least appear to be human.  Also, if you want to receive these assignments on a regular basis, give them a valid email address.
Pay me NOW!
Payment depends on the type of service you signed up for.  For Haro, it is up to the amount that a reporter wants to pay you.  For other sites, it depends on the people who run the website.  Usually, a person gets paid through Paypal or through a direct deposit into their bank account.  I prefer Paypal. Why?  For protection reasons, and less likely for a company to have your banking information.  As I mentioned earlier Quora does not pay people to answer questions and I am not sure if they will ever pay for an opinion.
OK, that sounds good, but how does this help me as a writer?
One word, exposure.  The more you write, the better you become.  I do not suggest that this is a permanent thing you do.  After all, you have things to do, people to see, and mouths to feed.  This is not the ticket to the holy grail of writing.  This is a stepping stone in your writing career.  When I mention earlier if my life is boring, it is not boring at all.  I may not have interesting to say to that reporter on that site, but I have answered thousands of questions on Quora on my experiences with Disney, YouTube, writing blogs, writing journals, even being an aunt, not having children of my own.  The problem I have with Quora is the paying part.  My answers are now too valuable to not get paid for it, at least in a gift card or two.  When I first got started with the site, it was the thing to do to get my feet wet and to see if I want to make it as a writer.  Remember, I earned a degree in marketing, and I wanted to be an actress and preschool teacher.  I do papercrafts and graphic design as well. The writing was the furthest thing from my mind when I first started in this industry.  I only started because I was writing in my own journal and this industry can be relaxing.  Don’t you think so?
You are still putting your work out there for someone, in some company to see it.  Maybe you are not looking for a job in the industry, but it could happen.  Someone in that same company could see a writing piece you wrote for some small-town newsletter and say, “I want this person as my next employee. They could make a great asset to my company.
It is all about the delivery, my friend, you never know.  It is the same with anything you do on the Interwebs, as I like to call the internet.  You do not have to write, this happens to be a writing blog.  At the moment, you may not be able to demand your own price for your work.  This is where the word “freelance” comes in.
Payment part 2
Once you are recognized for that work, you can demand that price, but I have read in some articles not to work by the hour.  I have tested this theory myself and I have to agree with it.  When you start naming your price, quote per piece/ article.  Here is why.
Let start with my handmade work that I do.  If I work on a scrapbook album and give the quote of $50/hour and I work 40 hours on the book (which is roughly a week), it would cost the customer $2,000 for the scrapbook.  Most people would not be able to afford this book.  On top of that, I have not figured in the materials used in the book. I usually spend about $80-$100 on supplies alone because I do not want to run out, or in case the paper I select or what the client selects is discontinued.  The same goes with writing.  If a client hires me to write 10 articles, and I work that same $50/hour for 40 hours, the client may not be able to afford me either.
However, I can put a set price on a scrapbook, and my books run about $200 per book and higher, I can throw in the cost of supplies, and I can work as many hours as I can.  I can charge $7-$10 per page, depending on the size of each page and the album.  So, a typical 20-page, 12 x 12 scrapbook album at $10 + the cost of an album may run about $210, and it also depends on how much the other materials cost, so about $310. It may take me 3 hours, or the full 40, but I have a set price.  Writing prices can be set by the word count.  A 1,500-word article would run about $750 (1,500 x $.50/word =$750).  Please do not be ashamed of naming your price, but also be prepare to hear the word, “negotiate”.  If they want you bad enough, the client will pay that price.  If not, you can always turn them down as well.
Also by the hour limits you a well.  Another term for “price by product” is “price by project”.  This is where you could turn that $750 quote into, “I will do 5 articles for $750”, but the bottom line is to have a repeat customer. ($750/5 = $150 for each article)
Whatever you do to get to the end goal of having a sustainable income, remember to start out with these smaller stepping stone that is the start of your writing career.
am I that boring?  I don’t think so.

Take the Time to Invest….

Photo by http://973thedawg.com/ 

I am concerned about the economy of this country (USA), and I always have been.  There is a goldmine out there, and I do not think that over half of the people in this country is taking the time to do this sort of thing.  I will tell you in a moment what it is.  Yes, it has to with the title of this post.   Consider the following (I am paraphrasing a Facebook friend’s post from today-My comments in red Parenthesized):

·         68 of Macy’s stores are closing (Including the one ½ mile from my house)  

·         ALL of Limited stores are closed (one announcement on the news is all the everyone got)

·         108 Kmart stores are closing (the last one in the Central Ohio Area will be closed soon)

·         42 Sears stores are closing (not sure of the fate of the one ½ mile from my house, which is in the same location as the closing Macy’s store and already closed Limited store.  This Mall (Eastland Mall) will only Sears as an anchor store for now).

·         Companies are outsourcing and downsizing. (There is no surprise there.)

So, why am I telling you this?  More later….

Consider this…

1.      The largest transportation provider in the U. S. does not own a single car (Uber)

2.      The new largest hotel company in the world does not own a single hotel (Airbnb)

3.      Amazon just surpassed Wal-Mart as the nation’s largest retailer and they do not own a single store.

On this “Makeover You Monday” (Hopefully this is a new segment on my new blog, NOT on this blog), I hope that you have taken some time to think about what would happen if you lost your job due to layoffs, downsizing, outsourcing, or even something such as your boss telling you that you no longer “fit” with this company. (Was there ever such a term in the first place?)

I am not talking about if you have money in your bank, a 401(k) plan in place, a retirement plan, and so forth.  That is great once you retire or become sick, but if you are a seemingly healthy adult, and become displaced for even a moment in time, what do you have in place?  You could go back to school. There are plenty of scholarships and grants out there to use for your classes and learning materials, but there is a problem.  What if you did not get at least a GED once you turned 18 or older?  This is one of the major requirements for today’s college entrance for even a basic course.  What if you cannot afford to go to school (such as family obligations)?  Is your spouse or child going to allow you to study, or even your current employer.  More on that later….

Now for the reason behind this post….

I am talking about investing in yourself.   The backstory:  About a year or more, someone told me, “if I cannot invest in myself, who else would?”  I understood what he meant by that statement, and is true, no one else has your best interest at heart more than you do.  Other than God and maybe your parents and maybe your spouse, you are the best investor in Team You (Team Patricia, Team Phil, Team Natasha, insert your name after the word team).  This is something that money cannot buy, but it helps pay a lot of bills.  People can only help for so long until you can get on your feet.  After that, you are on your own, so why no invest into something that matters…. your career and life.

 So, what does this have to do with the stats I listed before my little talk….

It is merely a reality check.  I am reminding you that if you want a paycheck and want to continue to work for someone else, this is your reality.  Maybe you will be affected by this news and maybe you will not.  What I am about to say on this makeover you Monday can be life changing or it may not.  It is up to you but I have to ask you this question…. What are you passionate about?  If you could wave a magic wand to get you to your dream job, what will it be?  What does the future hold for Team You?

In other words, become an Entrepreneur (Work a home, own your own business, a side gig, whatever name you call it).  It can be in Direct selling, service, tech (which is part selling/ part service), anything.  Is there a service that your current employer does not offer that you wish they did?  Provide that service on the side.  Dissatisfied with the level of service you get at an establishment that you can provide for others?  Do it.  Have a skill that would be a perfect match to assist a company, but you do not want to commit to one company?  You can freelance. 

You do not have to quit your job right away.  Offer only a few hours at a time when you get home or on the weekends.  Your employer does not have to know about what you do in your spare time.  In fact, it is none of their business what you do after hours.  You are off the clock.  The only thing that it effects is the time you spend with your family, but you like everything else, there needs to be a little planning involved.  After all, they want to know when they can spend time with you, and if you have small children, it can affect them a lot. 

I will not go into what you can do to make extra money because that part has been covered (Directly Selling to You, How to Generate More Money to Live).  You can read these posts, read a few Pinterest boards, join a few Facebook groups, or do it the old-fashion way like having a few garage sales, working a second job (or 3^rd, or 4^th), or start a retail store. The last one requires a vender’s license and tax id, both which I have for my homemade business (P. Lynne Designs), which I got for a minimal fee according to each state ($0 for the Tax ID, $25 for the business Vender’s license, and $50 for the name registration for the state of Ohio-Check with your state or country).

Once you get started and you see profits going in your direction (should take about 6 months to 2-3 years), then take the plunge of quitting your 9-5er, but keep your options open, because you will never know what might happen.  If something happens during that trial run of earning a living with your business, you do have something to fall back on.  This is the reason why you should never let your employer know you are making extra money on the side, plus if they find out, you may get a warning to stop or be fired.  BTW it is not illegal to own a business, companies want to know who they can count on in a crisis. 

That is all for now.  I will be coming back to this subject on both this blog (only covering writing opportunities) and the new blog (for other extra money opportunities) from time to time.  I am not here to talk you out of a 9-5 job.  It is not for everyone but that is not for me to decide.  Who knows, you may find an opportunity that I need to know about (no illegals or scams please).   

Opportunity Alert: Freelancer

Logo from Freelancer.com

This year, I decided that I am going to take time to show you what you can do with your freelance writing, rather it is part-time, or you are making a career out of it.  Today is one of those days.  The reason why I am doing this is because of this economy.   In the United States, there can be a shortage of jobs, lack of compassion by corporations, and the government trying to take away unemployment benefits, and so on.  Today, I want to talk to you about a website called Freelancer.  

Freelancer, as the name implies, is an employment site for freelancer writers, graphic designers, programmers, and others who like to work on the computer. The rules are simple:  employers write up an opportunity at their company in the form of a gig.  A potential employee looks on a board, similar to job board on sites like monster.com and Careerbuilder.com, and apply to the job by making a bid for it.  The highest bid wins the gig.  So you may be wondering how to bid?  That is a simply process as well. 

You win points by filling out your profile.  The more you fill out, the more points you get.  The next possible way to get points is to take exams on your knowledge of the subject.  You start by taking the English level 1 exam and math exam.  The idea here is to let employer know that you have the knowledge, but be careful, because exam can cost you from Free-$20. There is a way out of paying that money through your points.  You earn points for referring friends, adding a skill, providing feedback, and completing projects.

There is so much information on Freelancer until one post just does not do it.  This is an introductory post on the site, and a love being a part of it.