Hi! I recently held my first webinar to provide an introduction to my course Freelance with Elance. This webinar addresses some common questions (and misconceptions) that people have about freelancing in general and about Elance in particular. I’ve provided examples and screenshots in this presentation to show you how my course can benefit you. Its an approximately 40 min presentation, including audience questions. Watch here:

If you’re in Karachi, you can sign up to take the next course here: http://wordpl.net/index.php/freelance-with-elance/ Once you fill out the form, you will be emailed details about the date, time, venue and course outline.

Thank you!

To start 2011 right, I am very happy to bring to you my first interview with someone who embodies the spirit of action in all she does – Fareen Effendi. This remarkable woman, who is a mother & a wife, heard about freelancing opportunities from me in August 2010 and a month and half later was on her way with her first international client. In just three months, she’s made over $3000 just from freelance writing clients! With her dedication and focused approach, she is definitely going to go far and I wish her all the success! Read on to learn more about what powers Fareen and what kind of a mind-set is needed to thrive as an online entrepreneur.

1. When did you start freelancing?

In August, I attended a session through Weldon Moms where the guest speaker was none other than Salma Jafri.  Ripe with the need to move into something that offered me freedom and flexibility, yet afforded me the opportunity to earn all the same, the session sparked within me the desire to begin immediately.  At that time, between my day job and managing three small kids’ school rounds, ‘immediately’ ended up being a month a half later.  So, one late evening in mid-September in 2010 I sat down to sign up with Elance.

Right about the same time, I began to chronicle my freelancing journey on my blog: http://fareenswow.blogspot.com

2. Why did you choose Elance as your freelance marketplace of choice?

What attracted me to Elance was mainly the platform’s long-standing history (having been in existence for at least a decade, if not more) and the site’s inclusion of things like Escrow payments, a dispute-resolution program and other things that were well-thought out.  The other thing is that, of all the freelancing websites and forums out there, Elance is the one best suited for the global marketplace in my opinion.

3. How did you find the getting started process (making a profile, choosing membership, etc)? Was it intuitive or complicated?

I LOVED the initial set-up process.  I mean, who doesn’t enjoy tooting their own horn to some degree?  So to be able to outline my skills and showcase my talents was enjoyable, to say the least.  I didn’t just do it over night either.  I took my time, studied the site, went through the profiles of successful providers to see where the edge was in their profiles, read each and every relevant post on the website’s forum, browsed through the Elance blog and of course went through the list of FAQs on the site as well.  Only THEN did I feel ready and able to assemble an effective profile that I knew would do justice to my abilities.

4. What kind of projects do you wish to do as a freelancer?

This changes regularly.  When I first began just a few months ago, all I wanted was to land that first job.  Three projects later, I began to realize that not only was I valuable to buyers on Elance but I was also providing them an invaluable service at very low rates – so I upped the ante and began to charge more, a lot more.  To my surprise, the projects evolved and the pay rates increased along with it.  To answer specifically, at first I was only doing article writing – then soon after I ventured into some viral marketing, blog writing, business writing and web copy.  Now, I’ve slowly begun heading into white papers, academic reports as well as some book editing and I’ve added an off-site team member to expand into some graphic design to go along with some of my projects.

5. How do you differentiate yourself/your services in the competitive international market?

Elance is no different than having a regular store front in a shopping mall.  You own a business.  You can either succeed, depending on your marketing techniques, or fade into the background if you are not careful.  When it comes to my business, whether online with Elance or otherwise, I simply remain true to myself and my abilities.  I try to put forth the ‘real me’ with each client, never over-selling but usually willing to go the extra mile.  The key is to remain professional, do your very best in everything you take on, keep an open and honest rapport with your clientele and deliver what you promise.

6. How much are you currently earning monthly in freelancing income?

This is always a fun question – because this, too, is ever-evolving.  My first two weeks, I earned zip.  In fact, the investment I made set me back a few bucks.  But with the first job and ever since, I’ve been seeing a steadily rising income of anywhere from $1000-$1200 per month – working part time.

7. How much do you expect to be earning/would prefer to earn in 6 months’ time?

Well, based on the strategy I’m following I expect to see some exponential growth which by my estimate would mean that by the end of June 2011 I hope to have earned about $12-$14k.

8. Do you believe freelancers can earn just as much or more than a typical office job?

Yes, I do but it would take a great deal of discipline and LOTS of sacrifice.  I remember Salma saying on that very first day that success on Elance doesn’t come without hard work.  This is so true!  To work as a freelancer has some risks involved but if you play your cards right and strategize effectively, it can be done.  I have a friend who has earned over $50k this past year but not without working around the clock and sacrificing many other things in life.  For now, that’s not my agenda.

9. Your top 3 tips for freelancing success?

1. Believe in yourself and your abilities.  If you are confident, people are confident in you!

2. Never accept anything less than perfection from yourself.  Never.

3. Put your heart and soul into it and realize that this is your business. Treat it like that, and you will find success.

Note from Salma: Fareen is one of those people who can take an idea, research it and follow it to its logical (and successful) conclusion. For those of you interested in gaining a spark about the possibilities, please read my post about how to start an online business. For those wishing for a little more hand-holding, check out my course tailor-made just for you, called Freelance with Elance. We’re gearing up for the Jan session, so pre-register now!

You never really know when the unexpected will strike – an illness, an accident, a natural disaster, a crime – anything that could potentially derail your online business. These kind of personal crises situations can arise when you least expect them do, and when you’re a solopreneur, your online business’s very survival depends on you being at the helm of affairs.

Recently we had a fire destroy most parts of our house – the loss we sustained is great both financially and psychologically. And its taking every ounce of energy to focus on the positives – all lives are saved – which is something we’re immensely and deeply grateful for.

But what of my business? How do I ensure that my business continues and prospers inspite of the calamity thats befallen us? Here are some of the steps I’ve taken to ensure that business runs as smoothly as possible.

1. Keep a Record of All Projects Online

The one big advantage of running an online business is that I don’t necessarily need my own computer system for 90% of my business tasks. My important docs and spreadsheets are on Google Docs, my project backups are online courtesy Dropbox, and my task list and calendar deadlines are on Google calendar.

Its essential to keep all your work and associated files in at least two locations, if not more. One should be your home office PC (or laptop)

what used to be our bedroom

and the other preferably online. Use a facility such as Dropbox or Megaupload to keep online backups. Also keep a webmail account as part of your business account. Although I use salma@wordpl.net as my primary account for business correspondence, I have a gmail account tied in to this account so all mails are synced on both accounts.

These steps have been crucial to helping me return to work part-time from my mom’s PC, since I’m staying with her while my house is being repaired.

2. Build a Team

Its all well and good to think that as a solopreneur you get to keep all the rewards of business, but we often forget that in doing so, we also bear all the risk/loss. As soon as I could, I built a team to help me manage the workload. Granted its a small team right now, but it comprises of capable people I trust. They’ve been able to help me keep the business going and managing their end of the work.

3. Intimate those Affected ASAP

We had 5 active projects at the time of this incident. I sent brief notices to all 5 clients about whats happened and assured them that their work will carry on as scheduled. Along with an email I also sent them photographic evidence. Only 1 out of those 5 projects will experience a slight delay. All my clients wrote back to me saying I could take extra time on their work and that they understand.

I believe that if you’ve spent months (or years) nurturing trust and credibility with your clients, then the real mettle of that trust will come into play during tough times. If your previous work has been above par and you’ve maintained a positive relationship with your clients, there’s a strong likelihood that your clients will reciprocrate and will be more than understanding in your hour of need.

Stuff I Didn’t Do and Wish I Had

I have to admit all is not perfect. I lost a lot of personal documentation in the fire – medical records, educational degrees, investment certificates, and more. I wish I’d exercised the same diligence in keeping online copies of these documents as I did in keeping records of my business. It would have saved me a lot of leg work and hassle now headed my way as I traipse from one government office to another.

The rules of business and life are really the same: plan for the unexpected as best you can so that when a crises strikes you’re not completely debilitated.  Your mind should be free to take care of the emergency steps as you rest easy knowing that once the immediate details are taken care of, you’ll bounce back stronger than ever!

If you’re just starting out in the quest to make money online, the world of online business can seem vast and confusing at first. You may not even know yet what kind of business you want to do on the net! To help you out in the key initial stages of this decision, I’ve put together a post with the basic money-making pathways on the internet.

Note: this post is for beginners so dont get disgruntled all you advanced gurus out there – your turn will come soon!

In this post I’m going to talk about:

• What is an online business
• What it means to build and run an online business
• What does an online business model look like
• What are the different ways you can generate an income online

While this topic is so vast that entire books may be (and have been) written about it, there’s very little starter info out there. So I’m going to cover these topics in the most basic, simplest way in an attempt to give a broad perspective so you can understand the big picture of running an online business.

First let’s define it.

An online or internet business is virtually any for-profit venture that you can run on the Internet. Some or all of the regular business activities – building a product, attracting visitors, product launches, marketing, selling, retaining customers, building brand loyalty, receiving payments – may be accomplished on the internet.

There are 2 different kinds of online biz models:

Sell your own products and services
or
Sell someone else’s products and services

Option #1: Selling your own products and services

Your own product may be a tangible good such as a book or a piece of furniture or an intangible service such as graphic design or web development. What you decide to sell obviously depends on your expertise and experience. To sell your own product or service, at minimum, you need:

• A virtual store a.k.a a website
• Customers a.k.a traffic to the website
• Money received a.k.a payment processors

We’ll go into more detail into what each of these three things mean in just a bit. First let’s take a look at option #2.

Option #2: Sell someone else’s products and services

This is called “affiliate marketing” and is simply based on the concept of commissions. To put it simply, the more you sell another person/company’s product or service, the more you rake in via commission sales. How? You simply employ all the techniques listed in option #1 to sell other people’s products versus your own. So to be a successful affiliate marketer, you still need the basic three:

• Website
• Traffic
• Money

So now that we know the basic formula for selling your own stuff versus other people’s stuff is the same, let’s delve deeper into what these three things (website, traffic, money) mean.

WEBSITE

Just as a regular brick and mortar shop has a physical venue, you too need a virtual store from which to sell your wares or services. This virtual store may be your own website or a third-party website, such as eBay or Amazon.

Some of the ways you can sell your own or someone else’s products and services are:

• Sell info products via a blog or website. Info products can be ebooks, software, podcasts, videos, site memberships, etc
• Sell physical products such as custom-designed t-shirts, jewelry, cakes, confectionary, etc
• Sell services such as freelance photography, design, copywriting, multimedia, coding, etc
• Sell information (in the form of informative articles or such) and earn from an ads-based model (Google AdSense, Chitika, Sponsored Ads, etc)

A professional website adds credibility and oomph to your online business model and is not optional anymore. If you’re using third-party websites (such as Amazon or Elance) to sell, you will still be taken more seriously as a reliable business if you can give a link out to your own website.

TRAFFIC

No matter how good a mousetrap you’ve built, no one will come unless you promote it well. Thankfully the days of expensive advertising are over and as an Internet business owner, all you really need to do is employ the free (albeit time-consuming) channels of online media marketing to promote your product or service.

Some of the ways to attract customers to buy your (or others’) products and services online is via online marketing. You can market using:

• Social media channels like Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Twitter, etc
• Online and offline referrals
• Network (visit other communities)
• Join like-minded communities (e.g. a photographer joining a photography membership site)
• Rank high in search results, either organic or paid. Organic ranking is when you appear on search results without spending money on advertising, but rather through use of excellent search-optimized content. Paid results are those you pay for and usually appear as “sponsored listings” on a search engine.

MONEY

What’s the point of all the hard work if there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, right? One of the main benefits of an online business is that you can be location-independent. However, no matter where in the world you are, you need a fast, secure way to transfer money from sales into your local bank account.

Some of the ways to receive online payments are:

• Developing an e-commerce ready site, with a shopping cart and payment method
• Via PayPal, Moneybookers or other online payment processors
• Through direct deposits, wire transfers, pay orders or checks

Skills to Run an Online Business

• Clear focus and direction: you need a niche and you need to be passionate about that niche.
• Self-discipline and motivation: when you’re your own boss, the will to work comes from you and only you
• Jack-of-all: when you’re starting out chances are you’re a one-man show so you’ve got to learn to do everything from accounting to marketing.
• Delegate and automate: when you can expand your business, delegate or automate the routine tasks so you can concentrate on the life-giving entrepreneurial tasks of your business
• Adaptability and flexibility: the online world is constantly in flux; it’s also unforgiveable since what goes online usually stays online.
• Thought leadership: the more successful you are at branding yourself/your company and being unique, the more people will look upon you as an innovative thinker and leader.

Selling your Own Stuff vs Selling Other Peoples’ Stuff

So now you have a basic idea about the tools you need and the kinds of online businesses you could get into. However, how do you decide whether to go for Option #1 selling your own stuff or Option #2, selling other people’s stuff? Well, it need not be an either/or decision. You can actually do both. Here are the main advantages/disadvantages of both options:

InfoGraphic: How to Start an Online Business

Using the chart above (which encapsulates this post), you can plot a course of action for yourself. For example, you could decide, as I did, to sell your own service (content development) via a third party website (Elance.com in my case), market it via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube) and receive payment via wire transfer. OR you could decide to sell your own service (e.g. web design) via your own website, publicize it on relevant forums and communities and receive payment via direct deposit. OR you could decide to sell other people’s products (affiliate marketing using say, Amazon.com’s products) by promoting it on your own blog and receiving payments via Western Union money transfer.

OR still you could choose to employ multiple strategies at the same time. For example, you could have a website where you sell your own product/service, as well as affiliate products/services as well as have adverts for monetization – a 3-in-one model – the possibilities are limited only by your business acumen.

So many choices, so many paths and permutations and combinations! There’s bound to be one that fits you!

Do let me know via comments below if this online business primer has helped you in any way and if you’d like to see actual tangible internet business ideas discussed here next!

Probably the most scammed and written about topic is the allure of making money from the comfort of your home using nothing but the internet to do so. So what’s the answer, can you really make money from home or is it just a pipe dream?

Short answer: yes you can.

Long answer: you can, provided you find legitimate sources to work with.

Detailed answer: I’m going to list here in this post, and in general in this entire site, legitimate ways that you can work from home and support yourself and your family. How can I say this with such surety? Because I’m doing it. I work from home and that’s how my spouse and I run a 2-income household. But I’m going to be talking exclusively about online work (as opposed to setting up a home business) and most of the items on my list do not fall into the job category but really the career category. I’m going to show you ways to build an online business and a career while working from home.

A word of caution before I provide the list.

There is no easy, quick and effortless way to make money online. And anyone who tells you that is a liar and a scammer. Making money online is almost exactly the same as making money in a regular brick and mortar world; it takes hard work, dedication, perseverance and smarts. But once you get the ball rolling, the internet allows you to make money with many different kinds of income streams (which is not possible in a 9-5 job). Some of these streams can even be residual in nature, meaning that you earn while you’re not actively working (but you’d have already put in the hard work to set it up).

Oh and another quick word: the list I’m going to show you can work anywhere in the world. That’s right you don’t have to worry about which country you reside in. So long as you have a computer and an internet connection, you’re good to go in the online world.

Right so let’s get to the list of ways in which you can make money and build your online business:

1. Freelance Bidding Sites

Bidding sites such as Elance, Guru, oDesk, ScriptLance, Get-A-Freelancer, Rent-A-Coder etc all function in basically the same way. Think of them as auction houses; they bring together buyers (companies or individuals) who have work to outsource and providers (like you) who are looking for work in their specialized field. Bidding sites are the middlemen in this exchange; they will hold the money in escrow, they will provide a place for the buyers and providers to talk shop, upload files, negotiate disputes and conduct their business by providing some level of confidentiality and security.

Bidding sites are called that because again, like an auction house, you must place a bid to be considered for a project. The buyer selects the winning bid and work commences.

Some bidding sites cater to one specialized category while others offer work opportunities in several different fields such as graphic design, web development, web design, content development, engineering, finance, law, sales and marketing, etc.

Some sites offer a free membership with limited views or limited access to projects, while others don’t have any free option. Most offer membership categories, which can start from $10 – $20 per month. You use your credit card (or PayPal account if you have one) to buy a membership.

The money you earn is usually deposited directly in your bank account (via SWIFT code for international transfers). Or again if you have a PayPal account, you can choose to have the money sent to that account. Once the system is set up, bank transfers can take as long as a week or be as quick as 24 hours, depending on where in the world you live.

Since I work mainly on Elance, I’m going to be sharing many of my Elance experiences with you here. You can start by reading the 7 Secrets for Elance Success.

2. Content Sites

Examples of content sites are Suite101, eHow, Helium, Associated Content, About, Examiner, Constant Content, and many more!

These sites usually incorporate either in part or in full the concept of residual income. They are sites which hire freelance writers to create content for them. Writers get paid either upfront for each article, according to the page views their article receives or according to a revenue ad-share program. The ad-share program basically displays relevant ads to your article. When a reader clicks on an ad, you get paid a percentage of what the advertiser is paying to have his ad displayed on the site.

This type of earning is usually a slow trickle in the beginning but it can really add up with some time investment and learning the tricks of writing for the web to generate maximum revenue.

Payment is usually made via PayPal. If you’re in a country where PayPal doesn’t operate, you can look into options of having someone trusted in a PayPal-approved country set up an account for you, using your email address so you get all the notifications, etc.

Since I work mainly for Suite101 from the above list, I’m going to be sharing my experiences writing for them and will detail all the pros and cons for you.

Content sites can exist in areas other than writing too; for example, photography sites which pool together photos taken by different photographers and offer them as stock images work on the same principles as the writing sites mentioned above.

3. Blogging

To be a successful money-making blogger, you must own your own domain name website. No ifs and buts to this rule! Don’t think you can successfully monetize your blog using a free site such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com (see this post for the distinction between wordpress.com and wordpress.org). While you can earn some moderate amount from free sites which allow ads to be displayed (such as Blogger now does), there are limits to your earning potential.

To make money as a blogger, you need to be operating in a niche market that you are familiar with and can offer unique insights on. You will earn money mostly through online ads, your own product sales (such as an e-book), your own membership sites and anything else that you can successfully monetize.

This route to online riches is anything but easy and obstacle-free. The amount of discipline required is immense since no one is driving you to work hard (or work at all), and the pressure to drive traffic to your site (so people can click on your ads or buy your stuff) is pretty intense. You’ve got to know or learn about search engine optimization (SEO) and how to rank highly so that people interested in reading what you’re offering will find your site. You’ve also got be a master promoter and learn a bit of marketing since you’ll mostly be doing it all yourself.

Successful bloggers, like Darren Rowse or Brian Clark, who make a living via blogging have been at it for years and are only now reaping the rewards of their hard work. It would be a good idea to study them and their blogs, read what they have to offer, and soak up all the useful advice and tips presented on their blogs.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing works on the same concept as a referral program. In the brick and mortar world, you can earn a commission based on recommendations. In the online world, you can earn commissions based on directing traffic and sales to the company or product you choose to affiliate yourself with.

Here’s an example: suppose I really liked a book I read recently and thought it would help my readers in setting up their online business. I would go to where this book was being sold and become an affiliate for it. Once approved, I’ll write an honest review of the book containing both its benefits and any criticisms. In the review I will place my affiliate link. When someone clicks on my affiliate link and buys the book based on my recommendation, I get a percentage commission of the sale.

Affiliate marketing can be incorporated into your online business ideas in 2 ways: either via blogging where you place your affiliate links in your blog posts, or via a dedicated product review website which reviews affiliate products.

These were the big 4 ways in which to start making money and building an online business right now. Obviously there are many smaller schemes and many sub-schemes within these niche areas, but if you can master even one or two of the above, you’re off to a great start! And remember it’s never a good idea to keep all your eggs in one basket, so as soon as you’re comfortable with one money-making idea, start exploring how you can use the others.

Got a tip you want to share about making money online the legitimate way? Have a question about any of the freelance sites outlined above? Want to add your own success story to building an online business? Drop me a line (or several lines) below!