And with 3 hours to spare, here is today's update: My latest Ezinearticles submission.
People are facing a terrible financial burden right now, especially in America. The job security and economic conditions we've taken for granted for the last 10 years are starting to come apart due to a decade of irresponsibility. Freelancers especially are becoming more desperate. The money and the dream of being independent of traditional American minimum wage slave labor drive us to take projects that really should be left alone. Today, we will learn when NOT to take a web content writing job.
These principles apply to copywriters as well as content writers and every other kind of freelancer. We all want to be paid for something we enjoy, but what happens when we're asked to take less than the finished product is worth? Should we sacrifice our time just to have a job, no matter what the quality? The answer is no. Our time must be saved for the important work of finding the jobs that pay what we're worth.
Pay isn't the only qualifier for an unacceptable job; Sometimes, the jobs themselves aren't worth taking. Some subjects aren't right for most writers and some clients aren't meant to be clients. You don't want your name attached to a customer should be flipping burgers instead of selling products with your words. This article will give some helpful clues in identifying a job not worth taking at any price, before it's too late.
The key factor is 99% of unworthy jobs is pay. Five dollars for a reasonable length article is the bare minimum for fluent English speakers. Leave the $1/500 words junk for the phonies. Never take a low paying job to build reputation. A reputation as a writer who writes for pennies isn't a reputation you want to have. Also remember, if you are only worth a small payment for a client, you are very replaceable. Try to write at a quality that you would never give up for less than $5.
Now, how can a job be worthless even with a large paycheck? There are several ways into this apparent paradox: A job that will not lead to more jobs; A job that exposes you to an abusive client; and a job that is not practical to complete. For writers, the best way to end a job without a job to follow it is if you don't get credit. Clients will ask for full copyright, meaning you can not use their writing as a sample. The best reaction to this is to simply raise your rate. If you're writing with no recognition, make it for enough money that you don't need the follow-up. Usually, these clients will simply refuse the price.
The next reason to reject a job less obvious. You will seldom see an ad announcing that a job is for an abusive client. Instead, there will be subtle hints in the ad. Some of these include preemptive temper tantrums like warnings in capital letters and whining before they've even selected a writer for the job. You also have to look out for disingenuous phrases like "I prefer proper communication" which translates to: "I will send you thirty emails a day asking why you haven't finished the project, 25 of them before the deadline." These clients will harass you in every way they say and more. Also, don't be surprised if there is a lot of "confusion" from their end about the price you agreed to and how many articles you've done.
The final warning for a writing job that you should NOT take is the subject. Many ads will not mention the subject. You need to ask. There are many, many more subjects requiring articles than any individual writer will take. Some writers like to write about men's cufflinks, feminine hygiene products and male enhancement. Many of us don't. Find out what you're getting into before you take the job.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
New Ezinearticles post is up; Read it here Thursday
Discipline is the key. I must become more disciplined. Aside from that, I signed up for classes next semester so there is a drizzling of excitement forecasted for the next few weeks. I've put up another article from my Ezinearticles set. If that goes live before Thursday, you'll get to see this update early.
In addition to classes, I've picked up a new client who will be selling my writing. Therefore, I'm going to have to cut out some of the ezinearticles set. My new tentative plan for the unfinished parts of that set is:
April 11. What kind of Hamburgers
April 13. Three Awesome Myths for Your Story
April 15(See, there's two days between all of these ones). Better Nutrition Label Glossary
April 17 Why you Should NOT get into information Technology
April 19. Using the OSI Model in Every Day Life
And the Ezinearticles set will be finished with 7 articles, from there, I will only add partial content from other sets to give a little variety for potential clients. As my research shifts, there will be more examples on this blog from personal finance, entrepreneurship, memorization techniques, methods for writing, and Who Cares About 20th Century US History? A new set that will hopefully answer that question. In between, I'll try to find some time to start my Robin Carnahan set and take another shot at Glenn Beck.
In addition to classes, I've picked up a new client who will be selling my writing. Therefore, I'm going to have to cut out some of the ezinearticles set. My new tentative plan for the unfinished parts of that set is:
April 11. What kind of Hamburgers
April 13. Three Awesome Myths for Your Story
April 15(See, there's two days between all of these ones). Better Nutrition Label Glossary
April 17 Why you Should NOT get into information Technology
April 19. Using the OSI Model in Every Day Life
And the Ezinearticles set will be finished with 7 articles, from there, I will only add partial content from other sets to give a little variety for potential clients. As my research shifts, there will be more examples on this blog from personal finance, entrepreneurship, memorization techniques, methods for writing, and Who Cares About 20th Century US History? A new set that will hopefully answer that question. In between, I'll try to find some time to start my Robin Carnahan set and take another shot at Glenn Beck.
Monday, April 12, 2010
How to Bring Down your Retirement “Number”
I've recently been asked to put up some finance articles for a client. I'm not a big fan of finance writing; I'm only a mediocre fan of personal finance writing, but that is what this client is going to get. To move myself into a finance-writing state of mind, I'm going to write a sample for you guys about that dreadful personal retirement number.
This “number” as it is referenced in some stupid investment commercial is the amount of money you need to save to live the way you want for the rest of your life without working. From what I understand in the commercial, you then spend all that money on a large object that advertises that exact figure to everyone around you. You then have to carry the object around everywhere you go and attempt to protect it, unless you save it in this particular bank which will make the object more durable.
Anyway, most of the articles I'm putting together will be about boring crap like keeping debt down, bringing savings up, maybe a little bit about how to invest...everything to get to that number faster or at all. I've been thinking though, maybe America is looking at this problem the wrong way. Maybe instead of making our savings larger, we need to be making that magic number smaller.
If you're like me, you expect, if you retire at 60, that damn medical science is going to keep you alive just as long after retirement as you were working. You need a way to cut down those post-retirement expenses and I don't mean stockpiling coupons and harassing the cashier to give you 3 cents per unit off of every kind of produce you buy. You need some substantial ways to lower that magic number. Here are five excellent ways to do that.
#1: Take up Smoking
If you consider the cost of food, rent, electricity and healthcare for normal wear and tear for every month after you turn seventy, the cost of cigarettes is actually pretty low. You could trade the long agonizing death from living old age in poverty to the comparatively short and painful death from the many harmful results of smoking. Also, it seems to have some short term benefits for the people who do it.
#2: Drink More
This is great combined with the method above. There are known liver and kidney problems caused by alcohol. Less organs not only means less money spent taking care of them, but also a shorter lifespan. Of course, this isn't the biggest benefit of drinking. Drinking is the greatest way to make irresponsible choices, which is great for bring the number of years you'll have to buy booze and grits down.
#3: Get Married(Females only)
This advice only works for females. According to Elizabeth Gilbert's book Committed, women who get married are less successful in life and more likely to die a violent death, fall into alcoholism, etc. This will not work for men, however, because this comparison is reversed for males. Single men are likely to die a violent death, fall into alcoholism, work a dead-end job all their life, etc than married men.
#4: Eat at McDonalds
Or any similar fast food outlet, really. As long as you consume more calories than you burn. This will ramp up your chances for heart attack, stroke, suffocating due to getting stuck in doorways, and many other fun ailments. Not only that, but people who are obese also have the benefit of their body naturally wearing down and aging faster than those who try not to live like a fat piece of crap.
#5: Vote Republican
If you're really out to stop medical science from prolonging your life, the best way is to stop all scientific development, education and continue the country's previous path to the collapse of the unsustainable healthcare industry. Throw on some unnecessary wars and ultra-unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent of Americans and you will be set for a miserable nonfuture for all of America.
If you manage to perform all five of these things, the amount of money you will need when you leave the working world can be substantially reduced, possibly all the way to $0!
This “number” as it is referenced in some stupid investment commercial is the amount of money you need to save to live the way you want for the rest of your life without working. From what I understand in the commercial, you then spend all that money on a large object that advertises that exact figure to everyone around you. You then have to carry the object around everywhere you go and attempt to protect it, unless you save it in this particular bank which will make the object more durable.
Anyway, most of the articles I'm putting together will be about boring crap like keeping debt down, bringing savings up, maybe a little bit about how to invest...everything to get to that number faster or at all. I've been thinking though, maybe America is looking at this problem the wrong way. Maybe instead of making our savings larger, we need to be making that magic number smaller.
If you're like me, you expect, if you retire at 60, that damn medical science is going to keep you alive just as long after retirement as you were working. You need a way to cut down those post-retirement expenses and I don't mean stockpiling coupons and harassing the cashier to give you 3 cents per unit off of every kind of produce you buy. You need some substantial ways to lower that magic number. Here are five excellent ways to do that.
#1: Take up Smoking
If you consider the cost of food, rent, electricity and healthcare for normal wear and tear for every month after you turn seventy, the cost of cigarettes is actually pretty low. You could trade the long agonizing death from living old age in poverty to the comparatively short and painful death from the many harmful results of smoking. Also, it seems to have some short term benefits for the people who do it.
#2: Drink More
This is great combined with the method above. There are known liver and kidney problems caused by alcohol. Less organs not only means less money spent taking care of them, but also a shorter lifespan. Of course, this isn't the biggest benefit of drinking. Drinking is the greatest way to make irresponsible choices, which is great for bring the number of years you'll have to buy booze and grits down.
#3: Get Married(Females only)
This advice only works for females. According to Elizabeth Gilbert's book Committed, women who get married are less successful in life and more likely to die a violent death, fall into alcoholism, etc. This will not work for men, however, because this comparison is reversed for males. Single men are likely to die a violent death, fall into alcoholism, work a dead-end job all their life, etc than married men.
#4: Eat at McDonalds
Or any similar fast food outlet, really. As long as you consume more calories than you burn. This will ramp up your chances for heart attack, stroke, suffocating due to getting stuck in doorways, and many other fun ailments. Not only that, but people who are obese also have the benefit of their body naturally wearing down and aging faster than those who try not to live like a fat piece of crap.
#5: Vote Republican
If you're really out to stop medical science from prolonging your life, the best way is to stop all scientific development, education and continue the country's previous path to the collapse of the unsustainable healthcare industry. Throw on some unnecessary wars and ultra-unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent of Americans and you will be set for a miserable nonfuture for all of America.
If you manage to perform all five of these things, the amount of money you will need when you leave the working world can be substantially reduced, possibly all the way to $0!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Moving to weekly updates
From now on, I am going to post SOMETHING every Thursday. So you, my loyal viewer or viewers can come back on Thursday and count on at least one update. Maybe more if I get something done during the week.
Last week, I finished the first article for my Ezinearticles set, then I encountered vicious Internet Access-sucking bats who attacked in force. This not only hindered my posting, but also my research for my articles. Look for more in the future. For now, here is my first sample work: "How to Get an Essay Done"
How to Get an Essay Done
This isn't an uncommon scenario if you're a college student: You have thirty pages of textbook questions for your other classes, your friends are inviting you to this week's big party and one of the cute girls you've had your eye on has finally agreed to go out with you. You're a smart guy, you could handle this situation, but you have a six page essay due tomorrow and you haven't even started. You're in trouble.
There is an answer to this problem, commonly faced by both high school and college students. This works for essays of all types, speeches and with a little tweaking it can be applied to any major project. Here are the steps explaining how to get an essay done and getting top marks in the process.
Step 1: Start Early
The above scenario is unfortunately not winnable. You can get the essay done, but you will have to sacrifice your sleep, your homework for the other classes, your friends and even the girl. Hey, college is all about learning, right?
Of course, the fact is these conflicting workloads are a reality everyday in college. How can you start on this essay, that isn't due for two weeks, while you have an even bigger project due for another class, two parties and a beer drinking contest? You have to break it up.
Step 2: Research
Do your research as soon as you get your topic. Run to the nearest computer the second class ends, push the poor schmuck who is on it out of way. Google your topic and print off the first three results, print of the Wikipedia page, check out some big heavy books about the subject, get it to your room and then you're free for the rest of the day, but you have to come back tomorrow for the next step.
Step 3: The Outline
Bring your printouts with you to school and by the time your classes are over, you need to read at least the Wikipedia page, hopefully the Google pages as well. Once again, you'll have a ten page list of assignments for your other classes and maybe even unrelated assignments from the same one. Sadly, you have to add “The Outline” to that list.
Decide what your main points are and write them down. Find some information to support those points and write that down. Organize appropriately. The outline should take about 10-30 minutes depending on how well you know your topic.
Bonus Step 3.5: Time Management
The next step is going to be writing. That is a hard one. Obviously you don't want to spend enough time on the writing step to be confused for a responsible and driven college student, so here is what you do. Estimate the time required for the homework of each of your other classes. Take a mean average(add the times together, divide by the number of classes) and then assign yourself that amount of time to work on your paper. Alternatively, split the paper up into daily milestones based on your outline.
Step 4: Writing
There are many factors that come into this step, but your outline should give you a clear, easy direction. Your introduction should include the strongest or most unexpected point about your topic. After your introduction, pick off your main points one by one. Do a little quote mining from your hardback sources and throw them in, properly cited, with quotation marks and carry on supporting your points.
Remember proper paragraph organization. Start each paragraph with a point. The paragraph starting with a main point should serve as a list of supporting points and then give each of those points a paragraph of their own. The first sentence should include the point; the next section of the paragraph, one sentence or two, should be an argument or implication of that point and the last section of the paragraph should be cold, hard facts about that point. For example, this paragraph organization method is included in the curriculum of 100% of high schools and has been suggested to increase standardized test scores by an average of 52% scores in the essay section.
There are a couple important things to remember in the writing step to get your essay done and get an A in the process. Use proper grammar and sentence structure. Sentences start with a subject. The subject is followed by a verb and the sentence ends with an object. Do not allow your sentences to run or go too long. Keep your thoughts clear and organized, never stray too far from the outline.
Step 5: Turn it in
If you follow these steps, you should get your essay done without spending any more time per day than you do on any other class. Your high grade and your time are a great reward.
Last week, I finished the first article for my Ezinearticles set, then I encountered vicious Internet Access-sucking bats who attacked in force. This not only hindered my posting, but also my research for my articles. Look for more in the future. For now, here is my first sample work: "How to Get an Essay Done"
How to Get an Essay Done
This isn't an uncommon scenario if you're a college student: You have thirty pages of textbook questions for your other classes, your friends are inviting you to this week's big party and one of the cute girls you've had your eye on has finally agreed to go out with you. You're a smart guy, you could handle this situation, but you have a six page essay due tomorrow and you haven't even started. You're in trouble.
There is an answer to this problem, commonly faced by both high school and college students. This works for essays of all types, speeches and with a little tweaking it can be applied to any major project. Here are the steps explaining how to get an essay done and getting top marks in the process.
Step 1: Start Early
The above scenario is unfortunately not winnable. You can get the essay done, but you will have to sacrifice your sleep, your homework for the other classes, your friends and even the girl. Hey, college is all about learning, right?
Of course, the fact is these conflicting workloads are a reality everyday in college. How can you start on this essay, that isn't due for two weeks, while you have an even bigger project due for another class, two parties and a beer drinking contest? You have to break it up.
Step 2: Research
Do your research as soon as you get your topic. Run to the nearest computer the second class ends, push the poor schmuck who is on it out of way. Google your topic and print off the first three results, print of the Wikipedia page, check out some big heavy books about the subject, get it to your room and then you're free for the rest of the day, but you have to come back tomorrow for the next step.
Step 3: The Outline
Bring your printouts with you to school and by the time your classes are over, you need to read at least the Wikipedia page, hopefully the Google pages as well. Once again, you'll have a ten page list of assignments for your other classes and maybe even unrelated assignments from the same one. Sadly, you have to add “The Outline” to that list.
Decide what your main points are and write them down. Find some information to support those points and write that down. Organize appropriately. The outline should take about 10-30 minutes depending on how well you know your topic.
Bonus Step 3.5: Time Management
The next step is going to be writing. That is a hard one. Obviously you don't want to spend enough time on the writing step to be confused for a responsible and driven college student, so here is what you do. Estimate the time required for the homework of each of your other classes. Take a mean average(add the times together, divide by the number of classes) and then assign yourself that amount of time to work on your paper. Alternatively, split the paper up into daily milestones based on your outline.
Step 4: Writing
There are many factors that come into this step, but your outline should give you a clear, easy direction. Your introduction should include the strongest or most unexpected point about your topic. After your introduction, pick off your main points one by one. Do a little quote mining from your hardback sources and throw them in, properly cited, with quotation marks and carry on supporting your points.
Remember proper paragraph organization. Start each paragraph with a point. The paragraph starting with a main point should serve as a list of supporting points and then give each of those points a paragraph of their own. The first sentence should include the point; the next section of the paragraph, one sentence or two, should be an argument or implication of that point and the last section of the paragraph should be cold, hard facts about that point. For example, this paragraph organization method is included in the curriculum of 100% of high schools and has been suggested to increase standardized test scores by an average of 52% scores in the essay section.
There are a couple important things to remember in the writing step to get your essay done and get an A in the process. Use proper grammar and sentence structure. Sentences start with a subject. The subject is followed by a verb and the sentence ends with an object. Do not allow your sentences to run or go too long. Keep your thoughts clear and organized, never stray too far from the outline.
Step 5: Turn it in
If you follow these steps, you should get your essay done without spending any more time per day than you do on any other class. Your high grade and your time are a great reward.
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