Post: #451

(01-21-2015 11:57 AM)bojangles Wrote:  I'm developing my ebook/book right now, I've researched that my target market is around 50 million to 100 million, which is crazy.

Haha imagine tens of millions of Indians all reading the book and then heading off to Eastern Europe.

Post: #452

Awesome to see that there are guys in here who took the advice in here to heart, stuck with it and are now making good money off of it! Big shout to Double B for his continuously dropping golden nuggets in here! All the best in your start up project man! I'm sure you'll crush it!

Btw, BB, you still have your private forum up man? Could you pm me the URL of it please? As I don't remember it anymore.

I'm at a cross road now, just got laid off from my oil sands job and wondering about my next move. Not too keen at all on returning to the corporate world as you guys can imagine!

Looking more towards online, setting up an ecommerce site or even freelancing.

Decision time!

Post: #453

Picked up another job just now. $10 for each 300 word article for the first test round to be reviewed thereafter. Seems like a legit operation for a change haha. Amazing how much work is out there if you pay attention!

Also got my first 5 star feedback after chasing the last guy. Small steps to better things!

I second VP's question about BB's forum. Please send me an invite too!

Post: #454

edit

Post: #455

New membership appears to be closed.

Post: #456

What kind of jobs should I be bidding on? I majored in political science and have worked in government. I feel like there has got to be something out there for that?

I have just been bidding on random shit.

Also, I don't know what I should be writing in the approach to the job section. I have tried a few different things, but no success yet.

Post: #457

Guys, please don't share links to my sites I've given you via pm without asking first. Unless it's one run by my BB pseudonym, like NotesFromBeyond, of course.

I may go public with the private forum at some other point. Cheers.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #458

Note to the members of the private forum (and readers of my blog).

Not sure what's up with my hosting account. They said my sites were supposed to go live again yesterday, but they still have not. I contacted Hostgator support, and the guy was vague about why it was still down or why he couldn't take care of it. Then he said no need to support a ticket because it was just a matter of waiting (without explaining any possibilities why it was taking unusually long. I supported a ticket anyways after dropping that bastard a 2-star and am now trying to get in touch with their chat guys again to bug them more.

One guy emailed me about why the forum was down, so just wanted to post an update.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #459

(01-22-2015 06:40 PM)General Mayhem Wrote:  What kind of jobs should I be bidding on? I majored in political science and have worked in government. I feel like there has got to be something out there for that?

I have just been bidding on random shit.

Also, I don't know what I should be writing in the approach to the job section. I have tried a few different things, but no success yet.

Obviously play to your strengths, but you may have to bid on some work that stretches your boundaries a tad. If you aren't desparate for money, just bid on the jobs that suit what you want, unless you want to pick up side experience to grow your portfolio and client working experience.

Even better, brainstorm companies or authority blogs that could benefit from your background and start sending out well-tailored emails. Start a blog somewhere in the political science niche while you're at it. If you don't need money RIGHT NOW, this is a WAY better expenditure of your time than taking on small jobs on unrelated subjects. A solid blog on your specialization will be a powerful positioning tool that leaves no doubt of your capabilities.

In the approach to the job section, I just paste in a small bit inviting a phone or skype convo.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #460

(01-25-2015 01:00 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

(01-22-2015 06:40 PM)General Mayhem Wrote:  What kind of jobs should I be bidding on? I majored in political science and have worked in government. I feel like there has got to be something out there for that?

I have just been bidding on random shit.

Also, I don't know what I should be writing in the approach to the job section. I have tried a few different things, but no success yet.

Obviously play to your strengths, but you may have to bid on some work that stretches your boundaries a tad. If you aren't desparate for money, just bid on the jobs that suit what you want, unless you want to pick up side experience to grow your portfolio and client working experience.

Even better, brainstorm companies or authority blogs that could benefit from your background and start sending out well-tailored emails. Start a blog somewhere in the political science niche while you're at it. If you don't need money RIGHT NOW, this is a WAY better expenditure of your time than taking on small jobs on unrelated subjects. A solid blog on your specialization will be a powerful positioning tool that leaves no doubt of your capabilities.

In the approach to the job section, I just paste in a small bit inviting a phone or skype convo.

Thanks for the info BB.

Here's an update. I've done 10 bids since I started on elance. No bites on the first 8 but I won 9 and 10.

I think the biggest difference was that I started making my proposals a little more informal, and mentioned right away that I read the proposal, and then mentioned some of the skills I had that they were looking for.

One of the responses said, "Thank you for being honest and upfront! I like that."

Finally got the ball rolling, it's exciting.

Funny now that I have a deadline to meet my macbook crashed. My roommate let me borrow one of his old laptops, and the keyboard sucks. It's like a fucking typewriter. The f, g, and right shift keys are all busted.

Not going to let it stop me obviously, it just makes shit interesting.

Post: #461

Constantly tailoring your approach is a good idea. I was just discussing with Enigma that it seems like my bids go stale after a while, and I have to change them.

My acceptance rates have been a bit slow lately and about to do another refresh.

GM, are you working on any inbound marketing strategies (blogging, guest blogging, etc). That's something I wish I would have focused on more a long time ago. In the beginning, you'll be doing mostly outbound, but as you go, you want more clients coming to you so that you can bid less. Also working towards long-term relationships with the ones you do land cuts down on your marketing time a lot.

Again, if you don't need the paycheck right now, you can put more effort into your inbound marketing systems from the beginning.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #462

(01-28-2015 09:44 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  Constantly tailoring your approach is a good idea. I was just discussing with Enigma that it seems like my bids go stale after a while, and I have to change them.

My acceptance rates have been a bit slow lately and about to do another refresh.

GM, are you working on any inbound marketing strategies (blogging, guest blogging, etc). That's something I wish I would have focused on more a long time ago. In the beginning, you'll be doing mostly outbound, but as you go, you want more clients coming to you so that you can bid less. Also working towards long-term relationships with the ones you do land cuts down on your marketing time a lot.

Again, if you don't need the paycheck right now, you can put more effort into your inbound marketing systems from the beginning.

I'm not doing any inbound marketing right now. I have a blog but it's mostly just a way for me to vent, too crass and inappropriate to be using as a reference. I don't promote it anywhere even, but at least I get some wordpress experience out of it. It's good for self reflection too.

I would have no idea where to start with inbound marketing.

What I do know is that I don't want to be stuck doing freelance forever. Eventually I would like to be producing my own product of some kind. I think that is where the read money is at.

Freelance has opened up a whole new world for me though, and I think it is good experience. I am glad I came back to writing after having given up on it for a few years. It felt good to actually get paid for it.

Right now I don't really need the paycheck though. It would be nice, but I am not going to starve without it.

Post: #463

You guys won't believe this shit...

One of my clients has just asked me to write an 8 part series on the benefits of apple cider vineger.

Post: #464

(02-02-2015 06:00 PM)dreambig Wrote:  You guys won't believe this shit...

One of my clients has just asked me to write an 8 part series on the benefits of apple cider vineger.

Nice! Sounds a lot better than the air purifiers I have been writing about.

Post: #465

I've got a writing gig for anyone that can write sales style content. It's quick and I'll create a custom job for you on elance. Drop me a PM if you can get something like this done in an hour or so.

Post: #466

Great thread by BB here...

As a fellow writer, I just wanted to echo some of his comments about Elance. It's got a bad rep for bottom of the barrel gigs, too much competition from the 3rd world,etc..

But if you dig around a bit, there are diamonds in the rough. Just landed a $700 gig writing a 15-slide ppt 'pitch'. I reckon it'll take me three or four hours. You can do the math on that, well over $100 an hour.

I live in SEA. Just two gigs like that a month more than covers my living expenses.
For you guys slaving away in office jobs, that's something to think long and hard about.

Post: #467

(02-07-2015 03:00 AM)Julian The Apostate Wrote:  Great thread by BB here...

As a fellow writer, I just wanted to echo some of his comments about Elance. It's got a bad rep for bottom of the barrel gigs, too much competition from the 3rd world,etc..

But if you dig around a bit, there are diamonds in the rough. Just landed a $700 gig writing a 15-slide ppt 'pitch'. I reckon it'll take me three or four hours. You can do the math on that, well over $100 an hour.

I live in SEA. Just two gigs like that a month more than covers my living expenses.
For you guys slaving away in office jobs, that's something to think long and hard about.

I never seem to find jobs like this haha, lucky bastarrd

Post: #468

delete

Post: #469

(02-07-2015 10:26 AM)bojangles Wrote:  

(02-07-2015 03:00 AM)Julian The Apostate Wrote:  Great thread by BB here...

As a fellow writer, I just wanted to echo some of his comments about Elance. It's got a bad rep for bottom of the barrel gigs, too much competition from the 3rd world,etc..

But if you dig around a bit, there are diamonds in the rough. Just landed a $700 gig writing a 15-slide ppt 'pitch'. I reckon it'll take me three or four hours. You can do the math on that, well over $100 an hour.

I live in SEA. Just two gigs like that a month more than covers my living expenses.
For you guys slaving away in office jobs, that's something to think long and hard about.

I never seem to find jobs like this haha, lucky bastarrd

Are you not seeing them listed? Every day I see at least a couple like this. Granted, that's out of hundreds of jobs posted. But generally, look for $500+ budget clients who've already spent a lot of money.

Most of the high paying gigs out there are sales copy, so I'd search specifically for that. But proposal and grant writing can also be very lucrative.

As for landing these kind of gigs, it's all about positioning. I make it clear that I'm the best thing since sliced bread, a premium provider who's going to dramatically improve their bottom line.

Writing the proposal is a real art form. I've written hundreds and I feel like I've just started to get the hang of it. Using a strange combo of flattery and arrogance has worked best for me. I'd like to expand on that but I'm late for a date!

Post: #470

There's a lot of great information here.
I definitely get the idea of there being significant opportunity. The possibility of a 700 job that takes 3-4 hours to complete (but how much time did it take to find this job? that counts too).
But I also like to look at the big picture.
With you guys that do this full time, what's a monthly range in terms of net income and total hours spent on work & work related tasks?
Also, if you have been doing it non stop for months on end and start to get burnt out...does taking 2 or 4 weeks off completely fuck your business or is it doable?
About ten years ago I worked for an internet copywriting service for a year that let me work remotely, and remember getting seriously burnt out at times. The best solution I ended up with was doing intense non stop writing of mediocre but adequate quality for 4 hours in the morning (basically what I was given ten hours to do I did in 4 by buckling down, taking no breaks and permitting no distractions and writing fast)..and then biking/hiking/walking etc for the rest of the day.

Post: #471

(02-07-2015 11:51 AM)VolandoVengoVolandoVoy Wrote:  There's a lot of great information here.
I definitely get the idea of there being significant opportunity. The possibility of a 700 job that takes 3-4 hours to complete (but how much time did it take to find this job? that counts too).
But I also like to look at the big picture.
With you guys that do this full time, what's a monthly range in terms of net income and total hours spent on work & work related tasks?
Also, if you have been doing it non stop for months on end and start to get burnt out...does taking 2 or 4 weeks off completely fuck your business or is it doable?
About ten years ago I worked for an internet copywriting service for a year that let me work remotely, and remember getting seriously burnt out at times. The best solution I ended up with was doing intense non stop writing of mediocre but adequate quality for 4 hours in the morning (basically what I was given ten hours to do I did in 4 by buckling down, taking no breaks and permitting no distractions and writing fast)..and then biking/hiking/walking etc for the rest of the day.

That's the hard part in my opinion. Working from an independent location is a skill.

Everybody seems to think that it would be easy to work independently but it isn't as easy as it seems. Nobody is watching over you.

That's why working for somebody else is the route most people take. You always have a supervisor holding your hand and babysitting you to keep you on track.

When you go out on your own you have to keep yourself on track and a lot of people lack that sort of willpower.

Post: #472

(02-07-2015 11:51 AM)VolandoVengoVolandoVoy Wrote:  There's a lot of great information here.
I definitely get the idea of there being significant opportunity. The possibility of a 700 job that takes 3-4 hours to complete (but how much time did it take to find this job? that counts too).
But I also like to look at the big picture.
With you guys that do this full time, what's a monthly range in terms of net income and total hours spent on work & work related tasks?
Also, if you have been doing it non stop for months on end and start to get burnt out...does taking 2 or 4 weeks off completely fuck your business or is it doable?
About ten years ago I worked for an internet copywriting service for a year that let me work remotely, and remember getting seriously burnt out at times. The best solution I ended up with was doing intense non stop writing of mediocre but adequate quality for 4 hours in the morning (basically what I was given ten hours to do I did in 4 by buckling down, taking no breaks and permitting no distractions and writing fast)..and then biking/hiking/walking etc for the rest of the day.

The answers to your questions are highly variable.

Some weeks I work 10 hours, others 50 hours. It depends on how many projects I've taken on.

It's pretty easy to take extended time off. Good writers, especially copywriters, often have 6 month waiting lists anyways. So I'll just tell my clients I can't take on anymore work at the moment....never had a problem.

Yes, you can get burnt out. Since you work at home, there's a very blurry line between work and play. I'll be watching Game of Thrones one hour and then writing a sales page the next. That's probably not ideal as far as productivity.

I'm trying to switch up my schedule and get all my work done early in the morning. But when you're an undisciplined sod like me, drinking and debauching 'til 4AM, it's not so easy!

As General Mayhem said, discipline is by far the hardest aspect of this lifestyle. It's easy to coast along doing the absolute bare minimum.

The key thing is to set regular short-term goals for yourself. "I'm going to work 6 hours undisturbed today". "I'm going to make x$ this month". Write these goals down and tape 'em to the wall in front of you. It may sound like positive thinking quackery but it works.

Post: #473

Completed my first project last Friday. The client eventually just let me go on autopilot, stopped giving me directions and just let me write. He wanted me to continue but I couldn't for the amount of money he was willing to pay.

The good news is that I bid on 3 new jobs with my new 5 star feedback and won 2 of them.

Fuck yes!

Post: #474

By the way, one of the jobs I bid the highest amount they said they would pay for "lifestyle articles."

I thought it was $40 for all 5 articles, turns out she is going to pay me $40 per article

Props to Rionomad for giving the tip to spend the extra connects to your proposal sponsored. This job had 22 people bid on it, and I was by no means the most qualified or the cheapest.

Post: #475

Here's a question for you guys. I've just started dipping my toe into the waters of copywriting to transition away from articles. The people I usually lose bids to are (no surprise) really good with awesome samples and a lot of experience. That doesn't bother me--the experience will come. However, there's this one chick who claims to "infuse her work with neurolinguistic programming" who wins quite a few of the copywriting jobs I bid on.

She has a shitload of samples in her portfolio, but after reading a lot of them, they seem to be, well...poorly written. Lots of spelling and grammar mistakes. I'm wondering if she just has a world-class bid or what. Here's her profile if anyone wants to take a look.

https://www.elance.com/s/dboerstler/

Maybe she has used NLP or dark magic or some other shit to make her samples appear bad to throw me off.