You have decided you want to update your resume to give it a more modern look but you are all thumbs with the idea of working with an infographic resume template, and the idea of paying someone to create your resume for you is not in your budget. You are not out of options yet – infographic resume builders can help you get a polished and professional looking resume by doing much of the heavy lifting for you.
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In the right circumstances, infographic resumes – using words and images to convey to a potential client who a freelancer is and what he or she can do for them – can be a wonderful way to get a potential client to sit up and take notice. If you are going to go this route, you’ll want to make sure that you are using this tool in a manner that presents your skills and abilities in the best possible way.
Protect your identity and integrity by avoiding fraudulent freelance job offers.
Image credit: Studio City Neighborhood Council
Because freelance job listings characteristically involve short-term telecommute work, they’re easier to fake than full-time, salaried job postings. If you’re a freelancer looking for a new project, get familiar with these easy tricks for spotting freelance job scams:
Take a Step Back from Start-ups
Start-up businesses should not be universally painted with the job-scam brush; however, it’s important to understand that con artists exploit the entrepreneurial spirit of start-up businesses to weave their web of deceit.
Beware of freelance job listings from newly established businesses that promise income from future earnings or a percentage of profits after “X” amount of labor. If an employer cannot afford to pay you now, then you cannot afford to say yes to the job offer.
Image credit: Kimberly Back
Never Pay to Work
Although this sounds like career advice from Captain Obvious, job scammers resort to inventive methods to coax freelancers out of money. Never agree to pay for a contract, design or training materials, or distribution costs.
Protect Your Samples
It’s difficult to envision a freelancer in 2014 who does not have an online portfolio of work generated from educational assignments, internships, or previous employment. When a potential employer presses you for additional work samples or detailed outlines pertaining to a specific project proposal, recognize that you may be on the fast track to getting swindled.
Image credit: EAGNews
Working for free on the promise of a job offer is bad business. Make sure you are always under the protection of a contract. If you readily provide free samples, don’t be surprised if you find your uncompensated work online, credited to someone else.
Avoid Calls for Inexperienced Workers
When have you ever contracted with a legitimate employer who is not interested in the professional and educational backgrounds of their freelancers? Even entry level positions require some measure of basic demonstrable skills or competency.
Image credit: Kimberly Back
Freelance job ads that boast “IMMEDIATE START – NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!” should be treated with as much caution as Jason Voorhees at a summer camp.
Respect Your Instincts
Similar to how you would refuse email lottery winnings from a “Nigerian prince,” go with your gut when conducting online searches for freelance employment offers. Remember to not take unnecessary RISKS:
• Research employers with accredited agencies, like the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
• Investigate employers on social media sites and with other freelancers
• Skip the spec work
• Keep your guard up when asked to provide sensitive personal information
• Stick to this promise: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Image credit: Manner Effect
If you are solicited by a freelance job scam artist, do your part to stop the cycle of employment fraud and report the incident to the BBB’s Scam Stopper or file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Have you been fooled by freelance employment fraud or are you aware of current scams circling the Web? Share your stories and tips in a comment.
Kimberly is the Social Media and Content Manager at Virtual Vocations, your one-stop shop for freelancers looking for legitimate telecommute jobs. Connect with Kimberly on Facebook and Google+.
Are you a freelance writer looking to break into the print market or an experienced writer looking for new places to pitch a story idea? We’ve compiled a list of places online where writers can find magazine markets online.
Before you take the time to send in a pitch, be sure to check out a copy of the magazine to get an idea of the types of stories that have been covered recently. Some of them will have an editorial calendar, and this will help you when you are pitching your ideas. You’ll also want to make sure you have the latest version of the writers’ guidelines, since they include important details such as how the magazine likes to receive pitches (electronically or via snail mail), amount of compensation, and whether you will be paid on acceptance or publication.
Whether you are looking to sell an article, a manuscript, or a book, the Writer’s Market can point you in the right direction. Use the rate chart to get an idea of how much to charge for different types of gigs. Sign up for a full year’s subscription or pay monthly.
This site lists original market listings on its website each week. They are received from the editors at each publication. Sign up for the newsletter and get the listings delivered to you by e-mail.
Go to the Funds for Writers site to see a selection of magazine markets. For more magazine opportunities delivered directly to your e-mail account every week, you can sign up for either the free newsletter or the paid subscription. The free option provides 15 opportunities per week, all of which pay at least $0.10 per word. The paid subscription costs $15.00 per year for 26 biweekly issues. Each one includes over 75 opportunities for freelance writers.
Absolute Write’s Water Cooler Paying Markets section has paying opportunities from editors. You’ll need to bookmark the page and visit it regularly to check for updates, though. There is no way to determine how often new threads will appear or if there will be something that will appeal to you.
The Writers’ Markets section of this site has a directory of magazines. Search by title or category (health, business, science, travel, home and family, etc.) to find the one you are interested in. Listings provide links to writers’ guidelines on publications’ websites.
Sunoasis lists magazines by genre. Click on the link to go to the writer’s guidelines page .The list includes a number of regional magazines, as well as travel, entertainment, hobby and craft, sports, science, music, computer, gardening magazines, and more.
This site is all about selling magazines, but it has links to numerous publications from all over the world, including contact information for editors. Do a bit of digging and you will be able to find new markets for your writing and get guidelines.
New Pages has published a Big List of Alternative Magazines on its website. Click on the links to go to individual websites to learn more about the magazines and request a copy of the guidelines.
This list of American magazines (general, business, and trade) last updated in February 2013. It also includes links to several magazine publishers and a number of writers’ magazines.
Thirty Thousand Feet Aviation Directory
If you are interested in writing for the aviation market, you’ll want to see the magazine listings posted here. They range from aircargo and transport magazines to airline interest publications to airport-related publications and inflight magazines. Aviation history, aircraft model, and aviation news magazines are also listed here.
Brint lists magazines and e-zines in alphabetical order. You will also find a number of journals grouped by subject matter here on various topics, such as e-commerce, biology, medicine, law, mathematics, and psychology.
Visit this site to access links to a number of Jewish periodicals online. The site also provides links to News Associations and newspapers.
Kendall Hanson – Trade Magazines by Industry
This directory is described as a “work in progress.” Several categories are represented here, and include Arts and Entertainment, Beauty and Fashion, Financial Services, Recreation/Amusement, Retail, and Transportation/Freight.
There are several categories of online magazines represented here. Simply click on the one you are interested in to see a list of magazines in English, as well as other languages.
This resource has listings for magazines, as well as a number of academic and independent journals.
Towse’s Links to Online Submission Guidelines
Paying markets are listed alphabetically. Click on the letter to see a list of magazines. The listings indicate whether the magazines pay on submission or on publication if that information is readily available.
Trade magazines are an untapped source of income for many freelance writers, and TradePub.com lists them alphabetically and by topic (agriculture, engineering, human resources, retail, sales, utility and energy, etc.)
All image credits: sxc.hu
According to the U.S. Greeting Card Association, we love sending special messages to our nearest and dearest. About 1.6 billion Christmas cards will be purchased this year to send our best wishes to friends, loved ones, neighbors, and coworkers. These very healthy numbers mean there are many opportunities for freelance writers who can master a turn of a phrase to capture a person’s interest and make a greeting card feel as though it were written to express the thoughts or emotions of the person who wishes to send it.
This kind of writing is very precise. You have a very limited space in which to work, and you will need to choose every word with care. Either your card is going to grab a person’s attention and fit exactly what he or she wants to say on a particular occasion, or it will be left on the shelf, so to speak.
This market is like any other, so you will need to do your homework before you submit any verses to a greeting card company. Go online and do some research. Find out what types of cards different companies offer and click on the most popular ones.
Get a feel for each company’s particular style before you start trying to compose anything. Look at the length of the verses, the type of wording used, and the subjects that the cards deal with. If you excel at writing humorous greeting cards, your contribution may not be the best fit for a very traditional publisher.
When you are ready to submit your work to a particular greeting card market for freelancers, make sure that you follow the instructions to the letter. Some of them still want to receive submissions by regular mail, while others are open to hearing from writers by e-mail. If you are asked to send in your idea for a card on a cardboard card in a particular size, then that is the size that the publisher wants to see. Don’t send in your submission on plain paper.
Do tell the editor exactly to whom your card is directed. If you are writing a greeting card for a father, mother, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, friend, husband, wife, or sweetheart, you will want to set this up by sharing some directions with the reader before starting the verse.
If your concept involves a specific image, share this as well. You will need to set the visual scene so that your idea will be implanted in the editor’s mind before he or she starts to read your idea. Simply sharing a verse without this extra information may not be enough to clearly convince the person reviewing your work that it will be enough to get your point across.
To make it worth your while to submit your work to a greeting card company, do submit several poems at once. Since this type of submission is relatively short, it makes sense to wait until you have a number of poems to share. Some freelance writers send in a batch of 10 or 20 at a time to an editor to review and have the chance of getting a larger pay if they have multiple submissions accepted at once.
If you feel that you have the chops to break into this highly-structured type of writing, here is a list of greeting card markets that accept outside submissions.1.
1. Amber Lotus Publishing E-mail pdf with sample of your work.
2. Artists to Watch Submissions are reviewed quarterly, so you will need to be patient if waiting for a response.
3. Avanti Press Fill out form to be considered for future writing opportunities.
4. Designer Greetings Accepts submissions from writers by mail; no electronic submissions for greeting cards accepted.
5. NobleWorks Submit online form to request copy submission guidelines.
6. Moonpig Review online guidelines before submitting by regular mail or electronically.
7. Comstock Adult humor greeting card company. Download submission guidelines from website.
8. Freedom Greeting Card Company African-American greeting card company. Send e-mail query for creative submissions.
9. Warner Press Christian greeting card company. Read submission guidelines online.
10. Calypso Cards See submission guidelines on website.
11. DaySpring Cards Christian greeting cards. See submission procedures online.
If you are a talented artist or photographer as well as a writer, greeting card companies are also looking for people who can provide images for their cards. Check the submission guidelines to see whether the greeting card company you are interested in will accept both types when you are looking for this type of freelance writing gig.
photo credit: Cranky Pressman via photopin cc
photo credit: TexasEagle via photopin cc
It may seem a bit strange that a freelancer, who is running a business, is preparing a resume to present him or herself to a client, much like someone who is applying for a job would do. While freelance writers and other professionals do bill by the word, hour, or project, and don’t get paid a salary like an employee, clients do need to have a way to evaluate whether someone would be a good fit for a particular project.
Preparing a freelance writer resume is something that independent contractors can struggle with. It’s a different exercise than writing a resume for a brick and mortar job, since freelancers are dealing with clients, not employers.
At the start of your freelance writing career or during times when work is a bit hard to come by, turning down gigs may be the furthest thing from your mind.
If you are new to freelance writing, where do you find your first client? That depends on your situation. Your options will be different, depending on whether you are transitioning to freelancing from a full-time job that involves writing or you are starting your business up from scratch. You can find freelance writing clients in places you may not automatically think of, so read on for some ideas.
One question freelance writers have is where to find clients. The good news is that potential clients are everywhere. Once you get in the mindset that everyone you meet could be a potential client, you will start to see opportunities for your business that didn’t exist before. Here are some places where you can find freelance work:
