Taking Care of Your Digital Footprint

Our generation of ‘tweens’ may wonder what on earth we did without the internet and its many tools; How did we stay connected to friends? How did we complete our assignments? What did we do of an evening? To them, anyone over the age of 25 is a dinosaur when it comes to the internet and in a couple of ways, they’re actually not far wrong.

Social media began, for me and many others at least, with Yahoo chat rooms, forums, Myspace pages and finally MSN messaging. It was a simpler time. You could be faceless, free and anonymous and social media certainly didn’t take over your life like it does today. Smartphones, laptops and a computer in most home was still years away, we were so naive in the early days of the WWW, but could that now come back to bite us?

I recently stumbled across this interesting article http://bit.ly/1BDWH6g which shows todays figures for social media users, among other facts, and I found it astounding. The billions of internet users today, in the majority, know about internet safety and how to protect their personal details online. Back in the day, were we so savvy?

The things we post on the internet can be viewed by an unlimited number of people, and they could remain online for eternity. Unbenown to many, the digital footprint we have left behind could be extremely detrimental to us in a variety of ways. For example, do we want a prospective employer to discover that night we posted about marijuana when we were 17? Do we want a new romance to come across intermate (albeit public) posts between ourselves and a past love?
In truth, nobody wants to be judged by their past and an online past can be so much more revealing than we’d have possibly thought.

However, it isn’t too late to clean up our digital footprints

With every blog post, profile picture and social media comment we add something new to our digital footprint. Friends, acquaintances and total strangers can learn a lot from them about us. Our digital footprint shows us at our best, but it can also show us at our very worst (the drunken Facebook status, the silly selfies, the long unnecessary rants…) and these posts can have huge consequences years after they’ve been entirely forgotten by us.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a mass-delete option for past posts on most sites. So short of deleting all of your online profiles, dealing with your digital footprint could take some time. Warning – this could also be a hugely cringe-worthy journey into your social past, but it could also bring back great memories and a time for reflection on how not to be THAT poster again.

The first place to head to is your social media accounts and check those privacy settings. To be as private as possible, ensure that only your chosen online friends can view your photos and your posts.

There is the option of allowing friends of friends to view your online presence, but consider the fact that if you have 200 friends who all have 200 friends each then this is allowing 40,000 people access to your profiles. The typical adult has been 100-300 friends/followers on each account, so if you have many more then it may be an idea to have a quicksort out of your list. Do you know all of your Facebook friends? Do you really want the creepy guy who serves you in the sandwich shop following your every move online? How many times have you walked passed that Mother on the school run and still not said hello, but kept her on your Facebook? Be ruthless. These people need to go.

Take the time to go through your profiles with a fine-toothed comb. Have in mind that if you wouldn’t like to show your Grandmother the post, then remove it. This includes foul language, rants about people and posts that reveal too much about you. Take care of those unflattering photographs by deleting or un-tagging and make sure that the online you is the person you want people to know.

The Questions You Should Ask Before You Hit Submit

Prevent silly future mistakes and blemishes on your digital footprint by asking yourself the following questions before every post:

1. How does this post make you look – What may be a joke between you and a couple of friends could be anything but humorous to an employer, coworker or romantic partner. If you want your best friend to know that you bumped into a topic of gossip today, tell them and not the world. If you want a colleague to know that your boss is annoying you, tell them (or better still, work on this in person with your boss) and although you may want to tell a small group of girl friends that you’ve started a juice diet, do you want the hot guy on the commute to know this?

2. Is the post okay to be shared – With all the privacy settings in the world, this doesn’t prevent the new phenomenon of ‘screenshotting’. Your post could be screen shotted by a ‘frenemy’ and discussed with their friends so make sure that you haven’t posted anything that you wouldn’t say in person. It’s very easy for a person to copy your post and share it, so make sure it shows you in the best light.

3. Are you revealing too much – The more you share about yourself, it goes without saying that the more people will learn about you. A status telling your friends that you will be on holiday for a week at the end of July, may also reveal to a light-fingered acquaintance the dates that your property will be empty. Police advise that if you wouldn’t have the post enlarged and stuck to a banner in your window, then don’t press submit.

Stay on top of your digital footprint by keeping an eye on yourself and regularly performing an internet search on your name. This way you will be able to find information about yourself, that other people can also discover as well as maybe finding posts about yourself that you didn’t know existed. If you stumble across an old website you used, that you no longer do, then deactivate this account.
If you’re unsure of how to remove previous posts on a social media account then you can find the links here: http://bit.ly/1dfTHmm

Clarke Murphy

Be a Better Writer

Live to write or write to live?

Long ago, a career in writing was the province of a select few. These writers, such as Ernest Hemingway for example, had a huge influence over the style of writing, journalism and fiction genre of their time – Hemingway was a leader who every aspiring writer followed.

Today, almost anyone can sit at a computer, self-publish an e-book, upload a blog or create a website and call themselves a writer. Unless you’re going for a high up position in-house where qualifications will be needed, there’s nothing legally wrong with stating that you’re a writer if you are in fact not. Many writers begin their careers, and do extremely well, without having a spectacular education record to their name such as author JK Rowling who created the universally famous Harry Potter series. Rowling did take entrance exams into Oxford University, but was not accepted. She moved onto the University of Exeter where a professor describes her as being a ‘quietly competent student who gave the appearance of doing what was necessary’. Rowling herself says she remembers doing very little work and instead much preferred to spend time reading Tolkien or Dickens and listening to The Smiths. The Harry Potter series was first created on a manual typewriter = she began with little, look where she is now!

A writer can be someone who writes to earn money, or writes as a leisure activity. What kind of writer are you? Do you write to live, or live to write? Whichever category you fit into, there are endless ways in which you can become a better writer. Here are a few ideas for you to try to either enjoy your pastime more thoroughly or increase your exposure and your income!

Top Tips

Establish a routine

You can’t write well when there’s distractions all around you. The mind needs quiet and to be relaxed in order for your thoughts to run freely and for your creativity to be allowed time to shine. Find the best time of day for your writing and write! Nothing should be able to interfere; take the phone off the hook, shut the curtains if needed and ignore your emails.

Learning how to write a draft

It’s much better to write an entire draft without looking back, than to tweak each sentence as you write it. The more tweaking, editing and messing about you do during your writing, the less your mind can focus on the actual piece. There’s an old writers rule which goes like this: ‘Have the courage to write badly’ and it’s something I stick to. A master piece is what you aim for as the finished production, not after each sentence or paragraph. This will mean that you have a substantial body of work before you need to worry about the necessary changes. Build your foundation and then move on to the editing stage.

The importance of feedback

When someone tells you something is wrong, or doesn’t work for them – they are almost always right. When they tell you how to fix things, they are almost always wrong. You should be open to peoples opinions but not necessarily their suggestions. This is because writers are unique, they come from many different angles and they have their own style, suddenly writing in a different way is an unnatural thing to do.

Second readers

Before you submit, upload or publish a piece it’s important to have received some impartial feedback. This can come from friends or family, but is more likely to be honest when the source is someone unknown and this is where websites that have forums or are specifically for writers and readers (such as www.wikinut.com can be handy – however, never upload too much and you should always plan to rewrite the piece slightly, due to the loss of royalties if you choose to go down this path).

Be inspired

The fame and success of others can be taken as a great encouragement for yourself. This article here about authors who were rejected but made it big is a great inspirational piece.

Know when to stop

Spending hours and hours writing is counter productive. Your brain is a muscle and just like all the others in your body it tires, when this happens it doesn’t perform as well. Imagine an athlete beginning their days training, then consider how they’d be if they trained all day and we’re still attempting to do so much hours on – hard to do because this doesn’t happen, they know when to cut off and when their bodies have had enough. A writer should know the same for their trade muscle!

Beat writers block

Writers block is known to all in this game, it’s the most frustrating thing and it can literally make you want to give up. The thing is that this is totally normal and even the most successful writers admit to experiencing this, routinely. The worst thing you can do is to try to work through it – it won’t happen. Maybe you will squeeze a few hundred words out, but the quality of them won’t be high. Step away from your desk, go for a walk, take a bath, bake a cake, meditate, listen to music or just enjoy some quiet time. This opens up the gap you need for the words to flow, as well as relieving the tensions and stresses that were contributing to the block.

 

None of this really matters…

If you want to write a book, then the way to do this is to actually write a book. A pen can be useful, typings good. Put words on a page and see what you come up with. Some of the best ideas will come when you’re not thinking, you could be having a bath, at work, on the toilet and have a thought which will produce the next big thing. Or you could just enjoy your bath, work, or, erm, toilet.

 

Some of the best writers never realise how good they are.

Clarke Murphy

10 Reasons I love Google

10 Things Google Have Given us all to Love

Google has now been with us for nearly two decades – since it’s establishment in the year 1997. Many of us will head to Google as second nature for anything from recipe ideas, to seek tradesmen, to research information or for entertainment purposes. Almost anything you can think of, you can find through Google and it receives an incredible 5,922,000,000 new searches every day!

So, why is Google so popular?

Google can be classified as the worlds best search engine for any one of the following reasons:

• It has a simplicity which many other search engines lack.
• It’s reliable, fast and user friendly.
• There are adverts but they are less noticeable and in a smaller volume – making searching a smoother process.
• Googles search algorithm brings up the most relevant websites to the top of the page – highly important as statistically 97% of internet users will never go passed the first page of results.

Here we Look at the 10 Best Google Services:

10 – Google Blogger:

This is a service which allows bloggers to self publish their articles. Blogging is a term we’re all familiar with and with over 152 million different blogs accessible on the internet today, it’s clear they’re a hugely popular thing.

Did you know that there’s a new blog published online every half second?!

That means that each day there are 172,800 brand new blogs uploading each day to the internet. In the majority, blogs are used as marketing strategies for businesses; to attract attention, gain recognition and increase an audience. They can also be used as fun ways to showcase your personal achievements, broadcast opinions, practice writing skills or simply as a hobby.

Google Blogger is available in more than 20 languages and the entire platform is totally free!

9 – Google Translate: This tool has phenomenal benefits for many different purposes regarding communication. It brings a huge advantage to internet users who are maybe studying a foreign language, planning a trip abroad who are in interlingual online relationships. More than a third of marriages today will have began through online relationships and Google Translate means there’s now no barrier between interlingual people, who could be perfectly compatible for one another. Internet chat rooms, forums and blogs are open to all people the world over and not every person will speak to same language. Before services such as Google Translate, if you were not bilingual then you would struggle immensely to maintain a conversation with someone who spoke a different language. Google Translate takes this problem away and is totally free to use. It supports 64 different languages and not only translates single words but entire sentences and web pages between any combination of the 64 languages – and as it’s Google, it’s extremely simple to use.

8 – Google Docs: Similar to Microsoft Office but without the $149 price tag, Google Docs has completely changed the way people collaborate through online documents and backup their work. For people with all kinds of purposes who need an online work station, they can benefit greatly through Google Docs. Create headings, sub headings, different fonts, add in images, save, store, add tables, use word count, spell check and share your work online in the most simplistic fashion. Through Google Docs you can also create spreadsheets and presentations making it the perfect tool for businesses – and new businesses are switching to Docs at the rate of 5,000 daily. Google Docs are a cloud service, which means that once you have an account you can access your documents from any computer, anywhere in the world.

Highly convenient, simplistic to use and 100% free – Google Docs ticks all the boxes!

7 – Google Ads: The adverts that we see on Google differ from those displayed on other search engines, mainly in the fact that they’re both relevant and useful. If you’re using a different search engine and type the keywords ‘Snow Leopard’, for example, you’re likely to see a variety of adverts down the side of the listed results which could be for used cars, cheap holidays, hotels, dating websites or debt solutions – very rarely would they hold any relevance to your search. Google’s different, it makes money from it’s adverts and it uses them accordingly to searches which is why it’s so often chosen by companies – it reveals their adverts to a target audience and doesn’t annoy the target audience in the process.

6 – Google Chrome: Created in September 2008, Google Chrome is one of the worlds favourite browsers and used by almost half of internet users today as their main search engine. We love it, it’s simplicity and it’s speed are both convenient and smooth, making internet searching quick and easy – and isn’t that exactly what we want? The browser is one which is very consistent and it allows you to sign in with your Google account on multiple devices whilst maintaining the same experience throughout. For example, if you were to use your desktop PC to search something through Google Chrome, it would remember this if you wanted to double check your findings later through your smartphone

5 – YouTube: YouTube streams 4 billion online videos each day and is the main online video sharing site in the world. When videos are said to go ‘viral’, you can bet they began through YouTube. Launched in 2007, there are now over 1 billion new and unique users to the site every month, who between them watch more than 6 billion hours of footage every four weeks – this is almost an hour per person walking the planet! Every sixty seconds around 100 hours of video are uploaded to the site and it’s used for many reasons such as marketing, entertaining, sociability and teaching.

4 – Android: Android was launched by Google in the year 2007 and is a mobile operating system which was seen as a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone. It’s based on Linux software and provides users with a fresh, new way to experience their smart phones. Every day there are approximately 934,000 new activations and the total number of Android users is now around 331 million! Android is extremely customisable in the way you can alter the system to meet your own needs and tastes, you can also download an incredible amount of applications (currently over 1 million available!) which include Twitter and Facebook as well as being able to order pizzas, play games and manage your bank account – basically everything you can do on your desktop PC but held in the palm of your hand.

3 – Google Maps: When this came along in 2005, it changed everything! No longer did people have to search through paper maps, paw over atlases or phone a friend, they could now plan their entire journey at their PC. More than this, they could see exactly how long the journey would take, whether on foot, by bicycle, car or bus and see the precise distance between locations. If they wanted a little extra, they could use the Street View tool which would allow them to see an area as if they were right there – very helpful when planning a holiday or house move!

2 – Google Mail: It is no exaggeration that Google Mail, or Gmail as it’s commonly known, changed the way that the world saw email. It wasn’t until 2007 that Google Mail became accessible to all, before this time and from 2004 it was an invitation-only release. Now used by 350 million active users, Gmail is one of the most popular email services on the web. It provides users with unlimited email storage, easy search of emails through keywords or using stars and the fact that you never have to delete an email is something that was unheard of previous to Google Mail.

1 – Google Search: The number one spot has to go to Google Search which is by far the best service to ever come from the internet giant. Google Search commands around 70% of the search market shares, it has more than 1 billion users and a gross revenue of more than $30 billion annually. Now with it’s voice search tool adapted to the majority of smartphones, it’s customisation options and incorporated apps, Google Search can be used just as easily by the IT novice and is still a wonder to the expert.

So, in my opinion and through many statistics, studies and reviews, Google continues to be the number one. I personally love it, would be at a loss without it and think it’s one of the essentials for a writer/blogger/consumer today.

Changing Your Mindset to be a More Profitable Freelancer

The Importance of Your Mindset…

 

It’s one of the most common problems for a freelance blogger:

“I know I have the talent, so why am I not earning?’’

So, here’s the reality of freelance blogging:

• Being able to write well, doesn’t guarantee money
• Being willing to work hard, won’t guarantee you money
• Being patient, isn’t going to guarantee money

Is it luck? Is it a case of who you know? In all honestly, I believe it is a big Yes to both of those questions. Once you get that one break, that employer who is all they say they are and who do have the work and contacts you need, then you’ve made it. Over the years I have possibly worked with hundreds of employers/clients, from the one time blog posts to the year long contracts and this provides you with a great insight to who to work for and who not to. Experience is the most valuable tool you need to succeed.

When I first began writing I was eager, too eager. I’d take on any job or project regardless of how it fitted into my lifestyle or what hours I had to put in. My family life became secondary, I worked day and night and it took me a long time to realise that the only pockets I was lining, were those of other people. There’s a saying by Lori Greiner which says:

‘Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hour weeks, to avoid working 40 hours a week’ – so true.

I didn’t begin a freelance writing career because I was too lazy to work out of the home. I’m a mother to three children, with a partner who works many hours out of the home each week (typically around 50). One wage wasn’t enough to survive on. As bills piled high and debts mounted, the need for me to start earning was becoming greater. In the UK child care is around £40 per day, per child – I have 3. The jobs out there willing to pay a minimum of £120 a day before I’d break even, surprisingly aren’t plentiful and so I looked into working from home. I’ve done the catalogue distribution jobs, the home selling and the evening work and nothing worked out. Then I considered writing from home and was amazed that it actually paid!

Luck: My first ever writing job was an article on immigration, I found a ‘wanted urgently’ ad online and applied. I got the job and I got paid £20 for a 400 word article, from then on I was hooked. I was quickly hired by a company who provided me with a long term contract, as I was freelance I was paid for the work I did so I strove to work as much as possible. The wage was a godsend, it paid for a wonderful Christmas, little luxuries and even a family holiday; things were better than they’d ever been. I work solidly for about 18 months, without a single day, night or evening off.

Reality Check: One night my children asked if I would mind helping them with their homework – I felt like I’d be slapped in the face. Why would they possibly think I would mind? I am their Mother, they are my whole world they should know I will always be there for them 100% – and then I realised, for the past year-and-a-half their mother had been a figure hunched over a keyboard in the corner. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d put our wellingtons on and gone on a muddy walk, the last time I’d pushed them on the swings or we’d gone on an adventure. It struck me, I’d been working so hard to provide for them that I’d hardly been in their lives at all.

I’d drop them at school in the morning, rush home and turn my computer on and then work through until it was time to collect them. I’d then take a brief pause, rush to pick them up, bring them home and start work again. I’d even eat the evening meal at my desk, and when bedtime came the bedtime stories were gradually made redundant – given over to DVD’s (something I swore I’d never do). I never saw any of this happen, if I ever had a stab of guilt I’d justify it by thinking ‘well I’ve just bought him the new Nikes he wanted’ or something equally as shallow.

I stopped my job taking over my life

I decided I’d cut down to 5 day weeks, 6 at the most. I also decided that the period in between picking my children up from school to them going to bed would be a computer free time. It was difficult, I was knocking back work that previously I’d have pounced on and in truth I questioned was it worth it? I soon learnt it was. The bits-of-nothing clients with the $10 jobs soon filtered away; I didn’t have the time for them. In their place, the more profitable clients came. The clients I was straight with and where my mindset had changed from being a needy employee to an equal employer. I employed myself and I wasn’t going to be ripped off.

I found a company I had previously worked for online, I saw my work showcased as their own and the prices they’d received – showing me that my wage had been a mere fraction of what I’d earnt them and yet the sacrifices I had made had been enormous.

As soon as I had a new thinking process, I developed into a more desirable candidate. I wasn’t willing to spend hours or days on trivial low-paying jobs and if I thought the project was worth more than the quoted price, I stated this. Those who wanted a quick buck disappeared to find a freelancer writer with an article-spin account and low quality work. Along came clients where mutual relationships were formed based on respect and understanding.

The art of negotiation: ‘I’m not willing to pay your asking price’ I’d agree this was fine and I wished them well. Many clients left it at this, but those who appreciated quality, who’d had me recommended to them or who had seen samples of my work and thought I was worth the money would come back to me. I estimate that 50% of clients tried again with an offer of more money and those that didn’t weren’t worth my time.

Being a good negotiator boils down to the following:

Not being greedy – you have low overheads, no travel expenses and little to cover. Being greedy with your prices is highly unattractive.

Know your worth – check out your competition, if you can beat their standards then exceed their prices

Don’t be arrogant – those you meet on the way up, could be there on the way down. Always be courteous, polite and respectful throughout all communications.

I’m not a success story

I don’t sit in an ivory tower with employers throwing money at me. I still bid on jobs, I still have days where I don’t earn a penny and I still know that I line the pockets of others more than my own. What I also know is that my children won’t be little forever, that my presence is more important than my presents and that if I don’t break my back for a $10 project, I haven’t lost out.

Clarke Murphy

Writing About Writing

 

Blogging for Business

The Importance of Blogging for Business.

Blogging. It’s a term we’re all familiar with and with more than 152 million blogs accessible on the internet today, it’s clear that they are an effective piece of online marketing. It is a statistical fact that a new blog is created online, somewhere around the world, every half second! By analyzing this statement, we realise that each hour is the equivalent to 3,600 seconds – and there are, obviously, 24 hours each day which totals 86,400 seconds. To multiply this figure by two we reach 172,800 which means that this is the number of brand new, unique blogs added to the internet every single day!

Blogs are effective, if you’re looking to attract attention online for whatever purpose then a blog can create this. Businesses who own and update their blogs, on a regular basis, generate 5 times more traffic (online interest) than businesses who are not blogging. A blog can help to influence a customer’s purchasing decisions, this is down to many factors such as them not being 100% sales targeting and generally more interesting, and fun, to read. The majority of marketing campaigns target a specific audience, this isn’t so with blogging. When you publish a blog online this can be shared, liked or commented on by anyone and once they have done this your blog is then showcased to their friends, if they like, share or comment it’s shown to their friends – and so on. What this means is that blogging increases your online exposure in unmeasurable numbers.

What do we know about Blogs?

Blogging first began in the late 1990’s according to Wikipedia’s History  on the subject, but it didn’t really take off until really quite recently – when more people found the internet and its features easily accessible. Blogging took off dramatically when the internet was available through mobile devices, meaning large bulky desktops weren’t needed in order to search the net. The number of people now using mobile internet is: 7,181,858,619 – and rising!The internet is a phenomenally powerful tool for a business; marketing, advertising, selling or promotions, and blogging is an imperative part of a companies success. Blogs are usually short in word count, no more than 500 words, which not only makes for easier reading but also means that their keyword density is heavier than standard articles. Their length will also encourage a reader to come back and see what else is new, this is why you should blog consistently. The Blog Economy speculate that more than 6.7 million people are regular bloggers, also that the most popular blogging website in the US has more than 46 million unique visitors monthly – blogs are part of online life, and one which you need to be looking at.

Blogging is an alternative to having a web presence, and a low cost one at that. It’s a way to get your business out there without the need for hiring in designers or developers and learning many internet skills yourself such as web html, which means it saves you both on time and financial resources. An example of a brilliant resource tool for internet research is Research Buzz who provide advertising, information and newsletters frequently through blogging. MacroMedia is another company who utilise this well, they supply a customer service blog for both staff and users to share solutions in a fashion which is interactive yet organised.

When we consider the astronomical number of blogs there are, it’s very clear that to have yours noticed it needs to stand out.

How to Use a Blog Well For Businesses

Blogging provides many ways to benefit your business, such as:

Frequently Asked Questions: According to Retailers Blog the average customer will not wait longer than ten minutes for a reply to a query. By incorporating Frequently Asked Questions and Answers into your blogs, customers won’t have to wait as the information will already be there. This saves many customers contacting you directly with the same queries, making things more convenient for all involved.

Promotions: Promotions are all about communication, and should not be 100% focused on advertising. Their main objectives are to raise awareness of the existence of products and there should be a mix between advertising and encouragement. If a customer wanted to come to your website solely to make a purchase, they wouldn’t be reading your blog so offer them something different than just sales targeting. Use your blog to highlight your promotions but not to make the entire blog focuses on them entirely.

Contests: Having contests in your blogs are a way to invite a potential customer back, regularly. They’re a fun, not salesy way of maintaining interest in your company. Maybe offer small incentives, prizes or even a non prize competition of a leaderboard entry.

What’s New: It can sometimes be difficult for a customer to find updates or new products so make it easy through a quick blog entry. You can also add what’s coming up and provide a comments box so that you can see first-hand how your ideas go down with potential clients and judge what’s gained interest and what hasn’t.

The key thing is to remember to update your blog regularly, this could be daily, weekly or even monthly but the more you get into the habit of providing readers with something new, fun, interesting or different than the more visits you can expect – and therefore the more sales!

Clarke Murphy

Writing About Writing

The Value of Education

Valuing Education

 

Education is certainly not limited to the pages of a text book, or within the walls of a classroom. Education is all around us; it’s within the people we meet, the situations we find ourselves in and the difficulties that we overcome. Every day you are learning, and the majority of the time you don’t even realise it! Learning is part and parcel of everyday life, with each hurdle we overcome we become more educated, every memory we hold captures a piece of time that taught us something. To be an educated person you don’t need to have a university degree, letters after your name or have left school with straight A’s. An educated person is someone who has a variety of skills, life lessons and general knowledge. They are people who have set a goal and they have a purpose in life. Educated people remain focused, they aspire to prosper and they have a never-ending hunger for knowledge.

As the great South African Leader, Nelson Mandela once said: ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.

In the western world, a school education is taken for granted, it’s expected. Children from the age of 5 years old have to be in full time education by law. They have key stages throughout this time where by a certain age they should be able to read and write, they should be provided with certain life skills and will undergo regular academic testing. Children living in third world countries see a school education as a luxury. But, does this mean that the children of the western world are more educated than those in the third world? No, it means they are educated differently. You sit a child from a third world setting in front of a test of fractions, mathematical equations and English literature they would likely be lost. The same said for a westernised child left to earn money and survive in a third world country. Neither child would be able to manage these tasks, but this doesn’t mean one child is more intelligent than the other, it means they are educated to a higher standard than each other in different ways.

Education isn’t preparation for life; education is life itself. The more you look around you and take note of the many different things, you possibly take for granted, the more educated you will become. Education is about opening your mind, it’s about never taking anything on face value and using whatever skills you have to hand in order to achieve a better understanding. A person should never close the door on learning, it’s a path with the only limitation being your own imagination. This path is full of interesting twists and turns, often necessary to broaden your own horizon. It was once said that education is about learning the things you didn’t even know you didn’t know, this is the basis to valuing education. We only use a tiny percentage of our brains (scientists predict around 10%), this may seem surprising but the amount of information we can fit into that 10% is astounding. The brain is a sponge which never fills, never dries and never gives up the natural want to learn. Open up your mind and you may be shocked and what you uncover.

Clarke Murphy

Be a Good Freelance Writer

Freelance Writers

I will begin this piece by stating clearly: ‘Not all freelance writers are good!’ In fact many aren’t. As a freelance writer myself I have often found that I am bidding on projects alongside ‘writers’ who submit proposals that I actually cannot make head nor tail of.

I read them in dismay

Try as I might to understand the words of some of my fellow bidders, I’m often left very perplexed. What does make sense to me is their proposal – $1 per 100 words, you charge that price and you’re not going to be outstanding, fact. 

The Types of Freelancers Out There…

I cannot abide is being classified in the same group as the following people…

Dictionary Swallowers:

”I am extremely excellent, I have an outstanding understanding of the English Language and I am immensely amazing at meeting deadlines…”

Just no. We all like to impress with fancy words from time to time (I even did it in this blog, replacing the word ‘confused’ with ‘perplexed’) But almost obsessive use of fancy synonyms surely impress nobody? And sure annoy me!

-The example above I actually witnessed with my own eyes, it wasn’t easy to read.

The ‘Pick me, Pick me!’ People:

I can complete you work in the next 30 minutes – Ok, they usually say an hour or so but I’m a writer, I tend to be dramatic. A good piece of work can take hours, or even days. You need to really research the job requirements, look into exactly what the niche is and ensure you understand everything completely before even putting pen to paper (or finger to key). Diving into a job like a bulldozer and with your eyes set firmly on the finish line is not the way to go.

I just love your industry – The majority of jobs I get are not fun in any way; rewriting product descriptions, legislation policies, visa requirements etc. are not something you can love. It’s sometimes an advantage to say that you find the topic interesting, but nobody likes a creep.

 

The Under Cutters – ‘I will beat any price – $0.50 no problem!’ – The amount of times I have been told by prospective clients that I overcharge, that I won’t find a better deal or that they ‘hope god be with me’ (yes, someone actually said this), is quite shocking. Of course, one of the advantages to hiring a freelancer is they have lower overheads and so are generally cheaper. However, cheaper does not mean better. I value my time, I put a lot of energy into my projects and I don’t do this out of the goodness of my heart. I want a completed project to tick all the boxes and I am simply not prepared to work on something for a full day for the price of a hamburger. You are not going to gain respect by charging very low prices for your work, employers will be dubious and very often rightly so.

The Way The Above Freelancers Make Money

If I was part of the magic circle then giving away trade secrets wouldn’t be wise. However, I’m not. What I am is a passionate, enthusiastic writer who hates that the word ‘freelancer’ before my job title is often met with criticism.

I do work from home and not in a shiny modern office in a great city location. I do sometimes work in my pajamas – there I’ve said it. But as far as the level of professionalism goes, I believe the above to be the only things that separate me from a writer within an established company. I use the same techniques, the same high level of research and possibly even earn the same – if not more – as a salary.

This is because I do not do the following…

Article Spinning: There are article spinners available online where you can copy and paste someone else’s work, and have it ‘spun’ to be unique i.e plagiarism free. This will often be the protocol for your low priced bidders or the ones with promises of speedy work.

Article Copying: I do look at other peoples articles regarding a topic I am researching, I’d be mad not to. Looking at other peoples takes on things gives you an informative idea of how to go about your own piece i.e looking at the pros and cons, the popular opinions regarding the given subject, statistical results. I wouldn’t be able to include facts and figures if I didn’t discover them. What I’m saying is that looking at other peoples work is expected. Copying it is not. By altering a few words here and there so the article can pass copyscape and be passed off as unique through a computers eye, doesn’t make it unique to a human eye.

Overworking: You cannot take on every project. You’re one person with a life away from writing, and there’s only so many hours in the day. Once you start to build up a name for yourself you are likely to gain your own client base and repeat customers. You can’t say yes to all. Sitting at your computer for 17 hours a day is counter productive, your brain starts to tire and the standard of work reflects this – I know, I’ve done countless times and always regretted it. I’m not saying knock back work – nobody can afford to do this – but explain the position you’re in and that you’re very interested in taking on the project but you’re unable to immediately. Clients who value you will both expect and appreciate this and if you’ve proved yourself before then you are worth the wait!

If you’d like to contact me for any advice, have any questions or just want to say hello then please do.

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