August 29, 2017
Weekly Newsletter for Freelancers
Do You Know How To Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights?
Do you know how to protect your intellectual property rights? For many freelancers who are working over the internet producing creative material that is subject to copyright, it would appear to be a very obvious critical issue. The Freelancers Union in the United States has recognized that this is an issue for members and has established the Freelancers Guild which is a network of lawyers
committed to helping freelancers. You can read about the Freelancers Guild by clicking here.
However, in Australia, The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has also moved to protect the creative rights of members with arrangements for a referral to The Australian Copyright Council. It will be similar in other countries where Fair Use legislation is eroding the creative rights of the freelancing community.
Do you have a website or blog that bears a domain name as your business name? It would appear that it should be considered as intellectual property, do you agree? When I was starting my website Freelance Work Guide, I initially thought that having a domain name was all the protection that I needed as I owned the intellectual property.
However, I was advised to register the trademark as well. I am not saying that you should follow my example as everyone’s situation is different. The reason for telling you my story is that the Freelancers Union is right in recognizing its members do have an issue with intellectual property and not many realize it. I did not recognize that I had an issue, but I was alerted to it by a fellow freelancer and I sought professional advice. This is the correct approach if you have any doubts.
Nupur Shah has written an article entitled What Intellectual Property Rights Are (And How to Protect Them). The article has been published by the Freelancers Union and you can read it here.
Motivate Yourself!
“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you
higher”. Oprah Winfrey
Do You Know How to Lift Yourself Out of a Slump and Get Motivated Again?
Motivation does not just happen for most of us. It has to be managed, cultivated and nurtured whether by setting goals or visualization. There are some lucky individuals who seem to have the knack of being constantly motivated. Wait! Just read that sentence again! Is it true or do they share a secret to motivation that the rest of us do not share? This quote says it all:
“Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts,
and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these
feelings stop them.” T. Harv Eker
All freelancers need to have their own tools to manage their motivation and get on with the task of creating, producing and marketing because that is how we make a living. There is a top You Tube Video on motivation that you can access by clicking here..
Chris Winfield has written an article for the Inc.com Blog entitled 13 Ways to Break out of Any Slump and Get Motivated. You can read Chris’s article here..
Productivity Tip Of The Week
Negotiating the Price for Your Services Matters!
Do you negotiate the price for your services? This is an important question because it helps determine how productive you are. Once you agree on the price, it is locked in as a contract and you will be paid that price for the work that you do, provided it is satisfactory.
Imagine that you have bid for a contract listed on one of the major freelancing platforms, e.g.
Freelancer.com or Upwork.com. Is it possible for you to negotiate a price relative to the time for delivery? I have been using freelancing platforms for many years and very few bidders try this approach compared to say Fiverr.com where this is a very common approach. A few bidders have tried it and were successful because of the quality of their presentation of their bid.
Demain Farnworth has written an article that is applicable to most negotiations, although it was targeting freelance writers. It was entitled: Get Paid What You’re Worth: 37 Negotiation Tactics for Every Freelance Writer. You can read Demain’s article here.
For those who realize that negotiating is a very important skill in reaching your income goal more easily, here is the link to the Amazon review of Pricing Basics for Copywriters & Consultants: Meet Your Income Goals — Guaranteed! (Copywriters Pricing Bootcamp Book) by Chris Marlow.
Work-Life Balance Tip of the Week
Incredible Life Post: How I’m Reducing Freelance Writing into a 4-Hour Work Week
Do you believe that you could organize your life to work only 4 hours per week? Hmmm! I am sure that I would be very challenged to do this. However, Kirsty Stuart believes that it is not only possible, but does it!
Kirsty has the advantage that she is a freelance writer who only needs research and imagination to make a living from her writing, but she can
also create and innovate to produce her own products to promote and sell.
In her blog post entitled How I’m Reducing Freelance Writing into a 4-Hour Work Week which features on her Freelance Writers Online website, Kirsty talks about how she aims to make the transition to the 4 hour work week. From a work life balance perspective it is a very attractive proposition. You can read Kirsty’s post by clicking here.
Financial Tip Of The Week
Freelancers and Debt Problems – What To Do!
Let me say right off the bat (a cricket and baseball saying) getting professional advice matters with debt management just as much as investment advice. If you make a mistake in strategy it can take years to recover. Having been a banker, accountant and certified financial planner in my careers I have seen both and had to help people rebuild their lives and finances.
In many cases family financial disasters are mostly caused by a lack of professional advice. Even if you have to pay for professional advice, you will look back in years to come and see that it was one of the best moves you have made in your life.
In the US and UK and in most countries there are public and private bodies to assist consumers. It is a matter of asking for help even though you think you know best. This is an example of one website in the UK that you can see here.
You know my background as a banker, accountant and certified financial planner. However, it is not the reason that I advocate for seeking professional advice. This Financial Planning Association of Australia video explains the reason which you can see here.
Above all else, there is no substitute for being able to lift your family income to repay the debt if you find that you are caught in a debt trap. This freelancers’ newsletter is aimed to help you do just that.
Freelancers And Cyber Security
We have gained approval from Robert Siciliano to bring you extracts from his books related to cyber security for freelancers. Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert and consultant. He also gives self defense and personal safety seminars. Robert provides safety and identity theft fraud prevention tips and advice on multimedia channels in the United States. We have his approval to bring you weekly extracts from his books:
