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Weekly Newsletter for The Freelancers: Here is the latest newsletter of the week starting on 26th November 2018.


If someone said you should check what “the inside-out view” is when you are considering starting out freelancing, would you know what this means?

It is an important idea that will help you start out successfully and can save you a lot of time and frustration.

The idea is very simple really. It means that you place yourself in the position of a prospective employer and do the research that is necessary to understand what they are looking for.

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Once you have determined what is required, you can start building your website profile so that you can look professional in your presentation.

It will help you tick the boxes in answering on your profile what your research has shown is required.

Freelancing platforms have a vested interest in your being successful and they will help you with your research. One of these platforms is Upwork that provides you with guides.

The guides are under Hiring Resources by Upwork. You have to understand that is what you are researching because it is easy to think that you are not hiring.

So, why would you be interested in Hiring Guides! Not so, you are very interested in what prospective employers are looking for so that you can meet the market expectations. You can read Upwork’s Hiring Guides here.

If you want to work more closely with Upwork, which is one of the largest freelancing platforms, you can check out Danny Flood’s Kindle eBook: “Hack Upwork: How to Make Real Money as a Freelancer” by click on the link below:

Hack Upwork: How to Make Real Money as a Freelancer: Work From Home and Create a Thriving Freelance Business 100% Online (Hacks to Create a New Future Series Book 2)


Motivate Yourself!

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world
that is changing really quickly, the only strategy
that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

– Mark Zuckerberg

The Ultimate In Motivation: The Future Of Work Is Changing. Are You?

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Lucy Karinsky is a software developer from Sydney, Australia and has written an article on this topic entitled The End of an Era: Will Programmers Become Obsolete?

This is why the article should be an important source of motivation to all freelancers.

In Australia, we are about to feel the effects of a revolution in retailing as Amazon.com has commenced operations in Australia. This will have a significant impact on retail.

To a large extent, we have been sheltered from this type of competition as Amazon.com is now the largest retailer in the world. The Australian has published an article about Amazon’s plans for Australia which you can read here.

Why should I be telling you this, you may well ask, but there is a very good reason.

The retail stores in Australia are rapidly upgrading their services to cope with the increased competition that Amazon.com’s innovations will bring. These changes are unstoppable and have provided their motivation to change.

Having read the story about Amazon.com and competition, it is time to read Lucy’s article in the Freelancer.com Blog which appears here.

When you have read Lucy’s article ask yourself, will my skills still be required in five years and what can I do to train myself to broaden my skills and keep ahead of technology changes? It is a great article from Lucy, agree?


Productivity Tip of the Week

Do You Belong To A Freelancers Community Group That Discusses Productivity?

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Being a member of the online digital new age workers, it is important that freelancers belong to groups. The reason for this is twofold.

It engenders the sense of community and also allows you to share ideas which will make you more successful. You do not have to be a member of a freelancers Flash Team working on a project to share ideas.

Freelancing platforms recognize that freelancers need communities. One of the bigger platforms is Upwork and they naturally have a Facebook page where their users can share ideas.

They will often feature their Upwork Blog posts on their Facebook page so it is really very easy to participate in their community and get some good tips.

Melanie Feltham is the Social Media Community Manager at Upwork and she has written an article entitled Setting Goals for Your Freelance Business. You can read Melanie’s article on Upwork’s Blog here or their Facebook Page here.

Melanie, being a Social Media Manager, uses Twitter as well so you can follow her on Twitter here.

If you find some tips you would like to share with other members following Freelance Work Guide you can do so on the Facebook page here or send us a tweet here.


Work-Life Balance Tip of the Week

What To Do When You Have A Top Client Deadline To Meet And A Family Crisis Happens?

Whether you are a freelancer working at home or a 9 to 5 employee, family crises happen and they have to be managed.

However, it is different when you are the boss of everything. You can’t just say to your employer, “Look, I’m sorry, but I have to go and look after my daughter.

She has been in a car accident.” Of course, you will still go to help your daughter who may be in a hospital. When you have your immediate crisis sorted, you can’t help thinking about your top client’s urgent job you were doing. What can you do?

There is a freelancing platform that has thought about situations where you need to outsource, but really have no time to find a freelancer who can take on the gig that you have to leave.

It is a top work-life balance issue that can cause a lot of stress because families come first, but you still have to pay the bills!

Freelancer.com has come up with a solution for those situations where you don’t have the time or skills needed to find the right freelancer.

Freelancer.com calls the service Recruiter and you can read about it here. Of course, there is a cost to use this service, but when you measure the cost against the relief of stress and the work-life balance benefits, it is a top service. Do you agree?

Naturally, it can also be used in many ways to help you find the right person for outsourcing a gig and if you are smart you will incorporate the cost into your overall quote for a project.

It can also be used to put together a freelancing team for a major project. Here is a link to an Amazon eBook on 100 Outsourcing Techniques here.


Financial Tip of the Week

How To Land More Of Your Ideal Clients!

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If you know what your income goal is, the next logical step is to know what your ideal client is to achieve that goal. It seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

That is what strategic thinking about your freelance business is about.Knowing where you are going! Your goal is essential before you start looking at how you are going to get there.

There is another strategic thought that can help you on this journey: Decide to whom you can turn for help in the planning to land more of your ideal clients.

The Freelancers Union recognized that this process is an essential part of being a successful freelancer. They have put together a video that you can watch to support you in this planning.

Nathan Bransford has written an article that goes with the video: How to Land More of Your Ideal Clients. He wants you to succeed in marketing yourself so that you can put all the parts of the jigsaw puzzle together to make you a successful freelancer.

You can watch the video and read the article by clicking here. I think that Nathan’s tip number three about targeting a niche is a top financial tip! Can you target a niche?

Drought News

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The www.abc.net.au is keeping a full coverage of the drought crisis in Eastern Australia and you can read about it here. You can learn how you can help the farmers here .

I will maintain the links for my opinion of the New Economy and that skills and job focused training is one of the possible solutions for long term structural assistance to rural communities.

This article sets out the reasons:  Training choices matter for freelancers and career changers. You can read it by clicking on the link.

There are now 5,000 skills in 90 categories that the digital economy can offer according to Upwork’s 2nd Quarter Skills Index for 2018, see here

Articles now on our website that are relevant are listed here:

There will be more over the coming months.


Amazon News

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For those who missed the newsletter for last week, I think that this article about why Amazon is so successful globally is worth repeating.

If you have ever wondered why Amazon is now so successful and generating record profits the article Amazon’s stunning success down to Jeff Bezos willingness to defy Wall Street and take a long term view by James Moore which appears in www.independent.co.uk explains why. You can read it here.

The weekly AWS news video link to acloud.guru is here. They are the leading trainers globally for AWS freelancers.

Amazon Associates Website Case Study

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The latest article on www.bestsellershourly.com Amazon Case Study website is entitled Winter clothing shopping with Amazon Wardrobe – 15 top reasons to use the service which you can read here.

The interesting part about this article is that it is aimed at the northern hemisphere winter market under Amazon One Link which you can read about here.


Freelancers And Cyber Security

Pinterest: In view of the recent hack of Reddit we have decided to link to the Australian Bankers Association fact sheet entitled Small Business – Protecting Your Business Information Online which you can access here. We urge you look at other Fact Sheets that are available from the Association as well related to business and personal 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:

Robert Siciliano

Image Source: ROBERT SICILIANO 

What is Financial Identity Theft? (Part 4)

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