Dispute Resolution

Have you ever had a dispute with an employer over payment? How did you handle it?

I used to work for a nightmare employer who refused to pay one of her contractors because she didn't like the work he returned. I was the liaison (not mediator) in the matter and quite frankly, I think she could have better handled it. She didn't want to pay him a penny. The work wasn't that bad and it was pretty unfair for him to spend all the time he did working on it to end up having someone not want to pay him at all.

He was performing the duties of a writer/editor for her digital documents about a certain business. He was on board before I came on board so I'm not sure the procedure for getting the project she put him through but there were procedures/tests in place for me and others so I'm assuming he did undergo some sort of procedure/test or show some of his past work for her to hire him. She wasn't the type to just hire anyone without checking them out.

With that said, she had to have felt his work would be satisfactory. He had written for her prior to this dispute and she kept him on board so, to me, it made it even more unfair/shady of her to pull what she did on him.

It's not that he did the work incorrectly, she just, apparently, wasn't thrilled with it or would have done it differently if she had been doing it.

Quite frankly, the whole project was a huge mess in the first place. Everything was unorganized, so many had come and go that there was confusion about whether or not things had been done, if this or that had been edited, which version was the up-to-date version, etc.

She was a nit picky employer who wanted to consume as much free time from people as possible - which I quickly learned. I felt she handled the situation with him unfairly and later learned of similar situations in which she had done similar things to others. Plus, I was undergoing my own terrible experience with her.

Long story short, we all went back and forth for a good week or two and he ended up not getting paid a penny. He was mad and I don't blame him. Worst case scenario, I think she should have at least paid him a negotiated fee for the work he did. She just didn't want to. So he worked for free, like many others unwillingly ended up doing for her.

Sometimes you're just going to get one of these unsavory employers but thankfully, for the most part, they seem to be few and far between. She's the only one I've had like that and I terminated our relationship pretty quickly.

In order to try to avoid these types of problems, it's best to have a dispute resolution solution in place. It doesn't necessarily have to be anything fancy; just something outlined of how disputes will be handled. This way there are already courses of action laid out in the event there is a dispute. This can be done in several ways.

A few things to consider:

• There are third parties that will act as mediators for disputes - designate someone to mediate disputes. Designate who will pay for the mediator (i.e. split the fees or the losing party, etc.)
  

• Determine which state's laws will have jurisdiction - use the state you reside in, where the work will be performed.
  

• Determine the method of notification and the amount of time in which an employer must give notification of a dispute and the amount of time in which you must respond. (i.e., if the employer is unsatisfied with something they must give written notice within xxx days of receipt of the work and you must respond within xxx days. If on the xxx day there is no agreement, it will go to the mediator.)
  

• Indicate that the two of you must make a valiant effort to resolve the dispute before taking other action.
  

• Consider using escrow accounts so that the money is in an account that neither of you can touch until the work is complete or the dispute is resolved if there is a dispute.

Working online is a real business and it must be handled as so. It can seem like there is no need for having things like this in place or it may seem like a hassle but you need to cover your butt or you could end up like the guy I was talking about - getting no money for a week or two's worth of work. Had there been a dispute resolution process in place, maybe he could have gotten something.

A lot of ICs don't have any contracts in place. While, luckily, there frequently doesn't end up being a need for one there are times that one finds themself wishing there were contracts in place. Not only for disputes either but we'll talk about other contracts in separate posts.

Til later!

Freelance Facts

So last time we talked about common myths of freelancing.

Now let's talk about some facts...

-Employers of virtual freelancers look for different things than employers of onsite employees when hiring.

-Your resume alone WILL NOT sell you for an online position.

-It can take you months to years to perfect your online job landing skills.

-Employers of freelancers generally have TONS of proposals to sift through and choose from.

-Only 1 out of 10, and that's being generous, of most proposals are worth even reading.

In handling the hiring process for a client who I act as Virtual Office Manager for, I was ASTOUNDED at the slim pickins out there for Customer Service Reps...a job that requires fairly simple and common skills.

I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. I don't remember offhand how many proposals we had for the job but it was between 100 and 200. We went with process of elimination...if they don't do "xxx" or if they do "xxx" or X, Y, or Z factor, hit DELETE and don't read any further.

I found myself having maybe one submission left every few days.

I couldn't believe the amount of people who got themselves eliminated...often within the first couple of sentences of their proposal, that I knew HAD to be qualified for this position.

I was in the process of writing my Freelance Guide at the time so I did a little research. For the next week, those that were getting the "DELETE" button...I would glance over their resume and previous projects. What I found was that they likely very well had the skills and ability to handle this position and even positions that required more skill and technical level BUT they lose the employer with the proposal.

I say this over and over again because it is a FACT - most employers WILL not look at your resume, your prior experience, etc. UNLESS you sell them on your proposal. (Sometimes they don't even look then, I've worked with clients who never review resumes at all.)

And the FACT is that most people THINK they are writing a good proposal. But that's so rarely the case. If you aren't landing AT LEAST half of the jobs or projects you bid on, you aren't writing a good proposal.

I can say this because I honestly can land just about any project I want. Why? Because after years of perfecting my proposal (and building a reputation), and now managing the hiring process of virtual freelancers, I know what a project-landing proposal consists of.

And you can't just have the content right either. There is a very specific formula to landing projects and if you don't follow it, you won't land the jobs very often.

...I really didn't even mean to go on a rant about this - I always end up doing that when I write on this topic! I can't help it. It is truly something that astonishes me. I wish it weren't wrong for me to post examples of tons of proposals so that I could show you.

So, I'm done. I seriously just wanted to stop in and provide some "Food for Thought" for you when writing your next proposal or trying to get your next freelance gig. And I did that with the five facts I provided at the top of this post.

Zipping my lips,
K

Myths about freelancing and working online/working from home

Let's attack a couple of freelance myths.

1. Your resume will support your proposal - MYTH
The fact is, and I constantly mention this, that online employers rarely look at your resume; and if they do, it's only after you have been added to their "favorites". It's your proposal you have to rely on.

2. You have to have experience in the particular field to get the job - MYTH
This couldn't be farther from the truth. Again, your proposal can win an employer over even if you don't have experience in the particular position they are hiring for. It's happened to me on numerous occasions.

3. It's not okay to write a friendly proposal, you must be strictly professional - MYTH
While it's not okay to use lingo like "LOL" and that sort of thing, most employers want personality. A lot of them are seeking someone they can develop a relationship with and enjoy working with. But there is a fine line in between what's okay and what's going overboard.

4. Putting your resume in your proposal will show the employer your skills - MYTH
To the contrary, it shows that your ability to sell yourself lacks because you are trying to cram something down their throat that is already available to them and sell yourself with positions you've had before only. Refer back to number 1.

5. It's easy to write a winning proposal - BIGGEST MYTH OF ALL (unless you know exactly what you are doing which unfortunately most people mistakenly think they do).
SO many people think they are seriously writing a good proposal and, on a good day, 1 out of 10 of them are actually winners. It never fails, every time I post a project I'm drowning in terrible proposals and scrounging for just a few good ones. And I can't help but assume the people submitting these proposals think they are actually decent proposals...or they wouldn't have submitted them, right?

Tired of being chained to a 9-5? Sick of your job?

Me too! Well, I haven't been bound to a 9-5 for a while now but I was so sick of it. Now, I had a fabulous boss, a fabulous secretary and a fabulous office but I was still sick of it. I had a fairly flexible schedule and could do just about whatever I wanted. And I did love what I did...I was a paralegal and it fit me for more than one reason. Not a bad deal where 9-5s are concerned but I was still OVER IT!

I COULD NOT picture myself having to do that till age 67. Yeah right. Ugh, it was a miserable thought, had been for years.

I started working online part-time several years ago but kept a 9-5 for the most part. I needed to get some income coming in online before I could just walk away from my job. I have kids, a car note, insurance, etc., the regular responsibilities.

I actually got fired from my last job...I had a big surgery and had permission to be off work for several weeks. Me, and the dedicated worker I am, I was going to go back in before I had to. I just hated the idea of things getting out of control (like I knew they would) and my very needy, dependent boss having to tie his shoes without me! So I said I was going to TRY to come in Tuesday. Well, umm, Tuesday came and I COULDN'T DO IT. (Mind you this is a HUGE firm, where a lot of politicking goes on and I wasn't the fav of a couple of people there because I'm very outspoken and opinionated..and I didn't cater to anyone but my boss.) So, the Office Manager (who didn't like me because I did what my boss told me which conflicted with what she told me often) went over everyone's head to a lead person in a whole other city to report that I said I'd be back Tuesday and I didn't come back Tuesday (never mind the doctor's prescribed time off). So I get a call saying I'm fired.

You have no idea how pissed I was. I worked my ass off for this damn firm. I had the most demanding, dependent boss every (I loved him dearly) and over 130 cases at any given time. I did higher level work than ANY paralegal in the firm but I was fired all on politics???? Yeah, it happens. My boss would let me come back (he wouldn't even replace me for almost a year!) but I was so so pissed that it was the last needed bit of motivation for me to work at home full-time. SCREW all this politicking, working in Corporate America where no one really gives a f*&! about you, giving all your sweat and blood for 50 years of your life, etc (you know I could go on).

That was IT for me. I could have even fought it on legal terms, but SCREW IT. They did me a favor and I knew it. It had been my goal for a long time to work full-time from home and this was the shove I needed to finish diving completely in.

I've been working from home every since. I haven't found a get rich overnight deal yet (still searching LOL) but I have managed and I have found more and more opportunities. I have managed to network with some great people who make nice earnings from home online.

For many years, I worked as a freelancer working from home part-time. Now I do it full-time and I make good money. (I've gotten into some Internet Marketing too but I still do my freelance stuff.)

Being a freelancer is easy...landing the real jobsmaking real money isn't. Employers now have tons of virtual freelancers to choose from and the criteria for who to hire is different that the on-site criteria. And a lot of the time, they NEVER look at your resume and if they do, it's only after you have caught their attention with your proposal. If you don't capture them within the first paragraph of your proposal, it's over for you. They have way to many proposals to sift through. And I guarantee you don't know as much about proposal writing as you think. I'm a great writer and I thought proposal writing would be a breeze for me...but I didn't understand the major differences in proposals for online jobs and a cover letter for an on-site job like I thought I did.

You will not just decide to do this today and start landing the jobs tomorrow. Not the real online jobs with legitimate employers anyway. It takes a lot of time, persistence and trial and error. OR it takes a guide who's already been there and can tell you how to get the edge and get the work. ahem...that would be me.

I can land any online job I want these days. But it didn't start out that way. I'm very smart and I have a great on-site history so I couldn't figure out why it wasn't as easy to land the good legitimate online jobs and projects as it was for me to land an on-site job. After years of proposals, research, etc. I have finally figured it all out. Now I know where to look for jobs and exactly how to be the one out of sometimes hundreds of applicants they choose.

I also hire and manage virtual employees now so I know even more about the employer standpoint.

I'm sure you think you know enough just like I thought, but ten years later I realize I didn't know half as much as I thought I knew. And ten years later I'm landing whatever I want, practically whenever I want and making a full-time income right from my own home. (I'm sitting here in my boxers, tee and socks right now at 2 am. on a Sunday morning because I don't have to get up and be somewhere at 8 am.)

So I've put together a short eBook about freelancing to tell you what it took me a long time to figure out with plenty of trial and error and proposals. A to-the-point outline of what you need to know to get the jobs and have the comfort of working from home just like I do.

It's already helped freelancers get their start and jumped them steps ahead of the rest because now they just have to follow the outline I've already prepared for them instead of figuring it out from scratch and not understanding why they've applied to so many online jobs and barely landed any of them.

As a freelancer and manager of freelancers, I know what it takes. And I am now sharing it with anyone else who really wants to work from home.

So get your copy and start making money online without even changing clothes if you don't want to.

(I have temporarily taken the book down to make some updates - I don't want anyone getting the old version of the book when there's new info going in there. If you want to get on the list to receive the updated version, please let me know and you'll be the first to be notified.)

Enjoy and good luck!
K

Freedom Freelancing

Okay, I started a blog a while back and it discusses random things about making money online from freelancing to marketing online.

As a successful freelancer who works strictly from home making a full-time income, I've decided to start a blog dedicated to only that. I want to help others learn how to successfully do the same thing I do.

I understand the frustrations that come from working a 9-5 and the desire to work for yourself...and to do it from home. I am a mother of two and there is nothing better than the flexibility that working from home gives me.

Working from home is easy...but landing the work isn't as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of trial and error generally to figure out how to stand out above the other hundreds of freelances that want the same job you want.

I have a great on-site background and I'm very smart and sharp. I also possess a variety of strong skills. So, at first, I couldn't figure out why I wasn't landing the projects I was submitting proposals to. Along the way, I figured out why and I figured out how to get the employers' attention.

I can now land almost any job I submit a proposal to. But it definitely took a lot of research, proposal writing practice, and time to sharpen my project landing skills.

Now I want to teach others how to work from home for legitimate online employers and make a real full-time income right from their own desk.

So that's what this blog is about. I will deliver tips, information and tools that will help you turn freelancing from home into a successful career for you.

If you ever have a topic, about this subject, that you'd like to see a post about or have questions you would like answered, let me know and I'll write a post on them.

Let's start our freelance journey and get you making money from home doing the same things you would be doing from someone else's office at a 9-5!

I'm going to copy over a post I made elsewhere on this subject here as my next post. Just wanted to write this little intro first.

'Till then,
K