Blogging: Lesson 2 Resist the tweaks

After going through intensive planning and revising with the Lesson 1 The Basics, you are ready for your next step but its going to be a challenge for you.

When I mean you successfully set up your blog, I mean you have already post at least 2 entries and tweaking your theme or layout of your blog to suit your blogging needs. Keep it simple. You'll tweak it again but not after the second post at least. So here's the challenge.

Right after you successfully tweak, change, edit your layout and post your second entry, do not tweak you blog for a whole month. That means 30 days without tweaking. I know how much you like to tweak and experiment new gadgets and widgets with your new blog that you can manage online (hehehe, just like a kid getting duit raya xD), but this is a test and challenge to you.

So with the next 30 days you only have 3 things to do:

1. Post more entries.
2. Heavily advertise your blog. Tell your family and friends about it.
3. Do not tweak your blog at any time for 30 days.

The reason why is to actually help you focus on providing more content to your blog and also advertising your blog may take a lot of time and effort to bring popularity to your audience. People wanna see how well you manage to keep your content alive and not by its outer appearance. Themes and layout do say something about the blog but it is not enough when it comes to content.

There are loads of marketing techniques out there. You can do it physically by telling others about your blog through business cards, social networking and the probably the occasional "word of mouth" through your peers to another. Whatever promotion, advertising and marketing techniques it is, it needs to be effective and efficient to bring in readers to read your content.

We'll talk more about content in the next post and lesson on blogging.

So until then...

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Blogging: Lesson 1 The Basics

Everyone would like to make some money. And of course, to get some money you need to earn it through working. But what's the easiest and simplest form of work to earn online? Blogging. Just like the heading of this post, it's a great starting point for all writers, no matter what the qualification that they possess.

Blogging is a form of a web log (web + log = blog. Go figure.) It comes in many kinds as well after it was introduced several years ago. The different kinds of blogging may include: Vlog (video + log), Photoblog (Mostly pictures + blog), MP3 Blog (Providing composed music or downloaded ones and posting entries), Art Blog (Actual hand-made art figures and blogging), etc.

Anyone can do any of them, provided they have the skills. Taking for example the infamous Ranoadidas.com. From the looks of it, it came out as a simple photoblog. By taking pictures of the current news and then provide opinions and updates as well as promotions to the lucky ones who manage to be included in his photoblog. Since its not really the newspaper media, Ranoadidas can only perform the most notable events that is happening in Brunei. Its quite troublesome for just an individual but still a very sound idea nevertheless.

But let's get back to blogging. Since you won't need to buy any other equipment (like photoblogs require you to take a picture with a camera for better content or musical instruments to actually compose songs and then post entries on a MP3 Blog), blogging is the simplest task to anyone. So to know what you need before you can start, you can take a look at my previous post, Freelance: Ghostwriting.

To set up a blog is simple and free. There are lots of blogging platform on the Internet and it is of your choice to pick one that suits you. So do your research and find out which blogging platform is best for you. Though at the moment, I'm using Blogger's platform (previously known as Blogspot, but after being bought by Google, it was later then renamed to Blogger.) and its services has so far served me well.

But before to even set up a blog, you need to know and set up what is the main purpose of the blog or theme. Its not that you want to set up a blog and hope that money rolls in. Its another type of job except you wont get paid until your blog has been realized by incoming readers through traffic. And that should be your main goal. Getting readers.

Whatever purpose or theme that your blog may be, you would need to know where you can get your sources from. This is necessary for planning before setting up your blog in the first place. E.g. my blog, The Bruneian Dollar, is a site about wealth. My main goal is to get as many readers from the Brunei public. But I keep to my theme about wealth. Sources I get is through Internet marketing, Social networking, books, journals and newspapers. This way I get to keep writing more contents and keep my readers excited for more. It worked, didn't it?

Next you need to know about your target market. Who is your target audience? Is your blog meant for everyone or for the selected demographics? Whoever it is, you need to be sure that your blog sends the right message, medium and level of communication with them.

So why don't you start with this as your starting point? Find your true calling. What kind of blog should it be? What's the theme? It's goal? What do you like to write about? Who's it for? There will be more on this later on. So stay tuned.

Thanks for reading The Bruneian Dollar and happy blogging! :)

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Affiliations and Business. Two Different and Two Similar.

First, we have the traditional commerce. But then, businessmen and entrepreneurs around the world began to change that model and make it easier for people to make money. In traditional commerce model, it all starts from raw materials. And then from there we have manufacturers who takes these raw materials (for free) into useful products. And then, we have the wholesaler, who buys the products in a huge bulk at a low price. Next we have the retailers who buys a smaller bulk but a higher affordable price. Then lastly, we have the consumers (us) who buys the products and use them for ourselves at an even higher price. It got difficult until one day I met people from all kinds of business areas and learn how the businesses actually work.

First, there was affiliation marketing. This model is different in comparison of the traditional commerce. Basically, you help them sell stuff and you get a commission out of each sale. It's more like being a salesperson. How you close the sale is your move and approach. But the idea is to help sell the products manufactured. I came across one after the other in affiliation marketing online. How they did it was they help refer people to join the site and they get paid. Different affiliation marketing got different systems. The main idea is to get more people to join or buy something. It's interesting but the question remains,"Would you really join if your best friend or relative or someone you love ask you or is in one?"

See, the advantage to the whole affiliation is that if you join, you get to experience the companies benefits compared to the usual customer to business relationship. Unlike the customer relationship, an affiliated partner to the business gets good benefits such as; passive income, trips, seminars, useful products, discounts and probably many more.

The disadvantage is, not all affiliation marketing are the best in the business. So do be careful when you join one. I had a chat with an american through mIRC (Yeah I still chat there from time to time) and he told me about his bad experience with affiliation marketing. It's already common there in America. He told me that the company is willing to give him 30% out of every verified referrals. And that's it. There are no other perks, no other benefits, no products, etc. Basically if you think about it, that is called a pyramid scheme. A get rich quick scheme and a scam. Since there are no products, why join? Because of the potential to get a passive income? That's not really passive income if you still have to work for it. A passive income, by definition, is to receive money without having to work for it all.

A real live example of a passive income is having a business running for you. Taking for example the fast food chain restaurant. You tell someone to run the business for you, you provide everything, the resources, the people, the food, the ingredients, the brand, etc, but in return you only ask for 7% out of the business profits per month. The other 93% will be used for the business to keep it running. Imagine having 10 businesses running for you. That's 70% percent of passive income!

Affiliation marketing should be no different to that. Basically, we are the business and we run it. The company just supplies everything to us, the product, the brand, the idea, etc. All we have to do is run it and we get an active income. We'll get a passive income if we manage to get someone under us to run the business for us. Even more if we manage to get more people run the business for us. So you see what I mean?

Affiliate is a powerful tool. A nice way of earning a decent passive income is by having the business run for you.

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Becoming a millionaire at its simplest

As I was blog walking at local Brunei blogs, I found one blog that was kinda... dead. No offence to the blogger who made it. Nevertheless, there are plenty of things that could be said and done but this guy (or girl, hard to tell) made a simple 6 word post on his/her blog. Most of it is Chinese but I like how simple it was or is.

By Personal Finance 101:

"How to become a millionaire

Save

Invest

Live Frugally

Passive Income"

Simple as that! You save money from your job. After collecting enough, start investing. Wisely. And as you invest and save, you live frugally. And in due time, your investment will hit its break-even point and will start giving you your passive income. Now that's a million dollar idea!

But any idea how? O.o

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Business: Inventing a product or service

So we have Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Albert Einstein, Wright Brothers and Walt Disney. What do they have in common? Creativity. It's what brought us these new inventions. It's also the one of the many traits that an entrepreneur should have when starting up a business. It requires a lot of creativity.

Creativity is not always about how good looking your art is or the taste in music. But also in other areas like, programming a better software, using a profound filming technique, discovering an actual cure for the cold, inventing a new environmentally friendly air machine that also does water transport, etc. There are loads of ideas and dreams that needs to be realized. But as John Lennon would say,"Reality leaves a lot to imagination."

Creativity, imagination, fantasies and dreams are all talk and think but no action. So be careful daydreamers and wannabes because reality will hit you hard like a misbehaving student getting caned for breaking the rule. The rule of freethinking. You can think all you want but its the people who listen to you won't take it likely nor be on the same level of understanding as you. Negativity can bring you down hard but to avoid that is simple. Cover your ideas from its base.

Let's say you have an idea. It's raw, fresh and probably you had it from a dream last night. However, it is not enough. You need to research some more. See if it is really feasible but don't tell anyone just yet. You need to gather more information. Read more. Observe more. Cross-reference, tests, experiments and once thats done. Do it again! You really need that idea to be as solid as it can be before you can bring your idea up for a debate with anyone. It takes conviction, determination and perseverance to keep digging and never give up.

Then, you need confidence to make it come true just like Walt Disney made magic come true. Build prototypes, get investments, convince others to believe in your "magic" and make it real. Once this is setup, your million dollar business is ready to go.

It's all in imagination. Hey, it works for Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants. Why can't you? :P

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Things we could learn from Mr. Krabs himself

So I've been watching a lot of Spongebob Squarepants shows recently (Thanks to my little brother and I had to watch what he wants now.) and somehow I've come to notice about Mr. Krabs, a cheapskate character from the infamous kids' show. And then I ended up learning a lot about him as I kept watching more of the shows that included him.

So who is Mr. Krabs? To those who are not a fan nor have watched Spongebob Squarepants, Here's a definition by IMDB.com;"Eugene Krabs is the owner of the Krusty Krab, inventor of the Krabby Patty, and the boss of Spongebob and Squidward. He is a veteran of the Navy, where he was known as Armor Abs Krabs. He is extremely greedy and will even risk losing bodyparts going after small change. He has a daughter, Pearl, who is a sperm whale, a situation that is never explained. He is continually thwarting the machinations of Plankton, his former best friend and now business rival. Despite the most convoluted plans, Krabs always manages to keep control of the Krabby Patty Secret Formula." Now there's a man or crustacean who knows business.

Each and every time I see him in an episode, I learn another valuable lesson to business. Let's take an example of the recent (re-run) episode of his appearance. In one episode, "One Krab's Trash", is what anyone can do who is looking for some extra cash during the weekend or holiday. What Mr. Krabs does is he find a trash bin with lots of broken down materials and objects and he shines them, fixes a few and starts selling them. The lesson for this episode is that you can turn a useless product into cash or rather, renewable or recycling products into real cash. Just imagine that in Brunei? Well I'm not saying look into your neighbor's trash bin and start selling to people (as if that could work). I mean start recycling and you can do that during a weekend or a holiday.

Like go to the beach (any beach, KB Beach, Serasa Beach, Muara Beach, etc) and start a cleaning campaign. But keep in mind about recycling. Gather all the materials and put each material of them all in a separate bag, i.e. Glass, Paper, Plastic, Waste and Metal. And before you know it, you'll get at least 1 bag full for each. Just imagine how clean Brunei would be and wealthier Bruneians could be if we all pitch in to recycle our country's waste product and earn a little side income.

So what do you do with your collected haul? Send them to the recycling centre! You'll get paid for each recycled product that you turn in. Wanna know exactly where, how many you can make and who to turn to for recycling in Brunei? Well look no further. I took the courtesy to research that for you.

Daikyo Environmental Recycling Sdn. Bhd.

You can take a look at their site and go to their "Contact Us" page and you can then find out more about where their branches are. Just contact them and you will know the power of recycling. Their Branches are located in Seria, KB, Muara and Kpg Masin. Hey, I'm surprised as you are that there are no Tutong Recycling Centre. Or rather, I have not looked hard enough to find one online. But I'm sure that there other recycling centres throughout Brunei. Just ask around. Make your life and Brunei a healthier place to live.

Thank you for reading the Bruneian Dollar and let's get green!

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Freelancing skill: Ghostwriting

As I go around telling people before that I made a simple living out of Ghostwriting. The first question (and I know you want to ask it too) is "What's Ghostwriting?". So here's the explanation.

What is Ghostwriting?

"Ghostwriting" is a skill where anyone's role is to write, edit and proofread anything and then sell it to the person who wants it and claim it as their own. Meaning if you write an article about health and safety and then sell it to the Brunei Petroleum Shell Company, they'll buy it and you are not allowed to sell it to others because BSP has just bought it off as a unique and exclusive content for their company only.

How to Ghostwrite?

Ghostwriting requires skills and knowledge. Just follow these basic requirements before you can start ghostwriting:

1. Composition or essay skills
2. Fluent in your own language
3. Knowledge in different or specialize field

Now the first 2 requirements are simple. You learn them in school and at least by A'levels, you should be pro on how to write a proper essay (either in Malay or English, it's fine as long as it is understood by the public). But the third may require some more reading, researching and marketing. You need to be at least savvy in whatever field you're interested to ghostwrite about. It may be about Art, Music, Social media, Networking, Sports, etc. Whatever it is that you find interesting to talk about, you can ghostwrite it.

Where to Ghostwrite?

There are lots of places you can ghostwrite. You can even ghostwrite for the person's advertisement banner hanging outside your house. Ghostwrite is a freelancing job. So basically, you're skills is as good as anywhere it can be. As long as they comprehend your writing and your language. But if you feel like taking your ghostwriting to the Internet, here's a few sites I recommend going to.

• Triond - A free site where you post up articles and get paid for every visitor who views and reads them. (Very low income potential but good prospect in long-term) Get paid in USD but in cents from the beginning few months.
• Get A Freelancer - A freelancing site where you sign up, take up projects and get paid per article submit. (There are plenty of ghostwriting projects here and many more freelancing projects available. A medium for all freelancers and project hosts alike.) Get paid in USD.
• EUFreelance - A similar site to Get a Freelancer, but more based in Europe. So you get paid in Euros.
• Problogger - A site where bloggers or ghostwriters can apply but not recommended to other writers unless you are an experience blogger.

There are more sites but I am still checking on them if they are real, certified and secure to work with. Otherwise, you might be wasting your time and effort working for others and yet get paid nothing for it.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in Ghostwriting! ;)

P.S. Go to this link to see what are your benefits and perks or even how much could you possibly earn when you ghostwrite for people.

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Build a Career

As I was going around talking to people, (more like chatting online) to my dear friends and family, I have noticed that everyone has the same problem. Hard to find a job, the company doesn't want me, bla bla bla. Well pity you! Because I'm in that same situation. But I am willing to bet that by the end of this year, I will get a job. No it's not a new year revolution. It's a commitment that I'm going to make.

Eventhough, I'm making money online through freelancing, it just doesn't satisfy my needs. Plus the income I get is irregular and proportional to that of the projects that I bid and won. So I started looking into more options and re-assess my situation.

I've looked into more about how to successfully get a job and with better efficient. Like in the previous post on how to win bids, it's not the same when you pit yourself against an employer who really needs to find out whether the employee, that he/she is recruiting the right and best person for the job.

So getting a job in a real world is different compared to winning projects online. Not very different. But significantly different. The difference varies to what you have in a real 'people' connection rather than that of the Internet. It's about building yourself a career in order to successfully get a better job or even just to successfully be employed by local Brunei companies. So here's a few career tips you might need to know, whether you are in a current job or not:

• Never Stop Learning - There are loads of things out in the real world. New things to learn, study and acquire that you don't know about. Being a specialize person is one thing but if a person is too specialize, he/she may deem to be obsolete once the industry has sunk. So it may be best to be multi-functional or even carefully be specialize onto a field where the industry has no chance to fail. For example; the photography industry is still increasing but has ceased or less productive with manufacturing raw films for cameras nowadays. Now it's gone digital and whoever learn or gained skills or degrees in that side of the industry... well... too bad I guess.
• Ask, Listen and Learn - This point is a very good advice to those who have large families or a wide social network in the office or at home or at school or at college or university, it is that you ask what you want to know that you're interested in and listen. As you listen, you have to be open-minded to a whole new world where potential opportunities awaits. These things can come and go if you do not seize the moment of gaining new skills and ideas for your future career. I know I have. While I was in college, I usually hang out with my friends. Friends who have jobs and they tell me stuff about what they do in the office and describe about what they could have done and stuff. This is free information and I am grateful to them for getting me this far.
• Fulfill Your Current Job - Now this point is for those who already have a job but unsatisfied with the salary, benefits, perks and security of it. And only a handful of people manage to be successful from their current job, by getting promotions, better benefits, perks, a raise, etc. How? Just by doing your job well. What else? Why not ask your supervisor? Talk about the things you can do. Suggest training/improvements. Offer your help when help is needed. In return, ask for assistance in building a better career for yourself. Let's face it, everyone is selfish. And we do this for our own selfish reasons. And to get what you want, is to become a valued employee.
• Build Your Network - Did you know that more than 50% of all jobs are obtained from contact networks? It's true, you know. When I was working as a waiter at a restaurant and cafe, I got to know one of this manager of Brunei Tourism and made a job offer to me as a model receptionist. I took it and it was better than my last job. I get paid B$12 a day at that restaurant but at the Brunei Tourism, I got an instant B$30 for 7 hours work. It was fun but still I didn't enjoy the early morning work. Then I get another offer from the same manager to teach since I was teachable. That lead me to tutoring and it was enjoyable however the pay was less in an average month compared to Brunei Tourism. So I did 2 jobs in a month. But all of that has to end since I had to continue my studies to UK. So why don't you build your network?
• Identify Your Next Job - I was supposed to do this while looking for other jobs during my college years. As I was job hopping from one after the other, I did not have my eyes set on to something that I wish on building on. Now that I do, I have identified what my next job would be. This point is to help you identify your "dream job". It's a job of everything that you like about and nothing to dislike about. Also to know anything else to it that you want it to be. The kind of responsibilities that you want to handle. The tasks you want to finish and nothing else lucrative or your work habit style. Etc.
• Prepare yourself - When you do see a job opportunity, whether it be on Bruneiclassified.com job listings or Borneo Bulletin or a call from your supervisor's Human Resource friend, you need to be prepared with a great looking CV. Your CV needs to be updated, described that you are a valuable and indispensable employee and looks professional. If you have no idea on how to write a CV, or how to describe yourself, you better start preparing yourself and learn how to now.
• Realize your dreams - Fantasies that you think of or how imaginative that it may be or even a vision that you place yourself down the line of your life, it needs to be realize before its too late. I have a very old friend of mine and he's stuck at his job for many years now. He regretted that he didn't make his dream come true. Due to the rush of his job and how the company needed him, along with the time-consuming task required to finish by the deadline. So don't let your current job get in the way of your dream. Make it real and go for the dollar... The Bruneian Dollar ;)

So by following these points above, you shouldn't have any more problems on how to get a job that you aim for. And like I said in the beginning. It takes commitment. So what are you committed about?

Like my post? Got any questions? Leave it in the comment section below. Thank you for reading The Bruneian Dollar, you're all beautiful people.

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Freelance offline

Freelancing is a great job for those who don't have a job or have skills but in the wrong type of job. Just recently, I met a few people who have degrees in a different industry and yet still work for another. It doesn't make any sense, does it? For example, someone who has a degree in electrical engineering, ended up as a Bus Conductor. A fancy way of calling that position "a Bus Driver". Nevertheless, we can still find time and effort to freelance with our specialized and invested skills.

So you got your skills through other means. Whether it was your hobby (doodling in school or gossip with your friends or something you actually spent time with, etc) or your job (on-site training provided, learning the process of the workplace, etc) or you actually study the skills you wanted, (through short courses, schools, colleges, universities, workshops, etc) and you want to get started with freelancing. All of that is fine and dandy. However it takes a lot of work to even start a freelancing business.

A freelancing business is where you start up you're own company (don't have to be licensed) and provide the service towards the public. Whatever it is that the public wants from you, you can provide it. For a small price. The public would want nothing less from a professional freelancer, so why don't you start and provide something simple and yet, high quality. Through my years in studies in College and University, I notice that a job is not that easy. Freelancing was my thing and though I wasn't successful back then than I am now, I can give you the advices that you need to start your own freelancing business.

What I've done is what I've been taught to do. Web program and manage a business. So that's my freelancing job since I couldn't find a real job. It does help me make ends meet in this small peaceful country which we call, Brunei. However, it didn't reach my goal. That's the next step in every business. You need a vision, mission, objectives and tactics. So far, I've satisfied my objectives and tactics. But I have not accomplish my mission nor my vision yet.

And with perseverance, determination, confidence and belief, I will be, one day, the most successful freelancer of Brunei Darussalam and hopefully, the world. It's a big ambition but it's a vision that I would love to accomplish. So to start any business or in particular, freelancing business, you need:

• Skills
• Perseverance, Determination, Confidence and Belief
• Vision, Mission, Objectives and Tactics

So what are your skills, do you have what it takes and what's your vision? :)

Like my post? Got any questions? Leave it in the comment section below. Thanks for reading.

And as always...

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Freelance: Tips before bidding online

So you already took the first step in Online freelancing. Now there are many sites out there that does hold online projects to tender for any online freelancers. It's somewhat like a space advertisement where specialist contractors (meaning a group or company that is specialize in a field to get the job done) will have to negotiate, offer, re-negotiate, and close the deal in order to get the project of their desired choice that comes with a price. But when it comes to online projects, freelancers are given a limit of bids to provide an attractive offer to those projects hosted.

So let's say you have some bids and you specialize in writing, coding and probably legal (like a freelancing lawyer + a bit of programming). So when you take a look at the list of projects that fits with your skills. You found there is at least 3 pages filled of projects looking for a freelancing expert on the specific field.

That's right. I said freelancing "expert". Meaning they don't want some rookie with no experience, no portfolio, no samples, no feedbacks on your previous work or anything. They want a true caliber freelancer to help get their job done. However, you're situation tells you otherwise. You're no expert. You are a rookie. You're new in the online freelancing market. But you want money and you want to get paid from them for your hard work. But in order to be paid, you need that project. And to get the project, you need a "convincing and persuasive" bid on the project.

Now, I cannot say exactly how you should write out your "convincing and persuasive" bid. But basically put, you need to do the following (these are based on my experiences and I have already won 5 projects in the last 2 months in this style):

• Put yourself in the Employer's Shoes: When it comes to bidding, you need to see what the employer would see after hundreds, if not tens, of bids posted on his/her project posted on the freelancing site. It becomes a problem when you put up a bid and you made an essay out of yourself. So keep it simple and give them what they want. Got more stuff? Attach a file. I assume you would have found that out by now.
• Write a bid when you know you can do the project: At first, I was excited that I found a place where I can do a lot of stuff because I have the skills in which they need. So I quickly bid on the first project that I wanted to do. However there are some projects, which I felt that it is hard to get it done and that I know that it may take longer than a week to do it. So I bid and waited. Weeks later, the project canceled or found someone else better. Actually, I found out there were more than just 1 but 3 projects canceled. So there goes my 3 bids. So bid carefully and bid on a project where you know you can do it and have it done.
• What if you don't know how to finish a project?: There are some cases where people and... ehem.. ehem.. I, don't know if we could finish the project nor do I have the skills. And people and *cough cough* I should be careful when we bid on certain project. If you know you can't nor able to start or finish it, learn the skills you need before the project bidding ends. It may sound like a rush job but if the project is willing to pay you 3000 Euros, who's complaining? So be sure you learn the necessary skills before you bid the project that you want.
• When a big wave comes in, wait for the next one: Now again it is exciting that you get to see a lot of projects available for you to try to bid on and win. However, you need to rationalize, get real and be ready for the projects. It's a way to actually put value onto a project that you know its true value. It means that some project host are posting up a big project which you know you can finish, but it's budget is $30-$250. If you were smart and able to control you're emotions, DON'T BID! It's a trap for freelancing suckers to take up a big project and get paid less for it. So if you see it, reject it, and wait for the next one.
• Bid smart: I've seen this a lot. A lot of freelancers won't bother bidding with regards to what the project is all about. I've seen that the project was talking about design an e-commerce site, and the bid was talking about sales team and communication. That has nothing to do with the project! You have to bid according to what the project want to be done and if at all possible, at a low significant price. If they say, write 10 articles daily and get paid $10 for it. You write 10 articles, every day and get paid $10! Nothing more and nothing less. So bid exactly what they want the project to be done. And if you want, you can add any extra if it has any relevancy to the project as well as the price if the project host is willing to pay for it.
• Bid with confidence: I'm being repetitive with the second one of this list because I have to emphasize the point of "bid when you know you can do it!". So by stressing out this point, bid when you can finish the project and if at all possible, within the shortest amount of time. This way you have an edge over others. Some freelancers that I have seen are so confident, they bid that it can be done within 24 hours. I saw how they did it. And I am willing to do the same. Will you?
• Edit your bid when someone is bidding better than you: Some freelancing sites allow freelancers to change our bids to compete against other freelancers. Whether they bid lower than you or better description of their bid than yours, you have an option to edit your bid before the bidding date closes. This does not take up your bid and if you bid smart, you may win the project. However do be careful when you bid lower than others. You need to make sure that it is worth your effort and time to bid lower than necessary amount to the project.
• Extra Tip - Bid when you have already finished the project: I have found this tip or rather a trick to be very evil but a way to win the project instantly. Finish the project if at all possible, before the bidding date closes, show your finished work to the employer or project host (with a secure data file like pdf with a password encrypted and other secure features) and if they like it, they'll close the project pre-maturely. And straight away pay you for the early finished project for them. But that is of course, if you can finish the project early at all. Otherwise, you may need to wait for the briefing from the project host or employer.

So these are the tips and a trick on how you can be a successful freelancer online. It's all in a sense of how well you can perform before the project has even started. So happy freelancing online everyone! :)

One last thing and I forget to mention. You can join the freelancing community where you can post up you're own project and get it done by other freelancers or be the freelancer and take up a project and get paid!..... in EUROS! You can get it all just by signing up here!

If you have any more questions, problems, comments or likely information regarding this topic, please post it in the comment section below. Thank you for reading the Bruneian Dollar! ;)

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Create a CV: The Basics

So I've been pretty busy for the last few weeks if you have noticed. Sorry about that. Too busy with raya, job hunting, researching for more investment and cost-saving information and finally, got sick later. :(

But all that has paid off, because in this next post, I will be talking about how to create a CV. This is for job hunters and freelancers around the world. I first learned this while I was in college and its important to know this to help everyone get a proper job and "sell" themselves towards their potential employers.

First what is a CV? Its an abbreviation of Curriculum Vitae. Its Latin for "Life Story". And by that everyone should know what exactly to put into your "Life Story" for employers to see. It describes who you are, what you did, what you can do and where you are in life. CV is also often referred to as a "Resume".

So what are the basic features to a CV? Follow these basic steps and you should be able to cover everything you need to know on making a better looking and complete CV. It is a must to follow these basic guidelines but not in order.

• Your Personal Information
• Your Work Experience
• Your Skills
• Your Education
• Your Personal Profile and Interests
• Your References

A brief explanation of each:

Your Personal Information is the basic information where your employer can contact you. This is best to be placed at the top most area of your CV and mostly as a Letterhead.

Your Work Experience is the chronological order of where you have previously worked as, your duties, responsibilities, and description of your past work. Usually you put the most recent first and work your way to the earlier job experiences.

Your Skills is where you list your abilities, the things you can do, your specialties and other extra talents you may hold. This will be proven useful by your employer to know that they have a highly capable employee who is able to not only fulfill their current job but may also help the company in a different field or industry.

Your Education is where you list your education history and background of yourself. Include your best education that you have acquired from any industry/institute/workshop, and you're set.

Your Personal Profile and Interests is where you describe what you can do, where you are at your current situation and as well as what would like to do now and in the future.

Lastly, Your Reference is where you have mentors, teachers, lecturers and previous employers to help support your next employment. Pros are that they give in a good word from their own experience working with you. Cons are that if you left the previous company or any referrer that you assigned to as Your Reference, on a bad note, you might be asking for trouble.

Now depending on the job application you are going to send, it merely depends on what the employer is asking for. If they are asking for Education first before Work Experience, that's when you do your CV in that order. If its skills before education, do it in that respective order as well. For every job, you need to keep updating and changing your CV accordingly. Otherwise, it's called CV spam (as what my buddies back in college likes to call it.)

So with the basics listed above, I'm sure that you are able to fill in the blanks and make a professional CV. If not, I'll be posting the next entry on "Advance CV".

Thanks for reading and best of luck on job hunting and freelancing. ;)

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Pre-requirements to Online Freelancing

I have been getting emails asking me some questions regarding online freelancing. Sure it is a sound idea to make use of your time, effort and skills. Especially, you can do it in the comfort of your own home. But still, I notice most of the Bruneians are either scared, uncertain, insecure or have no clue on how to do it.

So I have at least sum up a few requirements before you start freelancing online:

• Understand your computer - You have to be computer literate. Very computer literate in order to know and make sure that you know how to communicate. Otherwise, you'll be giving your employer or project host online a hard time. Also, you need to know how to use your computer and some internet jargons to get some mutual understanding.
• Payment Methods - Now since you'll be doing work online, you are going to need to clarify with your employer or project host regarding payment. Because some employers or project hosts can only pay you via some third party services. Like Paypal, Western Union, Bank transfer, etc. If they cannot pay you via paypal (due to the fact that Brunei Paypals have not been integrated to receive but send funds is uncanny), have them pay you via your freelancer account online. And when you receive payment there, you transfer that amount to your bank account. Simple, easy and no fuss.
• Security over Project - Next is the security of your work. Now Internet has always been showing us how much online privacy has been compromised. Financial information, personal information, private information, classified information and "suppose to be paid for and not pirated" information are all been compromised, stolen, copied, imitated... you get the idea. So how safe is it to send you're hardwork on whatever project you're doing online to your employer or project host? Not really. Unless you have a data security software. One I recommend and I always use, is the Adobe Creator or PDF Converter. Buy one and you can secure your data with a password, disable printing and copy function, enable time trial period of using your data, and so much more (when I mean so much more, I mean I have not yet make use of the other features it got ^^;). So before you send whatever work you got to your "possible of running away with your work and not paying for it" employer or project host, you secure it by converting it into a pdf file. Again, it's simple, easy and safe to work online. =)
• Setting up a free account - Now to those people who have asked me whether it is wise to pay for a gold member account on a freelancing site or get a free one. I say, go for the free one first. Make some money. Then pay for it. So don't be scared about losing money over the Internet. You better be more worried on how you can win projects instead. Consider it as a way to spend your hard earned cash for more! Besides, you're not gonna lose anything after getting paid, right?

And there you have it. Simple Requirements to be a prepared freelancer. My next post will be about how to become a successful Bruneian freelancer. So be sure you check back soon!

By the way, thanks to those who emailed me your inquiries regarding online freelancing. It helped me found some holes in my previous post. Don't be afraid to ask me anything about money problems. I'm here to help and it's all for freeeeeeeeeee~! :D

I said this before and I'll say it again. If you like my post or got any questions or comments, please leave it in the comment section below. I will answer and clear any doubts you have whenever I can. Thanks for reading and enjoy being an online freelancer. :)

It's not too late to sign up now! So go ahead and register by clicking here!

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Internet Statistical Explosion

As I was doing my usual Internet marketing, I found this one particular image where it may prove useful to your Internet Research/Survey on the number of Internet users in the coming years. Though this image was collected, gathered and analyzed for last year information. Probably the 2009 would increase another large fraction of the world's population as well. Sorry if the photo size is unsuitable for your screen. Enjoy though! ;)

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Seven Tips for Improving Cashflow

Seven Tips For Improving Cashflow
By Daniel Bunyan

You may feel that you're billing enough each month to be satisfied that your business is well and truly solvent. However, a project is not completed or a product sold until you have that customer's money in your bank account.

Unpaid customer invoices are proving to be a huge headache, more now than ever, for UK SMEs. A staggering cashflow often means you are unable to pay your own debts as they fall due, incurring more fees. It's a vicious circle.

There are ways, however, to maximise your cashflow and ensure that it runs as smoothly as possible, without impacting on your business processes:

1. Ensure you invoice the client as soon as the work is completed.
If necessary, particularly when working on a longer project or contract, bill intermittently or ask for a deposit up front.

2. All outstanding invoices need to be chased as soon as possible
Write to the customer approximately a week before the terms of the credit agreement are ending and telephone them the day before. This may seem aggressive but will convey to the customer that your processes and procedures are in place and you will chase any outstanding payment. If invoices are now classed as unpaid, a failure to communicate on your part will simply mean you will be waiting a considerable length of time until you finally recover your money.

3. Ensure that you don't have excessive stock
A stock reduction programme will release funds and ensure that you're making your cashflow work harder for you. Order additional stock only when you know it is definitely going to be required - don't let your money gather dust in a warehouse.

4. Try negotiating credit limits and payment terms
On the other side of the coin, try liaising with your own suppliers to raise credit limits and extend payment terms. They are facing the same problems as you and if you are offering to pay their invoices, just requesting more flexible terms, it makes more sense for them to agree to your terms rather than spend time and money chasing your payment.

5. Speak to your bank
Your bank may agree to extend the term of your overdraft or business loan. However, maintain a good relationship with your bank manager or you may find facilities being withdrawn at short notice.
 
6. Factoring and invoice discounting
For a small fee, specialist factoring and invoice discounting companies not only offer to release up to 90% of the value of your customer invoices, often on the day you issue them, they may also agree to take on your credit control function, chasing customer payments and allowing you to get on with the running of your business. Customers often suddenly manage to find lost invoices and cheque signatories when contacted by a debt collector rather than a small business owner.

7. Sell off your least-used assets
You need to do your sums carefully on this one to ensure you'd obtain a profit by selling individual assets, but you can put them to best use, raising cash and even leasing them back if necessary.

Touch Financial is the UK's leading independent online commercial finance broker. If you are having difficulties with an intermittent cashflow, have a turnover of at least £50,000 per annum and issue credit terms of between 30-90 days, give us a call on 0845 388 9725 or visit our website to instantly compare quotes from the UK's leading lenders. Your call will be dealt with in the strictest confidence and our advice is impartial. Initial business finance consultations are free.

This article was produced by Touch Financial, the UK's leading independent factoring broker. Our aim at Touch is simple, to save our customers time and money to help fuel the growth of their business.

If you would like to learn more about factoring services

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Bunyan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Seven-Tips-For-Improving-Cashflow&id=2998784

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Blogging: Final Lesson Business via Blogging

When it comes to blogging, people would rather work and use their time to make some money out of it. So that's the beauty of blogging. You can actually monetize your blog so that your time is not wasted.

Local bloggers (Bruneian Bloggers) are actually taking advantage of this service by selling their products and services online. You can check out some of them at the Simpur blog directory.

Because of the bloggers free platform and easy editing, people made it easy and simple for them to create a webpage or website to help display their products or services to sell towards the public. But the sad thing is that the layout of it is still meant for bloggers to blog about stuff. Not an e-commerce site. But still, the idea of direct selling is still a powerful method of monetizing.

When it comes to ways of making money, there are loads of ways to make money with your blog alone. But that would actually be useful if your blog has loads of traffic coming through.

Another way of making money is by being a guest blogger. You can write an entry for another person's blog. And as you do that you get paid per entry. Of course, you would need to show a small sample that you can actually be creative in your writing and proofread. If you take a look at how much in renumeration a guest blogger can make, just imagine if you can do more. You can go to problogger's link on blogger's earning through this link here to find out more.

Once you are really experienced (or can't do guest blogging yet), you can try creating a webcomic. As a matter of fact, I'm already planning to make one. Just for this site to make it more interesting and appealing towards the younger audience. Now you won't be able to make money out of it yet, but the source of income can come from selling a volume of your already made comic strips along with some new content.

Here are a couple of famous webcomics that made some profit over blogging and webcomic style (and more!):

Least I could do

Looking for Group

I've read Least I could do webcomic since 2004 and been a daily reader to them since. I monitored their progress and I'm impress with their work. Looking for Group just gives a signal that they have gone to work with another company and their getting paid to co-draw a webcomic with them. Though one thing lead to another and they have become successful over time. All this through the magic of the Internet.

But just in case you feel threatened by their achievements, here's a little "motivational" webcomic which I believe that a 6 year old can do.

I don't know

Like I said, there are more ways than one to make a decent income from your blog. Of course that depends on how you wanna work with it. But you have to remember this rule that I read from another problogger, David Risly, once said,"You won't make money if you don't treat your blog like a business." So for every business, it requires you to spend or invest in it in order to make more.

Are you ready to turn blogging into a business? O.o

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Looking for cooking recipe or the recipe of life?

I have been reading other Bruneian blogs and I have one in particular to be interesting. The blog is called the Sungai Recipe. At first, I didn't understand but as I read further and asked a few questions to this fellow blogger that, her work are basically a general point of view on life and food. Just because it is a recipe, it does not mean that it has to be about food. Her later blogs were about the ingredients to being a successful person in general. You can view more of her blogs via this link -> Sungai Recipe~

So let me give you guys a preview of one of her blogs and tell me your recipe of success! (Also note: most of her blog are in Malay. Enjoy reading~!)

"Apa yang di cari

Hari ini saya kebetulan simbang simbang dengan seorang rakan mengenai isu isu semasa.Kebanyakkannya menjurus kepada soal kewangan dan mencari pendapatan.

Apa pun yang di perkatakan dan usaha yang dibuat,kita tidak akan lupa bahawa keberhasilan sesuatu usaha itu bukan hanya bergantung atas daya usaha kita semata-mata.

Mengikut kata Abu Hazim Al-Maliki"Perkara yang telah di takdirkan untukku pasti aku dapat walaupun aku lari daripadanya, dan perkara yang telah di takdirkan bukan untukku pasti tidak dapat walaupun aku bersusah payah untuk mendapatnya."



Tentu saja jika kita ini sebuah kereta buatan Toyota adalah lebih baik dan wajar ketika kereta itu rosak semestinya akan di bawa ke bengkel pembaikan jenis Toyota juga,mengikut sukat sukat pengeluaran jenis yang sama.Begitu juga kita sebagai makhluk yang di ciptakan, tentu saja ada 'buku manual' sebagai panduan pembaikan jika sekiranya terluka atau tersakit.Maka dari itu selalu di anjurkan kepada manusia yang di anugerahkan akal yang sempurna ini tentang keperluan merujuk kitab Al Quran dan Hadith, supaya tidak terpesong jauh dari jalan yang lurus.



Dan memang Maha Benarlah Allah,kerana Allah juga berfirman:

"Kalau sekiranya Kami menurunkan AlQuran ini kepada sebuah gunung,pasti kamu akan melihat gunung itu tunduk terpecah belah disebabkan takut kepada Allah."



Apakah kita tidak merasa kerdil?



Oleh itu kita akan sentiasa ingat kepadaNya kerana di mana lah lagi kita patut meminta dan berharap.Hanya dengan Rahmat Kasih sayangNya jua."

-Let the power of wealth be with you~