How To Start Freelancing

Freelancer, How To Find Clients
Talent is not enough, you need strong networking skills and client list

By James P. Ong
Editor, 88DB.com

FIRST of all, let’s be clear what we mean by freelance.

According to Dictionary.com, a freelancer is “a person who works as a writer, designer, performer or the like, selling work or services by the hour, day, job, etcetera, rather than working on a regular salary basis for one employer.”

Advantage: You’re your own boss, you control your time. Disadvantage: You’re your own boss, yet your own paycheck is not guaranteed.

Is being a freelancer difficult? No, after all, you will still be using the same skill sets you used to in your previous job. But it can be challenging, because you will need to multi-task and take care of such things as billing statements, bookkeeping, and filing. Just think of it as preparing yourself to become a business owner.

In the current economic scenario where people are losing jobs, some have no choice but to become a freelancer. Take heed, it’s not just the creative fields that employ freelancers. If you are an accountant, sales agent or a banker, you can also make a living out of freelancing or consultancy. And because companies are also working on a tighter budget, they are more open to outsourcing jobs to freelancers.

You still need to work hard at getting gigs, however. Talent is not enough, you also need to know people who can refer you to potential clients. Tell everyone what you’re doing, post ads online and in community billboards. Spread the word.

Here are more tips from Entrepreneur.com on how to find clients:

1. Develop a portfolio to demonstrate the scope of your skills. If that means working for no pay or low pay initially, do it. Samples of your work will be your best calling card.

2. Tell everyone you know―colleagues, friends, family, neighbors―about your new freelance gig. Referrals will make up the bulk of your business initially.

3. Join professional organizations―online or in the community―that serve your field. In addition to all the other benefits you’ll gain, you’ll also pick up insider tips of where to find work.

4. Join local organizations, like the chamber of commerce or Rotary club. “Creative people often overlook organizations like these, thinking they’ll be filled with stiff bankers and businesspeople,” notes an authority. “And they may be―but that’s who’ll be hiring you to do your creative work.”

5. Volunteer in the community doing something you love, and you’ll broaden your network of potential clients.

6. Cold call. Yes, everyone hates cold calling, but the reason freelancers need to do this is because it works. Another important point to remember is that freelancing doesn’t solely mean doing the thing you love. It also means knowing how to sell and market your services. When starting out, about 90 percent of your time will be spent on sales and marketing tasks.

Source: How To Start Freelancing

Interior Decorating For Kids

Who spends the most time in the kids’ bedrooms? The kids do of course! So why not make it a room they want to be in?

By Komee Carpenter

Interior Design Tips for Children's Room

I BELIEVE kids are born creative. Unfortunately, living life usually squelches most of that creativity unless it is carefully nurtured. You can help your children maintain their creative nature by allowing them to express it. That’s where interior decorating for kids comes in.

Kids start having color preferences at an early age. Test this out yourself by giving them choices. Rather than purchasing a cute outfit for your child because it’s fashionable or because you like it, pick out two or three and give your child the choice. If you do this often enough with various items and choices, you’ll start to see a pattern emerge. Go with it.

Who spends the most time in the kids’ bedrooms? The kids do of course! So why not make it a room they want to be in? Let your kids have a say in how it’s decorated. Give them choices, and guide them along the way.

Read more about decorating tips for your kid’s room.

The Death of Passwords

3 Easy steps to increasing user productivity, enhancing authentication, and lowering password reset costs with Enterprise Single Sign-On.

Every user has personally experienced password frustration: the inability to remember a password for an important application when you need it, and the difficulty and delay in getting the password reset by the IT help desk. This results in frequent calls to the help desk for password resets, which are estimated to cost USD$25 (SGD$38.00) to USD$40 (SGD$61.00) per call. Whilst waiting for the password to return to the application, there is lost productivity of the user too.

In an attempt to counter this problem, most users end up selecting easily remembered “obvious” passwords like a variation on their name, birth date, or social security number. Unfortunately, these passwords become vulnerable to cyber attacks from hackers, leading to security breaches.

Computer industry gurus such as Bill Gates are now calling for the elimination of passwords. “There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. In time, we will completely replace passwords”, he concluded.

Read more on the Enterprise Single Sign-On.

3Par Partners With PTC To Introduce Utility Storage To Malaysia, Singapore And Indonesia

3PAR Expands Presence in Asia to Address Cloud Computing Demand through Partnership with Longstanding Data Management Provider

Singapore,  January 21, 2009 –  3PAR ® (NYSE: PAR ), the leading global provider of utility storage, announced today that it has expanded sales in Asia through a new channel partnership with data management provider PTC System (S) Pte Ltd., based in Singapore. PTC has agreed to sell and support 3PAR Utility Storage systems to enterprise customers in Southeast Asia—including Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia—as part of a focus on delivering storage integration for utility and cloud computing datacenters. PTC was incorporated in 1991 to address data management needs for the manufacturing sector and today has evolved to provide integrated IT across multiple industries and government organizations. PTC leverages advanced storage technologies with the goal of giving customers a competitive edge.

“Customers in Asia are facing the same challenges encountered by enterprises across the globe, such as the need to reduce costs, shrink datacenter footprint, ease data management, and speed time to resolution in support situations,” said SS Lim, Managing Director, PTC. ”Not only are 3PAR’s highly virtualized systems purpose-built to address these needs, but the unique performance, cost-effective scalability, and automation features of 3PAR Utility Storage make it the ideal infrastructure for Software- and Storage-as-a-Service offerings that have emerged to address these same pain points.”

Read more about 3Par partnership with PTC.

The Secret Behind LG Secret

The third in LG Black Label Series meant to tantalize users

LG Secret

LG Secret was developed to satisfy the tastes of trendsetters who desire a sophisticated design with an enduring elegance. It is the third model from the LG Black Label Series. The premium, understated style of the phone is reflected through the unique pattern and texture of the innovative carbon fiber material, complemented with sleek tempered glass.

The name Secret symbolizes a slender and stylish handset that does not compromise benefits and convenience of smart, digital technology.

The meaning of the product name, “LG Secret” (Model: LG-KF750), is to tantalize the user with the intrinsic features of the phone and engage in a continual process of exploring the inner workings of the handset that will never go out of style.

“LG Secret inspires timeless elegance with its premium materials and today’s most innovative mobile technology, a mark of true premium mobile handset,” says Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We expect the introduction of the third LG Black Label Series will continue to raise our position as a premium brand in the Asia Pacific…”

Read more about LG Secret.

StreetDirectory is back on!

Streetdirectory re-launches with all new maps and new features for the loyal visitors.

Streetdirectory.com launches their new maps with much more value-added features this 1st of August. Read on for the press coverage from Straits Times…

Aug 1, 2008
Streetdirectory.com back in business
Online map website relaunched with new owner and maps created from scratch
By Irene Tham

STREETDIRECTORY.COM is back online.

The website, whose street maps were found by a court to have violated the copyright of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), was taken offline in late March but is being relaunched today.

Two things are new about it: The site has new maps, created from scratch over the past nine months, and a new owner.

JobsDB, Asia’s largest online recruitment firm based in Hong Kong, bought the streetdirectory. com Web address and its assets from Singapore-based Virtual Map in the fourth quarter of last year for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was kept under wraps until yesterday.

Mr Samuel Sung, chairman of JobsDB, told The Straits Times: ‘Our online recruitment and classified ads businesses need maps. And streetdirectory.com is a good domain name to own.’

The revamped site offers users the conveniences of its predecessor, such as location search by postal code, building and street names.

But the site now also allows map users to pan across a particular neighbourhood by holding down and dragging the mouse.

Users will also be able to look for jobs based on location, since the online street directory has been integrated with JobsDB’s recruitment engine.

A new company, called Streetdirectory, was recently incorporated here to run the online map business spanning three countries.

The outfit has about 70 people, including land surveyors and cartographers who chart the landmarks, buildings and roads here and in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Sung, asked why he chose to build the maps from scratch when he could buy them from other providers, said: ‘We’re starting on a clean slate. No one can question our maps. We own them.’

More than 10 senior managers from Virtual Map have joined the new entity, including former Virtual Map managing director Firdhaus Akber, now the managing editor at Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map is still awaiting judgment from the Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court, on its application to file an appeal against an earlier High Court decision.

Meanwhile, SLA has applied to strike out Virtual Map’s notice of appeal.

The problem between the two former business partners began in 2004, when SLA filed a suit against Virtual Map for using its copyrighted materials after it no longer had the permission to do so.

SLA won the case in a district court. Virtual Map then appealed to the High Court against the decision but was turned down.

When the High Court ordered Virtual Map to take down the maps that infringed SLA’s copyright in March, the map company went to the Court of Appeal, the judgment of which is pending.

Whatever the Court of Appeal decides, Mr Akber said, Virtual Map will ‘fulfil its obligations to SLA and the lawyers’.

‘We’re not going to run away,’ he said.

At its peak, Virtual Map had about 500 corporate customers in Asia, for whom it customised maps used, for example, on company websites and brochures.

Today, that customer base has under 100 names, said Mr Akber, who expressed hope that customers would recontract with Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map will remain open till the end of this year to service existing contracts. Until then, it will resell Streetdirectory’s new maps to these customers.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_263261.html

Go and take a peek at Streetdirectory.com now!

Canon Enters Fashion Fray

New IXUS and PowerShot models available in different colours

CANON, a favourite among amateur and professional photographers, is about to gain a new fan base with its new IXUS and PowerShot models that come in colours other than standard-issue silver. The IXUS 80 IS comes in pink, blue, two shades of brown, and silver, while the Powershot A470 are available in yellow, green, red, blue and grey.

Canon harnessed the latest technologies to pack the diminutive IXUS 80 IS with a host of features including Canon’s DIGIC III imaging processor, 3x zoom and 8 megapixel CMOS sensor, which support high-resolution prints up to A2 size. The brand new Motion Detection Technology and high-speed ISO 1600 means an end to blurred images.

Read more about the new Canon digital cameras.

Know Of A Diaper Cake Baker?

34-year-old Siti Mariam shares some secrets on being in the baby gift business
By Mavis Ang

DIAPER cakes have been around for more than a decade, but only gained global recognition when Carrie presented Miranda with a huge blue one for her baby shower in the TV series Sex and the City.

These non-edible cakes are made up mainly of rolls of diapers, and are usually adorned creatively with towels, bibs, baby shoes, stuffed toys. They are popular baby gifts at baby showers — a Western tradition where friends of soon-to-be-parents get-together and present the couple with gifts for their baby.

Read more about Diaper Cakes.

Canon Promises Cinema-quality Video with HV30

New camcorder sets new standards for movie making with new features in a handy and user friendly design, says manufacturer

DISCERNING video enthusiasts can now share their stories in high definition with the launch of the Canon HV30 high definition camcorder. Featuring powerful functions in a stylish form that delivers cutting edge visuals, the HV30 camcorder goes beyond the needs of moviemakers who want to make an impact with a high-definition production.

Building on the success of the highly acclaimed Canon HV20 camcorder, the Canon HV30 offers cinema-quality video recording with a resolution up to four times more details than standard definition cameras, along with a host of advanced professional features and controls that are powered by the advances of Canon’s unrivalled expertise in video technology. Based on the HDV standard that records on MiniDV tapes, the Canon HV30 offers the highest possible super-sharp video quality that will do full justice to HDTVs.

Read more on the review of Canon HV20.

Entertainment For Hire

A balloonist can contribute a different kind of fun vibe to your party, especially if it’s ‘Mr. Lightning Finger the Balloon Clown,’ who sculpts balloons so fast you won’t know what hit you
By James P. Ong

IF YOU’RE looking for party entertainment or events management, you can’t go wrong with Mr. Lightning Finger, recognised as one of the best local party entertainers in the island. As a balloonist, “he is not only good in twisting balloons to various shapes,” his publicity material claims, “but is also very good in twisting [them] into various cartoon characters, for example: Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, etcetera.”

He also holds ginormous appeal to both children and female adults. He’s a babe magnet! Balloons are doing for him what Golden Retrievers do for hunks in sweatshirts: attracting the crowd and garnering the attention.

Read more about this Entertainment for Hire.