Bartering Your Professional Skills

by Sandi Valentine

When I started working at home as a writer a year ago, I had virtually no other web based skills. I knew less than nothing about SEO, Wordpress, niche websites, or Internet Marketing. It was like walking into a different world and not knowing how to speak the language. However, a close friend had told me that webmasters were in need of content, and would pay good money for it. I just had to learn how to put this fact to work to my advantage.

 

I began by putting up a post on the Warrior Forum, stating that I was a new content writer and wanted to offer my services. I set my rates low, and explained to customers that I needed to get some testimonials under my site and build a website. After that, rates would be going up. Literally, within five minutes, my inbox was full of messages from webmasters and marketers, offering to help me set up my own business. Up until that day, I was doubtful about being able to work from home. Afterwards, however, I never looked back.

 

Since then, I’ve bartered my writing skills for graphics, software, Wordpress plugins, and four websites. I’ve also been able to get technical support, coding, and marketing advice. Generally, all it takes to put your writing skills to work is taking the time to ask – there’s almost always someone with the skill you need who is willing to exchange their time for yours. Simply put up a polite post on any marketing forum, explaining what skills you have and what you’re in need of, and you’ll soon have more help than you know what to do with!

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Sandi is the owner of Valentine Content Creation. She blogs about balancing working at home and family at From Diapers to Deadlines.


June 12, 2008 | Filed Under Making Money, Techniques and Tips, Resources, Organization, Marketing | 3 Comments 

Where did my month go?

I noticed when I posted my blog yesterday that it had been nearly a month since I posted before. Where exactly did May go? Here’s what I worked on in the past month:

-Finished two long term ebook projects for a client

-Wrote 30 articles for a client

-reworked my own sales letter and added content to Sell Your Writing Online

-Wrote weekly blog posts for a client’s two blogs

-Created three autoresponder courses

In addition to being Mom and wife, and getting sleep…I’d have to say it was a very, very busy month. I hope yours was just as active and just as rewarding!

June 4, 2008 | Filed Under Organization | 3 Comments 

Wow! What a way to show off your samples!

I can’t remember how I ran across this writer or his article directory, but I had to share his unique idea for sharing samples. He has used an article directory program to create his own directory showcasing his work.

Although I’m sure it was quite a bit of work, I think it could be a great idea. Instead of trying to find samples that are appropriate for a particular job, your potential client can look up the articles that deal with their topic to see how well you know that topic.

The only suggestion I’d make to the writer are to include contact info on the article directory itself. I bookmarked this link a while ago, and I know I found it from his resume page. But now it’s later, I can’t remember who he is, how to contact him or what his resume page URL is.

Are there any good sleuths out there who would like to track down this guy for me?

January 16, 2008 | Filed Under Organization, Marketing | 3 Comments 

How Was Your 2007?

This time of year, between Christmas and the New Year, I always feel like crawling into a comfy chair with paper and pen and planning my goals for the next year. I go back over my accomplishments of the last year and figure out how I can improve my game plan. It looks like I’m not the only one.

Melissa Donovan of Writing Forward had a great post this week on reviewing your freelance writing business, and making changes for the coming year.

Personally, there are a lot of things I want to change about my writing business in the next year. I know I need to get more organized with bookkeeping, and branch out into other areas of writing. Take some time off on the weekends is another big goal for me. Hopefully with some changes I’m making to my business, I’ll be able to shift my priorities a bit.

What are your writing goals for the new year?

December 30, 2007 | Filed Under Link Love, Resources, Organization | 10 Comments 

Free Accounting Software - I Heart Quicken

Good news for freelancers! Thanks to the guys at Web Content Writer Tips I just downloaded a free copy of Intuit’s QuickBooks - Simple Start 2008.

Go pick up your copy now so you can get organized for next year!

And speaking of organization, Deb Ng of Freelance Writing Gigs had a great post last week on things freelancers should do before the end of the year. It definitely inspired me to get my books in order and plan for 2008 a whole lot better than I did for 2007.

November 26, 2007 | Filed Under Making Money, Resources, Organization | 5 Comments 

What does Twitter mean to you?

Inspired by Dr. Mani’s question yesterday, here are my thoughts on Twitter.

I’ve been on Twitter for at least two months. It’s a fun little distraction, I’ll admit. Second only to e-mail, it’s the page I load the most when I’m procrastinating. But Twitter has functioned as:

*A Break Room: Working at home is lonely. My husband works at home too, but it’s still lonely. Especially when his eyes glaze over when I talk about SEO, pinging and memes. It’s nice to pop in and catch up on people who are in the same line of work with me. I commiserate with Pamela Troeppl about finishing ebooks, for example. It’s easier than visiting a handful of different forums or going to different blogs (and more justifiable too - see above).  And between Web Word and my Google News feeder, I’ve got plenty of random and interesting sites to visit.

*An Instant Messaging System. There are some folks that I know from around the ‘net that are just easier to reach via Twitter. If I don’t want to try to find an e-mail address or blog location that I’ve bookmarked, I can just direct message them on twitter. For example, I’ve “known” Deborah Ng for a while, but didn’t know her e-mail address. When I needed to reach her yesterday, Twitter worked perfectly.

*A Networking Tool. I knew of Dr. Mani, but never got the chance to speak with him until I joined Twitter. Suddenly, all of these Internet Marketing bigwigs were approachable. And I’ve networked with people that run in the same circles, that I never met before. We all work together, using Twitter, to increase traffic to our sites and encourage one another.  Which brings me to my next point….

*A form of Advertising. I ran a special offer on the Warrior Forum several weeks ago for ghostwriting. Mr Lewis Smile purchased the pack, and let me know that he would have never known about it had it not been for Twitter. I’ve seen people use Twitter to advertise their blogs, ask for a page to be Stumbled Upon and get the word out about a new product. (This works best when you mix in some fun stuff with your advertising - no one likes someone who just promotes things all of the time).

*A way to get close, but not too close. I mention my daughters on Twitter, and talk about my day to day activities. But 140 characters lets me do so without revealing too much about my private life.

*A personal organizer. I’ve linked up my Remember the Milk to do list with  Twitter so it reminds me every morning about what I need to get done that day.

Twitter works best when you can balance interesting tidbits, personal anecdotes and self-promotion.  Besides the people that I’ve mentioned, I also enjoy following HopeWilbanks, imsweetie and dhudiburg.

November 21, 2007 | Filed Under Fun Stuff, Link Love, Resources, Organization, Marketing | 8 Comments 

Are you an ostrich or a butterfly?

Maybe you noticed I’ve been missing for a few days (or maybe you haven’t at all). I’ve been having one of those “head in the ground, total focus on my client’s work” weeks and my networking and blogging have definitely taken a big hit. Personally, I tend to alternate between being an ostrich and a social butterfly.

Some weeks, I get my work done but spend a lot of time twittering, checking in at forums, answering e-mails - all of the fun social stuff that makes the working online enjoyable. Even though my husband is now home with me, working at home can still get a bit lonely - especially when I start rattling on about PLR, affiliate marketing and Aweber. It helps to have “co-workers,” even if they are other entrepreneurs, to bounce ideas off of or just vent.

Other weeks, when I’ve overbooked myself or life has taken me on a detour, I have to put my nose to the grindstone and work. The urgent but not important things like e-mail fall by the wayside. It’s amazing how little time it takes me to feel totally disconnected from the web world.

It’s a tough thing to balance. At face value, participating in forums or twittering doesn’t make money. But I’ve built the main part of my business from networking in particular forums. And my last ghostwriting content offer wouldn’t have sold if I hadn’t used twitter to promote it.

One thing that I admit I need work on is reading other people’s blogs and posting. I haven’t done a whole lot of that, and I think my blog is suffering because of it.  I’m going to try reducing the list of blogs that I follow so I can fully participate in the ones I do comment on, instead of trying to hit a whole bunch at once.

I’ve found yet another dichotomy to balance besides work/family, personal projects/ghostwriting and sleep/sanity. So are you an ostrich or a butterfly?

October 26, 2007 | Filed Under Organization | 11 Comments 

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