Mommy Ginger
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Where to hire a freelancer?

Do you feel like you are doing everything for your business and need an extra hand with tasks, but don’t think your ready to hire an extra head count just yet? Hire a Freelancer!

As a small business owner, there are times when you need an extra hand to do chores that are not your expertise (such as graphic design or accounting tasks) for a quick project. Some of these tasks don’t necessarily require a business owner to hire someone permanently that’s why its such a relief that the freelancing industry is now growing and its so much easier to find a freelancer that can fit your job requirement and get things done right away!

For those of you who want to understand what freelancing is, here is a web episode of RISE OF THE FREE. Rise of the Free is a web series that give you information about the freelancing industry and how it is to be a freelancer.

There are so many freelancing sites today and to make it easier for you, we’ve listed the top 5 sites for you to kick-start your search for the best staff fit for your requirements.

Upwork

Widely known in the Freelancing industry in the Philippines and in the world! Upwork has established their reputation of getting quality freelancers since 2003. They have their own tracking application that makes it easier for both boss and client to have transparency when working.

Freelancer

Freelancer is one of the leading freelancing sites since 2009. It has the same functions as Upwork.com though its interface may seem more complicated to use for first timers. It has a unique chatting option when used via desktop. It also has a wide array of job categories that makes it easier for you to find the proper staff.

Onlinejobs.ph

A Filipino freelancing site with over 250,000 resumes where you can easily search for the right person fit for the job, interview them then offer them a job and negotiate salary. This is a website for those who want to hire only Filipinos for their tasks.

RareJob.com.ph

RareJob is the top English school in Japan and it aims to encourage 10,000 Japanese to speak fluent English. They started in 2007 and focuses on solely teaching English to Japanese students. It has no other job categories offered and application seems easy. All you need is to register, undergo an assessment and open lesson slots where your future students can book classes with you.

Bizmates

Bizmates is the number one online Business English School in Japan catering to Japanese professionals. Their goal is to help their clients succeed in global business by enhancing their communication skills.

199Jobs.com

199Jobs.com is platform where you can hire freelancers for as low as Php 199 pesos. Although, price may go up depending on the work that you will outsource.

Fiverr.com

Fiverr is an Israeli company where you can get jobs down for as low as $5. Here is a link that will show what Fiverr is all about: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1456762414351137/

Do you have experiences with any of these sites? Which one would you recommend to a client looking for a freelancer? How about for a newbie freelancer?

How to Maximize your Time at The Freelancer Fair 2017

Thank you for your overwhelming response for this year’s The Freelancer Fair that will be held on September 2 at the Bayanihan Center, Pioneer, from 8 am to 5pm. I hope that you are as excited as I am! I hope that you learn a lot, meet more co-freelancers and aspiring freelancers, meet new clients and people you can collaborate with, be inspired to be one (if you aren’t already) and get to see if the freelancing life is for you! For my readers who have just heard about this event, it’s not too late. This long post will tell you what it is about and at the same time, give advice to those who have already purchased a ticket on how to maximize your time at the The Freelancer Fair.

What is the Freelancer Fair?

In the Philippines, we have around 1.5M freelancers who are working online. Most of these freelancers are virtual assistants, graphic artists, programmers, marketers, animators, etc. This number does not include the freelancers who are working “offline”, such as photographers, videographers, make-up artists, fitness coaches, consultants, etc.

Both of these numbers are growing, as the “gig economy” is now being widely accepted as a viable option for a career or a profession. Manila Workshops has always believed that we have talented people in the Philippines and we want to make it widely known that being a freelancer is a legit profession. The successful people who have made it in this industry took it to heart to always be ahead of the curve by learning new skills and by adapting to the changes happening.

But more than a profession, we also want to educate people on how Freelancing is the door to many more possibilities you can do with your life whether it’s simply having more time with your family, or finally getting started with that business or passion you’ve always dreamed of.

With this year’s theme Cultivating Relationships, the event promises to give you a full day of learning through a series of talks, panel discussions and networking with freelancers, industry experts and businesses.

What are the Official Hashtags?

The official hashtags are #RiseOfTheFree and #TheFreelancerFair. Kindly use these hashtags when posting. Also, please follow and like the new page that we have created on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefreelancerfair/

Where and what time is The Freelancer Fair?

The Freelancer Fair will be held at the Bayanihan Center. It’s along Pioneer. Please CLICK HERE for the map details. There is FREE parking beside the venue that can accommodate a lot of cars! 🙂 The event will start at 9:00 am, but registration will open at 8:00 am. Please come during this period (from 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning). This is to avoid long lines in the registration area.

Registration and Entering the Venue Proper

Please wear comfortable clothing, but please no shorts and slippers please. There will be different lines at the registration area. We will have the following lines:

a. Paid online – Surname or Last Name starts with A to L
b. Paid online – Surname or Last Name starts with M to Z
c. Walk-ins – Surname or Last Name starts with A to L
d. Walk-ins – Surname or Last Name starts with M to Z
e. VIPS / Sponsors (including Booth Sponsors) / Media

Children 17 years old and younger can enter the venue for free. Kindly present a proof of their age/birthday at the registration area. Please attend though to your children at all times. Also, let’s be respectful of other people’s intent to listen and learn. Any behaviour that is not conducive to learning is highly discouraged. 🙂 Hope you understand!

Upon signing up, you will be given an ID, which you need to wear at all times (since Bayanihan security is strict). At the back of your ID will be a copy of the program. You will also be given a loot bag, which you will use to keep all of your belongings and all the freebies that you will get from our partner brands and sponsors. It will also contain the Booth Stamping Game Sheet / Feedback Form. IF YOU PRE-ORDERED FOOD AND DRINKS, be sure also that you get the food stubs from the registration area.

PRE-ORDER FOOD AND DRINKS

The venue does not allow cash transactions for food and drinks inside the venue. If you want to order food and drinks, please PRE-ORDER from our partner merchants. This is highly recommended as restaurants, cafes, etc. are across the street. The time spent to buy and line up may have been time spent networking! 🙂

Here is the list of the partner food and beverage merchants:

BEVERAGE PARTNERS

ORDER COFFEE FROM BLACK BRIDGE: http://bit.ly/BlackBridgeTFF2017

ORDER MILK TEA FROM NITRO 7: http://bit.ly/Nitro7TFF2017

FOOD ORDERS

For those who asked, yes, you can bring water jugs, too, and it is advisable to bring water.

For those who are breastfeeding, please do let anyone from Manila Workshops know. They will direct you to the room where you can breastfeed if you need privacy.

BRING CALLING CARDS OR COPIES OF YOUR WORK (JUST IN CASE)

You’ll never know if a someone in the fair would be interested to avail of your service. It’s good to be prepared and ready to network. Be sure to use the hashtags when posting, since a lot of the attendees will follow the event by searching for the hashtags. Also, update your Facebook, Linked-In, and other profiles prior to The Freelancer Fair.

There will be different communities that will be present. They will have booths during the event. Be sure to network and get to know people in these booths! The community leaders and members will be there to help answer any questions that you may have and will be open to welcome you with open arms into this industry! 🙂

BE SURE TO INTERACT WITH THE SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS!

We have an interesting line-up of speakers, and these people are very open and willing to help you jumpstart your freelancing career. Don’t be shy to approach them!

Here is the list of speakers:

PROGRAM & SPEAKER SCHEDULE: 

Hosts: Marv de Leon and Jieneb Kho

◊ Part 1: FREELANCING: AN OVERVIEW
9:00 am to 9:15 am: Opening Remarks: Cultivating Relationships w/ Ginger Arboleda, CEO of Manila Workshops
9:15 am to 9:35 am: The Freelancing Industry in the Philippines w/  Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim, Director of Department of Information Communications & Technology (DICT)
9:40 am to 10:00 am: Freelancing Association: Introduction of DCAP w/ Genesis Reonico, Founder of OnlineJobsUniversity.com and President of the Digital Career Advocates of the Philippines

◊ Part 2: FREELANCING AS A PROFESSION: SUPPORT & SERVICES 
10:00 am to 10:20 am: Business Registration and Taxation w/ Dandy Victa, President of Manila Civil Service Review & Mark Ong, CFO of Taxumo
10:20 am to 11:00 am: Freelancers’ Funds Flow w/ Paolo Baltao, EON & Miguel Warren, PAYONEER
11:00 am to 11:20 am: Freelancers: Finding Your Purpose w/ Jackie Cañiza, Founder of Haraya Coaching
11:00 am to 11:40 am: Talk from Facebook with Paolo Lacuna, SMB Business Development Lead, PH at Facebook
11:40 am to 12:15 pm: Freelancing Opportunities and Tools w/ Lory Desuasido (Bizmates.ph), Fitz Villafuerte, Founder of 199jobs.com and Julia Jamie Madrazo, OnlineJobs.ph
12:15 pm to 1:00 pm: Lunch Break

◊ Part 3: ONLINE FREELANCING
1:00 pm to 1:20 pm: Building Relationship Through Email w/ Allan Ngo, Founder of Digital Solopreneur
1:20 pm to 2:00 pm: Building a Brand and Relationships as Freelancers (Panel) w/ Nix Eniego, Marketing Head of Sprout Solutions & CJ Maturino, Founder of Online Freelance Community, together with successful & seasoned freelancers – Allie Pasag, John Pagulayan, Nina Mendoza & Liberty Baldovino
2:20 pm to 2:40pm: Fitness Freelancing Opportunities and Tips (Panel) with Rach Bonifacio of Treehouse Yoga, Toni Nicolas (Yoga / Zumba Instructor) & Allan Enriquez, Fitness Blogger

◊ Part 4: SOFTWARE & SERVICE FREELANCING
3:00 pm to 3:15 pm: Financial Freelancing w/ Bong Fajardo, Jr., Regional Sales Manager of SunLife Financial Philippines
3:15 pm to 3:30 pm: Real Estate Freelancing w/ Icel Dy of Spectrum Investments

◊ Part 5: CREATIVE DESIGN & FREELANCING
4:00 pm to 4:20 pm: Creative and Design Freelancing w/ Francis Miranda, CEO of Tagline Communications Inc.
4:20 pm to 4:45 pm: Creative Freelancing: Opportunities and Tips (Panel) w/ Ria Lu, CEO of Komikasi Games Charlie Aquino, Managing Director of SophieCreatives; Dennis Abad, Co-founder of SHOOT! Practical Videography School
5:00 pm: Closing Remarks

JOIN THE BOOTH STAMPING GAME (RAFFLE)!

There will be some raffle prizes from some of our sponsors. To join the raffle, you will need to join the booth stamping game (BSG). The BSG sheet will be your raffle entry. All you need to do is to interact with 20 other people (ideally, people whom you have just met at this event!). 🙂 Come on people… no cheating! This will be to your advantage! Once completed, fill out the feedback form at the back of the sheet and write your name. Submit your sheet to any of the Manila Workshops event directors at the reception area.

Please visit the booths of our sponsors, too! They have mini surprises at their booths, so go and visit them, too!

KEEP A SOUVENIR! ORDER OUR LIMITED EDITION RISE OF THE FREE SHIRTS!

 

To order these nice shirts, please fill out this form: http://bit.ly/2wMcYtl

This day is about learning a few things about being a freelancer in today’s times. It’s also a day of cultivating relationships. Won’t it be more fun and exciting if you go on this journey with other people? I’ve been a freelancer since 2008 and let me tell you that I have made friends and these friends have been with me, supporting me through the “thick and thins” of my freelancing and entrepreneurship career!

Let’s show the world the power of the Filipino Freelancer. Get ready for the Rise of the Free!

Love,

Mommy Ginger

 

 

 

 

P.S. For those who haven’t bought a ticket yet, you still have time! Please visit this link: http://manilaworkshops.com/events/thefreelancerfair2017 Online registrations will close on August 30, but we will accept walk-ins. ONLY PREPAID ATTENDEES THOUGH WILL GET LOOTBAGS 🙂 🙂 See you!

P.P.S. Please join our newly created The Freelancer Fair Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thefreelancerfair/

 

Freelancing Tools: Proposals for you to win the job quickly

As a freelancer, you will be required to create tons of proposals to win a client. Instead of a job interview or resume, your proposal is vital in getting clients so how do you make your proposal stand out from the hundreds that also want to land the job?

You can get your potential clients’ attention by creating visually enticing templates with some of these freelancing tools that you can use to create a proposal!

Qwilr

This is one of the tools that I personally love and use. This site has ready-to-use templates for different kinds of projects. I love that you don’t need to think about the sections of the proposal or what goes into a proposal. You just need to edit and alter. It’s so much easier to create proposals for AdWords, Branding, Real Estate, Event Planning. Marketing Research and even Android Apps!

They offer a free 30-day trial and have 3 plans you can choose from: Pro, Business and Enterprise.

What I love about it is that it’s so sleek and so simple to use! What makes it stand-out really is the way you can layout your proposal. It just really looks impressive when you send out proposals using this.

Hello Bonsai

If you want to create proposals and send contracts all in one platform then Hello Bonsai is the right freelancing tool for you. It can help you create template proposals and let you know once your proposal is read. Your client can approve the proposal online and you can easily send them a contract to get their e-signature for a closed deal quickly!

Here are the features of Hello Bonsai. You can create proposals and contracts. You can use if for time tracking, create projects, monitor expenses and create invoice and payments. It also has great reporting capabilities.

They offer a free plan with limited functionalities where you can create only 3 projects per year or you can sign up with them for $19 a month for a complete suite which can help you effectively run your freelancing business.

What I like about Hello Bonsai is the fact that there are a lot of things that you can do using the platform. It’s also really affordable, too, if you’re a freelancer.

Bidsketch

Aside from creating proposals, this freelancing tool allows you to turn 18% of your leads to clients because it allows you to create landing pages, which clients can download into a .pdf file. Its analytics also allows you to find out how interested your clients are by giving data of how long they viewed the proposal, if they exported it and from which email it came from.

Its plans start at $23 if you want to will only have 1 user and $47 if you have a team of 3. They also offer a 14-day trial for first time users.

Are there freelancing tools that can help create great proposals that you know of? Share your thoughts in the comment box below!

Do you want to be a Freelancer?

If you are scared to take the leap into entrepreneurship, I suggest that you try out FREELANCING first. To those who don’t know, I was a content writer in ODESK (now Upwork) way back in 2010. I got a lot of foreign clients, and actually learned from my experience as a content writer. Starting this Friday, before The Freelancer Fair 2017, which will be held on Sept. 2, 2017, I will be writing a lot about freelancing, how to start freelancing, what you need to do to sustain a freelancing career, etc.

The ultimate benefit for me when I went into freelancing was really to learn more about the industry and to see if it was actually for me. I love writing, so the immediate thought for me was, why not earn from my passion? But honestly, the ultimate benefit of having a freelancing career is to be flexible enough to manage your time and to have no cap in terms of the pay that you get. If you want to earn more, you can manage yourself (your time, your resources, your rates) effectively so that you can achieve the dreams that you have.

Freelancing offers flexibility in all aspects. If you are a mom like me and you want to be there for your children, you can fix your freelancing schedule to allow that. You can earn for your family, while being able to be present during your child’s milestones. Also, freelancing can allow you to pursue your passion and to earn from them. You will be able to work whenever, wherever and even choose tasks where you can apply your skills and take on roles that interest you.

So what jobs or tasks can you actually take on? You can choose from countless jobs available online today such as teaching English to foreign students, clerical work, social media management, writing, customer service responders and more! If you want to explore the world of freelancing and the opportunities you can get to earn while staying at home with your family, here are a few jobs you may want to try out.

Virtual Assistant
If you enjoy organizing schedules, emails and taking care of your client’s day-to-day tasks then this job may be the best fit for you! Virtual assistants have a fixed schedule or work at the time given by their client. You can work at the comforts of your home while having a client/boss via Skype or other messaging platform giving you instructions on what they need to be done.

Teaching English or other subjects
There are students from around the world who are looking for English tutors from different websites. There are numerous sites here in the Philippines such as RareJob or 51talk.

Transcriptionist
If you enjoy typing and are actually great at it, then you can earn from using that skill! There are clients who need transcribing in different kinds of fields such as medical or legal fields. As a transcriptionist, you can get paid per word, per line or each audio minute you transcribe. This job doesn’t require a fixed time schedule so you can choose to work anytime you want.

Writing
If you’re more on the creative side and enjoy writing then you will also be able to find different kinds of tasks from blog writing, copywriting, business writing. There will always be a need for this skill. You’ll just have to find clients at the right websites or get referrals from your own connections. You can be paid per word or per article, and usually this does not require a fixed schedule from you but would have deadlines instead.

There are a lot of other things that you can do, and a lot of tasks that people outsource. Think of any process or any tasks in a business, and i’m sure it can be something that a freelancer can do.

If you want to learn more about FREELANCING, you can attend the annual event called The Freelancer Fair (http://manilaworkshops.com/events/thefreelancerfair2017).

What are you passionate about? What are your skills, your strengths? After identifying these, which job do you think is the best fit for you? Share your thoughts with us and let us know which you think are the best freelancing jobs out there for Moms like me!