As business look for ways to outsource specific business tasks, many are turning to crowdsourcing as a way to fulfill their outsourcing needs. Crowdsourcing is the process of  outsourcing your business tasks to undetermined, usually a large group of people or community in the form of an open call.

Why use Crowdsourcing

For those who are looking for a way to minimize time and cost for outsourcing their tasks, crowdsourcing may an answer to your business needs. I understand that crowdsourcing may not work for every task or even every business owner. This is just an alternative option to meet your outsourcing needs.

Who offers Crowdsourcing

There are different options available to you as a business owner that you can check out. The type of website source that you use depends on your needs as a business owner. Whether you are looking for a branding source, or a creative source or you might be looking for a just a freelance resource website. Whichever you are looking for, I have created a short list of recources below:

• CrowdSpring
• 99Designs
• oDesk
• Elance

Check these out and let me know what you think. Also feel free to leave a comment and add to the list of resources who provide crowdsourcing opportunities. The video below provides more details about how crowdsourcing works.

Image: SXC.hu

Not all freelance writers are bloggers, but I’m willing to bet that a fair number of you guys and gals know your way around WordPress (or another platform). Blogs are all about driving traffic, and one of the best ways to drive that traffic is to run a contest on your blog.

Image: sxc.hu

Unfortunately, though, many bloggers who try to run contests get a total of three entries - and one of the is from Mom. Contests can really fizzle, and that’s not good for you if you shelled out money for a prize. It’s even worse if you found someone to sponsor the contest for you and they saw no traffic or publicity for their donation. It’s all about ROI, people.

So how do you ensure that you have a great contest?

• Pick a great prize. I don’t want an envelope of coupons or an old ebook, in most cases (yes, there are exceptions). Give your readers something they can really use or a gift card from Amazon or Visa.
• Don’t make your contest overly complicated. Give them a single task that involves leaving a comment after visiting a sponsor’s site or subscribing to you.
• Broadcast your giveaway on blogs that specialize in contest postings.
• Don’t hide the contest within another post - make it really clear that your post is about winning something.
• Offer extra entries for people who comment on other blog posts, subscribe to your twitter, post about your giveaway on their blog, etc.
• Make the contest open to people world-wide if possible.
• Follow up the contest post with a really great post that is relevant to your target audience. You want the top post on your site to be fresh and interesting so people consider becoming a daily reader, not just leaving after entering your contest.
• Give a clear end date to the contest. You’d be amazed at how many people don’t do this!

Contest sometimes still flop after you follow of of these tips. That’s just the nature of the blogging world - readers aren’t always easy to, well, read. I don’t recommend a contest to kick-start your blog. Instead, build up readership in other ways, and use a contest to add to that readership. That way, hopefully your regular readers will jump in to enter the contest, giving you a boost without any work.

The look on my face right now? Frustration.

I know they mean well, but I keep seeing articles on legitimate news sources that make freelancing or working from home seem easy. It’s really a problem, because the vast majority of people who are taking this advice and giving freelancing a go aren’t qualified for the job at all.

Image: sxc.hu

And that makes all of us look bad. I cant tell you how many times I’ve had to “prove myself” because clients “have been burned by poor writers in the past.” Yes, when someone tries to become a freelancer just because they want to stay home with the kids or see it as an easy way to make money, they’re going to fail 99% of the time.

Today, on the Yahoo! homepage, there’s an article posted called “5 of the Best Work-From-Home Jobs.” That’s fine…but on the homepage it is branded as “five careers [that] require a bachelor’s degree or less, and often can be done from home” and promises readers jobs that can make them $30,000 to $70,000 a year.

Yes, if you are qualified, and if you put in the time to gain experience. On top of that, these are average salaries, which means that they can be skewed heavily by people who are extremely successful. If there are ten people polled, and nine make $100 a year while the last guy makes $3 million a year, the average salary is $300,090. You’re much more likely to make $100 than over $300,000, though. Remember that. Averages don’t always accurately describe how much you can expect to make (”medians” are better).

Bottom line: freelancing in any field isn’t easy. You’re going to be running your own business, and if you fail at a job, you don’t get paid that week. Not everyone can be a freelancer, and I wish news sources would stop advertising that it’s a simple way for anyone to make money.

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Without a doubt, one of the worst things about freelancing is that other people don’t “get it.” I love my family and friends, but few of them actually understand that I work just as hard - if not harder - than someone with a 9-to-5. I’m a small business owner.

Image: sxc.hu

And it’s degrading when someone thinks that my time isn’t as valuable as their own. Yes, I have flexibility in my schedule, but that doesn’t mean I can dog-sit, watch you kids, or otherwise take time out of my day to do things for you. My time is spent working.

That said, I think that some freelance writers are getting a bit up in arms about the issue. I understand as well as anyone how annoying it can be for people to think that you can just drop what you’re doing to run errands for people…but at the same time, there are many instances where you CAN drop what you’re doing to help someone out.

It can be a slippery slope. You don’t want others to walk all over you. Compassion is important, though. When someone in your life needs help, be realistic about whether or not you can help. It’s a form of networking. For example, I dog-sat for my aunt for a week while she was on vacation. Later, when she was getting rid of some of her beautiful pieces of jewelry, I was the first person on her mind to get one of her necklaces.

We do this job, in part, because we get to be flexible with our days. It isn’t fair to later complain that we have a strict schedule and can’t change things around a bit to help someone out. Again, you don’t want people to start taking advantage of you, but unless you have a major deadline, consider being a friend. Karma, baby.

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This post is part of the Be a Boss series. To see more posts in this series, check out the list on this post. They’ll be linked as they are posted!

By now, you should be used to stress. Any freelancer will tell you that this is not a job for the weak of heart, because little issues arise every single day. There are a lot of people who can handle those issues without getting super stressed, but as a freelance boss, those issues are multiplied. So without further ado, here’s a down and dirty list of things you can do to reduce the stress on your as a boss:

• Hire an editor or schedule time to edit every single article yourself. You just can’t rely on writers to do the editing. Even the best writers will have typos. You should also review each article to make sure that the file opens, it hits word count, and the articles you send are all formatted the same way.
• Make an account on CopyScape.com and use it. You don’t want you entire company to be accused of plagiarism because one of your writers used text that was similar to another website. It can happen innocently, since sometimes there isn’t another way to word something. I’ve also been accused of plagiarism when one of my own sites was pulled up on Copyscape. No, I wasn’t recycling work. I just happened to write about the same topic twice and because of my voice, I used some of the same phrases without realizing it.
• Don’t schedule more than one project due on the same date. Stagger your due dates, since it is easy for the wrong articles to go to the clients when you have two or more different groups coming in and going out the same day.
• Give people second chances, but not thirds. Everyone makes mistakes, and if one of your writers isn’t cutting it, give them the benefit of the doubt and ask them to improve. Don’t give third chances, though. Low-quality writers, plagiarism, and not following directions can all totally stress you out and cause you to lose clients.
• Look for projects that fall in line with your writers’ interests. They’ll turn in better work and be more willing to take work from you if they like the project.
• Have a “second in command.” If, for some reason, a writer can’t get into contact with you, have a second in command that can make decisions on your behalf. This should both be someone you trust and someone who knows at least a little about writing. This person should also be able to contact you when you’re out of town (so, someone who has your personal cell phone number and hotel info).
• Leave enough time between the writers’ due dates and the project’s ultimate due date. That way, you can do the work yourself if you have to. If Writer A doesn’t turn in his/her 10 articles and you have three days until the deadline, you can finish up the work yourself. If you only have three hours, though, you’re out of luck. Of course, you can’t always schedule time to completely do a project yourself, but assume that at least 10% of the articles will, for some reason, not get done as planned.

You’ll still be stressed. Trust me. But with the tips above, you can at least cut some of the major stress factors from your business.

Remember, if you have any questions, I’ll be answering them all at the end of this series. Feel free to leave a comment or email me at allison@abcontentonline.com with your “Be a Boss” question.

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Image via Flickr by rick

This post is part of the Be a Boss series. To see more posts in this series, check out the list on this post. They’ll be linked as they are posted!

Records are the force that will drive your freelance writing business. They don’t have to be fancy-schmancy - they just have to work. Unfortunately, many people new to being a boss don’t realize exactly which records they need to track. Keeping track of everything, on the other hand, can eat up your time. So what do you need, and what is better left deleted?

Clients, Projects, and Ultimate Due Dates

Image by Collin Anderson via Flickr.

As a freelancer, you should already be keeping track of your projects’ due dates on some kind of personal schedule. When you’re handling other writers, though, you’re adding new levels of scheduling to your work day. You’ll want to keep track of the client, project size, and final due date - for you - on one spreadsheet. This will be slightly different from the due date you give your writers, since you’ll need to leave time for your own editing work and uploading the project. You might want to actually stagger the due dates for larger projects so that you aren’t hit with dozens or even hundreds of articles to review on the last day before you need to hand them over to the client.

As a freelance project manage, I keep one spreadsheet that has all of my personal projects, as well as the projects that I’ve handed out. To me, it was easiest to keep a single record of all the money coming into the business. For you, it might be easier to keep your personal writing projects separate from the company projects. I also know a fellow writer who keeps three lists - personal projects, company projects, and profit (personal projects + company projects - what you pay your writers). If all else fails, at least keep ONE spreadsheet, like I do.

Oh, and just a note: Yes, Quickbooks is worth the money if you really want to stay organized. Personally, I like using Excel spreadsheets better, but a professional accounting program could be perfect for you, especially if you have a high volume of work. Remember, there’s a learning curve, so you’ll need some time to learn the program. (Also remember - buying the program is a business expense!) Read more

One of your first purchases as a freelancer should be business cards. It might seem silly at first. If all of your clients contact you online, why do you need a physical business card? You won’t have anyone to give it to, right? Wrong! Here are just a few people that I’ve given my business card:

Image: sxc.hu

• The owner of a local restaurant, who mentioned she wanted to start a blog for the restaurant on her website
• My best friend’s mother, who wanted to recommend me to a friend who needed work, but couldn’t remember my website’s URL
• A member of my church, who mentioned that her daughter’s boyfriend was interested in getting into writing online
• My boss at my part time job, who mentioned he’d like to start a hobby website, but had no idea how to go about doing that
• Almost everyone in my book club, just in case

You don’t need 1000 business cards - but if you don’t have any, you’ll be sorry. People WILL ask you for your card, and saying that you don’t have one looks unprofessional. If you ever have to mail a contract or something else to a client, you shoudl attached a business card so that they have one on file.

There are many companies where you can order business cards. Shop around before you jump on a “free” purchase. After all, most places where you can get cards printed for free actually charge you for shipping, so for just a few bucks more, you can get nicer cards at another website. Remember - your business cards are a business expense!

If you really want to be frugal, you can purchase special business card paper and print your own. I’ve actually done that in the past because I wanted special cards centered on a single blog I help to run, but I knew I didn’t need 500 or even 250 cards. For about $10, I printed my own smaller batch of cards at home. If you have a decent printer, that’s definitely an option.

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How many times have you started reading a job ad only to get to the part where it is “data entry work” and roll your eyes? For me, the words “data entry” send up a red flag, since so many data entry jobs are associated with online freelanding scams. That’s not entirely fair, though. There are actual data entry jobs out there - and they pay just as well for your time as writing jobs.

Point in case: I work for a company putting together a huge database of books - I enter information like the author, ISBNs, summary, character information, setting, etc. The pay doesn’t blow you out of the water, but it also isn’t the lowest paying gig I have. I’m paid weekly and have been working there since the beginning of the year - so yes, it really is legit.

That’s not to say that rap jobs don’t exist as well. The problem is weeding them out. Here are some things to look for in a data entry job:

• You’re paid regularly and according to how much work you do. There’s no commission or selling involved.
• The job makes sense. If the job seems like “busy work” of some kind, and there’s no real point to what you’re doing, you might want to reconsider taking the job.
• You don’t have to pay for “leads” or any kind of other information.
• Their data entry system is easy to use, or they pay you for training hours.
• They offer you  contract.

Have you ever taken any data entry work? This is actually the second data entry project I’ve done. The first was compiling contact information for certain medical services in each state. That project actually paid extremely well for my time, so once again - don’t discount data entry work right off the bat. Some projects may actually be good for you.

Image via Flickr.

Someone recently made a comment that they had “the client from hell,” and it made me smile because I know EXACTLY what they mean. I’ve had my fair share of difficult clients, but to date, no one has refused to work with me again (though some I’ve polited declined when they asked for more work). So, this new series, called “Clients from Hell” will share with you how I’ve dealt with clients who were less than perfect.

Today’s Client from Hell: The Confuser

If you have a client that sends you super long emails, wants to talk on the phone or on Skype, and has page upon page of information about formatting…consider yourself extremely lucky. Yes, it may seem annoying at first, but it is a lot better than a client who doesn’t know what he wants - or worse, a client who doesn’t fully explain what he wants.That’s right - THE CONFUSER.

I had a client once who wanted a seemingly simple project done - just a couple articles about a VERY common topic. He told me that the exact titles/topics were “wide open” as long as it was about this one common subject matter. So, I picked some topics that I thought were unique without being too out there, and I wrote some damn fine articles.

The client came back annoyed and frustrated because what I wrote was nothing like what he actually wanted. I understand that there’s a bit of a learning curve when you start working with a new client, but this was ridiculous. He actually wasn’t looking for articles at all - he wanted front pages for sections on his website. That’s a bird of a TOTALLY different feather.

Read more

There are tons of bidding sites out there for freelancers, but probably the most commonly used site is Elance. Elance isn’t just for writers - it is also for programmers, photographers, virtual assistants, and more. I know many writers that use this site successfully. I also know writers who want nothing to do with the site.

I personally do use Elance, and have had generally good experiences. The bad experiences I have had were not really Elance’s fault; they were due to bad clients, and you get that anywhere, not just with bidding sites. So why do some people hate it?

The biggest con people talk about is the low pay. When you participate on a bidding site, you’re competing with other writers - many based in foreign countries where pay expectation is not as high - to get the job, and the client picks the person with the best pitch. I’m not going to lie - price is a big factor to the majority of clients. However, I’ve found that if you’re willing to bid on a number of project and shift through the crap, you can find people who aren’t primarily concerned with price. They want quality too.

I can’t argue that it’s easy to get started on Elance. My recommendation is to look for a project that you’re EXTREMELY qualified to write. Usually, this will be a job that is very niche-specific. Upload a ton of samples of your work and offer free revisions, should they need them. Don’t be afraid to really sell yourself.

Elance is a lot of pressure, because one bad client can give you an unfair rating, which makes your entire rating drop drastically. Yes, you can respond, but most potential clients don’t look at the whole picture - they just glance at the numerical value of your rating. So, with Elance, every i has to be dotted and t has to be crossed. I’m sure you do that anyway, but you have to be SUPER careful with a project on Elance.

Once you build up a good rating with just a few projects, you don’t have to necessarily bid really low to get a project. Yes, there will be some people who will always hire the $1 per article writers from other countries, but there are also plenty of clients who will hire the best writer for the job, even if the price is a bit higher. These clients tend to expect a lot, but are also extremely loyal. When you work through Elance escrow, you also never have to worry about them disappearing and not paying your for your work.

Though I do have to caution you that Elance takes a chunk. A big chunk. Every time you get paid, there’s a bite out of your money, even if you have a professiona (ie, not free) subscription. The good news is that you can get your money directly deposited into your bank account, though they also have a paypal option. Keep in mind, though, that paypal takes its own chunks out of your money.

So, let’s sum it up:

The Pros of Elance:

• You can test it out for free and monthly subscriptions are very affordable.
• It’s a place to find long-term clients.
• You can use the escrow service to you don’t have to worry about getting paid.
• There are plenty of high-paying jobs to be had.
• You can deposit the money directly into your bank account (or use PayPal).

The Cons of Elance:

• One bad, unfair rating can make it hard to get future work from others.
• They take a huge percentage of your earnings, so you have to account for that in your bid.
• You have to shift through a lot of jobs where clients will only hire people with VERY low bids.

Overall, I think that Elance and other bidding sites are at leat worth a shot. Through this site, I’ve found at least 5 long-term high-playing jobs, as well as a number of repeat clients.

Do you use bidding sites? Why or why not? Share your experiences with a comment!

Image via Elance.com.