Cracking My Knuckles

September 2nd, 2010 Work & ProjectsTags: cloud labor, copy editing, crowdsourcing, freelance writing, micro-tasking, WAHM, working from home, writing

September marks a few important things for me as far as work is concerned:

(1) Deadlines are here again. But, so far, I have only two. I’m supposed to submit a children’s story by Friday, September 3 and a green living article by September 8. I purposely did not claim/pitch articles for August for obvious reasons. I hope to be able to claim more articles by next week. I miss my editors already! ;o)

(2) Back to newspaper editing. I have contacted one of my clients and asked if I’ll still be hired as an outsourced copy editor for this industry newspaper. I got a YES, so that means I’ll be copy-editing news and feature again by end of September. It’s been a regular gig since April, and I’m thankful that the client has been satisfied with my editing services. I skipped an issue (July-August) because I wasn’t sure how I’d deal with post-operative pain/discomfort.

(3) Doing micro tasks. I learned about “micro-tasking” a few weeks before my cesarean operation. At that time, I was already too lazy to write lengthy articles. I was often asleep, and I just couldn’t stay too long at the computer because of my heavy belly and persistent backache. But I wanted to be productive even if I was feeling like a beached whale. So I searched for some small gigs and found out about micro tasks. So far it’s earned me a few $. The tasks are simple and can be done in less than 5 minutes (depending on how adept you are at writing, reviewing, clicking on this-that, etc.).

So there. It’s time to crack those knuckles and flex the writing muscles again. I have to remind myself every now and then that a freelance writer is like a dentist. I have to keep this in mind all the time: “The more I drill, the more I bill.”

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Make Money on Twitter

July 17th, 2010 Work & ProjectsTags: Magpie, make money, Sponsored Tweets, Twitter, Twivert

I like earning while doing things I like. When I learned about how I could monetize my tweets, I knew I should give it a go. I spend a good deal of time on Twitter, so I might as well milk the darn cow. Anyway, it’s just as simple as tweeting something that you want to share with other tweeps.

Here are 3 sites that offer to pay for sponsored tweets:

Twivert: Earn while you tweet!

Sign up for Twivert!

I haven’t earned much from Twivert actually. The automated posts rarely come. But I’m keeping the account just for the heck of it. Maybe when my Twitter account gets more followers and produces more posts, I’ll be able to get more sponsors.

Magpie: Convert your tweets into bling-bling

Sign up for Magpie!

This was really, really good at the start. But I’m now having second thoughts on endorsing this. You might still want to give it a go if you’re interested. I had a bad experience with Magpie. They kept telling me that I’ve been deleting tweets from my Twitter page, which is a breach of terms. The thing is, I have NEVER deleted any post since I signed up for a Magpie account. I just don’t know why their “bot” kept saying that I did. I got 2 or 3 notices regarding this. They temporarily suspended my account twice. After the second notice, I never tried emailing them again for an account reactivation. They permanently suspended my account weeks ago – and all the earnings that I got went to them. Hmph. Bad business.

Sponsored Tweets: Spread the word and earn money

Sign up for Sponsored Tweets!

Now, SPTW is LOVE. I tell you. I’ve been tweeting sponsored posts for over a month now. Income stream just keeps flowing. It isn’t much, but it’s there. I trust Sponsored Tweets more than anything else because they’re part of the IZEA team – the same group that manages SocialSpark, PayPerPost and WeReward.

Ad.ly is another in-stream advertising site for Twitter, but I haven’t tried it yet. Have you?

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Send and receive money online with AlertPay

May 27th, 2010 Work & ProjectsTags: AlertPay, online payment

Nah, I haven’t given up my beloved PayPal. But since some of my moneymaking ventures require an AlertPay account, I decided to get one. I’ve read some customer reviews regarding AlertPay and most of them seem favorable.

Send and receive money online with AlertPay

Unlike PayPal, though, this one doesn’t allow PH residents to transfer funds to their local bank accounts. I guess I have no choice but to opt for mailed checks. Puwede na rin.

Have you tried using AlertPay? What has been your experience, so far?

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It’s a Work Thing

May 12th, 2010 Work & ProjectsTags: Blogger, Blogger Template Designer, Connie's Coupons, coupons, deals, editing, WAHM, web development, working from home, writing

No, I haven’t been hiding under a rock.

The past few weeks have been quite interesting (and challenging) for me, I hardly had the time to sit down and write something here.

Of course, there’s the usual home cooking and child rearing tasks. In between, I sneaked in some work like:

Writing & Editing
Last month, I finally accepted an editing project which I’ve been rejecting since last year. I kept refusing the offer because it’s newspaper work, and you know how it is with newspapers – uber tight deadlines, last-minute editing, a series of proofreading, etc. I can’t do these things anymore, and I don’t think I can ever go back to that kind of writing life – biting deadlines, scouring for stories, choosing headlines, etc.

But the agent kept calling me. She’s a former writing agent in the maritime industry. And I’ve always considered her a good friend. So I agreed to see her. She came to see me in Alabang and sort of *begged* me to accept the job because her in-house editors have all left. So I took it. With a lot of clauses, restrictions, conditions, etc.

To make the long story short, most of those agreements were not honored by the client. I wasn’t too happy with how things went during the course of the project. But I did deliver the goods. And I got paid. I sometimes wonder if the payment was for all the editing work that I did (not to mention the rewriting that I did for these so-called ‘writers’) – or merely to compensate for all the stress that I went through.

Anyway, I’m just glad that I finished the first round. There could be more, but I can’t sweat any more details until everything’s clear.

I also worked on a commissioned short story for children which revolved around the theme/value “Order”. It was tough writing a story without the help of my husband, who’s always been the backbone of almost every children’s story I’ve written. I submitted the story asking for some input from the magazine editor and publisher. It took some 2 agonizing weeks before I heard from the publisher. Yeargh. But the story got accepted without requests for revisions. And I got paid for it. So, yeah, whoopee.

Rebuilding my Coupons/Deals site
The month of April also saw the great move of Connie’s Coupons to Blogger. I’ve long been contemplating on doing this move, primarily because (1) I’m beginning to run out of web storage, and (2) I don’t want to pay for extra hosting anymore.

Following the launch of the Blogger Template Designer, I realized that Blogger is probably the best place to head on to. The hosting is free and unlimited. And there are several add-ons and plugins that are relatively easy to work with. I don’t earn much from my coupons/deals site, so I’d rather not invest on domain + hosting. I just update the site when new client alerts come via email. I personally handpick the coupons and make sure they’re family friendly. Most of the coupons featured on the site are for US & Canada residents only. If you know any frugalistas from that side of the planet, please refer Connie’s Coupons! I’ll be posting fresh coupons within the week.

Whew. So, what’s been happening on your side of the Earth?

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Renewing Ties With SocialSpark

April 12th, 2010 Work & ProjectsTags: blogging, income opportunities, IZEA, SocialSpark

I just renewed an affair with a marketplace called SocialSpark. I remember signing up for an account last year, but for some reason my blogging opportunities got waylaid by other writing/editing projects. And then I totally forgot my password and signup details. So, I created another account and enlisted my niche blogs for possible opportunities.

Signing up for a SocialSpark account is a breeze. It took me less than 5 minutes to get everything done. First you have to provide your username, your email address, and your blog addie. Then you claim your blog by posting a script generated by SocialSpark. Don’t worry about the script thing – it wouldn’t require you to do geeky stuff. You’ll be provided with a simple instruction on how to go about it. Once you’ve claimed your first blog, you can then fill out important details (e.g. blog title, blog description, keywords). Then you wait for sponsors to knock on your door. You may have to review a product or a service provided by a client, and post that review on your claimed blog.

SocialSpark is managed by IZEA, a known and trusted social media marketing group on the Web. I’ve had the chance to earn from their other marketplaces via my niche blogs, so I’m pretty much comfortable referring SocialSpark to everyone else I know.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

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WAHMs, Make Money Through Blogging

March 22nd, 2010 Work & ProjectsTags: blogging, income opportunities, LinkFromBlog, make money online, paid blogging, paid reviews

A friend once said that she sees me as a successful WAHM. I know it’s a very honest remark, but I’m not sure if I really am categorically successful as a work-at-home mom. If I would compare my present earnings to my previous salary as knowledge worker in a software company, I’d probably be downgraded to the level of a poor church mouse. Then again, working from home and being self-employed is a different banana. And it has its own merits, too. While I no longer enjoy first-rate health packages, bonuses, lots of free food and more bonuses, at least I get to spend valuable time with my husband and daughter. This precious time is something that I cannot trade at this point. I know I’d rather do away with a few luxuries than miss out on the many firsts.

So, yea, earning income has dropped to #3 on my priority list (first is family, second is home-keeping). The bulk of my earnings come from my writing and editing projects; the rest is a potluck of meager income brought by a few affiliate sales, advertising, and paid reviews.

If you’re a stay-at-home mom who wants to earn extra income, I recommend doing paid reviews. Anyone who owns a blog can write a review and get paid for it. Advertisers are more than happy to buy blog links if your blog or website has good standing. I’ve received several offers for my other niche blogs and have earned a few dollars from these clients. Just remember not to let all those paid reviews take over your blog. Only accept offers that suit your niche, and then tailor the assigned keywords to your own personal experiences. This makes blogging more fun and profitable.

I hope to be able to share more income opportunities for moms in my future posts. If you have something to share, feel free to leave a comment.

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On Getting Work Done

December 15th, 2009 Work & ProjectsTags: Facebook, LinkedIn, microblogging, online publishing, social networking, Twitter, WAHM, work at home

So I finally got over the Big P and resumed work on my articles. That huge wave of procrastination hovered on top of me during my birthday week and lingered until the first few days of December. How wicked. I practically wasted hours on Facebook checking out photos and comments, searching for old acquaintances and friending them while the Word Processor stood by.  Then one day I just woke up and decided to slow down on all these mindless (and totally unproductive) activities.  This barn owl pecked furiously on her keyboard again and produced/published several articles.  The revenue stream began to flow again, and I was happy.

I still am. Happy and writing. Writing about things that interest me. And keeping control of time spent at my office desk.  Every time I go online, I try to stick to the day’s to-do’s and accomplish whatever I can accomplish.  Then I go about the usual “voyeurism” in search of items worth clicking.  Lately I’ve been soaking my brain in online publishing, microblogging and social networking. The three platforms seem to go hand in hand when you’re writing articles about topics that are either evergreen or trending. While I have my ever reliable boilerplate files stored in this laptop, there are still matters out there that resurface in interesting times.  And so I stand by and see what’s going to emerge eventually.  Twitter generates a lot of article leads/ideas; Facebook offers a lot of opinions, promotions (and temptations); and LinkedIn points me to credible clients and markets.

I seem to enjoy working amidst the systemic chaos, the endless distractions, and the occasional downtime.  Derailed attempts may cause some lapses on my part, but I’m thankful every time I’m able to make the most out of my short attention span. I get a certain kind of high whenever I cross out an item on my to-do list, because I know I get things done.

W00t!

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My home office

October 14th, 2009 Work & ProjectsTags: home office, WAHM, work at home, work-at-home mom

This is my work area at home.  Yeah, it’s kinda pink. I usually work in the afternoon, while my little girl takes a nap.

The crucifix is carved by my dad-in-law. The desk is from my mother-in-law (it used to be her office desk). The lamp is a gift from a former boss. The shelves and the laptop are from dear hubby.

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Things to do in July

June 30th, 2009 Sticky Notes, Work & ProjectsTags: chinese lunar calendar, Papa, potty training, textbook project

1. start working on the textbook projects
2. have my lumbar region x-rayed (oh, my aching back!)
3. get a new potty for candice
4. claim my first $100 from *twit-twoo*
5. greet my papa a happy birthday (do they celebrate birthdays in heaven?)
6. say hello to the chinese lunar calendar

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Here's a quick hello

May 2nd, 2009 Sticky Notes, Work & Projects

Just to say that I’m back.

I’ve moved to a new web host, upgraded to Wordpress 2.7.1, imported XML files, designed my own Wordpress theme, and tweaked some codes in my style sheet. I did these things in between work, Twitter and Facebook (aka WTF).

Now I can probably devote more time for work. I need to edit and proofread 20 articles for 5 different clients (due May 5th). Topics vary — there’s gardening, vitamins and supplements, pregnancy, mountain biking, snoring, etc. Right now I’m working on an article about digital photo recovery. Just one more article and I’ll be off to bed.

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