Some types of data entry projects usually posted are:

• Convert hard copy to soft copy: Clients will usually send the print / manuscript copy to be converted into say, MS Word/ MS Excel etc. It can be as simple as a multiple page essay or book to tabulated data in MS Excel. Sometimes you may need to do this by typing manually (e.g. when the copy is manuscript) or you can use OCR software to first obtain the data and then do the corrections.
• Data Extraction from Files: A client may want only certain data e.g. email addresses of those businesses residing in New York with net worth more than  US$ 300,000. If the data is huge and has some structure, you can even use a software solution to extract this data.
• Data Extraction from the Web: Also known as online data extraction or web scraping or copy-paste from web, which indicates that it is as easy as copying data from websites and pasting it into MS Word / MS Excel etc. The most common sub-type for this project is extraction of contact info from websites. e.g.  obtain contact info (including mailing address, phone, fax, email and web address) of all realtors in California. Manual copy-paste in this case is tedious and time consuming. So there are a range of software / scripts available for web extraction.
• Proof-Reading: Proof-Reading simply put is correction of data; spelling mistakes or typos, grammatical errors etc for a book are the easy ones. Some jobs may involve basic knowledge of the field e.g. proof-reading of a contract requires familiarity with legal terminology, medical journal requires knowledge of medical terms.
• Transcription: Medical / legal transcription was the beginning of data entry outsourcing. It involves listening to audio / video recordings and transcribe the conversation in a prescribed format. Transcription today is not just limited to medical or legal fields but also to others like business owners who require a Virtual Assistant to transcribe their thoughts for the day. Its best to invest in a good headset and software for these kinds of jobs.

Often, I see many freelancers (even designers and programmers) begin their freelancing career by taking up data entry projects and build up their ratings – this is especially applicable to sites like Rentacoder.com. Many would argue against this approach as it is unrelated to your actual expertise. But I would suggest taking them up as good ratings reflect not only your ability to complete a project, but also your attitude to a job. Moreover, you get to understand the intricacies of a bidding process before you begin to bid on projects that are specific to your skillset.

A Word of Caution: Look for projects on freelance marketspaces like Guru.com, elance.com etc and don’t bother about the vast multitudes of work from home and earn $6000 for data entry scams. The reality is that no single person has EVER made millions doing data entry (a company with 100s of data entry operators perhaps).

My advice is to use Data Entry as a stepping stone to win projects of a different category – yes, you will need to upgrade your skills for that – if you stick with freelancing, I guarantee that you will find a skillset that you love within a year. If you don’t find it or if you need help, I am just an email away.

So here’s the thing for all those experts who are called by friends and family to click photos – get those cameras out more often and click away. There are many websites which will sell those photographs for you. Some of the best ones are:

• iStockPhoto
• Shutterstock
• DPhotoJournal
• KeyImagery
• BigStockPhoto
• FotoLibra
• CitizenSide (To sell News images)

You just need to register on these stock photo exchanges and upload your images. These websites pay anything between 20% to as high as 70% of the selling price. And the selling price ranges from US$ 1.5 for a small (about 150 px) image to US$ 15 for large images. This amount seems small, but once you multiply the number of photos by number of downloads, it is considerable – yes, I can wager that if you don’t suck at clicking images, the money from here will pay for a nice Canon SLR. Many successful photographers upload many good AND related (note this down) images thus increasing the chances of a multiple sale.

TIP: Look for what kind of images are sold most and get them. What kind of background (white?), subject (business or corporate?) and so on are the questions you may want to ask.

Perhaps you think that your images are way better than most to be sold at such a low price. Then, setup your own website, and add a photo gallery with shopping cart using web services and tools that are available. Some of them are:

Web Services

• Flickr. Host your images and just add readily available scripts to embed the slideshow of your galleries and tags
• PhotoBucket. Nice alternative to Flickr
• SmugMug. They also have selling services like shopping cart etc

Scripts. These are scripts ranging from simple Javascript to PHP/MySQL scripts. A big list is at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/05/18/30-best-solutions-for-image-galleries-slideshows-lightboxes/

So go and click those images away. Who knows you will get money as well as rave reviews for them.

Keep watching this space for more on freelancing as a photographer

• Ruthlessly cut down on 80% of exising clients who are a drag on you. Say no to that difficult client who always pays late, shortchanges you or extracts lot of work for less. Ofcourse you must exercise discretion in this e.g. some projects may be low paying (say, for a non-profit), but it might provide you a wide exposure.
• Concentrate on the top 20%. These are the ones who provide 80% of business either directly or indirectly (references etc). Don’t miss deadlines, avoid being too friendly, provide regular feedback and yes, greet them on festivals. I usually email each of my clients on say, Xmas or Thanksgiving.
• Don’t spam clients. Infact, you must ask for permission before including their email address in your mailing list. And never ever refer anyone else to your client before you ask them. It will also be a good idea to seek permission before you post your client’s name for your portfolio.
• Provide them value added service. Give them more than what any other pro would. Those extras will delight them in hitting a gold mine (in terms of a valuable freelancer). Point them to information that is relevant to their business. e.g. Has your client heard of that new accounting software which will help them in their business? Who knows, it might just open another business avenue for you.
• Consider yourself a stakeholder in their business. Unless you do that, you will fail to see what is required to help the business. e.g Is the website good enough to meet the required sales target? How will my copywriting position the brand? Consider this – all my big clients have asked for past references and projects done. They want to know what my contribution was to the business.

So go ahead and fire those pesky clients and greet your favorite clients – if you have a contrarian view, I would love to hear it.

Are you a freelancer who has a bit of work, seems to have jobs or things to do all the time, but just isn’t making enough money? It’s quite common, and I’ve identified the two reasons it happens.

1. You don’t charge enough
2. You don’t have solid systems in place

The first reason deals with giving you more time, the second reason deals with the money issue.

Lets look at them in detail.

1. You don’t charge enough

Pretty simple really. Charge more, and fire the clients that don’t want to pay more. This frees up time to chase after newer clients. If you can’t do that, you either have poor self esteem (fix it), or you don’t have solid systems.

1. You don’t have solid systems in place

You don’t have enough time in the day to write long proposals, go to sales meetings, send out invoices and follow up payments, and all the other things you have to do to be a successful freelancer. The reason you don’t have time, especially if you bill by the hour, is that you need to spend your time doing work, and adding value for your client.

So how do you cut back on the time you spend on business tasks? The answer is to have systems that take care of things.

When a call comes in, you need to have a system for converting that lead into a sale. You need to have a basic idea of the information you need to get and what you should put in the proposal and so on.

When a project starts, you need to have a system (especially if you’re outsourcing), that makes sure that work gets done by the due date, and to a high quality.

When a project finishes, you need to have a system that sends out invoices and follows up payments.

To give you an example, one of my systems is a support policy. I used to not have a support policy – existing clients would come to me with a small amount of work, and I didn’t know how to quote for it, and sometimes I felt pressured by the client. Now I have a documented support policy. I send it to my client (it’s on my website), and the client is given an option to either purchase a block of prepaid support, or they can be billed at an hourly rate in 15 minute blocks. The support policy helps me because it means every bit of work I do is billed – it means nothing is slipping through the cracks. I’m not doing 2 minute jobs for a client for free. Secondly, it helps the client because they know where they stand, and they also get an optional discount if they want to pay up front.

If you count all the times I used to do 2 minute jobs for free, that are billed now because of having a clear system, it would add up into thousands. This one system has made me thousands.

Think of things that get through cracks in your business. Are you collecting your payments on time? Are you missing deadlines? These are symptoms of poor systems.

To create these systems, firstly, you need to think about your business, and what is the best way of doing things. Secondly, you need to document your systems – write down what they are, and make up the supporting materials for them. Thirdly, you need to enact these systems. This means, you have to make sure they are working. Without those three elements, you will be stuck under a huge pile of emails and before you know it, its 5pm and you have 3 deadlines still to meet, and you’ve billed an hour and a half for the day.

Nobody but yourself can help you with the first two. You need to dedicate time to grow your business and set some goals for yourself.

You can use software to help you implement these systems. I’m the founder of Freelance Total and I made Freelance Total for this very reason. I had created systems, they were good systems, but I couldn’t make them happen! I remember at one point I had lost track of what I had invoiced and what I hadn’t – I simply had too much stuff going on. Freelance Total helped me reign it in, and make sure I was getting paid for what I did. I recommend you check it out.

About the Author

Luke van de Paverd is the founder of “Freelance Total” – a complete business management system for Freelancers.

These top 6 marketspaces viz. Guru.com, Elance.com, LimeExchange.com, Rentacoder.com, Getafreelancer.com and oDesk.com, together capture about 90% marketshare (based on the revenues reported by them), the rest being taken by smaller sites (scriptlance etc) and niche / skill specific sites (Joomlance, 99designs etc).

For ease of comprehension, I have tabulated the features offered by these top 6. I will build up on this review in another post by writing about how to enter a freelance marketspace as a newbie.

	Guru	Elance	LimeExchange	Rentacoder	Getafreelancer	oDesk
Rank	1	2	3	4	5	6
Membership	- Basic (Free)- 2 levels of paid	- Basic (Free) - 3 levels of paid	- Basic (Free) - 3 levels of paid	Free	- Basic (Free) - 1 level of paid	- Basic (Free) - 1 level of paid
Profile	Overview, Resume, Skills, Education, Experience, References, Photos, Videos, Portfolio	Overview, Resume, Skills, Education, Experience, References, Photos, Videos, Portfolio	Overview, Resume, Skills, Education, Experience, References, Photos, Videos, Portfolio	Resume, Skills (2 fields only)	Overview, Skills	Overview, Resume, Skills, Education, Experience, References, Photos, Videos, Portfolio
Project Fee	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	- Fixed - Hourly	Fixed	- Fixed - Hourly
Skill Testing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Project Types	- Open- Invite Only - Guru Vendors only (highest paid plan) - Geographical Region specific (others can bid though)	- Open - Invite only - Select Providers (highest paid plan)	- Open - Invite only - Vantage Members (highest paid plan)	- Open - Invite only - Geographical Region specific (others can’t bid)	- Open - Invite only - Gold Members (highest paid plan)	- Fixed - Hourly
View Buyer History	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HTML in bid proposal	Limited tags	Limited tags	No	Yes	No	No
PMB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bid Limit / month	- 10 (Basic) - 100 (paid)	- 3 (Basic) - 20 to 60 for paid members	- 10 (Basic) - 100 (paid)	Unlimited	Unlimited	2 to 20 per week
Payment Mode	- Invoice - Escrow	- Invoice - Escrow	Escrow Only	Escrow Only	- Invoice - Escrow	- Invoice - Escrow
Fee Calculator (Gross & Net Fee)	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Commission	- 5% on invoice - 7% in escrow	6.75% to 8.75%	4% to 8%	15%	- $5 / 10%  (whatever is higher) - 0% (Gold)	10%
Project Agreement (with milestones)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Bidders Visible	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Average Bid Amount Visible	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Minimum Bid	$25	$30	No minimum	No minimum	No minimum	No minimum
Arbitration	Only escrow	Only escrow		Yes	No	For Hourly Projects Only
Payment Withdrawl Options	- Check - Bank Transfer - Paypal - Payoneer	- Check - Wire Transfer - Paypal - Payoneer - ACH	- Check - Wire Transfer - Paypal - Payoneer - Moneybookers	- Check - Wire Transfer - Paypal - Moneybookers	- Wire Transfer - Paypal - Payoneer - Moneybookers	- ACH - Wire Transfer - Paypal - Payoneer - Moneybookers
Unique Features	- Simple interface - Package deals - Proposal templates - Work Room	- Pioneer -Keywords for search results depends on  member type	- Coupon codes for hosting etc from Limedomains - Payment from other sites considered for ranking	- Thorough buyer verification		Desktop App to log hours worked

I would love to hear what you think about these sites and ofcourse this comparison.

I am not arguing against the benefits of having a full time employee, but during these uncertain times, you, as a freelancer can bring the following benefits to the attention of your potential hirer:

Freelancers cost very less in the long term. Employers need only pay the fees during the course of the contract. No recruitment expenses, no benefits (insurance, health plans, retirement plans etc) and other employee taxes.

No training required. Freelancers usually are skilled in their work and do not incur any training expenses. Infact, good freelancers retool and reskill themselves to get that edge over others.

Cut down on related overheads. There is no requirement for additional office space, furniture and office equipment. Employers don’t have to worry about rising telephone and internet costs and whether the internet is being used for social networking or work.

Easy to replace freelancers. Well, usually, but not in all categories. If a freelancer is not upto the mark, just fire and get another in his /her place without the guilt, the added cost of advertizing for the post etc.

Above were points for your potential hirer.

For employees looking to take the plunge or who have just received the termination letter, this is a great time to do so. Begin freelancing from the comfort of your home and this might be something you have been waiting for.

When to Enter. Although, there is no restriction on when, you should begin obviously when the number of available projects are the highest. So, the probability of you getting the project is higher. Now, I don’t expect you to keep a track on the number of available projects everyday(although most online freelance marketspaces do offer this count on their sites). There are certain periods in a year when there is increased activity on freelance market boards e.g. holiday season (about 15-20 days before Thanksgiving to New Year),  Financial Year ending (for accounting, data entry pros, etc.), and so on. It will ofcourse depend on the local factors too. This being a recession, is the best time to enter the business of freelancing and the figures on ALL freelance sites vouch for that.

Where to Enter. Initially, I would suggest registering on those freelance marketspaces which only provide free membership plans. This will give you an idea on how to place bid, how to communicate with clients, and more importantly how to tweak your bid proposals. I would suggest Rentacoder.com (RAC) for this. Registering for free membership (Basic) on marketspaces like Guru.com, Elance.com etc which also offer paid plans is a usually a bad idea unless ofcourse your skillset are unique. The rational behind this is simple – firstly, basic (read free) membership offer only a limited bids per month. And you don’t have to be a math wizard to figure out that the probability of you landing a project is far higher if the number of bids are more. Secondly, for an employer / service buyer, a freelancer who has paid hard earned dollars for membership is naturally preferable over a freelancer with free membership who can just vanish and perhaps register again using another identity. So then how does RAC work? RAC’s payment system has escrow system only i.e. the buyers’ interests are always protected (and so are the freelancers’, in terms of guranteed payment)

Present Comprehensive Bid Proposals. Study the project requirements and draft a proposal customized to that requirement. Read more on How to write a winning bid proposal.

Be Patient. It is not uncommon for new freelancers to not win any projects for first 2-3 months. Don’t let that dampen your spirits. Most of newbies give up at this stage. To verify, just view the number of freelancers registered on a site like RAC who have not logged in for more than a year.

Increase Project Fee Gradually. Low bidding initially, to win projects and hence ratings is understandable. However, you must increase the bid as you win more projects e.g. when you are too busy with lots of freelance work – if you win a job then stick to this high paying client. Your bid value is now “pegged” at a certain value. This will enable you to win even higher value projects.

So buckle up and enter this exciting way of life – it is liberating as challenging as it is.

For a freelancer who is usually neck deep in work, it is vital for me to step back and “sharpen my saw”. Here are some self-renewal habits I have developed over the years and recommend:

Have a full breakfast. Stop laughing – your body needs the proteins, vitamins and even some fats (its okay to eat the yolk) before 9 a.m. Delay it and the hunger pangs make you reach for that sugary donut or a carb filled cookie. And its going to take a toll on your energy levels. And yeah, sit down at the table for breakfast…

Drink lots of water. Yes, yes, you read it everywhere. And I can’t emphasize it enough, not after my pal had kidney stones.

Exercise. I walk for an hour every evening. That’s when I smell the flowers and marvel at the rain washed road curving ahead of the trees. Its my time and I DO NOT check for any text messages or tweets.

Travel. With my wife and kid. It really does work wonders to see different people, experience their culture, taste their food and try to understand their perspective. Takes that “whats wrong with this world” worry off my mind.

Read. I reserve at least an hour everyday reading a book / blog / article. For the last 12 years the web has never dissapointed me even once. There IS something to learn for free.

Re-skill & Re-tool. Learn a new programming language or a foreign language, if you please or maybe photography. Get onto that first chapter on Ruby on Rails. You don’t want to get stuck with an outdated skill that nobody is hiring for anymore.

For some people, only the last two count as ’sharpening the saw’. I listed these as sharpening or renewal is a holistic exercise and is set encompassing all that sharpens the body, mind and soul which contributes to increased productivity and happiness – which is what we’re after, aren’t we?

Let me know what else works for you…

What is a Bid Proposal?
Bid Proposal or just proposal is an offer by the service provider or freelancer in response to a project s/he is interested in working on. Usually the mandatory components of a bid are: the bid amount (hourly or fixed), the proposal and time to complete. Other things like attachments (for sample) are usually optional. It thus follows that the differentiator (in your bid) is the proposal.

So here is how to write a proposal which will stand you a greater chance in winning the bid.

- Read the Project Description. Before you begin writing the proposal, read the project description in detail and any associated files to understand the requirements. Obvious, isn’t it? But in my experience as a service buyer (and I have posted more than 170 projects), more than half of the bidders just don’t read the requirements. There is nothing more annoying than having to waste time discussing a project with freelancers who have not understood the requirements. The description will give you an idea of how much effort is required and hence the amount to bid. Is this amount within the budget of buyer? If not, are the project returns worth the effort? Are there any implicit requirements (e.g. I want a standards compliant website will mean different things to different clients)?

- Do your homework. This is where you try to read the project buyer’s mind. The buyer may post link/s to website/s he likes, or a lawyer may have given a sample data entry for contact info of accountants, or a consultant has given some logo concepts she has in mind…you get the idea. View the links, samples etc and if a small sample or design comp can be given in short time of say, 30 minutes, do it and attach it with the proposal. This will instill confidence in the buyer about you.

- Tailor the Proposal. As a buyer, I just delete meaningless bids like “I can do it” or 900 word long templated proposals. If they don’t have time for my project bid, I don’t have time for them. Period. Moreover, no employer will go through lengthy proposals for a low budget project (< US$ 250). As a freelancer, you must appear interested in the project; this is done by addressing the requirements and may be even recommending an alternate solution or pointing out some discrepancies. Tell them how you intend to program that software, or what camera you will use to get those photographs and other resources which you will use for the project.

- Provide details of Relevant Skills and Experience. Instead of tooting your entire resume, just mention those skills that will be advantageous to the employer’s project. When listing experience, for instance don’t send a list of 20 websites you have designed, if the requirement is for WordPress blog. Just 4 or 5 of your best projects will be enough to gauge your ability. Be careful of sending data (e.g. Research Reports) that may be confidential. If in doubt ask the past clients.

- Answer Employee Questions. If there are any. Preferably bullet point them to separate each of the responses.

- Mention Deliverables. Be very explicit here. Specify what the deliverables entail e.g. logo in JPEG, GIF and CDR format or research article with online references only etc. If the buyer does not understand some aspects, take it upon yourself to explain them – this will save you a lot of frustration later and possibly even avoid arbitration or unpaid invoices.

- Cost and Payment Terms. Specify whether the bid price is tentative (to be confirmed say, pending certain clarifications) or final, fixed / flat or hourly and the currency. Try and convert it into the approx local currency of the buyer (http://www.xe.com/ucc/ is a good converter). Then mention the payment schedules / terms – escrowed amount to be released at which stages of the project e.g. 25% at the beginning, 40% at alpha stage and balance when the software is delivered. Also mention what out of pocket expenses may be required to be reimbursed (stock photos, music etc)

- Time Schedules. Inform the buyer as to how much time this will take. If the project can be broken into various stages, do so. e.g. first website design comp within x days, changes to the design within y days (for each change), slicing the design (upon approval) within z days.

- Last but not the least. Greet the buyer; if he writes his name at the end of project description, do use a simple “Hello Greg” or “Greetings Mr. Smith”, rather than “Hey There!”. On the same line, please never use slang or SMS or such language- leave out all “gr8″ and “lol” for your forum posts. Use simple language that focuses on the buyer and his project. And yes, do check for any typos.

This might seem a long bid proposal, but once you put it into words, it will be just under 350 words. Ofcourse very small projects (like making a form work or touch up an image) merit a not-so detailed proposal.
Each project buyer will receive many proposals. And one of the reasons s/he is outsourcing the project is to save time. So it is logical that s/he may not have enough time to read all 900 word proposals. Make yours stand out.

1. Not portraying yourself as a business person. If you are interested only in pocket money, this attitude may be fine. But, if you want higher income and better ratings, then you must play the role of a businessman or businesswoman as the case may be. This will instill confidence in the hirer as s/he understands that the stakes for you in the project are high as well and you are serious about your reputation. You will thus stand a higher chance of winning projects.

2. Incomplete Profile. Ask all hirers and they will tell you that given all things equal, they will most likely award a project to a person whose profile is updated. Profiles not only contain a brief about yourself / your company, but also your experience, skillsets, portfolio, payment terms etc.

3. Unrealistic Profile. Some freelancers give an impression that they are experts in everything from logo design to HTML and dozens of programming languages to internet marketing and SEO. “Stuffing” keywords might land a prospective client during search results, but will certainly put them off. Its logical that one person can’t possibly be doing all thats written. So just tell the truth and you will stand a better chance.

4. Low Bid. When one begins freelancing, a low bid amount may be alright for one or two projects in order to win the project and thus obtain a rating. But once you have completed some projects, ask for what your work is worth. And its certainly not rude if you need to ask for more if the project scope changes in between.

5. Sketchy Bid / Proposal. Don’t just say, “I can do it in 3 days.” Instead, take time to read the project description, view the links / references if any, and then present a proposal which gives an understanding of the project / requirements as also your plan in achieving the objective. Moreover, specifying payment terms, estimated timeline and deliverables will remove any ambiguity and will also be useful in case the project runs into arbitration.

6. Communication Gap. If you have any questions before bidding on a project, it is good to ask. Even during the course of the project, don’t shy away from, say seeking clarifications and recommending a better alternative. Keep the employer informed regularly on the status of the project. Always thank your clients for the project and the rating. This will go a long way in forging a business relationship. This is also a good opportunity to let them know about other services that you provide as also your contact details.

7. Shy about asking for review / rating. After the project is completed, go ahead and ask the client to rate your services as it will land you future projects. If required, go to the “Help” section of the website, copy the URL to the relevant entry and send it clients who don’t know how to go about rating. This will help them do it faster and will also leave a positive impression on them.

8. Missed Deadlines. Procrastination, low energy or just plain bored with the project? You should consider the “don’t feel like getting out of the bed” factor in the schedule when you bid. Eat the right foods that don’t leave you tired, drink lots of water (a cup or two of coffee is okay), listen to your favorite music (my personal best practise), walk / exercise, and take 10 minute breaks after every 2 hours. This way you won’t dread going back to work on that project.

9. Wrong Project Choice. The Pareto principle (or the 80-20 rule) in business states that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. So don’t say yes to every project that comes your way. Decline low paying but effort intensive projects politely – better if you can refer them to some of your friends who will be happy to do it. Treat valuable clients – those who hire you again and again at the right price – like VIPs. In the same note, avoid clients that cause you stress. Those extra dollars are not worth it if they will be used to buy Aspirin.