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Getting Translated? Here’s What You Need to Know

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As a writer, you’re a wordsmith. A connoisseur of words. At least, in your own native tongue. But what do you do when your words need to be carefully traded for those of another language? Unless you’re lucky enough to be multilingual, you’ll need a translator.

Whether you’re a business writer breaking out into new international markets, or an author looking to sell more books, you might be thinking about translation services. But hiring a translator isn’t always as straightforward as you might imagine. Here’s what you need to know.

 

Do you really need translation services?

If you need your words in another language, you might think the answer is automatically: “yes!” But actually, there’s a difference in translation versus interpretation. These two terms are often confused by people seeking professional translation services. What’s the difference?

Interpretation usually relates to spoken content and is essentially paraphrasing. Because the didactic use of language differs so wildly between languages, an interpreter will condense the meaning into the most culturally appropriate form. The overall message remains the same, but word for word exchange is altered to reflect the language being used. If you require language services for business meetings or events relating to your writing, interpretation services are what you’re most likely looking for.

Translation, on the other hand, is perfect for the written word. Translation provides an accurate and functional means of communication between two languages. It’s a highly technical undertaking that relies on experts to not only translate the content of your document but also change the formatting so it follows the rules and conventions of the target language. Translation is ideal for highly professional or legal documents, where it’s imperative that the exact meaning of the content remains intact. It’s also what you’ll need for written content like articles and works of fiction.

 

What you need to consider before hiring a translator

Before you hire a translator, you’ll need to know what your target language is. If your client is in a certain country, this element is taken out of your hands, as you’ll need translation services for that specific language.

If you are a self-published author on Kindle, for instance, you might want to do some market research to see where your book could have a chance of success outside of your own language. Bear in mind that translation into rare languages might cost you more (and be more challenging to source) than translation into a language that is more widely spoken.

 

Finding a professional service

When you’ve settled on a target language, find a translation service that is an expert within that language. Usually, a translator is a native-level speaker of the language that the work is being translated into. Therefore, you can be sure that your work will not sound unnatural and stilted. When translated by an expert translator and native-speaker, it should flow naturally just as if it had been originally written in that language. So if a translation service offers more than one language, it’s worth checking that the individual translator will be a native in that language.

Reading testimonials and online reviews can give you a great insight into whether this service will offer the kind of value for money you need. Quality translation services, whether they be freelancers or entire companies, should have lots of experience under their belt. They might be able to provide references or examples of previous work.

When getting a quote, the translator should tell you what the fee structures are. You can also ask what the policies are for things like revisions, should you need them. Let them know at this stage if you are likely to have ongoing translation needs; for example, for a series of blog posts, as you might be able to make a deal on pricing for longer-term work.

 

Look for expertise

More than just being an expert in the given language, your potential translator might also be an expert in your particular field. Whether it’s technical writing, marketing materials, or a full work of fiction, you should be able to find a service that has experience in this area. After all, each type of writing has its own unique conventions and expectations. You’ll want to make sure the translator understands what these are and how to navigate them professionally, just like you have done in your native language.

You’ll also want to make sure that the service looks professional. Translation services are often professionally accredited, with a membership to the relevant membership body in that country. If this is not displayed prominently on the website, it might be worth asking to see a copy. This can help to assure you that the company is serious and that they care about maintaining top quality industry standards.

 

Other logistics to consider

Finally, make sure you know where the translator is based, especially if they are freelance and their location is not immediately obvious on the website. This is important because the translation process might require a lot of back and forth communication. If their office hours are in the middle of the night where you are, it might be better to find someone in a more similar time zone to save a lot of drawn-out communication via email.

If you have a style guide that you follow, be sure to send it over to your translator. If not, it might be helpful to detail the tone of voice, formatting and any other stylistic elements that are important to you. The more you are able to communicate what you hope to get out of the translation services, the more likely you are to be impressed by the results. Providing this information upfront can save assumptions and minor mistakes that then lead to revisions, causing delays.

Getting your work translated can be a big undertaking, but by choosing professional translation services that are experts in their field, you can save yourself a lot of trouble and be very pleased with the result.

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Business, Communication, Publishing, Writing

Surprising Things Business Owners are Wasting Time On

Photo by Djim Loicon Unsplash

 

Efficiency in business is everything. Managers and executives should be striving at all times to be more productive and cut down on wasted time. It’s easy to detect some habits and procedures that are problematic, but others may come as a surprise to you.

Those harder to detect problems are often disguised as opportunities, sure profits, and problem-solvers that end up wasting the precious time of many business owners.

Here are seven of them, along with some tips on how to solve them if they’re keeping you too busy.

 

#1 You’re Taking On Too Many Clients

It’s important to remember that having lots of new clients is not the only way you can measure success at your company. Having too many clients can actually be a problem that often leads to disastrous consequences.

Imagine a scenario where you get three new business opportunities but realistically, you only have enough manpower to cover just one. You decide to accept all of them because more clients means more money. Your employees suddenly experience an increased workload and although they work hard, they get nothing in return but questions about why some things are not finished yet. This leads to frustration, which becomes resentment towards work, and finally, you lose valuable employees because you overloaded them.

As a business owner, you need to practice a delicate balancing act between having enough clients to support your business, but not taking on so many that the workload becomes unmanageable. While you focus on client satisfaction, quality work, and retention, remember that your employees should be satisfied as well.

 

#2 Sticking With Complicated and Demanding Clients

When you first started your business, you likely took on any client you could get. As your business grows and your niche becomes more solidified, however, not every client will be beneficial to maintain a working relationship with.

Clients from hell, something every business owner has experienced at one point or another, are the first to go. They will always be demanding, never be satisfied, and take much more time and effort from your employees than they are worth to your business.

When onboarding new clients, always take the time to consider whether they are a good fit. If not, it is likely they will waste your time and resources as well as threaten your sanity.

 

#3 Blaming Instead Of Learning

Something will always go wrong sooner or later when you are running a business. The truly exceptional business owner understands that mistakes will happen and that they should be taken as learning experiences.

Business owners should never waste time blaming others, whether clients, employees, or other professionals when they can instead take the time to reflect on these errors and learn from them.

Learning the right lessons from a mistake is the only way for your business to come out the other end stronger than before.

 

#4 Not Segmenting Work

When first starting out, most small business owners end up doing almost everything out of necessity. However, as your company grows and you add employees, continuing to do everything yourself or double check everything is a massive waste of time.

It can be incredibly hard to stand back and delegate tasks to your employees, but it is something that must be done to avoid personal burnout and run efficient business operations.

Segmenting work and having a good overview of what’s going on is easier to do now than ever before thanks to cloud computing and being able to get access to any type of cloud services you can imagine.

When you move your work to the cloud, you will get access to powerful new tools that will help you segment it efficiently, automate all those mundane and mind-numbing tasks you had to do on your own and free up time to do meaningful work and focus on business growth.

 

#5 Not Delegating Tasks Properly

Okay, so delegation is necessary, but delegating tasks to employees isn’t as easy as it sounds. If done incorrectly, things can go horribly wrong.

First of all, never assign tasks at random. The best way to avoid wasting everyone’s time is to base your decisions on employee skill set and talents.

Next, take your time when delegating. Be very specific when assigning tasks to employees, including information such as exactly what you want them to do, when the task should be finished, and what else might be expected of them.

Finally, encourage employees to ask questions if they are unsure about an assignment so time will not be wasted rectifying mistakes. Let them know that asking questions is more than welcome, and will never be looked down upon.

 

#6 Being A Perfectionist

A lot of successful business leaders strive for perfection, and it’s this innate drive for everything to be spotless is what sets them apart from others. It’s good to take pride in the work you do and set high standards.

For your business’ sake, it’s also important for perfectionists to know when to step down and leave something be. While details are important, it is equally as important not to get bogged down in them until a project is “perfect.”

Nothing is ever truly perfect and you will waste a lot of time trying to reach perfection. Accept that sometimes work just needs to be good enough.

 

#7 Holding Too Many Meetings

Business meetings are important to keep everyone in sync and present compelling ideas that can move your company forward. But too many meetings can quickly turn into time wasters. Be smart about scheduling meetings and hold them with reasonable regularity.

Hold them for important projects and discussions, and only when useful or necessary. Try and combine two related topics into a single meeting. Stay on topic and don’t lose focus. This will keep your meetings on point and useful for everyone.

It can be easy to get lost in a task or do things that you think are helping but really end up wasting time. Always be looking for ways to streamline your business operations and prevent things from getting overly convoluted.

Consider the activities outlined above so you and your employees can make the best use of time to grow your business.

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Business, Entrepreneurs

Working In A Sales Environment? These Tips Could Boost Your Sales Potential

Working in a sales environment can be hard work. Sales may be needed for many elements of your job, but a specific sales role with targets to achieve is quite a popular job role to take on.

Some would say it takes a certain person to be naturally good at sales: a chatty personality and confidence—to name a few traits. However, you could be making some big mistakes and not embracing every potential method you have at your disposal when it comes to your role. So, here are some of the top tips to help boost your chance of making a sale.

Image source

 

Don’t be afraid of prospecting

One of the first things you need to think about is prospecting and not being afraid to do it. Some people can be a little unnerved about calling up a potential customer and trying to talk them into a sale, so sometimes it can be easier to use an email approach instead. Less forceful and intrusive, but still giving you the best results.

However, you need to ensure that it is worded right. Therefore, take note of some of the tips shared in this article: https://www.templafy.com/blog/how-many-of-these-outbound-sales-email-fundamentals-do-you-use/. Prospecting can be great for your job, and could see you going that extra mile, so why not give it a try and see how many you can convert?

 

Dress for the occasion

Often, it isn’t always about what you say, but the way you look. We can all make snap judgements based on people’s appearance, even if we don’t intentionally mean to do so. Being in a sales environment, especially one that is customer facing, might mean that you need to consider your work attire.

Power dressing and looking the part could help people to be assured that you are professional and know what you are doing. While it may not have the same effect on customers if you are in a sales role that isn’t customer facing, still dressing for the part will help you internally with your confidence levels.

 

Customer management is key

Finally, customers and clients like to feel special and valued, so decent customer management and using systems like a CRM are ideal to help you stay focused on what it is your customer wants. A great tip is to keep up with regular phone calls and contact, which can also be done through email. Keep them up-to-date in regards to offers and prices. Regular contact enables them to feel valued, and may lead to sales.

Once the sale has been made, also be sure to follow up on any queries after the sale is finalized. This can work especially well for repeat customers if the products or services you sell are reusable. People like to stick with things they are familiar with, so giving them excellent customer service may just see them returning to you in the future.

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Business

5 Secrets to Running a Successful Home-Based Business

Photo by Gabriel Beaudryon Unsplash

 

Running a successful home business can be difficult. There are a ton of different variables to keep in mind and plenty of unforeseeable obstacles and challenges as well. Getting started can be daunting, too—there are so many resources and outlets claiming to have industry secrets and insider information that it can be immensely challenging to find accurate, actionable tips regarding operating a successful home-based business.

Every business is different, and not all tips will work for everyone. Knowing which tips apply to your business model is the first thing to learn. With this knowledge, you can enhance, optimize, and grow your startup into something special in no time. Most of us start small, so finding tips

Without further delay, let’s jump into it.

1. Work Environment Considerations

Traditional offices use time-tested and heavily iterated techniques to craft workspaces that are comfortable and conducive to productivity. Since you’re operating out of your home, you don’t have the same luxury. Fortunately, there are plenty of steps you can take to replicate the work-centric environment found in traditional office spaces.

Ergonomics are crucial when crafting your home office. You want to ensure that your space is comfortable and geared towards productivity. Poor ergonomics can result in back pain, clutter accumulation, long-term health problems, and more.

Conversely, stellar ergonomics can yield the opposite effects. You likely have a friend or two who complains about their back. Typically, discomfort like this is blamed on the sedentary lifestyle that office work necessitates. Thankfully, there are numerous ways to counteract the negative effects of sitting. And since you’re working from home, you don’t need to concern yourself with approval from a manager or higher-up.

Standing desks are a popular, health-friendly way to enhance ergonomics. By using either a keyboard riser or a motorized desk, these devices allow you to work while standing upright. While standing, your spine is in its most natural position. Keeping this posture while working allows you to preserve your backs strength and vitality.

If you’re not a fan of standing, there are other methods you can use to keep your back in working order. Yoga chairs and office chairs with ergonomic designs can yield similarly positive outcomes, too. When creating your office space, you will want to keep these options in mind.

 

2. Choosing the Right Tools

Next, you should equip yourself with the right tools for the job. Since you’re working from home, your primary concern will be setting yourself up with intuitive and productivity-focused software and programs. There is no shortage of software packages that offer bevies of actionable and effective tools.

You shouldfocus on the basics before anything else. Microsoft Office, while tame, is an absolute must. Its suite of business-inclined features and capabilities can’t be matched on Windows operating systems. With Microsoft Office Suite, you will be able to access Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and of course, Microsoft Word, at your leisure.

Stamps.com is another winner for self-employed individuals. It enables you to print postage and shipping labels straight from your PC. The time it saves you by skipping trips to the Post Office will add up in the long-term.

Time management is something that self-employed people struggle with—it’s not something you think about when getting your business off the ground. But proper time distribution is key for keeping a business running smoothly. WorkTime is an excellent application in this regard. It lets you keep an eye on how much time you’re spending in each of your PC’s different programs.

Data-backup software may be the most crucial investment you can make as the head of a home-based business. Data is at the center of every modern trade, and you need to be certain that yours is safe and accessible should the unexpected occur. The risks of leaving your data unprotected are well-documented.

Lastly, publishing software is a necessity if you want to market your business effectively. Adobe InDesign is the most popular software package for publishing, but Microsoft Publisher is worth considering as well. Both of these options allow you to craft copy material, newsletters, and memos that can assist enormously in networking and communication.

 

3. Optimizing Your Work-Life Balance

The death knell for many small businesses is burnout. Entrepreneurs are inherently passionate about their trade. And while that passion is useful, it can be detrimental with breaks and rest. Use planning apps, like Google Calendar, to ensure that you’re getting ample sleep and taking breaks when you need them.

 

4. Building the Best Team

Working from home isn’t the same as working alone. You need to build a team, and there are some things to keep in mind before you get started. First, you should create clear, concise job descriptions. This step will help you find individuals who are well-suited for your business.

Likewise, you should try and find people who are committed to your company’s brand, message, and long-term goals. Lastly, try to make effective interviews—asking the right questions can assist in sorting the diamonds from the rough.

 

5. Investing In Security

Security is important. Multi-billion dollar corporations are still struggling with keeping bad actors at bay. And it’s especially vital if your business is one that intends on collecting and storing your client’s personal information. Before you start looking for ways to scale your business, consider how you can protect yourself and your customers effectively first.

 

Wrapping Up

Home-based businesses are thriving right now. While the competition is tight, there is plenty of room for your startup to thrive and grow, regardless of your industry. Implement these tips into your business and enjoy a smooth and fruitful startup phase.

 

Eric Gordon is an independent business development and marketing specialist for SMEs. He loves sharing his insights and experience to assist business owners in growing their revenues. You can find Eric on Twitter @ericdavidgordon

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Business, Entrepreneurs

Security Tips for Small Businesses

(Note: This is a guest post from KEYper Systems.)

Small businesses may believe that their size prevents them from becoming a target for hackers and other criminals. Yet the opposite too often is true. More than half of small businesses experience a security breach of some kind, whether it’s a break-in or a more sophisticated form of cybercrime. No matter what form those security breaches may take, the impact can be significant.

Without a sizable or experienced IT department keeping watch over their networks, these enterprises don’t find out how vulnerable they are until it’s too late. With this in mind, it’s extremely important for a business of any size to pay close attention to its network and shield it against intruders or vandals.

Small business owners can’t afford to ignore any type of threat in favor of another. Businesses may lock their doors at night, but if their WiFi router is left unsecured, they may as well be leaving out the welcome mat for criminals.

Because securing property in the real world and online is so important for small businesses, it’s a good idea to take a look at the security tips provided in the accompanying infographic. Just because smaller companies don’t have the resources larger companies do doesn’t mean they’re not targets for crime — but it doesn’t mean they don’t have the ability to protect themselves, either.

 


Infographic created by KEYper Systems

Author Bio:

Travis Ray is Director of Customer Care & Strategic Marketing for KEYper® Systems, a key management and storage systems provider. Ray is responsible for overseeing the customer care team that provides software and hardware support for new and current clients.

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Business, Entrepreneurs

How to Streamline Your Writing Process Using Technology

(Note: This is a guest post by Eric Gordon.)

Photo by Aaron Burdenon Unsplash

 

While people still herald paperback books and handwritten letters as wonderful traditions worth preserving, technological advances have made the writing process much more streamlined so production is faster than ever before.

Technology cannot generate content for you, however. Your writing projects need to be your own brainchild, but technology has a way of streamlining the process from conception all the way through to publication.

The right tools can help you with brainstorming and organization, and make the writing itself so much more seamless. These innovations have a way of sparking creativity and allowing writers to think outside of the box.

The Writing Process in the Digital Age

In the Digital Age, content is the backbone of marketing and sales. Businesses are constantly writing and creating new content. This includes business plans, blog posts, infographics, video scripts, magazine articles … the list goes on forever.

All that content conveys different messages, depending on the intended demographics and overall purpose, but there’s one thing it has in common: the writing process is typically the same.

While there is no overall consensus on how many steps the writing process has, with some saying four while others going as much as six or seven, experienced writers often combine some steps in the preliminary section. Overall, the most common process that’s used is:

  1. In the pre-writing section, writers start with idea conception. This is where choosing your topic, brainstorming, and the gathering of ideas takes place.

  2. The next step is organization. This is where ideas are put into an outline or a mind map. While you may not know the exact flow of thought at the beginning, you can see what ideas predicate others.

  3. The actual writing process is what follows. Individuals have unique approaches to the way they tackle this step.

    1. Some people believe the most effective way is to write one paragraph at a time. You write the first paragraph, then you go back and edit it. Then you write your next paragraph. You continue the process until you reach the end of the piece.

    2. Others prefer the all-or-nothing method. This is where they put their stream of consciousness onto a piece of paper and they write from start to finish without stopping. Most people fall into an in-between category where there’s editing done as they go, but mostly they write first and revise later.

  4. Last, there is the revision and editing step. This is where you go into your paper and add in sources, change grammar or sentence structure, and do final proofreading.

For each of these steps, there are various tools on the market that enhance the processes, make them more streamlined, help you research faster, or spellcheck automatically. Here are four great tech solutions that can help you write better content:

1. Mind Maps

Mind maps are brainstorming techniques and tools which help writers to conceptualize their ideas. They are used to join themes and topics, which normally wouldn’t be thought to be related. By seeing them on a mind map, you can think of new creative ways to link them together.

A good mind map tool is an app called Coggle. Coggle allows you to create colorful diagrams, which connect a variety of ideas, resources, and topics to encourage creativity in the initial stages of writing. It takes a bit to master mind mapping, but once you do, you’ll find new ideas for articles faster than ever.

2. Style Checkers

Style checkers, like the Hemingway app or Pro Writing Aid, are useful for the editing phase. While spell checkers and thesaurus apps are excellent for finding grammatical issues and helping writers choose more descriptive words, style checkers help writers determine the grade level at which they are writing. The choice of which one would be better for you is entirely up to you and your preferences.

This allows you to know if you’re too casual in writing, too formal, overly technical, or using too much jargon. This information helps you reach your targeted demographic. When marketing to seniors, for example, your language will differ greatly as opposed to writing about academic software for graduate students.

3. Cloud Sharing

Cloud computing has revolutionized the way content is produced, too. Instead of relying on onsite software, you can do everything from your browser with solutions like Google Docs or Office 365. Most are already familiar with Office 365 that comes with cloud apps (Word, Excel, and others) and their own storage solution: OneDrive. This allows you to have your entire writing project backed up online and accessible at any time.

Now, the beauty of cloud sharing is that you can share your drafts with collaborators. If you’re collaborating on a project, you can invite others and work on it simultaneously. This makes the editing and revision process much simpler since you have multiple pairs of eyes looking at a document within a short period of time. This means that not only will you have spellcheckers looking over your document, but will also have fellow proofreaders who will catch errors and think of other ideas to improve the content.

4. Speech to Text

Speech to text is actually how this article was written. Some people are verbal processors, while others do better by typing or handwriting their drafts. Whatever form of writing works for you, speech to text is an incredibly helpful tool for creating content in 2019.

By using speech to text tools for your drafting, not only do you really flesh out your ideas, but you have better chances of sounding more natural in your writing style. This will make your blog posts and scripts more relatable.

Technology has improved the writing process by making it more streamlined and given us great ways to explore new ideas with systems like mind maps. Collaboration is easier than ever now, thanks to cloud solutions.

 

Eric Gordon is an independent business development and marketing specialist for SMEs. He loves sharing his insights and experience to assist business owners in growing their revenues. You can find Eric on Twitter @ericdavidgordon

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Publishing, Writing

Getting Past Writer’s Block

Most writers, at some point, experience writers’ block. Whether they write novels, work as copywriters, or write on a freelance basis, occasionally they hit a wall and inspiration fails them. They’ve got nothing to say, they can’t see the next step, or they’ve lost sight of who their characters are.

But it’s not just writers. Most creatives suffer from a block from time to time. You can learn more about freelancing at https://tamarhela.com/2018/12/07/tips-on-becoming-a-freelance-writer/.

Of course, there’s no harm in a short block. Sometimes, you just need to switch off for the day and come back to your work in the morning. A good night’s sleep and some rest is often all that it takes to get your creative juices flowing again. But, it’s not always that simple.

Sometimes, creative blocks drag on. You end up so stressed out by your inability to write, that you are forgetting simple things and having to read https://setapp.com/how-to/how-to-reset-lost-mac-password because you’ve lost your password. This kind of block that starts to drag on and cause stress can lead to a loss of income, or a career reaching a standstill. When this happens, you need to find other ways to get past it.

Image – https://pixabay.com/photos/writer-typewriter-author-blogging-1421099/

Take a Break

 

The first thing you should try is merely taking a break. Take as long as you can afford to. An afternoon, a week; whatever it is, take it. Turn your phone off, stay away from your computer and relax. Go on holiday, spend the day at the spa or walking in your local area. Just stay away from work.

 

Write Something Completely Different

 

Your creativity is like a muscle that needs exercising. If you write the same type of things, the same genre of medium all of the time, your brain gets used to it. It loses interest and motivation, and it stagnates. Give your creativity a total workout by writing something very different. Try poetry or nonfiction, write a journal, or just switch to a different writing voice. Don’t worry if it’s good; just write.

 

Write As a Different Character

 

You should know your characters inside and out. If you can’t imagine what your main character would do next, switch. Get a notepad and change your narrative voice. Either write in the third person for a while or write from a different character’s point of view. You could even write up a backstory or tell a tale from their past.

 

Try a New Creative Hobby

 

Often, writer’s block is complete. It’s not just your story you are stuck on. It’s everything. You could sit at your desk for hours unable to write a word. So, give your creativity a workout by trying a different creative hobby. Draw, scrapbook, take photographs and get messy with some paints. Just try to enjoy yourself.

 

Spend Some Time in Nature

 

When we’re sitting in the office, or facing a computer most of our waking time, it can be hard to find inspiration. So, get out. Go for a walk in the park or a hike. Spend some time taking in everything around you and drawing inspiration from the beauty of nature. You might even find trying to work outdoors will help.

 

 

 

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Writing

Tips On Becoming A Freelance Writer

So, you’ve decided that you want to become a freelance writer? There is no denying that the freelance market is booming at the moment and there are lots of opportunities for those who enjoy writing. Nevertheless, competition is also fierce, so you must do everything in your power to stand out. Read on for some key pieces of advice.

 

 

Focus on quality – The truth is that you can lower your price to the point where you feel like you’re working for free, and there will still be someone working for less. Rather than try to undercut everyone on price, focus on being an expert in your field. If companies want quality content, they will be willing to pay for it.

Supplement your income – As you are going to spend your days at home (or at the local coffee shop) working on your computer, it is a good idea to try to find ways to boost your income. Read this guide on how to make 100 dollars fast online. From taking paid surveys to doing some online trading, there are so many different options you have at your disposal.

Sign up to a number of different freelance websites – In the beginning, you will find it difficult to secure jobs because you will be competing with freelancers who are established and have been providing writing services for years. Don’t let this dishearten you, though. You simply need to make sure you sign up to a number of different freelancing websites, from PeoplePerHour to Freelancer, and make as many job applications as possible to put the odds more in your favour. You should also make sure you attach samples of your work to each application.

Be honest and communicate well – It may be tempting to promise that you will have a project due in X days, even though you know you’re cutting it. You want to secure the job after all! But you’re only going to end up letting the client down in the end if you fall behind. You also need to make sure you communicate frequently with the people you work for and that you are honest if there are any delays.

Be payment savvy – One of the biggest concerns for freelancers is that they’re going to do a job for someone and then that person is going to disappear once the payment is due. There are a number of things you can do to make sure this doesn’t happen. If you use the freelancing sites mentioned, you will have a layer of protection, as clients need to deposit funds, which are held securely until the project is complete. If you do not use such a website, make sure you have a contract drawn up and that you request a down payment from the client.

Hopefully, you now feel more prepared to make it as a freelance writer. If you follow the advice above, you’ll have a great platform for making a career for yourself in this domain.

 

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Writing

How to Become an Excelling Expert in Your Chosen Profession

You have always been a career-minded person who wants to excel in everything they do. No matter what you set your mind to, you always want to achieve it to the best of your ability, right? Let’s say recently you have decided that you want to pursue a new career so that you can grow as a person and attain your life goals.

You enjoy setting yourself new challenges so that you can really work hard at your current job role and get to where you want to be in the near future. Therefore, in order to become an excelling expert, you need to consider some of the following ideas.

Read the Right Literature

When you are hoping to tap into a certain profession, it is important to do your research and open up your mind to a whole host of literature. Make sure you are reading content that is written by reputable industry professionals, such as social work books that will help shed light on the profession and outline the skills required to succeed in this field.

Once you have immersed yourself into this new domain, you will feel ready to conquer everything and anything that may come your way.

Image

 

Speak to Industry Experts

There are probably a whole host of people who have been in your shoes before, so make sure you make the most of mingling with these experts. Everybody has to start somewhere, so get networking and learn all the tricks of the trade.

For example, you can head to a local business place that you could see yourself working in one day and ask to speak to someone who works in the department you are most interested in. Yes, it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there, but be confident and ask all the questions you need to get ahead in the industry.  

Keep an Open Mind

You will never land your dream job instantly, so it is important to keep an open mind and say yes to every opportunity. When you have made it in your industry, you will be able to start filtering through job offers and learning to say no sometimes. Until then, grab every chance you can to learn something new and get one step closer to excelling in your chosen profession.

Be Dedicated

You probably want to be a dedicated employee, in whatever industry you manage to get yourself into, so never take anything for granted. If you are given a task to do, make sure you complete it to the best of your ability. Your hard work will not go unnoticed and it will put you in an excellent position for job progression in the future. When you are truly passionate about your career, you will find it easy to work hard and stay motivated, so make sure you choose the right job to suit your desires and skills.

Becoming an excelling expert in your profession will take a lot of time and dedication; don’t rush any of these processes. Enjoy the journey and take pride in every little achievement you make along the way.

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Business, Entrepreneurs

The Art Of Seduction: Does Your Writing Engage And Enthrall?

With so many books and articles published every year, writers have had to up their game. It’s no longer enough to write something good; you have to seduce readers in a way that gets them intimately involved with your narrative. It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing fiction or something else—seduction is the name of the game.

Think about your own experiences. There have probably been times in your life when you’ve started reading a book, only to yawn after a few pages and wonder why you ever picked it up in the first place. Long-winded introductions, poorly constructed characters, and long sentences can all take the charm out of a book.

The trick to getting people’s attention isn’t so much in what you write, or even how well you write, but whether or not you create a desire in them. There has to be a reason for them to continue reading—whether it’s to discover a secret formula for losing weight, what’s going to happen to a key character, or how to do something they’ve always wanted to do. Emotions drive reading decisions—everything else is secondary.

But creating desire and seducing readers isn’t easy. Often, it requires you to step out of your comfort zone and write in a way that sees the story from their perspective. Once you get into your audience’s shoes, though, you can start to work your magic. Here’s how:

 

Express Strong Emotions In Action

One of the problems with J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings is that he rarely took the chance to express his character’s emotions in action. It was always the job of the reader to infer why they had done what they had done (which is why the films were such masterpieces). But today’s top fiction authors recognise that merely providing a catalogue of events isn’t enough to draw in readers. There needs to be strong emotional content.

Image: Flickr and credit: thedailyenglishshow.com

 

But what does that look like? It’s not about long monologues or in-depth descriptions of emotional experience. Readers don’t usually like this. It’s more about the nuance in the way characters talk to each other, and, importantly, what they do. This is actually a much more difficult thing to do than merely to report a character’s emotional experience. It takes time to think carefully about the way characters interact in their world in a way that is convincing and authentic.

Remember, although you may be writing a work of fiction, the emotions shouldn’t appear fanciful or unrealistic. Readers want to be able to connect to the people they read about, whether they are made up or not, and so they need to be believable.

The other thing to remember is that emotions in your story should follow a narrative trajectory. Feelings should build as your novel develops and, hopefully, reach a climax as the story resolves itself. Drip feeding readers emotional content helps to keep them invested in your work, safe in the knowledge that they’re going to be rewarded at some point.

Find Out What Scares Your Audience

Fear and desire are two fundamental driving forces in all human interactions, and they form the basis of many of the great works of fiction. These two emotions are so central to the human psyche that they can’t help but have universal appeal, as they have done throughout the centuries.

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The characters in your story face these emotions all the time. Fear comes in the form of death, rejection and failure, while desire is related to love, peace and safety. It can sometimes be a little uncomfortable to explore these issues in your characters, but they’re things that everybody has to face and will strike a chord with your readership. Some writers can be downright afraid to put their creations in danger or reveal aspects of their personalities that they’d rather keep secret. But it’s these traits which can help transform a book from ho-hum into something gripping.

Think about the times when you’ve been most interested in a character. Almost always it will be times when they have been in danger or had to make a decision tempered by desire. Because your audience knows these feelings so well, they will empathize with your characters and wonder what they might do next. Characters help introduce readers to emotional danger, which can be very intoxicating.

 

Avoid Cliches

Virtual Writing Tutor says that one of the biggest problems in people’s writing is the use of cliches. Although they may be a part of the vernacular, cliches almost always reduce immersion and make your writing less seductive.

The trick to engaging writing is to come up with your own way of saying things. Not only is it more interesting for the reader, but often it’s also more appropriate for the context. Cliches, unless used ironically, should be avoided.

 

Keep Your Readers Asking Questions

 

The screenplay for the TV series Lost was, in many ways, genius. The writers knew that to get people coming back season after season, they had to introduce random, unexplained elements which would be resolved later on. Many people watched the show just to find out how the writers were going to explain all the mysteries of the show. Their strategy worked, and Lost ran for a lot longer than initially intended.

Writers need to use this tactic too. They need to present something controversial, exciting or unexplained that requires an answer, such as a weird turn of phrase by a particular character, a strange event, or an inexplicable emotional reaction. Getting your reader to ask questions automatically generates interest in your book, forcing them to think about it differently than, say, if you gave them all the answers up front.

 

Get Right Into The Action

 

While setting the scene has its place, readers aren’t usually that interested in all the minutiae of your fictitious world; they want action. Smart writers create the scene as the action unfolds, rather than describing it separately, giving readers both something rich and compelling. Launching right into the action helps set the pace and provides interest immediately, making it easier to captivate than long, meandering descriptions.

 

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Publishing, Reading, Writing