Life as an Independent Freelancer

While I was in a full time job, the thought of working from home crossed my mind several times. There were a lot of factors that propelled that feeling; erratic working hours fetching the top position here. But it seemed like wishful thinking then owing to the lack of experience, knowledge, resources, and awareness.

Though I never seriously contemplated working from home as an option, I happened to take it up purely due to the circumstances. I was fed up with the weekly routine of pressing that alarm clock at 7am, 6am or even earlier and dragging myself to office, spending 10-12 hours doing nothing creative, coming back home with no energy left to participate in family conversations, chatting or meeting up with friends, and then hibernating on weekends to regain the lost energy.

I kept thinking about it, long and hard, and then one fine day, I decided to take the plunge in form of a break from work. A sense of responsibility to prioritize continual growth and improvement motivated me to take this decision.

Unfortunately or fortunately for me, the job scenario across the globe was not very encouraging at that time. Recession had taken its toll and the companies instead of hiring resources were concentrating on realigning roles and responsibilities to bring down their manpower requirements. That is when I started exploring opportunities in the field of freelancing.

Availability of latest technology gadgets, high speed internet access, knowledge and awareness, globalization, and flexibility in the professional approach of both employers and employees today has significantly changed. All this has given people the opportunity to work from the convenience of their home. Trust, mutual understanding, and socially responsible behavior has made it very simple for people from diverse backgrounds and cultures to work cordially for one other.

Working as an independent freelancer is difficult but at the same time challenging enough to help you grow personally as well as professionally. One needs to be hugely organized. You need to be very clear while prioritizing your time, finances and other physical resources in relation to your work commitments.

One also has to keep in mind the fact that after the work schedule has become flexible and is not restricted to a 9am-5pm setting, family’s expectations change as well. Your family members demand a little more of your time. They expect your participation in events that are pre-planned. Unanticipated episodes require your obvious attention and involvement, so on and so forth.

It is therefore necessary to prepare yourself physically, mentally and emotionally too to deal with situations that you may have never stumbled upon earlier or may have never expected to take place.

Just take one step at a time, follow a structured approach, and let this transition take place in convenient but effective phases from a current state to a desired future state. I am on my way too...see you there!

Bestow & Accept All Love, No Strings Attached

We feel, therefore we are. Everything that we dream of is based on a desired feeling. Our desired feelings are the basis of our goals and strategic planning.

“Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them “ - John Updike

So does it mean that if we focus on our inner state first, the outer reality has a better prospect of lining up with our ideals? According to me, YES!

I use my feelings as a guide as it is the most direct indicator of whether I am happy or sad. To me, my feelings are a foolproof guidance system, letting me know if I am experiencing excitement or boredom, adored or ignored, comfortable or restless etc.

I try to maintain a high self-esteem and the feeling of happiness, self-empowerment, and contentment in work, good relationships, constant growth and a sense of achievement, all contribute to it.

It is a calm, comfortable feeling of total acceptance and love for yourself. I respect and see myself as a valuable human being by honestly evaluating my good and not-so-good qualities, and look after myself so that I can become all that I am capable of being.

I take due care of my physical, emotional, mental as well as spiritual well being. I try to maintain a balance between extremes of thought, feeling and behavior. I learn from mistakes and say, “I made a mistake, I’m sorry.”

I realize the importance of taking responsibility for my own life and not turning power over to another to make decisions for me, and then feeling victimized if the results are not what I expected. I take responsibility for my own perceptions and reactions. With time I have been able to develop the ability to listen to my wise inner self (intuition), and to act on this guidance.

I know what my strengths and weaknesses are and am open to taking positive risks. But I make it a point to stay away from self-blame, and self-criticism. What works best for me is never interpreting the hurtful words or actions of others as a sign of my disrespect.

I believe that self-esteem should be the very basis of our lives. If there are some parts of our life that need to be changed, we only have the power and the responsibility to restructure them.

I too, have done the best that I could, under various circumstance that have shaped my life so far.

And I strongly believe that with further self-awareness nurturing, and self-acceptance, I’ll continue to grow! Amen...

Follow the Footsteps!

Let’s continue with the second one in the series of my “life experiences” that have taught me lessons that have made my life beautiful. Talking about “moments of truth” this one came up on me rather badly. I still don’t know if it was the comment or the act that made the difference but something struck me REAL HARD that day.

I reached office the day after I had taken a sick leave by casually informing my boss over the phone about my illness. Little did I know that like me there were 7 more colleagues who had not showed up that same day, of course, for various reasons? As a result of these emergency leaves, not only did the productivity of work suffer but even the colleagues present in the office had to stretch their work hours.

“The Boss” was fuming with anger and called all us culprits in the meeting room. She went on explaining how our irresponsibility to remain absent from work, whether informed or uninformed, affected so many people in the office, ruined their plans, their mood, and most importantly the work. All the things that she said were very routine and I thought she was being quite insensitive by not thinking about our problems but her own (read work performance related problems). But there was one thing that forced me to think if she was actually being insensitive or was I being too judgemental.

She called us immature and irresponsible and quite frankly, I did not like it. She concluded the meeting saying, the next time you find yourself in a situation where you have to decide between work and your other priorities, think about what your father would have done? Boy oh boy, what a revelation? She was right. In all the years, I had never seen my father behaving irresponsibly when it came to his work, family, children, and his personal life?

So, for the rest of the day, I could not help thinking about the fact that I surely need to become absolutely responsible for whatever I commit to. It could be my job, work, friends, parents, siblings; anything. But I made a resolve that day; a resolve to accept those seemingly harsh words and change my attitude and lifestyle for the better. By becoming more disciplined in life and taking responsibility for whatever I take up, I’ll do justice to my life and to those around me.

That day was probably one of the most unpleasant days in my life but it cannot deny the truth that it was a huge eye opener for life. All the good habits that I can boast of today have been the result of following my father’s footsteps. And one thing more; I also learnt that to accept reality and start working upon it is easier that running away from it.

It’s easy to give in to the temptation of shirking from our duties. It has become our way of life because we know everybody does that, so why can’t I? Don’t make the mistake of falling into that trap.

Why You (and I) Should Never Stop Learning

Every new activity calls for learning a new skill.

Children encounter a remarkable learning curve. They learn to crawl, feed themselves, walk, and learn a language and later on figure out how to tie their shoe laces. This process of learning goes on all through school and begins to level off in their college days. In a majority of cases, it comes to a shrieking halt when we get our first job.

It is amazing how many people never take the time to read a book or two after high school. Even those who take up reading never progress beyond the first chapter except for a very little percentage. To add insult to injury, most of them feel so proud of the fact that they do not read.

If you visit the historic homes of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison and any other historic icon, you are sure to find a library. Great leaders are readers. Leaders continue on the learning curve all through their life. Leaders continue to learn and grow. Leaders prosper.

Most metropolitan locales include at least one institution of continuing education. Now that most of us are internet savvy, access to online universities is increasing. Continuing education becomes easier and simpler with each passing innovation of technology. No valid excuses exist for pause out on the learning curve. Ah, but you say, "I’ve got no money." But we tend to forget that public libraries are free and even the library card is made free of cost.

Then the other excuse is "I’ve got no time". The counter question is; how much time do you spend watching television? Situation comedies on television entertain you for sure but add nothing to your education. How much time do you spend travelling to and from work? Have it ever crossed your mind to use this time in listening to lectures and discussions. Libraries even provide educational CD's on almost all topics.

If you really desire a turning point in your life and your finances, you need to get back on the learning curve.

If you are single and are seeking a companion, why not meet someone else who is improving their awareness? Seek a companion who also desires to make progress with their life. You will appeal more to them if you are working on expanding your learning curve and they will be more attracted to you when they are moving onward and upward in their life.

Your turning point in life starts the day you jump back into the learning curve with a positive attitude. When you remain persistent and consistent with the improvement of your learning curve, it yields positive results in every aspect of your life.

Introduction to Social Media Marketing

Social media are media for social contact that uses highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media utilize web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues.

Social media have been reorganized to reach consumers through the internet. Social media have become engaging to big and small businesses. Big and credible brands are utilizing social media to reach customers and to build or maintain their reputation in the market. The ability to reach more consumers globally has also increased with social media continuing to grow. Twitter, for example, has expanded its global reach, among others, to Japan, Indonesia, and Mexico. This means that brands can now advertise in multiple languages and therefore reach a broader range of consumers.

Social media have turn into the new "tool" for effective business marketing and sales. Popular social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter are social media most commonly used for socializing and connecting with friends, relatives, and colleagues.

Social media has developed into a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access, thus opening doors for organizations to enhance their brand awareness and aid conversations with the customer. Also, social media serves as a comparatively inexpensive platform for organizations to execute their marketing campaigns. Organizations can get direct feedback from their customers and targeted markets.

Social media marketing has proved beneficial to organizations and individuals by providing them an additional channel for customer support, a better means to achieve customer and competitive insight, and a simple yet effective method of managing their reputation online.

Key factors that ensure its success are its importance to the customer, the value it provides them with, and the strength of the foundation on which it is built. A strong foundation serves as a stand in which the organization can integrate its information and direct customers on its recent developments through other social media channels, for example; article and press release publications.

The most popular platforms include Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and MySpace.