Social media has taken a toll on the productivity of the people who use the system. What begins as a casual session of browsing turns into hours and hours of productivity going waste.

This is what blogger Maneesh Sethi, a computer geek from San Francisco realised. He felt that he had realised that he began to spend a lot of time on social networking and gaming sites, thus reducing the productivity. He tried hard to give up on this habit but failed.

Not the one to give up, he eventually found a innovative method and hired a woman who would monitor his activities while he worked, and every time he was found drifting she was supposed to slap him. This he claims has worked wonders as he could successfully curb his addiction and enhance the quality of his work.

You may find it ridiculous to pay someone to hit you, but Maneesh does not seem to think so. He finds it perfectly normal to hire someone to monitor him and has even inspired others to follow suit by uploading a video of him being slapped by his employee Kara. This video has ticked a lot of people who find it extremely funny. But in the end they are compelled to think over it and then make changes in their life as well.

This might give rise to a trend of people hiring people on a freelance basis to help them to curb their addiction especially the addiction of social networking sites and other online entertainment media.

Lot of people ask me if they need to be picky while selecting jobs online. Being a writer, it might be easy for you to take on any job that is offered because you are just improving your resume of writing online and are trying to get your name out there. This seems all fine but there is a need to draw a line.

If you are struggling with something and are finding it hard to complete a job then probably you should quit. One cool thing about online work is that there are a lot of people who can substitute you. I am not saying that you should quit your online job the minute you get frustrated or upset while trying to complete anything but there has to be a line drawn somewhere and you should decide this line.

One thing that I can suggest you is that you should finish the work that you have taken and then talk to your client. Tell him you feel that there might be someone else who is more qualified to do the work. They might be able to help you with the work and teach a few tricks of trade.

You don’t even need to get that far. If you are uncomfortable with the job in the initial stages; then you can leave it there itself. You don’t have to start working instantly just because someone wants to hire you. There are plenty of companies trying to hire freelance writers so you can be picky about what you want.

When you are first working online, you might find it hard to pass jobs just because you are trying to sink in your foot. Also, you might like to try different jobs to see what you like the most. I was too taking all kinds of jobs when I first started working from home. I let my employers know that “I haven’t done this kinda work before but I’d like to try and you can hire me if I meet your expectations.”

I have been upfront and honest and it has given me great results to date. Some might argue that it isn’t a professional way of getting things done but then I don’t care because things have worked for me that way. I like to be honest 100% while working with anyone and I am not just saying this to make myself sound better to you. Believe me, honesty will take you a long way while working with people who you won’t see face to face everyday. It helps in building a trust and bond which can last for a long time.

It is great when clients come knocking on your doors; all you need to do is hand over a quote and start writing after sending freelance writing contract. But sometimes, you need to go hunting for them. People may not know that they need you and hence you need to approach the situation with some skill.

Hunt for the clients that you want

Look around for people that you want to work with. There are people who are looking for freelance writers and there are also people who are willing to spend money on freelance writers. People like private tutors, Web designers, doctors, and lawyers know that written words are precious and will be willing to hire you for generating more revenue for them. This is a win-win situation for both of you.

• Go on the Internet and look for professionals in your area. There are some people who just want to deal locally and you can use your hometown as an icebreaker.
• You can ask your friends if they know any professionals in their families.

Reach out for getting in touch with them

Not literally and certainly not lawyers. But you can contact them for letting them know that you are there and willing to help. You will need to make a phone call or send a mail but don’t be discouraged about this. The worse thing that can happen is that they will say no or they won’t answer at all. On the other side, you might end up with a lot of money if you get the contract. If this is just one amongst those 50 emails or phone calls, it is totally worth it.

• Friendly and short emails can do wonders. You can start with something like ‘Hi, I went through your Website while surfing the Internet and wanted to tell you that I am a copywriter just in case you need my services’.
• Don’t get nervous about calling people. In worst case scenarios, you will end up learning flowery new language if you are interrupting during lunch. Just call up the guy and tell him that you are a writer. Also tell him that you have some experience that will help him in growing the business.
• They might ask you for samples straight away so be prepared about this. You can simply fire up an email showing them what you can do. Keep your freelance writer resume updated.
• If you have a Website, make sure that it is fashionable and upto date. People do peep to check in and if it looks bad, then they certainly won’t have any faith in you.

If you have any other tips about getting more clients do let me know in the comments section below.

Branding yourself or your company is not easy, it take efforts to make your mark in the industry by serving good quality products or services. When you want to create a brand in front of your users you are actually trying to engrain a certain image in their minds so that they will recollect it when they are out shopping in similar lines we are going to discuss few of such things to create your online brand. I have seen many users often changing their nick names or company names or creating 4 to 5 accounts in one single networking site, this is completely wrong, how can you expect people to remember you with different names and images every time they log in so make sure to start using the same user name and the profile picture in whatever social networks you register to.

Consistency is one thing you have to maintain if you are really keen on creating your brand image in front of your readers. If you are planning to use different services then stick by the same user name you did for the last site and also remember to use the same for your messengers too. This will help people remember you as some company they talked with last time and having the same email addresses as your user name gives an added benefit as it becomes easier to recollect it while mailing.

If you have selected to write name in particular style then stick by it, for example, if you write “ThriLLer” then make sure every time you type in your user name you type it in similar lines. By this I want to tell you that you have to maintain the alphabet consistency. Post the

same profile picture for the all the networking sites, if you have put some company logo then match it the same way in all of the profile networks. It is best advised to have your company logo as other users will remember the logo better than the face. Some networking site allows you to have your custom made template that will help to build your brand, so if you are creating some attractive template with company design logo at the back and also including some elements of your company this will give you an extra personality. The same template can be used for other networks that permit custom designs.

If you are the one always sending in emails it is best to format a good email signature so every time you send mails the signature is added automatically at the end of the mail. This will help you to be consistent in every email that steps out of your mailbox. Make your presence felt in all the networking platforms, the prime most important is having a proper website designed with a professional mail address. If you have just started off, then you need to learn a lots of things about networking, you can select your niche by deciding on the topic which you like the most and then proceed ahead with joining the similar networks that will help you develop your skills.