September 4, 2010

Talking Insurance Rates

The reason why people are afraid to get insurance is that it costs so much and life and health coverage is very small. There insurance companies who specialize in business insurance and has the business insurance health, Netquote group health insurance rates and best business insurance rates to offer. Buying insurance for yourself and for your employees is an added benefit. For yourself, it’s a long term investment and you don’t have to grow old without money. For your employees, they would want to stay with the company much longer because of the benefits you provide them.

If you are considering getting insurance, always ask for a quotation and go to the most trusted insurance company. A good track record, especially in managing your money, is always a good choice. You do not want to invest money into a company who will waste your money and get nothing out of it. Like a bank account, you earn extra with interest. Your insurance or maybe a mutual fund should be like that for you, too. There should be more that you can get out of the money you are investing to your insurance.

You don’t have to spend so much now without enjoying the life while you are still young. You don’t have to go old, be safe and no energy to have fun.

Looking for Scrub Uniforms

My older sister is a Physical Therapist in the United States. When my older sister went to the States, she was having a hard time looking for cheap medical scrubs for work in the hospital. I decided to help out and came across cotton scrub uniforms in the local department store from where I am at. I decided to choose basic colored scrubs so that she can match the pants scrub if she can find cheap scrub tops online. Working in a hospital is stressful as it is and you should not be worrying about what to wear to work.

August 21, 2010

A Business Idea

Back in College, when all other courses require a thesis in order to graduate, my major requires us to make a business plan and implement the business plan. We were not allowed to delve into the food business in the fear of “poisoning the customers”. My professor is very funny but she is right. None of us was an expert in cooking. So we decided to sell personalized denim bags. It was very girly, so sorry for the guys in the group, hard to make since it is made of denim and very expensive.

We took the t-shirt design printing concept and move it to bags. The idea is okay but the market for bags was huge especially coming from a city that does not really spend on fashionable items too much. Despite problems we had as a group, we were able to manage and submit our business plan in time before graduation.

I came across Café Press where they sell funny shirts, printed mugs, film posters and more. Although the business concept is not something new, what I like about them is that it is not that expensive, they have a variety of cool and funny designs and they also accept PayPal for payments. If you are looking for a shirt with an attitude, consider going to Café Press.

August 18, 2010

Almost WAS

The month of August is about to end and then comes September. I have a lot on my plate right now and I don’t have the focus and energy to do everything all at once.

What to do?

I can do this without the help of anyone. I have to. I have no choice and I’m so used to this. In the first place, I brought this on to myself and no one served this on my plate without my consent.

1. Earn my own keep for independence sake.
2. Take that damn exam and get it over with (With passing colors, hopefully.)
3. Look for a new address.
4. Decide where to go when October comes.

So many decisions to make but destiny seem to be against the wave I’m riding (feeling surfer chick here).

I guess I'm on another road block.

August 15, 2010

What It’s Like

..to be a freelancer.

Let me tell you first that I am no expert to becoming a freelancer. It is of no secret that I was retrench from my very first employer. I had started writing for small amount of dollars and those get published on my blog site. The bad thing about this though is that it does not help my Google rank or my Alexa rank. So I kind of minimized taking on writing jobs like that.

Back in April, a colleague was already on high with work at home jobs and she told me to visit the site, create an account and try to look for writing jobs from there. I got lucky that time because I got an employer before I lost my job and one that was high paying, too.

If you know how to write, I suggest you try onlinejobs.ph and freelancer.com websites. This is where I found all of my work at home jobs. If you can create a sample site that contains all your article samples for your future employer to review so much the better. You can create a sample blog and publish your writing samples at blogspot.com and wordpress.com. Creating an account from there is free.

Employers at online jobs and freelancer are from different countries. You have to specify in your letter of intent your preferred working hours if you want to work at your own time zone. Read carefully the requirements when applying for jobs online. Weird requirements are sometimes asked by the employer to see how detail-oriented you are and to show that you have read and understood their terms and working conditions. There are some requirements that you may not have but if you think you can do most of the jobs the employer require except for one, still just give it a try and apply.

Receiving payments or salaries from employers vary. You can stipulate in your application how you want to get the payment. It can be through PayPal, Western Union or bank transfers or others depending on the employer but most of the time it’s through PayPal. You have to open an account and then link a debit card, savings account or however you want to withdraw money from PayPal. Please review and read about PayPal as well.

The bad thing about freelance is that some employers don’t pay your salary on time. Sometimes it gets as far as a full month before you get your salary. In my case, they have to let go of employees because they could no longer afford it. I never received my last payment which was a good P10, 000 plus of salary. Some employers will let you think that you are hired and will ask you to write articles with X amount of words, sometimes as a sample work before they offer you a job, but they will never contact you again or hire you after your article submission. That has happened to me, too.

What I do and was advised to do by the same colleague who introduced to me freelance jobs? Get two to three employers at one time. Make sure the demands are something that you can meet on a daily basis. Some employers will ask you to submit your work on a daily basis. This will assure you that you have something to fall back on if in case unlikely situations like what I’ve mentioned will happen. At least you get paid from one of your employers until the others can keep up with their finances.

The basic stuff you will need in order to work at home is an internet connection and a computer. That’s it.

Also, bad thing about freelance employers is that they do not offer benefits. It’s good if you have your own insurance to take care of you in case you get sick or hospitalized. Savings can go a long way but you can never tell how much you will need for those serious emergency situations. I would suggest though that you keep paying your monthly premium, in our case in the Philippines, your SSS, Philhealth and PAG-IBIG contributions.

I like to live large before I lost my job and I always knew that I can survive without it. It was never really about the money.

The good thing about work at home or freelance jobs is working in your own pace without the restrictions bounded by office rules and policies. No more worry about “What to wear to work today?” Now, I get to wear slippers all the time! Hahahaha! No more waking up early and beating the early morning rush. Now, I just toss and turn and then go back to sleep or enjoy breakfast at home. No more shouting over the 9th floor office window saying, “why am I here when I should be out there on the ground under the sun?!” or for sure, in the middle of the afternoon shouting, “I’m sooo bored!”

I am not sure what is in store for me as a freelancer. If I have more stories that helped me make it work, I’ll let you in on it. But for those who want to have a side line job, work at home jobs; this was how I did it. My best friend, who is a full-time mom and wife, works as a virtual assistant at the comfort of her own home! I hear her mother-in-law is getting in on the fun, too.