Freelancing Lessons Learnt?

Freelancing Lessons Learnt?

by | May 3, 2022

Freelancing Lessons Learnt

In this week’s podcast, I consider the Freelancing Lessons Learnt by me along the way including recommendations for working with clients.

My first bit of advice:

Be an expert: when we are working in areas that we have expert skills in, we are faster, more productive and can really achieve so much more.

Keep learning: as your skills evolve you can offer more and give more value to your clients.

Trends: keep up to date and learn skills that are in demand and that are repeatable to have continued ongoing business for yourself.

Industry: what business sectors have you experience in (having worked in them) this reassures prospective clients because you have an understanding of the industry and the needs of businesses in it and its customers.

Focus on What is unique about you:  what makes you shine and will make people wish to hire you? Do not be afraid of your competition.

Freelancing Lessons Learnt – Final Recommendations

Focus upon what inspires and motivates you to be the best you can be.

What are your goals for income for your business

Do not underestimate the importance of your health and happiness running your freelance business.  If we are not happy and physically and mentally well we will achieve less

An interesting piece of research from Oxford University

“Happy workers are 13% more productive” Do what makes you happy

Listen Here –

or on the platforms below

getting economic opportunities from LinkedIn.

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I specialise in helping service, health and wellbeing providers compete and grow online. Helping small business owners to learn what they have to learn to make use of the digital world. I can Design, Create and/or  Manage a  WordPress starter Site for you and help with content plans for it.
I am a Canva Champion and offer Canva training. Do you find that Canva and the online world are full of learning curves? Let me show you how to navigate through them through online workshops & 1 to 1 training on Zoom for content creation and promotion. My focus is to help you/ or teach you (or key staff)  to compete in the online space by creating customer-focused digital content. I will help you to glue together all the various bits together so that your business can promote itself online successfully.

Podcast Benefits of working with remote workers?

Podcast Benefits of working with remote workers?

by | Dec 7, 2020

Some benefits of working with remote workers (and ideas)

In this short podcast, I consider some benefits of working with remote workers – the question of “why hire a remote worker?”

 The benefits in hiring a freelancer or remote worker,  how to communicate and interact and The The time-saving benefits in forming a good relationship

PODCAST OUTLINE:

This podcast focuses upon inter alia a few areas about working with remote workers and in particular.

  • remote workers are usually skilled in what they offer.
  • save time in having promotional content created.
  • Project Management Tools to keep on track.
  • a remote worker can be a long term asset.

LISTEN HERE:

Or Listen On These Platforms:

Spotify

Breaker

Google Podcasts

Pocket Casts

Radio Public

RESOURCES AND TOOLS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

In the podcast, I reference the generality of PROJECT MANAGEMENT tools and I recommend these two:

TRELLO and CLICKUP

Do not be intimidated by them because they are of great benefit to both the remote worker and the employer ( and there are numerous tutorials online on using them).

 

I specialise in helping Businesses who provide services , professionals , freelancers, health , wellness, local and  Startups.  Designing , Creating and  Managing  WordPress Sites. Presenting online workshops 1 to 1 training on zoom. Creating digital content blog posts , social video , social graphics and much more. The focus of my business is to help business to compete in the online space by creating customer focused content. I really enjoy teaching and helping business understand what to do and how to promote their businesses in the online space

Rosemary O Shaughnessy

Podcast Remote Work – Time & Management!

Podcast Remote Work – Time & Management!

by | Oct 12, 2020

Remote Work – Time & Management

Remote Work – Time & Management: For many, because of COVID you now have the convenience of working from home and despite all the benefits there are now new challenges too.

You have to set up new habits to get you in the right frame of mind and decide plans and priorities to actually do your work in a new environment. 

PODCAST OUTLINE:

This podcast focuses upon inter alia a few areas about time in particular.

  • How you should form a daily habit or routine to prepare yourself for a working day.
  • The importance of planning daily priorities properly.
  • Project Management Tools you can use .
  • The importance of tracking time spent on a project.
  • Tools for time tracking

LISTEN HERE:

Or Listen On These Platforms:

Spotify

Breaker

Google Podcasts

Pocket Casts

Radio Public

RESOURCES AND TOOLS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

In the podcast, I recommend 2 trusted PROJECT MANAGEMENT tools I use with my clients very regularly:

TRELLO and CLICKUP

Do not be intimidated by them because they are of great benefit to both the remote worker and the employer ( and there are numerous tutorials online on using them).

I also recommend 2 resources FOR TIME MANAGEMENT:

And easy to use- myhours.com  and getharvest.com

OTHER BLOG POSTS:

I specialise in helping Businesses who provide services , professionals , freelancers, health , wellness, local and  Startups.  Designing , Creating and  Managing  WordPress Sites. Presenting online workshops 1 to 1 training on zoom. Creating digital content blog posts , social video , social graphics and much more. The focus of my business is to help business to compete in the online space by creating customer focused content. I really enjoy teaching and helping business understand what to do and how to promote their businesses in the online space

Rosemary O Shaughnessy

Remote Work Communication and Boundaries

Remote Work Communication and Boundaries

by | Oct 5, 2020

Remote work communication and boundaries?

Remote work communication and boundaries: Isn’t it funny that for many only a year ago the idea of remote work was an aspiration for many whereas today remote work is actually a necessity for many employers and employees alike.

COVID19 has introduced us all to extraordinary times.

On the face of it it’s easy to assume that having to work remotely is hardly a disaster, what with the convenience all of a sudden of being able to walk down the stairs to work and saving all that time wasted on travel etc etc.

But such sudden changes to your working life has its many challenges too leading me onto the issue of communication and boundaries.

When working from home, your clients may worry about whether they’ll be able to get a hold of you, or much more of a problem may be that they will assume they can get a hold of you at any time of the day or night – and that’s stressful big time!.

People can be unreasonable as a fact of life and some if let will think nothing of ringing you at 11 pm at night, with something that’s not at all urgent and could have waited until the next morning. Allow it with no boundaries and you encourage it by default.

Remote Work – Communication

The problem in some ways nowadays is that it is just so easy to communicate remotely and in so many ways.

From email to Skype, Zoom, Messenger, WhatsApp and so many more apps not to mention project management tools.

Difficulties emerge because people all have their individual preferences and indeed tend to use a few forms of communication.

The risk is that the message can get lost in the clutter.

Is that important email buried in a chain in a cluttered inbox?

“Zoom has reported a 169pc year-on-year jump in revenue after the global shift to remote working led to a surge in customers.”
― Silicon Republic .
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Did the boss see that important text when his phone ran out of battery power or he or she left it at home?

Determine how you will communicate with your clients and colleagues or the office. Ideally, this is a decision you’ll make in conjunction with your client or employer based on preference and availability. Choose one or two of these as a primary and emergency communication method:

  • Phone
  • Text
  • Email
  • Video conferencing using tools like Zoom or Skype
  • Private messaging through social media
  • Private messaging through project management software

 

Remote Work – Boundaries

 

Working from home means clients and remote workers can either think of each other as unavailable or available all the time.

It’s up to you to create a balance that works and fosters healthy relationships with your clients in these key areas of communicating with boundaries:

  • Be clear when you are available or not – and save for an emergency stick to it
  • Define how you will communicate in an emergency
  • Start your day by checking for any messages and respond to them – it reinforces that you do not ignore messages

 

The Remote Work Future in Ireland?

The Remote Work Future in Ireland?

by | Sep 15, 2020

The Remote Work Future in Ireland?

Remote Work Future in Ireland, Trends: Newstalk Radio have a recent podcast that you can listen to that will be interesting to many in the concept of “remote work” or working from home.

The 2 paragraphs below are direct quotes from the NewsTalk blog post (where you can listen to the podcast)

Many who have been working from home during the crisis have found they’ve been able to save money and avoid long commutes.

On the other hand, remote working can make it more difficult to build working relationships and learn from experienced colleagues.

Remote Work Future in Ireland

Newstalk Link: -working-from-home-future

Remote Work Future – My Tuppence Worth!

 

I have worked remotely for a decade – and I admit I sought to do so early on because my motivating factor in working remotely was frustration at the wasted time involved in travel. I have worked for clients for months to even years and have never met them, but the reality is that we each were and are of benefit to each other.

Indeed I would argue it is easier than ever to communicate online- think the explosion of Zoom!

COVID 19 has perhaps changed the workplace landscape for years to come and only time will tell how long-lasting the remote work landscape will last. Some jobs yes can never be remote ones but many can in some form.

I spoke with 2 friends who because of COVID have had to adapt to working remotely. One an accountant and the other a lecturer.

The former views it basically as business as usual with occasional visits required to the company HQ office, and her only gripe is missing office camaraderie.

The latter believes he is actually working longer and harder his rationale being he is too easy to communicate with as far as both colleagues and students are concerned.

Both noticed savings because of it all!

I am simply happy that the penny has dropped with leads that we dont have to physically meet up to get things done.

Rosemary O ShaughnessyI specialize in helping Startups and Businesses – Promote their online business through Digital Content. We Create – WordPress Websites, Blog Posts, Powerpoint Video and SlideShares. We set up Social Media optimised profiles and accounts.  Also coach business to do it themselves on Zoom. The focus of our business is helping businesses to compete in the online space by increasing brand awareness.

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