Independent Professional - Freelancer

20101208 HKU Entrepreneurship Academy

2010-12-08T23:28:00.002+08:00

How to set up your entirely SOHO (Small Office Home Office) for next to nothing!

20100612 e-Presence e-Profit workshop

2010-06-12T23:51:00.002+08:00

"Want to maximize your online presence?"
"Want to make money online 24x7?"

Independent Professional Association presents:

"e-Presence / e-Profit" workshop

"e-Presence" - Take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Linkedin and more. Control all presence at ease.

"e-Profit" - Earn passive income from Google Adsense, Amazon affiliated and Affiliated marketing

Seek adequate protection for you & your dependents - Independent Professionals

2010-05-22T17:10:00.000+08:00

If you are an employee and you work for a good company that provides you a reasonable coverage on medical and perhaps good pension, congratulations! But what if you leave the company or get fired? Are you or your dependents properly covered at all time? If you are an independent professional, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. Here is what I suggest:

Protection for yourself

Health insurance: To cover for medical bills

Outpatient benefits
Hospital benefits

Disability income protection: Get some income if become unable to work due to medical reasons
Critical illness: Get a lump sum to help cover cost if hit by major illness that prevent you from work and possible requires special care

Protection for your dependents

Life insurance: Your dependents will get a lump sum should the unfortunate event happens

How much coverage is enough? When should I start taking out an insurance? Let's discuss that in my next posting.

Online services that match freelancers with piecework are growing in hard times - Economist

2010-05-21T11:17:00.000+08:00

Work in the digital age
A clouded future
Online services that match freelancers with piecework are growing in hard times
Article link

WORK FROM HOME

2010-05-17T10:53:00.000+08:00

Reasons to work form home

Today's technology can easily facilitate it, take advantage of it
Taking care of domestic matters, e.g. to take care of the children and family
Looking for more flexible work
Avoiding transport
More efficient use of time

Why do people become independent professional?

2010-05-16T16:22:00.000+08:00

By choice

Tired of corporate life and politics
Pursue a new career
Need a flexible work style or more control in work schedule
Improve work-life balance
Obtain higher financial reward / Effect / Time ratio
Taking care of children

By default

Involuntary turn of career
Referred first project by chance

Why is freelancing difficult?

2010-05-13T12:08:00.001+08:00

Dealing with the feast & famine cycle
Lots of projects Vs No projects
Managing every aspect of business entirely on your own
Finding time to market yourself, do client work, deal with clients, keep up the administrative stuff, and still grow the business
Balancing work and life (and often family) while dealing with all of the above
Getting sick, going on vacation, or otherwise not working 24/7 while still dealing with all of the above

What is so great about freelancing?

2010-05-13T12:07:00.001+08:00

Control over your own destiny
Freedom to choose when and how to work
You can't be fired or laid off by anyone
Work on the things you love to do
Nearly unlimited opportunity
Opportunity to pursue other passions

Why companies use Independent Professionals (IP) or small business service?

2010-05-13T11:35:00.000+08:00

Because it is cost effective

Specialized: Skills and knowledge that is highly targeted for a particular situation that the client is tackling. Such skills and knowledge are either expensive to maintain or simply non-existent within the client organization
Transparent fee structure: Typically engaged on a project basis. Particular well suited for clients who have a clearly defined budget and task
Flexible: IPs work on flexible schedule according to the client's pace and the project progress
Short term: They are easier to hire and fire - and are not a long term commitment

An internet evolution of freelancers

2010-05-13T11:32:00.000+08:00

7.4% of the US workforce is made up of freelancers
In the past years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22% on the internet.
International freelancing is a relatively new development in the global market. Some freelance professionals move from one country to another looking for business opportunities along with travelling experience. These individuals often use the Internet as their main communication technology for running a business.

What is a "Professional Staffing" firm?

2010-05-10T18:46:00.003+08:00

"Professional Staffing" firm is a company, market maker that makes a living from matching the clients' need, in the form of jobs or projects that usually have a predefined time and/or scope, with the necessary human resource such as a highly skilled independent professional who has the appropriate experience, skills and knowledge to execute the task.

The independent professionals are NOT employees of the staffing firm, they are independent, free agent who can work for anyone else. A contractual relationship is formed only when the staffing firm finds a project for the independent professional, i.e. a contract between the staffing firm and the client, a matching contract between the staffing firm and the independent professional on a pre-agreed daily rate called "per diem".

That means, the staffing firm makes a handsome margin of reselling the independent professional's time to the client. Typically 30-50%.

Unless the independent professional is a super-star and in a hot industry that is always sought after by the staffing firm's clients, otherwise, the independent professional should not rely on the staffing firm as its only source of work. The independent professional must be able to develop its own client.

Some staffing firms will pre-qualify the independent professionals by interviewing them or even background check, some don't and will only do so if a potential project materializes.

Some staffing firms take responsible of the quality control of the project and may dedicate its own resource to oversee the project, some don't.

Can I become an independent professional too?

2010-05-10T18:46:00.001+08:00

"Why do you choose to become an independent professional?" - that's a question I got asked a lot at the beginning when I turned independent. Nowadays, the question that I got asked a lot is "Can I become an independent professional too?".

I shall answer this question with a list of questions that you should ask yourself:

"Do you have multiple skills, experience and knowledge that are sought after by many potential clients in the market?"
"Do you have a good network of friends or business associates who can either refer projects to you or connect you with the potential clients?"
"Do you have the necessary administrative skill to take care of all the managerial aspect of an independent professional business?" (think about no more colleagues to take care of your accounting, IT, office supplier, document filing, phone calls etc.
"Can you stand a famine/overfed business income cycle?"

more later.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

2010-05-09T09:05:00.001+08:00

How come you know so much about "Independent Professional"?
I am myself an Independent Professional and I used to run a company that help independent professionals find project

How come you know so much about "Professional Staffing Firm"?
I used to run one - I co-founded and ran the first Asia office of a global professional staffing for matching independent professionals and client business consulting projects.

How come you know so much about Global Expert Network?
I have been working on many specialist projects for a global expert network platform and conducted many business interviews with the global experts sourced by this platform.