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January 16th, 2009

The Good Things In A Freelancer’s Life Are Free

And I say “Good” because this and this and this aren’t free, right? They’re sinfully the best, and they don’t come for free.

But seriously, there’s too much stuff out there that one can use for FREE! There’s the magic word.

And that indeed spells magic when we’re talking about computer and Internet applications that we need so that we can do our work and make our clients happy.

Hopefully, happy enough to make us happily laughing our way to the bank.

Okay on a serious note, yes, there are a lot of stuff out there that any freelancing online worker like me can use to accomplish just about anything that I need to do. Just hours ago, I downloaded and tinkered with a software app that would allow me to monitor my own virtual team as they work on their computer in their own homes.

And I am not talking about oDesk. oDesk is way up there…nothing compares to it.

But it’s me getting ahead with a subject/material that will make a very interesting post for tomorrow, or next week.It depends on how fast I could set it up and make it work beautifully.

What I am sharing with you today is a little thing that any freelancing online worker can actually live without, but will thank the high heavens for once they do get around to install and try it — the NoteZilla.

Okay, it’s not a notebook the size of Godzilla. It’s a small, and amazingly lightweight application (4 mb) which is your desktop version of a sticky-note.

Yup, it is, really.

Well, I have tried a lottt of sticky note applications but I really find Notezilla to be the most efficient, lightest, most colorful, and the closest to the real thing.You can write your tasks, notes, memos, and just about anything that you would like to be just within your mouse’s reach.

It’s not actually 100% free, but it costs so little ($30) and is available in full version for a free 30-day trial period.

November 18th, 2008

The Top 5 Phrases That I Find Most Irritating

I’ve just read Lifehacker’s post about the top 30 most irritating phrases or expressions, which compiles Oxford University’s top 10 most irritating phrases, and BBC Magazine’s 20 most hated cliches. The latter is a result of a data analysis tool, while the latter is the result of an online survey.

I was more amused with BBC Magazine’s list because I have dealt with these cliches not only in my day to day communication with friends and family, more so in my dealings with clients who are from different parts of the world.

Here’s my own list of “most irritating expressions”:

1. From here on out – I find this to be disjointed, even as a phrase. Why make things difficult when you can simply say, “From now on…”

2. On the same page – I am irritated with this simply because I’ve read and heard this over and over again. “I am saying this because I wanted to be sure we’re on the same page”…”Let’s clarify things so that we’re on the same page”…blah blah blah

3. My best - I read this (okay, I sometime use this ) as a salutation in some emails. Until now, I do not know what this means in business communication. I just use it because others use it, and because “Best regards” is over-used.

4. Basically – I admit I am one of those who abuse this word. Oftentimes, I do not even know why I always use it at the start of every sentence.

5. Actually - This is the twin sister of “Basically”.

I’ll add to my list when I come up with others.

Do you have your own list “most hated expressions”? Share it with us.

January 17th, 2008

How did I start out as a VA?

All the stress coming from the holidays, family emergencies, and the recent hospitalization of a family member sucked the energy out of me since last month. I must admit, I took pains to start the year 2008 bright, optimistic, and well-planned, but certain events can really stop us on our tracks.

But I won’t dwell on that. To start off the new year with good vibes, I would like to share how I started out as a Virtual Assistant, and I am quoting from my website:

Eliza has more than five (5) years of experience working as an administrative and executive secretary in her ten (10) years of offline employment history in the corporate, government, and NGO sectors. While working fulltime, she pursued her graduate studies in Law and became a fulltime working mom, wife, and law student. But in 2005, while she was heavily pregnant with her second child, she made the difficult decision of giving up regular employment for health reasons as doctors found a possible congenital defect on the baby. It was then that she decided to become a work-at-home mom. She first started out in the content writing business as part of a team of writers for a UK-based company, but later on left the team and became a project hunter for writing services. Later, she landed a home-based business transcription job.

Realizing that with her years of work experience in varius capacities and acquired skills, she believed that she can build a business of offering offsite administrative services to those seeking support for their business. Researching the Internet, she came across several websites owned by established Virtual Assistants and found that this is exactly the right kind of business for her. In 2006 she launched VA 24/7 Services where she first accepted her very first client as a VA. In 2007, Eliza decided to change the business name and Virtual Workdesk was born.