The Importance of Character

Character – How Important Is Character it in the Freelance Writing World?

Being a Christian, it is important to me to start my day in the presence of the Lord and request His guidance for the day ahead. This morning I received this daily devotional on character…

After a few moments chewing on this thought, I could not help to think how a freelance writers’ and article buyers’ character reflects in their dealings.

What made me think was this story of George Jones. I did not know about George Jones before today, simply because I am a South African and not really into the American printed media and even less the history thereof, however, the story of George Jones gave me hope to act in good faith and let the bad characters in the freelance writing world just pass by.

I learned that George Jones started his career as a humble clerk in a supermarket. He soon gained a firm reputation of being someone with commendable work ethics and being a perfect example of Proverbs 12:22; “False lips are hated by the Lord, but those whose acts are true are his delight.”

Due to this commendable character of George Jones, a very famous journalist at that time, Henry Raymond, was so impressed with George character that they became good friends. This friendship resulted in one of the greatest business partnerships of all times! The New York Times.

Years after the birth of The New York Times, George received a bribe offer of £500 000 to retire and relocate to Europe, because of the firm stand the paper took against the gangster Boss Tweed. This was in an extreme amount in the late 1800’s! Even today one would smile if your bank account carried that type of balance!

George declined the offer even after he was reminded that he could live like a prince until the day he dies with the remark: “Yes, but I should know that I was a rascal. I can not consider your offer…”

This just once more reminded me that nothing is so important than your character. Regardless of how rich or how poor you are, how successful your life may or may not be, what you achieve in life or did not achieve, once you have lost your character, you have lost everything.

Next time that thought of “who will know” comes to mind, just remember – You will know!

I have to live with myself and so,

I want to be fit for myself to know.

I want to be able as days go by,

always to look myself in the eye.

I don’t want to stand in the setting sun

and hate myself for the things I’ve done.

I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf,

a lot of secrets about myself;

and fool myself as I come and go,

into thinking nobody else will know –
the kind of man I really am.

~Author Unknown~

Your Writer Profile – How do You Paint the Picture

Have you ever went shopping, filled with sheer excitement, and find exactly that special item you were looking for just to start another search for the price? There are very little things in life that can be more frustrating than playing the guessing game in a store. The same goes for clients and article buyers!

I am constantly searching for new writers to add to my team. I can not help to think how many talented and skilled writers lost an opportunity simply because there is no information in their profile!

That brings me to the question: How do YOU paint your profile?

The fact is, without a proper informative profile your chances are zero to none to land a proper project. If you do, well then Lady Luck loves you!

When clients search for a freelance writer, knowing that you are from India, the States or London does not say much. To me personally that is just an indication of the time zone I will have to deal with.

Very few new freelance writers realize that the overall appearance of their profile is the first impression your client will have of you. Sorry to be so frank, but if your profile happens to be a blank form, well then you appear to be blank as well.

Taking a glance at your profile tells me more than just who you are. It actually shows me how serious you are, how you will treat my projects, the type of commitment you have and how much you think of me that needs to spend time finding out about you and many more!  You do not send a dummy for an interview when you applied for a previous job! Why do you do it online?

English is a universal language, and with some level of competency you will be able to communicate your way through what you need to say.  However as a buyer or a client, having some command over English does not qualify you as a good English writer. A translated version of your native tongue with your native language’s grammar into English is not good enough.

If you are proficient in English, and it is not your native tongue, make it clear in your profile why and how you became proficient.

All applicants believe they are the best person for the job. A client wants to know why you think so. Have you written before? Did you work for a PR company? Did you work for a publishing company?

Tell your prospective client why you can do justice to his/her project and keep it short and simple.

If you do not have experience, say so. Do not just skip the field. Many clients prefer to train an inexperienced person to be a good web writer. Your profile gives a prospecting client a good idea what he/she can expect from your work.

Make sure the picture you paint, reflects the true you and the work you will deliver.

Time...

The value of time...

 Although I had all the good intentions to do a post at least once a week, it seems Father Time got the better of me too… This made me think a bit on time management and the whole concept around the word “time”.

This post is more philosophical than facts related such as the previous posts, however, for us as writers, time is not only an important but a precious commodity as well.

I have read a piece where the author says that our days are like two identical suitcases. Some of us manage to put more in one suitcase than others do. How do they do that? We all have the identical type and size of suitcase called “a day”. Yes, 24 hours, that is the capacity of all of our suitcases.

I suppose it is just like when you travel. Some manage to pack twice as much in their suitcases than others because they know how to pack it the right way in order to get the optimum use of the space provided.

We all have 24 hours a day to utilize, but not all of us know how to get the same use or results from those 24 hours. As the author mentioned, the reason might be that we manage our lives and not our time.

We can not control time. It moves on indefinite regardless of what we do or how clever we are. None of us can save one second from one day to carry it over to the next day. With all the technology and scientific resources it is still impossible to “create” an extra minute. With all the money in the world at your disposal you are not able to buy an extra hour to add to your day.

How often do you hear people talking about “I will make some time…”? We might as well stop searching because as time waits for nobody, it does not lay around for us to pick up when needed either.

Twenty four hours, that is it, that is the most all of us will receive each day. So the question arises if you are wise enough to know that time is your most valuable commodity? Do you know how to spend your time optimally and on what to spend your time to get the most value out of your 24 hours?

Charles Spezanno, in his book “What To Do Between Birth and Death: The Art of Growing Up” makes the remark that one does not pay for things with money, you pay with your time. How many times at one time or another did us all not say: “In ten years time I would have saved enough money to buy that car I am dreaming about”.

Do we realize what we are saying? Ten years of our lives is about a 15% of your lifetime! Worse, calculated from age 20 to 60, it is 25% of your productive adult life you will be spending on a car!

So what is the bottom line? Before you spend time on anything, a car, furniture, appliances or what ever, convert the cost thereof in to time and ask yourself if it is still worth it.

Until next time - all in good time!
God Bless!