New blog post-Freelancers: How Assertive Are you? (Part 2)http://ping.fm/YvCBS

Freelancers: How Assertive Are you? (Part 2)

If you wish to become more assertive, you need to believe that you do have rights in a situation. These could be described as:

• The right to ask for what you want, or to make clear what you do not want
Your wants and needs in a situation, whether a desire for time off, for recognition for what you have achieved, or a chance to use valued skills, are valid information. If you do not make your wants clear to Buyers, they may be totally unaware of them, or fail to appreciate their strength. Even if aware of them, they will find it easier to ignore your wants if you leave them unstated.

• The right to be listed to and respected.
There is no reason why you are not worth as much as anyone else. If you are not being respected as a Freelancer, this reflects badly not on you but on those who are failing to respect you. In any situation, a key element may be the difference between the various perspectives that interested parties bring to bear upon it. By representing part of this diversity you are making a valuable contribution. You may feel that your experience is inadequate and your view in a debate with a Buyer therefore worthless. This is likely to be far from the truth. You can be more analytical about a discussion if you are coming to it fresh. You are less contaminated by perceptions and assumptions which may be widely held but not necessarily right.

A problem may seem insoluble precisely because the shared view of it is so strong that no one can escape from it to a creative solution. So value your own contribution, particularly if it is different from those of the Buyer. And stand up for your right to make it.

• The right not to know, or not to understand.
You have a perfect right not to be omniscient. The trouble comes when you are reluctant to admit to a lack of knowledge or understanding. In consequence you may fail to make a contribution, or misdirect your efforts. If you do not know or don’t understand, admit to it and ask for help from those who do or from the Buyer. Sometimes you may not be the only one who has seen a flaw in a line of reasoning, and they may not understand either. Sometimes, once you have clarified something you may be able to use that knowledge more effectively than those to whom it was already familiar.

Freelancing: How Assertive Are You?http://ping.fm/HtvxX

Freelancing: How Assertive Are You?

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How assertive are you when working with Buyers? If you tend to acquiesce with the demands of Buyers, even when you prefer not to, you are likely to encounter difficulties while freelancing. You will be prone to overload at work if whenever you are asked to take on more work you say ‘all right then’. This will lead to problems with finding time for other good projects. If you tend to keep quiet when you disagree with what Buyers are saying, or stop defending a particular point as soon as there is any dissent, you will probably not enjoy freelancing. Nor will you make a very positive contribution to it.

Avoiding conflict at whatever cost for fear of losing a project has a high cost. You may already be aware of some consequences of your lack of assertiveness. But equally, you have absolutely no inhibitions about telling people they are wrong, or about telling them precisely what you think, you may still have a need to become more assertive. Aggression is not the same as assertion, and may create as many problems as avoidance.

The essence of assertion is to stand up firmly for your own rights while giving due regard to the rights of Buyers. Avoiding conflict may ‘respect the rights of Buyers’, but at the expense of your own rights. If so, you are likely to suffer, as your needs will not be met. You may end up working on a weekend when you had other, more attractive plans. Buyers may assume that you will do all the jobs that no one else wants: you will then be so busy that more interesting projects are given to other freelancers.

Time Management: Reduce Time Wastagehttp://ping.fm/107ke

Time Management: Reduce Time Wastage

Many freelancers act as if everyone else has more right to their time than they have themselves. Keep reminding yourself that your working time is yours. It is your scarcest resource, and the responsibility for its effective use lies with you. You should not allow others to cause you to use your time in non-productive ways. It will make nonsense of your time planning, and considerably reduce your effectiveness. Meetings may be one of the greatest thieves of your time. It is a salutary experience while having a meeting with a prospect to calculate the cost of that meeting, and consider whether it will achieve enough to justify this.
If your mind is wandering sufficiently to do this calculation, the chances are that your contribution is not justified, for a start.

Another source of stolen time is casual conversation with people who drop in while you are on Facebook, Mypace, Twitter, etc.. Such informal communication can be invaluable, a part of the networking that tends to be associated with management success, or a way of showing that you value other people. But you need to ensure that only productive conversations intrude on your time. If very busy you may need to curtail even these.

Here are some tips in reducing time wastage:

• Reduce meeting commitments: For any meeting you attend, you should know well in advance when the
meeting will start and finish, its purpose, and what you need to do in order to be prepared to
contribute effectively.
• Keep control of your diary.
• Reduce Interruptions: By breaking into your conversation, and requiring you to spend time afterwards
picking up the lost threads, interruptions can cost you far more time that their actual duration.
• Shorten unavoidable interruptions: You should make sure that those interrupt you for informal meetings
make their objectives clear at the outset. Ask them what it is that they want to talk about, and how
much of your time they think they need. If you feel that the meeting would be more efficiently
conducted of you were better prepared, arrange a time to meet later.

Managing Peoplehttp://ping.fm/SgUIh

Managing People

The essential ingredient of any successful manager is the ability to handle people effectively. The good manager is the one who takes a positive view of human nature and support an approach which gives encouragement for people to work willingly and to perform to the best of their ability.

Too many managers still appear attempt to manage through the use of rules, systems, procedures and paperwork, rather than with and through people. It is important that managers have a highly developed sense of people perception, and understand the feelings of staff, and their needs and expectations. It is people who are being managed and people should be considered in human terms. A genuine concern for people and for their welfare goes a long way in encouraging them to perform well.

Managers should concentrate their minds on these five principles:

1. the successful management of people based on honesty, trust, openness, mutual respect,
co-operation and support;
2. developing a perception of employees as an essential asset to be invested in, rather than a variable
cost to be minimised;
3. ensuring managers have a clearly established set of principles which they can apply on a minute-
by-minute basis in their daily management task;
4. fundamentals of leadership (as opposed to leadership systems) relating to vision, charisma and ability
to gain team commitment and co-operation;
5. the establishment of basic but essential practices, such as: clarity about their accountabilities;
knowing the difference between a leader and a manager; knowing how to set high standards and
achieve them; knowing how to manage people successfully and to achieve individual managerial
excellence.

Stress: How Are You Coping As A Freelancer?http://ping.fm/CJZ7I

Stress: How Are You Coping As A Freelancer?

One of the major adverse influences of the freelancer job performance and productivity is the incidence of stress. It is a source of frustration, and can arise through a number of interrelated influences on behaviour, including the freelancer and some environmental factors.

Freelancers may feel disappointed or annoyed and prone to anxiety because of the lack of projects coming their way or because of the pressure put up by Buyers. This could lead to depression, anger and increased frustration.

We believe that every Freelancer has his own view on stress and the causes of it. The causes of stress are complex. Some think that stress is caused by overload, buyers demand for quality work, tight deadlines, unrealistic project objectives, constant interruptions, lack of feedback and securing access to the right information, and low prices.

Other believes that the lack of projects and being turned down, could lead to frustration, lack of self-belief and low motivation. 40% of Freelancers said that the impact of stress is far-reaching and it has some impact on their morale, on their effectiveness on working with Buyers and that their overall health is affected.

Although a lot of freelancers complain about stress-related activities, we think a degree of stress is no unhealthy thing and without it nothing would ever get done. However, it is important to bear in mind that stress can potentially be very harmful.

Fortunately, over 50% of freelancers we talked to said their freelance job is a source of satisfaction, because they are free to do what they like and what they want.

Identifying stress

• You may have unusual behaviour
• Flying off the handle more than usual
• Tiredness
• Not getting the job done
• Nervousness
• Blaming others

Coping with stress
There are a number of measures by which freelancers can attempt to reduce the causes and effects of stress. This involves training and resources to complete the project. There are also many suggested techniques to help freelancers bring stress under control-for example,
• changing your viewpoint
• putting your problems into perspective
• learning to laugh at life
• not worrying and working on stress reduction
• not talking yourself down
• and attempting to slow your life down

There are no easy remedies for stress and much depends upon the personality of the freelancer. Techniques such as relaxation may help some freelancers, but not others. Find what help you address the symptoms rather than the cause is the best option.