Income Tax for Freelancers – Table of Contents

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April 25, 2012October 11, 2018

Homepreneur Fashion consultant : Meet Supriya Ghurye – creative fashion consultant

Supriya Ghurye is a post graduate in textile processing technology from Mumbai. She had her stint as a fashion merchandiser with popular brands in Mumbai and Bangalore. After giving 5 yrs of her time to the corporate world of fashion, she decided to call it quits, and choose to be a homeprenuer. Since 2008, she has been successfully running her fashion consultancy business from her studio at home. She loves origami amongst loads of other things, and aspires to create wearable fashion inspired by origami
Hi Supriya, great to have a fashion guru amongst us. Before we talk about fashion and its trends, give us a peek into the mind from which these ideas take shape. Tell us about yourself.

I’m Supriya, from Bangalore.

I grew up in Mumbai, but have been staying in Bangalore for over 5 years now. I graduated from Mumbai university with a major in Chemistry & then did my PG in textile processing technology which helped me gain in-depth knowledge of the apparel industry. I worked as a Fashion Merchandiser for 6 years before starting my fashion business.

I use my free time for sketching, painting, listening to music, traveling, meeting new people, reading books & fashion magazines. I am also interested in Origami, the Japanese art of paper-folding to create intricate designs. One day I wish to create a unique Origami inspired fashion collection of wearable art.

We have heard that creative minds are the most passionate of all. Is it the same with you as well? How passionate are you about fashion?

Fashion is my passion. Colors play a significant role in my life. They reflect my state of mind. Fashion should be fun, creative & above all it should be comfortable.

I’m a Creative Fashionpreneur – Providing research, design, development & consulting services in Fashion.

With a passion for dressing up & helping others select the “right” outfits, I grew up deciding to change my interest into a full time profession. Fashion being close to my heart since childhood, I always wanted to be a creator of new trends, wherein I could express myself best through my designs. That’s when I decided to use my creativity to explore & fulfil my aspirations as a designer. The outcome of this journey is”Fuel4Fashion”.

I am always keen to experience & explore the world around me though the vehicle of art. My experiences influence my work in terms of contemporary styling. I’ve enjoyed whole hearted support & encouragement of my husband in pursuing my creative entrepreneurial venture.”

You are passionate about fashion amongst those who think it is fashionable to be passionate. Good to know. So, when did you decide to leave your plum job as a fashion merchandiser to work from home on your passion.. rather.. fashion?

In 2008, I decided to leave my full time job in Fashion merchandising to fulfill my aspiration of running my own fashion design consultancy out of my home studio in Bangalore. Prior to that I worked for 5 years in a well known buying agency in Mumbai followed by a leading apparel manufacturer in Bangalore for a year. Having spent 6 years of my career in merchandising, I decided to shift my focus from a technical side of the fashion & apparel industry to a more challenging & creative side of fashion & apparel designing. So over all I had a very smooth & well planned transition from being an employee to a Creative Fashionpreneur at Fuel4Fashion.

So, you are the founder of Fuel4Fashion. Tell us more about what kind of fashion projects are looked into here.

I’m a highly creative Fashion design consultant with an impeccable sense of taste and trends. I specialize in Women’s wear, Mens wear as well as Kids wear in multiple product designing across various categories within the apparel industry. I mainly work with international clients especially the start up labels & mid size companies, helping them build their collection from concept to completion. I help my clients to generate the fashion ideas based on their concepts and convert them into the clothes that people desire across all three major segments – menswear, ladieswear and kidswear. For individual clients looking to make a style statement, I provide style consulting for events and wardrobe management services.

As fashion consultant, I understand that you get to handle projects that range from sketch ideas on paper, to, deliver a cut-and-stiched-apparel as end product shipped to the customer. Sketches, yes, I understand are conceptualized and shared from your studio at home. However, it makes me wonder how you manage the production.. ie… complete range of stitched apparel shipped to the client. Do you work on this from your studio at home as well? Do you employ additional hands?

I provide customized solutions based on my client’s requirement. Some ask for fashion sketches , some for sketches+samples & some ask from concept to completion ie from idea to sketches to samples & then with production.

I collaborate with sampling units & manufacturers across mumbai , bangalore & tirupur accordingly. I provide design services from my home studio. I provide them with all the details ,visit them once in awhile to monitor the development. They dispatch final delivery to my client’s location

It gives me freedom to work at my own convenience yet get the feel of being working with lots of people

Indeed. Freelancers are best known for their skills in recognising latent talent and encouraging collaboration. I see that you have taken this to a different level with 3rd party unit collaboration. Since how long have you been working from home?

I have been running my fashion consultancy from my home studio for past 3 years now & I’m very glad that I made a wise decision then, to leave my full time job to experience entrepreneurship which was lingering in my mind for quite sometime when I was employed .

You said that you have no prior experience in running a business, and venturing out on your own was a bold step in this direction. So, what strategy did you adopt to spread the word about your services?

Being a self taught fashionpreneur with no prior experience in actual fashion designing, I almost took a year to settle down in business, network, gather work contacts & generate client leads. Being born & raised in Mumbai and then starting up a new business in an altogether unknown city like Bangalore was the most challenging task for me.

Being in a creative field, initially I started with circulating copy of my physical fashion portfolio to the potential & prospective clients who were placed locally. For my global clients, I created an online portfolio & started sending them in emails with my profile.

Social media was booming in 2008, so I feel I’m fortunate to have adopted it right from its growing stage. I started keeping a tab on all the latest happenings & hot start ups in the virtual world especially in the fashion industry & started evaluating on how best I can utilize each one of them for my fashion business. Professional networking sites, fashion networking forums, social media sites, entrepreneurial networks, online consulting sites etc provided me a strong online platform for showcasing my visibility for Fuel4Fashion on the web world.

We start as toddlers and eventually learn to walk. Its the same with business as well, isnt it? So, how has the journey been since you established Fuel4Fashion from your studio at home?

My journey since the time I got my first client for Fuel4Fashion has been very challenging & yet interesting. I had my share of ups & downs , good & bad, But, the most important thing is I sailed through all them. In 2010, I started with designing for one client in women’s wear but over the time, I carefully & gradually progressed to handling several clients in multiple categories in women’s wear, mens wear as well as kids wear.

Few learning that I would like to share :

I figured out focus, patience, discipline & self motivation is the key to successfully manage business for any homepreneur. Time management is crucial right from the day one, once you master that art, not only you have a dedicated time for your work, but you also have a free time for your family & yourself. Never underestimate your potential talent, you will find lot of people around to De-motivate & discourage you. Have patience, trust yourself & keep going. People don’t understand concept of homepreneurs,so dont go out of the way to prove yourself to anyone. Sooner or later your work will speak for you. That is your greatest achievement. Enjoy that phase.

Well said, Supriya. Homprenuers should focus on what they do best (the actual work which will fetch the $$) .Actions speak louder than words, and sooner or later (the very same demotivating ) people will come out of their own free will to know your success mantra, and will want a piece of your pie.
Can you share some of the resources that have found to be useful as a fashion designer

Women Online: www.wearewomenonline.com
The Location Independent Lifestyle: www.LocationIndependent.com
Where women create : http://www.wherewomencreate.com
Mogul Moms : http://www.themogulmom.com/
Entrepreneur magazine: http://www.entrepreneur.com
Independent Fashion Bloggers: http://independentfashionbloggers.org/
HEN Networks : http://www.henindia.com

In any creative field, idea is money.This is like a double edged sword. Unless you share your idea, clients will never know how creative you are. But, at the same time, once you share ‘your’ idea, its out there in the open and you have absolutely no control over it. TRANSLATION : How do you protect your creative ideas and restrict others from using it without making payment to you?.. how to avoid getting scammed by unscrupulous minds?

In any creative field, most of the prospective clients ask to provide your previous sample work. Once you share your idea, its out & then you have no control over it. So be careful about what you are sharing, how you are sharing & with whom you are sharing. Never accept to do free work for any client- big or small, irrespective of the scope of the project. 9 out of 10 people are looking to get free work done under the name of sample work.

Keep a reliable work contract handy & use it whenever you acquire any new projects to avoid any misuse of your services from your clients. Work out in advance your business operating cost, liabilities & any other overheads so that it becomes easy for you to set up your project charges. By doing this you know your scope of negotiation. Never work for peanuts if your deserve a slice of cheese.

Very true, It seems scamsters are the most democratic ones. They have no caste creed or color..and is the same across all categories.. All that they focus on is to con gullible minds off their time and efforts for free. So, now that you have come this far..Where do you see yourself in the next 5 yrs

Building up base for the business is the most important aspect at the present time. In next 5 yrs business would have acquired sustainable momentum & would have branched out in number of areas. The retail space is continuously expanding with new options & hopefully Fuel4Fashion will have a strong role to play in a significant number of areas. Upcoming designer can now target global audiences & micro niches are now viable markets. With the increasing number of avenues for designers there will be a scope for companies like Fuel4Fashion to provide solutions that cater to this segment.

That is just wonderful. Great to know that you have mapped out the next 5 yrs for Fuel4Fashion in the same systematic manner as in which you made your transition from a regular employee to a homeprenuer. Such planned approach will add value in terms of effort and results will follow. It was great having you at homeprenuer-online, and thanks for sharing your journey thus far. Once again, thanks for agreeing to mentor willing minds in the field of fashion.

Readers can connect with Supriya Ghurye via Twitter and LinkedIN

February 11, 2011October 11, 2018

Homepreneurial opportunity – Online Tutoring

Interview with Prof.Vijayalakshmi – Online Tutor Since 2008
Online tutoring has decreased the gap between the knowledge and ignorance. The teacher and student are only a click away, and in the i-age, timezones doesn’t really matter anymore. In this interview, Ms.Vijayalkshmi shares her insights for homepreneurs contemplating on cashing in their teaching experience / expertise online.
Online Tutor Ms. B.Vijayalakshmi is a research scholar from Bharath University hailing from Chennai ; working as the professor of English at SRM University, Chennai (Tamil Nadu); has published papers in National conferences (5) International Conferences (6) and National Journal (1) and International Journal (1). Amongst many feathers in her hat, as a college professor, HOD of English Dept, Guest Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Counsellor, she is also a part time homepreneur.
From conventional class room teaching to virtual classroom tutoring, she has taken her teaching expertise to a different level. This, she does in addition to attending her regular day-job’s responsibilities. She has been a part-time homepreneur for over 2 years, and now has 95+ fan following & 28+ recommendations from fellow attendees at a popular online tutoring portal.
1. Hi Viji, This being a series on homepreneurial opportunities, what better way to start, than to get some insights from a teacher herself. So, tell us how online teaching found its way into your regular activities way back in 2008?

I am a teacher who wants to bring in difference in my students’ career. When I was in search of something new in English Language Teaching, I stumbled across WiZiQ accidentally. That was the start of my online teaching endeavours. Luckily, the team at WiZiQ helped me to understand the technical aspects. They gave me training free of cost. I liked their approach and they were ready to speed on the best practices.

2.With a regular day-job, responsibilities of home-maker & mother, etc, there is stress all around us. But, it seems that stress hasn’t caught up with you yet. Amidst all of these responsibilities that require your physical presence, you continue to be present virtually as well.. What is so alluring about this facet of online tutoring?

When I started my research, I was in search of something new and different which now lead me to this Interview. I was in search of a new methodology of teaching practice where I paved a way to online teaching. When I registered as an online teacher, I was the only English teacher to teach online in Tamil Nadu specifically from Chennai. It brought me into limelight and my passion towards teaching lit the light. Any work I do I love to do it with passion and that led me to perfection.

3.Well said, spoken like a true teacher- The Eternal Student, always striving for perfections. So, what exactly do you teach? Tell us about your niche. Also, please share how you manage your time between a regular day’s schedule & online teaching schedule.

I am passionate towards teaching English language. I can teach professional ethics, Value Education, Communication and Presentation Skills, LSRW skills, ELT and all the icons relevant to ELT. I am also interested in teaching Tamil language. I am a counselor who loves to provide guidance to the sufferers. I also counsel on parenting. I teach SPOKEN ENGLISH COURSES specialized for native speakers of other languages like Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam etc., I have organised Train the Trainer programmes for the teachers online. I spend one hour everyday for online teaching and I do teach in the weekends, whenever I am free. I deliver one free public session online to the needed students. I love to do service to the society.

4.Okay, so Online tutoring is indeed a legitimate option to impart knowledge & earn a decent $$ out of it. Unlike the regular school / College, where teaching is limited to Science, Math, Social, Biology & Language etc, online-tutoring is not bound by these conventional subjects. Tell us about the “subjects” that can be taught via online tutoring. What is the most bizarre “subject” that you have come across till now?

In addition to professional, academic, language courses , we also come across courses on maternity, feng shui , Yoga, Meditation, Guitar Learning etc. One can teach whatever one is qualified to teach. Nowadays we do have options of doing our degree also online and certified. For example, you can check for TOEFL courses (online) at British council website.

5.Now, that takes care of “What can I teach?” question from aspiring homepreneurs who wish to pursue online-teaching. How about the technical stuff? What hardware / software does a person need to make that first attempt? How can we have the best of class room teaching & Online tools to give a complete learning experience to the students? After all, they are the ones who are paying to learn…

Most online tutoring platforms provide their own custom interface to make online tutoring / virtual class room a fulfilling experience for both the teacher and the student. I am most active at WiZiQ, & can only say about this site.

WiZiQ provides a complete environment for online tutoring and hence students get the benefit of an online environment like multimedia display, animations, self paced learning, online assessments and content sharing. It provides online tests, for the students to make a self assessment, and the teachers can set up tests (based on the subjects they teach) and evaluate their student’s performance.

Furthermore, students can also network with other students and teachers from across the world. This broadens their horizons as well as democratizes the access to quality education for all.

6.All online jobs have a certain % of scams. What is your observation on this with regard to online teaching? Do you know of any such incidents? What would be the warning signs for newbies to steer clear of scams in this niche?

Once again, I am most active at WiZiQ, and can only speak for this.

I haven’t come across any issue of scam in my dealings with WiZiQ so far.The team is incredibly helpful and transparent in their dealings. If at all somebody wants to sign up other than wiziq one must surely check for the credibility like talking with senior executive members of the company, have a thorough study about the platform and also to check with the existing members.

7.You have been an active online tutor for over 2 years. Could you please share some online teaching portals /site where our readers can try out their teaching prowess? And, out of this, which one is your most favoured one? Why?

A Google search for “Online Teaching Websites” would give you a number of options. I am not familiar with most of them personally.WiZiQ.com is my preferred network because it is the most complete platform. The support team active, considerable and everready to help. Further, it is also an all inclusive platform for the students too. It also provides a better earning opportunities for the homeprenuers.

I would advice everyone to exercise caution and recommend checking for credibility at other available online tutoring sites is at your own risk.

8.Last but not the least, What NOT TO DO in online teaching?

One must not be over enthusiastic to learn everything in a same day and I would prefer to say every one of us must have patience. Do not try learning from any TOM, DICK and HARRY you come across. Learn and get trained from professionals through proper channels which will lead you to reach your goal.

Initially, to start with, do not enrol yourself by paying money to any company.
Do not exaggerate about yourself.
Do not give fake information to the readers.
Be trustworthy and furnish reliable details of you.
Your Profile is the index of your online teaching career.
Do not concentrate on earning money as soon as your start.
Try to get as many student learners as possible.
Do not copy contents and publish it as yours.

These are the possible mistakes everybody does unknowingly because they will think that nobody will watch them. To avoid all these will make any new teacher a credible and elegant personality.

9.I know its not-nice to ask about “earnings”. But, for the sake of aspiring homepreneurs, what is an average earning that an online tutor can expect to make? ..or.. in other words, What is the acceptable $ to start charging a fee?

You can start from $6 per hour and graduate to even $200 per hour depending on your skill and the subject you teach. You get yourselves publicised in the internet and also in all the search engines so that you become a public figure and get recognition. This in turn translates into more students, which means more $$.The quality of teaching directly determines fondness amongst student groups.

10.Hmm.. 6$ – 200$, that is a progressive transition our teaching community would like to happen. We know that school teachers / retired professors offer private tutions & home tuitions to supplement their income. For them, online tutoring would become a viable & legitimate source of income. Thanks for the insight.
Would you be willing to assist readers at Homepreneur-online in understanding the tools at WizIQ, so that they can effectively use these to provide a complete classroom experience?

It will be pleasure for me to guide people to wiziq. I shall even recommend to the support team @ wiziq to assist my candidates for training. They can also join my free public sessions and learn. I think this is a great service to the humanity. TO educate a human is to teach him how to live. I am proud to be a part time homepreneur. Readers @ Homepreneur-online can get in touch with me via My WizIQ Profile (I have shared my direct contact details with Deepa Govind, but for security reasons, it is not displayed at the site)

I thank Mrs.Deepa Govind for providing me an opportunity to exhibit my talents to this universe and the online community. I thank almighty for making me a teacher to do service to the society. Last but not the least, hero of my today’s lifestyle is my father Mr.K.Balaraman, a very great soul, whom I admired a lot and do admire till I doom, was a driver of tanker lorry by his profession, who made me a professor today is no more with me to shower him. I pray for his blessings and my suggestions towards youth is “Learn to be you always and try not to imitate somebody for fantasy” was taught by my dear loving dad to whom I pledge all my devotion.

Ms.Viji, Thank you for sharing such valuable insights with us and please accept our condolences on the recent demise of your father. This interview shall be a tribute post to him, in respect towards honouring his efforts towards moulding you to be an academician, with his meagre means. We are sure your father must be very proud of you and what you had become. May his soul rest in peace.

December 6, 2010October 11, 2018

Entrepreneur, Homepreneur, Freelancer, Employee- A comparative study series; Part 3 (Concluding part)

Disclaimer: This analysis/ study is my personal opinion based on the experiences i have had as a freelancer. This is not in any way an authoritative document. However, you are free to discuss your perspective with me. Will be glad to know what you think.
Part1 synopsis:

Becoming a freelancer is a transition, and not a degree/diploma.
Help yourself – Educate yourself – Make informed choices.
When in doubt, google it/him/them.. and… google some more.
Perseverance is the key.

Part 2 Synopsis:

Freelancers and Homepreneurs are indeed (dis)similar.
Their dissimilarity lies in the manner in which they manage their time / priorities.
Look deep into your upbringing, may be you have that homepreneurial spark, waiting to show up.

Couple of months back, I had been to the NASSCOM Product conclave 2010 at Bangalore. As an independent freelancer / homepreneur, I was not associated with any company. My business card read “Freelance Consultant” along with Homepreneur.com as the url. My corporate friends would agree that, formal way of introducing oneself is to say “I am __ from ___ Company.” All I had was, “Hi, I am Deepa & I am a homepreneur”.
This spiked the interest (.. which is good for me… I get to do my sales pitch), and wanted to know more. Here is a small snapshot of our conversation.
I do not have permission to disclose the identity of the fellow attendee, so here is the rest of the conversation.
Fellow Attendee: Hi, I am ___ from ____ (Company), heard about us.
Myself: Yes, I was briefed about your products and services by your colleague Ms.____ a little while ago. It is something very new to me. I should try it out soon.
FA: Great! Sorry I didn’t catch whom you represent.
Myself: :-), I am Deepa & I am a homepreneur. I do freelance consultations for Zoho applications.
FA: Yes, we have been hearing a lot about Zoho at this conclave. So you work with Zohocorp? Is it so?
Myself : Oh No!. I do not work for zohocorp… I am not employed by zohocorp. I do freelance consultations (Customizations, Developments etc) for people using zoho suite of applications. My focus is primarily on Zoho Creator. I develop customized applications in zoho creator for people who want to use a web based database oriented application with their business.
FA: Thats interesting. So what kind of applications have you developed?
— and we chat about it for some more time—

FA: You mentioned that you are a homepreneur. What is this supposed to mean?

Myself: Homepreneur is an Entrepreneur working from home.

FA: So, more like a Garage-Startup? Is it?

Myself : No, not exactly. All start-ups, however small, nourish the dream of growing into something big – have an office space – hire more hands etc. Homepreneur, on the other hand, is contended with being busy (& paid) for the time she can allot herself to work on any given day.

FA: So, you mean to say, homepreneurs don’t dream big? They would not want to have an office for themselves?

Myself: Some homepreneurs move on to become entrepreneurs. Some just remain as homepreneurs. For such enterprising minds, Homepreneurship is a transitory phase.

FA: How exactly do you think homepreneurs and entrepreneurs are different? Coz, As I see it, they are just the same, except for their place of work.

Myself: Indeed, that is the most obvious difference. However,

	Homepreneur	Entrepreneur
Place of work	Home	Office
Nature of work	Products / Services that can be predominantly handled by a single person	Focuses on products / services as complete packed which involves diverse skill sets.
Delivery of work	Physical products: Clients usually drops by to collect items personally. Popular example being Pico work on sarees.	Physical products are manufactured & shipped to the clients.
	If Services, it is usually delivered electronically.	Most services are delivered electronically, but also tends to have a company representative at the client location to set things up.
Team Size	Just 1 (oneself – to start with). However, if an ongoing client comes up with additional requirements, other like minded homepreneurs/ freelancers are called in to work as a team. So, Teaming-up is basically the need of the hour and not the essential driving factor.	Vary from 5- 15 depending on the nature of the business.
Recruiting new hands	Practically non-existent. Entirely based on client’s demands & if existing team members are unable to contribute or does not match the requirements.	Aggressive recruitment. Tends to have at least 2 (skilled) team members on the bench who can start of immediately (ASAP) on a new project.
Working hours	Self Chosen. (- multiple factors determine the exact working hours-)	An Entrepreneur is forever working. Yet, the general perception of 9 am – 7 pm stands true to almost all of them.
Work Load	Takes extra care to accept projects that fit just into her chosen working hours. Being at home, does not ensure that she is available to work 24x 7. Most often “Little Less” tends to be “Just Right” for harmony between work and rest of her responsibilities.	Entrepreneur has a business to run & payroll to attend to. So, every employee on the bench is a resource underutilized && Costs $$ to company without any returns. Hence aggressively looks for projects (so that CTC is justified)

The gentleman appeared to be convinced about my take on the difference between homepreneur and entrepreneurs. The conversation continued for a little more time, until the conclave volunteer announced the commencement of the next programme in the agenda.
I have to admit, it is this conversation with this gentleman that prompted me to make this comparative series between Employee: Freelancer : Homepreneur and Entrepreneur. It is likely that I missed out on few other things in this comparative study. Do feel free to share them at the comments. Will be glad to know more on your take on the (dis)similarities.

November 29, 2010October 11, 2018

Entrepreneur, Homepreneur, Freelancer, Employee- A comparative study series; Part 2

Becoming a freelancer is a transition, and not a degree/diploma.
Help yourself – Educate yourself – Make informed choices.
When in doubt, google it/him/them.. and… google some more.
Perseverance is the key.

Back in those days, when we moved into the suburbs of Chennai, we were the only family who had been to hindi-speaking-states. This was also the time, when schools, in addition to the state language ( Tamil) also allowed students to choose Hindi as the language option. It so happened that our neighbour’s kid wanted some help with her hindi and my mom offered to help…. the kind if favour we extend to neighbours. One thing led to another…soon… my mom had a new title “local Hindi teacher”. Neither she had any formal teacher’s training, nor was she working at some school… but her hindi was good & the kids were scoring good marks, taking part in Hindi essay writing completion et al.
Today, as I write this, it makes me wonder that perhaps this is my first introduction to homepreneurship. Our home was her “work space”, the dining table doubled up as the study table. Every inch of the floor is strewn with books, you could hear Kabir & Rahim’s dohas at every conceivable pitch. The frenzy of activities starts typically at 5:30pm and continues till 7:30 pm every weekday. Exam weeks are the only exception. There are special tests on weekend as well. The time 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm was of paramount importance to my mom. My dad used to back from work at about 8:00 pm, and we had to study as well. No amount of cajoling, lure of higher pay would convince my mom to work out of this schedule.

Typical Freelancer	Homeprenuer
If he / she is the breadwinner of the family, there is tremendous pressure to get clients – work – get paid. Else, sees this as an additional source of income. Also tend to fall into the trap of ” 24 hrs make a day, I can take work that fill all of this time”… often the realization of “we cannot be actually working all 24 hrs” sets in after he/she bite more than what one can chew. Predominantly takes up solo contracts. Has a great network of people who are great at other things… and team is called in to handle a project that needs wider skill set. Choose their own “Time-to-work”.
Time allotment ‘tend’ to change with each client. Temperamental with ASAP projects	Has to consider chores at the house, family commitments before allocating time on a daily basis (eg: 1:00 pm – 4:00pm) Tries to accommodate clients within this time. For they rest, the homepreneur just has to pass. Accepts ASAP work under exceptional circumstances.

Between a typical freelancer and a homepreneur, the differences are not as stark as it is between an employee and freelancer. The difference lies in how they manage these similarities in their own unique way.

November 22, 2010October 11, 2018

Employee, Freelancer, Homepreneur, Entrepreneur- Comparative study series; Part 1

Disclaimer: This analysis/ study is personal opinion based on the experiences I have had as a freelancer. This is not in any way an authoritative document. However, you are free to discuss your perspective with me. Will be glad to know what you think.
Transitioning from a working professional, to a stay at home home-maker, to freelancer consultant, to a homepreneur has been an exciting journey for me(.. with all the ups and downs…) for the past 3 yrs. Freelancing in India is a highly untapped market. Though many are aware of its presence, no one is ready to “try” for the various “real and perceived” fears that come with the freelancing domain.
We all have our share of manias and phobias. But, it takes a conscious effort to react for / against these manias and phobias, so that we can see tangible measurable results that would in someway reflect in the things that we do every day for ourselves and family. During my early freelancing years, I had a hard time getting to know the concept and how things work. It was “Information Overload” with every Google search, and took atleast a year for me to put things to perspective. Now that I have gained ground, this is my way of giving back to the community, what a stay at home mom / homemaker can achieve with a little bit of discipline and perseverance.
To be honest, I was introduced to the term “Freelancer” in some movie (.. forgot which movie ), wherein the protagonist is a freelance journalist who gets caught up in the things that make up the plot of the movie. Then, dutifully like any other ‘movie goer’ I forgot all about this (…until a couple of years ago….)
I believe its safe to assume that we all know what freelancing means. For the uninitiated,

Freelancer is a person who gets paid-by-the-job, or paid-by-the-hour-for the services rendered. In short, Freelancers typically do not have steady income which we commonly know as Salary.

Hard hitting differences between an Employee and Freelancer,

	Employee	Freelancer
Financial Security	Absolutely YES. Regular income, SALARY Cheque Perks and other performance based commissions. Paid vacations for self / Family. Reimbursement of bills (fuel, medical etc)	Barely, for starters. Established freelancers have steady stream of work. Payment for work / services rendered. No perks No work –> means no payment. so, vacations are financially dry days.
Starter’s Jitters	Company provides induction programmes. Team / Mentor acts as support system.	Has to be a self starter & self motivator. Freelance community and forums , tread with caution.
Dispute claims and settlements	Company takes care of most of the issues.	Elicit the help of the operating-freelance-marketplace, in event of a dispute With private clients, be on gaurd.

I agree, this table is kinda scary. Being an employee is nice and cosy, and Freelancer’s realm seems to appear to be chaotic, uncertain, and with a serious margin for con.
But, being a freelancer has its own share of benefits. Here are my top picks

I truly get to pick the days & time to work on.
I get to pick and choose my clients
Any appreciation or blame for my work comes directly to me ( No one is going to steal my credits, and impose their blame on me)

Transition to Freelancer brings up the all important questions,

When does one become a freelancer?

Typical answer: “You can become a freelancer any time you want”.

This is the most deceiving and dishonest answer I found to be. You just can’t wake up on a fine sunny day and decide to be a freelancer. Becoming a Freelancer is a transition, and not a title in your business card.

What do we do when a germ of an idea hits us? We ruminate on it, think about it, try to gather as much information as we can about it , so that finally we can make an informed decision… don’t you agree?..

Freelancing is no way different than this. The moment this thought takes seat in your consciousness, take time to research the idea.

What should I freelance on?

Typical answer : “You can freelance on absolutely anything”

This is a “grey area”. This is half true, and half false. Let me exemplify.

As human beings, we all are capable of doing all kinds of works. Yet, we need a painter to paint our house … we can as well hold the brush, dip in paint, and run it up and down the wall.. why do we need a painter to do that? …
The simplest reason being, he (painter) has the knowledge and skill that is needed for painting a house.

The trick is to distinguish between, “What you are capable of doing” AND “What you are best doing at ?” AND “What interests you the most? ” (…. which you would be doing anyway, even if no one was paying you…)

These are the hardest times one would face, while transitioning to a freelancer.

Research on the things that you do KNOW.

Explore the ideas that INTERESTS you.

Take time to test and try ; this is a direct measure of your discipline.

Do not feel afraid to ask about things that you don’t know.

A friendly advice :

Get friendly with Google.
Have a sensible email & use it to register at sites you come across during research. (Do not use your personal email)
Spend at least 2 hrs a day (Monday – Friday),on research, documenting your findings.
Reserve weekend for family, refrain from “working”

So, that’s pretty much for starting the series. In the next post, I will be sharing on how freelancers and Homepreneurs are same or different. After all, this is a comparative analysis.. isn’t it?

Freel free to share your thoughts. Your thoughts may prove valuable to an aspiring freelancer.

October 9, 2010October 11, 2018

Working from home – A realizable dream after all !!

Some dreams are meant to be dreamt,
Some are meant to be worked upon,
Some are meant to be chanced upon, while
Some just hit you between the eyes, and leaves sparks flying all over the place.

In my case, it was purely a chanced upon opportunity. Never even dreamt in my wildest dreams that I would work from home, and yet make a decent amount of money out of this venture. Today, 3 years after my first paid freelancing gig, I have a domain name to call my own, the design, development, and associated costs all paid out my freelancing income over this time. I will not disclose how much, but it is “pretty much”.
May be starting this topic from the monetary aspect is not the right way to start after all. But, it is for those, who ask me “Do you earn enough?”, whilst trying to be polite by not asking “How much do you earn?”.
We have been witness to the changes around us over the past couple of decades. Especially, those coming from the typical Indian middle class family would agree that, for working women and the perspective around them have evolved at a remarkable pace during this time. This was the period wherein, the gender discrimination was beginning to fade away at home, and “higher education” for the daughter of the family was approached with reverence (.. and not worry about finding a groom for over-educated daughter…)We saw girls getting into “professional courses” ( read, Medical, Engineering…. still private tuition for IIT’s was reserved for male child). The girl had to secure a seat truly out of her own merit…. “As parents, we will enrol and pay the school/college fees, you are expected to prove that you are worth it”.. was the underlying message to the daughter from the family. Today, we KNOW, she is indeed worth every penny that was spent on her education. We now have females in almost all aspects of life, ranging from our neighbourhood lady-auto-driver – ISRO – UN – and many more to come..
The point I am trying to make is, there is no substitute to hard work, persistence and perseverance. If not for the efforts put in by those women ( who lived by every word in the previous paragraph), I will not be in a position to write/ comprehend this, you wouldn’t be here either reading this. We are born with the gene that drives us to “prove beyond what we are endowed with”. So, anthropologically, that gives an added advantage for females, don’t you think so?
Miracles do not happen overnight, and earning a decent income via work from home is definitely nothing less than a miracle. So, establishing yourself in the freelancing market is going to take all the perseverance you can muster. Though, this is holds true irrespective of gender, non-freelancing-regular job as well, the stakes are high for males for whom freelancing is the only source of income for the family. For this, and for this reason alone, I would recommend this to females. Especially to those, who have had the fortune of “good education”, but forced to “be at home”, due to family constraints…. could be children, out in the foreign soil, ageing/ailing members in the family… etc etc.
My English teacher used to say “Well begun is half done”. Today, I understand the true meaning of these words of wisdom. Freelancing is not a “walk-in” interview that one would do, with a couple of copies of CV. It really doesn’t matter what degree one holds, or how many high profile companies one had worked with in the past. These details will add credibility, but will definitely NOT land you at the first paid freelancing job.
If you have had the experience of giving seminars as a part of your college curriculum, you would understand the role of research that goes before you sit to write the title on a piece of paper. That is an over simplified version of what is to come on your freelancing future. Research – research – research. Then, its consolidate and present yourself to potential clients.
I want to become a successful freelancer. What should I do?

Conventional CV’s do not hold water in freelancing. So don’t get your hopes high about that very impressive CV.
Freelancing is all about the details. (… the devil is indeed in the details…)
Think hard, about those aspects in your CV, where you can break down those degrees into workable-detail-oriented-solutions.
This is the hardest part, and this is where you should be investing your time, intelligence, and analytical skills.
Insider tip: Document every thought that crosses your mind, while you are at it. This might seem unimportant now, but will miss for not having done this when you re-visit the thought after 3 months flat.

I can confidently outline the specific details oriented projects I am capable of handling, Now what?

Admit shamelessly that you (we) are slaves to Google.
Try to identify “spam work from home with no skills needed” type jobs from genuine ones. Focus on the jobs that match the details you have come up in the first phase.
Research on freelancing sites. What works for me, may not be the best for you. I have found oDesk, Elance, Scriptance, iFreelance, to offer genuine jobs. They too have their share of “con”. So for every job that remotely matches your-type, double check, triple check, or even quadruple check if needed.
Insider Tip: It is okay to go ahead and create profiles in freelancing sites. But be sure not to give you personal email / phone number/ photograph in them until you are totally convinced. When in doubt, visit the community forum at these sites, and observe, enquire, and continue to ask until the responses are reasonably satisfactory.

I have found a job that I am capable of doing. How much should I charge for my services.

Ah!, the all important (million $$) question.
First timers, visit various community portals to get an idea about remuneration for “this kind” of projects. … Thanks to google.
Try to bid around the average, to start with.
Insider tip: The focus should be on proving your expertise on doing the job, stick to delivery schedule, and match the standards expected by the client. The more you are picky about nickels and dimes, you give the impression that money drives your attitude, and gives an impression that you are susceptible to drop an ongoing project, when you have a more-paying-offer.

Whatever freelancing site you choose, whatever job you choose to do,

Follow the Terms and Conditions of the site.
Be truthful about performing at the project.
Provide realistic delivery dates, and adhere to it all costs.

Insider tip: It is always better to overestimate the delivery date, and deliver the product at least 24 hrs before the proposed date.

Image Source

Thank you: Brain Scott from
http://creativefreelancing.blogspot.com/2010/10/working-from-home-realizable-dream.html

Tag: Freelancing tips

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Table of contents

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Entrepreneur, Homepreneur, Freelancer, Employee- A comparative study series; Part 3 (Concluding part)

FA: You mentioned that you are a homepreneur. What is this supposed to mean?

FA: So, more like a Garage-Startup? Is it?

FA: So, you mean to say, homepreneurs don’t dream big? They would not want to have an office for themselves?

FA: How exactly do you think homepreneurs and entrepreneurs are different? Coz, As I see it, they are just the same, except for their place of work.

Entrepreneur, Homepreneur, Freelancer, Employee- A comparative study series; Part 2

Employee, Freelancer, Homepreneur, Entrepreneur- Comparative study series; Part 1

Working from home – A realizable dream after all !!