Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

Writing Resumes that Communicate Your Unique Value | Writing Marketing Content for Telecom Business Growth

Archives for September 2018

Hiring A Freelance Employee: What They Need

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Freelance HiresWhat drives us as an entrepreneur, apart from the fear of failure is the financial aspects of our business. Unfortunately, we always have to keep an eye on the finances whenever we are heading into new territory, or merely expanding on our current operation. Naturally, we develop a sixth sense when it comes to finding the best ways to cut down on unnecessary outgoings. Hiring freelancers is one of the best approaches any burgeoning business can take. But, it’s important to think about what your freelancers need from you, as well as what you need from them…

Setting Out The Task At Hand

The objectives are vital to ensuring a symbiotic relationship with a freelancer. You need to set out clearly what you need from them, and as a result, they will respect your needs. It’s important to remember that, despite the fact you are laying out clear objections, they will need to complete the work in their own unique way. This is a very important thing to consider with regards to the differences between full-time employees and freelancers. Whatever the approach, your goal is to ensure they deliver the final product. But when you are setting out the task at hand, there are things you should lay clear in the contract, such as if they need to be available during specific working hours.

How You Are Going To Pay Them (And How Much?)

This a very sticky issue. Remember, if you don’t pay them enough for the job they are doing, especially when you promise a certain amount, there can be numerous sticky issues further down the line. However, there are legal professionals you can rely on, and that your employees can rely on, to ensure that everybody is happy in a financial sense. Ultimately, you need to decide before any work is done, what their fee is, and how it is going to be paid. For example, are they going to receive commission?

The Intellectual Property Rights

One of the biggest legal issues when it comes to hiring a freelancer is the intellectual property rights. When you hire an employee full-time, the intellectual property is yours. However, when you hire a freelancer, they own everything that they create, and so, if you want to ensure that you own this intellectual property, you have to put this in the contract at the very outset. This is a very important thing to establish before any work is done, because if the freelancer is unhappy with the circumstances in which they are working, they could easily leave you in the lurch, and take their creations with them.

Ultimately, when you are hiring a freelancer, you have to give them the respect that they deserve. So many freelancers don’t feel respected, because they are a hired gun. But if you are looking to develop long-term relationships with specific freelancers, it’s important to give them the respect that they need. But at the same time, you need to ensure that you are covering your back. This is why preparation is always the best course of action before hiring any freelancer.

Five Ways Automation Can Improve Your Marketing

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If you are thinking about improving your marketing, you’re in luck, thanks to the various tools available today. You can even take care of your marketing tasks on the go, and monitor your progress and statistics from your mobile. No matter if you are in network marketing or are running a busy local consultancy, you are going to benefit from improved visibility and results. Below you will find a few ways automation will help you improve your marketing.

Marketing Automation

1. More Time to Get Creative

If you automate your business marketing you will have more time to focus on what really matters in your business; strategy and campaign development. You can go out networking and develop a system to create a residual income, while your machine is working and generating you leads and sales automatically.

2. It’s All In the Numbers

Marketing is still a numbers’ game, however, quality also matters. You would be limited to reaching out to a couple of people manually, but your marketing automation tools will take care of selecting the right people and keeping in touch. Just imagine that you don’t have to type up all the emails or set up all your social media promotions and boosts; schedule them instead, and you can focus on measuring the results and improving your marketing.  

3. Personalization

Marketing Personalization

It is also easy to personalize your content based on the information you are getting from your own system. If you have a marketing management tool, you can personalize emails and even your messenger messages, your LinkedIn communication, and other materials. This means that you can filter your leads based on their position in your sales funnel and create content that is most likely to be valuable for them.

4. Testing

Another great benefit of automating your online marketing is being able to access the statistics and analyze the results. If you are placing an ad in a newspaper, you have no ways of telling how many people have read your content, but if you book an ad on Facebook, you will get all kinds of statistics concerning engagement, click rate, and even the geographic location of your visitors. You can also set up AB testing for your email marketing campaigns that will allow you to compare the results of different headline and text variations.

5. Improved Conversions Through Advanced Sales Funnels

If you figure out what works in your business when it comes to online marketing, you will be able to make continuous improvements and develop effective sales funnels that will turn your website or social media visitors into leads and then – eventually – into customers. If you measure everything about your marketing, you are more likely to get a better value for your advertising bucks, too.

There are several more benefits of internet marketing automation, including saving time and money. If you are looking to improve your results and engage with more potential customers, this is an area you should really look into. Test drive a few marketing automation tools and see which ones work for your business.

9 Ways To Set Up A Cozy Winter Garden

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Winter Garden

Now that the summer is coming to an end and autumn has well and truly landed on its wake… we can start to look forward to all of the comforts of winter. The days are getting shorter, the air is becoming chilly and everywhere we look there’s tartan and pumpkin spice in the air. Although most of us usually want to hibernate inside for the winter, there are still many of us who enjoy being able to sit out in the garden on those crisp mornings and chilly evenings by the fire. Here are some of the ways you can start to change your garden setup to make it ideal for the winter.

  1. Create A Deck

The first thing you can think about doing in the autumn to prepare your garden for the winter is to create some decking in the space which you can use to make a comfy seating area for you and your family on a chilly winter morning. You can take a look at lots of different decking styles at Decks & Docks Lumber CO. and you will be able to pretty much find something to fit any type of garden and size space that you have. For a bit of fun, you can even paint your new decking a bold colour such as orange or yellow to create some life and warmth in your garden.

  1. Plant A Greenhouse

One of the things we often think about during the autumn and winter is that the garden will go dormant and all of the lie will begin to die back. While this is definitely true for many plants and shrubs, there are still a few ways you can enjoy your gardening hobby in the colder months in a different way. If you love to grow your own vegetables and fruits, you can still enjoy fresh produce in the garden as long as you make a greenhouse which is warm enough to cope with it. If you can find a greenhouse, you will be able to grow all of your favourite vegetables such as lettuce, peppers and even pumpkins!

  1. Shield With Trees

During the colder months of the year, as much as you want to get outside and sit in the garden on a sunny day, there is usually one thing that will stop you in your tracks: temperature. When the summer dies away the climate changes and this can make it hard for us to want to leave the comfort of our heated homes. However, you can make a huge difference to your garden by planting some trees or large shrubs around the perimeter of the space. This will shield you from the cold wind and it will make sitting outdoors much more comfortable.

Ensure that you are also taking care of the trees that you are using to shield your garden. It’s important that you know the signs of common tree diseases for example so that you can notice and treat them where necessary. 

  1. Add A Pergola

If you want to be able to sit outside and get a dose of fresh air each day, you can have some fun installing a pergola in your yard this winter. Pergolas are a great addition to any garden because they can add a wonderful focal point for the space and you can decorate it throughout the year to fit each season. For having guests over, a pergola can be a great way to stay comfortable and it can also be a great place to escape from the rain. You will have a wonderful area in the garden to host parties, drink a glass of wine with your partner and eat alfresco!

  1. Winter Flowers

Flowers are something we all associate with the spring and summer, and this is usually due to the fact that most plants prefer lots of sun and warm climates. However, the great thing to know if you love to see colour in your garden all year long is that there are plants which thrive off cooler climates. For example the most well known flower which blooms during the winter are snowdrops. Snowdrops are beautiful white flowers which bloom through December to February and give your garden a burst of life even in the dullest of days. You can also find other flowers for the winter such as heather, cyclamen and Japanese quince.

  1. Get Creative With Planters

You will have likely seen many different fun crafts and DIYs online such as homemade candles, herb gardens and seating for the garden: and something else you can have fun doing is making some fun planters for the space. For example you can use items such as teapots, cups, tyres and even old welling on boots to make some fun and unique planters for your outdoor space. Take a look on Pinterest this weekend and have some fun looking at different crafts to do. It can be a way to spend the weekend with the kids and make your winter garden feel more like a home and more personal.

  1. Lighting Is Magical

During the colder months we have a lot of different things going on in the world. The main change we see is the fact that the days are much shorter and this means that a lot of our time is spent in the dark. You don’t have to abandon the garden though during the autumn and winter, you can instead have some sun with the darkness and install lights into the space. There are many different types of light you can add into the garden, such as solar lights, battery operated fairy lights and things like security lamps and large features. You can play around with light in the garden and this will definitely make your garden more magical.

  1. Candles For Warmth

Candles are the epitome of comfort and cosiness during the winter and we often light candle after candle in the house during the colder months to make the home as comfortable as we possibly can. However it isn’t only the garden which you can place candles in to make it feel cosy and warm. There are many different lanterns, candle holders and decorations to add to the garden which will hold tea lights and allow you to bring that warm glow to the space. You can even add a candle or two to your pergola if you have one and this can be the ideal thing to make your garden feel comfortable and warm.

  1. Soft Furnishings

What better way to make the garden feel cosy and comfortable during the winter than to bring in some soft furnishings? You can buy lots of amazing waterproof cushions and seat covers for the garden and these can allow you to feel like you are sitting in a more luxurious place when you are outside of the house. Another thing you can add into the space is some blankets. You can bring blankets out into the garden and have them ready for chilly nights snuggling up with a hot cocoa and the people you love. It is the best way to enjoy your outdoor space when the weather is unforgiving.

Never Ending Problems of Workers and How Recruiters can Help…..Or Not

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Using Recruiters In Your Job Search and to Increase Compensation

Are you taking charge of your career and heading off problems before they happen?  Or are you subject to the whims of your company’s management?

Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain”.

The more you advance in your career the more valuable your time becomes. This is certain. However, this fact is lost of many companies. Firms often give their staff lower raises than they could get by taking a job with another company. Compensation isn’t in step with the market. This is especially true when there is a shortage of workers with key skills. Managers tend to overlook the fact that their compensation is a big contributor to retaining top talent. Many workers value higher pay above all else. How can we not with student loans, mortgages, and auto loans being common?

Furthermore, this problem so many companies have reveals something deeper. They ignore the high cost of hiring a replacement – which can often be from 50% to 200% of annual compensation. Also, the new hire will have to be offered the market rate (which was not given to the worker who switched firms to get that rate). Wouldn’t it make sense to develop a process that avoids the high cost of replacing workers?

The thing is not all management sees that and aligns themselves with this market reality.

So what options do you have if you find yourself not being compensated adequately for the skills you bring?

Consider recruiters.

By building relationships with recruiters, you will have options. They can bring you opportunities regularly. This will give you an escape path away from under compensation and ineffective management.

Compensation might be under-reported as a cause of turnover. We have been told by pop culture to view always wanting more money as being “greedy”. Never mind the media executives who earn far more than their average customer.

Even so, a PwC poll has compensation as a close 3rd as reasons for voluntary turnover at 12%. The other 88% include factors that can change AFTER taking a job. These include “Lack of Supervisor Respect” at 13% and “Supervisor lacked leadership skills” at 9%.

It doesn’t matter how good you are at taking care of customers, shareholders, and your supervisor.

Making friends and influencing people is no guarantee.

Your supervisors and co-workers are individuals and new ones will come and go. A way to lessen this risk, it to have recruiters who know, like, and value you. You don’t need to be at the mercy of chance, politicking, your boss and co-workers.

Sending an email regularly to employment recruiters will lesson the risk of these problems. A good method is to email one recruiter every other business day. This will keep you top of mind.

In his book Pre-Suasion, Robert Cialdini says “anything that draws focused attention to itself can lead observers to overestimate it’s importance”.

By being important in the eyes of 10 recruiters, they will think of you first when they have a client who needs your skills. Recruiters and their clients want positions filled as fast as possible. They will both be happy to consider you first (since you’ve built a connection with them).

If you have not developed relationships through email, you might be apprehensive about regularly putting yourself in someone’s inbox. The way to make this work is to be infotaining. Recruiters work long hours with many boring clients and job candidates. By sending a weekly email with a bit of creativity and humor in each, you will have recruiters looking forward to reading your emails and matching you with a client. Everybody is an individual. You might find some recruiters who don’t match your personality. That’s fine. Think of  this as making friends. You will find recruiters who like you for you.

Building relationships with recruiters has a downside. As much as recruiters may like you, their clients still have to be convinced. However, you can develop relationships with hiring managers directly as well. Twitter is a good way build professional relationships and be viewed as an expert in your field. Using polls, charts, and automation makes building a reputation and a following a smooth process.

And I know this process works.  I was offered my dream job by a Twitter follower.

To see how I implemented this approach check out the videos I made of the process.

https://rezzue.com/twitter-for-job-seekers/

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