Satish | Technotip.org

How My Freelance Work Got Ruined and How YOU Can Avoid It

I started blogging as my hobby, and till date I continue to blog only as hobby. I never had the intention to live and lead my life out of the income generated by this blog! That’s the main reason why I can provide unbiased information and opinion about any topic and any product.

Freelance Work Life:
I started freelance work accidentally. Some one asked me for help, I did it for free. I helped some more people like this for free. Later on, these people started referring their friends and slowly I started getting clients who were willing to pay me. I started charging modest fee to all my initial clients. They liked my work and they eventually started referring their friends, hence it started making me some serious $cash$. So from here, making money online started making some real sense!

Need for Some Improvements:
Since I started getting good income, I thought – why not invest more time and money into this ? So thought of shifting the work place.

It wasn’t that big move: I shifted from a congested room to a more spacious room inside my home. But moving around things took lot of effort, and time to convince my mom.

My clients were happy for me and they extended the deadlines of project by 2 days 😉

Actual disaster:
It took some more days as we had to get new earthing wires etc and drill the room wall for new electric switches etc.

Finally when everything seemed great, my Internet connection got disconnected 🙁 🙁

It was a regular thing with my old ISP, so decided to even fix that. So I ordered for India’s leading ISP.

Once I made my mind to switch to Indian’s no1 broadband provider(i.e., BSNL), they told me to give me the service in 5 days after I apply for it. So I went ahead, disconnected Reliance Broadband and applied for BSNL broadband. I was excited to have the highspeed internet in my new work place. But it never came 🙁 I called their customer care and they sent me my cheque back informing me that there was an error while processing my application and I will have to do the whole process once again!

I went the same day and applied, after 8 days they promptly came to my home installed the landline and the next morning another person came with new WiFi modem and configured it.
It was great feel to get back and tell “hi” to all my internet buddies and to my clients. I was sure they would support me when they know what went through in my life.

Lot of Mails To Respond:
Eagerly I opened my email and to my disappointment there were a lot of new emails I had to reply to 🙁
Most of the mails were from my clients and they were asking whether everything is ok with me and my family and why am I not replying. I started explaining them via email, and I replied to a lot of them, forgetting some common sense TOS of Google App(my email provider). I had(probably) exceeded the limit of emails that I was supposed to send in a day. So my account got blocked 🙁 🙁 🙁
I started feeling sick for staying awake all day-night, and replying everyone.

Now I was totally pissed off knowing that my clients would be pissed off by me.

I tried all means to contact Google regarding this. My account was blocked more than a week and thankfully restored some days back. I had to reconfigure CName etc with my domain registrar, so not sure what exactly had went wrong.

Now the real challenge: from where to start replying to my emails. There were more and more replies and I had to write this post(finally).

Lessons learnt:
1. Have contact with your clients in more than just one place: I have created Technotip Page on Facebook. Please make sure to join and share with your friends.
2. Take only one or two jobs at a time. Don’t give assured dates to more than 2 or 3 clients.
3. Accept only those works which you are expert at. And don’t accept works which will take time and you need to figure out a lot to start the work.
4. Have some contract: Over years I have seen clients who pay once and keep asking for modifications every month. This actually put me into immense pressure.
5. Have some kind of backup plan.
6. Spread your income. Don’t keep all the eggs in a single basket.
7. Stop taking minor fixes job. These minor fixes take most of my time. So I will be mostly concentrating on my major freelance works, like blog migration, app development etc.
8. Will start building my own apps and make SAS (Software As a Service).
9. Will concentrate more on blogging, even though it doesn’t pay my bills. It makes me enough money to have my tea and pocket money. But it has bought me opportunities, which other wise wouldn’t be mine.
10. Will start educating my clients about online stuffs.

Recovery Plan
1. Have to take blog migration works soon inorder to cop with my ever increasing bills/expenses.
2. Have to send mail to all my clients, in batches, informing the fiasco! I’m sure they would help me recover.
3. Stop taking minor jobs/works, which take lot of time.
4. Keep working.
5. Stop getting stressed.
6. Stop thinking more about the past, and concentrate on the present.
7 Ask clients to support by referring their friends.
8. Concentrate on health.
9. Make sure to work satisfactorily before moving/taking next client.
10. Stay in touch with clients – start ‘clients only’ news letter. It would be like friendly mails and not sales pitches.

AnyWho: Legit Uses for Reverse Call Look Up

Reverse phone look up is a service that many phone users tend to overlook. In fact, many forget that it even exists. However, the service has a few great uses, and can be an excellent tool when dealing with any of the following:

Telemarketers
Do you have one number that repeatedly calls you, and you are pretty sure – judging by the 1-800 number – that it is a telemarketer? Well, instead of subjecting yourself to a sales pitch before begging to be put on a no-call list, look that number up using Anywho.com. With a quick click of the mouse, you’ll have the company’s name, and you’ll be able to add yourself to their no call list online without having to speak to anyone. And if the company continues to call you, you’ll have its info to turn over to the Better Business Bureau.

Nights Out
Ever have a great night out only to wake up to a phone number scrawled on the back of your business card or on a cocktail napkin? Wondered who the person was whose number you received? Instead of having to call the person and asking awkward questions to get a name, you can simply enter the number into Anywho. You’ll get their name and address and then be able to scope them out of Facebook to determine whether or not they are worth your time.

Prank Callers
If you have a number that repeatedly calls you and then hangs up, reverse phone look-up the number immediately. While prank-callers have greatly reduced their antics since the inception of Caller-ID, there are still those that do it and it can be highly annoying. Instead of being called on repeat at 3:00 AM, look the number up, and the send the caller’s info to the local police.

Random Write Downs
Do you frequently find numbers written in your own handwriting across the tops of random papers or on post-its? Don’t feel comfortable giving these numbers a call to discover who is on the other end? Reverse phone look up the number. You may find that it was your dentists personal number that you forgot to enter into your phone or a co-worker’s number you jotted down a few days ago without attaching it to their name.

Although reverse phone look up is often overlooked due to the high use of caller-ID and the lacking use of land lines, it does still have a few great perks. The service is generally free too, and can give you a great start when trying to look someone up. The services in which you pay for can provide even more detailed information which can be great for employers. So the next time you receive a call from an unknown number, don’t panic simply look it up using reverse phone look-up.

Life Is Short, Follow Your Heart!

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They some how already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.”
— Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address:
Most Inspiring and Life Changing

Today, Thursday 25 August 2011, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced his resignation as CEO of Apple and expressed his love to serve as Chairman of the Board, Director and Apple employee.

Here is the complete resignation letter written by Steve to the board:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Note: Tim Cook Named as new CEO of Apple.

We wish him good health and happy life moving forward.

PayPal Rules For Indian Users

How To Open/Create PayPal account ?

This could be the question people might start searching answer for in some months or years time. Because new users may not know all the information needed to open and start making use of PayPal account.

If you are an Indian PayPal user, then you have a different set of rules than PayPal users of other countries.

Here are the basic things to keep in mind while opening a PayPal a/c:
These are mandatory things to have, to open and enjoy the benefits of PayPal a/c.

1. PAN or Permanent Account Number
2. Purpose Code
3. Bank account in India

According to new PayPal rules, you should not keep any balance in your PayPal account for more than 7 days. It should be withdrawn to the bank a/c which is connected with your PayPal a/c with in 7 days, what-so-ever the conversion rates be on those days 🙁

PayPal also has auto-withdraw option available for Indian users.
Goto Profile -> Add/Edit Bank Account and click on “Make Auto Withdrawal” button.

Add PAN Number:

Your PayPal a/c -> Profile -> My Details -> Click on Add next to PAN.

Add Bank Account:

Your PayPal a/c -> Profile -> My Money -> Click on Add my bank next to Bank accounts.

Add Purpose Code:

Your PayPal a/c -> Profile -> My Money -> Click on Add next to Purpose Code.

Note: I’m a blogger and freelancer, I have added “Freelance journalism” as my purpose code.

Add Your Current Postal Address:

Your PayPal a/c -> Profile -> My Details -> Click on Update next to the Address field.

NOTE: One thing to know clearly is; From now you will not be able to pay for any product, service or anything using the balance present in your PayPal a/c. You should pay only by the credit card that is connected to your PayPal account. i.e., You have to first transfer the balance amount in your PayPal a/c to your Bank Account, and then pay from your Bank Account via your PayPal account! Now you may ask, whats the catch ? This is the rules RBI has set for Indian PayPal users, so we have to follow it.

5 Things You Should Know About Waterproof Digital Cameras

This is a guest post by Iskandar. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guest post guidelines.

Summer is here again. Some people pack their bags to the beach, others take a dip in their local pools, while those with deeper pockets fly to exotic locations like Bali. Whichever category you’re in, if you’re a gadget conscious person, such trip would be incomplete without a waterproof camera to record the excitement.
But before you dig your purse, here are 5 things you should know about waterproof digital cameras:

waterproofing

Picture Credit: VisualPanic

1. They Are Made For Outdoor Use.
Yeah, you say – no big deal.
Actually, it is a big deal if it is your only camera. Because most waterproof cameras are designed for outdoor use, they work great if light is plenty. But if you want to use the same camera for indoor shots of your son’s birthday party or taking the shots of golden sunset by the beach, you’ll find the results disappointing. Except for the Sony waterproof cameras, almost all rugged cameras have this low light weakness.
Cameras released in 2011 perform better indoor than cameras released in the previous years. But their low light performances are certainly not at par with your normal point and shoot cameras yet.

2. Heat Could Ruin It
If you happen to have a high end waterproof camera, you’ll notice that it could handle extreme cold (-10 degrees Celsius). But the label extreme temperature stated on the products’ brochures could be a little misleading. While your rugged waterproof camera could handle extreme cold, they will not be able to tolerate extreme heat.
Because of this, leaving your camera directly on the sand during a hot summer day is strictly a no, no affair. You could easily ruin the inner parts of your camera because sand temperature goes up quickly during the day.

3. Follow the Rated Depth
Most manufacturers test their waterproof camera’s tolerable water temperature in an ideal environment. This means the camera is not moving and water pressure is static.
But underwater, you are moving along the object you’re trying to shoot. Because of this, water pressure varies and it gets higher as you go deeper. As water push more and more into your camera, some will simply break.
So, remember your rated depth and don’t even think of going beyond it.

4. They Sink
Have you ever wondered why many waterproof cameras are housed in colorful and bright casings? One of the reasons is because the cameras will sink if dropped underwater. If the color is as bland as your normal cameras, there’s no way you’ll find them should you lose one underwater.
The fact that they sink is good because you do not need to get sinkers to shoot underwater. But it is bad if you dropped one in the ocean while kayaking.
To solve this problem, just get a floating strap.

5. Battery Life is Lower Than Expected
If you check the CIPA’s website (this is an independent body that tests cameras), you’ll notice that the test to determine the number of pictures you could shoot using your waterproof camera is done in a controlled environment where the temperature is 32 to 35 degrees.
When underwater, the temperature is normally lower than that. Because cold temperature reduces the effectiveness of your battery, you won’t get the maximum number of shots as stated by your manufacturer. Because of this, make sure you load a fully charged battery in your camera and carry a backup battery if you plan to shoot lots of pictures during your snorkeling trip.
There you are — the 5 things you should know about a waterproof camera. They are fun to use and will take you to more places and more shooting conditions than a normal camera. Like many people, you will probably spend more time with a rugged, waterproof camera than your powerful DSLR because it is so tough and versatile. But before you get used to its strength, it is handy to know its weaknesses.
Enjoy your camera and enjoy your summer!

Author Bio:
Iskandar writes for the Waterproof-Camera.org website. He is a father of two, an avid outdoor guy and a toy shop owner.

Why Your Business Needs a Smart Phone

Smart phones are growing in popularity by the day, and by 2012 nearly 50 percent of all Americans will own a smart phone. Not only does that mean that there will be more people with quick access to the web, but it also means that business owners have a new, quick way to attract attention.
In order to be successful, nearly every business needs a strong web presence, and this can no longer be achieved with just a website alone. To maintain brand loyalty and to reach new markets, businesses are having to include themselves on various social networking sites. These sites provide free word-of-mouth advertising and allow users to feel as though they are an integral part of your business. Through social networking sites, customers can build a community and together support your business.

Unfortunately, social networking sites must be updated ? constantly, especially if you want to keep your followers’ attention. A post once a day will suffice, but the more you can post, the better. Initially posting frequently to Twitter and Facebook was a hassle because it forced you to have to sit down at your computer, compile a post, and then post it. However, new smart phone technology has made it easier than ever to frequently update your loyal patrons about your business.

With the simple click of a button you can take photos or shoot video with a smart phone, and then quickly edit and upload them to your favorite social networking site. Immediately, your followers are aware of what is going on at your establishment, and may even be enticed to come down for a visit.
Smart phones which support Android also come with some great apps to help you edit your photos and videos to allow you to put your best foot forward. Such apps include:
Adobe Photoshop Express
Retro Camera and Vignette
Camera 30 Ultimate
Phoraf 3D Panorama
Snip Video Trimmer

When choosing a smart phone that you will use to market your business, choose one with a high quality camera like that found in the HTC myTouch 4G Slide, a 4G Slide Android Phone, or the Samsung Galaxy S2. These phones generally have an 8MP camera and other features, such a zero shutter speed, which are needed for taking bright and clear shots.

So whether you use your phone to post a picture of today’s lunch special, or of the band that is about ready to go on your stage, your smart phone camera can be a quick and effective marketing tool that doesn’t require you to stop everything you are doing. There is no need to interrupt your entire day to tell your current customers and potential customers all about your day, instead share a few quick photos and posts from your smart phone, and they will come down to see what all the talk is about for themselves.