Online Projects & Clients By: Saed R. Habib

Saed R. Habib

Education: BA degree in Information Technology - Multimedia and web development Current job: Full time freelancer at Upwork Previous positions: 1. Information Systems Help Desk Assistant at

UNRWA in Gaza2. Web developer intern at World Health

Organization HQ in Geneva3. Project Manager at Solskjerming-as in

Norway4. Freelancers’ Mentor at Mercy Corps in Gaza5. SMM & team leader at Elance Find me at: saedhabib.com

Overview• Definitions• Skills Needed• Tools Needed• Discussion

Definitions

Online Projects: Projects that can be posted, discussed, delivered online. Without any need of physical meetings

Online Clients: People who post their projects online, who could be project owners, managers, or brokers.

Freelancer: A Person who works as a writer, designer, performer, or the like, selling work or services by the hour, day, job, etc. Rather than working on a regular salary basis for one employer.

Definitions

NDA: A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties. It is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose information covered by the agreement. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets. As such, an NDA protects non-public business information.

Skills Needed • Communication Skills– Interpersonal Communication Skills– Presentation Skills– Writing Skills

• English Language Skills– Reading, Writing, Listening & most importantly

Speaking• Career Skills– Programming– Design – Data entry– etc

Interpersonal Communication Skills

Definition: Interpersonal Skills are the skills we use when engaged in face-to-face communication with one or more other people.

Tips:1. Listening is a vital interpersonal communication

skill (Focus on the speaker, Remove Distractions, Be Patient)

2. Good interpersonal communication skills enable us to work more effectively in groups and teams

3. Interpersonal communication skills are essential to developing other key life skills such as (Problem Solving & Decision Making)

Presentation Skills

Definition: Although, for many of us, presentation skills are used infrequently, there will probably be times in your life when you need to present information to a group of people, either in a formal or informal meetings.

Writing Skills

Definition: Communication skills are not limited to direct interaction with other people and the spoken word. As you will need it when submitting a proposal/cover letter ( to be discussed later )

English Language Skills

Career Skills

Definition: Skills you can earn by learning & practicing. Mainly help you build your future career.

See Examples from Freelancing websites

Tools Needed for communications

1) Skype. ( Usually non-Arabs Prefer it )2) Whatsapp ( Usually Arabs Prefer it)3) Emails ( Never exceed 24hrs to respond )4) Twitter5) Phone ( business phone )6) Freelancing websites messaging system ( for beginners )

IMPORTANT TIP: Never use FB or any personal social media platform for communicating with your clients

Tools Needed for Projects

1) Upwork.com2) Freelancer.com3) Linkedin.com4) Twitter.com5) mostaql.com6) fiverr.com7) khamsat.com8) Trello.com9) Dropbox.com10) مان؟ تي أي بدك

Trello.com

Lets take an inside look, why Trello is

important?

General tips

1) It’s always better to have your own website to show your potential clients your pervious work.

2) Once setting a price to your services, never lower, but consider extras / bonus work

3) Calculating your price is simple, See what others offer, or what your clients offer, or your hourly price * sum hours of work + hours for communications, revisions ..etc

General tips

4) Linkedin tip : Always engage within the groups , potential clients are out there.

5) Never give a deadline, but do give a timeline, ie never say can finish this on Friday night, or on 26th of Aug, say I need about 10 days ( when you actually need only a week, give yourself a space for emergencies)

6) Be honest, Always. Never cheat your clients, never give promises to them that you can’t keep.

General tips

7) Be polite and learn about your clients culture, country and traditions.

8) Learn how to email/write professionally, here’s an example:

( client’s name ) ,

I hope you’re doing well, Please let me know when you’re available to discuss further details regarding our project.

Looking forward to hearing back from you soon,

Best Regards,Your name.

General tips

9) Always document what you have agreed on with your clients, never miss a detail, never lose a document.

10) Be clear and never shy, ask anything but at the right time. don’t say that you got it, when you don’t.

General tips

11) Make sure to celebrate with your clients on their national holidays

12) photofeeler.com make sure you have an outstanding profile picture

13) http://www.hubspot.com/products/salesSo you know whenever your email receiver has

opened your email15) bitly.com or goo.gl so you know whenever a

person clicks on your links

General tips

16) If you don’t have a portfolio, simply, create one.

17) Take a look at this every now and then :https://freelancetowin.com/18) Use https://calendly.com/ to look more

professional 19) Read about Agile methodology. 20 ) Never forget to give yourself a treat

Discussion