When content is really king

We often use words and expressions whose deep truth is revealed only through direct contact with the reality. No, I am not about to enter a mantra-type of PR consulting. I am talking about the simple reality of a communication consultant trying to promote her own business or ideas.

As I am testing the waters with a new communication project focused on tourist and travel information, I did follow the usual steps: a lot of reading and online connection, careful planning of the posts and networking to get the best information from the best people, blog posts and social media tools - Twitter and Facebook page and the exploration of other opportunities, such as Pinterest (which, by the way, is a little bit addictive). 

One month after, the results are modest - less than 100 'likes' and 'followers', after quite a lot of work, that even brought me close to the burnout. The reason? Don't believe in 'social media wonders'. Especially now, when specifically in the domain of travel, it's hard to make a simple selection of blogs and sources of information, the content provided is what matters the most. Your readers and followers need to be offered quality information, regularly and preferably as diversified as possible. The more you offer them deals and good discounts, the better. 

The best strategy is to set up modest goals, unless you have a strong pressure from the investors to jump up in the sky in only a couple of days or weeks. Start to build your credibility and your brand, engage with your audience regularly, answer their questions and avoid as much as you can the monologue. Three, two years ago maybe it was easy to have a Twitter account and post autistically what you wanted to read and say. Nowadays, such an attitude will not bring you anywhere closer to the objective of increasing the awareness about your activities. 

You need to improve your style permanently - especially as a travel writer -, post the best pictures, publish the most exciting interviews and never stop. The big good news is that the world is to rich that you can hardly complain about the end of the travel stories. The stable success is only the result of hard work and efforts. Always surprise your audience with quality and novelty. Make each reader that he or she is unique for you and is invited to share something beautiful yet useful. Read it as the opening message of the new kind of business model.

E-challenges at ITB Berlin

Busy days for the fans of travel living in Berlin or in Germany. Today is the last day of a busy week at the ITB Berlin, Europe biggest travel fair. The registration for bloggers went smoothly, but everything needed to be done online, as only the big print newspapers and tv and radio outlets were given the opportunity for a registration on the spot. The bloggers - as me - were present everywhere and many arrived from all over the world to cover the latest news on the industry or to meet other peer bloggers from Europe and Germany. 

There were many apps launched and presented at the fair - that I will present later after a basic testing - one of the most important offering free of charge navigation service for the visitors.

Another important aspect I noticed during my wandering at the fair in the last days was omnipresence of iPads. Many Pavilions used them as a way to present the most important hot-spots of their countries. I received some discounts instantly after I was shown on an iPad some interesting offers of health tourism. Not mentioning the dozen of iPads instantly used for the recording and making photographies of various happenings. The easiest way to introduce the locations was with CDs and I was more than happy to take a stick and a presentation on CD instead of a 100 pages catalogue. 

Overall, for me it was a very good experience that I hope to use at its best in the next days, weeks and months, eventually till the next ITB.

The amazing chat from Freelancer.com

One of the many reasons I like to use Freelancer.com for getting more work is their never ending capacity to surprise. Some conservative Europeans will not be interested and will mumble that they cannot keep the pace, but probably they are not aware how the future looks like for more than a decade already: you survive on the market if you bring something new to your customers and especially if you try to correct the previous problems, technical and communication-wise alike.

For the online marketplace, communication is essential. I remember how many good projects I've missed because I was not available at the same time with the potential employer. Also, without a proper communication I succeeded to get at least one bad review, because it was not possible to contact the employer in due time in order to correct some lack of clarity. 

Everything looks now different with the introduction of the chat option by Freelancer.com. The chatbox looks very close to the one used by Facebook - it is a familiar presence - and it operates in real time. You do not need to wait hours and days till you contact the employer, you can work with him/her online any time you need it. With such an option, you do not need to switch the conversation to e-mail - forbidden by Freelancer.com - and you can even realize if the project is what you are looking for before deciding to go further with the next stage. Also, if you find your employer online you can launch any question you want to about the payment and the deadline. Now, the 'online' mention for the users makes sense, as it ads value to your work spend on the platform. 

I don't know if they are the only one using this option, but whoever is using it, is a smart marketplace and they deserve to have me as one of their most active users. 

The free online market and it spamming enemies

Internet is, you know, this huge market where everyone can enter and do what he/she thinks can do it better. Some are making good money, some are helping the others to get a job and to transform their personality, some are cheating. Online you can overview without paying for a round-the-world ticket and without too much emotional involvement how the world is. 

When it comes to online working platform, the situation is following the same pattern. There are many opportunities to work as a freelancer without too many headaches and without being forced to relocate. For almost five years, I started to develop a network of work contacts that help me to honorably survive during the economic crisis, 90% of them I will never meet. Think about the advantages of the online world for people without any possibilities to find work in their immediate neighbourhood. 

But when you have to deal with the mentalities of old Europe, there you may discover that your enthusiasm is countered with narrow minded views. One of the most often remark I've heard in relation with the free online market, among German media and professionals, is that 'they' - people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Kenya etc. - they 'steal' our 'jobs', because they practice low prices. It does not matter that they may provide better work than a German freelancer too busy to take care of his/her free time and low frequency of answers. 

The bigger the online portal is, and the more international is, the most dangerous for the local working force is may look. And this takes place in the context of an obvious lack of professional skills available locally, as for instance is the case with IT specialists. 

Another big issue outlined very often recently is that there are many spams invading the big online platforms and thus, it is not a good business card for the platforms hosting them. However, as long as people will be aware that some projects cannot be but spams and the users are educated how to chose their offer of work, the spams will pay their monthly registration but they will not get nothing in exchange. The articles on that topic I've seen till now do not mention that most likely, the victims of such spams are not the enlightened Western Europeans users but those people from remote villages in Pakistan or Bangladesh trying to make an honest living through the Internet.

My enthusiasm for the Internet is never diminishing, yet I am fully aware about the shortcomings and the risks. But, my appreciation for the online working platforms is even bigger, because I am aware how much it did change the way of work as we know it and the advantages are shared by all of us, in our 30s, using the Internet and being able to offer to our families a better future.

Online recommendations of the week

Starting a new week it is not very easy, especially during the never ending winter season. For those for whom Monday is not the perfect time of the week, we have some online recommendations that will, maybe, help to do enjoy each moment of an early morning. 

Note: Many if not all of the websites are in German.

Those interested about science and geography can have a look to the latest articles published on Planet Wissen. The topics covered are diverse: Science, Politics, Culture, Health. Podscasts and pictures are available, as well as many interactive features that will bring more fan. The articles are aimed to help anyone without a sophisticated background to understand various topics without the need of more than one dictionary!

Do you need pictures or you are looking for something to clean your tired eyes? Pixelio.de is a free of use database of pictures, uploaded by people from all over the world. The pictures are offered for free and can be used for free. The open access to the data base is possible after setting up a profile. I already browsed some of the pictures and I found a lot of interesting shoots.

My favorite websites from the list is Everpix, an online platform helping more or less accidental photographers to share their pictures before previous editing was done automatically, following an amazing identification system. The pictures will not only organized by lists, but there will also be corrected in the most scientific possible way. No more blurry images and get ready to consider yourself an almost professional photographer. One can try the system for a trial period of 30 days. Afterwards, if you are happy with the results, you can use the service either for $4.99 the month or $40 the year. There it is an unlimited storage space waiting for you. The pictures can be shared via Facebook and Twitter. 

Update Star is considered a product Made in Germany (Berlin). It allows the users to automatically update the programs and other techncial features of their computer. It allows a secure backup of the data services on their servers that will allow instantly the update of the features, with only 29.90 Euro. For the non-German speakers, we have the news that this service is also available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Hungarian, Swedish and Turkish, among others. 

If you are so busy that you can't manage your daily schedule and holiday and more and more theoretical free time schedule, Chronex is the perfect program. After you pay 17 Euro for using the service you will benefit of a butler-like service for your emergencies, by managing properly your time for being sure that you are not scheduled twice at the same place. 

That's the pill for today. Get some rest and be ready for a new online adventure tomorrow.

Financial planning for freelancers

As a full time freelancer and consultant, I enjoy my freedom and the diversity of the topics I may address from a day to another. However, from time to time I am faced with a very unpleasant side of my freedom. 

There it is a price to pay, of course, and it is about money that I would like to talk a little bit now, a couple of hours before entering the weekend.

The most important think that you should keep in mind when it comes to starting your freelance life is how you will cover your basic needs: rent, daily food, insurances. Once this amount is safe, try to think a bit in perspective: what if the main provider of the money for rent, or food will delay the payment, for different reasons. Once, my employer forgot to pay my consistent bill for almost one month and if not my careful savings on the back of my bank, not only me, but the daily comfort of my family would have been affected.

This is why I love to work as much as possible, at least for a couple of month before a first slow down in March/April, and another significant one in August/September. In between I want to dream about trips, and surprise journeys in different corners of the world and some challenging new business ideas. But, take it as it is: without money, you can hardly move forward and before you start dreaming, check your account - with online methods it is more than easy to do it nowadays. It does not matter how much you love your job and how much you fun you have to work from home each and every day. Once upon a time you will realize that the frustration of counting every money and worrying how you will survive for the next weeks will diminish if not uproot completely your amazing imagination. 

At least it is how it works in my case: the financial insecurity is not a creative boost for my writing and consulting life and only the idea that people do not pay in time or ignore my mails asking for a clarification of the financial condition makes me sad and sick and unhappy. This is because I am a very correct person and each time I have a debt, I like to pay it in due time. 

Once again, my advice before closing my online business for the next 25 hours: enjoy your life as a freelancer but be sure that you can afford it. If not yet, work a little bit more and save even more. With some nice savings in your bank account, life can look easy and the inspiration will flow.

Good luck everyone!

PR Brainstorming

I always do what I do with passion and dedication and when I realize that the work I am doing does not represent me (anymore) I give up very easily. It is not the cowardice of facing the difficulties straight away, but the realization of the simple fact that I live only once and if it is to spend part of my life working, I better do something enjoyable.

However, the diversity of my options allows me to juggle with different passions - paid differently. For instance, I loved to do PR and communication in the domain of international relations but for the moment, I limit my passion for this domain to the writing of a couple of articles and reading information about what is going on around the world.

On the other hand, there it is always enough time to put your mind at work. For instance, try to imagine how you will solve certain communication crisis or what solution will you offer in terms of communication plans. I turn some of my ideas into articles, book projects as I do not like at all to miss any opportunity for sharing my standpoints. There are two-fold advantages of such an attitude: on the one hand, it is the idea of keeping updated with the latest news and challenges pertaining your domain. But there it is a psychological advantage too: by writing and brainstorming and discussing eventually with other people involved, there are high chances that the frustration will be kept away. You may be unhappy for not following your passions, because not extremely well paid, but at least you can make this deprivation temporarily, as you continue keeping your feet into another of your professional ground.