racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

I’ve been receiving tons of inquiries on my post on the old J Spot (at i.ph), Get Paid for Writing. While I initially tried to respond to all inquiries, I don’t think I’ll be able to respond to everyone in a timely manner, especially many of them I refer to my contacts looking for freelance writers or bloggers who are willing to write for compensation.

Hence, I’m moving the thread here, but with one major modification. I’m hoping this post–particularly its comment thread–can serve as a clearinghouse of sorts where aspiring pro-bloggers can post links to their blogs, portfolios, and other sample works, and blog network owners can check out prospective writers for their qualifications. This way, I won’t have to deal with the inefficiency of asking everyone to email this person or that company or this network and so forth.

Perhaps it’s still a crude way of doing it, but I’m hoping it would be a good start.

You may also wish to refer to online ads for blogging and blog-related work over at these sites (I’ll update the list as we go).

* BloggerJobs by BlogMedia (I used to write for them. Great guys!)

What to write

Some useful information should you include:

* Your name or alias
* Your contact details (email will do)
* A link to your existing blog or other online portfolio
* Links to blog posts or writings you consider to be your best work
* The setup you are looking for (pay-per post, revenue share, fixed salary, etc.)

Hey, be sure to check your writing for correct grammar and appropriate style. After all, you’re going after writing jobs and it pays to dot your j’s and cross your t’s, so to speak. If you want to be able to edit your comments later on, be sure to sign up for a subscriber account first via the registration form. You can always login using this form if you already have an account.

I hope this post will be useful. Wanna get started with pro-blogging? Do leave your note at the comment thread.

Here’s a tip: if you want your name to be linked to your blog or website URL, do “edit your profile here”:http://racoma.com.ph/wp-admin/profile.php and key in your address at the URL field.

Update: Check out my post on “problogging options here”:http://racoma.com.ph/archives/problogging-options/ .

I almost avoided the call yesterday, as I’d been avoiding calls from people not on my phone’s contact list lately (I think readers took my Stalk Me! feature on ForeverGeek much too seriously; and I think I might still owe some people money ). Fortunately for me–and my caller, perhaps–I texted to say I was busy and could only receive SMS. My correspondent texted back, and she turned out to be Ms. Monique Lachica, news desk editor for one of the country’s largest networks, ABS-CBN. They were looking for someone to interview for a fathers’ day special, and stumbled upon my blog. They thought I would be the ideal one, due to my, umm, alternative lifestyle/set-up.

The Work-At-Home Dad

No, I’m not gay, you blockhead! I’m a dad and I work from home. Now that’s not very common for guys, especially men my age. While everyone else is climbing up corporate ladders with some multinational company or bank, I chose to, well, build my own ladders. While many of my classmates are finishing their postgraduate studies here or abroad, I’ve put a hold on my own (much like Sergey Brinn and Larry Page?). Why? I chose to pursue a career and a business that would allow me to be closer to my family.

So I left the full-time corporate grind many moons back, and I now work from anywhere I can connect to the ‘net. It’s a remote-working / telecommuting arrangement of sorts, which also gives me room to be more creative (for me it’s difficult to create when in a very very stressful and pressured environment). Then, of course there are the great projects (Go-Ogle, Isulong SEOPH and other great stuff I’m doing with great people)–some of which I earn from, others I do for fun or because of passion!

Plus, I earn a heck of a lot more.

I remember my own dad tried a similar set-up when I was a bit younger, but things did not turn out to be as good as what I’m experiencing now. Things were different back then–businesses and enterprises were not as connected as they are today, so management and coordination were more difficult. And I deal with knowledge and content, and not bulky, concrete stuff that was fashionable back then, which can be very, very expensive and very, very risky. Anyway, I credit it to a bit of luck that I’m doing what I’m doing now (and of course, mostly to effort on my part and that of my colleagues, correspondents, and partners).

The Interview

So back to the interview, the good fellows over at ABS-CBN thought of interviewing a dad who stayed at home to take care of the kids while also making a living at the same time. You see, staying at home to attend to domestic matters is a very difficult and daunting task–ask any housewife homemaker about that and I doubt they’ll give a different answer. I’m not too good at it at times, actually, and that’s where shared responsibility comes in handy. Add to that the need to work and earn, and you’ve got yourself an interesting situation, which I get to pull off well, nonetheless.

When? Where?

I’ve still to meet with my interviewer, Mr. Willard Cheng, who works the field for ABS-CBN’s various news programmes. We’re set to talk this evening at one of my safehouses in Quezon City (he’ll be blindfolded and led to walk in circles before reaching me–just a standard measure I ask my visitors to undergo, to guard against stalkers. Really.).

So I hope you catch the programme later tonight. If you’re in the Philippines, the interview will be aired on Insider, which usually comes out about 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. on Channel 2. If you’re abroad, it would likely be telecast also on TFC (likely a delayed telecast).

As for me, I’m pretty nervous!

Update: Insider is set to air about 11:30 p.m. tonight. There’s a trend for news programmes being pushed later into the evening because of the evening telenovelas (and these days there’s no definite schedule for shows)! Talk about prime time.

Update: An online copy of the video may be viewed here.

One of the drawbacks of being in pro-blogging and engaging in various online / “virtual” types of businesses is that there will inevitably be people who misunderstand you and your career. In this day and age of broadband, mobile commerce and e- (or m-) everything, there will always be people who seem to be on the regressive side of the equation. Yes, even younger people–even younger than myself perhaps.

A couple of weeks back, I was at a relative’s house visiting with the wife and kids, and an uncle was presently having a business meeting (I was supposed to have been part of that venture, but I had been busy. Very.). Of course the laid back individual that I am, I was wearing my signature khaki shorts, plain T-shirt and leather sandals–my usual casual attire when not going to meetings or upscale places.

Kids needed milk so I went to the living room–where we had earlier set our things down–to get the big canvas bag we use to keep the kids’ bags and stuff for easy handling. It was also there where the meeting was taking place. I was introduced by our uncle to one of his associates. And she immediately noticed the bag, which had a big Pfizer logo emblazoned on the front.

“Are you a medical rep?” asked the besuited lady.

“Umm. No,” I responded.

My uncle said I was into various online ventures, and he also asked me how business was.

“Very busy lately,” I responded. “Many times I even stay up two days in a row just to get things done.”

“So you work at a call center?” the kind lady asked, probably thinking that the only people who stay up late to work are those in these offshored contact center industries.

“Umm, no. I work for myself. I write. I’m also in the business of providing content to online publications, and I do publish my work on my own websites,” I kindly explained, gesturing as how one would usually type on the keyboard.

Confused looks.

By this time I was sort of exasperated and said my good-byes, smiling politely.

I could only imagine how confused that young lady might have been (young being approximately the same age as I), encountering someone with no clear job description and probably not having a regular job at all.

For all she knows I might be just some unemployed guy bumming around at home.

I do have a job (or a business or a venture, or whatever you may call it). I do write for this great blog network, Bloggy Network, and I do consulting work with the company that co-owns Bloggy, and yes I’m trying to wrap up my government project that I started months ago. Oh yes, I do try to help other people GTD (get things done) with online productivity tools–pro bono, of course. However, like many entrepreneurs and netrepreneurs and freelancers, I work from my SOHO (small office/home office, which I usually consider to be my small–very–home office).

But most people would be baffled with the idea of anyone earning without having to wake up in the early morning hours and beating the rush hour traffic. For most, it’s the job title and job security that matter. But for me, I love the fact that I create, that I use my mind to think up great things and share them with the world just with a few strokes of my keyboard.

I write. And I’m glad to say for a fact that I’ve somewhat inspired–or even influenced–other people to do the same too, that is to make a living practicing their gift with the written word. They’re probably better than me at this, but I do believe that writing style is only as good as the idea that one is trying to convey and the effort and discipline that a person puts into his craft (or art, as I prefer).

To each his own, I guess.

Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that there are forces outside of your own control that can somehow govern your destiny? Well, most would probably argue to the contrary, and I would be one to argue such. After all, even though there are indeed forces outside of our own volition that can influence how things come to be, we humans still do have the free will to ultimately decide each action (or instance of inaction), and ultimately what becomes of us. That is God’s gift to humankind, isn’t it?

However, as for Serendipity, that’s another thing. Sometimes when you set out to do something and for a certain goal, the results can turn out to be quite surprising.

A week ago, I posted about having the blogging blues and went on to link to other sites that I found interesting. I do a lot of blog reading, after all and I thought I’d share with my readers (all three of you) what I’ve been reading up on lately. I intended to divert the attention from my stuff, for the meantine, to other people I find to have more interesting insights than I do.

However, things usually go beyond how you intend them to be. And now, after one thing leading into another, I’m glad to say I’ve had two of those people I linked to–Phillip and Ia (or is it supposed to be “Ia and Phillip?” Bah!)–working with us in one of our major undertakings. I’ve gone into dealings with them several times over the past couple of years, but I didn’t expect we’d be working together on something (and something quite financially rewarding, too).

Actually, I’ve been seeking out people for this purpose (you might remember references to “headhunting” in some of my previous posts). I had been looking for creative people, and I can say I’ve approached quite a few so far, but our work didn’t seem to be the good match with ‘em goodfellows. The good match was right under my nose all along. These guys can sure weave magic with words and imagery each on their own! But as a team? One word: synergy (which in this case is something that’s beyond my comprehension, by the way. Go figure!).

So here’s to our creative team. Here’s to great works. And great deeds.

This is probably such a striking statement that it deserves the controversy that made me post about it in the first place.

Résumés or Curricula Vitae (plural of Curriculum Vitae, of course) may indeed serve as indications of potential to help job seekers to introduce themselves to prospective employers. Or for distinguished professionals, CVs may serve as records of accomplishment. However, Chris Pearson points out that there is only one thing that will matter to a smart person, and it’s not on your résumé!

Intelligent people really don’t care what’s on your resume. In fact, intelligent people don’t really give a damn about formal interviews, resumes, or anything of that sort. Sure, your portfolio matters, but even that’s secondary to the number one, be all, end all factor. It’s the one thing that matters above all else to any truly smart person with whom you’ll ever do business. What is it?

It’s you.

I agree (surprise!). In this day and age, you cannot really put your accomplishments (or potential) on paper, and expect the written word to adequately relay what it’s supposed to represent. Accomplishments are seen and felt, and usually when one gets to know another individual on a personal basis (or sometimes even in the virtual world).

But still, in many cases, it’s not the accomplishments that matter, but the potential. Usually, you’d have to meet a person face-to-face, or talk a meaningful conversation with them, and you will just know whether that person has what it takes to succeed, and whether his/her potential matches the field of expertise you expect that person to succeed in. And in most instances, you cannot just rely on your rational facilities to know, but rather your gut intuition.

In a way, this is how I work these days. I’ve done away with formalities and have instead actively sought out people whom I know have what it takes to make the grade. And I do not base it from their undergrad GPA or whether they have MBAs or PhDs in quantum physics or molecular biotechnology. I base it on who they are. (And yes, in a way this is also why I shun the intricacies of the corporate world.)

Résumés can still be a good starting point, though–perhaps just to give a cursory introduction of oneself–but not the end-all, be-all of things.

At times it’s still trial and error, but this is how I’ll learn, isn’t it?