Tag Archive | resources

Eight Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress When you Work

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Holiday stress and www.xtreme-assistant.com

Giving gifts to your family and friends is a huge part of the season but is also one of the biggest holiday stressors.

You’re already stretched for precious time and having difficulty balancing work and family.

It’s a constant juggling game between the two and when you add all the holiday preparations to your overflowing lists, all the joy is often sucked right out of the holiday season.

Now is the time to make a plan of action and get organized with all that needs to happen before the holidays are upon you.

Practical tips for less holiday stress:

Take control of your finances early. Before your holiday shopping begins, develop a realistic budget to follow. If you can avoid using credit cards and only pay cash for gifts, you will breathe easier in January when the credit card bill arrives. Paying cash helps you stay on budget and may prevent you from making any rash decisions or buying outlandish gifts.

Make a list of your gift ideas for each person prior to driving to the mall, so you won’t be left wandering aimlessly from store to store, hoping for some divine inspiration. Bundle your shopping trips to stores that are near each other. Remember that your time is valuable.

Decide who you are buying gifts for. When you sit down to write your gift list, decide if you will buy gifts just for family members or if you will also include your children’s teachers, bus drivers, garbage haulers, postal workers, religious education teachers, sports coaches, and so on. The list could get very long and break your budget if you don’t plan well. But don’t forget the grandparents and pets!

Take advantage of your lunch break to shop online. Ordering online is especially a benefit when you need to ship items out of state. Many companies offer free shipping for a period of time during the season if not always. But paying for the online company to ship a gift is far less costly and time-consuming than packing it up yourself and waiting with half the town in line at the post office. Check out my Resources pages to see if you can find anything to order.

A great gift idea for these “extra” people in your life is something homemade. If you are a holiday baker, simply buy a few pretty gift containers and bake a few extra batches of your favorite cookies or breads. If you don’t bake, look for some recipes for making “Gifts in a Jar.” You can buy large or small mason jars at craft stores and you simply layer the dry ingredients of your favorite cookie recipe, close the lid, tie with a pretty ribbon, slap a gift tag on, and you have a lovely gift. Don’t forget to attach a copy of the recipe to the jar. A tree ornament would be a great gift as well.

Be focused and use any breaks in your work schedule to your advantage. Write out a few holiday cards or wrap a few presents in between calls. Both tasks become more manageable when broken down into smaller time frames.

Organize your holiday card list early to eliminate many headaches and hand cramps later on. Pare down your list, order your cards early, order your stamps online or with your postal carrier, and put all the addresses on computer labels. You can find labels with holiday designs and you can add a fun font for a customized look. Don’t forget your return labels with your name and address. Many card companies also offer to have your cards stamped with your family or business name, thus saving even more time.

Delegate holiday prep to your older children or spouse. Your computer wizard teenager might be willing to input your holiday card list so you can print out address labels. Maybe an older child would be willing to babysit for the day so you can shop for gifts in peace. If you are preparing a holiday dinner, ask other relatives or friends to bring a dish. Older elementary school kids can help read recipes and layer the items in your gift jars.

Conclusion

Rather than build up your holiday as perfection complete with handmade gift wrap, make your holiday plans realistic to suit the needs of your family and your schedule.

Instead of experiencing holiday stress, focus on the peace, love, and joy in your life and take time to count your many blessings. Afterall, those make the best memories!

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Ten Tips for Bidding on Freelance Writing Work

Nov16

If you like to write and want to do some writing work from home, bidding on jobs at freelance sites is a great way to bring in some extra income. But before you jump in and start applying, there are some things you need to know about creating successful bids.

Avoid being the lowest bid. Trying to get jobs by offering the lowest price is a tough way to earn good money. When you offer a low-ball bid, you undervalue your work and have to work much harder than if you highlight your skills at a higher rate. In addition, those who continuously hire the lowest bidder are generally more difficult to work with than someone who values a writer’s time.
Follow all of the instructions posted in the job listing. Many of your potential clients are pressed for time. That’s why they are looking for someone to outsource work to in the first place. They don’t have time to go back and correct mistakes. If you don’t follow instructions when you apply, the customer will assume that you won’t follow them if they assign work to you.
Include relevant writing samples. When possible, always include writing samples when applying. Your potential client has no way of knowing if you can write without reading some of your work. You can use writing that you have done already for samples or if the job is for a subject area you haven’t written about before, you may want to consider creating new samples.
Be aware of red flags. Just like with anything online, you have to be careful and protect yourself. One red flag is being requested to write a full length article for free. That “sample” might be the actual project that the client wants completed and by requesting it as a sample, they will get it for free. Another potential red flag is a client who has unrealistic demands like a lot of work for little pay or unreasonably short deadlines. Only take the jobs that make sense to you and don’t take advantage of you.
Look at the client’s rating. Most freelance sites give writers the ability to critique the clients. Be sure to read the reviews that others have left about your potential client. This can help you avoid difficult clients.
Try to only deal with established clients. Those who are established will be more organized than newbies, have a proven track record, and you’re likely to have fewer problems. They know how the freelance system works and they value it as a long term resource.
Don’t bid on jobs that want you to communicate off platform. Many sites are very strict about you only communicating on their platform. This is for security reasons for both parties and ensures that if a problem arises, everything is fully documented in their system. Don’t risk losing your account by breaking this rule.
Proofread your entire bid. You only get one chance to make a good first impression. If your bid is full of mistakes, your client will not be confident in your writing skills.
Avoid boilerplate bids and create a new bid for each. Sending out the same exact bid to each client screams of laziness and won’t address the client’s needs appropriately. Take a few minutes to send a customized bid each time you apply.
Bid on multiple job listings. Some people will send in one bid and then sit back and wait for a response from that one bid. This can leave huge gaps in your schedule. If you want steady work, you have to apply to multiple job listings.

Don’t get discouraged and stay persistent. You will most likely need to apply for many assignments before you find a client or two that works for you. Once you have a few steady clients, you can bid on jobs to fill in the gaps.

What to Do Next:

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How Secure Is Your Internet Network?

Nov11

My partner spotlight this month is PureVPN. They operate a self-managed virtual private network (VPN ) that currently stands at 500+ servers in 141 countries and promises the fastest speed possible. Since they own their network, there are no third-parties involved and NO logs of your activities. Continue reading →

A Powerful Way to Improve Your Productivity

Sep24

Improve Your Productivity at www.xtreme-assistant.com

High-level business leaders are experts in delegation as they have learned that they can’t do everything themselves.

Delegation becomes increasingly more important as you progress through your career and will greatly increase your productivity.

There is no other skill that will increase your productivity to the same degree as being able to delegate successfully.

To be successful, you need to allocate as much time as possible to the development of your business.

This requires focusing a significant amount of time on planning for the short-term and long-term goals of your organization.

In practice, this is actually difficult to do as your time gets overtaken with everyday operational tasks, problems, and putting out fires.

Continue reading →

Healthy Living Made Easy!

Sep11

Healthy Living at www.xtreme-assistant.com

Don’t you wish you had affordable shortcuts to make healthy living easier?

Are you tired of trying to make a Whole Foods lifestyle work on a Dollar Store budget?

I get it! You want the best for your family.

You want to raise healthy kids, have strong immune systems, be more fit and energetic, and be intentional about creating a natural home.

But sometimes it just feels so hard. 😖

There’s a lot to learn and the internet can be more than a little overwhelming at times.

I know what it’s like to feel that healthy living shouldn’t be this difficult, and it shouldn’t have to cost so much, either!

Don’t you ever wish someone would just tell you exactly what you need to know and how to make these changes for less?

When you have the right info and tools at your fingertips, it all comes together so much more easily.

You know what to eat.

You’re more confident in choosing natural alternatives.

You can easily control your cravings.

You feel better (and even look better, too).

Healthy living becomes less stressful and more enjoyable. 😀

That’s why the Get Fit! Get Healthy! guide was created!

Many families are saying “YES” to their health and getting this complete collection of resources for a crazy low price.

You sort of need to see it to believe it, but the guide includes 101 powerful tips on health and fitness.

Here’s How To Get Your Healthy Living Guide

Visit this website, take a quick look at all the goodness that comes in this guide, scroll down to the BUY NOW button, then click it to go through the simple checkout process.
You’ll get instant access to download the guide right away.
Start extracting valuable tips you can put to use immediately.

It’s even backed by a full 30-day guarantee, so you can know for sure that it’s right for you. It’s 100% risk-free!

No one should have to put off a healthier lifestyle because it costs too much or they can’t get the help they need.

My family has felt so much better by making changes to the way we eat, the products we use, and how we take care of ourselves.

It’s made all the difference in the world and I want the same for you and your family.

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