Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Freelancer Tips on Collecting Money

Following up on the previous article on how you should charge as a freelancer, a few readers has also voiced their concern on the money collection part. This is a tough one, account receivables, or in most freelancer’s personal dealings and experience, they are more commonly known as bad debts.

Your ability to collect money after delivering your service would be detrimental to your cash flow and subsequently, the survival of your freelance license, before you go back working for that evil boss again. It’s like how you evaluate a company from the stock exchange by looking at their cash flow, as that will directly tell you the liquidity status and how healthy the company is. If there’s always more cash flowing out than in, that’s something to worry about. Even if a company is making a lot of profit, it doesn’t not necessarily means they are healthy. You need cash, not profit, to keep your operations running.

So, what is the best way to collect money, without resorting to bloody pig heads ala ah-long style.

Tip 1: Know thy Customer
This is something that you can’t do overnight. You can only know your customer repayment credibility after working with them on a few projects. Start with smaller projects before going to bigger ones when dealing with new customers. If any of them showing signs of delayed payments, at least you won’t be too badly affected. Keep the 80/20 rule in mind, it’s better to focus 80% of your effort in keeping the 20% of your paying customer satisfied and happy.

Tip 2: Milestone Payments
Divide the projects into several chunks or milestones. With each completion, payment must be made before proceeding to the next milestone. It’s also a good idea to allocate the smallest ratio to the last milestone, since that would be the hardest cheque to redeem. For example, if your project has got 3 milestones, you can use a 50% payment for milestone 1, 35% for milestone 2 and 15% for the final milestone.

Tip 3: Keep the Key
Use this only when dealing with new clients where you have heard dodgy stories about them. Well, if you can avoid them, all the better, but sometimes, beggars can’t be too choosy. If there’s certain key feature that you can disable, you should insert them together to act as a self-destruct mechanism. This way, if they don’t pay up, you still have the last card. This tactic however, is a lose-lose situation. So if possible, you should avoid engaging such clients in the first place.

Tip 4: Establish a Reputation
If you have a strong track record, with influential friends in the field, it’s would be additional bonus when it comes to collecting money. A strong network amongst the freelancers in your particular field will also give you an idea about the repayment capabilities of certain companies, and also to warn you about potential blacklisted companies that do not honor their words.

Tip 5: Black & White
Ensure that you develop proper recordings on your dealings with the clients. This way, you can avoid heated arguments and emotional face-offs in the event of misunderstanding. There might also be situation where in the midst of the project, your client might just stop replying to your emails and phone calls. If you have a “Stop Work” clause, where they are to remit partial compensation, it will reduce your loss and also save you time on following up with these cold-dishes.

*****

These are the 5 tips that I find useful, and if you have anything to add from your personal experience, feel free to list them out in the commentary.

Yeah, playing debt collector is hard, but it’s a necessary skill that we need to develop in order to survive in the game. Here’s a list of nice guidelines which you can use if you are ever faced with debt issues

http://www.meshio.com/index.php/2007/08/freelancers-rate-card/

Team Work VS Benefit

Team Work play an important role in one company. There are number of benefits for teamwork, among them are:

-Distributing the workload
-Reinforcing individual capabilities
-Creating participation and involvement
-Making better decisions
-Feeling like we play a part in the work being done
-Generating a diversity of ideas, etc.
-When a team work do not apply in one company, that mean must be something wrong inside.

Then if a company really apply a team work concept, does it really mean a ideal place to stay? I think many workers place a good benefits package at the top of their career wish lists. wink~~

I come accross this issue through a very wonderfull website: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/insurance/benefits2004/benefits-primer1.asp

Saturday, April 26, 2008

能吵架,真好

他們又吵架了,我靜靜地聽。
看著他一臉氣憤的臉,我不插嘴。

不用插嘴的,他只是要人聽。聽他們的吵架,聽他的抱怨與不滿;而什麼都不說是最明智的選擇。
突然,我羨慕起他,即使再常吵架,即使再不滿她的不在意,他總是有著她。

能吵架也是一種幸福吧,我想。

若不是因為在意,為什麼要吵架?身旁有一個能和你吵架的人,那麼你也不是一個人了。
我的爸媽常吵架,吵些生活上的小事,吵些兒女們聽起來覺得莫名其妙的事。
小時,我最怕他們吵架了,尤其是吵到鬧著要離婚。
吵到後來,我倒寧可他們離婚了;可是我的爸媽一直到現在都還是在吵架。

哪對情侶不吵架?哪對夫妻不吵架?能吵架,至少還能溝通,更怕的是連吵也吵不起來。

很久以前,我和他不吵架,不吵,因為吵不起來;
他從不說他的心情,我吵時,他只是別過臉,忍著。
後來,有一天,我們分手了。沒有吵架,因為還是吵不起來。

再後來,我認識了另一個他。
我們也不吵架,因為他愛我,捨不得和我吵,而我,是根本忘記了還可以吵架。
有一天,我記起了原來還有吵架這回事時,我們分手了,
而到這時我才明白,不是我忘了吵架,是因為我根本未曾真正愛過,無心,也就不會吵架。

現在,我和你不會吵架,因為你還沒把我當成吵架的對象,而我甚至不敢和你吵架。

你知道嗎?吵不起來的情侶最恐怖了,因為從來沒有溝通,也從來沒有發洩。

人與人,不是在同一個環境同一個家庭長大的,怎麼可能一開始就完完全全契合?
不契合,又怎麼可能不溝通?
吵架只不過是溝通的途徑,
這麼一想,能吵架也是一種幸福。

能吵架,你們還有辦法溝通;
能吵架,你的身旁還有一個人;
能吵架,還有一個人可以和你吵。

但是,吵完了記得要合好,
記得,在吵架後,也要站在他的立場想想,退一步,下次你們還有吵架的機會。

女人是要疼的~

男士讀 ,女士看 ,讀出的是感悟 ,看出的是感動 ,其實樸實的背後是無限的真情 !

女人入洞房那天,早早收起了自己的鞋,等男人脫鞋上炕,女人卻雙腳踩在男人的鞋上。

男人見了,"嘿嘿"笑著說,還挺迷信。

女人卻認真地說,俺娘說了,踩了男人的鞋,一輩子不受男人的氣。

男人說,俺娘也說了,女人踩了男人的鞋,那是一輩子要跟男人吃苦受罪的。

女人開始試探著管男人,先從生活小事兒開始,支使男人拿尿盆倒尿罐,男人全幹了。

田裏的莊稼 女人說種什麼,男人就種什麼。左鄰右舍女人說跟誰走近點跟誰走遠點,男人全聽女人的。

男人正跟人閑聊,女人一聲叫喊,男人像被牽了鼻子的牛,乖乖就回去了。

男人正跟人喝酒,女人上前只扯一下耳朵,就被拽進家。

有人激男人,這女人三天不打,她就上房揭瓦。你也算個男人,怎能讓女人管得沒有一點男人的氣概?

若是我的女人,非賞她兩鞋底不可。

男人不急不慌地說:把你的女人叫來,我也捨得賞她兩鞋底子。

那人急了,你懂得我在敎你為你好嗎?上輩子老和尚托生的沒見過女人!真不像你爹的種,怕老婆!

村裏人再有大事商量,男人一出場,人們就說,這商量大事你也做不了主,還是把你家女人請來吧。

男人還真把女人叫來了。女人能管住男人覺著很得意,直到有一天女人在男人耳邊說起了婆婆的不是。

男人紅了眼,一聲吼~~ 想知道我為什麼不打你嗎?就因為我老娘。

我娘一輩子不容易,我爹脾性暴躁,稍有不順心,張口就罵舉手就打,我爹打斷過胳膊粗的棍子,

打散過椅子。我娘為了我們幾個孩子,竟熬了一輩子。每次見娘挨打,我都發誓,

我娶了女人決不捅他一指頭。不是我怕你,是我忘不了我老娘說的話,

她說女人是被男人疼的,不是被男人打的。

女人驚呆了,她沒想到男人的胸懷竟這樣寬廣。

男人在外再和朋友鄰居們神吹海喝,女人不喊罵也不再拽耳朵,有時會端碗水遞給男人。

有人問男人,怎麼調教出來的?

男人一本正經地說:打出來的女人嘴服,疼出來的女人心服。

看完了 ,你從中領悟到了那個樸實的道理了嗎 ?

ETI TECH CORPORATION BERHAD









ETI TECH CORPORATION BERHAD
57-2, PERSIARAN BAYAN INDAH,
BAYAN BAY, SUNGAI NIBONG, PENANG
Tel: (60) 4 642 9887
Fax: (60) 4 645 6698

Transferred to Main Market: 20.04.2010
Listing Date: 28.03.2006
Par Value: 0.10
IPO Price: 0.45

Market: MAIN
Sector: TECHNOLOGY
Major Industry: ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

Company Brief:
ETI Tech Corporation Berhad (ETICB) is a Malaysia-based company principally involved in investment holding and providing management services. The Company has four wholly owned subsidiaries: ETI Tech (M) Sdn. Bhd. (ETI Tech), Power Mac Sdn. Bhd., ETI Tech International Sdn. Bhd., and Blithe Forest Limited. ETI Tech is engaged in the research and development, design and marketing of battery management system (BMS) for rechargeable energy storage solutions. On July 26, 2006, ETI Tech International Sdn. Bhd., acquired Blithe Forest Limited, which is involved in investment holding. On July 20, 2006, the Company acquired Vertex Cycle Sdn. Bhd., and changed its name to ETI Tech International Sdn. Bhd. It acts as an investment holding company, which carries out the international procurement/sourcing function for ETICB. On July 20, 2006, ETI Tech acquired Fusion Cycles Sdn. Bhd., and changed its name to Power Mac Sdn. Bhd. It is involved in battery packaging and products assembly.

如何和女生相处

和女生相处是一门学问,看了这篇文章之后,你应该会有所感悟--如何和女生相处?

死穴一:只顾温柔迁就
大多数男性觉得只要对女性体贴服从,便能博取她们的欢心,其实这可能是一个非常非常大的错误!
看过很多心理学专家的分析,原来就算最正常的女人也有依附男性的心理,每个女人都想有一个有主张见地,有气概的男人来做她的护花使者。
由於她们不爱则已,一爱便会献出所有,试想想,她们还会傻得把自己附托在一个软弱的人身上?
对待女人,应该主动时便要发号施令;强硬的时候,也要强硬到底。

死穴二:不可冒充能干
当女性拜托男性帮助做事的时候很多男性会拍心口一口答应,到头来却做得一塌糊涂,左拖右拉,这样反而不能获得她们的谅解。
宁愿一早量力而为,知道无法胜任便婉转拒绝,她们也许还觉你老实,对你保持良好的印象。

死穴三:忌问年龄
这个大家可能一早听过,但我仍觉得有不厌其烦便说一次的必要。
就算一位女性平时如何地平实,如何地诚恳,但当她提及自己的年龄时,总会拼了老命去闪躲,隐瞒以至欺骗!
总之,十八以下六十过外的女性才会对自己的年龄不大在乎。因此面对一个女人,你几乎可以提出任何问题,但千万记着不可牵连到她的年龄。明白了吗?

死穴四:小心地开玩笑
跟女性开玩笑当然可以,而且熟悉的有熟悉的开玩笑方法,不大熟络的也有另一套方法。
如果是一些有趣的玩笑,对整个相处的气氛也会有极好的调适作用。
可是玩笑一过了火位,效果便会很坏,你的下场也许会是惨烈的。
所以,必须要有分寸,好好观察她们对你的反应,切忌得意忘形,才不会惹起她们的反感和愤怒。

死穴五:不应出手寒酸
其实大多数的女人均是斤斤计较的,但她们却不喜欢男人斤斤计较。
而身为男性,必须早有心理准备,知道跟女性出街,花钱应该豪爽一点,最低限度不可现出寒酸相。
没钱便不要拍拖,知道吗?

死穴六:切忌心不在焉
和女性约会时,男性礼貌上真的应该集中精神,随时注意对方的谈话及意图。
如果一直也心不在焉,对她的发问和话题瞠目而不知所对,那对她来说是非常扫兴的事!
下次想再跟她约会,她可能会请你吃足一顿柠檬。所以,将经常扰乱你神智的事情暂时放开吧!
譬如经常有人拨你的手提电话,便索性关掉它吧!少听几个电话不会死的!

死穴七:不能挖苦身材
永远永远永远永远不要以一个女人的体重当做话题!
女人即使口中怎样说不介意自己的体重,她还是很介意的。
宁愿称赞一个身段健美,面貌可人的女人,也不可随便挖苦一个身材欠佳的女人,她暗暗受伤之馀,自己也少不免被隔离的了。

死穴八:不用太率直
对待女人不用太率直,因为女人不喜欢太率直,她们大都喜欢和风趣的人交谈,甚至有时在言语上针锋相对,但却不会太爱那些过分率直且含爆炸性的诙谐。
所以其实一切的俏皮话并不一定要说得太明白,就让她们花一点心思去咀嚼你所说的话,来猜忖你在话语间所隐藏的意义,然後她们又会像猜到哑谜般发出洋洋得意的会心微笑

20080426 成立博客网

我好开心...终于踏出第一步....成立了博客网.
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