How to get freelance job on Internet?

You type "work online" on Google, you will see a million results offering you jobs to work from home and earnings in thousands of dollars. You start thinking, oh God, is making money so easy...no absolutely not. Whatever ads you see on Google, I think 99% of them are just good for nothing. Well, I don't say that all these are scams but they typically work on the same idea. You pay a few dollars to them and they will give you some links to doing online survey or online data entry or join one of the millions referral programs on Internet, refer another people like you, then he will refer another, and thus making a chain and ultimately earning thousand of dollars. Sounds complicated and simple at the same time. Well, many of the Internet marketers have been making great moolah by using this marketing technique and this in fact is one of the most successfully tested Internet formula. If you have the patience and zeal to work on this concept, rest assured you can succeed if not in days or months than in years.

The other and in fact more tried and tested concept is to do freelancing jobs on Internet. Here, the benefit is you can do freelancing jobs according to your skill sets. It's not like you don't know the ABCD of marketing, and you have just entered the ruthless world of Internet marketing by paying a few dollars but now you don't know what to do, so it is always better not to do something you don't know anything. Here, you can opt for doing freelancing jobs on Internet. The biggest provider of online freelancing jobs is Elance.com. They offer both basic or free service as well as paid service. If you opt for free service, you will have the limited option that is you can send only 3 proposals to the prospective employers and so you have to be careful bidding for jobs. You should bid for only those jobs that you feel really confident about and once you have submitted your proposal, just cross your fingers and hope for the best. The other provider is Gofreelance.com, which of course is a paid affair. You will have to pay about 40 dollars per month to avail of their services. So, if you are a beginner, I think first give Elance a try and see how it goes and then once you have made some penny, you can use those pennies to get another job and so on.

So, best of luck to all the freelancers.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Credit card - a sweet poison

Let me take you back into 1999. I had started working just a few months back and had made a saving of Rs. 9000 to buy me a portable color TV. Yes, color TV that time was really a costly thing to buy and I had to shell out Rs. 8450 to get an Onida 14 inch color TV. I had taken out the money from the bank and was carrying full cash with me. Then I saw another customer buying TV through his credit card. Believe me that was the first time I was seeing a real credit card transaction taking place in front of me. The shopkeeper took the impression of the credit card with the help of some manual impression-taking thing and then called the bank and got the approval and done... so simple!!! Though all these now sound archaic but at that time I was really fascinated by this small plastic card and just wanted to have one in my wallet at any cost. Little did I know that small piece of plastic will make my life a helluva journey for the all the time to come.

Well, I did get my own credit card just a few months after, an ICICI Bank Gold Credit Card with a credit limit of Rs. 35,000 to begin with and thus started taking the sweet poison from that very day. Like all the youngster, in just 3 months, my credit card bill was running into five figures, though my salary was still in the four-figure range and then the minimum payment thing started and then the rest is a story I think most of us know, as we all do the same mistake over and over again until you reach a stage where even the minimum payment becomes such a big thing to pay that you start getting calls from the collection agent and those recovery goons.

Well, a word of caution for all the youngters just getting into their new job. Please don't take this poison at all if possible and if already taken, try to get rid of this sweet poison as soon as possible or soon you will be trapped into a Chakravyuh like Abhimanyu where you can only enter but just can't get out...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

My favorite work excuses

Here is a compiled list of my favorite work excuses. A must read for everyone needing a work excuse:

1. I went to a party on Sunday and met a girl, we've been in bed ever since. I'm getting tired now and will be at work in an hour or so .

2. Sorry Boss I can't come into work today...my spirit guide says work is for losers!

3. My dog is having puppies and I need to help her.

4. Sorry I did not show up yesterday, I locked myself in the bathroom.

5. I won't be able to come to work next week . We are trying for a baby and the doc says next week is the best chance.

6. Last night a friend I haven't seen in a long time came over and gave me a bear hug and broke one of my ribs, so I won't be in today.

7. Sorry I'm late, I had to pawn my alarm clock.

8. Don't call, don't write, don't let anyone know what's going on - take an extra week, or two. Then when you are ready to go back to work, just call up your boss and say.... " Don't pay the ransom - I escaped! "

9. I'm sorry I was late, I forgot to look at my watch!!!

10. I didn't want to be late for work again today so I called in sick instead!

My Top 5 Ways to Write a Blog

Well, you have started a blog and put some posts initially but now just running out of ideas to write a new post. To be a successful blogger, one must always keep writing new posts, otherwise you will soon find your Alexa traffic ranking taking a downward turn.

As a blogger, the most difficult task is to find out a new topic to write about. Well, here are my top 5 ways to get idea about a new topic for your blog:

1. Your most important provider of new topic is your own blog comments. You must check the comments posted on the blogs and see the questions posed by your readers and there are more than enough chance that a new idea will just click in your mind going through these comments.

2. Go back searching your most read blog post, give it a new twist or add a new angle and your loyal readers might be happy once again seeing their favorite blog post with a new twist. One can take the example of Ekta Kapoor's soap where every 3 months a new story unfolds in the same old cast and storyline and the viewer once again start watching the serial with a new interest.

3. Go through the social networking sites like Digg or Twitter and check out the new topics people blogging about and you might get the topic for your post for the day.

4. Ask reader to put comments and offer some give-away to the X reader. Chances are high that those reader will give you a new topic to write about.

5. Prepare a list like "Top 5 secrets of a successful love life" or the "Top 10 excuses for a sick leave," do some brainstorming, follow your office culture, prepare a list, and your new blog topic is ready. It is fun to read and easy to write.

If you have your own top 5 ideas, please put a comment, so that my next top 5 list will be published soon.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Fake IPL player reveals himself on camera

Here is the video FIP RIP where he reveals himself after the last KKR match, though in shadow form only...

The transcript of the video goes as below:

This is me, Fake IPL player... or FIP as you sometimes call me... It's been 4 weeks, 43 posts... about 17,000 comments till now...Over 90% of the comments have actually been from one person...called anonymous...who the hell is this guy anonymous...actually anonymous is me and you...yes...both of us... Behind all the greasepaint, I'm just another faceless guy... grew up in Delhi where I learnt my art... and I have travelled and worked almost all over India... actually, I grew up on cricket. One of the earliest memories being that of a grinning Kapil Dev, running back to the pavilion after beating England in the 1983 world cup semifinals... I watched with horror when Miandad whacked Chetan Sharma for that last-ball six... and also overjoyed when Jadeja returned the favor 10 days...err...10 years later...Actually I was crackpot enough to skip my IIM interview in order to watch India play Australia at Feroze Shah Kotla... A match that by the way we lost...But somewhere along the faceless journey in life, I happened to get intimately exposed to cricket... From the kings of Bollywood to the pimps of cricket... and vice versa... from the cricketers with oversized egos to journos that are so happy being in such august company... they forget to dig deep enough... I've seen them all. Yes, I am an insider... I am the fly on the wall... the ghost in the darkness...and I am sitting here right now reading your question and wondering why are you asking me about match fixing now...when the match itself has changed...in our attempt at competing with movies...we have actually changed cricket matches to three-hour cricket movies... with a couple of strategic timeouts in between...Being intimately involved, I think I saw a lot more happening than what most people saw on TV...oh I saw so much...it will probably take me a book or two to spell it all in...but if I actually write a book...I will probably be history even if my book is not...still it's a story that has to be told and perhaps my anonymity now will be exchanged for some harsh limelight later or perhaps not. As to my fascination with the city of Kolkata...hmmm...I love the people there...kintu dekha jaye to...Kolkata kin satti ekta Bollywood masala movie...is team mein action hai...tragedy hai...comedy hai...romance hai...sex hai...item number bhi hai...is team mein hero hai...heroine hai...villain hai...aur villain ka bhai bhi hai...yahin hai bollywood ka asli maja dosto...entertainment ka asli baap yahi hai... Anyway this is the story of FIP... finally, it's all just shadow play... or as my name suggest, fake... See you when I see you... kabhi alvida na kehna."

Now, it is up to you to decide who this Fake IPL Player is...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Madhubani paintings - an art form par excellence

Madhubani paintings or Mithila paintings are an art form that is very unique in its concept itself. The history of Mithila paintings goes back to the times of Ramayana when King Janak commissioned artists to decorate Janakpur to celebrate the marriage of Lord Ram with Princess Sita. Since then, the tradition has been kept alive by generations of Mithila women doing paintings on the wall of the hut by using herbal color and and a brush made of bamboo sticks (kucchi) and depicting the stories from birth to upnayan ceremony to marriage ceremony to death, every phase of life is beautifully described through the medium of picture and traditional maithili songs. Here I give you 2 samples of this beautiful art form that is now recognized globally and is in high demand across the world.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Bangalore one step away from getting into semi-finals

Yesterday was a day of low-scoring matches in IPL. The first match between Team Jaipur and Team Kolkata was like a one-day from 20 years back where bowler ruled the roost and batsmen were struggling to score a single run. Ultimately, KKR did deliver the knock-out blow to Rajsthan Royals, defending champion, and thus ended their dream of getting into the semis once again. The second match was a nightmare for Team Punjab where they squandered one of the easier opportunities to get into the semis being unable to defend a modest total posted by Team Chennai, thus putting their team on the rajor's edge.

This has made Bangalore's chances of getting into the semis much brighter. If they win today's match against the Chargers they will automatically be placed into the semis. But if they lose, then the average net run rate theory will come into play and they will have to vie with Team Punjab for the fourth spot in the semis. Though things look better for Bangalore now, but they have to just keep this NRR thing in mind while playing for today's match so that even if they lose to the Chargers, they should be well ahead on the NRR to keep Punjab out of fray.

Best of luck to Team Bangalore...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Kooldudz Store for personalized gift items.

Now you can get your own personalized T-shirts, Caps, Mugs, Stickers, Mouse pads, and a whole lot of merchandise at special price here on the Kooldudz Store.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Should Laloo be included in the UPA government again?

The big question everybody asking now is should Laloo be once again given railway ministry. There are two fundas working for and against him. The funda why he should be given railway ministry again is of course his turnaround of Indian Railways which is a fact and no one can deny that even his strongest foes cannot say it with any authority that he did not change the fate of Indian Railways.

The funda that goes against him is a clear people mandate against him who have outrightly rejected RJD with only 4 seats, and there is no way he should be made a minister again because Junta have voted against him. The other funda is his arrogance in which he denied any pre-poll alliance with Congress underestimating the Congress party's poll outcome. Now, after an exception display of might after election results by Congress, Laloo is in a way apologizing with Congress that it was a mistake from his part of not doing a pre-poll alliance and please forgive me for my mistake. Very usual Laloo like.

The entire political system in India has become so opportunistic that you have started believing where are we going. Should be rewrite our constitution and make only 2-party system like US or UK or keep going with this adjustment politics where any adjustments can be made to be in the power. It is up to people to decide.

My question to every netizens across the world is should Laloo be made railway minister again. You can take the poll and give your verdict against him.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

My take on the Fake IPL Player

Just went through the Get Shorty post from this now famous Fake IPL Player about his version of match-fixing rumors. One genuine point that he makes on the match-fixing thing is that why would somebody pay KKR to lose a match when they are already losing the matches on trot. That is very interesting to hear and sounds very convincing. You see, nobody remembers when was the last time KKR actually won a match. The only match they won this season was also due to Duckworth/Lewis (D/L) method, so that sounds very convincing as to why one should pay take even a single penny to lose a match.

I think now if and that is a big if KKR ever wins a match in IPL, Lalit Modi and IPL bosses must look into this if the match was fixed. Because I think if KKR wins a single match this IPL season, whoever would have bet on KKR will become an instant millionaire. The match-fixing rumor will once again come into limelight if KKR wins a match or Ganguli scores 50 runs of 20 balls or Ishant Sharma picks up 5 wickets in a match or Agarkar concedes only 10 runs in his 4 overs. If ever these things happen we should have enough reason to believe that the match was fixed.

The two names that I like the most from this Fake IPL Player post are Bhookha Naan and Appam Chutiya. I mean, just look at the word selection chosen, this is really awesome. Particularly, Appam Chutiya is like the word we all used for decades while completing our school and college years and still never knew that this word Chutiya can be such a successful marketing term that can soar one's Alexa ranking to 18,000. I think Philip Kotler must rewrite his Marketing Management book and add all these terms like Chutiya, dildo, slimeball, etc. and give use a new-age marketing funda.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar