₦airaland Forum

fxbot:
G12 ooo. MTN has finished me. What I subscribed to has been decleared exhausted, 4,5gb. I didn't watch videos but just downloaded themes and plugins which where about 25MB each. Na wa o.

my dear,i for 1 hav bin offline 4 quite somtime nw after mtn dealt wit me.2gb wot of 2k disappeared in 7days of browsing virtually notin online.it was dia nite plan i suppose?

pocoapoco88:
my dear,i for 1 hav bin offline 4 quite somtime nw after mtn dealt wit me.2gb wot of 2k disappeared in 7days of browsing virtually notin online.it was dia nite plan i suppose?

which plan is that? I use MTN betterme plan... 2015mb for N2015....you can try it..... Just that it seems I noticed that MTN data no dey last like before again.. Perhaps it's just a feeling.

twosquare:
which plan is that? I use MTN betterme plan... 2015mb for N2015....you can try it..... Just that it seems I noticed that MTN data no dey last like before again.. Perhaps it's just a feeling.

dats d plan i was talking abt.hav spent over #12k on dat plan since dis yr bt d last time i used it,it got exhausted under 7days,it was vry disheartening.i chose 2 maintain a low profile until i find an affordable and reliable data subscription dat can meet my needs.

pocoapoco88:
dats d plan i was talking abt.hav spent over #12k on dat plan since dis yr bt d last time i used it,it got exhausted under 7days,it was vry disheartening.i chose 2 maintain a low profile until i find an affordable and reliable data subscription dat can meet my needs.

Mine I suppose is every two weeks...

stagger:
Keep wondering...while the God of Shiloh keeps blessing!

@Egbon Stagger,
abeg leave the unbelievers to their 'unbelief'!
Sometime earlier this year, l registered as a writer on FREELANCER.
I got my first project from a client with a female profile who was initially skeptical (l registered with my true identity: Nigerian male and all) but eventually found my writing rather impressive.
Because our time zones were hours apart, l sometimes stayed up all night punching away at my keyboard furiously to beat her tight deadlines.
As she continued to rehire me, l made a startling discovery - she was not an actual client but a freelance writer outsourcing her projects to me!
Hence the tight deadlines and meager pay!.
And l was way smarter than this lady. Yet there she was posing with and feeding fat on my intellectual property. Thereafter, l just disappeared from the site: she DM me tire sef.
The point is that there is a lot of money to be made online. But as Stagger pointed out, you must find a way to beat the competition and climb high up on the food chain. Many Nigerians would outsource work online and pay mega bucks merely because na 'oyinbo' dey do the work!

paschu:
Thanks @Victor101

Your points are great. In fact I do NOT submmit long proposals anymore, but that's mainly because I now have a strong profile that speaks louder than a thousand words. But I'd also like to say that when it comes to proposals, neither long form nor short form is the key to winnig a contract at Upwork. Both forms can land the job if you write them well enough. But what matters really is how relevant and engaging your proposal is. That said, two things I want to highlight about the sample proposal above are:

1. I jumped right into the problem solving mode. Notice that 90% of the proposal was FOCUSED on the client and her project. FACT is the only thing the client cares about is the success of her project, not your many paper qaulifications.

Please take note of this: The very moment I focused on the client and started proffering ACTIONABLE solutions to her immediate and perceived problems, I INSTANTLY DEPARTED FROM THE ROLE OF A JOB APPLICANT AND MOVED INTO THE ROLE OF A SEASONED CONSULTANT. I did not try to talk her into giving me the job (that shows that I respect her sense of judgement), but I also SUBTLY and simply talked as though I AM ALREADY A MEMBER OF HER TEAM who wants nothing else but the success of her project EVEN IF I'M NOT THE ONE THAT'D EVENTUALLY BE COMMISSIONED TO DO IT. I even offered to do a custom no-strings-attached white-paper (at absolutely no cost) to assist whomever she hires.

If you're the client, which freelancer would you rather talk to in this scenario?

2. I was able to cut off all the fine speaks (you don't really impress anyone with those) and spoke to her like a buddy (I did not overdo it though) which is exactly what most folks look for in writing. Even scientific and academic consumers are coming up too, but they are not there yet. So when applying for academic writing gig, it may still be more advantageous to sound like a professor rather than sounding like Aunty Joy. Besides that, learnig to write like you'd normally speak with good friends is a great plus.

That's it folks.

P.S

PLEASE DON'T EVER DESCEND SO LOW AS TO PAINT OTHER FREELANCERS BAD. THAT'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO LET THE POTENTIAL CLIENT KNOW THAT YOU REALLY SUCK SO BAD. Let the client hire whomsoever she feels is best fit for her job, and IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOU.

P.S 2

Always REread your proposal OVER and Over again before hitting submmit. For example I've lost counts of how many times I edited this very post. But you don't have that luxury at Upwork. Once you hit the submmit button the proposal is gone for good and so are the connects you used to send it. And if you decide to withdraw it and resubmmit you'd be spending twice the connects it would have cost you if you took the time to proofread it before submmiting it the first time.

l have just been schooled!
Thanks sir.
BTW, between FREELANCER, ELANCE AND UPWORK, which, do you suppose, will be kindest to a newbie sir?

stagger:
The starting point is: what skill do these guys have? If you have no skill you will be earning peanuts!

But if you have real skills, employers will come with thousands of dollars begging you to do their work. I made $50,000 from a Latvian company on Elance in 2013 alone. That company alone paid my rent that year and a jeep I bought.

You have to be on top of the food chain. All this talk about profile building without skills is a waste of time.

I even give 10k, 20k jobs to students because I am too busy now and work with few high paying companies now. There is even a php developer I know based in Lagos who has done more than 700 jobs on freelancer. When u reach that stage jobs will be chasing you, not you chasing $2 per 500 words peanut butter change.

@Stagger,o
Please what skills do u recommend one master?
And where around can one train to master these skills? (I live in Lagos and am assuming you do too)

softwhispers:
@Egbon Stagger,
abeg leave the unbelievers to their 'unbelief'!
Sometime earlier this year, l registered as a writer on FREELANCER.
I got my first project from a client with a female profile who was initially skeptical (l registered with my true identity: Nigerian male and all) but eventually found my writing rather impressive.
Because our time zones were hours apart, l sometimes stayed up all night punching away at my keyboard furiously to beat her tight deadlines.
As she continued to rehire me, l made a startling discovery - she was not an actual client but a freelance writer outsourcing her projects to me!
Hence the tight deadlines and meager pay!.
And l was way smarter than this lady. Yet there she was posing with and feeding fat on my intellectual property. Thereafter, l just disappeared from the site: she DM me tire sef.
The point is that there is a lot of money to be made online. But as Stagger pointed out, you must find a way to beat the competition and climb high up on the food chain. Many Nigerians would outsource work online and pay mega bucks merely because na 'oyinbo' dey do the work!

Even some folks are doing the emboldened but people don't know yet. Be wise people.

fxbot:
G12 ooo. MTN has finished me. What I subscribed to has been decleared exhausted, 4,5gb. I didn't watch videos but just downloaded themes and plugins which where about 25MB each. Na wa o.

pocoapoco88:
dats d plan i was talking abt.hav spent over #12k on dat plan since dis yr bt d last time i used it,it got exhausted under 7days,it was vry disheartening.i chose 2 maintain a low profile until i find an affordable and reliable data subscription dat can meet my needs.

twosquare:
Mine I suppose is every two weeks...

peeps you should try GLO's 4.5G at 2.5k useful anytime of the day

ubiquitousade:
peeps you should try GLO's 4.5G at 2.5k useful anytime of the day

The reason I'm not using it is that there is no 3G network in my temporary base... But at home, Glo don do me shege.. Even with 3G,the thing slow die, and that's the complaints of most folks I know using it...

twosquare:
The reason I'm not using it is that there is no 3G network in my temporary base... But at home, Glo don do me shege.. Even with 3G,the thing slow die, and that's the complaints of most folks I know using it...

what about airtel, i received a msg from them that they have same plan at same price though airtel sucks in my area.

ubiquitousade:
what about airtel, i received a msg from them that they have same plan at same price though airtel sucks in my area.

well, I'm not sure about that... I if it's even all-rounder like GLO... I will find out....

victor101:
CASH WITHDRAWAL FOR YOUR FREELANCE FUNDS

There are different withdrawal methods, but unfortunately and fortunately for us Nigerians Payoneer is our best option for now.

I CAN ONLY SHARE MY EXPERIENCE:

I use PAYONEER MasterCard: and I will emphasis on their hidden charges first so you know. Why other thread/people won't tell you this!

Payoneer Deductions:

$29 for annual fee

$9.67 for activation fee

$3.5 more or less. This depends on your card usage for a particular month which will determine the monthly fee charged next month

$2.5 fast-tracking withdrawal from merchant to your payoneer card

$0.00 Every withdrawal from merchant takes 2 days to hit your payoneer card from merchant.

$0.00 for payoneer to payoneer cash transfer

$1 for every withdrawal

$1 for ATM insufficient fund prompt

$1 for checking account Balance

$12 for card replacement

The deductions figures above might be slightly different please visit www.payoneer.com and do your own findings.

Go to www.payoneer.com and register to get your Payoneer MasterCard, The card looks nice I liked it at first sight (Black colour design)!, Yeah and is free to apply and it will be delivered through NIPOST to your address in Nigeria at no cost. (Payoneer is a financial service firm in New York US),

Please don't wait for NIPOST to come to you. I advice you go to them, guys be proactive here, my experience: I had to visit NIPOST state office here a day after the scheduled date with my ID card, and my letter containing the card was handed to me free of charge. The letter had been there waiting for me, so you can go before the scheduled date sent to your email by payoneer. My Advice: make sure you build or get a contact in your state NIPOST office to track your letter containing the card.

Important Advice: Please MAKE SURE that you use the same name/surname and address as with your upwork.com or other freelance sites account. Why? I have researched that these freelancing sites do verify these cards. For example Elance.com takes 5 days( weekend inclusive) to verify your payoneer card, after you have added it as a means of withdrawal. Note, upwork.com have scheduled dates for withdrawals and their minimum of $100.


You can withdraw cash from any ATM with a the MasterCard logo,( Final Advice: At your point of registering for your card on the payoneer website, please don't forget your 4digit PIN number you used during registration this is the pin you must use to withdraw at the ATM. Just like your normal naija ATM, When you insert your card it tells you welcome, Please check your balance first (I know it will deduct $1 but is wise this way than at the end it tells you insufficient fund) Then continue, click savings, amount to withdrawal, then your naira gets to you.

[size=14pt]If you find this post helpful or informative give it 10,000 likes. Am counting...........still counting......[/size]



Direct your question here
or to my email aprofessor@naij.com if am less busy I will reply.

Shalom!

Hello Bro Vic,I'm a bit confused!I applied for the payoneer card and it was scheduled to arrive on 9-16 Nov.But my problem lies on ID card details.While registering,I chose Voters card and filled some imaginary numbers when in truth, I didn't have any Voter's card.Will I have to tender ID details to get my Payoneer Card?.And secondly,this has been the bane of my thoughts,How do I get my Payoneer card?Will they locate the address I filled during reg,bringing it there?or will I have to go to Nipost in the city I filled getting it there?will it incur any additional expenses?

Pls I'm not sure you can answer this,But what advantage has the PayPal over the Payoneer?Do I still need the PayPal even when I have registered Payoneer?and if Yes what for?Because I'm Christian( this is not my NL monicker)and it seems PayPal for Nigerians is restricted.

ubiquitousade:
peeps you should try GLO's 4.5G at 2.5k useful anytime of the day

dat glo network is crap,takes like ages 2 open a page .....tnx 4 d recommendation anyway

ubiquitousade:
what about airtel, i received a msg from them that they have same plan at same price though airtel sucks in my area.

airtel r alot faster dan glo bt dey r thieves,dey zapp data

ubiquitousade:
what about airtel, i received a msg from them that they have same plan at same price though airtel sucks in my area.

Please forget Airtel. Go for Glo if the signal is okay in your area.

pocoapoco88:
airtel r alot faster dan glo bt dey r thieves,dey zapp data

Very true! I left Airtel for Glo.

paschu, please can you explain this image and how to use it? thanks

softwhispers:
And l was way smarter than this lady. Yet there she was posing with and feeding fat on my intellectual property.

@Softwhispers

I seriously beg to differ. For starters, it takes much more intelligence to get a contract at a high rate from one end of the world and recruit a CHEAP but seriously dependable freelancer from another end of the world to execute the job flawlessly and deliver it on time. If you think it's easy why haven't you tried it yet? One thing you seem to forget though is the high probablity that the client in question must have once been in your shoes and excelled before upgrading to the realm of agency.

Thereafter, l just disappeared from the site: she DM me tire sef.

This is a terrible mistake on your part. Why? Because the behavior is highly unprofessional. You don't close your shop and stop showing up at work or office simply because you had a bad client to deal with, do you? You abscunded from duty simply because you did not see the stuff as your BUSINESS. It was not because of the ridiculous pay at all. And I think the newbies should please take note of this. If you try this staunt at Upwork you'd kill your reputation instantly and that's another way of saying that you'd go out of business.

Again, running away as you did simply shows that you didn't have adequate conflict resolution skills. How do I know that? I know because you had two options which you failed to explore.

1. You could have boldly asked for an increase in pay, and show solid reasons why you're worth it.

2. If the request for increase is declined, you had the right to cancle the project officially after due negotitions and mutual considerations.

You did not explore the above options probably because you did not take your freelance career as a business.

The point is that there is a lot of money to be made online. But as Stagger pointed out, you must find a way to beat the competition and climb high up on the food chain.

Of course, but one of the greatest skills you can possibly develop is custumer acquisition, satisfaction and retention skill. Nothing would ever beat that in business.

Many Nigerians would outsource work online and pay mega bucks merely because na 'oyinbo' dey do the work!

Wrong again. Those Nigerians who are savvy enough to outsource their works abroad don't do it because they're oyibo freaks, nope, they do it because they want professionalism, not some folks who would disappear into the thing air when the going gets tough.

Sorry for the cheekyness of my choice of word, it's not about you at all, it's about the community; especially for the benefits of those who are new to the business of freelancing.

fxbot:
paschu, please can you explain this image and how to use it? thanks

It's just as the caption says. The first field is where you put the amount you want to charge the client for the project. Once you do that the Upwork robot would do an invicible calculation, deduct the company's 10% fee fron the figure you entered, and display the balance in the second field. That balance is your net pay (the amount you'd get after the project).

I usually add 10% to my official rate so that after the deductions I'd still get the exact figure I wanted. For example, if I wanted to charge my client $100 for a job I'd qoute $111 so that after the deduction of Upwork fees I'd still have up to $100 to myself.

Hope that's clear enough?

softwhispers:
l have just been schooled!
Thanks sir.
BTW, between FREELANCER, ELANCE AND UPWORK, which, do you suppose, will be kindest to a newbie sir?

I really like your fluency in punctuation.

Well, Upwork and Elance are one. I've not used freelancer before, but fron what I hear, upwork is the place to be. No, they won't give you unearned success because your a newbie, but they'd sure give your a tresparent and level ground to prove that you're a professional. They also have a highly thriving and extremely helpful peer to peer comnunity.

paschu:
It's just as the caption says. The first field is where you put the amount you want to charge the client for the project. Once you do that the Upwork robot would do an invicible calculation, deduct the company's 10% fee fron the figure you entered, and display the balance in the second field. That balance is your net pay (the amount you'd get after the project).

I usually add 10% to my official rate so that after the deductions I'd still get the exact figure I wanted. For example, if I wanted to charge my client $100 for a job I'd qoute $111 so that after the deduction of Upwork fees I'd still have up to $100 to myself.

Hope that's clear enough?

i know that but the problem is a situation where client gives a budget of say $1000 and then we have that box. Do you put in $1000 since client gave a budget of $1000?

fxbot:
i know that but the problem is a situation where client gives a budget of say $1000 and then we have that box. Do you put in $1000 since client gave a budget of $1000?

You can use your discreation. I've done both and still got the job each time. Personally, when the budget is on the lower side I absolutely always add the 10% fee on top of the client's budget. But if the budget is reasonably high, I may choose to have the fee deducted from the qouted budget.

On the other side, it totally depends on your level of confidence and maybe the level of competition for the said project. Personaly I hardly qoute anything less than the client's expressed budget. I always put the same figure there or add 10% to it to cover Upwork fees.

paschu:
@Softwhispers

I seriously beg to differ. For starters, it takes much more intelligence to get a contract at a high rate from one end of the world and recruit a CHEAP but seriously dependable freelancer from another end of the world to execute the job flawlessly and deliver it on time. If you think it's easy why haven't you tried it yet? One thing you seem to forget though is the high probablity that the client in question must have once been in your shoes and excelled before upgrading to the realm of agency.



This is a terrible mistake on your part. Why? Because the behavior is highly unprofessional. You don't close your shop and stop showing up at work or office simply because you had a bad client to deal with, do you? You abscunded from duty simply because you did not see the stuff as your BUSINESS. It was not because of the ridiculous pay at all. And I think the newbies should please take note of this. If you try this staunt at Upwork you'd kill your reputation instantly and that's another way of saying that you'd go out of business.

Again, running away as you did simply shows that you didn't have adequate conflict resolution skills. How do I know that? I know because you had two options which you failed to explore.

1. You could have boldly asked for an increase in pay, and show solid reasons why you're worth it.

2. If the request for increase is declined, you had the right to cancle the project officially after due negotitions and mutual considerations.

You did not explore the above options probably because you did not take your freelance career as a business.



Of course, but one of the greatest skills you can possibly develop is custumer acquisition, satisfaction and retention skill. Nothing would ever beat that in business.



Wrong again. Those Nigerians who are savvy enough to outsource their works abroad don't do it because they're oyibo freaks, nope, they do it because they want professionalism, not some folks who would disappear into the thing air when the going gets tough.

Sorry for the cheekyness of my choice of word, it's not about you at all, it's about the community; especially for the benefits of those who are new to the business of freelancing.

Thank you for being brutally frank. I'm quite comfortable with the truth, bitter as it may be. And for your generous compliments, many thanks too.
Your point about me being lackadaisical because l do not see freelancing as my personal business, is truth as gospel.
I'll be needing your help personally from hence. Having direct access to you like perhaps, your whatsapp number, go make sense well well. Bros abeg, can you kindly oblige me, biko nu?
l mê la nno o, nna! Dà lu!

paschu:
You can use your discreation. I've done both and still got the job each time. Personally, when the budget is on the lower side I absolutely always add the 10% fee on top of the client's budget. But if the budget is reasonably high, I may choose to have the fee deducted from the qouted budget.

On the other side, it totally depends on your level of confidence and maybe the level of competition for the said project. Personaly I hardly qoute anything less than the client's expressed budget. I always put the same figure there or add 10% to it to cover Upwork fees.

I have just sent you a PM. Please reply with your whatsapp number.

fxbot:
I have just sent you a PM. Please reply with your whatsapp number.

Could not see anything in your emal besides the NL notification that you'd like to contact me. Had replied with an hi though to keep the conversation going. How about resending the message?

dia is one tin most of us wil nid 2 undstand.acquiring and mastering 1 or more skills is gr8 but trust me witout any positive review on ones upwork profile, landing a job wub seem like going into battle unarmed against a giant wit 2 swords.so it'll b kul if d gurus cud share ideas if dia exist any on d easiest and fastest way 2 get a few positives reviews .....jst my humble observation and opinion

llo Nl,I'm a bit confused!I applied for the payoneer card and it was scheduled to arrive on 9-16 Nov.But my problem lies on ID card details.While registering,I chose Voters card and filled some imaginary numbers when in truth, I didn't have any Voter's card.Will I have to tender ID details to get my Payoneer Card?.And secondly,this has been the bane of my thoughts,How do I get my Payoneer card?Will they locate the address I filled during reg,bringing it there?or will I have to go to Nipost in the city I filled getting it there?will it incur any additional expenses?

Pls what advantage has the PayPal over the Payoneer?Do I still need the PayPal even while I've registered Payoneer?and if Yes what for?Because it seems PayPal for Nigerians has restriction

paschu:
Could not see anything in your emal besides the NL notification that you'd like to contact me. Had replied with an hi though to keep the conversation going. How about resending the message?

bro, that hi could have been used to send your whatsapp number and that's the way nairaland was built--default message before custom messages if we ain't following each other. so could you oblige a bit and send the number? thanks. I have been busy chasing clients offline

For those bothered about which network is more preferable to subscribe for data, I have this friend of mine who does his Elance freelancing by subscribing with N1500 for 3GB on Airtel with his Android (you may use its hotspot or USB for browsing with your PC) and this does lasts for him though...

Hi bro. I registered on appery.io. its a nice platform. Buts very extensive. Other platforms I tried were not too good. Can you please recommended a good and cheaper alternative?

fxbot:
lol... I have been to that thread long before now. He seems to be using same method in the links i dropped weeks ago-- drag and drop.