New site!

WOOP!

I've just launched a new website with integrated blog (so much easier!)

If you fancy coming on over to say hi that would be lovely - www.elizabethdyer.co.uk

See you there! :)

People Per Hour Review: Update

It's been over a year since I joined People Per Hour. When I initially reviewed the site I offered a mixed bag but came to the conclusion that, on the whole, it was worth it.

I've changed my mind.

Use the site with caution - people are whoring themselves out for as little as £6/hour. When I've complained about this do you know what PPH said? "We are a global platform, some people will charge what is reflected in their country".

Ummm... isn't that what sweatshops do?

Anyway, that is clearly a LIE. If they *were* a global platform they wouldn't need to send me tweets like this:

I'm pretty sure that globally, somewhere, someone is awake and working for PPH.

It's a dastardly, murky world with little gumption as far as I can see.

On £60.00 I earned I only received £49.20. You don't need to be a mathematician to work out that is shocking. In fact, for the £90.00 I've earned via the site this month, I've only actually had £75.80. I would rather give a free hour to the client that have the greedy PPHers take the money. And what are they taking the money for? Pure profit?

Oh, if you ARE a keen maths brain you might notice that actually they are taking MORE than 15%.

I tried to get in touch with them. To contact them it took 4 clicks and poking around the site to find out how to do this - which is dodgy. If a company haven't got a very clean and honest way to contact customer service then they don't offer honest, clean customer service as far as I'm concerned.

I mailed them. How dare they steal a further £1.70! That is really bloody rude, actually. The answer? It's VAT.

YEAH? Then be upfront about it!! Don't provide a patronising "earnings calculator" that doesn't include VAT. What is the bloody point?

This screen shot says is all. In the background you'll see my earnings AFTER they've taken their commission. It very clearly says £49.20. Yet, in the foreground you'll see their "earnings calculator". This tells a different story. The Earnings Calculator is designed, from what I can see, to help you work out what you'll really earn (NET) after you've charged your client. In this instance, I invoiced £60.00 and could expect to get £51.00. Yet, I only got £49.20...

Sorry, I'm seething. Can you tell?

REVIEW UPDATE. On a scale of 1-5 (1* being the worst) I award People Per Hour the following:

Honesty? *
Clarity? *
Site layout? *
Customer Service? *
Value for Money? *
People I've met using the site? *****

Overview: Don't touch them with a bargepole.

I'm off to find something better. Anyone got any suggestions?

Creative University - A good find

If you're thinking of turning your hobby into a money making small business then you might wonder where on EARTH to start...

I've been complimented on my knitting before but I've never known if that is just etiquette for "really, so you didn't BUY me anything?" but the thought of spending my days crafting away for profit is a warm, fuzzy one.

For now I'm still loving my day job *far* too much but you if *do* want to turn your creative flair into a small business you could use this as your starting point.

There are a whole bunch of courses and resources on offer

In a couple of week the Creative University is running a short course - from Passion to Profit: Start Your Business in 6 weeks or less.

6 weeks? Really? Raised eyebrow in cynicism? Well, I've been privileged to see the course outline and details and it is FAB.

Becoming Self Employed is nerve wracking and *so* many people don't understand - I know that only too well - so a short course to equip you with the knowledge and confidence to know that you CAN succeed seems pretty perfect in my book.

The psychology of this course is ACE - offering you peer group support and all the essentials to launch your business. This course isn't promising to make millionaires overnight or even suggesting that it can give you a successful business. What this course does, which is more important, is that it allows you to put your business plan into action and support you along the journey.

Glass Half Empty? A little look at social media stats...

I've always *hated* statistics, not because I am historically dreadful at Maths (I am), but because my A level fling with Sociology showed me just how dangerous statistics can be.

I came across this a couple of days ago. It's well worth a read but it isn't gospel.

As you can see, "Did you know over 50% of the UK population are on Facebook (sic)"

The implied reaction is 'well then, over 50% use Facebook therefore we must concentrate all our efforts there', and the language in the article is in the same vain. But is this just a case of the glass being half full?

Oooh, that's a little small, sorry!

The first thing that struck me about this statistic was that nearly 50% of the UK population DON'T use Facebook. Furthermore, taking only the ONLINE population that means that just over 37% aren't on Facebook at all. That is over a third.

You simply can't ignore that. If you focus just on Facebook you are ostracising just over a third of your potential online audience.

I love social media - I love everything about it. I love learning, I love the pace, I love the errors and I think ALL social media needs to be considered but, when it comes to the big three?* I think small business, big business, individuals and groups should have a full glass of social media cocktail and enjoy it.

Cheers!

*currently Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. Although this is set to change - that's exciting, isn't it?

Cinderella and the Pumpkin

I suppose I've never questioned *why* cinderella went to the ball in a pumpkin-turned-carriage. If you have magic on your side you could turn anything into a carriage, surely?

Mr Me's sister donated us a pumpkin last week. I have to confess that I've never done anything culinary with pumpkin before but I now understand why cinders went to the ball in one...

It's big enough AND it saves her carving the stupid thing.

What do you do with *that* much pumpkin? When we were offered the pumpkin I was hoping to use this recipe from Woolly Green. Unfortunately this pumpkin wouldn't fit in my oven.

And I thought cutting up swede was tedious!

So I got on with the cutting, scooping and slicing and hoped inspiration would come to me. I had read a fab recipe for sweet baked pumpkin seeds that I thought I might try. So the scooped out innards sat and waited patiently for my attention.

Firstly, soup. A sweet potato and pumpkin soup. Mmm. Lunches for me and still portions left over for freezing!

Orange. So orange.

Next, soup for my sister! A kilo of it!

She can make the soup herself!

Er... now what? There is still so much pumpkin! I got researching and found this Sausage, Pumpkin and Sage recipe. It sounded tasty enough. So, with friendly company and countless bottles of wine we got to work! Part way through cooking the verdict was the same. Watery. Not quite tasty enough! So in went a sprinkling of chilli flakes. YUM! Better. The transformation came when I ate the leftovers for my lunch. Perfect. I would recommend the recipe with the switch from sage to chilli *and* less stock. The consistency the day after was, keeping with the fairy tale analogy,  just right!

Golilocks Sausage and Pumpkin Casserole

Now for the rest of the pumpkin. I was pointed to this on twitter - thanks TA! :)

Mmmm, this does look like a winner!

However, by this stage the pumpkin had been inhabiting my kitchen for *too* long and it was long past midnight. Cinderella was tired of this:

Cinders and the Giant Pumpkin!

The Nigella Thai option is going to have to wait. And that is pending the results of the great Frozen Pumpkin Experiment. The freezer is bursting with chunks of frozen pumpkin!!

Oh, and the seeds? I binned them in the end. It would seem that less is more when it comes to pumpkin!

PeoplePerHour Review

I joined people per hour in July. I thought this might be a good way to generate a bit more business and, on the face of it, the concept is really good. It's free to join and advertise yourself - in accordance with VERY strict guidelines - no personal branding allowed. Which is hard, that kinda goes against the point of advertising. You only "pay a fee" once you've been paid - so if you earn they take a cut. I thought, fine, still cheaper than other advertising packages. I'll give it a go.

My smiling face - why wouldn't you hire that face?

My first job came in - a short copywriting piece for a lovely client and the money appeared. Oooh. Exciting! £12.00. Oh, that shrunk to £9.84 but that's okay. This could lead to more work and I did get 5 star feedback from the client.

See, would I lie to you? Okay, you get it, I'm good, so hire me?

The first trouble came when I tried to withdraw the funds. Now, ANY freelancer will tell you that when you do finally earn a buck it feels great. That £9.84 is all mine and will go a little way towards the food bill.

Except, you can't withdraw your funds if the balance is UNDER £10.00.

Wow - that is frustrating

Another thing that any freelancer will tell you is that you must spend time on your own business admin/advertising and portfolio. You need to stay fresh and relevant in order to appeal to the market. So I updated one of my adverts - People Per Hour call these "hourlies".

This concept of an hourlie sort of shoots itself in the foot. If you really are just doing an hour for a client and 15% of your earning is being deducted from your fee AND you can't withdraw funding under a tenner then you are looking at an hourlie rate of around £14.00. That is fairly steep in a competitive market where people are scrabbling around to earn whatever they can. The only way around that would be to sell in bulk. "I can do x in 3 hours for £xx.xx" but I don't think that is as appealing to a buyer. People PER HOUR. The clue is in the title.

These details aren't that easy to find to be honest.

Once you've got your advert, or hourlie, set up you have the option to share the advert - on your chosen medium. I opted for twitter, g+ and facebook. Again, this is you scratching their back as well as advertising your services but it is free and takes no time at all.

A word of warning, make sure the hourlie has passed the very stringent moderation guidelines. I updated mine and pushed it out only to be told (hours later) that it hadn't passed moderation as People Per Hour had updated their "best practice" rules.

The massive downside with is was the exposure that I'd already got (PPH make a point of retweeting hourlies that they see posted on twitter and had RT'd mine) with a broken link to an error message hinting that I had, in some way, broken the LAWS OF THE INTERNET.

Bearing in mind, for a moment, the services I offer  that is potentially going to ruin my small business. It makes me look massively unprofessional. I spend my working hours advising people on social media and URLs. To send out broken ones myself is a tad embarrassing. To send out links with the implication that I am breaking rules is quite something else.

However, I complained and the team got back to me straight away, which was good customer service at least.

On the whole I recommend PeoplePerHour if you are looking to get freelance work - or hire a freelancer. Just be careful to know everything upfront and don't fall into the trap of the £10.00 minimum withdrawal limit, rules on hourlies and the slightly confusing billing system!

British Gas. Again. What *is* it with these people?

I ceased being a British Gas customer on 23rd August. I switched as British Gas were incapable of following simple admin requests.

Here is a picture of the final, final, actual final statement. You can see that the statement
date is the 4th of October. You can see that the statement period is until the 23rd August.

Notice the dreadful maths here too - balance-£156.68, what you paid - £166.68. Hm.  I don't have the energy (pardon the pun) to fight that. They win.

You might wonder then, as indeed I am, why they felt the need to send me this letter dated the 12th October.

Slightly smudged - it was raining, I wasn't crying with frustrating and stress or anything...!

Maybe if British Gas didn't waste so much money sending letters to people who aren't, in fact, their customers then they might not have to raise the price of energy.

Now I begin to question whether they are still treating me like a customer and whether I will get billed for energy already supplied to me by the more admin savvy EDF? Time will tell.

I am living in fuel poverty. Price hike or not, I can't afford to turn on the heating.