Author: Cheptiony Mutai

  • Shifting Gears From Working As a Freelancer to Hiring Fellow Freelancers

    The courage to shift gears from working as a freelancer to hiring other freelancers to collaborate with you on a project requires a proper set of mind.

    Robert Kiyosaki, the best selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad classify wealth acquisition process in 4 categories that he calls ‘Cashflow Quadrant.’

    Video – Shifting gears from working as a freelancer to hiring other freelancers

    The first quadrant is Employee- who earns money by holding unto a job. His/her income is limited to monthly salary. The second quadrant is Self Employed- who works for himself or owns the job. He has control of what he does. Freelancers fall on this quadrant of self employed.

    Transitioning from Freelancing to business requires courage, faith and change of mindset.

    In this blogpost, I will point out different opportunities you should take advantage of as a freelancer and transition from Freelancing to business.

    When You win Mega Contract

    When you have a good reputation on any popular freelancing site, you will get hired for big projects. For example, I regularly get hired for high value contracts in video production. Since I am good at video editing, I prefer hire a script writer, voice over artist, 3D animator to help me where needed in the video production process.

    battle black blur board game


    Not everyone will do this. They would rather do the whole job and have all the money than hire a fellow freelancer. If you do this, you will limit yourself from growth. Also, you will find yourself always busy and not having time for yourself. Take advantage of such openings to start learning to hire and setting up your business or agency.

    Temptation to Learn a Skill For The Sake of Money

    woman sitting on concrete stairs using laptop

    Lets say, I get a well paying 3D animation contract for the first time. My first thought will be to learn how to model and animate 3D characters because the pay looks good. That will require me to dedicate a lot of time on learning how to do it perfectly. On the other hand, if I have a business mindset, I will do my math and hire a freelance expert in 3D animation to do the job.

    At the end, I will worry less about doing the job and shift focus to commenting and criticizing on the completed work. At the end, we will both take credit for the job.
    I recommend freelancers to take this route so long as they are able to profit from the project and deliver quality service.

    When You Are Travelling

    I assume Freelancers plan and go for vacations at least once a year. With this said, if a long term client you have been working with sends you an e-mail on the day you are travelling and asks you to work on an urgent project, what will you do? Will you cancel your air ticket so as to attend to the client needs?
    Most freelancers will cancel their plans and get back to work.

    person holding world globe facing mountain


    But what if you could find someone with skills same as yours to step in for you and do the job at a lower fee? Wouldn’t that be great? That’s exactly what you should do, post the job for freelancers to apply and hire someone to do the job on your behalf. Once done, send the completed work to the client.
    Being able to reason this way alone might forever change your life.

    This are 3 among the many instances that I suggest you hire a fellow freelancer to work with you.
    Small actions like this will stimulate your growth. You will be free to do many other exciting things in life.

    And that’s it from me.

    In what instances do you hire freelancers to collaborate with you? How has it changed your life?
    Share your feedback in the comments section below.

    And if you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos, you can request a FREE quote here.

    Untill next time bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 5 Features I Love On Camtasia 2021

    In the past few months, I have found 5 new features I love on Camtasia 2021 software which I would like to share it with you today. This is based on my experience recording and editing screencast videos and my vlogs. At the end of this blog post, I will share my favorite feature that is available in all versions of Camtasia studio that I discovered 5 years ago.

    Get Started Screen

    The new get started screen is noticeable. It looks modern and sleek. The webinars, video tutorials and academy has been put together under one menu item called learning.
    Also, help link was not there in the earlier versions. While this is a good thing, I feel people will rarely use this link unless Camtasia program crashes😒 which rarely happens.

    Camtasia 2021 Get Started Screen

    Overall, I love the get started screen. It always reminds me that I am using the latest version of the software😁.

    Camtasia Recorder

    There are two things I love about the Camtasia 2021 recorder. The first one is the new interface. It looks different. All the important controls are now modified and larger than before. By sliding on the respective buttons on each feature, I can choose what to record and what not to. For instance, by sliding the system audio button to the right, I chose to record system audio. Sliding it to the left, I turn it off.

    Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder

    The second thing I love about Camtasia 2021 recorder is not having to minimize the recorder while recording. This is unless its blocking the buttons I am suppose to click when recording the screens. Otherwise, by default, the recorder will not appear on your screen recordings like it used to in the previous versions. So you don’t have to worry about it. Its worth pointing out that you can enable and disable in under options menu.

    Software Stability When Editing

    With the latest windows update on August, I now experience more stability when editing video footage and screen recordings with motion graphics and video transitions combined. The software used to buffer a lot when loading motion graphics and previewing transitions.

    The second occasion was when editing mobile screen recordings. In the past, I had to export mobile screencast videos and re-imported them to the timeline in order to better match with the voice overs due to lagging.

    The new Camtasia 2021 looks like it has solved this. The loading now is seamless. But I don’t know how others editors find it. It will be interesting to know. Share your experience in the comments sections below.

    New Transitions

    This cannot go without saying. More than 100 transitions are now available for you to explore and use in Camtasia Studio 2021. I have found a couple of them I love and repeatedly use them across my vlogs.

    Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder

    It was designed to fit to all occasions depending on the video that you are working on. That’s why it’s worth trying Camtasia 2021 today.

    New Feature I Find Not Useful

    At this point I still find emphasize audio feature not any useful to me at all. This makes it my less favorite feature among the new features. I prefer to adjust audio points manually than use this feature. This is because I barely notice it’s impact when I apply it to my audios while editing videos on my timeline.

    Camtasia 2021 Audio Effect

    I have watched videos of people applying it and I am still not convinced🤐.

    Do you find the Emphasize audio feature useful in your day to day edits? Let me know in the comments section below.

    Custom Library

    Finally my unto my favorite feature, custom library. This was there in the previous versions and with each update, it gets even better. It gives a sense of ownership.

    Custom Library in Camtasia 2021

    Each time I edit a video, I add one new template so that I don’t have to recreate motion graphic screens and transitions each time I produce a video. To do this, I group animated designs on my timeline and save it in the library under a name that I chose and a specific folder based on the project I am working on.

    Next time I want the template, I will only drag it and drop it on top of the video I am editing.

    This saves me a lot of time. You can modify a template as you go to suite your new requirements at hand and save it under a different name.

    Remember you can download the latest version of Camtasia 2021 using the link here. Its free to try.

    If you are a vlogger and is looking for a video editing software that is easiest to learn; then I recommend Camtasia 2021. It’s easy to learn using it.

    The interface is clean and most settings are straight forward when it comes to customization.

    Finally, if you need help to create and produce professional screencast video tutorials for your software, website or app, you can request a free quote here.

    Was this article helpful to you? Let me know in the comments below.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • The Art of Hiring The Right Online Freelancer Fast As A First Timer

    Hiring the right freelancer as a first timer for your next project calls for experience in the online marketplace. Shockingly, most online marketers makes the process sound like its a walk in the park. Well, it may be so, if you have a combined background in human resource😐 and online marketplace.

    With this said, one must be ready to learn the new way as it is completely different from the traditional path.

    Moreover, the process changes all the time but once you are in the loop, maneuvering through the changes will be very easy.

    In this blog post, I will be covering the art of hiring a freelancer online faster.

    Watch Video

    Identify a Trusted Freelance Marketplace

    There are many online freelance marketplaces today. What differentiates is their business model. Also, some have all the skills in their databases while others specializes in a specific niche. E.g writing, transcriptions, video editing e.t.c

    When scouting for a freelancer marketplace, look at your present and future needs. Apart from the skill that you need to hire for right now, ask yourself, will I need other skills in the future as your business grows? This way, you will be able to narrow down your search.

    I recommend signing up on at least two freelance marketplaces with different business models. For instance, some freelancing platforms will require you to post a job and let freelancers send proposals. In others, you will just search for offers on a certain skill and pick a freelance based on their price and ratings from their past completed contracts.

    You May Also Like 10 Things A Video Production Agency Will Do To Save Clients Time And Headache

    Sign Up And Verify Your Payment Method As Needed

    Verification of your account is important for any new client signing up on any freelancing platform. Over the past few years, there has been a rise on malicious accounts being set up by scammers posing as clients only to end up disappearing with Freelancers completed work. Verifying your account will guarantee you protection. Also, when you post a job, it will be displayed to the right freelancers out there for them to send their proposals.

    Read Also 5 Reasons You Should Hire Freelancers For Long Term

    Be Brief and To The Point When You Post a Job-Use The Right Keywords

    Everyday, hundreds of jobs are posted by different clients online on popular freelancing platforms. To stand out and get more proposals from freelancers, it’s important to be brief and to the point. Reserve other details to later during the interview once you have shortlisted the right candidate.

    If you are searching for gigs or offers by different freelancers in a given platform, use the right keywords. For instance, video production has many other sub-categories. So if you are look for say Screencast video editor, use this exact keywords and you will only see freelancers offering screencast video services.

    Learn more on How to Sift Through Many Applications When Hiring a Freelancer

    Communication is Key

    Once you have shortlisted freelancers, prioritize Freelancers who communicate promptly over everything. This is going by the fact that Freelancers are based in different parts of the world. You can hire anyone so long they communicate promptly and addresses your needs in a clear manner.

    Ask them critical things that you value during the interview like their working hours, how they want milestones broken down, their proposed timelines over the timelines you propose to them e.t.c. This is key. Once, you find a freelancer who their response and communication satisfy you, hire them.

    Dare to Negotiate

    Negotiation should come last. Don’t be shy to ask if the freelancer you choose will be willing to give you a discount along the way if you work with them for a long term. Its ok if they refuse to give you a discount. Just go ahead and hire them.

    It’s important to note that freelancers appreciate when you assign them high value projects and work with them for long term. They will be more open and confident in working on your project besides giving you more value for your money along the way.

    Allow Them to Share Some of The Work They Complete On Their Social Media or Blog

    Freelancers will be happy to post your business on social media or blog after you have worked with them for a while and still guarantee them more work in future. This in a long term will result in great partnership and friendship.

    Conclusion

    The art of hiring freelancers online is evolutionary. Once you set your foot here, maneuvering through is be easy. The most important thing is to stay positive. At the initial stages, the process will be costly, but in a long run, you will recoup your losses so long as you are persistent. So, Stay focused always.

    Finally, I will like to know; have you hired freelancers online? Which is favorite freelancer marketplace? Share your response in the comments section below.

    And if you need help to create and produce professsional screencast video tutorials for your software, website or app, you can request a quote for free here.

    For feedback or recommendations regarding to this blogpost, you can contact me here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow here on WordPress @cheptiony and on twitter @cheptiony

  • National Land Information Management System Ardhisasa Review

    On April 27th 2021, the president of the Republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta launched National Land Information Management System Ardhisasa. Ardhisasa is an online platform that allows Citizens, stakeholders and interested parties to interact with land information held and processes undertaken by Government.

    Ardhisasa Website

    Whenever someone wants to buy a land in Kenya, the first step they are advised to take is to conduct a search with the ministry of lands and ascertain the real owner of the property in which they want to purchase. This step is critical and if a buyer skips it, they might end up buying a land that is already in dispute or not for sale.

    Ardhisasa platform aims at addressing this and other land questions in Kenya. Through the information that users will access on Ardhisasa, they are able to make an informed decision and avoid being defrauded by unscrupulous land cartels.

    In this blogpost, I will shed a light on land cases in Kenya as well as review National Land Information Management System- Ardhisasa.

    Land Cases in Kenya

    In the past years, more and more land cases has been recorded in the Kenyan courts. In a recent report by the standard newspaper, at least 70 per cent of land cases in the country are still pending in Nairobi.

    That’s based on a statement by Chief Justice Martha Koome . She says Environment and Lands Court (ELC) has 13,500 pending cases with Nairobi leading with 9,500. 

    Watch Video Review

    Furthermore, to illustrate how land is critical to Kenyans, she said at least 60 per cent of cases filed in courts are land-related. It’s for these and many other reasons that Ardhisasa was launched.

    Accessing Ardhisasa Portal

    To access National Land Information Management System Ardhisasa, open your browser and go to ardhisasa.lands.go.ke. You will get to the landing page. The site is pretty neat and straight forward.

    On top of the landing page, you can see the four main things you can do on the site. These are Search and Transfer property, order a plan and order a tittle. Below that you can read and understand what Ardhisasa does.

    Ardhisasa Features

    When you scroll down a little, you can see additional services you can access. The services are organized in seven different categories namely land registration, land administration, physical planning, survey and mapping, valuation, adjudication and settlement and national land commission.

    One has to click on the category they want in order to see what’s inside. For example, when you click on land registration, you will see the services included in there.

    Read also National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Online Portal Review

    Communication And Support

    In occasions where a user is stuck, they have several ways that one can find help. The first one which many website users rarely try is the visiting the FAQ’s page. You can access this page, using the menu link on top of the site or FAQ’s link on the site footer under quick links.

    FAQ’s

    The second and most convenient way is to call Ardhisasa support team using the phone contacts below the site. And lastly, you can chat live with the support by clicking on the bubble icon below. I have tried and it’s functioning.

    Signing in to Ardhisasa

    To access any of the services listed above, you are required to sign in. First time users will be required to sign up using their National ID number. The sign process is very secure. To keep users protected, the sign process will require you to key in your ID number, phone number and e-mail for 2 Factor authentication and lastly set a password.

    Sign Up Process

    The sign up steps falls among the best practices of securing users accounts and their private data. You will be logged in once you follow these steps of registration.

    Related 3 Security Measures You Should Implement To Protect Your E-mails and Blog

    Ardhisasa User Dashboard

    This is how the dashboard looks like once you are logged in to the system. Services are placed in categories as seen earlier on the website landing page. To the left of your account are user menu items.

    Ardhisasa Dashboard

    These are services, properties, appointments, tickets, notifications and accounts. For a new user, the most useful menu item is the services. The other items will come in handy as needed as you continue interacting with the system.

    I will demonstrate to you one of the popular service feature of Property search, but before I do, I will want to shed a light on how land cases end up in court in kenya.

    How Land Cases Come Into Light

    This question is answered well on the Kenyan CID on website. In a nutshell, Land fraud cases are formally reported to the Public Complaints Office.

    The complainant is advised accordingly and if the complaint warrants investigations, the complainant is referred to the land fraud unit with a referral form. The Unit takes up the case appropriate cause of action.

    CID on Land Cases in Kenya

    You can learn more about the kind cases that they investigate on the CID website page here.

    Now lets get back to the Ardhisasa website and try to conduct a search.

    To do this, click on services and select search. You will see that you are required to complete your profile in order to start searching. As I mentioned earlier, land is a sensitive issue in Kenya, and before any information is shared with the users, they must first provide more details of themselves and prove of who they are.

    Additional Information required to conduct a search on Ardhisasa

    Additional information include uploading a passport size photo, adding security questions, adding signature and uploading copies of your National identification.

    Once you have supplied these information, you will be in a position to conduct a search on a property.

    I will not show how to do these, but am sure at this point you have a clue of the services that National Land Management System, Ardhisasa provides as well as how to navigate through the site. It’s not very complicated.

    Related How To Apply For A Tax Compliance Certificate In Kenya -Video

    Conclusion

    If you are in the process of acquiring a land, I highly will recommend you to utilize this resource in conducting your search. This is the future of land management in Kenya.

    There is a lot you will learn by using the system.

    As I conclude, I will like to know your thoughts. Have you used the Ardhisasa portal to access any of the land services? How was your experience like?:😑

    Let me know in the comments section below.

    And if you have any any questions or suggestions regarding to any of my blogposts, you can let me know on e-mail at connect@cheptiony.com

    Finally, if you are looking for professional screencast video production services, you can request a free quote on www.techtubestudio.com.

    Related 10 Things A Video Production Agency Will Do To Save Clients Time And Headache

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • How Freelancing is Changing The Traditional Approach to Entrepreneurship

    For the past few years, Freelancing has gotten the attention it deserved. As a result, it has shaped the way people approach business and entrepreneurship. Take for instance business man Elon Musk. When you hear his name, the first things that comes to your mind is TESLA, SpaceX, DOGECOIN just to name a few.

    Businessman Elon Musk

    He is an entrepreneur who has built great brands around his name. People trust anything that is associated with this entrepreneur. That is the direction in which most gifted entrepreneurs take today. They first try different things in order to identify what they love doing. When they find their passion, they then build great brands around it.

    Watch Video

    In this blogpost, I will share ways in which Freelancing can help someone Find their passion and business idea they can run with.

    The Effect of Freelancing

    What freelancing does to someone’s mindset is it enable them to find their niche while making money in the process. In Kenya, most people start Freelance work as content writers. Once they understand how the online system works, they then slowly identify a niche that they love. e.g Video Editing.

    Like any other activity, its not easy to start a business around your passion online. Its therefore important to never stop taking jobs on the freelancing sites like Upwork and Fiverr at your early stages. The income from the small contracts will keep you going as you build traction around your idea.

    Once you have built a good client base around your idea, you can then stop taking small freelance contracts and commit to running your business full time.

    10 Things A Video Production Agency Will Do To Save Clients Time And Headache

    Using Youtube As Marketing Avenue

    Generally, Google products are designed for productivity including YouTube. Many YouTubers with great content that viewers love to watch have built brands around their names. The first step they took was to build trust from the viewers in their specific niche.

    YouTube Market Place

    Once they had gained trust from thousands of viewers, they launched their brands around what they share. In a nutshell, a Youtuber is a creative Freelancer when they start. They have freedom to create what they want.

    It gets even better, the moment they launch their brands. Here, they transform into business owners.

    Rank Better on YouTube with Captions or Subtitles in 2021

    Freelancing is Open to All

    This includes freelancing in websites like Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, Guru just to name a few. These are good places to start from if you are new to online marketplace and don’t know exactly which niche will work well for you.

    If you are a video editor, you can choose a category on Creative Design and Animation. Within time, you will be able identify a niche for yourself besides understanding the terms of working with clients online. e.g payment methods to propose when working directly with the client e.t.c.

    That’s how I was able to identify and invest on Screencast Video production agency.

    When I identified this niche, the first thing I did was to register a business and a website domain. From then, we have been able to get clients who directly contact us from the site and gives us contracts on a regular basis.

    Among the services we offer include scripting, providing professional voice over and producing high quality easy to follow screencast videos. If you need help with screencast video production, you can request a free quote on our site at www.techtubestudio.com

    5 Tips to Start and Grow a Screen-casting Video Business Remotely

    Conclusion

    Online service market place stands independent today as we speak. You can get most of the services online instantly. There are many freelancers online ready to handle any type of service that you are looking for at an affordable price.

    If you want to establish a business that allows you to work anywhere offering services and the comfort of your laptop, then you can start that journey today as an online freelancer. Remember you have to put a lot of hours and investment to get this started.

    And that is it from me here.

    Do you think freelancing is shaping the path to entrepreneurship? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

    If you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos, request a free quote here. If you have any other questions or concerns regarding to this blogpost, let me know via e-mail on connect@cheptiony.com

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • The Cost of Running A Registered Company in Kenya

    Before registering a limited company in Kenya, its important to know how much it will cost you to run the same company. It costs money to just own a company with no registered office. Having this knowledge in handy will prepare a new entrepreneur on what to expect.

    Video: The cost of owning and running a business in Kenya

    I will not delve into the cost of registering business because it variable and is done once. However, you can see a breakdown of business registration costs on the Business Registration Service portal.

    In this blogpost, I will share with you the cost of running a a registered limited company in Kenya. The information I will be sharing is based on my experience running a company Trendline Network Limited for now 5 years. Trendline Network Limited is a videography company based in Nairobi.

    In the year 2019 towards the end, I closed down our physical offices and started operation from home little before Covid lockdown came. In the year 2020, we did only one job. It was the lowest year in business and we made only losses.

    Operation costs

    So, how did I manage the costs as the only remaining director of the company?

    First thing I did was deciding to handle business the freelance way. I paid whoever worked with me per task completed and not per month. This thus gave me a space to continue looking for business opportunities while maintaining the company. When you go this route, you will save money and still maintain good relationship with your team.

    While business have not looked up yet, I have saved time and money.

    Let’s dive in further and breakdown company operation costs. Here is a list.

    Tax and Accounting Costs

    Limited company is an independent entity with its own Tax PIN. You as the director is therefore responsible for any activity that takes place within your company. You have to ensure that everything is accounted for. If you succeed to get business with a large organization, the company will expect you to charge them VAT.

    While KRA maintains that only registered traders with an annual turnover of KShs. 5 million and above are required to charge VAT. And that, there are instances where a person with less than KShs. 5 million is allowed to register on a voluntary basis, you will find your company forced to register for this obligation in order to get business with reputable organization.

    VAT obligation is the price you have to pay. When you have VAT obligation under your PIN, you will be required to remit tax monthly before 20th even if you had zero transaction during the month. According to KRA, ‘failing to comply is an offence subject to a penalty of Ksh 10,000 for every tax period failure occurs. This is in addition to other penalties prescribed in law.

    Good news is, you can do this yourself or you can hire someone to do it for you. If you hire, it will cost anything from Ksh.500-3000 a month. Annually, this translates to between Ksh.6000-36,000 annually.

    Audit Cost

    Annually, you company needs to be audited in order to remit income tax. This gives you an upper hand in getting business through the tendering process. One of the mandatory requirements when tendering is having audited accounts ready.

    This is for the purposes of remitting annual income tax. Depending who you are dealing with and the amount of work required, the minimum cost I have paid an auditor was Ksh. 10,000. This was when the annual sales was less than Ksh. 50,000.

    So when you combine this with Tax and accounting cost, it will cost a minimum of Ksh.16,000 annually.

    Tendering Cost (For Those Who Get Business Through Tendering )

    On average, when you download and print a tender online, it costs between Ksh.150-250 to print based on the number of pages. You will have to make copies and attach various documents, bind and submit. At the end, you will spend between Ksh.500-1000 to have the tender document ready for submission.

    You will also have to gather for transport cost or employ courier services to deliver the tender document. This will cost Ksh. 200-500 within Nairobi area and more outside.

    If you apply for 4 Tenders a month, you will spend a minimum of Ksh.2400. This is on occasions where you are doing everything yourself with no assistant.

    Conclusion

    Its important to note that there are other additional costs of running a business like renting a office space, paying for business permit, paying annual fees for membership to various professional entities like media council of Kenya, The society of professional consultants e.t.c.

    I hope this post sheds a light on the basic cost of running and operating a registered company in Kenya without a physical location.

    Feel free to share your feedback in the comments section below.

    If you need help to produce screencast videos, you can request a quote here.

    Until next time, take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 3 Useful Productivity Tools You Should Try That Comes Installed On Android Phone

    Many freelancers and online entrepreneurs struggle to settle on a specific mobile application for their productivity. They find themselves rushing for the latest mobile app in the market and ditching what they are familiar with.

    Watch video

    Problem is, this behavior is addictive and not helpful in anyway. In todays blogpost, I will be showing you 3 useful productivity free tools that comes installed on your android phone that you can utilize as freelancer.

    These tools are specifically useful to freelancers and anyone working online. Am certain that the same tools are available on apple phones as well.

    Everyday, an app with similar features to what you already have installed on your phone comes into the market. To remain productive in your freelancing and business career, you need to always ask yourself why you are installing a new app.

    Do you really need them?

    Can what you already have serve the purpose?

    It makes no sense to install an app similar to what you already have on your phone.

    Here are 3 free tools with features that you need to be productive as an online entrepreneur.

    Calculator

    What? You never expected this, right! But hang on first.

    Calculator is classified as a tool on android phones. In android 10 color OS, the calculator tool has new features. The first feature which is useful to freelancers working with global clients is the Exchange Rate feature. It has all currencies and its up to date. You just need to have your internet connection on to pull the latest exchange rate.

    This feature comes in handy when quoting for a service. You can quickly check the exchange rate of your client currency verses yours. e.g United States Dollars to Kenya Shillings.

    On top of the exchange rate feature, you may also need to use the unit converter. For instance, in my country, human weight is measured in Kilograms. In other countries like US, the same is measured in pounds. This feature is helpful for people in the fitness business. There are other units like length, Area, Volume, temperature, speed, power and pressure.

    Clock

    This is the second tool that is quite useful to freelancers. Freelancers and clients online work and live in different Time zones. For instance, I have clients in UK and Australia. Its therefore good to know the best time to communicate with your clients. When you open clock, you can see your time and location.

    Here you can add new time for other locations that you are interested in. To do this, click on the +button, Type in the location name on search bar and select the Time zone. The new time zone will be added to your list. This is always useful as it helps you make the right decisions. Sometimes, it not worth taking jobs from clients in some time zones.

    Screen Recording

    Finally, we have the screen recorder. This is very useful to me and anyone who offers their services as a video producer. I help clients produce professional screencast videos. Occasionally, I take orders to produce demo videos for mobile apps.

    Screen recording tool comes in handy. I can record unlimited screen videos in HD without downloading any app from Play store. Its important to note that you can record your voice alongside the screens when working a demo video for an app.

    This tool is also useful to freelancers who do Mobile app reviews. They can quickly record screens and share. To access this app, just pull down the top menu on your phone, then choose screen recorder.

    The tool will open up with floating controls on your screen. Click on it to start and stop recording. Use the cog setting feature to enable and disable sound recording. Also, you can see more features by tapping on more.

    Click the x button to close.

    Conclusion

    Before I go, Its is important to note that there are other useful tools like Compass (for Chinese Feng Shui in your house) and Digital well being that records data of everything you do on your phone. If you find yourself not very productive, I suggest that you regularly check on the digital well being app to see which apps are robbing you most of your productive time.

    The aim here is to be minimal and productive. This way, you can achieve more.

    And that’s it from me here.

    If you need help to produce professional screencast videos, you can always request a quote for free here.

    For any other concern or feedback, send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com

    Until next time, bye bye and take care. Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • How To Deal With SPAM Comments and E-mails on Your Blog

    For an exceedingly long time, I have been receiving several spam comments on my blog and I didn’t know how to deal with them apart from marking them as spam or deleting them.

    How to Deal With Spam E-mails and Comments on Your Blog or Website

    This was not until my hosting service provider, sent me a warning that the send e-mail service associated with one of my domains has been disabled. This meant that I could send any e-mails with e-mail addresses created on this domain. e.g connect@cheptiony.com

    Here is a screenshot of the e-mail.

    Upon my investigation, I realized the spam e-mails was originating from my blog.

    I have some knowledge on WordPress. I can do basic edits. But for this case, I couldn’t fix. So, I had to hire a WordPress expert to fix it. It’s cheaper and less stressful.

    Read also Don’t Sign Up Everywhere Using Your E-mail and Phone Number. Here’s Why.

    The common reasons associated to a Sendmail/SMTP service deactivation are usually the following:

    • If account limits are reached,
    • Due to mass mailing
    • If majority of emails are subject to SPAM content.

    In this blogpost, I will be explaining how to deal with spam comments and e-mails.

    How Do You Identify Spam Comments and E-mails?

    When you post a blogpost on WordPress, you have the choice of either enabling or disabling comments from readers. When you enable, you give readers a chance to comment and share their thoughts about your blogposts.

    What many bloggers don’t know is that the comments section of a WordPress blog- when enabled-is vulnerable and subject to spam bot comments.

    As a new blogger, you will be thrilled when you receive many comments on your blogposts. Alot of spam comments are positive. The comment authors say how much they were happy to read your posts without particularly pointing on anything you mentioned on the post.

    Additionally, if you are keen, you will notice that they carry links to either pornography sites or Viagra affiliate links. This are usually products not in anyway associated with your site. Here is an example of a comment.

    Read also Getting Requests on Your Blog for Services? Tips to Ensuring You get Paid After Delivery

    What Spam Bots Do

    Spam bots are capable of sending mass e-mails through your contact us form on your blog. You can wake up to several e-mails on your inbox from different e-mail addresses but same IP location. These E-mails come with different subject lines e.g ‘Viagra Can Safe your Marriage.’ It’s really annoying if you are person who means business.

    So how do you get rid of bots spamming your comments section and sending you spam emails via the contacts form on your website? Here are two easy ways;

    Integrate reCAPTCHA

    reCAPTCHA uses some simple script to stop spam bots from abusing the comments section of your blogposts. Also, its capable of stopping spam e-mails via the contact form on your blog or site.

    Its one of the easiest and common ways to protect your forms from spam abuse. Most CAPTCHA solutions provide an audible version ensuring that even the blind people can complete the action.

    Google ReCAPTCHA is a free tool that you can quickly add to your forms. If you are new to WordPress, you can engage a Freelance WordPress expert to help you out.

    Integrate HONEYPOT Fields

    Honeypot is a field within a form that users don’t see due to Java or CSS script. While legit users can’t see, spambots do. Spambots will search for comment elements like labels and input value. If Honeypot section is filled, the e-mail is marked as spam.

    To add honeypot to your blog, again, I suggest you engage a WordPress expert. Alternatively, you can search on YouTube for videos that shows you how to do it.

    Its important to note that there are many Freelance WordPress experts out there, who are ready to help you out on this at a price of doughnut and coffee! I mean you can afford to pay one without waiting to save money!

    Finally, as a caution, it would help to change your e-mail login passwords and double check where you have your domains mailboxes connected. This is besides performing virus scan on your device to eliminate the possibility of your email account being used to send SPAM.

    That’s all from me here.

    Do you get spam comments and mass e-mails on your blog? Let me know in the comments section below.

    If you need help to produce professional screencast videos, you can request a free quote here. For any other enquiries, send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com.

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