If your business revolves around using Software’s to accomplish your tasks, I recommend that you purchase your software licenses and service plans like domain hosting towards November end.
Video Summary
This is a secret that most people don’t know.
Why is November a good month?
Well, It’s a month that most people across the world celebrate Thanks giving. Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia. It begins on early October in some states and November end in others.
Thanksgiving began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.
It thus gave birth to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Black Friday
Black friday is an informal name to the friday following thanksgiving in the United States. It is regarded as the beginning of US Christmas shopping season since 1952.
This is a good time to visit your favorite software or service provider platform and take advantage on their black Friday offers. Most them offer discounts ranging from 25- 75% on annual subscriptions. Considering what you get, this is a good deal for someone who is ready to save big on discounts.
A screenshot of Adobe 2020 Black Friday offers
Cyber Monday
Also, know as Blue Monday, Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after thanks giving in the United states. It was created to encourage people to shop online.
Owing to the fact that almost all software and business service providers like webhosts have their services and shops fully operational remotely; tt’s therefore good to take advantage of their offers on Cyber Monday. some providers offer up to 90% off.
Hostinger Hosting Platform Cyber Monday offers
Conclusion
Black Friday and Cyber Monday is very ideal for start ups and newbie freelancers. But anyone who intends to save money every year on software subscriptions will run and take advantage of this.
When you build a culture of using genuine software’s, you will be in a position to not only grow your business, but also help developers of your favorite software give you the best and live a good lifestyle.
Do you think taking advantage of the discount offers on Cyber Monday and Black Friday is good?
Share your thoughts on the comments below.
If you need professional screencast services, let me know here. Alternatively, you can send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com
Does delivering your freelance services faster than the others means more work and more pay? My answer is no. But again It depends. In some occasions, yes. But if you are thinking of offering this in a long term, it’s not sustainable. I am saying this based on my personal experience.
Watch video
When I started Freelancing, I gave outrageous promises so as to get as many jobs as I could. I was very ambitious. This does not mean that I was not delivering to my promise, but the consequences of me doing so has costed me several years of wasted time and energy.
In this blog post , I will share you with 3 long term damaging consequences of offering fast delivery services at a fraction of the price. Many people do this with the hope of making more money only to end up in a freelancing rat race.
Fatigue
Fatigue is a term used to describe an overall feeling of tiredness or lack of energy. Here is a case scenario of fatigue in Freelancing. Lets say you send 5 bids, and you get hired for all of them. The clients motivation behind hiring you is faster delivery at a fraction of the price.
If the normal delivery time for the project is 3 days and you are doing it in a record time of one day for the same quality, you will have to work day and night so as to deliver.
While it’s possible to hire other freelancers and subcontract some projects to them, the main question will they be able to meet your standards? Are you making a profit even after sub contracting the project? How much are you paying them out of your negotiated price? When all this is combined, you will always be anxious and fatigued.
And what happens when you are fatigued? You have no motivation and no energy. You become a loser but you don’t want to admit. If you are not careful you will be dealing with dispute after dispute because of failure to deliver assignments on time or failure to meet the standards required by the client.
No time for Yourself
You will not see this until you realize that you can never get enough of the money you want even if you are hired and assigned a hundred similar jobs at the same price.
By the time this awareness hits, you will be years deep on the rabbit hole. On the other hand, if you are not careful, your relationships with friends and family will be fully disintegrated. You will start building them again from square one.
While this experience will prepare you to be an entrepreneur, you will never recover lost time and stress trying to overdeliver.
Poor Diet
When you are fatigued, your appetite is lost. It’s even worse when you are living alone and you are busy working. It means you don’t have time to go out and do some shopping. On the other hand, you can’t afford to pay someone to do shopping for you because you want to save money. I mean your motivation is money.
When this two are combined, your health becomes the last priority. You eat just to satisfy your hunger which is very dangerous in a long term if you are eating the wrong food.
It becomes even worse if you don’t exercise. If you want to make more money, invest in good diet.
Conclusion
You can only make as much money as you want if you are reasonable in your freelancing work. Don’t take actions or make decisions based on greed or desperation. Offer todo a job because you want to add value. When this is the motivation behind what you do, you will not rush.
And when you don’t rush, you will deliver the best. At the end, high value jobs will follow you instead of following them and it be upon you to set the terms of engagement.
Do you think offering fast delivery on your freelancing services will make you rich? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
If you need professional screencast video production services, let me know here.
Until next time, bye bye and take care. Follow me on twitter @cheptiony
Since Adobe launched Creative cloud subscription model few years ago, many ‘software crackers’ have been left with little options of exploiting and using the software for free. On the other hand, it has become very difficult for many faithful users to buy the product they want on a need basis.
Many freelance video editors and videographer startups I know in Kenya still use the old outdated Adobe CS6 and CS7 to edit and produce videos in 2020.
“I mean why should I pay for a new software when the one I have can do the same job?” They say.
Videography startups in Kenya
So, does this mean they have the license for the same even if ‘it’s oooldd… as we know?’ well I don’t think so. If the do, then they are using a ‘copy and paste’ license code which does not require any login. For it to work when installing, one has to disable internet.
I remember in the year 2016, I purchased full Adobe creative suite CS6 from a local tech guy for $10. Yes you heard me right, $10. He came and installed the software for me. To my shock, while he did the installation, I noticed he was using a ‘patching tool‘ to activate the products after disabling the internet connection.
When I questioned, he promised it will work. And true to his word, when we tested it did work. At the time, I had little knowledge on software copyright license.
Few days later on using the software, it was really slow and crashing regularly. Out of me being irritated by it, I reached out to the tech guy who installed the software for me. To my surprise, he said I needed to upgrade my memory from 2GB to at least 6GB. Moreover, buy at least 23 inch monitor or higher for video resolution display.
That was the end of my rant on him. I was not ready at time so I had to manage the software as it was or go hungry without food on my table👱♂️
Each time the software crashed, I crosschecked Adobe premiere specifications for CS6 which said it required at least 2GB of Ram which I had installed already.
As if this was not enough, the quality of video it rendered was somehow pixelated despite me exporting the videos in HD. I later learnt the huge variation in quality of a video rendered with a torrent premiere pro and a genuine premiere pro.
And that’s a short story of how most Software’s downloaded via torrent work.
Startups in the video production and design industry only install and use Adobe products on demand because of the cost implications in terms of long term sustainability.
In this blog post, I will focus on the top reasons why it is very expensive and difficult to purchase Adobe license in Kenya and most African countries and why Adobe is missing out on ‘individual‘ potential customers.
Why is it difficult to Purchase Adobe Products?
Message that you get when you select Kenya as your country when attempting to purchase Adobe
It comes down to billing address. Where is the billing address of your card? This depends on which country in Africa you live in. If the card billing address is in the US, and you have signed up as US resident you can make the purchase without any problem. But if it’s Kenya, then you can only get the software via resellers. FYI: I know South Africa alone as the country you can directly purchase Adobe products.
So Who are the resellers? This are companies within a given country licensed to resell the product. Now this is where startups gets completely turned off.
Resellers price is 2 times what’s on the Adobe site. E.g annual subscription on Adobe site for Adobe premiere pro is $239.49 inclusive tax. Resellers sell it for around $500. You only need few dollars to get annual subscription of Adobe creative suite of about 7 products!
Most of the resellers don’t offer monthly subscriptions owing to its sustainability.
So what do Kenyans and other Africans do when they find themselves in this dilemma?
It’s obvious. They either find an old version of the software or download the software torrents online. This is despite the security risks that comes with installing torrents and patched products.
My story
Before I was capable of purchasing Adobe Premiere pro, I used to install Torrent software’s which slowed and caused my computer to heat all the time. At the end, I was spending more dollars repairing my PC than doing the work. It was not making any economic sense at all.
I did this for close to 5 years because of inability to purchase the license due to my production rates. My case is similar to the one of many fellow design and creatives in Africa who can’t directly acquire any of the Adobe products directly from the website .. and when they go to the recommended resellers, they are slapped with a double price. Phew!
Kenyans are creative. But due to the cost of purchasing genuine Adobe products from resellers, they resort to using either cracked or unlicensed products to do their work coz the profit they get from selling the output is not enough to purchase Adobe products directly from recommended resellers.
My Recommendation to Adobe
See a way of enabling interested Kenyans to buy any Adobe products directly using their credit cards at the site listed price inclusive taxes.
And to my fellow Kenyans, I am a witness. After using a licensed Adobe Premiere for more than 2 years now, I have never regretted. It’s worth it. I have always discouraged people from installing torrent Software’s because at the end, it does not make any economic sense due to misfortunes it comes with.
And that’s it from me. If you need help to edit and produce professional videos, let me know here.
History of Carrot and stick policy dates back to 15th century and was applied to the conduct of the Chinese during the Ming treasure voyages. The Phrase ‘Carrot and stick‘ is a metaphor which refers to the combination of reward and punishment in order to induce a certain behavior.
This is a motivational approach that top hiring managers use to achieve the best of every freelance talent or creative they engage in their project.
If the carrot and stick approach is appropriately used, it will bring the best of any creative talent, but if overexploited, it will turn the good intention to slavery and exploitation of labor for services being offered.
Remember the definition of ‘carrot and stick‘ above?
The client will make you do a lot of hard work with a promise of good reward for excellence. It thus takes me to the history of most ‘Freelancers.’ A lot of freelancers who are rated highly in a particular ‘niche‘ learnt their skills at work. They are self taught. They started as beginners with meagre pay.
Watch Video – How they apply carrot and stick policy on you as a freelancer
Those who were lucky to meet the best clients while at their early stages of Freelancing grew to become highly on demand. The best clients in this case can turn anything to Gold. They create different ‘Carrots‘ to pull the freelancer to deliver their best within their set budget.
Here are few rewards used by clients that can be referred to as Carrots in the stick. It can either make you great as a Freelancer or blind you if you don’t have a vision of what you want to achieve in your career.
Bonuses After Completion of A Contract
There is nothing wrong with bonuses. I mean it’s a free carrot for excellence. Moreover, how many clients are kind enough to give bonuses these days after you have completed a contract? With this said, a competent freelancer should learn from this and see if they can package the Bonus they were given -when offered a new contract by another client – and as an extra service. Before you go ahead and do so, ask yourself, what made the client offer you the bonus?
Do you offer extra revisions on a video or design(s)? Did you work for extra hours without billing the client? While such extra miles that you take is often treated as a gift to the client, it should also be looked at in a business perspective.
You can then apply them to those stingy clients who never see the extra hours you spend to give them the best. Also, sometimes it costs money to go the extra mile and being rewarded for it should be taken seriously.
Promise For More Work
Most Freelancers will agree with me on this. Let’s say you have completed the project as per the client’s description. When you deliver it, the client requests for revisions. You are ok with it as you want to satisfy him or her. After 5 rounds revisions, you realize that the requests are becoming too much and you start to question why?
The client first declines to say anything and keeps requesting for more changes. Noticing that you are persistent, he/she apologizes for ignoring you at first and starts explaining to you why you should make the changes. He says that their company is made up of a big team and only you can get paid on approval by the company director which is a time consuming process.
Looking back, you have no option but to do as they say. When finally they approve the project, they praise you and promise to assign you a lot of work. While you are happy that they still want to work with you, you are afraid of complying with their ‘Carrot and stick’ policy the next time they hire you.
Good news is that you can bend the policy by restructuring your terms. When they are ready to set new milestones, you can bring in your terms to accommodate the past conditions. i.e Introduce a charge of a certain amount for additional extra revisions after the 5th revision. This is something I have practically applied and it works.
Sending Referrals Your Way
This is very common in the media and design industry. You give your best knowing that many people will watch the video or see the designs you worked on. Most definitely, one of them will like what they see and follow up to know who did it.
Question is, how sure are you that they will refer them to you? That’s why professionally, in video production, its highly ethical to include names and contacts of the production company on credits at the end if it was a video. This way, if someone watching the video wants your service, they can reach out to you directly for help.
On the other hand, doing the donkey job with a promise to get referrals in return is not fair. It is thus important to set your limits and ensure that no one exploits you in anyway.
Give You A 5 Star Review
There is a price for everything. This is the price you pay when starting up as a freelancer. Give your clients unlimited revisions on tasks that you know you can complete them yourself. However, don’t spend your money to go an extra mile to do work in the name of revisions. You will be playing too hard to get the carrot in the stick.
If it costs money to make a certain revision; e.g Voice over revisions for a video you are producing; Let your client know of the cost implications.
You will be surprised to learn that serious clients don’t play carrot and stick on such costs. Don’t give your client a reason to intimidate you.
Just do what you can to give it your best. At early stages of your career, go out of your way so that you can grow. Once you have a name, start reviewing your limits by putting a price tag on it.
Exposure
This happens mostly to actors, musicians and spokespersons. If someone is talented; when they are starting up, a lot will be required of them. In return, they will get half the pay with a promise of exposure. This is an idea that was borrowed from carrot and stick policy.
Now, before you take any action as a freelancer, analyze the situation. Is the exposure worth it? Is the work linked to a popular brand? Some brands are very popular and you being associated with them will be worth it. Do your research and know their rates. That way you will know how to negotiate when offered an opportunity.
When you do this, you will be in full control.
Conclusion
Always update your terms based on how demanding the client is. For instance, if after giving your all and the client wants revisions, set a limit on the number of revisions you can offer. e.g I offer 3 rounds of revisions for free. Then, put a cost of any revisions after that. Tell your client upfront when delivering the first draft of the project. This way, they will be careful because they want to save money.
And that’s it from me. Do you know of any other ways clients apply Carrot and Stick policy? Let me know in the comments below.
If you need help to create professional screencast videos for your software’s or application, website review and more; let me know here.
What will you do if you run out of both cash and Bank credit today?
Will you go to Google and search for a solution? e.g ‘What to do when you run of money?’ That will be so lame unless you have time to do so.
But lets be honest, this question never hits anyone until they find out that there is no food left in the house or the cooking gas has run out in the middle of fixing an evening meal at night especially Ugali for Kenyans:-)
Running out of cash befalls us differently. For others, it’s fuel running out of their cars while they are driving along the highway. While their first thought will be to reach out to friends and family for help, sometimes the help you need doesn’t materializes until you run out of airtime while in the middle of your conversations.
And then what? That will be your dead end right?
You are right. Dead end. That will be the case for the next hour or few hours. This again depends where the tragedy hits you. Was it home? Was it on the highway driving? If you were home then you can give yourself time to think of a way out. It is because at the end, you will end up with a solution after exploring all the available options.
Hope, is what we end up hanging on.
The hope that tomorrow is another day. And that it will come with good things and new ideas.
If you are a business person who depends on contracts and projects to make money, you will put hope on your skillset knowing that new opportunities will present itself and once you handle them, you will make money out of them.
Hope is not enough. You have to solve the arising issues at hand. At this point, you have called everyone and no help has come your way. You have explored all the possible options and still nothing is forthcoming. But you are relentless and keeps exploring what comes to your mind.
Finally, one of your contacts gives you hope. But now, they will be able to assist you after 3 days when they have money.
You will never reach this point without hard work on your end. You even go an extra mile and borrow airtime so as to call them.
This brings us to the answer on what to do when you are in such a predicament of ‘instant lack of cash.’ Your guts will not allow you to even relax for a minute. Each hour, you will be pondering upon how to get out of your situation.
You will call everyone you know who can help. You will even e-mail every client you have worked with in the past to see if they have some work at hand to offer you. You are confident that a solution to your problem will finally come through.
My advise is, do what you can do to get out of your trouble. Take your time and think. When someone comes to your mind, call them and ask if they can help.
But don’t sell your phone or valuables unless its a matter of life and death.
Lack of money has never killed anyone with good reasoning capacity!
That’s all from me here. What will you do if you run out of cash and bank credit?
I hope this article was helpful to you. Until next time, take care.
As we Mark the World Mental Health Day today the 10th of October, prolonged lock downs, loss of jobs and businesses, and increasing deaths due to covid-19 pandemic has led a surge on mental health issues than ever experienced in history.
Around 450 million people currently suffer from mental health conditions, placing such disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide.
World Mental Health Day is a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma.
Creating awareness on this is very crucial according to a report released early this month by WHO.
While treatment for mental health is available, nearly two-thirds of people with a known mental disorder never seek help from a health professional.
Why? Because of Stigma, discrimination and neglect.
Mental should be the first Priority
World Health Organization (WHO) says this has prevented care and treatment from reaching people with mental disorders.
My Story
This leads me to the question I am going to ask you today from a personal level of a freelancer and Entrepreneur working from home. Are we able to manage our mental health before it becomes a crisis?
Before the covid-19 pandemic hit the world, I was working from home for close to 8 months. I decided to close my company office so as to adopt a new business model of operating legitimately from home with my team working from wherever they are.
At the early stages of this process, I struggled a lot because I worked alone from home. I was used to waking up every morning and going to an office within the Nairobi CBD.
One of the biggest hurdles in my early days was the missing social life. I felt separated. My girlfriend left me because of my decision to work from home. Her breaking up with me made the situation even worse.
I went through the solitude alone. Sometimes, I resorted to go out and drink in order forget about my troubles.
While at it, I was always cautious not to abuse whatever I was drinking, else, it could have gotten me into more trouble than the one I was feeling I was in at the time.
Glasses of Beer
The process opened up my mind. I learnt how to drink responsibly. I learnt that Yoga and meditation has set of spiritual rules based on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and you cannot combine it with Christianity.
Therefore, you have to decide if you are a Christian or a Yogi under the above mentioned religions.
Moreover, I learnt some important brain science. That mind is made up of the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.
When you are able to control your subconscious mind, your future is lit.
The subconscious mind is the ‘god‘ in you as quoted in biblical story of creation. Read Genesis chapter 1:26.
You should culture of Drinking responsibly
By the time Corona came, I was never lonely when I am alone. I had known myself better than never.
While all this took place, I started becoming more conscious of my health. For example, if I get a stomachache, I could immediately do ‘contact tracing‘ like they do for Corona virus but now on the food I ate. Where did I buy them? Where did I eat last? What ingredient could have caused my problem?
After repeatedly following this process of ‘tracing’ either what I ate last, and where I was last’ each time I got sick or felt stressed, my life changed.
In this blog post, I will share the top five things that leads to poor mental and body health to anyone working from home. Mind and body is one. When you are sick physically, you mental health is affected as you are worried.
Your Diet
What do you eat? Where do you buy your food from? What you eat matters. For example, eating food with too much sugar can result in slowed cognitive function and deficits in memory and attention. If this pattern repeats over and over, your productivity is depleted and hence anxiety then depression.
The same thing is with where you purchase your food.
Some outlets are dirty and don’t observe recommended health standards.
Depending on your body immunity, the effects of bacteria from the food may not emerge immediately, but it will eventually. Some bacteria may change your body hormones’ resulting in anxiety and depression.
If not keen, by the time, you go out and seek for treatment, you will have suffered enough.
Digital Well Being
How well are you in control of your digital gadgets? The technology industry is becoming sophisticated day by day. Phones, computers, laptops, TV’s, Sound systems are being designed in a way that you become addicted to them.
The recent Netflix movie, Social Dilemma paints a picture on the motive that drives the designers of these digital gadgets and apps. They aim to fuel user addiction.
While all these tech gadgets are made for the good of the users, it’s important to be in control of them. Know when to use what and for how long.
If you are in most social media networks, use the free Digital Well Being app by google to see which app is addictive to you and set time usage on it. This way, when the time set elapses, the app is frozen and will activate the next day.
As you progress, see a way to be in control of your gadgets without relying on the digital well being app.
Exercise
We love to talk about exercising but do we really exercise? It doesn’t matter where. It can be jogging outside, or doing aerobics indoors.
It has been found that frequently exercising is good for your brain. It optimizes your blood circulation and cell degeneration on your brain.
In an article published by www.dana.org, when you exercise, your body releases chemicals such as dopamine(pronounced doh-pa-meen) and endorphins(en-door-fins) in your brain that make you feel happy.
Not only is your brain dumping out feel-good chemicals, but exercise also helps your brain get rid of chemicals that make you feel stressed and anxious.
Friends and Family
Many a times, when we are stressed and anxious, our friends and family never comes to mind as the source of our stress. This is because they are the ones that we first run to for help.
But have you ever ‘traced’ back to who you were with before the stress hit you?
If you are conscious each time you feel stressed and anxious; you will realize that the source of your problem maybe arising from a conversation or interactions you had with a friend or member of your family.
Being able to look at it this way is the key to finding solutions on your mental health.
Spiritual Well Being
While not all of us belong to or believe in any religion; in one way or another they acknowledge the role religious and spiritual institutions play in the well being of its people.
They are the masters of positive energy. They offer a shoulder to lean on.
In fact, religious institutions are the most sort after for counselling and rehabilitation. This is owing to their compassionate nature.
It’s therefore important to find a religion or a school of thought to belong to. There is much to gain through this than when you are alone.
And that’s it from me.
Do you have any other tips on mental health that you recommend to freelancers or anyone working from home? Please share in the comments below.
Requirements to qualify for a tender invitation in Kenya is adding up every year. This is based on the qualification of the suppliers applying to be pre-qualified.
Also, the number of applications submitted by suppliers whenever a Tender advertisement is published on a newspaper or via the online Tender platforms in very huge.
Its important to mention that Tendering and Freelancing go hand in hand. 7 years ago when I started responding to Invitation to tender, the number of requirements was not much. These were the registration certificate, KRA Pin, company profile and Tax compliance certificate.
In this blogpost, I will share with you top mandatory requirements you need in order to qualify for a Tender evaluation in Kenya. Note that you can acquire most of these documents for FREE or at a fee on the ecitizen portal.
Copy of certificate of Registration/Incorporation
Copy of Certificate of registration issued by Registrar of companies in Kenya
The certificate of registration can be for a business name or a limited company. Registration certificate for a business name is different from the one of a limited company.
You can tell this by how much it will cost you to get one. A business name registration certificate costs Ksh. 850 on e-citizen portal while for a limited, it will vary depending on how you choose to do it.
The range for registering a limited company is Ksh.10,000-35,000. The time it takes to get registration certificate is 5 days while a limited company takes 7-30 days depending on number of directors in the company and who you engage to register the business for you.
PIN which stands for Personal Indetification Number is issued by Kenya Revenue Authority. You can learn more about PIN registration by Visiting www.itax.kra.go.ke.
For small registered businesses, you are only required to submit your tender application using your personal PIN. On the other hand, when submitting your application for a limited company, you are required to have Company PIN Number.
This can be obtained again online on Itax portal for free.
Copy of VAT Registration Certificate
ETR Machine for generating VAT Reciept
While PIN number can act as VAT certificate for most companies offering services, its important to note that you are required to issue a VAT receipt to validate the 14% tax you are charging on goods and services you are offering to your clients.
The VAT receipt has your company PIN and VAT number. The VAT reciept can ONLY be generated by the ETR machine. When you purchase an ETR gadget, you are issued with an ETR number.
The number is very useful when verifying your tax returns.
Copy of Valid Tax Compliance Certificate/Exemption Certificate
Tax Complaince Certificate Issued by Kenya Revenue Authority
Any company or person who files his/her returns regularly is eligible for a tax compliance certificate. This is a confirmation that you are faithfully paying your taxes.
The compliance certificate is valid for 1 year. The tendering company can check the validity of the tax compliance on iTax portal using KRA TCC Checker.
Exemption certificate if for people dealing with tax excempt goods.
Registration Certificate With Relevant Regulatory Bodies
These are certificates issued by accredited industry bodies like KEBS, IATA, ministry of health and National Construction Authority . Please check with the company you are pre-qualifying for if they require any certification in the category of supplies you are applying for.
Original Bank Statement/Bank Reference
This requirement vary from one organisation to another. Some require a 3 months statement while others require 1 year statement. The statement must stamped by your bank.
Business/Company Profile
Company profile structure is dependent on what you are selling. It must however contain your company name, contacts, services your offering, names of your employees and qualifications, past tenders completed and the value and referees.
CR12/Partnership Deed
This is mandatory and it contains shareholding positions for limited company, business locations and more. It also contains names and contacts of the directors.
AGPO Certificate For the Youth and People With Disabilities
With the knowledge that the Government of Kenya is allocating 30% of all tenders to youth, women and people with disabilities, its therefore necessary to register and obtain a certificate from AGPO website if you fall on this category of people.
This way, you will have an upper hand in qualifying for tenders set aside for the youth and people with disability.
National IDs/ Passports for all directors, partners and sole proprietors
All directors of the company applying must submit copies of their IDs or passport.
This is for confirmation that indeed they are the owners of the company. It also, shows if they are Kenyan citizens or foreigners.
Firm’s audited accounts or Bank Statements for previous one year
I had earlier mentioned bank statement on this post which is key for new companies, those ones owned by youth, women and people with disabilities.
However, it’s important to note that audited accounts for limited companies which have been in operation more than 1 year will be needed.
Names Of At Least Three Clients That The Firm Has Done Business With In The Last Two Years
This is only mandatory for businesses which have been in operation for 2 years or more. New business are exempted from this.
These are few among many other requirements to qualify for a tender.
In order to know the requirements your company needs in order to to qualify for a tender application, regularly purchase local daily newspaper and check look for tender advertisements.
During the Covid season, most government agencies will refer you to a website link where you can download the tender document and apply.
If you have any questions regarding to this post, feel free to contact me here or e-mail me on connect@cheptiony.com
You can follow me on twitter @cheptiony.
Until next time, take care.
If are are looking for video production services, click here to request a quote.
Wedding Video and Photography business is an easy one to start but not that easy one to operate. Running a business in this niche is a struggle. That is why many creatives treat such jobs as ‘side gigs.’
Creativity is all what it takes to get the best wedding photos and videos. PHOTO: Pixabay.com
Before I continue, or rather start this blog. I have a disclaimer.
Wedding Videography and Photography-in my own experience- is reliant on Freelancers with specialty in either Videography or photography. In this I mean, the Camera work is done by a professional who offer his/her services on a freelance basis. With this said, is wedding Videography and Photography business profitable? Well, for the weddings I have covered and produced in the past, it’s not.
Watch video
It’s a business run by emotions and conflict of interest. The bride in most occasions is the one that calls the shots. If she doesn’t like you as the producer, the quality of your output does not matter, you will not get that business.
If you do get the job out of influence by the groom, you will not enjoy doing the job. Something will go wrong somehow. I mean the attitude will be off the peak.
That’s why every Videographer or Photographer you know-who rely on wedding, birthdays and the likes- take very long to make their ends meet in life.
In this blog post I will share with you the unknown challenges Wedding Videography and Photography business owners go through and proposed solutions.
1. Fierce Pricing Competitions
The competitions in the business is fierce and only the passionate in their craft survive. Reality is, in the world we are living in, you cannot eat passion unless you put value on it. And value in this case is Money.
Everyone will want to quote low so as to get the contract
That’s why, as a photographer, you should always promise yourself that for better for worse, you are willing to charge what you are worth despite the ‘couple’ in question threatening that they have an option of someone cheaper for the job. This is a very common card they pull and is meant to scare you as the producer so that you can lower your price.
When looking for a wedding videographer, what most couples look for vary. Some look for Quality first then cost comes last while for others price comes first then quality.
There are those who prioritize both. Any videographer or Photographer who wants to progress in life should put focus on only those clients who prioritize quality over price.
This way, if the client likes what they see, you can give them the a quote to have that. In many occasions, such clients have no problem paying and they will never fail you.
2. Church Offering Videography and Photography Services to their Members
With televangelism becoming one way to spread the word of God-as one way of church becoming self reliant, some churches are now providing video services to their members at a cheaper price.
Some churches offer Videography and photography services to their members. PHOTO: Pixabay.com
In this I mean, they can give the same quality as you do at half the price. This has contributed to many wedding Photography businesses closing down. The difference between the two is, church have resources and can retain a Videographer and photographer for long term as they are employed by the church.
It thus means that, for you to remain relevant, you will have to consider bidding for Government tenders and doing other independent productions i.e producing TV shows e.t.c. Otherwise, your days in the wedding photography business is counted.
Solution to this is, Videography business owners should invest their savings on other avenues or businesses that merge well with videography like marketing and real estate. This way, they can use the team to develop marketing content and so on. This for sure will make the Photography business sustainable.
3. Wedding Frequency Especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic
While Covid pandemic has terrorized most businesses, I think videography and photography is the worst hit. With cancellation of events and gatherings during the pandemic, most videographers have been left with only one option; to create content and post them on YouTube to kill boredom.
A man indoors during the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo: Pixabay.com
Now, how you monetize will depend on YouTube algorithms…and burning out is expected. This is not only unpredictable, but it’s also unsustainable for any creator who knows the value their their content.
First you have to create regularly on your budget. If you get no feedback, you will need to ‘tweak ‘ the content until you succeed. For high budget projects like drama, you will only servive if you have a sponsor.
So, the solution is, before going on this path, see how much you will loose. For me, it’s better to create content and keep it until you find someone who sees the value in it and is ready to sponsor. It pays to have patience. Also, consulting a lawyers who understands copyright is fundamental.
4. Couple Vanishing after the Wedding for more than 3 months sometimes 5 years
Get this; most Videography/photography business owners pay themselves last. They prioritize paying their Freelancers first to build trust. In this context, if the client vanishes after the wedding, he is the only one left languishing in ‘bankruptcy‘ as he waits for the client to come back for their videos and pay balance. The only solution this , is charging more. I also recommend you request at least 70% as down payment. This thus means that if the client pays 70% of the agreed amount, you have some profit left to you after you have paid everyone else.
5. One moment missed causing trouble getting balance payment
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, the bride in most occasions is the one calling the shots. Now, you have got the job and covered the wedding. You have edited the video and now ready to deliver. But when editing it, you realize that you forgot to take a photo to be mounted on frame during photo-shoot.
A couple shows their rings after their wedding. Photo: Pixabay.com
Or the ones you took are good but the bride ‘is not happy with her facial expression on the photos that are meant for the wall frame. The blame is shifted on you. There is nothing you can do. That’s unless you go for another photo-shoot.
You argue until the couple accept to pay you angrily. They assure you that they will never recommend you to anyone. This is disheartening if you did everything good except for that one thing. Worse enough, if you made very small profit out of the project.
Now, the solution lies again on charging more. This way, in you team, you can pay a director. The director will be the one reading the facial expressions and ensuring they give legit smiles.
There are many other things that are killing the wedding photography business like the committee managing the wedding making unreasonable request for them to consider you for the job.
As I conclude. I recommend that you start paying well videographers and photographers you know and be kind to them. You will thank me later for this.
Also, what I can say to a person looking for wedding photographers or videographers is to look at the quotes offered to them. The higher the quote, the more the assurance that you will get quality.
If you bargain too much, expect disappointments in either photography or video. Fact is, creativity is like gold, the higher you pay, the more value you get.
And that’s it, if you are in Nairobi-Kenya and is looking for Videography services, you can request a quote here.
I am writing this blog-post for people who love what they do and are getting well paid for it. When starting out to sell a skill that you love, it’s fun. You will take every chance that comes your way to perfect it. You will be less picky when offered an opportunity. The experience will be even sweeter when an opportunity is bundled with a good pay.
While you love what you are doing, you have values that matter to you. What believes do you hold dear to you?
With this said, will you take all the jobs you are offered if they are well paying and you are applying the skills you treasure most? They answer is absolutely yes. Now, this is where the catch lies. It will take you time to figure it out.
Of-course, any person who is morally upright, will never take a job that bridges on values irrespective of how sweet the offer is.i.e Producing Pornography videos.
Most of the jobs in this category are well paying because very few people will want to be associated with them. So, does this mean you are free to take any work so long as its not pornography? Well, the answer varies from one person to the other.
In this blog-post, I will highlight a couple of things that will make one give in to temptations to take a job that is promoting illegal and unscrupulous business.
Talk of good sales people selling snake oil. In this context, the content you are producing are used to sell snake oil- a product that does not exist.
The client will by all means, while requesting for your service avoid mentioning the kind of service that he/she is offering. He will clearly outline the skills he/she is looking for as well as share an example of the design or video they want emulated.
Videographer at work. Photo by Kyle Loftus on Pexels.com
In most occasions, there will be nothing in the picture that will say they are planning to use it to sell “Snake oil’ to the unsuspecting people.
Going by how they are organized and convincing, how well they are paying, you cannot help but do the job. While doing the job, you will be tempted to do research on the product online to see if it exist.
In most occasions, it may or may not be existing. On the other hand, evidence of the product working might not be there despite the script claiming that is being used by thousands of people.
And as a designer or editor, you are like, why does that matter to me anyway, after all, I was not assigned to research on it!
You Receive an Offer At Your Lowest Moments
Everyone have their low and high moments in life. During this time of Covid-19, Freelancers pray that some business luck comes their way because they depend on gigs and direct business offers to prosper. If none of these are forthcoming, they are doomed. In this time, offers that does not align with your values come your way.
Customers walking in the mall. Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Pexels.com
For instance, if you value privacy, and a client offers you a job to create a video or graphic for a product that promote hacking peoples private information for a good pay, will you take it?. Of-course you will. And then, you promise yourself not to do it again once you complete the job. In your heart, you are taking it because of the situation you are in.
You Are Just Facilitating
Most freelancers who have been in the business for a long period of time own agencies. When one owns an agency, they can accommodate lots of projects. In most occasions, when you own an agency, you are not directly involved in editing or producing a project, you just facilitate.
Work space in an Agency. Photo by Cadeau Maestro on Pexels.com
So, as long as the financial bit is good, and as long as it is not pornography, most agencies will take the job-unless your agency is involved in producing adult content. And as an agency manager, you will be assigning the work to your assistant editors.
It will take a while before the agency manager/Lead Freelancer realizes that he/she is accommodating a project that is going against his/her values.
Conclusion
While there are more things that will blind an agency manager from seeing that the project they have just accepted is going against their believes and values, it’s always very crucial to maintain your stand as a leader. Have the discipline of counter checking projects first before accepting.
This way, you will be growing knowing that you are taking in contracts that are adding value to the users and are aligned to your values.
That’s where joy lies. When you get paid knowing that you have added value or created promotional item for a valuable product are happy and look forward to more.
And that is it from me. Until next time, take care.
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
Albert Einstein
Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.
Need help with video editing or hiring freelancers? Contact me here.
As Covid-19 continue to claim lives and wreck havoc on businesses across the world, remote way of working has become the new modus operandi. Fraudulent business groups on social media are emerging everyday targeting new and existing freelancers who are desperate to make money online.
In this blogpost, I will share my personal way of identifying a typical fraudulent Freelancer recruitment funnel on social media. This will in give you a picture of how the scheme looks like and how it is very hard to suspect. They will lure you to doing work for free or once you are in, they pay as they wish with false promises of increasing the pay.
These rackets are all over Reddit. This does not mean Reddit is a bad social media network. It’s the bad motives by some of the users.
If you have never been to Reddit, all I can say based on my personal experience is, it’s a good social media network where people share valuable information for free. Note the word FREE. This is the catch that fraudsters are using to get free service from You -the user- without you suspecting anything.
For the short time have been on Reddit, I have enjoyed every bit of information that I found shared on Reddit groups.
It got even better when I noticed that people were posting work opportunities for Freelancers. Me being a full time Freelancer, I decided to respond to one of them by messaging the person who offered the opportunity.
Here is a snippet of the offer.
Please take note of what the client is offering here. I have highlighted them in yellow so that you can see their hook.
They offer $10-100 to edit 1 Minute Videos
It means they will pay each editor that gets into their funnel based on how the negotiate for a given assignment. If you are confident enough to negotiate, you will be paid better. Sadly, many new and even experienced freelancers are afraid to negotiate because they fear being denied the opportunity. So if the client fixes a budget on a given video, they will accept. This takes me to the second hook.
10-20 Videos Per Week
This is very enticing to anyone looking for sustainable income. Any Freelancer will do a quick math using the average pay which is around $55 per video. If you do 10 videos a week you make $550 and if you do 20 videos a week, you make $1100. This is good money. Moreover, it will be recurrent work. One has a potential of earning $2200-4400 a month working directly with the client. In fact if you are paid $100 per video, you will earn $4000-$8000 a month.
This is enough to blind any freelancer. I mean this is good money. One can do anything to get the job:-). This is where they begin their show now that they have your attention.
The Screening Process
Like any other interview, before you are considered, you are required to submit your portfolio. That’s what Freelancers do everyday right inside their cover letters when bidding for work.
As you can see, they will first review your porfolio and if you are fit, they will ask you to do a ‘test project‘ to confirm your capability. Now, this is where one knows if its going to end well or it is going to turn out as a fraudulent opportunity.
Trusted freelancing sites like Upwork have implemented a policy regarding to test project to protect freelancers from fraudulent clients who their sole purpose is to waste Freelancers time. The condition is; that clients have to pay Freelancers for any test projects.
Having found this policy helpful is protecting myself, I apply it everywhere.
Now, in the post, the client concluded that the test project will be paid-which is still in line with the policy.
Next Steps After Submitting My Portfolio
The client liked my portfolio and not elevated me to the next stage of their Freelance Recruitment funnel, a slack channel for Video editors working for them. The channel had more than 40 members.
All instructions on how to go about the test project was in there. After, going through the files, I was happy. The instructions was very clear. Seeing that I had all that I needed to proceed, I contacted the team lead to clarify 3 things;
How they pay editors – Is it via Paypal, or bank transfer e.t.c
If they have an Non Disclosure Agreement to sign before starting work
How much they pay for the test project which looked like everyone in the channel was supposed to work on.
The VA could not answer that. This was the first sign that was something was not right. In response, she referred me to their accountant who deals with paying freelancers.
She avoided the question on having and signing a contract before work. That’s was alarming. I mean, who works for a company without a contract in place especially when you consider the amount of money one will earn while doing the job?
This is very important. Loosing $4000 a month is not a joke. What if they pay at the end of the month and after you do the job, they remove you from the slack channel or stop responding to your concerns. Anything is possible.
Having a contract is a sign of commitment.
Contradicting Statements
In their video editing post, they said they were going to pay for the test project. But on persistently consulting the accounts clerk on Slack before working on the test project, I was surprised to learn from her that they DON’T PAY for test project.
This is enough. If they don’t pay for test, withdraw from the interview and forget it.
But how many Freelancers do this?
If all of the 40+ Freelancers in the channel had started doing the job without confirming if they were going to be paid for the test or not, what does it tell you about their level of seriousness towards freelancing? Its vague right.
Those are the same freelancers you will hear soon crying that they were not paid.
Conclusion
The only way we can stand out as full time freelancers online is upping our game based on our experiences for us to gain trust and respect from new clients looking to hire online.
What do you think of the jobs being offered in reddit?
