How You Can Take Advantage of the Increasing Demand for Freelance Online Writers

The freelance writing market is a growing market to be in. There are many jobs available, but sometimes, it can be hard to find the work that you want, and available at the time you want it to be. All opportunities will help you to develop a career in the field in which you want to, though.

While not all freelance work is glamorous, it is still quite a profitable market. There are careers in proofreading as well as in copy writing. In proof reading, the client will want you to proof a piece of their work. You will have to ensure there are no mistakes in spelling and punctuation but you will also be looking for grammatical errors as well as those where the flow of the piece is thrown off. In copy writing, there is a large market for those able to write copy for websites and e-books.

In all of the opportunities that are available, education and skill are necessary. Online work means that you work for yourself, but that also means that all of your education, training, and jobs have to be provided by you, not someone else. Vacancies are available to those who strive to meet the demands of those looking for writers. Providing a good service to a customer once can make or break your career. Many of these people will talk about how well you did and offer you more referrals than you can imagine. But, if you do a bad job, employment may become tough to find. Work wisely in order to succeed.

When you get your foot in the door you are likely to find a great future writing online.

Visit http://www.FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Advice about Freelance Writing Jobs. Copyright ? FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.

Apartments are Good for Your Health

Work-rate, health and even personal relationships may be affected if you stay in hotel accommodation for longer than 4 nights on business. Natalie Wakefield of The Apartment Service states her case.

Business Travellers will spend significantly more to secure a seat in the First Class cabin of an aircraft and the reasons are beyond question: they can catch up on work or stretch out and relax - and besides, haven't you heard of Economy Class Syndrome? Yet when they arrive at their destination, they will often stay for several nights, weeks or even months confined within the same four walls. "Let's call it Hotel Accommodation Syndrome."

When work takes you away from home for even longer periods - training courses, temporary or perhaps permanent relocation - the situation becomes almost grave. Individuals need a lot more than simply a pillow on which to lay their tired heads, although every little helps. They need to spread out, relax, just like in the aircraft. And with the restaurant and Room Service menus exhausted, they pine for the taste of home. Arguably worse still, work begins to suffer. More time and effort is spent escaping from the hotel room than on work, which has become disjointed and disorganised. Irritability sets in and relationships at work and at home both suffer.

The problem with hotels is that they are for sleeping in. The business traveller, especially with family, needs somewhere to sit and relax, make a snack or a meal, have a meeting or spread out the paperwork. Serviced apartments will always offer much better value-for-money compared with a hotel, if public areas are less important to the guest. It is upon this cost-saving, that this very model is based. And what is good for the individual is good for the company.

Today, Executive Roomspace (ERS), a market leader in short term serviced apartments, ensures that business travellers can confidently book an apartment. Specialising in stays of 1-month plus where even greater savings are possible. ERS offer properties throughout Greater London, including, Canary Wharf, Clerkenwell, Fleet Street, Kingston, Marylebone, South Kensington, The City, Twickenham, Victoria and Wimbledon as well as throughout the Home Counties, the M4 Corridor to Swindon and Bristol beyond.

By the very nature of the beast, the flexibility required to offer something different for every client makes it difficult to meet demands for a standardised and consistent product. At Executive Roomspace (ERS) they believe they have found the solution. Charles McCrow comments "ERS promises consistent standards together with a pledge that, should a client express dissatisfaction with the accommodation within 48 hours of arrival, alternative accommodation or a full refund will be offered - this offers complete peace of mind to both booker and agent".

The same value extends across the board and broadly speaking equates to a 30% saving on rates in hotels of a comparable standard. Branded apartment accommodation usually targets the mid-market, short to medium stay clients. The accommodation you can expect is functional with achievable rates of around ?65 per person per night with possible discounts for weekly or monthly stays in a one-bedroom apartment, although lower rates are possible in a studio. At the upper end of the market, the rates will approximately double.

One of the major factors affecting savings in apartment accommodation is that the charges are per room and not per person. The apartment is already reasonably priced. Add to this the economies when you stay with a family of four or on business with a colleague in a two-bedroomed apartment and the savings increase still further. To achieve maximum savings for your specific requirements, it is advisable to contact one of the booking agencies providing expert advice in this area, as the benefits of their advice will out weigh any perceived savings of choosing an apartment and negotiating direct.

The serviced apartment market has emerged as a most cost-effective alternative to hotel accommodation and, at times the only option to consider. High in comfort, low in cost with complete consistency. Three C's that provide a good benchmark for anyone needing to stay, for whatever length of time, away from home, proving Vitamin C really is good for your health.

For further press information, please contact Natalie Wakefield, Marketing Executive at Executive Roomspace, 01934 519 518 or e-mail: nataliew@apartment.co.uk

EXECUTIVE ROOMSPACE
5-6 FRANCIS GROVE
WIMBLEDON
SW19 4DT

Executive Roomspace: Since 1997 Executive Roomspace has been the first brand named apartment product amongst regular corporate housing bookers. Aimed at the medium budget with a minimum stay of a month, the ease and flexibility of booking has pushed apartment accommodation as the favoured spacious alternative to the standard hotel. http://www.roomspace.com

Apartment Service: The Apartment Service founded in 1981 as the first UK company to offer a global apartment reservations network for serviced accommodation. Now the largest serviced apartment booking company in Europe, with over seven hundred locations worldwide. For business or leisure.

For stays of a day, a week, a month or a year, serviced apartments offer a spacious, flexible and cost effective alternative to restrictive hotel rooms. With an average saving of 15 - 30% on an equivalent standard hotel. Stays in an apartment can be tailored to suit your location, budget and departure requirements. http://www.apartmentservice.com

Universal Meaning of Celtic Knotwork

In the spring of 2003, I spent three weeks in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras, located in Southern India. Each morning, walking before the heat of the day, I was amazed to see intricate knot work patterns drawn out free hand with flour in front of the driveways and gates of homes. These artistic scrolls, I was told by an Indian friend, were offerings to local gods, and were part of a tradition that stretched back into the ancient past.

I have seen knot patterns in my travels throughout many parts of the world. In Islamic countries where iconography is prohibited, the mosques are heavily decorated with knot-like patterns. Stone-carved knot work motifs can be found on ruins from the Americas to the Hindu iconography of Bali, Indonesia. In Tibet, the "eternal knot" is a common symbol representing the endless cycles of existence.

The knot work most familiar in the West is from Celtic iconography. Though the Celts, before the Roman Empire, were spread throughout much of Western Europe, we're most familiar with their designs remaining today in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. On the moors, surrounded by winding rock walls and ancient neolithic bridges, this knot work carved in stone transcends time. We know from the writings of the Romans that the Celts believed strongly in the sacredness of place. Similar to the beliefs of many in South India today, the land anchored a particular god or goddess that was meant to be honored, though we do not know whether the knot work designs were made as offerings.

The broad spectrum of knot work designs found in many cultures suggests that the motif is both universal and rooted in ancient mystery. From the most general perspective, knot work iconography can be viewed as a metaphor for our own unique tapestry of experience. On a macrocosmic level, the knots express metaphorically that life on earth is deeply interconnected, as illustrated in the Spider Women's web or the Great Hoop of Life in Native American stories. As one Native woman told me, if you move a pebble on top of a mountain, you can change the course of a mighty river. This is also expressed slightly differently in the Biblical aphorism, "We reap what we sow," which is similar to the Eastern understanding of karma. Even physics today speaks of a "unified field."

Yet it is also true that individual elements of knots hold specific meaning from the perspective of sacred geometry. Look around you at different geometric forms. Why is the earth, our eyes, the trunks of trees circular instead of square? How does the circle function in the world verses the triangle and what does that mean in terms of knot work that uses circular patterns? Here are a few hints to help you with these blueprints.

We speak of a circle of friends and live in circular cycles, such as the day and the season. Native cultures throughout the world hold ceremonies in protective circles. A knot work pattern with circles or variations of circles certainly has some important keys to relationships and community.

A square knot motif concerns structure and stability, which is why buildings use the shape of a square foundation. Numerology has always played a part in ancient cultures and there are many books on the subject. The number five, for example, represents the four directions and the center point, or the five senses.

We also often see knot work shaped like an oval, which is the shape of an egg. The oval has something to do with generative creativity and birth. Planets circle the sun in an oval. And if you squeeze an oval together you get the lemniscates, the symbol for infinity which is very prevalent in knot work motifs.

Many knot work motifs also deal with vectors that travel in a certain direction. If you look at the shape of an arrow, it's easy to understand why a triangle might connote movement.

Another common motif is the knot work depicting a trinity. In the Celtic tradition, many deities had three forms. The Mother Goddess was understood to the maiden, mother and crone. The universe was viewed as heaven, earth and otherworld. We are born, we live and we die. Certainly the trinity knot also illustrates the One being dividing off into the masculine and feminine, or the mother and son-- a mystical truth contemplated in many sacred traditions.

The cross is also a symbol rich in meaning. From a simple point of view, two lines crossing symbolizing a connection or meeting which can be a point of creativity. Some mystics speak of the horizontal axis representing the earthly plain, while the vertical axis points toward the heavens.

While the above guide for understanding knot work is not necessarily based on any scholarly or anthropological text on the meaning of knots, it does provide a starting point that is based on a universal perspective. Most knot work designs are going to have some variation of these shapes. Spending time contemplating the motif may yield some insight.

Lastly, there's an essential reason why the knot work is so prevalent, and that is beauty. I will never forget Jaisalmer, an ancient town in the desert of Rajasthan. This ancient city, where caravans used to stop and trade, is made from sandstone. Many of the buildings are carved with intricate knot work patterns. Strangers walked up to me and said, "How do you like our beautiful city?" I could see clearly how art is life-giving and the need for beauty is something fundamental. In the middle of the desert, the beautiful knot work in golden stone brings joy to the heart.

?2005, Marc Choyt

Website: http://www.artisanweddingrings.com

Marc Choyt graduated from Brown University in 1984 with a degree in English. In 1995, he received an MA degree in Humanities from St. John's College. In 1996, he and his wife, Helen Chantler, founded Reflective Images, a designer jewelry company specializing in contemporary Celtic jewelry. http://www.celticjewelry.com Please send email requests to marek@celticjewelry.com.

The Doors Of Opportunity

Alexander Graham Bell once said, "When one door closes another opens; but we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that is opened for us." If you're in sales you gotta remember this one.

Right now, during these challenging and difficult economic times, salespeople are facing more closed doors than ever before. Some salespeople are like the news media - they focus on what's negative. In sales, being positive is better.

I see this all the time in my sales training programs that I conduct for my corporate clients. It's easy to blame the economy. It's easier to blame a competitor's price. And it's unbelievably easy to soak up the daily headlines and point fingers everywhere. Where's the personal accountability?

What's not so easy is to take a personal inventory while looking directly in a mirror. It would seem that everything is wrong with everything else except the person you see in the mirror. When was the last time you asked yourself, "How can I increase my sales," in spite of these challenging times?

I'm very proud of the fact that I have had 16 straight years of increased sales and profits. I did not however, experience 16 years of blissful growth. On the contrary, I've had to be feisty, assertive, optimistic, determined, creative, and results oriented in order to increase the size of my business.

My first huge mistake was to invest $20,000 in a distributorship that sold videodisc telemarketing training programs. I invested this money in a very small division of GTE. I got off to a quick start and was making money. The only problem I experienced was that GTE decided to get out of the training business.

So I searched for a new product and found one. Rank Roundtable, was a huge European conglomerate, and decided to enter the U.S. market with a brand new sales training program. Proudly I became one of their first U.S. distributors. Once again I got off to a very quick start.

And once again a very big company decided to get out of the training business - leaving me high and dry.

Remember, I'm using this as an example - not looking for your sympathy.

These two big gigantic DOORS were abruptly closed to me. Alexander Graham Bell's quote says when one door closes another opens. It will only open for you if you're looking for it.

In my own situation I decided I would not build my business around someone else's products. I created and sold workbooks to my clients. I added audiocassette tapes. I've written and published five books. And I could go on.

This is not the best of times for professional speakers, sales trainers, and consultants. When you factor in September 11th a lot of people in my industry are singing the blues.

I decided to sing a different song. My song is called "My Way." I also decided I wasn't going to participate in this recession so I raised my speaking fee. I also tried new business opportunities. For example, I started doing monthly TeleSeminars. Last year I wasn't. Last year I did not have an eight-cassette album. This year I do.

You get the point don't you?

Enough about me - what about you?

What's the one thing you're fretting over that you can convert into a new selling opportunity for yourself?

There are two kinds of doors in the sales world. There are closed doors and there are open doors. The closed doors will find you. You have to find the doors that are waiting to be opened by you.

My brother Ray was a New York City fireman who was killed September 11th in the World Trade Center. He perished along with 342 other firemen and several thousand other people.

Consider this, no matter how difficult your current situation may be, everyone who perished in the World Trade Center would, if given the chance, be willing to trade places with any of us.

YOU CAN DO IT! THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORDS CAN AND CAN'T IS THE LETTER "T" for TRY! GO FOR IT.

Never give up. Never give in.

Eliminate the words can't, impossible, and discount from your vocabulary and you will experience a success you never before imagined.

Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

Networking: 17 Essential Strategies In The 21st Century

It is virtually impossible to succeed professionally and personally without developing a network of people. There is no career or business opportunity where you can be rewarded entirely for what you know and how well you know your work.

Networking requires a mission, goals, vision and a willingness to share valuable information with others. Networking events, meetings and conferences are places to make plans to reconnect and stay in touch. It involves building relationships, helping others and giving advice to anyone who asks. A trusting business relationship will enhance your base of contacts and build a lifetime of rewards. It's Not Who You Know, It's Who Knows You!

Networking is a skill that can be learned. To maximize the potential of your networking skill, you must learn the necessary strategies, and you must practice; just as you would when learning to play a sport or a musical instrument.

Introductions. There is incredible power in first impressions. Therefore, you should make it a priority to make the best first impression you can. For most introductions, the first real contact you have with another individual is a handshake. Your handshake communicates, professionalism, confidence and credibility. Learn how to give a quality, professional handshake ? not too limp, but not too firm ? to leave the best first impression.

Just as important as the handshake, is remembering a person's name, as well as its pronunciation and spelling. Moreover, a good rule to remember is people prefer to be called by the name they have introduced themselves.

Business Card Exchange. Challenge yourself not to give out your cards, until you have uncovered a reason for exchanging names and numbers. Lead your conversation in a direction that is beneficial for you to stay in contact beyond the event.

Building the Relationship by:

• Knowing how to hold an effective conversation

• Engaging your connection

• Knowing how to actively listen

• Building trust

Networking can Happen Anywhere. Remember that everywhere you go is an opportunity to network. Even at your current job! "Social Networking" is a sensible alternative to traditional organizational charts and everyday business transactions.

Follow-Up! Follow-up is essential in building and maintaining relationships. Don't let your network forget about you!

Networking as a way of life will bring you personal and professional success. Make the most of your time - be determined, patient and visible.

To get the most out of your networking abilities, you'll want to have a strong resource that you can trust on your side. Visit http://www.ebookmall.com our copy of Networking: 17 Essential Strategies in the 21st Century. Or, for guidance in-person, contact Patricia Dorch at execudress@aol.com to schedule Networking Events for National, Regional and Local Conferences, Meetings and Special Events.

Practice conversations with people in familiar and uncommon places. Asking questions is a sign of a good listener and will help you establish rapport and build relationships. Connecting with people will bring you a world of opportunities.

EXECU DRESS
Patricia Dorch M.S.
President / CEO
Author, National Speaker and Trainer
execudress@aol.com

? 2004 Patricia Dorch

About The Author

Patricia Dorch is a best-selling Author, National Speaker, Trainer and Career Coach. Her clients include both Corporate Clients and Government Agencies in Washington, DC. Contact Patricia for your day or evening event.

Ready, Aim, Achieve! - Become An On-purpose Family Through Goal Setting

Successful families don't just happen. They take time, talent and planning. This month, in addition to any personal resolutions you make, consider sitting down with your family to reflect on your collective accomplishments and dreams. Then set some family goals for the year ahead.

How to begin ?

Schedule. Set aside a few hours over a series of nights, and gather together everyone in your home. Your teens will need notice, but tasty treats might help attendance.

Share the purpose. You will be discussing your wants, dreams and the values you hold important in your lives, then using them to develop goals to guide your family.

Reflect. Consider having each member choose and record one really important goal from each category:

Health
Financial
Relationships
Career
Community
Spiritual
Intellectual

Discuss. Share your ideas. Be open and accepting. Some might need to a little coaxing to share, for fear of being ridiculed. However, if done in an atmosphere of mutual respect, this can be a great opportunity to really get to know your family! It can also give insight into people's frustrations & stressors, as you learn about the ideals they hold important in their lives

Analyze. Are they feasible? Are they specific enough? Look for similarities. Do any overlap with others?

Write. Now collectively create a series of statements to both collapse and capture these common desires. These will become your family goals. For example:

We are a kind and loving family who is thankful for all that we have.
We value & support family and friends.
We exercise regularly and lead healthy lives.
We share our time, talents and resources with others.
We invest in the future financially and spiritually.
We strive for excellence in education, and encourage life-long learning.

Celebrate. You now have a set of goals to help guide your family's decision-making. Everyone can now weigh choices against these statements to determine if they lead your family closer or further from your family's goals.

Post & review. Whether you frame your goals or carry copies in your wallets, take time each day, week, & month to reflect and review what you have accomplished. Are you making choices which support these goals? Don't worry if you slip. Even the most effective families can be off track most of the time! The trick that keeps them on target is their shared sense of focus and destination. They know where they are headed, and they keep coming back to it.

Thoughts to ponder ?

Change is hard. Old habits are difficult to overcome. Be patient and supportive of one another.

Involve everyone. The process of family goal setting can help give family members a better sense of "voice". Telling your family what their goals are will not promote acceptance.

Take your time. Creating family goals should be a process, not a one day event.

Regardless of your family type ? big, small, divorced or blended, adoptive or otherwise, successful families don't just happen. So, make a plan and provide the focus needed to achieve your dreams & goals.

For additional information be sure to check out:

The On-Purpose Person: Making Your Life Make Sense by Kevin McCarthy

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey

Family First: Your Step-by-Step Plan for Creating a Phenomenal Family by Dr. Phil McGraw

?2005 Rob Stringer.com - reprinted with permission

Award-winning educator, speaker and author, Rob Stringer coaches and assists parents with his upbeat approach to learning, and parenting. For more ideas, resources or workshop information, visit http://www.RobStringer.com or call (905) 544-1938 today.

Healing From Within

"We become sick because we act
In sickening ways."
Louis Jourard

Modern medicine is based upon the notion of battle. We battle germs and fight for life. As soon as we feel pain or discomfort, we immediately try to change it. We feel we must conquer

This way of being leads to a never-ending struggle. After one illness or problem is conquered, another arises. Usually we expect the doctor to take control and make us well. We relinquish our part in the illness, deny the fact that it is up to us to stop, listen, and discover the lessons the illness has to teach us.

Healing from within brings inner peace with it. It arises from a different orientation towards all the experiences of life. We are taught to stop, pay attention, to respect what is happening ? to see our pain as a messenger. It is as if we were re-focusing a camera, receiving our experience through a different lens.

Pointer 1 See Your Pain As A Messenger Bringing Important News

Dialoguing With Your Pain

Usually there is a deep sense that when pain arises it is because something is wrong. This is a misunderstanding. Pain arises from lack of balance. It contains much needed information, brings many messages along with it. When we see our pain as a messenger and learn how to really listen to it, healing begins in all kinds of ways.

Some would suggest there is no difference between our physical pain, our illness and the emotional, mental or spiritual suffering we are going through.

Illness often comes when we feel defeated and may not want to struggle or live anymore. Some become ill when they are overly exhausted, which is a way of telling themselves it is time to make changes in their lives. Looking at one aspect of our suffering, we are also inevitably, looking at the next. All aspects are interconnected.

In some cases, for full healing to take place, a person may have to make deep changes in his life. It is important to stop and wonder specifically what the pain is saying to you, to dialogue with the pain, ask fundamental questions of it: "What do you want from me? Why are you here now?"

No matter what we are feeling there is only one pain and it manifests itself in various ways. If we do not address it in one mode, often it will come in another. It can come physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

In whatever form this pain arises, it is extremely empowering to turn directly to our suffering and interact with it. This requires turning around. Instead of tensing up, we learn how to pause and understand there is a lesson here we have to learn. As we do this, we often discover that the pain comes holding a gift in its hands.

Pointer 2 Pain Often Comes Holding A Gift In Its Hands

Each Illness Has Its Own Story

Illness often comes when we feel defeated. We may not wish to struggle anymore. Some people become ill when they are overly exhausted. The illness is the only way they can give themselves permission to stop, rest, and make much needed changes in their lives. Each illness has it's own story. The same is true with psychological or emotional symptoms that grow strong, demanding our attention.

When someone is in physical pain and suddenly understands what is troubling them emotionally, the physical pain often startlingly subsides. For full healing to take place it may be essential to make changes in one's total life. Cancer can be suppressed for many years, and then it returns. When it reappears we must ask, "Why now? What is going on in my total life?"

Sitting In The Middle Of Trouble

During the practice of Zen, students engaged in zazen (Zen meditation), sometimes sit for many hours on the cushion without moving. Sometimes incredible pain arises.

As they continue to do this practice, they gradually become stronger than the pain. They learn to see that most of the pain simply comes from resistance to what's going on. It comes from refusing this very moment.

When we stop fighting, we experience joy. Once we start fighting again, we are cramped into agony.

Pointer 3

The Best Way Out Is The Way In

The Best Way Out

"The best way out is the way in."

Eido Roshi

The best way out is to make friends with the pain. Fighting intensifies it. If we can relax into it for a little while and explore, many new possibilities arise.

Natural healing is always available in all situations, but it can be cut off by fighting and by fear. When we let go and enter the flow of what's going on at the moment, we became available to our greater source of energy, guidance and help.

Brenda Shoshanna, Ph.D, is a psychologist, speaker and well known author who is a long term Zen practitioner. This article is from her new book Living By Zen, (Timeless Truths For Everyday Life) http://www.livingbyzen.com The relationship expert on i.village, she is also the author of of Zen Miracles (Finding Peace In An Insane World,) Zen And The Art Of Falling In Love, (Simon and Schuster) and many other books. You may contact her at topspeaker@yahoo.com. Her personal website is.http://www..brendashoshanna.com