When Time is Money Charging by the Hour

When Time is Money Charging As a freelancer or copywriter, charging per hour rather than per word (or page) seems daunting – especially with projects that take up several weeks of your time. But, time is money. Here’s how to figure out which payment method is best: Setting a Rate Pricing yourself Sites like LinkedIn, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer and fellow-freelancer’s websites will help you gauge the market. Use this Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator from All Indie Writers (http://allindiewriters.com/freelance-hourly-rate-calculator/) to help you calculate your rate. I started small, charging $10 an hour at first, then worked myself up to $25 when I suddenly realized I had more clients and less time. Experience matters. People will pay for it. Per hour? Charging per hour can benefit both you and your client. A 10,000-word project at 50 cents per word will run your client $5, 000, but at $20 per hour (assuming you go through 500 words per hour), it would be $400 (20 hours). You might also decide to go with per-hour because the final word count is unsure or you’re working within a time-frame. I started charging per hour when singer-songwriter Rea le Roux came to me for a press release to announce the start of a new hip-hop dancing group to encourage the local youth. We couldn’t agree on a word count, and the piece had to be translated into Afrikaans. So, I charged per hour, for two hours of work: One hour of interviewing and research, and an hour of writing, translating and editing. For you, charging per hour could make it easier to calculate (and reach) your goal salary: The more hours you put in, the better you can get paid. Time: What factors into that measurement? Time is money, but what is time? Think about what will factor into your per-hour charge beforehand: Time spent writing, editing and proofing are obvious, but what about your travel time and any additional research? Account for weekends and off days: How many hours aren’t you working? Incorporate these when issuing quotes, progress reports and statements. You might also need more time, say, if you or your client ends up in the hospital, or if your laptop crashes. Both have happened to me. Run a timer when actively working to include researching, writing and translating. Keep a list of what you did, when you did it, and how much time you put into it. Send this break-down to your client to show them what they are paying for. Bathroom breaks, trips to the store, and feeding the cats aren’t deductible. Be willing to negotiate, but decide beforehand how much room for negotiation you will allow, as you would negotiating for a car. You don’t want to be out-negotiated. In other words, know your budget. What’s your type? When you’re typing against the clock, speed matters. Learning to type quicker will save you time, too. Use Wapsilon.com to test and improve your typing speed;   Typingstudy.com   and   Typingclub.com are great places to learn touch-typing, which can make you work faster, more effectively, giving you time for more clients.

And Introduction to Spanish Verb Conjugation

And Introduction to Spanish Verb Conjugation The concept of verb conjugation is the same as in English - only the details are far more complicated. Verb conjugation refers to the process of changing a verb form to provide information about the action being performed. The form of the verb can give us some idea about who is performing the action, when the action is being performed, and the relation of the verb to other parts of the sentence. To better understand the concept of conjugation in Spanish, lets look at some conjugation forms in English and compare them with some Spanish forms. In the examples below, the English verbs are explained first, followed by the corresponding Spanish forms. If youre a beginner, dont worry for now about what terms like present tense, auxiliary verb and indicative mean. If you cant understand what they refer to by the examples given, you will learn them in your later studies. This lesson isnt intended to be an exhaustive analysis of the subject, but rather just enough that you can grasp the concept of how conjugation works. Infinitive To talk is the infinitive form of the verb in English. It is the basic form of the verb, by itself conveying no information about the verb action. It can be used as a noun, as in To talk in public is difficult. (Some grammarians classify talk by itself as the infinitive).The same things are true of Spanish infinitives; they convey no information about the verb action, and they can be used as nouns. Infinitives in Spanish always end in -ar, -er or -ir. The verb for to talk is hablar. Present-tense indicative verbs I talk, you talk, he talks, she talks, we talk, they talk. In English, an s: yo hablo, I talk; tà º hablas, you (singular) talk; à ©l habla, he talks; ella habla, she talks; nosotros hablamos, we talk; ellos hablan, they talk. In many cases the verb form gives enough information that it isnt necessary to indicate with a subject noun or pronoun who is performing the action. Example: canto, I sing. Future-tense indicative I will talk, you will talk, he will talk, we will talk, they will talk. In English, the future tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb will.For the future tense, Spanish uses a set of verb endings that indicate who is performing the action as well as indicate that it is happening in the future. Examples: hablarà ©, I will speak; hablars, you (singular) will speak; à ©l hablar, he will speak; hablaremos, we will speak; hablarn, they will speak. Preterite (a type of past tense) I talked, you talked, he talked, we talked, they talked. In English, the simple past tense usually is formed by adding s: hablà ©, I talked; hablaste, you (singular) talked; hablà ³, she talked; hablamos, we talked; hablaron, they talked. Present perfect (another type of past tense) I have talked, you have talked, he has talked, we have talked, they have talked. In English, the present perfect is formed by using the present tense of to have and adding a participle, which usually ends in s: he hablado, I have spoken; à ©l ha hablado, he has spoken. The gerund and progressive tenses I am talking, you are talking, she is talking, we are talking, they are talking. English forms a gerund by adding s: estoy hablando, I am talking; estuvo hablando, he was talking. Subjunctive mood If I were rich ... If that be the case ... English sometimes uses the subjunctive mood to indicate something that is hypothetical or contrary to fact. Distinctive forms for the subjunctive mood, although they used to be somewhat common, are nearly absent from modern English conversation.Spanish also uses a subjunctive mood, but it is far more common than in English. Going into details about its use is beyond the scope of this lesson, but it is usually used in dependent clauses. Example: In Quiero que ella hable (I want her to talk, or, literally, I want that she talk.), hable is in the subjunctive mood. Commands (imperative mood) Talk. English has a simple command form based on an unconjugated form of the verb. To give a command, you simply use the infinitive without the to.Spanish has both formal and familiar requests that are indicated by verb endings. Examples: hable (usted), habla (tà º), (you) talk. In some circumstances, such as in recipes, the infinitive can also function as a type of comand. Other verb forms I could talk, I would talk, I could have talked, I will have talked, I was talking, I will be talking. English uses several auxiliary verbs to convey a sense of time for a verbs action.Spanish uses the verb haber and/or a variety of endings to convey a similar sense of time. Most learning Spanish as a second language learn these forms at an intermediate level. Summary As you can see, the verb forms are much more extensive in Spanish than they are in English. Complicating things is that the most common verbs are usually  irregular, as they are in English (I go, but I went, and I see, but I saw). The important thing to keep in mind is that Spanish usually uses endings to more fully convey the nature of the action, while English is much more likely to use auxiliary verbs and other sentence components.