Whenever we run across a website that can help bring business owners and freelancers together, we love calling that web site to your attention.

Today we’ll be telling you a bit about Mavenlink online.

From the “how do I make money online” standpoint, if you’re a professional with a service to offer, this web site is right up your alley. Signing up is free, and from there the sky’s the limit.

As a freelancing “maven” you’ll be able to:

o Market your services
o Find challenging and rewarding projects
o Work online efficiently (all projects are completed online)
o Get compensated (make money!) in a reliable and secure way.

As a Maven, after creating your free account, you browse opportunities and select projects you are qualified, professionally, to complete. Mavenlink even goes a step further and lets you tell them what sort of projects you have a particular talent for… how cool is that!

Businesses also create their initial account for free. Then you can go hunting for the perfect person to complete the task you need to get done.

Client benefits include:

o Accessibility to qualified candidates for your project
o Affordability
o Efficiency
o Flexibility

From the business owner’s side of the equation, Mavenlink makes it easy for you to save time and money locating the perfect freelancer for your needs. Also, it’s a great way to keep your business overhead costs down – outsourcing helps eliminate “cumbersome administrative overhead,” freeing up your staff and/or yourself to handle the tasks you need to concentrate on.

Browsing their Projects section should give both sides the opportunity to see “how much to charge” and “how much will I make.” In fact, we are totally impressed that their value-for-value exchange is very apparent using the Mavenlink system. (You’ll have to visit Mavenlink’s projects page to fully appreciate this statement, it’s much more clear cut then their competitors – we like that!)

Need to advertise your skills and make money? Mavenlink is for you!

Need to find a professional? Again, the best of both worlds can be found at Mavenlink – bringing skilled freelancing individuals and businesses together.

Email is an amazing thing. You either get tons of trash or golden nuggets. Today was a golden nugget day.

Larry Brauner informed us of two extremely cool FREE resources for anyone looking for virtual assistant work. The beauty of being a VA online is, obviously, your ability to make money from the comfort of your own home business computer.

The two resources are:

o Virtually Successful – Simple ways for virtual assistants to find (and keep) clients by Cindy Greenway (168 pages) – all she asks for is your name and email.

o Becoming An Online Business Manager – Playing a bigger game with your clients (and yourself) by Tina Forsynth (236 pages) – again she is collecting names and emails, but hey it’s free

Larry came by these two gems via Kenya Halliburton’s Beyond Business Coaching website so thank you Kenya!

I know this has come up because I was recently asked for direction in helping a very good friend of mine find more virtual assistant work.

So don’t pass these up, go get your copies today. The pdfs are huge so do give them time to load. Then save them to your hard drive in a place you will remember.

Enjoy!

Comments Are Most Welcome (and a smart strategy for YOU). Please do leave your feedback.

Today was my son’s very first job interview. Actually you have to admire him, he hasn’t even officially graduated from high school yet (will June 4th). However, when the ad appeared in the local newspaper for video game testers you bet he (okay we) were all over it. What a great opportunity – and since he’s been playing video and PC games since the age of 3, 15 years of experience should count for quite a bit.

However, he has more going for him then just gaming. His communication skills – both oral and written – far outstrip many individuals two or three times his age (not bragging, just fact).

Okay Diane… So where’s this all leading? Well, while he was not at all nervous heading into, driving to, arriving at, or standing up and walking down the hall – nor was he nervous returning – very few people can be as calm as he displayed when it comes to that all-important interview.

So I went scouting and found typical interview questions and the best responses. If you’re getting ready or praying for that all important call, brushing up a bit on your interviewee skills is never a bad idea.

I might mention that the company he interviewed with, for summer jobs only, is a major game player (no pun intended) in its industry – Petroglyph. While he was lucky and already familiar with many of their products and/or games they have played a large part in creating, not everyone is so lucky. You may be shooting in the dark for “any old company” (especially in today’s economy).

So the following is critical…..

With the internet at your fingertips, take the time to see if the job you’re going to interview with has their own website. You can often gleam tons of very useful information – ahead of time – and form questions that you can ask when they get to that all important interview section called, “Okay so now it’s your turn, do you have any questions about us?”

No need to just sit there and shake your head. Have a small arsenal of questions ready (you may not have to nor need to cover them all), but the very fact that you’ve taken the time to research them means you are just that more meticulous then the person coming in next.

Commenting is a way to self promote, even if you are responding to the above. Take a few seconds and please leave your feedback! (Another smart move on your part!)

Related articles

• Awards night at the Game Developers Conference (venturebeat.com)
• 6 Key Steps in Job Interview Prep (usnews.com)

This morning sitting in my inbox was a link to a money making program that I just had to post about… Get Paid to Draw.

Now being a stick figure person myself, at first I was thinking, “Well this won’t do me any good!” But, curious, I headed on over to the page to see what it’s all about.

A one-time fee of less than $35 might be your ticket to starting out the New Year pulling in some cash.

o  Submit your images for cash
o  Learn the ins and outs of animation & illustration
o  Sell your drawings online
o  Make money from your digital photos
o  Discover freelance opportunities and much more!

Above, I admitted I’m no artist, but I will tell you the digital photos portion caught my eye!

Here’s just a tiny bit more (an overview really) of what you’ll find by clicking here:

o A Jump Start Setup – they swear requires no experience – to begin a new career working entirely online.

o Step by Step Videos – to help you get started making “thousands on the Internet by drawing pictures.”

o Company Directory Database – where to go to get reviewed by the “best directories in the world.” Also includes submission companies you sign up with for “great free money making opportunities.”

o The Get Paid to Draw eBook – sort of self explanatory.

o Strategies – learn “all the secrets” top artists and designers use to make (what they claim) hundreds of dollars an hour and up.

o Tools and Resources – material to get your make money drawing business up and running apparently.

There’s a ton more, including lots of bonuses.

So if you ever thought of trying to pull in cash online via art, photography, and more, this system might be just what you need!

We often talk about writing for a living online, but here’s an almost no brainer and potentially your newest source of revenue for 2009!

Happy New Year!