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.

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A long time ago, I listed myself in Guru as a writer. Being as busy as I am I have yet to bid on, nor take (obviously) any new jobs via their website. “Scott” on the other hand signed up as the seo/marketing type so we do have a great balance of what our combined “portfolio” is all about… content and seo (we’ve been doing it for others and ourselves for years now).

This post, however, is about an interesting email I received this morning from Guru. It’s a Promotional Newsletter with the subject line, “Save more green by going Green.”

What the heck does an online go-to spot have (other than being web-based) that’s green? The answer should be obvious…

… Talent!

Their email byline is “Freelancers can help you save money and help save the Earth.”

Now as badly as I’d like to “sell” Whole Hog Blogs to you, or even our word-of-mouth OIMConsulting (use the contact form over at My Wizard Ads if you need top-level marketing assistance for your brick and mortar business trying to make its presence known on the web since OIMConsulting is really word of mouth only), places like Guru and eLance also have a huge pool of talent to use. (Great run-on sentence there, sorry.)

Their “going green” message has to do with hiring Virtual Assistants, and their reasons why this is green include:

1. Reduced training costs
2. Less turnover in your brick & mortar business
3. Using less energy since you don’t supply office space
4. Less paperwork invoicing – they have an “escrow” payment

Everyone is talking about reducing their “carbon footprint” (but if you pay attention to Linda over at Forcedgreen and Barbara’s blog GoalForTheGreen, you’d understand it’s not so much carbon as perhaps methane giving us all fits and starts with global warming – follow them on this, they are the experts), and any time you outsource your advertising of course you’re doing your part to save the world – plus getting the job done right.

Five additional reasons why outsourcing is a great idea (paraphrased of course) are:

1. Gas consumption is reduced
2. Lessens the need to build new roads
3. Less energy consumption heating and cooling buildings
4. “Minimizing run-off and disturbance in natural habitats”
5. Reducing pollutants and greenhouse emissions.

(Frankly #4 has me slightly stumped, but I assume they mean you don’t have to add on that extra building to house more employees.)

Do NOT get me wrong! With unemployment this high, and our household a victim of these unfortunate times, too, I’m not taking all this “go green” stuff lightly.

By going green you’ll naturally cut down the costs of just running your own household.

By hiring green, you’re also doing your part to make this planet a healthy, even safer, place to live – not to mention cutting your business overhead costs thus increasing your bottom line.

If you are in a position where you’re not sure how much longer your company will last without starting (or continuing) layoffs, why not take the bull by the horns and approach management with this idea.

Telecommuting! Now bear with… this post includes evidence and surefire suggestions you can make to your company’s management team. This just might keep you employed!

Here are a few snippets from a recent article written by the “online guy,” Al Gibes.

“Staying home could make you a better worker and save your company money at the same time.

Although more people are working away from the office, only 40 percent of businesses have a formal policy on telecommuting, a recent Microsoft Corp. survey shows. Saving gasoline, avoiding long commutes and working in a less stressful environment are the top reasons workers log in away from the office.”

If you’re worried about how to present this idea, and thus hang onto your job or a co-worker’s position, here’s more:

“Businesses that give employees the support to work remotely could save 10 percent to 20 percent on office expenses,” said Michael Clark, Microsofts’ Western regional manager of midmarket customers.

“I’ve walked (into offices) and there are cubicles for people there only one day a week or one day a month,” he said. “Businesses could cut back on office space, cut back on travel expenses and the cost of provisioning phone lines.”

Security factors might be your stumbling block when presenting this idea to keep your job. However, you can be ready with the answer… encryption programs!

Evolving technology is easing concerns about security. Clark cites significant improvements in encryption programs that protect data and network access protection that provides safe access for employees while away from the office.

Some suggestions for encryption include BitLocker Drive, a Microsoft product, provide protection from hackers and thieves. (And honestly, shouldn’t your company already be protecting its valuable data – this might not even be an issue. Investigate!)

Another bit of information to have ready in your arsenal of reasons to keep you employed can be the use of voice over internet protocols. Your reason for bringing this up is that by working your job from home you ensure the safety of company data by connecting via telephone (on your computer/laptop), along with your ability to use live messenger programs to “chat with co-workers and clients while working remotely.”

Per the rest of Mr. Gibes article, San Diego tops the list when it comes to keeping employees on the payroll using telecommuting to offset cost. Other cities making the most of this exceptional way to keep a company in business, offset costs, and still pay its employees include: West Palm Beach, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

So if you’re wondering or worried that the axe is about to fall, cut ‘em off at the pass and offer solutions to keep you on! Telecommuting just might mean the difference between paychecks or unemployment!

We Love Comments! Please do!

During the past week, we’ve been super busy!

A great addition to our Whole Hog Blog family is the not-for-profit website and blog for ALS of Nevada. The entire state of Nevada coverage for ALS patients and their caregivers is provided by just three individuals (and an outstanding Board of Directors). Two people cover the state, with another fine individual up in the Reno area providing assistance to those in need suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

We’d like to ask you to please visit the site, comment on the blog, and help get their traffic and alexa rankings rolling.

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We’ve also added a blog to My Wizard Ads, an ezine advertising information blog. “Diane’s” first true business online after a several year stint as a publisher herself (weird talking about myself in the third, or would that be fourth (?) person). Day in and day out I field questions for not just the new but veteran internet marketer. Ezine advertising gives people the freedom to use other people’s lists as contact points to announce and promote the businesses and programs they join online.

Again, a visit to that new blog and your comments would be greatly appreciated, too.

Both of these new additions have do-follow linking, so your trip gains you that valued backlink in the process.

Enjoy!

I’ve been meaning to write this post for several days now, ever since I read an article in our Las Vegas Review Journal dated Monday, February 16th. In fact, it’s been sitting on my desk just waiting for the right moment to go from paper pile to post.

What really caught my attention was the headline, “Cultural differences: Economic values may explain why businesses owned by Chinese-Americans are faring well in the recession.”

We see all too often people pulling away from the very thing they should be doing during down times or slow times or tough times – especially online. The energy exerted to build a business is tamped down (or shut down) in the hopes that somehow, magically, sales will continue – in spite of no advertising or marketing.

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Here’s something that very well may (and should) change your perspective on “should I or shouldn’t I be advertising and marketing or even blogging?”

“The fortunes of a newspaper published out of a second-floor Chinatown Plaza office may give us insight into differing attitudes about money and ways of surviving tough economic times.

In a time when a 162-year-old national news chain such as the Tribune Co. file for bankruptcy protection, the Las Vegas Chinese Daily News is actually growing, fueled by an increase in advertising. The paper has gone from 16 to as many as 36 pages since printing its first copy five years ago.”

The article goes into further details by defining how different cultures view our current times; “…many Chinese business owners consider a time of economic stress a time to spend money on advertising.”

This advertising “outlook” is considered to be a definite separation of U.S. and Chinese cultures. Where the former sees nothing but doom and gloom when it comes to doing business, the latter are taking advantage of great rates and exceptional deals. These factors also attribute to the fact that over 20,000 valley residents of Chinese heritage are surviving the highest unemployment rates in a generation.

“Chinese attitudes about money include the notion of saving profits and growing slowly, instead of leveraging long lines of credit and expanding rapidly, several business owners said.”

Now here’s the best part, and what I’d really like you to come away with (having read this post… thank you):

“The Chinese rely more on what is known as a relational economy, compared to Americans, who function more in a “me economy.” The Chinese system is based more on, “I do something for you, you do something for me,” with everyone being on the same level.”

Sounds a lot like the Golden Rule applied with a fine paint brush to the art of keeping customers coming back by treating them right.

So if you’re asking yourself, “Is now a good time to slow down with my marketing and advertising?” we think it best to tell you the answer is no.

Recovering lost ground is costly.

Instead, plan and budget for an amount comfortable (and affordable) for you in today’s economy. Be it $10 or $1000, keep your business plans afloat and keep them growing.

We’ve said it before and we’ll keep on saying it. The internet waits for no man, woman, or child. Let up for even a tiny bit of time and your competitors are going to sweep right over you.

Your wise move is again budgeting. Keep your ads out there, continue investing your time and energy, too.

These rough times will not last forever, even if (in the moment) the light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t shine very brightly.

Stay on top of what you’ve been doing, and when the sunshine hits, you’ll be well positioned – ahead of your competition – in the months and years to come.