How to Effectively Transition from a Corporate Career to a Freelance Career

More people than ever are making the transition from working at a company to working for themselves in a freelance career. Some of these freelancers set up an LLC, but in actuality they are working for themselves rather than being part of a larger company.

Not all of the people who transition to freelancing are successful as there are plenty of places where an individual can fail. One freelancer could have problems finding work at the appropriate rate while another could have had their skills nullified by new software or technology. What follows are tips for transitioning from working in a corporate environment to working for yourself.

Do Not Quit Your Job Immediately

One mistake that many people make when transitioning to a freelance career is quitting their jobs too early. What many of these people do not realize is that it might take months to make a living wage freelancing.

Working a few hours per day on your freelance gig can help you develop clients who will be your base when you do decide to quit. There is also the possibility you’ll decide not to leave your current job as your skillset might not be in demand like you thought it would be previously.

Once you are making enough money to quit your current job, take a few months before doing so to build up a nest egg financially in case the freelance life doesn’t go as you planned.

Take What You Can Get at First

Freelance writers or web designers that leave a big agency might overvalue their skills. Great writers and web developers can make copious amounts of money, especially if they work closely with a content creation company. But as a freelancer you will not be able to charge agency rates for websites or content when you are first beginning.

Take assignments at rates below what you think your work is worth in the beginning. Most companies and websites have no problem paying more for higher quality work if you ask for a pay increase after you complete your first few projects successfully.

Look Into a Freelancer Platform

There are a few different freelance platforms that you can use to build a client base. Upwork is the most reputable because it connects clients and freelancers on millions of projects yearly. Be aware that freelance platforms are going to take a percentage of the money that you make.

Connecting with the client outside of the platform after a few successful jobs is something that most clients have no problem doing. Building these relationships is essential since Upwork takes up to 20 percent of your earnings when you first start out.

Filling out as much as possible on the site and encouraging clients to review you can help bolster your reputation. Taking proficiency tests, such as the grammar and language tests, can help you find work, but finding work is not guaranteed.

Cash in Those Favors

People want to believe that they started their own home based businesses without any help. While this is true in some cases, it is much easier to start a business yourself if you have some help from those who might owe you a favor.

Such people could be former clients or friends whom you know need the help of a freelancer. Do not be too proud to ask for a favor—the worst the person could say is no. Reach out to people on LinkedIn if you do not have their email information or if they have changed their email addresses.

Consider asking your current company to contract work out to you since they already know the quality of your work. If you are leaving on good terms, many companies will accommodate you because they understand your desire to work for yourself.

As you can see, simply quitting your job and expecting money to come pouring in during the infancy of your freelance career isn’t realistic. Use the above steps to get yourself going in the right direction. Freelancing allows a sense of freedom that very few professions can offer.

The post How to Effectively Transition from a Corporate Career to a Freelance Career appeared first on Growmap.

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How to Effectively Transition from a Corporate Career to a Freelance Career

A Report from Myanmar from an old China Hand

Robert Walsh, sometime Seattle resident and long-time friend of our law firm (we worked on a number of China deals together and we — Dan and Steve — met up with him on our last trip to Myanmar), has spent the last four years in Myanmar, where he operates a vibrant business consultancy. Robert is fluent in Chinese and Korean and, amazingly enough, Burmese (multiple dialects), having learned Burmese while working in the U.S. Embassy in Yangon many years ago.

Robert has been sending us email updates from Myanmar for some time and we post some of them on here. Back in 2014, it was Myanmar: Open For Business? and in 2013, it was Myanmar Foreign Investment. Difficult And Expensive, But Opportunities Are There. In our 2013 post I mentioned that my law firm had “been involved in a few Myanmar matters, but truth be told, Myanmar is a difficult place in which to do business and many of the companies going there are bigger companies mostly looking to get in now and make money later. In the last year.” Since that time, our Myanmar work has actually shrunk as interest in Myanmar by SMEs has greatly waned and their non-China Asia focus these days seems to be more on Thailand and Vietnam.

It was nevertheless great to get a bolt out of the blue from Robert this week in the form of a brand new Myanmar update, set forth below.

 

4 years water is under the bridge since we opened up shop in Rangoon.

A bunch of things have changed:

-Sanctions were relaxed, then finally revoked in toto back in October of last year. Now any foreign company that desires to do so can work with any of the formerly blacklisted military crony companies, jade/gems barons, or groups associated with narcotics trafficking. We’re seeing indications that this is happening already.

-Millions more cars on the road, newer Japanese for the most part, but Korean cars have moved in as well, and offer financing. Ford and Chevy are here with local or regional partners; not selling a lot.

-Supply of electricity has gotten steadily better, but this was achieved by a series of band-aid solutions using quickly built gas turbine or heavy fuel oil facilities.

-More places to stay, more restaurants for rich white people. Prices for hotels and rents on apartments have eased up now that supply roughly equals or exceeds demand.

-The November 2015 elections went off without a hitch, with the National League for Democracy (NLD) taking the lion’s share of seats. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not permitted to become president, but loopholes were found to allow her an equally powerful position. The finder of that set of loopholes, U Ko Ni, NLD’s senior lawyer, was gunned down outside the arrivals hall at Mingaladon airport last Sunday (January 29, 2017).

-The American Chamber of Commerce has a Myanmar chapter with over 100 members, but I’d say less than a dozen are really active. Sanctions or none, American business has not shown a tremendous interest in this place. Oil & Gas are here, but their presence and local footprint is no larger than it has to be to administer the constellation of service companies that follow in their wake. The only American manufacturer to date is Ball Corp, and they’re here just to make cans for Coke. Coke came in back in 2012 by acquiring a local soft drinks bottler.

-Japanese and Korean business are still by far the biggest foreign presence. Our best guess is that more than 3000 Korean families are here, not all coming out of Chaebol companies, most doing business on their own accounts. If we exclude Americans working for the embassy and USAID contractors, the number of hard-core American expats is probably less than 50.

-The largest sector in which American and European business is represented is what I and others term the “Aid and Development Industrial Complex”. An emerging sub-sector is the “Peace Process Participation Industrial Complex,” which attracts many nicely paid foreign consultants.

The lyrics are different, but the tune’s the same:

-Although the government has supposedly changed hands to civilians, many upper-level ministries out in the provinces don’t seem to have gotten the word, especially if they are headed by ex- (or not so ex-) military people. The farther away from the Naypyidaw flagpole, the more clearly this is evident.

-Laws may pass, but implementing instructions are slow to make it down to where the rubber meets the road.

-Doing anything land intensive requires one take up the diligent study of various land documents issued to owners over the past 160 years. In the fringe border areas, especially where there has been a lot of fighting since independence, land documents are especially puzzling.

-The IFC/World Bank has hosted a “Myanmar Business Forum” (MBF) with eight working groups along industrial sector lines. Its aim was to engage lawmakers and ministries to draft and pass law through the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI). I sat on the agricultural/forestry working group and we were actually able to get things done, in terms of getting implementing instructions for laws passed as long as 20 years ago. The most active working groups were for anything related to land tenure or hotels/tourism. Missing or poorly represented were agricultural finance and inputs (fertilizers, agrochemicals).

– A second set of refinements to the Foreign Investment Laws were passed, but they do not help much. It still costs a lot of money to set up a business here. We have been doing a lot of work setting up companies as rep offices, once we were absolutely sure what the rules were, and what a rep office could/could not do. Most of our clients want our help in establishing a presence, opening a local banking account and administering expat immigration, and setting up shop. NGO’s are our biggest customers, as they now realize that registration as an NGO (as opposed to just a normal for profit company) rarely offers them anything and indeed adds restrictions on their movements and activities — in

A Report from Myanmar from an old China Hand

Stop Getting Your News From Facebook – Build Your Own News Platform

“I’m getting sick of all the negative news on Facebook.” Has a friend said this to you? Have you heard more and more of this? Are YOU tired of feeling like the information scrolling down your Facebook feed isn’t what you care about? You can build a simple alternative.

What If You Controlled Your Own Attention?

Before we all got sucked into the fan blades of Facebook (and I’m not anti-Facebook – I’m just explaining that there’s this other “build it yourself” Internet that came before it and still exists), the blogging revolution was delivered to us via RSS (Really Simple Syndication), largely thanks to internet pioneer Dave Winer. The name of the game was subscribing to blogs. We’d discover these by looking at the blog rolls (lists of other blogs you might like) that were a fixture on the sidebar of our websites.

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Stop Getting Your News From Facebook – Build Your Own News Platform

Sony Annual Profit Hit by Damage from Earthquake

On Tuesday, Sony Corporation based in Japan forecast earnings for this year that were weaker than had been expected after it had to partially halt production of its image sensors in April to make an assessment of the damage in its factory caused by an earthquake The maker of electronics expects to have an operating […]
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Sony Annual Profit Hit by Damage from Earthquake

“What Kind of Business Should I Start?” A Surprising Answer from A Successful Entrepreneur

I often get asked what you might think is a simple question: “What kind of business should I start?”

For the first time in many years, I find myself in the same boat as the folks who ask me that question. I (surprisingly) don’t have a concrete answer to this question for myself right now–but, as I’ll show you in this post, I have a way to figure it out.

After I sold my software company last year, I did a ton of soul-searching. I coached other successful entrepreneurs, and ended 2014 by taking a 3-month, part-time marketing consulting gig for Help.com, a funded software startup. I’m helping them launch a successful software product into the world while I figure out what kind of business I’d like to start.

Is Starting a Business Right For You?

The first question you have to answer for yourself is deciding whether you really want to start a business, or if you’re more interested in the idea of running a business than the actual daily grind of doing so. You have nothing to lose here–be honest!

The truth is, there are many more profitable routes (especially when you take into account short-term profitability.) I make more money now as a consultant and coach than I did when I was running my software company–and that’s not unusual for strong consultants with an in-demand skillset.

Realistically, if I were only looking at the money side of it, I could easily fulfill all my financial obligations and then some by continuing to do coaching and marketing consulting. I also enjoy what I do–as an early-stage startup consultant, I get to do everything from coding a front-end website to writing blog posts to coaching CEOs to writing marketing copy. I have a unique and interesting skillset that’s in high demand. So why not just do that for a while?

My problem seems to be one that plagues many of my readers, and might sound familiar to you as well: I just don’t enjoy working for other people as much as I enjoy working for myself.

I’m now in my mid-thirties and have started, run, and sold several companies, so I no longer fear diving off a cliff and starting a new business. What’s holding me back right now, though, is that I’m not sure what kind of business I want to start.

That’s why I figured I’d open it up here on my blog.

Stepping Up to The Plate with Personal Transparency

I’ve long been a fan of personal and professional transparency, as espoused by people like Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas with their monthly income reports, and Buffer with their vow of complete transparency with their company. More recently, Dan Norris has come onto the scene doing some great income reports and open transparency on his blog.

I like all of these folks, and their respective companies–but I think it’s time for some other people to step up to the plate in this area, particularly more women. And I know that if I feel that way, I need to take the lead and make this happen! So this year is the year where I become more transparent on my blog about what’s going on with my businesses–even if, like you, I don’t always know exactly where I’m headed.

“So How Do You Decide What Business to Start?”

My first step is to take stock of who I am and where I stand right now. If you’re in the same boat I am, give this a shot as well! What are your strengths and weaknesses? Be honest with yourself.

Here’s where I stand:

1. I want to build a software company, or something that has software as a significant component. I love to code. I’ve been building websites from scratch since 1996 and I still love doing it, 19 years later (wow! 19 years!)
2. I have a large, overarching goal of building a university. In the interest of full transparency, I don’t think of “building a university” in the typical sense of a giant campus with towering buildings, dorm rooms, and beautiful open spaces. I think of it more as a platform that teaches hyperactive ADHD folks like me how to learn.

   I find startups in this space like Coach.me interesting in that sense–a mobile app where you “check in” to your goals every day and can hire coaches to help you. That’s something in the general space of what I’d like to build when I say “I want to build a university.”

3. I’d like to start a podcast, but I don’t want to take on too many things at once.
4. I’m determined to get back into blogging. I’ve realized that to do so, I have to make specific time for it every week. It’s the difference between saying “I’d like to do some yoga” and actually going to classes a few times a week. Blogging takes discipline and focus–two mental muscles I need to build right now, if I want to start another company.
5. I want to build a profitable company. I definitely feel at odds with the whole “seed funding” mentality. I’m not saying getting funding is wrong for everyone–just that my personal preference in building businesses is to take something that has a small up-front monetary investment and turn it into a profitable cash cow, month after month. That’s who I am and what I do–and that’s what I intend to do in 2015.

Looking at all this, one thing is clear: I don’t yet know exactly what I want to build. This is the point where a lot of people stop–they don’t know exactly what they want to do, so they don’t take action.

Yet, I know a profitable business will only be found by going out there and building something. I’m also excited to blog the entire process, because it will be so illuminating to those of you who really want to become an entrepreneur, but–like me right now–don’t know exactly what you want to do.

The Scary Part: Making A Commitment

My commitment to you is: Every week, I’ll blog here about my progress. If I fall flat on my face, I’ll blog that. If I didn’t do crap for the past week, I’ll write about that. If I end up building something that has nothing to do with software or building a university, but it’s still profitable and works, I’ll share all the details about that!

And, if for some reason, I don’t blog one week, well, I’ll pick it up again the next week. I will fail as I go along. I understand my weaknesses (focus and commitment) and my strengths (a strange and exciting combination–I equally love to code and write copy!)

It’s my hope that, in a year, I can come back here and read at least 50 posts about how I built a business that makes money, is profitable, and is growing. Failing that, I can at least read 50 posts about how I tried–how I found out, week by week, what worked and what didn’t work in going from “I have a vague idea of what I want to build” to actually building a business that makes money.

And, with those 50+ posts, I’ll be able to answer one huge question that hundreds of people have asked me: What kind of business should I start?

I’m right where you are. Stay tuned (and join my email list, below) if you’d like to have some input into where I’m headed in 2015. I welcome your feedback.

Here’s to a very interesting 2015!

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The post “What Kind of Business Should I Start?” A Surprising Answer from A Successful Entrepreneur appeared first on Starting Your Own Business with Erica Douglass.

Starting Your Own Business with Erica Douglass

“What Kind of Business Should I Start?” A Surprising Answer from A Successful Entrepreneur

Why a China Executive from Foxconn Getting Charged for Stealing 5,700 iPhones Matters to YOUR Business

China businesses can have a changing of the guards too

Late last year, a Foxconn executive was criminally charged in China with having stolen 5,700 iPhones and I am guessing most companies doing business in China never thought twice about this. They should.

When one of our China lawyers tells a client about how important it is to have a contract with their Chinese counter-party that makes clear who owns what and what must be kept confidential, our clients sometimes respond by insisting they know and trust the owner of the Chinese company and so such a contract or provision will not be necessary.

So what is the connection between the 5700 stolen iPhones and the reaction our clients sometimes convey to our China attorneys? Here goes.

The meaning of the Foxconn story is that a company is more than one person. Yes, your friend may never steal your trade secrets, but his or her employees or subcontractors very well might and if you want to encourage your friend from preventing such thefts and set yourself up for compensation if one occurs, you need something in your contract that does those things. Also, how many times have you had a friend or ally leave or even sell the company with which you are conducting business and then the new person claims no knowledge of previously agreed upon matters? And is it really beyond the realm of possibility that at some point your relationship with this person might sour?

So though friendship is of great importance, a written contract can be more long-lasting and provide better or at least additional protections. And who does not want that?

China Law Blog

Why a China Executive from Foxconn Getting Charged for Stealing 5,700 iPhones Matters to YOUR Business

Getty Images Gets Infusion of Cash from China

Getty images is getting «up to $ 100 million» according to Reuters (here) from Visual China Group, which might seem like a lot, but, in review, is really not. In 2015, Bloomberg Business reported on Getty’s cash situation, in «Getty Images is Running Tight on Cash» (2/25/15).

What was reported was that, in the last quarter of 2014, Getty «depleted a third of its cash during the last three months of 2014, leaving it with $ 27 million…». That meant that Getty had $ 41M, or is burning through about $ 4.5Million a month. This may well not include payment in a $ 2.6 billion debt service. However, a $ 100 million investment amounts to just 3.8% of the $ 2.6 billion that Getty is in debt, and there is no sign that the blood-letting is coagulating. Getty already received $ 100 million in November 2015 («Distressed-Debt Lenders Aid Getty Images in Battle Against Shutterstock«, 11/5/15) from distressed debt lenders known to prey on troubled companies. 

Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ: CG) previously used a leveraged buyout scheme to acquire Getty, so when Carlyle bought Getty for $ 3.3 billion in October of 2012, they saddled Getty Images with $ 2.8 billion of that debt, making Carlyle’s actual disbursement at most just $ 500 million. Even so, With Visual China making this investment, it seems it is doing so to further their past investments in Getty after their Corbis acquisition. Carlyle is down in early trading 1.44%, with a loss of 42.41% on a single-year return and an 8.26% YTD return. Surely, Carlyle would like nothing more than to cut their underperforming assets, but with an albatross like Getty Images on it’s books, it’s no wonder The Street is reporting (here):

«TheStreet Ratings rates Carlyle Group L P as a sell. The company’s weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share.»

For those in the financial services sector, it’s just one more business to watch the numbers on. For those in the trenches of the industry Getty serves, Getty Images is dying a slow and agonizingly painful self-inflicted death. It’s like the shrewd investor analyst who actually goes to the farms in Kansas and sees first-hand the crops with lower yields, and gets out while they still can. Getty Images is near that point where the ships’ hull is about to break apart, just like the Titanic. Many with knowledge of this industry know just how low the metaphorical visual «crop yields» are, and just how underperforming Getty Images is to the Carlyle portfolio.

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Getty Images Gets Infusion of Cash from China

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Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) Earns “Underperform” Rating from RBC Capital Markets

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Business Travel Tips (For Women): 14 Tips From Experienced Travellers

Traveling all the time for business is incredibly rewarding but it can also be quite exhausting. With that in mind, here are 14 essential business travel tips for female travellers sure to save you time and preserve that much-needed energy!

1. If you need a bag you can check, choose lightweight fabric & all-directional wheels

Four directional wheels might just be the best thing to ever happen to luggage, making it incredibly easy to navigate through busy airports. A lightweight bag also means you can carry heavier items in the bag—or just enjoy having a lighter load.

2. Try not to check a bag at all

Yes, traveling light takes some getting used to, especially if you’re the type of woman who has a crazy beauty routine, but you’ll save hours upon hours of time just by skipping the bag check line every time you fly.

3. Keep some clothes in your carry on

Even if you do end up checking a bag keep a change of clothes and some personal care products in your carry on. You never know when there might be a delay.

4. Keep your travel sized stuff in a Ziploc bag

You’re probably going to be asked to take all this stuff out of your bag at some point when going through customs and even if you aren’t a Ziploc bag is a good way to make sure your shampoo doesn’t leak all over everything.

5. Wear your bulkiest shoes on the plane

Bringing more than one pair of shoes? Pick the one that weighs the most and takes up the most space, then wear those while you’re traveling. They weigh your luggage but they aren’t going to weigh your shoes.

6. Stick with one airline

Pretty much every airline has a rewards program or credit card of some sort. If you stick with the same airline every time you’ll be able to earn free flights and all kinds of other fantastic perks.

7. Opt for leggings

Going on a long flight? Got some time in between getting off the plane and going to your meeting? A pair of leggings will be far more comfortable than pants and is still presentable enough to wear in public, especially if you’re wearing a long shirt to cover them. Of course, this only works if you’ll have time to change before your first business meeting.

8. Pack color coordinated clothes

You should be able to mix and match your tops, pants, skirts and accessories to suit your mood, especially if you’re going on a long trip.

9. Bring an eye mask and ear plugs

Most hotels are pretty quiet most of the time but you don’t actually know how bright or loud it’s going to be until you’re already staying there. Keep a pair of earplugs and an eye mask with you on every trip so you can get to sleep easily.

10. Bring your own snacks

Did you know that you’re actually allowed to bring your own snacks on the plane? So long as they’re kept in a sealed container while you’re going through the airport you’ll be fine—and your own snacks will always be healthier and cheaper than anything you’ll find at or near the airport.

11. Invest in a lightweight but sturdy mini-umbrella

Frankly you should have one of these whether you travel often or not, but it’s even more important when you’re traveling. There is simply no way to know for sure what kind of weather you’ll find when you get off the plane and being small, they take up next to no space!

12. Buy a high quality hair dryer for the road

Make sure your hair dryer is lightweight, designed for travel, and dual voltage so you can use it in Europe as well as in North America. Hotel hair dryers aren’t always the greatest and you don’t want to be showing up at a meeting looking anything less than your best.

13. Invest in good noise cancelling headphones

A good pair of noise cancelling headphones will completely change your life. Now you will no longer have to hear the child crying in the row behind you or the couple chatting loudly in the row in front of you. Be willing to spend at least $ 80 on a good pair.

14. Bring a separate, sealable bag for dirty clothes

Keeping your clean clothes and your dirty ones in the same bag is a bad idea. Not only does it make it easy for you to forget what you’ve already worn, it can also stink up your clean clothes if your dirty ones are really sweaty. Buy a small cloth bag which is easy to fold into your carry-on when not in use. Look for one with a sturdy clasp or zipper to keep it closed even when the bag is getting knocked around.

There you have it, 14 tips that combine to make your business travel experience a breeze. We’d love to hear your travel tips as well!

The post Business Travel Tips (For Women): 14 Tips From Experienced Travellers appeared first on Blogtrepreneur — For Busy Entrepreneurs.

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Business Travel Tips (For Women): 14 Tips From Experienced Travellers

How to Protect Yourself from Extra Vacation Rental Fees

As I observed in a recent post, it’s important for freelancers to take vacations on a regular basis. Small business owners should remember to do so as well. But when you do, we want to make sure not to overspend. Here’s how.

I’ve had quite a few opportunities in my lifetime to travel, both on vacation and for other projects. Once I went on a package tour to London and Paris. Another time, I went on a cruise in the Caribbean.

Those experiences were certainly enjoyable, and I’m very thankful for them. But the best adventures I’ve had traveling have been those that were the least structured.

They were when people who lived in the places I was visiting told me where I should go and what I should do. They were when I got to visit the countryside of Oxfordshire, the (non-touristy) markets of Ankara, Turkey, and the local restaurant that my friend took me to in Beijing.

And as far as accommodations go, there’s nothing quite like being in someone’s home. I got to stay with a friend of mine when visiting Brussels, Belgium. Her parents’ kindness in hosting us was a significant part of what made seeing that city special.

Even if you don’t have friends or family wherever you’re traveling, you can still help yourself get a more personal experience by opting for a vacation rental, rather than a hotel.

While there are a variety of companies that offer this service, one up-and-coming, low-cost rental provider is Tripz.

No Extra Vacation Rental Fees

One of the primary advantages of Tripz is there are no extra vacation rental fees for either guests or hosts. Most vacation rental companies charge customers a booking fee for renting. This fee is a percentage of the total cost of the reservation. Many also take a commission of the rental price from the owners.

Because of the fees the companies charge, there can be over a $ 500 difference between what the traveler pays and what actually goes to the person renting out his or her property. However, with Tripz you avoid the hidden or extra costs many companies add and which most people understandably hate.

Booking with Tripz

Tripz offers housing to people within a broad price range. Depending on what you’re looking for, you can find accommodations from $ 55 to thousands of dollars per night.

To find a rental in a certain part of the country (or world), you simply go to Tripz’s site and select where you would like to vacation. Enter the dates when you plan to take your trip. You can then narrow your search by selecting the type of accommodation you would like, such as an apartment, villa, or condo.

You’ll then specify the minimum number of bedrooms and bathrooms you need, as well as the number of guests you are looking to house. Finally, you will select your price range.

For example, let’s say you wanted to vacation in Utah toward the end of January. Here’s what it would look like if you selected January 18^th through the 22^nd and you wanted two bedrooms, one bathroom, and four guests. You’re open to any type of housing and are looking for a price range of $ 0 to $ 250 per night.

Six results appear across the state, the two most inexpensive at $ 99 per night and the most expensive costing $ 159 per night. If you have a group of four people splitting the cost of your trip, these prices are more than affordable. And as you can see, the two listings above house over four people.

If you like one of the properties in the results (such as the cabin at Glendale) then you can click on it to see pictures and a detailed description.

You can also find out the available amenities.

What’s more, if you want to find out more information about the rental property, Tripz allows for direct communication between the traveler and rental provider. You can reach out to the owner by phone or by email.

Listing Your Property

Those interested in making some money by renting out their properties don’t need to worry about paying a commission fee to Tripz. Rather, they pay $ 399 for a 12-month listing that includes benefits such as a user-friendly dashboard, the ability to include links to their personal websites on their listings, and unlimited photos and text. After the year is over, owners have the choice of whether or not they want to renew their Tripz subscriptions.

Tripz also provides account representatives to help property owners manage their accounts for the duration of their subscriptions. And for those who need to communicate internationally about their listing prices, Tripz has a currency converter on every listing page.

Golden Opportunity

I grew up 45 minutes away from Augusta, GA, home of the Augusta National Golf Club. Every year, the Masters Tournament brings in people from all over the country and the world. In doing so, the tournament provides a way for locals to make money by renting out their homes.

It’s also a chance for the attendees to stay somewhere more comfortable than a hotel. Actually, the vacation rentals enable visitors to have somewhere to stay period if all the hotels are sold out.

You might or might not live in a city that hosts an event of such opportunity. But you might have a property that is lying unused for a period of time. If so, renting it out is something you should consider.

And for those looking to travel, a vacation rental with a company such as Tripz could be a great choice. It’s a cost-effective way of helping yourself get a truly local experience wherever you want to explore.

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How to Protect Yourself from Extra Vacation Rental Fees