QCS Writer Recruiting Efforts in May A Great Success!

My writer recruiting efforts during the month of May have been very fruitful and successful.

I have added 10 writers to effectively double our team this month.

Let me issue one more great big welcome to:

Emily – Freelancer
Mary Ann – Freelancer
Kimberly – Freelancer
Paige – Freelancer
Dara – Freelancer
Kelli – Freelancer
Raphael – oDesk
Rhyme – oDesk
Marguax – oDesk
Andrew – oDesk

7 out of the 10 have already began contributing high quality articles and I look forward to the first submissions of the remaining 3 very shortly.

Our additions will allow us to go out into the marketplace and grab more and more work for us all.

I appreciate each and every one of you and hope that we move forward in a very positive and fruitful manner.

Thank you all for bringing your talents and abilities to the already STRONG team with have here at QCS.

Happy Writing!

Steve

from Steve: QCS State of the Business, Feb 2012

Team,

Growing... and Growing!

The month of February 2012 was, again, the BIGGEST & BEST for QCS in terms of both sales and production.  During the month of February, we processed 1,149 articles.  That is an average of 39.62 (let’s call it an even 40) articles per day during this period.  Fantastic numbers!  Great job!  Each of you can see how your production fits into the larger picture.  There is no doubt that QCS needs you and your fine work to keep up with orders.  My future goals for QCS remain to get to an average of 50 articles per day by the end of March.  Then, 75 articles per day by the end of August.  Finally, I hope we are at 100 articles per day by the end of December 2012.

Our numbers did swell during the month as we took on 4 additional writers.  Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 writers have left us, and 3 writers (2 very long-term) had to be let go.  So, where it looked like our ranks had doubled the picture has changed in a blink of an eye.  We are now down to 10 consistent writers…. a far cry from the mighty 20 we began the month with.

QCS: a Team STACKED with #1Writers!

Even with the fluctuation, we came through the month with OUTSTANDING results.  This is one more tribute to your efforts and abilities.  It is my most sincere hope that you will reach out to take more and more articles to increase your income and help propel us forward in the direction we want to go.  Clients are building their current orders and new clients are looking at us each and every day.  I do hope that we do not have to begin turning business away because we don’t have the staff to keep up with the volume.

I remain committed to both recruiting new writers and seeking out new business for us.  I know that I can count on you to continue to do quality work submitted on time to meet our deadlines.

Progress rarely occurs in a straight line upwards….. It is jerky and erratic many times, but moving forward just the same.  Please help me not to take a backwards step during this trying time.  We will advance and succeed!

Happy Writing! ~Steve

New Folders on Box.com–a Quick How-To

Hey, gang!

Another quick how-to for you–this time on organizing your “Box” folder so it’s easier to navigate and for you (and Steve, and Alicia) to find your completed work and match it up with the assignments.

You might already be noticing that the Box gets pretty cluttered pretty fast as you upload your work and Steve uploads new assignments, but a quick solution is creating folders for each Assignment-group, dating and labeling the folder, and uploading the relevant articles there.  Simply click the “+New” button right next tot he Upload button, select “New Folder,” and name it. Ta-da! Life just got simpler.

:) Kana

QCS Invoicing–a Quick “How-To”

Friday is invoice-day! So, for our new writers, here’s the quick look at the QCS invoice process…

First, a note to the new folks who started yesterday: you can invoice today for work you did yesterday, but I’d like to make the suggestion that (just this once) you include yesterday’s work on next week’s invoice.  Just from a time-and-cost perspective, there’s a cost associated with every invoice Steve processes, so if you’re able to wait the week for your first payment, I think he’d appreciate that. Your decision, though!

Invoice Deadline

Our invoices are due (via email to Steve) every Friday by midnight.  Again, the time-and-cost of processing invoices and payments is increased at Steve’s end when we’re late with submitting them, which is why he has had to add a 5% penalty fee for late invoices.  But hey, meeting this deadline isn’t a hardship–I, for one, am quite happy to facilitate my own prompt payment! ;)

Using the Invoice Form

1. Download the QCS Invoice Sheet and complete the personal information (name and PayPal ID) on the spreadsheet, and save the spreadsheet with your name and submission date in the file title.
2. Use the spreadsheet to track your individual assignments as you submit them throughout the week.  Your invoice should cover work days from any given Friday to the following Thursday.
3. Complete all the fields (date, title, and word count) for each assignment.  Consult the QCS Pay Schedule for the rates according to wordcount. (If you don’t yet have the password for the password-protected pages of the Writers’ Resource site, ping me on chat and I’ll give it to you.)

Invoicing Tips

• Don’t forget to include your PayPal ID (the associated email address) at the top of the invoice. This helps you get PAID! ;)
• I’d suggest starting the new week’s invoice every Friday, and filling in the titles and word-counts throughout the week as you turn in your work.  (I foolishly tried for the first couple weeks to compile the whole invoice on Friday for the previous week–and I wasted a lot of time going back through all my files. Now I keep it updated all week so it’s ready-to-go by Friday–I can just send it off and start my new one for the next week.)
• Steve processes invoices and makes payments to our PayPal accounts every Monday.
• Remember that the title of a piece does not count toward that article’s word-count. In the word-count column of the invoice, record the actual word-count (or round to the nearest 5 or so).
• When your word-count falls between two pay-rates, round up or down to the nearest pay-level.  For example, an article of 325 words would be counted as a 300-word article for payment purposes, while an article of 375 would be paid at the 400-word rate.
• Bonuses!  Steve awards a bonus of $10, $20, or $30 if your week’s word-count totals 30K, 48K, or 60K, respectively.  In any week where you qualify for the bonus, include the bonus as a line-item at the top of your invoice.

Using PayPal

If you don’t yet have a PayPal account, it’s quick (and FREE) to sign up:

1. Go to PayPal.com and click the “Sign Up” link at the top of the screen.
2. Select “Personal” from the three program options on the second page, and click “Get Started.
3. Provide the personal information requested on the third page, then click “Agree and Create Account.”

Once you’ve set up your account, you can link it to a bank account or credit card and transfer the money electronically to where you want it. (Or, if your credit is better than MINE, you can apply for the PayPal card, which lets you spend immediately whatever money just got loaded into your PayPal account.) I don’t have a bank account or credit cards, but I’ve linked my PayPal to a pre-paid card, so I transfer every Monday from PayPal to the card I use… Works out pretty well.

Hope that helps you get started on getting paid!  As always, don’t hesitate to grab me by Chat or email if you have questions.

~ Kana :)

Using Box.com–a Quick “How-To”

A big welcome to our new writers!  We’re glad to have you folks onboard. :)

I’ll be sending out a few quick tutorials for the technology and processes we use at QCS, and I have the pleasure of serving as your designated “mentor” as you get acclimated…  So if you haven’t already, please add me to your Google Chat list (kana.tyler@gmail.com) and feel free to ping me when you come up with questions.

Today’s quick how-to…

 

Using Box.com

Steve has already created your folder in Box.com, and this is the area where you’ll be receiving your writing-assignments, as well as uploading your finished work so Alicia (our Editor) can pick it up and take it from there.

1. Steve uploads a document with a writing assignment into your box, and you’ll get an email notification that it’s there. When you click on that email (or sign in at Box.com), you can click on the file itself to open it and read it.  You can also download the file to have handy on your computer.

 

2. When you’re ready to upload a finished article…  Take note that if you have a document open already (as in the view above), using the “Upload” button will replace that document with your new one, rather than adding your document as a separate new file. (I learned that the hard way, by uploading five consecutive articles on top of one another…)  So make sure you’re in the “folder” view rather than looking at an open document. (You can get to your folder view by clicking on your name hyperlinked at the top of the page.)  Then click the Upload button and select the file from your computer (pretty much like adding an attachment to an email).

Adding Comments

To the right of any document or folder there’s a little speech-bubble which you can click to add a comment.

Adding Folders

As you get rolling with assignments (and completed work) being added during the week, your folder can pretty quickly become a jumble.  If you’d like to keep things a little more organized, you can click the “+New” button right next to the Upload to create a folder.  I tend to create a folder for each assignment group, as you can see from the screenshots above (10 Casino Reviews for Feb 10, for example)–but you can organize however you like, so long as it’s a system both you & Alicia can easily navigate.

Signing up for QCS Updates

One last thing: If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to sign up to receive email updates from the QCS Staff Writers’ Resource Page (the “Get Team Emails” button at the top of the left-hand column).

Happy Writing!

~Kana