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A Book by | DHIRESHAN GADIAGELLAN

The Quick Start Guide to Working Online

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DISCLAIMER

ABOUT ME

Hello, I’m Dhireshan Gadiagellan but most know me as Dee nowadays. I am an Electronic Engineer, Software Engineer, Blogger and Robotics Integrator based in the United Kingdom. Back in November 2007, I took the leap and quit my regular day job to begin my self-employment journey.

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WHO IS THE WORKONLINEBLOG.COM

I’m not targeting the affiliate heavy, SEO fanatic or established blogging guru that’s already running a successful website. If you are this person, then congratulations on your successes and I wish you all the very best but you will probably find some of this a repeat of what you already know.

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ABOUT ME

Hello, I’m Dhireshan Gadiagellan but most know me as Dee nowadays. I am an Electronic Engineer, Software Engineer, Blogger and Robotics Integrator based in the United Kingdom. Back in November 2007, I took the leap and quit my regular day job to begin my self-employment journey.

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WHO IS THE WORKONLINEBLOG.COM

I’m not targeting the affiliate heavy, SEO fanatic or established blogging guru that’s already running a successful website. If you are this person, then congratulations on your successes and I wish you all the very best but you will probably find some of this a repeat of what you already know.

DISCLAIMER Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

This book is provided subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form other than in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All rights reserved. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

This book may contain affiliate links that earn the author or publisher a referral fee for each sale made. This does not in any way affect the price paid by you for the product or service provided by the third party. Your contract of sale is with the third party not the author or publisher of this eBook.

Published by Dhireshan Gadiagellan www.workonlineblog.com

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ABOUT ME

Dhireshan Gadiagellan Author

H

ello, I’m Dhireshan Gadiagellan but most know me as Dee nowadays. I am an Electronic Engineer, Software Engineer, Blogger and Robotics Integrator based in the United Kingdom. Back in November 2007, I took the leap and quit my regular day job to begin my self-employment journey.

Since then I’ve been running a successful Robotics and Software integration company, mostly online and from home. I have tried out numerous online business opportunities and pretty much seen them all. Over the years I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience about working online from home, what works and what definitely does not work. From building an online audience to attracting customers I want to share with you the tools and strategies required to streamline your success.

I’ve been fortunate enough with my business and online projects to be able to take a ‘break’ for the next few years and pursue my love of Robotics through a PhD. My business and income generating websites comfortably support my family and myself. My

blog (workonlineblog.com) aims to bust the myths and scams claimed by the majority of the ‘work online experts’ as well as share some of my experiences (both good and bad) with you in the hope that you don’t make the same mistakes that I did. I also aim to take out some of the legwork that you would ordinarily need to do to get started.

Things like website creation and web research which tend to take many hours or days of sitting on Google.

Am I going to teach you how to be a millionaire overnight? NO! Am I going to teach you about a 4-hour work week? NO! I am going to impart the knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated over the past seven years. Be prepared for a lot of hard work, determination, sweat and sometimes tears. Some of you will be very successful and some may not, but that’s how life works unfortunately. There is no fountain of youth and no easy money (for the majority of us). I can’t in good faith promise you a fool proof route to success, but I can do my very best to help you not make the mistakes that I did. Better for you to take what I’ve learned and apply it to yourself and your online

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WHO IS THE WORKONLINEBLOG.COM AIMED AT?

this blog, I first I wanted to talk about this process from two different perspectives, one of a contractor and one of a client. But I figure that there is a large overlap between the two as some contractors are clients and some clients are in fact contractors.

Let me quickly explain what I think the definition of contractor or client is in the work online world:

I’m not targeting the affiliate heavy, SEO fanatic or established blogging guru that’s already running a successful website. If you are this person, then congratulations on your successes and I wish you all the very best but you will probably find some of this a repeat of what you already know.

This blog is aimed at someone who is new to the online working world and wants to expedite their journey by leveraging the experience of others.

With this blog I’ll try to help you identify your niche, establish an online presence and share some of the tools, tips and tricks that I use to keep my businesses flowing.

I will also share some perspective as an employer - the do’s and don’ts, the criteria I use when deciding whether or not to employ someone and the things that really annoy me about employers and contractors alike. I’ve made some of those mistakes myself so can provide real world examples of ‘How Not To’ do things. When I started out with

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Contractor: A person or business that gets paid to do a job.

Client: A person or business that pays to get a job done.

Quick Start Guide Okay, Here Goes! Good Luck. I’m going to keep it short and simple. The purpose of this guide is not to detail every intricate step in the process but rather to answer the questions that you need to be asking yourself so that you are fully aware of what you need to do and how to do it.

Unfortunately, I cannot cover every company type or contractor skill but I’ll try to be as generic as possible.

Taking the Leap Starting the ‘working online’ journey can be daunting at first, both as a contractor and as a client. In both instances you are essentially acting as a business entity and there are many risks and questions that will arise. Here are a few that poured through my mind in the days prior to me taking the leap.

What should I do? What can I offer?

Can I afford it?

How much time can I commit?

Do I quit my day job?

Where do I start?

What if it fails?

What if I don’t make any money?

What are the legal requirements?

Can I put food on the table?

How do I get customers?

Is there too much competition?

Can I do it all by myself or do I need to employ people?

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I think that if you are asking yourself these questions, great! You are indeed on the right track.

The trick is not to ask for too long. Procrastination is the main reason as to For me, I was a little lucky. I was fed up with work and an opportunity arose for me to become my own boss, which I jumped at! There was no promise of a guaranteed income or even making a profit but I thought it was worth the risk.

I think that if you are asking yourself these questions, great!

You are indeed on the right track.

The trick is not to ask for too long.

Procrastination is the main reason as to why people don’t move forward and change their life.

Can I afford it?

If you can’t afford to quit your day job, then start this as a part time opportunity and then transition later when you have gained confidence in your earning potential. I

think you as an individual are the best person to assess your finances and the risks involved in taking the leap. But as with all things only take calculated risks notunnecessary ones.

If your company is chugging along quite nicely, then maybe it is time to expand? If your business is scraping by or heavily in debt, you really need to sit down and assess what is currently going wrong. Try and rectify those issues and then you can move forward. Keep in mind that sometimes the solution is to move it online, so taking the leap is indeed a possible solution.

Can I do it alone?

You also need to ask yourself if you can do this alone. This is relevant for both contractors and clients.

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Believe it or not, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to outsource quite a lot of tasks these days. There are some really good facilities (which I’ll touch them later) out there that enable cost-effective outsourcing.

Sometimes you need to realise that you can’t do everything on your own and some things are best left to the people who are good at it. This attitude allows you to focus on what you do best. I will show you in later posts on the blog how I do it. I don’t have the time to manage or do everything myself and I delegate and outsource quite a bit nowadays. It allows me to do more and focus on my core business as well as creating new businesses.