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THE MONSTER.COM INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL (IP) NEWSLETTER

THIS WEEK: PR Maven Goes for the Greens

Monster's IP Zone is your online career home, whether you want to
start a new business, test out a new industry or strike out on your
own. What's up in the Independent Professional Zone this week?

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IN THIS ISSUE: Week of December 20, 1999

-- Free Agent Guide: PR Maven Declares Herself Independent
-- IP Newsletter Exclusive: A Web Site for the Time-Zone Challenged
-- Heard on the Board: Writer Wants to Crank Up the Money Machine
-- Independent Professional Poll: What's Your Top Tip for Paying Less
   Taxes?
-- Monster Talent Market: The Party Planner of the Millennium?

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FREE AGENT GUIDE:  PR Maven Declares Herself Independent

Public relations pro Benita Kenn revved up her network of contacts,
put together a profile of herself on Monster Talent Market and took a
shot at running her own consulting practice. Alyson Preston tells the
tale of how Kenn landed a plum assignment at chipshot.com, one of the
Web's premier golf sites.
http://content.talentmarket.monster.com/weeklysuccess/

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WEB FREEBIES AND FINDS:  Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Ugly Scenario #1: Your far-flung client says, "Call me this evening,
right after I get home from work." As usual, you get the time-zone
math wrong and end up ringing him up at 2 a.m. local time.
WorldTimeZone.com offers a quick, visual solution that helps you
finally wrap your brain around the world's kooky system of time zones:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/

Ugly Scenario #2: You need to get in touch with a long-lost client
whose area code has changed two or three times since you last called.
The phone company grace period is over and the system is no longer
forwarding calls from the old area code to the new. The solution may
be AreaCode-Info.com, probably the world's most popular site for
telephonic nerds:
http://areacode-info.com/

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HEARD ON THE BOARD:

Last week, Monster.com member Dusty wrote: "I've been a moderately
successful freelance writer for six years now - 'moderately' in the
sense that I'm making about twenty grand a year. Any suggestions for
how to turn up the heat on a writing career -- and maybe make it
produce some decent money?"

The Free Agent Advisor answered: "Develop expertise in a tech
specialty that has potentially large impact on business and society.
E.g. the ethics of gene research, privacy technology and policy, etc.
Leverage your accumulated knowledge and ongoing reporting across
multiple publishing markets. You could write about virtual reality
issues for a trade pub, a consumer pub, and a pricey newsletter for
investors, for example. The idea is to multiply the value of your
reporting without offending your publishers -- so pick publishers that
aren't in direct competition with each other."

Read the rest here:
http://forums.monster.com/viewmessage.asp?messageid=710587

Got your own question? Post it to one of our two Independent
Professional experts:

Ask the Free Agent Advisor
http://my.monster.com/forum.asp?forum=800

Ask the Work-from-Home Coach
http://my.monster.com/forum.asp?forum=801

Or chat live with the Free Agent Advisor Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET or
with the Work-from-Home Coach Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. For either chat,
log in to Monster.com Chats and join us in the #Events
room.

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THE MONSTER.COM INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL POLL: We Ask, You Answer

Last week we asked: What's your top year-end strategy for boosting tax
deductions?

You said: *
-- Declare my home office a sovereign free-agent nation 26%
-- Pay outstanding bills 26%
-- Make tax-advantaged investments 20%
-- Buy a new PC 17%
-- Donate office equipment to charity 8%
*Total votes: 167

This week's question: Will you use more or fewer contractors in 2000?

Cast your vote here:
http://independentprofessional.monster.com

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MONSTER TALENT MARKET: A Coach Who Can Help You Face a Crowd

Here are three of the more than 32,000 auctions posted by over 118,000
independent professionals in the Monster Talent Market:

**THIS ONE'S A WIRED WRITER**
The talent: "Plugged in, powered up writer/editor"
The target project: "Freelance writing and editing of Web site copy,
marketing materials, press releases, and internal communications."
The desired rate: $35 per hour

**THIS ONE HEALS YOUR PRACTICE**
The talent: "Healthcare/Group Practice Consultant"
The target project: "I am interested in a consulting position in a
healthcare environment. Physician practice management, registration
and billing, A/R review and follow-up, coding, chart reviews, workflow
redesign and information systems."
The desired rate: $40 per hour

**THIS ONE PARTIES HEARTY**
The talent: "Event and Party Planner"
The target project: "To plan and coordinate corporate and office
events and parties. I also excel at coordinating seminars and
conferences."
The desired rate: $25 per hour

Check out the Talent Market and build your own project or profile:
http://talentmarket.monster.com/

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area to get more information. Please include your phone number.

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Comments? Suggestions? Let us know what you think about the Monster
Talent Market, the Independent Professional Zone and Monster.com.
Email your ideas and opinions to: mailto:IP@monster.com

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Copyright 1999 TMP Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.