Creativity that Pays… and Pays Well

You're a creative person. Not exactly an artisan, but somehow an artist in your right. But then, the phrase “starving artist” comes to your mind. Bummer. Not to fret. These days, there are ways of being with the creative that earn you a living as well. Check out these jobs that let you delve in the creative world, but earn a pretty decent salary as well.


Creative Job #1

Marketing and Business

I know marketing and business doesn’t immediately ring a creative bell. But think about it. An artist can create the best masterpieces in the world, but without the right marketing, how would they sell anything? Someone who has the business and marketing senses can ensure that every artist finds an audience.

A bachelor's degree in business administration or marketing will prepare you for this job. And some on the job experience coupled with a master's degree could position yourself for career advancement. The average wage for marketing managers with experience is PhP 35,000. Remember though, that marketing salaries can vary greatly depending on responsibilities, experience, education, and other factors.


Creative Job #2

Education

Do you think you have what it takes to inspire the next Manansala or Cayabyab? As an art/music teacher or an education specialist for an arts organization, you'll be able to live your love for the arts, as well as spread that love to others.

To teach, you'll need a bachelor's degree in education or a specific subject area like science or music, plus a PRC license in education. This can also prepare you to be an educational specialist. The average wage for graphic arts, multimedia arts and interior design teachers ranges from PhP 800 to 2,500 per hour, depending on which universities and which modules they teach. Those who teach the latest design software can earn even more.


Creative Job #3

Web Design and Development

A well-designed website is an important tool these days for promotion in the arts. Whether you're keeping fans up to date, raising money, or selling your works online, the job of web designer is an indispensible component of many arts organizations. It takes a fair amount of creativity to build websites, too!

Get the skills you need to create and maintain websites with a bachelor's degree in information technology or graphic or web design. An average salary for an experienced web designer is PhP 25,000 per month. Or on a project basis, making PhP 60,000 per website is common.


Creative Job #4

Technology

Theaters, museums, art schools, concert venues, and camps all have technology infrastructure. And just like any other organization, they’ll need to maintain their networks, manage databases, and troubleshoot systems. You'll find that database administrators and technical support specialists are as much in the art world as anywhere else.

Some jobs are available with just an associate's degree, but most require a bachelor's degree in database technology, computer science, or information. An experienced database administrator earns an average salary of PhP 35,000 to 65,000 per month. Both local and International companies who outsource these types of jobs to Filipinos apply this industry rate.


Creative Job #5

Paralegal Studies

Yes, even the legal field offers opportunities to work with creative people as well! With music and media becoming more easily available online and new delivery systems like e-readers and mobile devices, the issues of copyrights and intellectual property rights are never far behind. As a paralegal, you could help lawyers as they protect artists and their works.

An associate's degree in paralegal studies or a paralegal certificate program will prepare you for this job. You'll need to look for opportunities with law firms or larger arts organizations focused on this type of work. The average monthly salary for paralegals who work in the industry, some of whom are even outsourced from international countries as legal transcriptionists, earn an average of up to PhP 22,000 per month.


Start your own online business now! Get on the web and sell your ideas to the whole world. Hotbox Creations is a web development and design studio which helps individuals and businesses get online. Either for personal or corporate design concepts and website development, Hotbox is one of the best and most highly-recommended companies in the creative design and web development industry. Visit our website at www.hotbox.ph.


By: Hotbox Creations
Source: Yahoo Education Articles

PLURK - A Social Journal For Your Life

verb. plurk (plüer-kh) - To chronicle the events of your always on, action-packed, storybook, semi-charmed kinda life.

noun. plurk (plüer-kh) - A free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length.

So what exactly is Plurk?

Put simply, Plurk is a really snazzy site that allows you to showcase the events that happen in your life, and follow the events of the people that matter to you, in deliciously digestible chunks, called plurks. If it were food, plurks would be guaranteed low in fat, 5 calories per serving, yet chock full of goodness.

When compared to other micro-blogging sites, the unique feature of Plurk is that updates are shown on the user's home page using a timeline, which lists all the updates received in chronological order. Users who have signed up to receive your plurks can then respond from their own timeline on Plurk.com by instant messaging, or by text messaging.

Plurk was developed and envisioned as a communication medium to balance between blogs and social networks, and between e-mail and instant messaging. Since Plurk was launched in May of 2008, it has become very popular in Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and the United States.

How does Plurk work?

It's easy. First, you’ll need to sign up. It takes… oh, about 10 seconds. Then, you can begin posting your plurks to tell the world what you're doing, how you feel, what you're thinking or anything else for that matter. And instantly, it'll appear on your timeline. You can post updates through the Plurk website, through instant messaging like MSN or AIM, or even by text messaging.

Plurk's interface shows updates in a scrollable horizontal timeline form. There are also advanced features such as sending updates only to a subset of your friends, posting updates on events earlier in the day, having group conversations between friends, using of emoticons, and sharing images, videos, and other media. Plurks can also be "liked", as in other social networking sites.

Due to messages being sent between users almost in real-time, Plurk is now touted as the alternative to chat, as well as “the next Twitter”.

Don’t get left behind on the latest trend in social networking. Create your own Plurk account for free, and start creating the timeline of your life. And be sure to invite all your friends to Plurk along too, so it becomes that much more fun for you.

So what are you waiting for? Register now and start Plurking today!

Hotbox Creations is a web development and design studio which helps individuals and businesses put their ideas online. Hotbox also provides clients with elegant and sensible solutions for branding, print, web and motion. Visit Hotbox Creations’ website at www.hotbox.ph and start your own personal or corporate website today.

By: Hotbox Creations

Adapted From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurk / Plurk.com

Philippines is #1 In Using Social Networking Sites

ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, recently released a report on the social networking activity in a significant part of the Asia-Pacific region.

Based on the data collected covering the month of February 2010, Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region spent an average of 2.5 hours on social networking sites during the month. “While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing web activities in the world, its dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions,” says Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for Asia Pacific.

The report also revealed that Facebook.com was the social networking leader in eight of the markets – the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam – while in other countries competing brands captured the top position.

And how did the Philippines fare against its neighboring netizens?

More than 90% of Filipino web users visited a social networking site during the month, the highest of any country in the study. Compare that with the Asia Pacific average of just over 50%.

Social networkers in the Philippines also showed the highest level of engagement on social networking sites, averaging 5.5 hours per visitor in February, with visitors frequenting the social networking category an average of 26 times during the month.

With that, the Philippines has once again made its mark… if not on the map of the world, at least on the map of social networking.

Social Networking Reach and Engagement in Asia Pacific Markets February 2010 Total Internet Audience*, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations, Source: comScore
Country	Social Networking			Top Social Network in Market	% Reach of Web Population
	% Reach	Average Minutes per Visitor	Average Visits per Visitor
Asia Pacific	50.8	148.9	15.1	Facebook.com	14.9%
Philippines	90.3	332.2	26.3	Facebook.com	84.5%
Australia	89.6	228.0	20.9	Facebook.com	69.4%
Indonesia	88.6	324.4	22.6	Facebook.com	84.9%
Malaysia	84.7	226.0	22.3	Facebook.com	77.5%
Singapore	83.7	220.9	22.1	Facebook.com	72.1%
New Zealand	81.2	217.5	20.3	Facebook.com	63.6%
Taiwan	75.9	131.3	18.3	Wretch.cc	62.5%
Hong Kong	75.4	223.3	25.4	Facebook.com	62.6%
India	68.5	130.1	13.0	Orkut	46.8%
South Korea	63.5	131.4	16.0	CyWorld	54.2%
Vietnam	46.1	49.5	7.2	Facebook.com	18.4%
Japan	42.3	120.5	14.0	Mixi.jp	18.9%

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Hotbox Creations is a web development and design studio which helps individuals and businesses put their ideas online. Hotbox keeps abreast with the social networking trend, allowing its clients to make the most out of an online presence. Hotbox also provides clients with elegant and sensible solutions for branding, print, web and motion. Visit Hotbox Creations’ website at www.hotbox.ph and start your own personal or corporate website today.

Brought to you by: Hotbox Creations