You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2008.
Doing a little research today, I stumbled on two nice sites giving great tips for Freelancers. This one from Elance, offers 7 essential tips, and this one from AllFreelance, offers ideas on things to do when business is slow.
Both sites also have a lot to offer, so I am adding them to my blogroll. This brings up a good point. If I point out an interesting article, go back to the main site and explore it; chances are there is a lot of other cool information available.
I remember reading something somewhere that all of human behavior derives from two basic tendencies: “seek pleasure” and “avoid pain” or on a more basic level, move towards something, move away from something.
Yesterday, I posted a link to Catherine Lawson’s excellent collection of resources for entrepreneurs. She saw it and came to my blog and read my Escape! posting from last week. This prompted her to make the following comment:
“I know that motivating yourself because you want to leave your job seems like a good idea at the time, but it’s a good idea to set yourself a list of goals and motivate yourself towards them. It’s a lot easier that way and you’ll be concentrating on something positive instead of something negative.”
She is, of course, right.
My job has been grinding away at me, eroding my moral, and all I could think of was pain avoidance. I have seen this happen to my coworkers, where they basically can’t take it anymore, jump ship and take the first available job offer that comes along. This inevitably ends up in something similar to a “rebound relationship” that most every one experiences at least once in their lifetime, after breaking up with a significant other. It rarely works out in the end for either party…
I have been focusing on the obstacle, instead of what lies beyond it. I do have a list of goals, but I have not looked at it in a while. Between my day job and getting the house in shape, I have been too preoccupied. So I am setting aside some time tonight to go back over my goals and get myself back on track.
Thanks Catherine…
This is a pretty extensive article on 107 resources for Entrepreneurs. There is A LOT of stuff here. Some of the resources have lists of other resources!
Enjoy!
Gotta love this Atlanta weather…Last week I was wearing short sleeve shirts, today as I look out my window IT’S SNOWING!…Being a yankee, I kinda miss the snow – not the shoveling though. Of course, there was a run on bread, milk and eggs at the metro supermarkets. People panic real easily here when they hear the words “Winter Storm Warning”…never mind that by tomorrow, the snow will be gone. But there is the infamous “Black Ice” in it’s wake.
Work on the house is coming along nicely. It is about at the midway point. I have some additional stuff that I decided needed to be done – there is no insulation in the crawlspace, and those leaks I mention earlier. It will cost, but it will save my tenants a lot in energy bills – happy tenants = good tenants; plus it will have to be done eventually anyway. In a day or two, I will meet with my lawyer, who himself is a landlord, and I will take a crash-course in Georgia Landlord-Tenant Law, and soak up as much knowledge as possible.
My Day Job, on the other hand, has been driving me crazy. I find myself in a situation where I am getting pulled from many different directions, and it is causing a lot of stress. This has given me renewed motivation to get away, if only for a while. I am still working on a way to move to a freelance position.
While planning my escape, I found this great article on living long term and rent free. The travelzine itself is a great resource, so I have added it to my blogroll.
In keeping with my theme of new beginnings, I am looking for articles and resources to help you go out on your own.
Over at one of my favorite resources, Freelance Switch, there is a great article on kickstarting your Freelancing Career. Check it out here.
First of all, I would like to wish any and all visitors to my site a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year. Regardless of what you do I hope you have a blast doing it, and if not, I hope you find the determination and courage to change your job to something you do find rewarding. New Year = New Beginnings…
As I mentioned in my last post, I got the house. In the last week or so, when I was not with my wife and kids celebrating the holidays, I was in the process of getting the house ready for rehabbing. This meant getting the utilities squared away, and, as of today, getting a new furnace installed (Since turning on the water, I have already found four leaks!). We have had sub-freezing weather here in the Atlanta suburbs and ice was forming in my toilets and water lines. I have started insulating the pipes as a precaution. When they installed the furnace, I installed a programmable thermostat to help save money.
So now the house is ready for repair. My crew starts tomorrow and the work should be done before the end of the month. During this time, I am going to meet with my lawyer who is also a landlord and pay for an hour of his time to get me up to speed on what to expect, and how to handle it. Yeah, I’d rather be on some tropical beach, laptop in hand, slinging code, working remotely, but this opportunity came up and I had to take it. I have a one year interest-only mortgage. At the end of the year, I’ll either re-fi or sell the house. Either way, I did it right and made the profit going in, so I should be ok.
I still intend to find a way to become location-independent; it’s just going to be a little harder.
Now, keeping in line with my goal of making this a good resource for people, I have found a really good article entitled “The Ultimate Guide To Not Choking Under Pressure“. It was written with software developers in mind, but the principles are universal, especially for freelancers.
Recent Comments