Tag Archive

I have a new post, which can be found here.

See the post here.

See my latest post here.

See the latest post here.

See my latest post here

The reason I have not posted in so long is that nothing has really changed much. I am not one to really post crap when I have nothing to say, nor do I like being pressured in to having to write every day (or week or..uhhh month)…

I have seen some really interesting resources, and I will continue to post them here. I have gone back on my list of resources and found that it is huge. I tend to just clip sites that seem interesting and put them all in an email that I then send to myself. I looked back on the emails and there were hundreds of links to review! Yes, some sites kept coming up with great info, but a lot of these were the sites I already had on my blog roll (although there are some new ones that I will add later).

The best advice I can think of is to do what I do and use sites that employ user recommendations to find subjects in which you are interested. Go to sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, or Stumbleupon, to search for topics like “Freelance” or “4HWW”, and you will find quality sites that have been vetted by others. This is the direction that online search engines taking - instead of blindly finding every site relating to a subject, good or bad.

While I have pretty much finished work on my rental property, I have not really made any effort to market it or get a tenant into it. I don’t know what is holding me back. Probably fear. I have heard horror stories of tenants from hell and I am afraid that when I do get someone in, the nightmares will begin. Still I faced my fears when I bought the house in the first place, and I still want to try being a landlord to see if it is right for me. I guess I just have to face this fear and ride out whatever adversity that comes my way.

As I mentioned in my last post, the Thirty Day Challenge is back, and I am going to participate in that as well. In July, it will be a year since I first started my effort to leave my current job and become a freelancer. I have learned a lot in that time, but it is a humbling experience, and it is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Life has a funny way of coming in and interfering with your plans. Still, I have not given up and I will continue to try different things until I find the solution that feel right for my goals.

As for my next post, you will get it when it is worthy of publishing… :o)

While I was looking around for an outsourcer for my web project, I remembered (I may have even mentioned it here once) an Open Source project called Joomla. Joomla is a content management system for web sites. What’s cool about it is that it requires little to no web programming, and there are tons of free templates out there for it, including Real Estate themed templates.

So, I went out and got an account with Blue Host. Blue Host has CPanel and Fantastico, both allow you to install packages, such as Joomla and WordPress, very easily. What’s nice about Blue Host is that they also allow you to host an unlimited number of websites, each as subdirectories under your main site and each appearing as their own site.

So I am in the process of migrating this site over to my new site…it is a work in progress. My new main site is FreelanceWisdom.com if you go there now, you will see the Joomla main page. Little by little I will be adding to it. If you go to FreelanceWisdom.com/projectnomad you will see my first attempt at migrating Project:Nomad to the site. I am not crazy about the wordpress template I am currently using; I’m still looking for a better one (let me know if you like it or not - I may just change the pictures). I will continue to contribute to this site while I am building my new site.

I have also created a site to rent my house. There are several components for Joomla sites, including slide carousels. I will use this to display pictures of the house and provide rental information.

Stay tuned…

Yeah, I said I would list my favorite resources in my next post, and I am still working on that…but I read something that was so good that I had to share it here. This post, on ReadWriteWeb.com has some really good lessons for entrepreneurs and freelancers… Enjoy!

As part of setting up my processes for marketing my rental property and handling prospective tenants, I am setting up a new website. I have registered a really good name, which I will put here when I get the site up and running. I am delving into web design books and getting ideas from friends who are also real estate investors.

I am also toying with the idea of moving this blog over to the new host. The host allows for multiple sites, and even though I don’t have a major following, it will give me the chance to experiment a little more, and eventually try to sell ad space. I am actually considering splitting the blog up into two parts, one continuing on with the 4HWW theme, and the second with my experiences as a real estate investor. This is a ways off, but I am looking forward to it.

On another note…tomorrow, the house will have new garage doors, and the landscaping will be complete. All that is needed is a new oven and a good cleaning and it will be ready to rent. I will then be free to move on to other projects. I want to get back to my goal of forming a virtual company…

In my next post I am going to list some excellent resources that I always turn to for freelance advice and ideas.

The guy who runs Outlaw Design Blog is spending the month of February in Costa Rica. In preparation for the trip, he researched online tools he’s use to help him work remotely.

You can find his list of tools here.

One of the tools he recommended is ZOHO, which I also use and recommend. I find it a lot more robust than Google’s office tools.

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.

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.

Over at Bootstrapper, there is a great post on creative ways to find new clients. You can find it here. Also adding the site to my blogroll.

I have been really busy coordinating the closing for my house. The lender I am using wants to use their lawyer to do the closing, this after my lawyer has already done a title search. So now I have to pay both lawyers for two title searches on the same house; plus two appraisals! Don’t even get me started on my insurance!

Just found this phenomenal collection of tools for freelancers. Check them out here.