WordPress Plugin Releases for 3/11
WordPress Plugin Releases for 3/11
Section Specific Text The widget allows to display text in certain sections of your blog. The plugin also allows you to insert both html as well as php code provided by other plugins. Release Page | Download FirstTimer Shows a custom message and image to visitors who are visiting for the first time. This plugin uses cookies to identify […]
Section Specific Text
The widget allows to display text in certain sections of your blog. The plugin also allows you to insert both html as well as php code provided by other plugins.
FirstTimer
Shows a custom message and image to visitors who are visiting for the first time. This plugin uses cookies to identify unique users so the message may be served everytime a user clears cookies.
PageFlip
PageFlip is a plugin which allows you to create a virtual book you can browse with your mouse, can be used for creating photo albums and references.
TipJoy TipThis
Allows you to add a TipThis button to each of your posts using your TipJoy account where users can add tips about the stuff you love.
Collapsible Elements
Allows you to add collapsible elements to your posts using the code editor, once added these elements can be collapsed or expanded by clicking on it.
How Freelancers Can Kick Crappy, Outdated Business Norms
“If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.”- Lane Kirkland Everyone knows the business norms: work from 9-5, sit in a cubicle, drink bad coffee, and complain about the boss. Fortunately, as freelancers we don’t have to deal with these any more. But unfortunately, we’ve been […]
“If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.”- Lane Kirkland
Everyone knows the business norms: work from 9-5, sit in a cubicle, drink bad coffee, and complain about the boss. Fortunately, as freelancers we don’t have to deal with these any more. But unfortunately, we’ve been brainwashed for so long about what business “really” looks like. Stuffy, uncomfortable and unproductive. Here are a few ways to make sure that outdated business practices don’t creep into your workday and make you less productive.
- Detach from your work. Make a clean break from your working environment regularly. Work and life are two very different things, and should be treated as such. When the two start blending together is when people find themselves working 10-12 hour work days. Ugh.
- Wear what you want. The image of a sharp suit with a briefcase in one hand and the morning’s paper under the other is something the freelancer doesn’t have to conform to at all.
- Drink great coffee. Or tea, soda, or any other beverage. I’m a firm believer in the “garbage in, garbage out” theory. Having nice, comforting fluids to drink during the day is a great morale booster. There’s a great article on how to
- Don’t be confined by your work space. Don’t limit yourself to just one work space, if you can help it. Work mobility is a great way to spice up your work time to make it more enjoyable. Variety is the spice of life, my friends.
- Pick your work times. Only work when it’s best for you, not when the rest of the business world works. The traditional 9-5 work day is sooo 1994. Thanks to technology like email, work hours are no longer that important. You can send emails at any time of the day (or night if need be).
- Put money where you think is important. Many times companies don’t splurge on their employees. The worse work environment you have, the harder it will be to be productive. If you think you’ll enjoy your work more with a more expensive chair; buy it. Finding yourself cursing at your eight-year old computer while it freezes for the 42nd time today? Buy a new one. The satisfaction you gain from better equipment will ultimately make you more efficient. I don’t have hard data on this to back it up, but I’d argue that higher-quality (aka more expensive) equipment will save you money in the long run.
- Keep the passion. Nothing steals our motivation for working like dull surroundings and boring projects. Take a good portion of your work time and use it for furthering your education about your work passions. This will keep your enthusiasm for your job and allow you to develop excellence at the same time.
- Don’t try to be good at everything. Having a small set of really incredible skills is infinitely better than having a lot of mediocre skills. People will pay hand over fist for a really great service. Mediocre work is what Rent-a-Coder is for.
- Only do what you REALLY want to do. Don’t chain yourself to depressing projects or bad clients. Being more selective with projects you take on ensures that you’ve got control of your workday.
- Treat people like… people. A major misconception about business is that there really isn’t any human factor to it. “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business” is one of the worst business cliches ever. The best business is always personal. It’s so much easier to do work for friends instead of clients. If you need some further reading, Freelance Switch has a great article on how to turn your clients into friends.
photo credit: foundphotoslj
Casual Friday Video: Musical Crystal Glass Symphony
Musical Crystal Glasses Like Never Before
Mastering Daily Dreamwork to Fulfill Your Dreams
Photo by Grant Neufeld We all have ambitions of working that dream job or buying that shmancy X, yet we often find ourselves nowhere near that goal. Life, it seems, has a funny way of quickly putting the kibosh on our dreams. When people fantasize about doing their dream job, the fantasy isn’t that they couldn’t be […]
Photo by Grant Neufeld
We all have ambitions of working that dream job or buying that shmancy X, yet we often find ourselves nowhere near that goal. Life, it seems, has a funny way of quickly putting the kibosh on our dreams.
When people fantasize about doing their dream job, the fantasy isn’t that they couldn’t be in that occupation, but that it would happen overnight. Like winning the lottery. But everyone knows the chances of winning the lottery are like 1 in Never, so that’s why it’s called a “dream”. More of a fantasy than anything else. But what if the dream could be a reality with a little bit of spit and stick-to-it-ivness?
Chasing your dreams
Ever wonder why it’s called “chasing your dreams”, and not “waking-up-smack-dab-in-the-middle-of your dreams”? It’s because your dream job probably won’t land in your lap. Odds are you’ll have to work for it.
But the work towards your dreams doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, the best way to achieve your dreams is to work a little bit at them (yes, each one) every day. This, in a nutshell, is what I call Dreamwork.
Life is a Garden… Dig it
Think of Dreamwork as a form of gardening. You don’t just walk out one day and have a healthy, lush garden sitting in your backyard. You have to plant the seeds, water, and tend it at consistent intervals. The best gardens are tended to every day.
Getting started with Dreamworking is as simple as creating a list for each of your dreams and goals, and taking baby steps each day to achieving them. Once you’ve got your lists, immediately start populating the list with action steps that can be done right away. They could be as small as “check out book on woodworking” if your goal is to carve a kayak.
Now, for the easy part. Do at least one task each day on each dream list. (If you’ve got a butt-load of dreams, than maybe not all of them. Just be consistent on the amount of time you spend on each list.)
You’ll need to keep populating these lists with todos on a regular basis (I try to do it weekly), and pretty soon you’ll start to see major breakthroughs, and (Warning! Cliche alert!) eventually your dream will become a reality.
The whole process may take longer than you’d like. But if it’s your dreams we’re talking about, the wait will be worth it.
Using dreamwork to become a freelancer
I’ve been using the concept of Dreamworking for the past year in hopes of launching my own business, allowing me to develop my own ideas and projects full time. I’m not gonna lie to you smart people… it was a bit daunting at first. But I started small and daily worked a little bit on each project. Fast-forward a year later to last week when I signed the papers that officially formed my company Midnight Pineapple LLC. The only way it could have worked was with a little effort each day.
And lastly… this is nothing new
Remember the tortoise and the hare? Or that corny saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? Yep, those same principles apply here. In fact, this post is based on some of the oldest rules in the book. Sorry to disappoint 
Style tables with CSS
I don’t deal too much with tables. Not because I don’t want to but because clients hardly ever want to use them. My guess is that they are too hard to create with todays WYSIWYG editors, and therefore get left out. It happens though that I have one or two static tables I need to […]