Of course it’s that time of year again when people make resolutions to improve themselves and/or their career/ business. Myself, I have a campaign to improve my business and finances because of some of the (positive) personal changes in my life. In fact, it’s a necessity that I get back on track.

Experience has shown me that if you work for yourself, never settle on just one income source. Build as many income sources as you can, especially if they’re passive or semi-passive. Passive means you have to do little work beyond an initial effort. Semi-passive means you might have to make a “maintenance” effort. This will become clearer in the examples below.

My 2009 Life, Business and Career Resolutions

Flickr: shutter.chick – CC license.

My overall goal? Having my cake and eating it too. The following is a list of some resolutions as well as a list of most of my current services. Maybe the list will give you some ideas for your own life, business and career resolutions, which you can feel free to share in the comments.

1. Work smarter, travel, and enjoy life more (again). I’ve already been working long hours most of my career, but used to also take time to enjoy life. The bulk of my work in the past four calendar years has been freelance writing and blogging. That used to mean long hours of writing. I’ve since developed some powerfully productive workflow by using Mind Mapping for all my work – gains which I write about occasionally at FreelanceSwitch, Geekpreneur, here and elsewhere.

My aim is to be a Digital Nomad, working and traveling extensively – a topic I’ll be writing a great deal about starting in 2009.

2. Share more of my knowledge. I’ve been in the workforce for over 20 years and been fortunate enough to learn numerous skills, gain a fair bit of knowledge about many topics. It was always my intent to share that knowledge when I started blogging, but that hasn’t always been the case. So my 2009 goals include writing and giving away at least a half-dozen ebooks on various topics, as well expand my discussions of the following topics:

1. cloud computing,
2. crowd sourcing,
3. digital nomads,
4. freelancing + entrepreneurship + career planning,
5. learning,
6. mind mapping + problem solving,
7. mobile web + mobile platform,
8. personal finance, prosperity and investing,
9. social media + networking,
10. travel (especially in the context of digital nomads and anthropology),
11. web 3.0 + semantic web,
12. writing + blogging.

3. Build multiple streams of income. Freelancing can be a tough game, unless you work smart and build multiple streams of income. Hopefully my sharing of knowledge skills will create useful content (articles, ebooks, podcasts, screencasts, diagrams) that translate into more income starting in 2009. It’s not enough to rely on website ad revenue – most bloggers just don’t make enough to live on. Leverage all of your skills. Here’s how I’m leveraging mine in 2009 and beyond. (Over time, I’ll expand on how you, too, can build revenue streams with some of these methods.)

1. Ad revenue. You can sign up for dozens of ad networks for your websites, but that does not mean they’ll earn you anything. Be selective.
2. Affiliate marketing. The more my colleagues tell me of their successes, the more I realize that this is an important and honest income stream.
3. Coding. Programming/ coding, along with technical writing, was my bread and butter for many years, and it’s time I got back into it. Got some Perl, PHP/ WordPress coding you need to get done? If I can’t do it, I usually know people who can.
4. Consulting. I love “New Media” and have ignored this as an income stream. Want to know more about how web video, podcasting, screencasting and other forms of New Media can benefit your online presence? Talk to me.
5. Ebooks. Writing (and storytelling) was one of my first loves, and remains something I enjoy. Need a book or an ebook written? I’m a published print author, and have a few ebooks in the works. Contact me.
6. Freelance writing/ blogging. This somehow replaced coding and tech writing as my bread and butter, but it really isn’t easy to write dozens of articles weekly – at least not with consistent quality, on deadline, and to a word count. I love writing, though, so freelance writing will stay as one of my core services. Email me (rdash001 at yahoo dot ca) if you have some writing that needs doing.
7. Link building and SEO. This is a service that I offer in tandem with several partners who have powerful social media presences (though I tend to not have time to build mine). Ask me about this can help your online presence.
8. Producing. Web video and film producing is a path I’m already headed down. If you need web video or film production (or even film financing), feel free to contact me, as I have a small stable of close friends who have experience in this business who I can put you in touch with.
9. Screencasts. You can see the bulk of my screencast work at Tubetorial, where I was the Editor for a period of time in 2007. Other screencasts appear at a number of websites. Screencasts are a great way to promote software or teach people how to use desktop or web applications.
10. Stock photography. I’m what you might call a “professional amateur” photographer, and have been for decades. As I’m planning to work and travel extensively in the future, I’m getting back into photography. If you need images, let me know, as I have a number of photographer colleagues.
11. Technical writing and training. This another mainstay of my career, and a service I’m continuing to offer.
12. WordPress installs + customization. Have you come to realize how important a website is to your online presence? Maybe you want a blog? WordPress is a free web publishing platform, and it’s not just for blogging.

So what are some of your resolutions? How are you planning to build out your income streams in 2009?

WikiHow had an excellent, indepth article about how to think like Leonardo da Vinci. The following list is an interpretation of that article, as well as a afterthought to What Leonardo da Vinci Taught Me About Freelancing, with a few more points thrown in.

1. Consume information. Absorb all forms: print, radio/ audio, images, TV/ movies/ video, verbal.
2. Listen to different types of music, even those you do not normally enjoy.
3. Listen to the sound of different languages.
4. Track your thoughts, whether to write in a journal, draw, or blog.
5. Assume more than one point of view, for the sake of argument, then determine which one suits you best.
6. Capture the sensations you experience, including writing about them or illustrating them. Illustration can include drawings/ paintings, diagrams, photographs, screensnaps, screencasts, video.
7. Ask questions, compare unrelated topics and see if you can’t find parallels or intersections. To accomplish this, record tidbits of information about each topic, either in list or mind map form. (Give preference to the latter, because it more closely resembles human brain thinking patterns, and can help you absorb information far more quickly than a linear list.)
8. Imagine. Imagine conversations with great minds. Imagine finding the solution to great questions.
9. Be physically active. This is the counterpoint to thinking, but being physically active is just as important as being mentally active.

Now, just my two cents worth, but my feeling is that there could especially be a lucrative niche in Facebook apps for the iPhone. Facebook app developers are rumored to be pulling in upwards of $100,000 per month on the popularity of their apps. Building for the mobile platform (and not just for iPhone) seems to be a one way to go, so another possibility is mind mapping. However, I’m still no fan of apps on tiny screens. I’m waiting for holographic projections from cell phones before I’ll be impressed.

However, if you don’t keep up with whatever type of freelancing you do, when you don’t have clients, you’ll have a hard time managing the workload when the feast comes back to you. So whether you are working for clients or for yourself, just keep doing it.

My own observation over decades is that this rule actually applies to many situations in business, freelancing, economics, and even more mundane population-related metrics. Often, you can bank on the Pareto Principle or the 70/30 Rule, especially if you’re a freelancer. That is, that you can rely on most of your business coming from a small number of clients.

However, weirder metrics can crop up, and there are some flaws in the rule, as far as reliance on it goes. If you freelance, you should keep the following in mind.

1. Don’t count on it.
   While 70% of your business might just come from 30% of your clients, losing one such client means significantly impacting your revenue.
2. Nurture all clients.
   Some of your “30% of business” clients might one day become one of your “70% of busines” clients. Maybe they don’t have the budget at the moment but appreciate your work. Maybe they’re cautious about working with a new contractor/ freelancer and just need to become comfortable. Maybe you haven’t turned those clients into friends just yet. Nurture these “30%” clients in case one of your “70%” clients disappears, even temporarily.
3. Diversify your clientele.
   You cannot ignore gaining new clients. This is especially true in certain markets, such as freelance blogging. The weblog publishing business isn’t anywhere near stable. Some of the clients I’ve worked with depend on social media sites such as Digg. Many of these sites change their algorithms, causing massive loss in the web traffic that generates ad revenue. Google changes their

To wit, the feast or famine phenomenon that most freelancers suffer at some point in their career, under careful observation, will probably prove to follow this rule in some way. There might be good aspects to rely on the 70/30 Rule, but you also need to be aware of its flaws.

1. Experience. Yeah, you might just have more experience, regardless of the firm you’re up against. Many big firms might charge $200/hour or more, but they’ll often put in a junior at $20/hr who doesn’t know squat. Some clients are aware of this upfront – or become aware quite fast – and would rather pay someone who is more experienced at rate of, say, $50/hr. They’re actually saving money. Much of the giant rates consulting firms charge is due to covering possible liabilities as well as massive profits. Some clients do want you to have liability insurance, but not all do.
2. Focus. Maybe you have a specialty, and you keep your skills up to date. It’s easier for a client to get to know you and your skills than with a firm. A firm might have more than one part-time junior, with different skill sets, working on a project.
3. Client TLC. Because you are a single contractor/ freelancer (or part of a small firm), it’s easier for you to give potential clients some TLC that big firms often overlook during the bidding process, and which their Junior Lackeys don’t have the authorization or know-how to give.
4. Client preference. For the above reasons and others, some clients just prefer working with a single contract freelancer. It’s simpler, there’s less people to know, and maybe they were a freelancer once themselves.

So, in some situations, you do stand a chance against a firm in scoring contracts.

Current topics that I write about include:

1. Freelancing
2. Blogging.
3. New + visual media (podcasts and audio, web video, screencasts, maps).
4. Creativity and creative problem solving.
5. Mind mapping.
6. Web applications.
7. Film.
8. Productivity.
9. Learning techniques.
10. Business, particularly bootstrapping and entrepreneuring.
11. Website analytics.

My rates are pretty affordable, and I also write ebooks and books, and do screencasting. If you’re interested in hiring me, just drop off a comment here and make you use your email address when you fill out the comment form.

Why? Because so many of us work-at-home types do not make a distinction between work time and free time. So we often end up working long hours and don’t always understand why. If you cannot make the distinction, then there’s less focus, less urgency.

Part of the problem lies in mindset. The irony is that the very freedoms that you enjoy as a freelancer might be exactly why you have trouble making a distinction in your time “zones”.

So if you find yourself taking a lot longer for work that used to be fairly quick when you started freelancing, maybe it’s time to start acting like you’re going to work:

1. Get up at a set time each day. This more than anything will help with establishing a work mindset.
2. Prepare for work. Brush your teeth, shower, wear something other than your pajamas. You can always switch when your “work day” is finished.
3. Take work and lunch breaks. While I prefer to only eat when I’m hungry, I find that a quick break after a couple of hours of work is like a mental palate cleanser.
4. Work on the clock. Have a cut-off point for when you finish all work for the day. It took me a few years, but I now try to stop at 8 pm. Everything I do online after that is usually personal. I should point out that I don’t start work normally until between 9:30-10:30, and that take a number of breaks most days. Stopping at 8 pm is a whole lot better than what I used to do: stopped at 3 am.

If you feel like you’re preparing for work and have a definable stop point, it’s far easier to make a distinction between work time and free time. So it becomes easier to focus – kicking Parkinson’s Law in the pants.

Currently I’m writing weekly at FreelanceSwitch and FreelanceFolder, and daily at Performancing, as well as building up a new film site (more on that later). The list below is reverse chronological and covers back to late January (after I’d stopped posting to this site).

1. FreelanceSwitch – How to Save: A Short Guide for Freelancers. This article covers why it’s so important for freelancers to save, and the types of saving to consider.
2. FreelanceFolder – Jump-Starting Freelancing Productivity: Working Smarter. Do you find yourself working long hours at home? Maybe you’re spending too much time on each project. Why not try working smarter by spending less time on something, and taking breaks or working on something else in between.
3. Performancing – How to Podcast Using SplashCast or YouTube. Add some still images to your audio podcast.
4. Performancing – A Beginner’s Podcasting Guide.
5. Performancing – Why I Love WordPress.
6. Performancing – 9 Podcasting Tips.
7. Performancing – Niche Monitoring: A Simple River of News Using Embedded Timelines.
8. Performancing – Better Web Information Presentation: 10 Timeline Tools.
9. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Moving a Static HTML Site to WordPress.
10. Performancing – Why I Hate WordPress 2.5.
11. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Using Custom Fields to Auto-Embed YouTube Videos.
12. Performancing – What’s Wrong With the Blogosphere?
13. Performancing – Can Other Bloggers Get Book Deals?
14. Performancing – Research Tools: From River of News to Techmeme Clone – Part 3.
15. Performancing – Jazz Up Your Site: 28 Ways to Use WordPress Custom Fields.
16. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Techmeme River of News Clone – Part 2.
17. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Build a Techmeme River of News Clone – Part 1.
18. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Upgrading Versions.
19. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Build a Photo or Movie Poster Gallery.
20. Performancing – Problogging Tips: The Value and Structure of Comprehensive Content.
21. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Build a Web Directory.
22. Performancing – Practical Blogging Tips: Finding Information For Resource Articles.
23. Performancing – WordPress Hacks: Adding TinyMCE Editor to the Prologue Theme. —- buggy
24. Performancing – 11 Skills That a Freelance Blogger Should Have.
25. Performancing – Practical Blogging Tips: Build Comprehensive Content.
26. Performancing – Problogging Tips: Get Smart, Leverage Your Research.
27. Performancing – Problogging Tips: Follow a Budget.
28. Performancing – Should You Blog For Yourself or Freelance?
29. Performancing – 48 Unique Ways to Use WordPress.
30. Performancing – A Short Guide to Writing 4+ Large Resource Articles Each Month.
31. Performancing – Monitoring Multiple Niches With a Personal Dashboard: Joining a Niche Conversation, Pt 7.
32. Performancing – Advanced Feed Mashup: Yahoo Pipes By Example, Pt 2.
33. Performancing – Monitoring Multiple Niches With a Personal Dashboard: Joining a Niche Conversation, Pt 6.
34. Performancing – 8 Tips For Building Multiple Niches: Joining a Niche Conversation, Pt 5.
35. Performancing – Yahoo Pipes By Example, Part 1: Mashing Up Multiple Feeds.
36. Performancing – Yahoo Pipes By Example: Basic Functionality.
37. Performancing – 5 More Tips on Increasing Blogging Productivity.
38. Performancing – Why Should Bloggers Use Yahoo Pipes?
39. Performancing – Joining a Niche Conversation, Part 4: Making Your Blog Stand Out.
40. Performancing – Joining a Niche Conversation, Part 3: Don’t Be Afraid to Edit Archived Blog Posts.
41. Performancing – New Opportunity For Tech-Savvy Bloggers: Remote Digital Coaching.
42. Performancing – Joining a Niche Conversation, Part 2: Idea Generating for Bloggers.
43. Performancing – Joining a Niche Conversation, Part 1: Determining the Top Blogs in Your Niche.