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.

Pavarotti is one more legend, like James Brown, whom I’ll never get to see perform live. And for me, even growing up liking punk and other “heavy” rock forms, I couldn’t resist the golden voice of Pavarotti (or the 3 Tenors), which always brings chills to me.

If you love music and have never heard Pavarotti perform, at least start with some of his must-see, must-hear collaborations with popular artists such as James Brown (A Man’s World) and Barry White (My First, My Last, My Everything) – both of which are too mercilessly short. [I don't know if thousands of children were conceived to Pavarotti's voice like is said to be the case for Barry White's deep, sexy rumblings, but I wouldn't be surprised.]

Godspeed you, Maestro, to the Gates, where you’ll fill the silences of Heaven.

Go check it out and vote. Muhammad is very well known on social media sites such as Digg, so I’m really not expecting to win. But you can read the interview questions and get to know Muhammad better.

[Apologies to Daniel for being late with this post.]

1. Freelance productivity.
   Freelancers know that their lives tend to have a lot of ebb and flow, both in terms of income and productivity. Freelancer Switch offers 46 productivity tips that might just help you optimize your work time. This is especially true to stave off the cons of being a problogger.

2. Productivity and research.
   Whether you’re an entrepreneur, freelancer, or some sort of online professional, you probably do a fair bit of research online. And of course, the information overload sometimes gets overwhelming. Web Worker Daily offers 21 tips for dealing with info overload.

3. Frugal entrepreneuring.
   Every new entrepreneur, especially bootstrappers, are cash-crunched when it comes to splurging on software and relevant services. Bootstrapper lists 100 freebies in their Poor Entrepreneur’s toolset.

4. Going mobile.
   One of the big benefits of ditching desktop software for web browser-based software is that you’ll no longer need to carry even a laptop around. If you have access to any computer and the Internet, you can access webware applications and your data files. Tzunami provides a list of 100 web-based applications of use to entrepreneurs, freelancers and loads of others.

5. Productivity and diet.
   Good health is important to your stamina, which in turn improves productivity. Bootstrapper lists 100 foods that improve productivity.

6. Effective online promotion.
   Wondering which sites to promote your yourself on? eBizMBA lists the 25 hottest web 2.0 sites for June 2007. Many of these are ideal sites for you to build a profile on, depending on whether you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, or business owner. (Remember to respect the culture on each.) A few are networking or resources sites.

7. Online promotion, part 2.
   eBizMBA also lists the 30 largest social bookmarking sites for July 2007. These are sites that can promote your website articles in one way or another. If you prefer microblogging services, make sure you follow some simple rules.

powered by performancing firefox

What I’m looking for

1. Clean.
   Rule #1: No roaches. I can tolerate all kinds of pests but not roaches. I’ll be very unhappy if I move in and find they’d been hiding.

2. Amount.
   I can pay Cdn$800-1000/m, hopefully with hydro inclusive. I can pay with cash, cheque or PayPal, and possibly credit card. [Please see the "What i can offer" section.]

3. Non-smoking.
   If there is any shared space, it has to be smoke-free as I’m seriously allergic to cigarette smoke.

4. Entrance.
   Separate entrance preferred, or at least my portion of the dwelling would be accessible only with my own key.

5. Bedrooms.
   I need at least one bedroom. If there’s also a den or 2nd bedroom, that’s great.

6. Location.
   Must be “near” downtown. Anything further than, say, north of St. Clair is too far. Generally speaking, I’d like to be able to walk comfortably within 20-30 minutes to the Carleton repertory cinema on weekends (if it’s still around). Areas of primary interest:
   • Leslieville,
   • Annex,
   • High Park (though a bit far),
   • Parkdale (Queen + Dufferin),
   • Liberty (King + Dufferin),
   • Broadview/ Danforth,
   • the Beaches.

   Anything beyond these areas starts to be further from downtown than I want to be. I’ve already lived in most of these areas, so I’m very comfortable with them.

7. Quiet.
   Needs to be quiet for at least 3 consecutive hours during the day because I do voice recordings for screencast tutorials.

8. Type of dwelling.
   I love old houses, especially in the Annex, but I really, really need 3-prong outlets, preferably grounded. Basement apartments are not my friend, but one that’s bright, with a relatively soundproof ceiling is fine.

9. Laundry.
   Laundry facilities onsite are a great bonus, but if not then a laundry within walking distance helps. I don’t have a car anymore (gone green) and don’t plan to have one again. And I don’t enjoy airing my dirty laundry in public – literally speaking, not figuratively – so I don’t want to have to take the streetcar or subway to a laundromat.

10. Furniture.
    I’m not taking any furniture with me to Toronto, so a bit of furniture doesn’t hurt, but isn’t necessary. The first order of business for me will be to get a futon bed or two, and a work desk for my desktop computer and laptop.

11. Cable/ Wi-Fi.
    While included cable TV and Wi-Fi is nice, I will be bringing “Bell personal wi-fi to go”, and will need to be able to install Rogers digital cable and Internet. So the ability to install a cable line is a necessity.

12. Date and duration.
    While I’d like to move for Sept 1st, it would depend on how much the rent is, whether it includes hydro, etc., and whether there are any costs beyond that (first, last, extra deposit?). The sooner the better, but I need to move, so I’ll keep looking until I get a place. I’m looking for a place for at least six months, but a year would be preferable, possibly longer. I plan to eventually buy a place – hopefully before 2010, and do not want to move around a lot before then, to minimize credit problems.

13. Pets.
    My cat will be staying with my mother’s cat and dogs. I plan to volunteer at the Riverside Humane Society, and if it’s possible for me to “foster” a few pets for short durations, that’d be nice – but it’s not necessary.

I know that these look like a lot of conditions, but if you were looking for an apartment, too, and wrote down all your preferences, you might be surprised. Anyway, in return, here’s what I can offer.

What I can offer

1. I’m a very quiet, non-smoking, work-at-home writer/ web consultant. The loudest I’ll be is no louder than a piano or acoustic guitar, or when I’m recording my voice for video tutorials. I just spent the last 10 years thinking I’d become a Buddhist monk. While that plan is gone, I’ve still learned to be quiet. I do work from home, but purely for exercise, I might volunteer at the Toronto Opera or do some part-time acting.

2. I can cook well or passably in 7 cuisines, and you’re welcome to join me for dinner once a week with one friend. The cuisines are Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Italian, some Mexican, some Greek, some French and a few others. I also bake once in a while, and make mean barbequed meats (in case there’s a backyard/ garden).
3. I’m setting up a Toronto business + entertainment directory on online. If you have a business or service, you’ll get a free permanent listing and a free profile page with photo and links for 2 years.
4. First and last month’s rent. Here’s my problem, as embarrassing as it may be. I have no references because I’ve been living with my mother for several years. Because of 4 really bad career years from 2002-2005, I’m rebuilding my credit. I do have a small amount of savings now, set aside for rent. So I can offer, if necessary, an extra month’s deposit and additional post-dated cheques. Alternately, I can offer you US$1000 worth of web consulting services including blog articles, linkbait articles, site analytics, blogging help and more. Keep in mind that I’m building my brand online on this very website, so it behooves me to pay you rent on time.

   If these options are not acceptable to you, I may be able to get a relative to sign the lease in their name – and I’d pay them in advance. Or tell me what makes you comfortable, without me having to spend any outrageous amount of extra cash.

So, if you have a place to rent that matches my preferences above and think I’d be a good tenant, drop me an email through my Services page.

I ran across this tool, MyHeritage face recognition, and using a self-photo of me from about 2003 or 2004, the above collage is what I got back as part of my celebrity lookalikes. Very odd. When I was much younger, people said I resembled Cary Grant. I also had the moniker “Curry Elvis” because of my now-lost resemblance to The King, Elvis Presley.

But Willem Dafoe, Cary Grant, Halle Berry, Beyonce Knowles and Angelina Jolie are certainly favorites of mine. And Abhishek Bachchan is related to the actor whom my brother was named after, Amitabh Bachchan. (I was named after recently-deceased actor Raj Kumar, as I’ve mentioned before. My father wanted to be an actor, as did I.) How strange it is that I supposedly resemble some of my faves. Can we change our appearance by “absorbance” of surroundings?

via Servant of Chaos.

1. Andy Boyd – Boyd Creative.
2. Brett Bumeter – Maven Mapper’s Information.
3. Sharon Sarmiento – eSoup Blog
4. Liz Strauss – Successful Blog.
5. Ben Yoskovitz – Instigator Blog.

You are not obliged to tag more people, but maybe you can list a few charities. Otherwise, it’s very simple to participate. Just write a post like this one, add a list of 5 websites of charities or non-profit organizations that you to give some link love to (duplicates okay). You can just list the organizations, though I’ve added a brief description for each. Here are mine, in no particular order:

1. Ecotrust – environmental conservation efforts.
2. Humane Society of Canada – protecting animals and the Earth.
3. Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund – searching for a cure for a deadly disease.
4. Room to Read – helping build schools and libraries.
5. Sick Kids – hospital for sick children (Canada).

Some of these are charities that my Squidoo pages earnings go to.

So on this site, I’m out to show you that you don’t have to be a shaven-headed bespectacled Australian blogger to succeed online. Just kidding. The Internet is the great leveller, as I’m fond of saying, and anyone who is motivated and puts in the effort can succeed online in a variety of ways.

I should point out that if you are of the “blogs shouldn’t make money” breed, I respect your opinion but you’re in the wrong place. As a former computer/web programmer and technical writer, I’m applying my decades of skills to earn a living online – something I’m unable to do anymore in a “real world” job because of health and other reasons. So you are not going to convince me that I’m doing something wrong. Many thousands/ millions of people make a living online. I do it as a writer and publisher. I’ve been a print publisher, and it’s very hard and expensive to even break even, let alone make a profit. Not so with the Internet.

On the other hand, if you thought you couldn’t or shouldn’t make money with blogs or other online means but now feel differently, I encourage you to come back, as I really will discuss here everything I know about earning a living online. All I ask in return is that you participate through the comments, whether you agree or disagree – but always saying why.

This site is about sharing the knowledge necessary to succeed online, as John Chow has specified an (aspiring) dot com mogul should do. While I will discuss different ways to earn online, the primary focus here will be to disseminate any knowledge relevant to being a successful domainer, publisher, and/or blogger. And as Ahmed Bilal said somewhere in the comments over at Performancing, blogging is more than just writing online. There’s writing, promotion, carrying on an online conversation, analytics, link building, publishing (finding funds), editing, research, and much more.

To accomplish all that takes a lot of motivation and learning to get things done (GTD) and being productive. As such, some of the topics you’ll see here are as follow, in no particular order:

1. Writing.
2. Research and learning.
3. Link building.
4. RSS/atom web feeds.
5. Keyword studies and trending.
6. Visitor analysis (pageviews, geocoding).
7. Revenue
8. GTD – Get Things Done
9. Productivity
10. How to manage your time
11. Mindmapping
12. [list to change without notice]

As mentioned previously, I’ve been seriously blogging for about two years and earning at least part-time revenue for about 8 months. If you’ve been at it longer than I, then you likely know more than I do. But maybe you’ll join in on the conversation anyway, as that’s what this site is about: sharing knowledge for Internet success.