Have you been using the professional social network LinkedIn and feel as if you’re not getting very much out of it? I’ve only recently started expanding my network, after a long period of dormancy, and finding I’m turning to it more often, especially after joining several discussion groups in a few areas of interest. If you’re looking for “personal brand”-building tips for using LinkedIn, Dan Schwabel shares some valuable at Mashable. The salient steps are:

1. Brand your profile.
2. Develop your network.
3. Position yourself as a leader.
4. Leverage LinkedIn as part of your unified brand strategy.

Each step in the article also offers how-to info.

[via Mashable]

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?

Very nice. Maybe their boss will let employees know about their loss on their Facebook Wall. Can anyone say “boycott”?

Chris Garret of ChrisG.com set up a site called AuthorityBlogger last year. Now he’s launching his Authority Blogger strategy program [aff. link] for businesses and professionals, in pre-order mode. The prices will increase when the doors open, so if you’re serious about establishing yourself online, check it out. Chris is an Authority (with a capital ‘A’) on blogging and building an online presence.

By the way, he has yet another free ebook, this one about “authority alliances” and how it’s beneficial to work with others online. It’s only available to the end of Sep 2008, so get it fast. I just read it this morning, and it’s 14 pages packed with some very useful information about partnerships.

Addendum 1: Chris has just announced the pre-launch of the Authority Blogger course.

Addendum 2: What do you get in the Authority Blogger program? Here are some of the highlights:

1. Building your feed subscriber base.
2. A dozen Authority Modules in the form of ebooks, audio and video.
3. Subscription to a members-only club where you can discuss and share.
4. Expertise from specialists and guest authorities.
5. Three 30-minute one-on-one calls [Accelerator customers only!!]

There’s more than that of course; that’s just a sample of what Chris is offering.

You’ll notice this theme is more ad-heavy than the last one. I’ve debated this with myself for over a year, talked to numerous other bloggers and read what yet more bloggers have to say on the matter. What I’ve decided is that since I am easing out of online consulting side and back into real life (hopefully soon and hopefully in the USA), I shouldn’t feel bad about try to make a living from my primary website. My plan to make up for this is go back to writing here more frequently like I’ve done in the past, as well to hopefully add screencasts and soon start giving away free ebooks. In other words, to offer quality information in hopes that you, the reader, won’t mind the ads too much.

Topicwise, I’ve decided to broaden back to what I’ve had in the past, not just focus on visual media. So for the meantime, I’ll be covering blogging/ writing, freelancing, productivity, mind mapping, web tech, learning + knowledge, visual media, social media, link building, and other relevant topics. Because I’m a hardcore “generalist,” my intent is to cover several aspects about building a presence online and promoting yourself, as well as the means and methods of producing text and visual content and getting your work done.

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.

Add GeekCast epi#1 to your page

]]> http://www.rajdash.com/free-promotion-by-twitter-e-book-from-geekpreneur/feed/ 0 http://www.rajdash.com/recent-writing-elsewhere/ http://www.rajdash.com/recent-writing-elsewhere/#comments Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:47:42 +0000 Raj Dash http://www.rajdash.com/recent-writing-elsewhere/ While I’m involved in various other projects, it’s difficult to find time to write here. A very kind reader, Peter, of my articles elsewhere in the blogosphere suggested I post links to my other writing here. So I’ll start off with a list and after this post individual snippets and links.

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.

Those of you that are “web workers” might be tempted to say that you can live pretty much anywhere if you work online. (You also don’t have to deal with the craziness of work Christmas parties.) I’m writing this as I watch a British TV show, Relocation, Relocation, where real estate brokers help a couple choose to purchase one of three houses. Seeing some of the old stone houses and the beautiful countryside, I’m thinking, “I’d love to have one of those.” Makes sense, since I work online and can live anywhere, right? Wrong.

There are some online jobs that cannot be done from anywhere. At least not immediately. For example, my plans to become a filmblogger have to be put on hold. Not only is there no longer a commercial movie theater near where I live – already isolated in the southend of a small city – but without a car as of yet, I’d have to settle for only reviewing repertory film at the local rep theater downtown. Except that I now work Mon-Sat, albeit online, and the wonderful city I currently live in has no bus service after 5 pm on Sundays. What’s more, the bus schedule changed from a 30-minute cycle to a 40 minute one, and the current generation of bus drivers in this city are mostly mean and rude and will not wait for you. No great option for me.

Of course, once I’m an established film blogger, no doubt some movie studios will send advanced copies for me to view and review. But I can’t become established covering only old movies shown on TMC and AMC, or Canadian TV networks. It’s a Catch-22, though there are some options.

Solution? One is to get a car, which I plan to do in a couple of months. But that adds a cost I don’t need once I move to Toronto for film school (assuming I get in). Since I have to cover the Toronto Film Festival, I have to move before Aug 1st, 2008 (anyone have an apartment?), where I won’t need a car. Toronto is very expensive and I know I can’t afford both a car and apartment there, as well as save for film school, amongst other financial issues. So my fingers are crossed that some of my online side projects will generate enough revenue to allow the move on time – else I’ll miss the festival yet again, and probably have to push film school further into 2009.

Maybe someday when movie theaters exist entirely online because everyone has a home theater, it’ll be a different story. Until then, working online isn’t always geographically-independent.

[Image: NWYH Stock Images]

Having not to long ago remembered one of my original career goals – that of becoming a filmmaker – I decided to apply Goethe’s premise of how the “barriers come down” when you really decide you’re going to do something in particular. (He also said: whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve, which was echoed by other writers in later years.) I started writing about this personal dream, had my phone interview with a film school in Toronto, got a tentative offer to get involved behind the scenes on a few entertainment sites (including film blogging), and launched a few small partnerships involving entertainment sites.

As part of the transition of career, I’m taking a full-time online job. It’s tentative as of this moment but likely starting Dec 15th. As such, I’m focusing my online efforts like a laser. I’m dropping about 80+ domains and websites, focusing only a few niches, and closing off all my remaining contracts. [I'll list a bunch of free domains on this site in a separate post soon.]

That means that while I’m no longer officially accepting contracts, I can accept work on a partnership basis with my new employer. However, we’ll be very selective, as I need to minimize niches. Freelance blogging in more than 3-4 niches isn’t impossible, but requires an enormous time commitment weekly, for research.

This really is a necessity for me, if I’m to focus towards entering film school, and doing all the preparations necessary. I will be blogging, but in a reduced capacity while I do other online work behind the scenes. In fact, watch for an announcement of a couple of currently secret projects.