LinkedIn for Telecommuters
Web Worker Daily is running a nice article on the web 2.0 site, LinkedIn and specifically how it can help telecommuters. For those of you who do not know, LinkedIn is somewhat like a MySpace for business networking. You can set up a profile and connect with others. There are over 11 million users of the service, so there is a good chance some of your friends are already there. Here is an excerpt from the article:
“If the number of requests to join LinkedIn, the business networking network, that clog your email inbox is any indication, then you know it is becoming a legitimate business tool, and one that most professionals need to effectively leverage to boost their professional prospects. LinkedIn, in fact is a web worker’s best professional friend.
And although it’s just one of many such networks, LinkedIn, is in short a network for business opportunities. On LinkedIn, people don’t chat about music or what they did on Saturday night, but instead focus on opportunities and how the network can help you. And that’s a winning formula. Here are just some of the most common and productive uses of LinkedIn.”
Professional Development for Web Workers
I was a former teacher, and I love me some Professional Development. This article on Web Worker Daily has a good bit of information about Professional Development opportunities for independent telecommuters:
“I’ve been in the consulting business one way or another for nearly two decades now, and in that time I’ve watched a lot of people come and go. Many corporate workers look at independent consultants and think “wow, I could take my current skills and make three times what I do today just by going into business for myself!” If you’re an independent, you know it’s not quite that easy: working for yourself also comes with a lot of expenses. But there is a more subtle trap that all too many professionals fall into: in a year or two, your current skills will be, if not worthless, certainly worth less than they are now.”
Blogging for Bucks from the House
I neglected to mention another common way of earning money online, possibly the most attempted way, which is blogging. The way it works is you get people to come to your blog and you pepper them with advertising. The most common advertising solution is Google Adsense which is the King Cong of contextual advertising. It is contextual because the ads you see, theoretically, are related to the things you are reading about. That does backfire from time to time, but mostly it is somewhat related. Essentially, people pay Google to advertise on their behalf. Google then displays ads that the person designs. Those ads are displayed wherever the web designer decides to stick them. The people buying the ads pay per click and whenever someone clicks on one of the ads on the person’s blog, they get paid and Google gets an undisclosed amount as well.
Keeping Up with Passwords
I cannot even remember the password to my blogs half the time, so any utility that helps me keep up with them is supremely useful in my opinion. I do use Windows Passwords and Firefox helps me to keep up with them, but I use multiple computers so that can be tricky too. Regardless, Lifehack is reviewing some options today:
“With the proliferation of web services — there’s a new one out each day, it seems — it feels like we’re always creating new accounts, each with a different username and password.
The easy options — using the same password each time or writing them down on paper or in a spreadsheet — aren’t exactly the most secure. In fact, security experts strongly warn against these options as they leave you vulnerable to online theft.
So what’s a web surfer to do? If you’ve got more than a dozen services, you’re not going to remember all of them. It’s time to look into a password manager — and if you’re a cheapskate like me, you want a free one.”
Ways to Look for a Job
Web Worker Daily is running an open thread about the ways telecommuters look for work. They have broken it down into four basic categories: Personal Branding, Networking, Job Boards, and Community.
“Hanging around the coffee shop, sipping a latte and logging on to the wireless network makes for a fun day for the modern web worker. But sooner or later your friendly barista is going to hand you a bill. So is your landlord, for that matter. The fact is, many of us out here on the frontiers spend a considerable amount of time chasing the next job and trying to figure out how we’re going to make ends meet.
That leads us to today’s question: where do you find your web work? A few of the possibilities:”
My 10 Commandments for Life
Being inspired by JD’s post on Get Rich Slowly, I have taken it upon myself to craft 10 commandments that I would like to use to frame my life’s work and such. I will be doing some analysis on each one, rife with personal stories of dubious inspirational value. They are in no particular order whatsoever and that is intentional. Should you find value in what I have to say, put your right foot over your left foot, close your left eye , say “Chaka Waka” three times, and I shall be your guru. Without further fanfare, here they are:
- Drive Around to Get Lost
- Learn the Truth
- Spend Meaningless Time with Friends and Family
- Become Obscenely Wealthy to Fulfill the other Commandments
- Give
- Take Pictures
- Become Impossibly Healthy
- Make Strangers Cackle
- Travel the Unknown World
- Jump into the Void
Frugality FTW
As I was surfing the blogosphere (sailing the blogosphere?), I came across a wonderful little piece on Get Rich Slowly that has a list of 10 commandments and an analysis of commandment #4, which is to be frugal. I am actually the least frugal person I know, and I know a lot of unfrugal folks. After I started scanning through JDs list, it occurred to me that if I show up at the pearly gates and find him holding the keys, I better bring fire-retardant clothing. I routinely break several of them, around half in fact. My car is in truly horrible shape, due possibly to my not changing the oil in 40k miles, and I am afraid if I try to do any real maintenance on it, it will finally just seize up. I call this the bonsai phenomenon because I was given a bonsai tree as a gift in High School and I forgot to water it for around 4 months. Regardless, I decided that it was still in perfect shape so I would water it to keep it that way. It died a few days later.
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