This week has been mostly about getting my office setup after moving over the weekend. What I can say is, that my main desk is setup and that new fibre internet speeds of 300/300 make uploading YouTube videos and podcasts so much faster.

Other than that, the boxes are slowly evacuating the office space and the rest of the house.

What I Shipped

On Monday I talked a bit about leaving social media. We’ve likely all felt that we should leave it at times. For many it wastes so much time, likely more than you realize. For others, it just amps you up on topics that don’t matter so much.

It looks like Tuesday’s are going to be content about my iOS first productivity setup. This week I looked at why Grammarly sucks for iPad power users.

Wednesday I talked about going with business or personal branding for your freelance business. I went with business branding for SFNdesign and personal for my site.

Around the web I had 2 pieces come out for other sites.

First, If you’ve been wondering about selling a few products, then over at Liquid Web, I wrote a step by step tutorial on how to add a WooCommerce Store to your WordPress site.

I also wrote about my iPad WordPress development workflow for The Sweet Setup. Made my computer so much cheaper.

Freelance Friday Five

1. Dealing with the downsides of remote working | Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel

Number 4 in particular is a struggle at my house. From hair appointments scheduled during my already limited work schedule to the times I’m asked to watch a kid or two during work because it’s easier for my wife when she’s going out. I’d guess I loose an extra few hours a week of productive work.

It’s been getting on my nerves lately.

2. Doing what you love doesn’t mean being consumed by it – Deliberate Rest

Daily routines, rituals for starting and stopping work, and especially periods of deliberate rest play a critical role in channeling that energy. They make it possible to stop work, because you don’t have to worry so much that if you do you’ll lose the next good idea.
>
That energy, being your good creative brain. I also loved the tweet at the beginning:

Do what you love and you’ll work super fu**ing hard all the time with no separation or any boundaries and also take everything extremely personally.
>
Good counterpoint to the regular way that the quote goes about never working a day in your life.

3. Unconventional bootstrapping: round 1

Justin Jackson gives us a good look at what “bootstrapping” and reality are. Where technically bootstrapping is only funding your company with it’s revenue, the reality is that most companies are consulting or doing something else to get over the hump to the thing they’re aiming at.

I’m still doing WordPress Membership Sites as a decent portion of my revenue as I write and coach.

4. Two things that kill bootstrapped companies

I think the interesting discussion here is, knowing if you’re working on the right idea. I do like the advice from Richard Branson that you try it and if it feels right, keep going. If it feels wrong, stop right away.

But, then how does the market come into this? I love doing my book podcast and at the same time I don’t make much, any, money from it directly. Do I keep doing it because it feels right?

The second point about momentum likely answers this, but so often these answers feel “easy” at least in part because they’re coming from people that have had success. That’s survivor bias.

5. Form A Daily Writing Habit—It Will Improve Your Life – Darius Foroux

While I love the thought, and agree that daily/regular writing is good for you, writing is not this is easy for many.

I wanted to be a writer for a decade before I became one. All it took was a decision. At some point, you have to look at yourself and say, “I’m a writer.” And then, start doing your job by writing every day.
>
If you struggle to write then do look at the tips at the bottom of the post to make headway on building a good writing habit.

2 responses to “Freelance Friday 026 – Oct 5 2018”

  1. Justin Jackson Avatar

    Thanks for linking to my bootstrapping series!

    I have been thinking a lot about the difference between “self-funding” and “bootstrapping.” I think Rob Walling’s distinction is helpful: Bootstrapping is using very little money to get the company going, and funding it from customer revenue. Self-funding is putting a substantial amount of your own money (consulting money, money from another business) into the company.

    1. Curtis McHale Avatar
      Curtis McHale

      Can’t say I’ve thought much about the differenc, but I that certainly sounds right to me. In which case I’m self-funding my books and coaching work with some web development work.