Web Worker Daily

Just as large businesses cultivate a network of professional partners that extend their reach into new markets and broaden the professional skill sets of their internal staff, so can web workers. As the availability of new projects continues to tighten due to the economy, it’s time for web workers to consider partnering with other independents and small- to medium-sized companies to go after new and bigger business.

Enter Partnerpedia from Constructive, a developer of partner management solutions. It combines social media, online collaboration and partner management, and is available free online. It targets freelancers and small businesses wanting to better manage their partner relationships.

The value proposition for web workers for partnering is rather simple — you can pursue deals that require multiple skill sets and larger staffs than an independent freelancer typically musters. Think of classic partnerships like the writer and graphic designer, or the web programmer and the web designer, that fill crucial skills gaps for a project. Partnerpedia aims to be the management tool of choice for these sorts of partnerships. Read the rest of this entry »

With this post Dawn Foster joins the WebWorkerDaily team. Dawn is a consultant, community manager, event organizer, blogger, podcaster, and technology enthusiast. By day, she is a mild-mannered consultant who helps companies build online communities and social media strategies, but by night, she is part of Legion of Tech to make the world (or at least Portland, OR) a better place for technology workers. – ED

I plan to spend a week visiting family in Ohio over the holidays. I will have hours on the plane and in airports, and I’ll have even more time in the evenings after the rest of the family is in bed and my body is still on Pacific time. I could spend it curled up and relaxing with some fiction printed on dead trees, but how productive would that be?

With any luck, you might also have a few slow days during the holidays: clients are on vacation, the family is driving you nuts, and you’re caught up on “real work.” What now?

I even have a wish list that I hope will help me turn this into a productive holiday. Read the rest of this entry »