In the corporate world, it’s easy to track positive mobility in your career. You could get a promotion (a move upward to a position of higher rank or pay), or laterally to a position of similar rank, but with different tasks or projects. Advancement in a freelancing career is not so easy to track, possibly because we each have different definitions of what a freelance “promotion” consists of.
Here are some ways you can climb the freelance career ladder: Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I explored the concept Noded working. “Noded” is really a subset of a much wider phenomenon emerging in the world of work — the notion of “portfolio careers.”
In her blog on the subject, Katie Ledger — co-author of the forthcoming book “And What Do You Do?: 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career” — describes portfolio careers as work that “uses all your skills and passions…doing two or more jobs for different employers.”
The turbulence and insecurity of a globalized job market means that many people are, in essence, temporary workers with little assurance of a permanent job. As such, people are seeking security by establishing control over who they work with and what they work on. Read the rest of this entry »
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
In art and music, the term “minimalist” describes work that is stripped down to its fundamental elements. Everything is simplified. This approach has its benefits on the web, where there are thousands of freelancers making themselves heard. There’s just so much noise out there that it never hurts to keep things simple.
People who are just starting with their freelancing career will benefit from applying minimalism, especially if they’re only planning to freelance part-time. Minimalist values will allow you to focus only on the essentials, convey a clear message, and keep maintenance tasks to a minimum.
So how can we apply minimalism to our freelancing practice?
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It’s only a couple of weeks before 2009 arrives, but are you ready for it? While it’s true that December is an arbitrary choice to plan for the incoming year, it’s still a good time to be mindful of what might lie ahead for web workers come January. What changes will there be and what can we do to adapt?
Learn how to collaborate with people who are less tech savvy than we are. As online collaboration becomes more commonplace, we’ll be working with some people who aren’t up to speed with the most practical Web 2.0 tools for their needs. Knowing how to communicate with them effectively while bridging the tech gap will be a priceless skill.
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
