It will probably come as no surprise to WebWorkerDaily readers that a recent survey found that 70 percent of information workers don’t believe status meetings help them accomplish work tasks. Additionally, almost 40 percent of respondents feel that such meetings are a waste of time. Read more »
With the ability to work whenever we wish, web workers face ever-increasing work hours. There’s always “just one email” after dinner or the pull of our smartphone before our morning workout. But one blogger is arguing that longer hours actually usually mean less productivity. Read more »
We all know that it’s better to keep existing customers than to spend the time and effort getting new ones. So when a friend and fellow business owner asked me for advice on how she could raise her prices, here’s the procedure we came up with. Read more »
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I’m fascinated by successful people, those who say, “This is how I want my life to look,” and then they go create it. I find them interesting because most people don’t live like that. Most people aren’t willing to put in the work, the “emotional labor.” Read more »
Dedicated gym-goers use some tried and tested methods to make their workouts more efficient and effective. As usual, what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander, and a lot of these same strategies can apply quite well to professional workflows, too. Read more »
Are you just getting the ingredients together to start a business? Or are you in the process of making your dessert — taking your business from new to sweet? In either case, you can take your business up a notch with social media. Building conversations anywhere […] Read more »
In the last year, I had the pleasure to work with some amazing clients, bring out my first e-book and attend some great conferences. I saw my own blog grow and even if there was a disappointment or two, I managed to buy a house, so I think […] Read more »
A while back I wrote that I don’t believe in resolutions. But I did suggest that the new year was a good time to evaluate your goals, especially business ones. Events the past few months have made it an especially good idea for me to do […] Read more »
2009 was a challenging year for me professionally, but I learned a lot and am applying those lessons to have a successful 2010. Some good things happened in 2009, too, like joining the WebWorkerDaily team, meaning I am greeting this year with some renewed focus. Renewed […] Read more »
I enjoyed 2009, especially when it came to blogging projects. It was a great way for me to meet new people to share stories and ideas with; I even had a face-to-face meeting with a WWD reader from another country. Though I had fewer clients, I […] Read more »
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The last week of the year is a great time to get organized. Chances are good that many of your coworkers and/or clients have the week off, so it should be a fairly quiet week for most of us. We could spend that extra time goofing […] Read more »
Whether you work for someone or yourself, things tend to slow down for many of us in the final two weeks of the old year. What better time to do a little business sprucing? Here are ten things to do before the New Year to feel […] Read more »
Some of us thank our lucky stars for staying busy throughout this year, with the occasional period of being overloaded. But I’ll take feeling overwhelmed with client requests over famine any day. I often say that I’m lucky with my business. However, the truth is that […] Read more »
For those perfect freelancers who remember to carefully record and track every expense, there isn’t much to do at tax time other than hand over their perfectly organized documents to their accountant. For the less perfect among us, we probably have some work to do. I […] Read more »
“Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” – Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler” Our impulse is usually to try to do everything. Opportunities present themselves, and we think, “If I turn this away, I may […] Read more »
Coworking is a great trend, one that is taking root in even the most unlikely of soil, including areas where it has a chance of making a big difference, like Detroit. For freelancers and small startups, a coworking space provides a great opportunity to work with […] Read more »
Do you ever wonder what is keeping you from making progress toward your goals? Perhaps you’ve set up a schedule for yourself, outlining the things you need to do each day so that you focus on the most important tasks related to your business, but somehow, […] Read more »
We’ve covered a lot of scheduling software here on WWD. For example, I wrote about When Is Good, a lightweight solution that offered very basic, easy-to-access scheduling for busy folks, and there are many other services available, too, as apparent from the “Calendars and Schedules” section […] Read more »
I have a singletasking tip for you, and it’s an important one: Work like you’re on vacation. Before you type up the smart-aleck response, “You mean don’t work at all?” let me explain. I mean work like you’re taking a working vacation. If you’re a full-time […] Read more »
We all know how painful it is to coordinate a meeting involving more than a couple of people. Everyone has to check their calendar of events to find a date and time that will work for everyone’s schedule. The more people involved with the meeting, the […] Read more »
I can always tell when I’m just putting out fires (moving from one “urgent urgency” to the next).
“What? A client needs help with an über pressing concern, and it has to be handled right now or his website will explode? I’ll get on that right away!”
“What, Ms. Prospective Client, you have the ultimate web project, but you need a quote within the hour? No problem.”
It starts with checking email first thing in the morning. Open, read, react, and an hour later, reply. Open, read, react, and an hour later, reply.
On and on it goes, until it’s two o’clock and not one smidgen of paid work has been done, or if it has, it’s been done in a haphazard way, usually at the client’s demand instead of using my own tried-and-true schedule and system.
By the end of the day, I’m zapped and feel like a heel for allowing my work to control me instead of the other way around.
There has to be a better way, and you know there is. Read more »
As a new writer here, let me give you the File → Get Info on me. For my day job, I own a computer repair business here in Lawrence, Kansas. Drawing on my support background, I focus on practical technology from the user perspective; If I […] Read more »
Update: Video demo and analysis in a new post. YouTube XL: The Living Room Remodel Gets Delayed. YouTube today is launching XL, a new interface for the site that is customized for televisions. Rather than a downloadable app for lean-back viewing, like Hulu just launched (though […] Read more »
Nothing will motivate you to achieve your goals like making other people aware of the specifics of what you’re aiming to accomplish. At least for me, the threat of public shame is a great tool you can use to prevent yourself from giving up on your […] Read more »
Most of today’s digital cameras can do more than just capture basic snapshots. But few — if any — can do what Casio’s EX-FS10 can: Shoot continuous images in high-speed burst mode and record slow-motion videos. The EX-FS10 is slim, even by compact camera standards: It […] Read more »
We’ve covered lots of great project management apps here on WebWorkerDaily, from collaborative tools like 5pm to estimating and planning tools like Gantter. However, these tools are quite complex if all you need is a simple chart showing who does what, when. Enter Flash-based timeline planning […] Read more »
Seagate’s FreeAgent Theater offers a neat, easy way to take the content from your PC and view it on your TV. But, while it supports HD content up to 1080i, it lacks support for HDMI — which is sure to turn off many videophiles. The FreeAgent […] Read more »
In this post, I’m going to get back to basics. The key to successful web work, and getting paid to do it, is knowing exactly what it is you want to do, and how you’re going to go about doing it. In other words, you have to plan, you have to budget, and you have to set goals for yourself. Read more »
We’ve discussed the attraction of using paper planners in the past. Even though web workers have access to all sorts of cool to-do list and other planning applications on the web, there are times when getting everything down on paper is the best way to keep […] Read more »
Do you bill based on hourly work performed? Or are you working on a project basis? What are you doing about recurring revenues? With 2009 almost here, this is something I’ve been focusing on for my business. In a past post about Freshbooks benchmark data for […] Read more »
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? Read more »
When you take a look at the new 10-cell battery for the EEE PC 901 you should go back and also take a look at Kevin’s post about form over function on netbooks. That certainly applies to this battery which is the biggest honking battery you’ll […] Read more »
AudioMicro.com, a small, L.A.-based commercial music licensing startup, has just closed a first round of funding, from DFJ Frontier. Read more »
Business software may be profitable, but the growth and sex appeal is in advertising. At least, Microsoft seems to thinks so. Amidst efforts to make headway with its takeover offer for Yahoo, the Redmond giant today said it’s agreed to buy online ad analytics firm Rapt. […] Read more »
Aswath has some thoughts on making SlingBox better. Just put it on ICE. Read more »
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