The Bare Minimum

Lately I've been doing the bare minimum when it comes to writing. I'm just doing enough to keep up with my quotas at Suite and AC. I've also not posted quite as much on my blogs. This is because I just started teaching a jewelry-making class and I am working to produce new jewelry pieces for the One of a Kind show in Chicago this December.

Granted, freelance writing is nice in the fact that it allows you to scale down your work load when necessary. That said, I wish that I could find the time to just double my bare minimum because it's always better to write sooner rather than later. This is because older articles tend to rank better in Google searches. Residual writing is like banking because the more you invest early, the more you'll reap in the end.

So even though it is sometimes necessary to just fulfill your minimum requirements for writing, it is never wise to signifigantly lesson your production for a long period of time. I'm hoping to offset my current lull with my own personal writing challenge in January. I'm going to try to write 60 articles in 30 days to kick off the new year and kick my residual earnings into full gear.

In keeping with the idea of the bare minimum, I should point out that less can also be a good thing, especially when you're self-employed. It's important to know what you can live without and arrange your life to cater to your real necessities. This will allow you to save money and thrive, even in financially lean months.

Even though I could cut back more, I have eliminated quite a bit of excess spending in my life. Perhaps the best way I eliminated waste was to clean my closet. I found clothes that I didn't know I owned. If I look in my closet I can honestly say that I don't need to purchase any more clothes for the year. I can get by with the clothes that I have and change up my look with inexpensive accessories such as belts and scarves.

I also cut and color my own hair. Instead of spending $60+ at the salon, I spend around $7 and do my hair at home. It's not as hard as one might think and there are many Youtube tutorials to help you cut and style your hair. If you have the courage, you might be surprised at your results. I'm quite pleased with mine.

I also cancelled my cable. I hated Comcast anyway and the channels would always hiccup and fizzle. I now go with a Roku player. The Roku player costs around $50 and offers a number of free Internet channels such as Newscaster, which shows all the network news shows such as Rachel Maddow and CNN with Anderson Cooper. It also offers Netflix, Amazon OnDemand, and Hulu Plus. Who needs cable with all of that?

There are lots of ways to cut costs at home. If you're having problems thinking of ways, try some of these:

• Make and take your own coffee in a thermos. It's probably better than Starbucks and at a fraction of the cost.
• Grow your own vegetables.
• Eat in more. Cut down your eating out to once a month or once a week if you eat out often.
• Use coupons.com to cut coupons for food shopping.
• Drop your phone's data plan. Instead of spending $80 for a data plan, get a $30 talk plan. You can even purchase a used smartphone and still use the apps with WiFi.
• Shop with a list and stick to it. (This one's hard for me)
• Drop the gym membership. Excercise by running or walking outside. When it gets cold, do excercise DVDs inside. You could even go to classes or get a cheaper membership at a community center rather than a commercial gym.
• Refinance your house. Though this may not be for everyone, the record low interests rates make refinancing very desirable. Talk to a lender and make sure you get a fixed rate and that your monthly bills would be signifigantly reduced.

Hopefully these tips can help you cut the fat from your daily expenses. Though it's difficult, I try to use the bare minimum while working as much as I can (withouth burning out). This is the best way I have of making my dream of being my own boss work for me. Eventually I can start working a bit less and spending a bit more, but now it's work time.

What do you go without in order to work from home?

Out of Office

Okay, so technically I was really "out of house" more than "out of office", but it's the same thing when you work from home. I actually have been all over the place for a while. I went to Portland with my best friend of 28 years (we met when we were 5). I was helping her move which I am incredibly sad about since she's now 2200 miles and three time zones from me.

Anyway, we drove a 16-foot Penske truck and towed her Honda Element. Oh, and did I mention that we also had her two cats in the cab with us? Crazy, I know. And the entire trip took us four days to drive from Chicago to Portland on Route 90.

During the trip we saw a lot of Wall Drug signs and drove through some mountains. We quickly learned that third gear is our friend when driving a huge truck down steep inclines. We also tested the limits of how much truck stop junk food you can stomach in one trip.

Luckily we made it to Portland in one piece and got her all moved in to her new apartment. I stayed for a couple of days and got to see the lay of the land there. I then flew back and started working like a mad woman in my studio.

You see, I have two upcoming art shows that are only two weeks apart from each other. One is this weekend and the next is the first of October. I am also teaching a metal's class at the local art museum that starts on October 6th.

So basically I have been prepping for all three events and have had little time to check back in with this blog. Luckily this morning I had a little extra time and the inclination to say hello . . . so hello.

I have to say that working from home and doing the work that I do requires me to fluctuate between extremely busy and slightly busy times. When I slip into an extremely busy period, some of my ventures tend to fall by the wayside. I guess that's just one of the things you have to deal with though when you work for yourself. It's sure better than working a "traditional" job.

What do you find are the pitfalls of working at home? Do you also have issues with trying to do it all? I always think I just need better scheduling, but then I never stick to the schedule, ha ha. Anyway, whatever your work-at-home challenges, I wish you luck! Now I'm off to work!

Crafty Book Club Blog

I've been working a lot lately on my newest project, the Crafty Book Club. I am loving this project because it combines my interests in art, books and blogging. This book club is different from most craft book clubs because we don't read craft-related books. Instead the club asks that members collectively read one book every two months. They then create one item inspired by that book and post it to a Flickr group. Select items are then showcased on the blog.

It has been such a fun experience so far and so many people have joined in a very short time. The blog attracted over 70 followers in the first week and the Flickr group has over 45 members and is growing every day. I can't wait to see what the artists create based on our first book, A Wrinkle in Time.

From a professional blogger's perspective, I think the blog will open up a world of possibilities for me. I hope that the blog attracts both book lovers and artists, expanding and diversifying my audience.

If you are a book and art lover, you have to check out this site. You'll have a ton of fun and see some amazing creations.

Set it and Forget it

I have to admit that I don't remember exactly which infomercial this phrase came from. I think it had something to do with Ron Popeil and a chicken roaster, though I can't say for sure. The words, however, convey truly sage-like wisdom. "Set it and Forget it." How many parts of our lives could we apply this philosophy? I know I can think of a few, starting with my writing.

I've realized this philosophy is what I have been lacking as a freelance writer. Though it can be helpful to analyze one's earnings, I find I spend so much time checking and obsessing over my stats. If I would just spend that time writing, I probably wouldn't need to spend as much time worrying. It is always so much easier though to stare at a revenue chart and hit refresh repeatedly in hopes of new income. I, however, am now choosing to "write it and forget it", at least in the short term.

I need to really earn some money from this endeavor now, and the only way I can do that is to write, write, oh and write. So now I am going to spend the majority of my online time typing away at the keyboard and adding to my residual earnings.

But what about writer's block? Isn't that why so many of us end up squandering time online? Well, I have discovered that some sites require more writing effort than others. I can bust out five to ten Bukisa articles in two hours, whereas I might just be able to write one good Suite101 article during that time. If I find that I'm hitting my head on a brick wall at one site, I can always switch to the easier sites and get in some fast articles. Either way, I'm making money instead of just staring at the computer in a fog.

I hope to someday not need to write so much in a day, but I need to make money and this seems like the best way in the short term to do it. I want to have a substantial residual revenue stream and that only comes with a large amount of quality articles. So, with that in mind, I'm going to write, write, oh and write my way to a steady income from residuals.

100 Suite Articles and My One-Year Anniversary

Today I published my 100th article on Suite101 and it has apparently taken me about a year to write all of those articles because it is also my first anniversary with Suite. So I thought I would provide a little run-down of my progress over the first year:

Articles Written: 100
Residuals Earned: $264
Bonus Money from Contests: $101
Average Earned per Month: $22
First Month's Earnings: $1.39
Last Month's Earnings: $29.95
Promotions: Became the Ceramics Feature Writer

Even though my monthly earnings have started to slow down a bit, I am still happy to be writing for Suite101. They have some of the best editors around and a supportive writing community who are quick to answer questions and give advice. I'm hopeful that my residuals will rise as I add more content and my older articles begin to mature and rise in Google searches.

For now though, I'm happy with the added experience and opportunities I gain from Suite. It has been a wonderful tool for me to further hone my writing and network with great people. So I raise my glass and say, here's to another sweet year at Suite!

Broke, Busy and Bustin a Move with Bukisa

Well, as the title above indicates, I'm pretty broke right now. Sure, I'm paying the bills, but my goal is to increase my residual income, and it seems to be stagnating. So no time for moping around, I'll just work harder and evaluate my goals.

Originally, I was spending most of my time writing for Suite101. Though I'm still writing quite a bit for the site, my earnings seem to be standing still. Who knows if this will turn around in the short term, though I'm sure that the earnings will pick up over time as I write more content. That said, I need to put my eggs in a few different baskets. With that in mind, I have decided to pursue another 100 article challenge.

My next goal is to publish 100 articles on Bukisa and track their earnings. I primarily use Bukisa as a place to promote my articles for other sites. Their 200-word requirement makes writing articles a breeze, and I have seen some decent earnings for the minimal amount of work involved. I might as well track those earnings and see just how profitable Bukisa actually is.

I have already done this experiment with eHow articles, and it will be interesting to compare my earnings from eHow with the earnings from Bukisa. I'd like to get 100 articles completed within two months, but this is also a very hectic jewelry-making time for me, so we'll see how things go.

Anyway, feel free to try this experiment with me. I would love to see exactly how much one can actually benefit from the earnings on Bukisa. I'm excited to track the progress. Be looking soon for my 100th article announcement.

Letting the Creative Monster Loose

Lately I have been spreading my creative energies quite thin, but enjoying every moment of it. I've been taking a bit of a break from the written word to focus on my jewelry. I've got a big show coming up in a week in Nashville, TN. I also have three other shows booked so far this year and I'm selling my work in a store in Indianapolis. Oh, and I'm going to be in the Emmy Awards gift baskets in August. Not too shabby for my first year in business ('scuse me while I pat myself on the back). Just Kidding.

Anyway, I'm trying to get a lot of product made and I'm also trying to come up with some new designs. Meanwhile, I'm still writing my minimum of one ceramics article a week for Suite101 and one crafts article a month for Associated Content. And, in the meantime I did this:

Yep, that's pink hair. I don't know what possessed me, but I am happy with the outcome. I cut and colored it myself with Manicpanic Cotton Candy Pink on top of a light ash blonde bleach. I had never highlighted my hair before, even with natural colors. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. Overall though, I think the color is great and actually pretty subtle.

I let my creative energies run wild this month and I ended up with pink hair. I'm just so glad that my work incorporates so many different creative outlets. Whether writing, making jewelry, or streaking my hair, I'm glad that I've chosen a creative life.

Where has your creativity led you? Into or out of a job? Into a new relationship? To new friends? I'd love to hear your thoughts.