Archive for June, 2009

I don’t normally rant about things, but today, I have to.

I have been frustrated with elance for awhile. I think that it is absolutely ludicrous to charge people to find freelance work. I can understand charging the company to list the job (like craigslist does) but I can not for the life of me get why a website would charge the person looking for work to find that work. Anyway, I gave up on elance awhile ago.

So what made me finally decide to talk about it?

Freelanceswitch. I saw it mentioned on twitter today and took a look at it. It looks great, the new design is well done and the layout is clean. But the service/idea seriously ticked me off again. It is 100% free for people to post jobs, but the freelancers have to pay to submit their info for the job. They have quite a few great job listings on there, including one for a creative graphic designer and a blogger. Both of which I would be great for, and both of which I would be happy to submit my information – if there was no fee! I know that the $7 subscription doesn’t seem like much (and it really isn’t) but it’s the principle. I see absolutely zero reason to pay to submit my resume and experience. I posed my thoughts on twitter and surprise surprise, no response from the creator (@freelancesw). But I did get a few from my other followers. Most agreed that it was silly to pay to send in your information. Only one response was in agreement with the charge:  @msmamet response was that it was used “to keep listers from getting all the “Hello, I represent a offshore firm that can do all those things ” emails?”

One problem, I have used elance when I was working my last ‘corporate’ job and we still got more of those emails than I could count. So it doesn’t really work then does it? Plus, those companies expect to pay, they can afford it, and usually have multiple people monitoring the boards at all times. Yes, it sucks, but why should I (and other freelancers) be penalized for their shady behavior?

For those who are looking to hire someone for freelance design or writing work – may I suggest a couple ways that may get you better results?

1. Ask your network – linkedin, twitter, blog readers, friends, etc… Ask them for a suggestion of someone to work with. It is always better to work with a recommendation than a random person you know nothing about.
2. Use a smaller website: elance is so overloaded with jobs that yours may get lost in the shuffle – plus it has been taken over by a lot of offshore companies who offer their services for everything. Why not trying a local job site (here in Orange County, I recommend OCjobtalk) or a site that has a smaller group on it, but a more concentrated group of talented individuals?

Anyway, I am just a little frustrated because I would love to offer my services for those looking for a creative designer, blog manager or copywriter…but I refuse to pay to submit my work.

What are your thoughts for paying to submit a proposal for services?

Two-words to give you a bit of creativity. Do with them what you will – and don’t forget to share!

Make noise

There are hundred’s of rules in writing.

1. Don’t start a sentence with ‘and’.
2. Write in complete sentences.
3. Stories must have a beginning, middle and an end.
4. Use the active voice unless you absolutely need to use the passive.
5. Omit unnecessary words.
6. Don’t end a sentence In a proposition.

But what happened to “be creative”? Shouldn’t that be the #1 writing rule?

I know what you’re thinking: “Not everything can be creative, Kirsten. There are some topics that are just too droll to be creative.”

Bulls*it. If it’s not creative, it’s not worth writing.

EVERYTHING can be creative, we just often forget what that means.

By definition:
Creative –adjective
1. having the quality or power of creating.
2. resulting from originality of thought, expression, etc.; imaginative: creative writing.
3. originative; productive (usually fol. by of).

Now tell me something that can’t be creative. I’m waiting…

Exactly.

Regardless of the topic, everything you write can be (and should be!) creative.
Thoughts?

My sister-in-law is one incredible woman. She is currently finishing her degree in psychology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Oh, this is after already receiving a Sociology degree from UCSB. It’s a long story..but basically, she started college in Nebraska, playing soccer for them. In her 3rd year, due to issues with the soccer program she transferred to UCSB. We were all excited to have her closer to home! Anyway, when She got to UCSB, she couldn’t receive the same psych degree – they don’t correlate between schools – and so she changed to a soc degree at UCSB. She graduated from there in 2008. But, she was only about 15 credits short from getting her psych degree from Nebraska now, so she decided to go back this summer and finish her degree. Needless to say, I am super proud of her, although I miss her so much. She is an incredible sister-in-law and friend. We have been keeping in touch via email and phone, and I even set her up a blog so she could write about life there for the rest of our friends and family to read. Most of the emails are about life in general (family gossip, life in Nebraska, work, etc), but last night, she sent me a message on Facebook that I just had to share:

*Side note: The only people in my family who actually read my blog is my parents, and it’s only because I’m an only child . The whole family knows what I do and what I write about, but don’t read it.

Hey lady, I’m reading for my psych class and I ran across something that i thought you may find interesting. I know you like to write about creativity and this could play into that. Anyways, here ya go:

“No wonder that the child shows an insatiable curiosity. He has the whole world to discover. Education and learning, while on the one hand furthering this process of discovery, on the other hand gradually brake and finally stop completely. There are relatively few adults who are fortunate enough to have retained something of the child’s curiosity, his capacity for questioning and for wondering. The average adult ‘knows all the answers,’ which is exactly why he will never know even a single answer.”

I know its random, but I especially liked the last few sentences. I feel like the average individual fails to be able to maintain that sense of juvenile creativity that got them here in the first place.

I have no idea if this is in any way pertinent to your blogs and such, but I figured you would enjoy it none the less. Miss you lots ?

See why I adore her? Thanks Katie…I miss you too!

Katie and I in Vegas before she left to Nebraska

“Yes” is the generally accepted word for ‘good business’. But what about “no”? It kind of gets the short end of the stick. And I think it deserves more recognition. Think of all the phrases that start with “No” that business must have:

“No, we are not okay with bad customer service”

“No, I will not give up”

“No, I will not wait until tomorrow to get this done”

“No problem”

“No bad attitudes in this office”

“No ideas are bad ideas”

…the list goes on. The point is, “no” can be just as, if not more, powerful than yes. Try it. Say it. Use it.

How can you use “No” today?

Being an solo-preneur, finances don’t come freely. So when big events that can help my career come up, there is a lot to think about. Of course, I want to attend, as hopefully it will grow my business but there is the cost to think about.

I posed a question about attending Blogworld yesterday on twitter, and unfortunately, was met with minimal response. I was hoping to get some insight on people who have attended, which events are really worth it, and maybe some details.

This would be the first year that I would potentially attend and find that I am unsure about what to choose. I like the idea of being able to go to everything (the full package) but there are a million questions I have floating in my head. I have attempted to search through the blogworld site and find what I am looking for, but have been unsuccessful, so I am turning to you, my lovely readers, for your sound advice.

First, what time does the event start on Thursday? Do I have to get there Wednesday night or could I drive out Thursday morning? And the more important question…is the Thursday daytime event worth it? Obviously the speakers will be amazing, but other than that, is there a lot of time during the day on Thursday to mingle and chat, or is that reserved for the Thursday night party?

I could just get the Weekend pass, get into all the parties (including Thursday night) and then attend the events on the weekend. This would save a big chunk of money, both for the pass and (potentially) one less night in the hotel.

Of course, then there is the exhibit and party pass, which may be enough too? I am not one of those people who will just wander around and not talk to people, so maybe all I need is the parties and the exhibits to connect?

Then there is the question of hotels. Should I save the money and stay off the strip like I did for CES, even though it was a pain to get into the strip…or should I stay on the strip because it will be more convenient and easier to get to the events?

What is there to do for people who don’t want to go to the events (my husband) but that I want to be there with me (as I am not sure I want to go by myself)? Or should I go by myself so that I can attend all the events without worrying about him and he doesn’t have to take time off work? Or If I him just the exhibit and party pass – would he enjoy it? He loves techie stuff, and a good party, just doesn’t get the whole ‘blogging and social media’ thing.

Can you sense my dilemma yet?

Opinions? Thoughts? Similar questions? Are you going? Let’s get discussing!

Two-words to give you a bit of creativity. Do with them what you will – and don’t forget to share!

Break something






Confused? Check out the start of two-word Tuesday

I am very creative on my own. Give me my computer (with Internet access of course!), good music, no interruptions, fresh coffee and something to snack on and I’m set for the day. The problem is, interruptions are inevitable, coffee runs out and sometimes good music can’t be found. Or I’m just human and far from perfect.

Einstein couldn’t change quantum theory on his own. He needed collaboration. He needed Bohr.

We all need someone that can look at our ideas and add to them, tear them down, build them back up, stronger, more efficient and definitely better.

But it’s scary, right? You have created something brilliant, it sounds flawless…perfect. And then you tell someone about it and they start asking questions. What if this happens? What if that goes wrong? What if your calculations are off? And all you want to do is beg them to stop…because you don’t have the answers. Your idea isn’t perfect, and thank goodness it isn’t! Having an imperfect idea is the start to something great, because at least you have an idea.

You have somewhere to start, something to build from.

I would be a little worried if every idea you came up with (and I’m talking about the generic ‘you’ here) was brilliant. In fact, I might not want to know ‘you’.  I want people I interact with to be imperfect, to make errors and come up with ideas that need work. Because perfect people really scare me. Perfect people are no fun to talk to, not good to work with and definitely no fun at parties. Perfect people irritate me. I’ll take ‘you’ imperfect, with lots of crazy wild ideas that through collaboration, can become brilliant life changing ideas.

What are your thoughts on collaboration? Do you like collaborating or does it bring out the fear of “someone won’t like my idea” in you?

Einstein liked inventing phrases such as “God does not play dice,” “The Lord is subtle but not malicious.” On one occasion Bohr answered, “Einstein, stop telling God what to do.”

(I know the quote doesn’t quite connect..but I liked it!)

I follow my stats every day, from both google analytics and stat press (although stat press is becoming less and less trustworthy, so I have been using Google analytics more.) Anyway, while I have still been writing every week day (going on 9 weeks!) I have found that over the last 2, while readership has actually gone up, the comments have gone down. And I am not sure why. I have scratched my head, wondered if it was my writing (nah, readership is up!), wonder if all my commenters have gone into hiding (have you?), maybe I’m not controversial enough (since my OCRegister ‘controversial’ blog got tons of comments) or if all of a sudden, people have stopped caring about responding (say it isn’t so!).

Rather than try and guess what it is – I want to get the straight answers.

Hopefully the comments will bring light to why or why not people comment, and this will help you to keep your comments consistent on your blog as well. After all, without comments, I’m just talking to myself here.

What makes you comment on a post? Or why don’t you comment on certain posts?

We expect certain things from businesses we interact with. We expect products that we purchase to work, and if not, that they can be returned. We expect business hours to be 9am-5pm. We expect customer service to actually be service. We expect a company to have an easy to find phone number, email and website. We expect our cell phone to make and receive calls, emails, text, etc without fail. We expect businesses to know their products and how they work. We expect a business to have product in stock.

And we expect to judge businesses by whether or not they meet these expectations. Businesses or business interactions that fail to meet the expectations sometimes suffer the consequences of sales lowering, angry customers and bad publicity. But sadly, it has also led to people lowering their expectations and accepting bad business practices. Worse, they continue to use the bad businesses rather than finding someone who exceeds expectations. Many people no longer expect businesses to be open 9-5, or that someone will be available. We have come to expect hard to find phone numbers, and even worse, we have accepted poor customer service as normal. This is unacceptable. Just because it has become ‘normal’ for customer service to fall short, or products not working as they should, does not mean we should be okay with it.

The only way I can compare it is by looking at relationships. We all have expectations of the people we interact with. For me, when I was dating, I expected my boyfriends to

1. Be on time
2. Be honest
3. Be dedicated
4. Be courteous
5. Be realistic

And if I encounter someone who fell short of my expectations, they didn’t stay in my life for long. I don’t change expectations or lower them, I get rid of the person who didn’t meet them. Of course, I am not heartless, so I would usually talk with them about the issue (something that is also rarely done in issues with businesses!) and try to get it resolved. If it still couldn’t get resolved, we parted ways, and tried to find someone who would meet our expectations. An no surprise, by keeping my expectations and not settling for less, I found my perfect match.

Me and my Hubby, photo taken by Sipper Photography

So why do we continue to use businesses that fall short of our expectations? Why don’t we find a business that is our perfect match?

If we stop accepting bad service, they’ll have two choices: fail or change. Either way, it’s a win.