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I am usually a very busy person. When I’m not working on fiction or projects for clients, I’m usually fending off supermodels with a stick. They say, “Oh, Nelson! How do you balance being a genius with maintaining that Olympian physique of yours? Is it a genetic predisposition to greatness, or do you put forth an effort?” My usual response is to shake the ice in my empty glass in the international sign of “less talk, more refill.”

Truth be told, it’s a little from column A, a little from B. Seriousness aside, I want to discuss one of the most neglected topics in the Freelancing World. Your butt (I said what, what?). If you’ve been at this a while, it’s probably getting bigger. For some, a lot bigger. As I said, I’m very busy, but there is always time to improve your health no matter how busy you are. Read the rest to see how you can improve your fitness quickly and make massive gains for both your health and your career.

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I was browsing the oDesk Community recently and I came across this thread on low wages.  Threads on low wages are nothing new, and normally I’d hesitate to bring another to your attention.  However this one got me thinking about the issue in a slightly different fashion, so I thought it would be worth exploring in a post.

One of the contributors posted a well-thought argument, complete with supporting figures that showed how low rates on freelance sites tend to drive out high rates.  The basic point was that if buyers see the same kind of job being done for $0.50/hr they are not going to pay $15.00 or even $5.00/hr.  It doesn’t make economic sense.
That’s a great description of how a commodity market works.
oDesk is not a commodity market.

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I was recently reading a post of Nelson’s where he was talking about developing yourself and not losing sight of your goals just because you’re focusing on your day-to-day existence.  He made some very good points, which you can read about here.

His biggest point was that the only way to keep your dream alive is to actually do something, that just wishing and hoping isn’t enough.
He’s absolutely right.
Having said that, I do want to take a jump sideways and look at both serendipity and the so-called ‘power of positive thinking.’

Serendipity has an interesting history, being a word coined by Sir Horace Walpole from a fairytale called The Three Princes of Serendip, and referring to the kind of good luck that leads to making beneficial discoveries by accident.
It’s what my mother calls ‘The Luck of the Prepared Mind.’

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I was reading an article on the Inquirer the other day that was talking about how the graphics chip maker Nvidia was responding to a spate of problems they’ve been having with some of their laptop chipsets.

The thrust of the article was that Nvidia is blaming everyone from the chip foundry to the companies that make products based on their chipsets and even end users for a problem with their chips that appears to be their fault.  The basic problem is that a number of their notebook chips are running very hot which leads to a greatly increased failure rate.  Some of their desktop parts may also have the same problem.

Now hot-running chips are nothing new in the computer industry.  One look at the aftermarket cooler industry shows that they’re very common.   The more transistors they pack in a single chip and the faster it runs the more heat it has to dissipate.  That’s why computers come with heatsinks and fans and all sorts of other cooling gear built-in.

The problem is that according to this article Nvidia does not appear to be accepting any of the responsibility for the issue itself.
That’s a big problem and it directly reflects on both you and I as freelancers.

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oDesk is a great place to get started as a freelance writer. I know- it’s where I got started.

What could be better than earning money while you develop your skills?

Unfortunately, there’s a flock of novice wannabes jumping in who can’t write well at all. They think commercial writing is a home business venture anyone with a computer and modem can do. If this describes your circumstances, I can assure you that you will make almost no money and become frustrated. But all of us start out flailing about a bit. Here’s how even the most basic beginner can develop into a decent, competent writer.
Write.
Writers write. That’s the old aphorism, but it’s still as true as ever. Pretend writers talk about writing, read about writing and maybe even dream about writing. But real writers write.

The difference is the one between planning a garden and planting (and caring for) an actual garden. Things happen outside of our wishes and beyond our control. The doing teaches what it means for me as an individual to be a writer. Anyone can sit and dream. I’m lazy, I understand. But it’s the act of writing, of getting your thoughts on paper, revising and rewording and shaping a piece so that it approximates whatever is happening in your head– that process can’t be replaced or skipped. Writers write.

If you aren’t yet good enough to write for money, write for free. There are sites begging for free content. Article mills and pay-per-click sites will take your practice prose while your writing muscles are developing. Write for your church or community newsletter. Write a blog. Learn the craft and learn something about yourself. The only thing you will know for certain before you write regularly is that writing regularly won’t be how you imagine it.

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The Fourth of July: Independence Day.

Among all the fireworks and barbecues as we celebrate the two-hundred-thirty-second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I’d like to draw your attention to another kind of independence:  Ours.

As well as the US National Independence, we should also take today to celebrate our personal independence …

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So, the other day I was looking though my interview invitations and was surprised to see one in web programming.

I’m a writer, not a web programmer, but I opened it anyway in case it was someone wanting content who just happened to cross-post a writing job under web programming because it was for the web and some people do do both.

The cover letter opened with an invitation to take part in an “investment opportunity in your country.”

Well that funny robot I inherited from my cousin started screaming “Danger Dave Robinson! Danger!”   Over the years I’ve learned to listen to the robot so I took another look.  What I saw was the opening to a classic scam.

The basic outline of the letter was that the writer was a financial consultant who had investors who wanted to invest in my country through me.  Last I heard that meant they wanted to have me deposit rubber checks for them and funnel the money to their agent over here.
So, what did I do?

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In the first part of this series, “Word of Wisdom,” I quotes Tom Petty songs and tied them in with the work of a freelancer. Now, I’m going to subject you to the same by quoting Bruce Lee.

My colleagues and I have started a writing movement called Musclemalism, and the philosophies of Bruce Lee resonate with the core concepts of Musclemalism. It’s starting to spread throughout the fiction world, and others are picking up the movement as well. We encourage people to do so because we believe that Musclemalism is a way of writing, a way of working, a way of fighting, and a way of life.

What is Musclemalism? For writing, it’s neither minimalism or maximalism. It is Jeet Kune Do of the written word. It takes the shortest path to the desired outcome. It cuts the fat away from your writing and leaves muscle. It defies the rigid standards of the old guard. One thing it is not, though, is a style.

Bruce Lee did the same things for martial arts. He saw where all of the forms and styles of martial arts were successful and where they failed, so he developed ideas and guidelines to fight better. Jeet Kune Do isn’t supposed to be a martial art in the traditional sense. It’s supposed to be a collection of ideas that help you adjust to your specific situation and react in a logical manner which utilizes your strengths.

The following is a taste of Musclemalism and how it can change your life:

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How well do you know yourself?

For example I’m a left-handed male in my mid-forties; I’m a Meyers-Briggs INTP, Astract-Sequential, Visual Learner who prefers compromise to conflict.

That all sounds really wonderful, but what does it mean?  To some people it doesn’t mean anything, and to others it means a lot.  I could also have thrown in that I’m a Libra, which would mean something to some people and not to others; or I could tell you I was born in the Year of the Rabbit.

All these descriptors have one thing in common:  me.

So what do all these things about me have to do with you?

Quite a lot actually.

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My friend and I were meditating over the greater questions in life, such as the meaning of llama fur, and he turned to me and asked, “So, is using oDesk an economically viable option for developing my career?” I turned to him and said, “My child, you are wise to consult me on these matters. To answer your question, you must travel into the mountains and contemplate this stone,” I said as I handed him a banana, “for seven years. After those years are completed, come back down, and you will know the answer.”

He’s up in the mountains right now. I don’t think he will figure out the answer by contemplating a banana–err, stone. However, that got him out of my hair for a while. Seriously–asking me questions like that while I’m thinking about something as awesome as llama fur. I had to get rid of him somehow.

However, it gave me a good idea for a post on here, so I’ll go ahead and tell you folks my thoughts.

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