April 9, 2011 1

Fuck You. Pay Me.

By in Business Etiquette, Career Development

I love a good swear. Those that know me personally know this best of all.

But today I have good reason to swear. I’m actually borrowing the F-word from another, more intelligent, more successful designer, @mike_FTW, who recently did a talk on having contracts in place as designers/developers. As a freelancer I fit the bill.

The phrase “Fuck You. Pay Me.” comes from The Goodfella’s — an excellent mafia flick — and is a blunt way of saying I don’t honestly give a fuck about why you can’t pay me; pay me.

An important part for me was when asked if it was time to bring in a lawyer, Mike replies, “It is time to bring in a lawyer when you decide to go from an Amateur Designer to a Professional Designer.” It’s that simple. I should probably mention then that I’m in the market for a young, great lawyer who deals with internet-based freelancers. If you know of one please leave a comment or contact me directly. If you are one, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Mike’s Top 6 Things You Need to Know About Contracts can shed light on some of the benefits of having a contract on place:

  1. Contracts protect both parties — should things go arye, a contract defines the steps to take to resolve the situation
  2. Don’t start work without a contract — Mike says, “starting work before signing a contract is like putting a condom on after taking a home pregnancy test.”
  3. Don’t blindly accept their terms — no need to explain this one. That’s your name on the dotted line; protect it
  4. Anticipate negotiation, but don’t back down on important stuff
  5. Lawyers talk to lawyers — You don’t talk to lawyers, your lawyer talks to lawyers. People hire lawyers to protect them. Mike says, “the minute they show theirs, I have to show mine.”
  6. Be specific and confident about money — I don’t think this was his 6th point since it has little to do with contracts, but they never showed the slide for #6, so… If you know the price of something, don’t be afraid to tell them the price

Mike iterates and re-iterates standing up for yourself — you are a business. Make sure contracts are in place so that when things go arye both parties understand how it is to be dealt with. You are in charge of your own business and you set the rules, so stand by them.

Here’s the video, enjoy! If you’re interested in reading more, Mike accompanied the talk with a post.

F*ck You. Pay Me. from SF CreativeMornings.

Sharing helps us so much!
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook

Tags: , , ,

April 2, 2011 1

2 Essential rules to a successful blog

By in Branding

Often people approach me wanting to redesign their website to begin attracting viewers to their blog or website — well it doesn’t exactly work like that.

Search Engine optimization campaigns aren’t the flick of a switch. A good SEO campaign should span no shorter than 6 months, and honestly, preferably a year. It involves a boatload of keyword research, finding out what people are searching and who is or isn’t competing with those terms. It involves link-building, which is actively tweeting and commenting on other blogs, linking to relevance on your blog, and staying communicative and connected to your community. It involves managing keywords in your pages and blog posts while ensuring fluid readability for your users (after all, your content must interest your viewers — without their interest no SEO campaign in the World’s going to help you.)

With that said there are some barebones basic, cardinal, essential habits that all successful blogs have and would be in your best interest to honour them wherever possible. I’m not going to bore you with a large list of them, I’m not even giving you three. I am providing you with two. Two that you can change today. Right now, even.

  1. First — You must have recent, updated, relevant content. This is easier to accomplish with most blogging software allowing you to Schedule your tweets/blog posts: use that functionality.

    Don’t post now, think about when your users will have a spare moment and schedule it to publish then, or twenty minutes before then. Now aim for your next blog post to be a week from then. Finished early? Schedule it and start working on the following weeks post. Giving yourself a buffer of a few days/week ensures that content continues to flow constantly to your viewers. This is crucial to keep them and search engines coming back. They will be expecting new content, therefore have a reason to show back up.

  2. Second — Follow a target. Don’t tweet about the Subway diet one day, then computer programming the next. Personal life issues in one post and cooking a succulent Turkey dinner the next. If you stick to an industry (I hate the word niche, but specialize in something) you will attract others looking for information in that industry. It’s not that hard, just figure out where you enjoy writing the most and make 2 or 3 out of 5 posts on that topic. Naturally do as I say, not as I do applies to this approach.

Change you blog a little at a time. Don’t try to become a pro blogger in a day. It doesn’t and can’t work like that. You need the content to back yourself up as a World class blogger so focus on changing something small now and in two weeks change something else. There’s no easy way through the blogging World, rely on persistence and planning.

Blog about cohesive topics and schedule them to publish at incremental dates in the future and you’re way ahead of the game. I’d be interested to hear if anyone’s had taken this advice and seen a change in their traffic… What do you think about my two suggestions, feel free to comment below!

Happy blogging!

Sharing helps us so much!
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook

Tags: , ,

March 28, 2011 1

When Beautiful Voice meets Beautiful Person

By in Inspiration

In late 2007 I was called by a good friend to come out and support an Open Mic night which was starting at the pizza place she worked. It was the first night, and friends were asked to come out and support. I did so, happily — I’m always there to help friends in need.

What I didn’t know was how thoroughly I would be blown away by her friend (at the time my acquaintance) and co-worker, Christina Maria. Christina and I had hung out on a few occasions; often the case in Vancouver where groups of friends mishmash into a melting pot of like-thinkers. Christina and I had always got along well… She is an incredibly cheerful person who seems to never stop smiling. Her outlook on life is positive and helpful. She is kind beyond necessity and an incredible person over-all.

When I arrived (early) there was a man playing a stylistically strange guitar picking song. Like most open mics, his voice was terrible but he was friendly and happy and the people there were clapping. A few others took to the stage, similarly decent without having a chance at moving up in the music world. It takes a lot of guts to get behind a microphone and project yourself as a musician, especially when you’re unpaid, unknown, and in close quarters with other strangeresque restaurante dwellers; for that I commend anyone who gets up at an open mic.

It came as a pleasant surprise then, that when Christina Maria took the stage she stole the show. It’s easy to love an attractive woman with a great big smile talking about how great life is… It serves as icing on the cake when she begins singing with an angel’s voice. She sat down and began singing my favourite song of hers (although old and hard to find online now) “I Don’t Speak Chinese”. Her brilliant voice was a surprise, I sat there with my jaw on the table listening as she played through a 5 song set. I showed up weekly from then on to hear Christina sing. She has inspired me to be a happier person and understand that setbacks are a good thing as well — they set the bar for success. I present to you, my good friend Christina Maria. I recommend you check out/purchase her albums as well.

What’d you think?

Sharing helps us so much!
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook

Tags: , , , ,

Older Posts
Newer Posts