Tag: Self-Employment (Page 1 of 3)

From Self-Employment to Employment in WordPress

September 6, 2019 / Tom

Earlier this year, I talked about the move from Pressware to WebDevStudios but I didn’t go into much detail. However, last week, I had the ability to do a deep dive into what it’s like to work to work with an agency again.

But it’s more than just work.

Get Things Done: An Interview with iThemes

November 29, 2016 / Tom

Now and then, I’m asked how I get things done or what are the preferred methods I use.

It’s not as if I’m some authority on the subject – I’m not (and even those who tend to miss a few things, in my opinion). Admittedly, I like to talk about this kind of stuff, but that’s just it:

It’s about being able to manage responsibilities effectively.

Frankly, I think that a lot of the prescriptive strategies aren’t tailored for specific personalities. But that’s for another post.

But this whole “responsibility management” and ideas for how to get things done is not something that’ relegated to one person. There are people who I’ve met in and out of this industry who I try to talk with on a regular basis about the same type of things.

I want to be able to learn from them so I can shortcut making the same mistakes in my life and career.

Being More Efficient with Email

January 27, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Becoming more efficient with email is one of those things I think many of us aim to do. After all, we spend a significant chunk of our day working out of our inboxes, don’t we?

The ironic part of is we all complain about the amount of email we have in our inbox, but yet we’re also responsible for filling up other people’s inbox.

First, when it comes to the idea of inbox zero, I see that like a dog chasing its tail: Even if you’re to reach it, what then? The tail still exists, and more email comes in.

I’m being a bit facetious of course, but if I’m honest, I don’t worry about constantly being in a state of inbox zero. If I can reach it by the end of the work day, I’m good.

So, if your an Inbox user (and I am), how can we turn this into something that helps us be a bit more efficient with email?

An Interview on The Art of Value

December 23, 2015 / Tom

Earlier this year, I had the honor of being featured as a guest on The Art of Value podcast hosted by Kirk Bowman.

For those who haven’t heard of the show, Kirk attempts to answer the question:

How do you create happy customers and earn more money?

Of course, the goal isn’t all about money. It’s about building successful, sustainable businesses and making sure you aren’t underpricing yourself for the services and/or products you offer.

This is something I think many freelancers or those who are self-employed struggle with managing. At least, that’s something I’ve experienced in my own career (and something I still work to refine).

And that’s why I was happy to participate on the show.

Eisenhower: Is It Important or Is It Urgent?

November 24, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the most common struggles, frustrations, or challenges that you’re going to face when working for someone or for yourself is trying to decide how to best juggle your workload.

Granted, what’s considered a “workload” may vary from person-to-person, from job-to-job. But for the purposes of this post, I’ll reduce it to a simple definition that I use on a daily basis:

A workload is the amount of work that you set out to achieve each day.

How you go about doing this will vary on your personality types. Some people, like me, are extremely Type-A. We calendar, schedule, and note everything.

And if something comes along to disrupt that schedule we:

Get frustrated,
Try to make it work,
Or find a place during the week in which it will work.

But this only works for so long. The more work that comes your way, the more demands you have on your time.

This is a good problem to have.

But the method outlined above does not work. That is, as they say, “it doesn’t scale.” Sure, it may work at first and it may work for a little while. But when you’re faced with increasing demands on your time, you have to reprioritize what it is that you’re doing.

How do you go about doing that, though? I don’t care if you’re just starting in a career, if you’re employed, if you’re self-employed, if you’re freelancing, or whatever.

Inevitably, assuming that you find some sort of success, this isn’t going to work forever.

So what are we supposed to do?