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Posts Tagged ‘freelance work’

Working on Saturday

Posted in Blog, tagged , , on February 4, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Yikes! I’m working on a Saturday. Working on a Saturday is something I haven’t done since my part-time college job at Abercrombie and Fitch. Looking back now, I can’t believe I worked there and more importantly I can’t believe how much money I spent on clothes there; especially since they are clothes I could never wear now! Thank goodness for selling them all on eBay. I’m still slightly behind on my work from taking the beginning of the week off to ski and I seem to be adding to my workload. Turns out recent pitches to some magazines have been a success.

I’m hoping to get some work done quickly so that I can enjoy the rest of my day! A college basketball game. I’m not big on college hoops (or basketball for that matter), but Groupon had a deal that way too good to pass up for a night of inexpensive entertainment. My Groupon addiction continues to grow.

For $10: one ticket, one t-shirt, one Pepsi and one hot dog

Go Dukes! (Okay, just for the night. I’m a Pitt girl!)

 

Questions For You:

What’s the worst part-time job you’ve ever held?

Are you doing anything exciting this weekend?

Of Possible Interest:

FitSugar’s Beer Breakdown

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chips

Head Injuries Take Center Stage at NHL All-Star Game (from yours truly!)

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Finding Work

Posted in Freelance Journalism, tagged , , , , , on January 25, 2012 | 4 Comments »

Good morning! Yesterday’s run was my longest one since surgery and I am definitely feeling it. Although, I’m feeling it in my hamstrings with absolutely zero pain in these wonderful feet of mine (I’ve had surgery on both in the past year and a half). I guess I will be resorting to my favorite piece of paper in the world…my PT exercises. I should probably just have these exercises memorized by now, but I don’t!

I went to go get started on What I Ate Wednesday until I realized I had absolutely no pictures of anything I’ve eaten recently, so I’m thinking we will be skipping that one this week. Upon a few comments and requests, I’ve had individuals ask me where I find my freelance work.

The first thing I did was create a resume specific to freelance writing (I currently have two resumes- one for when I look for freelance work and the other for when I get the urge to apply for a 9-5 job). Be sure to make the objective of your resume specific to freelance writing. For me, a majority of my writing is in health/fitness/nutrition, which coincides great with the 2nd master’s degree I am almost finished with (M.S. in Exercise Science and Health Promotion).

Now that you have a fancy, freelance-specific resume, where do you send it? You have some options.

  • Pitch your favorite magazines (national or local) or online publications. Just a warning, you may send out a lot of pitches and never hear anything back. Just another warning, start local or online if you are new to the industry. Build up your clips before pitching national magazines.
  • Use Craigslist. I’ve found a number of local freelance writing jobs on Craigslist. The best part about local work is that you can actually meet with your client face-to-face.
  • Try online job boards specifically designed for freelancing. Freelancewritinggigs.com, ProBlogger, BloggingPro, JournalismJobs.com all have job listings for freelance/part-time/full-time writing/editing gigs. Again, you may do a lot of applying with few responses, but honestly that is just the name of the game.
  • Consider a site like Elance.com. Warning: many of the employers on this site are looking to get dirt cheap work as a result they hire individuals from 3rd world countries to completed work at a rate that wouldn’t even feed an American at a fast food restaurant. If you are willing to do some searching, you can find some decent paying jobs. My advice to you is to work with North American employers only. I’ve found gigs that pay $50/hr and even one that landed my $500 for an hours work (that was extremely rare, so don’t get too excited!).
  • Include a hire me page on your blog (although, I’m still waiting for this to work for me!).

Once you start writing for one company, chances are they will turn to you again if they enjoy your work. They may even refer you to friends, who own other businesses. If not, you’ll start developing a collection of writing samples that can be used to secure future freelance journalism opportunities.

Once you land a freelance gig, make sure to sign a contract. This way you won’t have to worry about a client disappearing after you hand over the completed work. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a portion of your payment up front.

Happy writing! :)

 

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Back to the Daily Grind

Posted in Blog, Fitness Tips, Inspiration, tagged , , , , on January 3, 2012 | 3 Comments »

January 3, 2012 is day one of getting myself back into pre-injury shape. It’s been an interesting 2 years and 10 months of injuries, surgeries, rehab, injections, crutches and plenty of fun (sarcasm), but I’m ready to get started.

Pinned Image I think this post on Pinterest pretty much says it all! I’m going for slow, but steady progress.

This morning’s workout:

Pinned Image

I’m finding Pinterest to be great for quick workouts and since I’m highly addicted to Pinterest, I might as well make my time spent on their worthwhile. This cram workout is great; especially since I have a lot of work to do today. The holidays tended to be an extremely slow time for me work-wise. Now that the holidays are over, it’s time get my butt back into gear.

Today will be filled with plenty of writing about nutrition, fitness and marketing techniques along with attempting to put together a a ton of PR/Marketing materials for new classes coming up at the gym I’ve been doing part-time PR/Marketing for. ‘Tis the season for a crowded gym!

My other goal for today is to look up 5k’s in the Pittsburgh area in 2012. I’m looking for something meaningful to run. If you live in the Pittsburgh area and are a runner, I am very much open to suggestions for fun and/or meaningful races that are great for a beginner!

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Party Wrap-Up

Posted in Fitness Ideas, Food, tagged , , , , on December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »

I finally found the cord to my camera. However, I’ve decided to only post a picture of my food (for those of you following me regularly and want to see some ugly sweaters click here, you know enough about me that you can feel free to friend me on Facebook for a look at my party pictures.) I have some friends with jobs where pictures of them should not be spread all over the internet, so out of respect for them and their jobs I’ve decided against it (doctors and teachers probably don’t need pictures of them spread everywhere!)

However, here is my food spread:

a tray of chicken nuggets was still in the oven at the time!

We had pepperoni bread, spinach and artichoke dip, hummus, chips and salsa, a shrimp ring, chicken nuggests, mocha phyllo cups, chocolcate mousse and plenty of Christmas cookies. As far as alcohol goes, my entire bottle of 3 Olives Cake went. The hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps was not as popular.

For a workout this morning, I borrowed this workout from Peanut Butter Fingers…she always has great circuits! Reading blogs is also a great way to find some new workouts!

Now for the mission for the rest of the day: get all of my freelance projects done and enjoy a four-day weekend! The only time I plan on touching my computer is for my blog, which never really seems like work to me! Now, I need to try to get in-the-zone.

Questions for the day:

Where do you look for new workouts?

What do you do to get in-the-zone when working, working out, etc..?

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Freelance or Real Job?

Posted in Blog, Fitness Ideas, Inspiration, tagged , , , , , on November 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I’ve been torn for a while on whether or not I want to continue with the freelance work and have my freedom or if I want to rejoin the 9-5 world with what everyone else terms a “real job.” My current job, that many people tend to view as playing on a computer all day and having fun (which in one aspect is true. I love the work I do and for the most part it’s always fun!).  I work hard, I have multiple clients and I have a paycheck. In my opinion, I have a real job. I go on interviews from time-to-time, only to find out I’d be cutting my salary in half if I took an office job. What would I be gaining if I took a full-time job with a company? Benefits (paying benefits out of my pocket currently is no fun), paid time off (freelance world you don’t work, you don’t get paid) and co-workers who don’t live across the country. Another added bonus that may seem silly is the ability to wear my business casual clothes again (I’m currently typing this is plaid pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt from high school).  The benefits of freelance work are obvious – flexibility, no rush hour traffic, the ability to be my own boss and I’m essentially in control of my income.

While researching a freelance project, I came across an article on FitSugar entitled The Dangerous Effects of Sitting at Your Desk. This article got me thinking. While I don’t have an office or a cubicle, I essential have a desk job. Although my desk can be virtually anywhere. Sometimes it’s my desk, my bed, my couch or even my dining room table.

Here’s what I do to combat my “desk job”:

  • I brainstorm while walking around. If I’ve got a little writer’s block, pop my headphones in and wander (or dance) around my house. Ideas come to me while listening to the strangest songs!
  • I split my day up. If I have errands to run, I’ll work in the morning, run errands and then sit back down to work.
  • Crunches while listening to interview transcripts to get an idea of where a client wants to go with a project.
  • I walk around my house during conference calls.
  • Eat lunch standing up.
What I want to try:
  • Replacing my desk chair with an exercise ball.

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