Lifestyle & Time out

Coworking: How Can You Live Without It?

Leif Kendall | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Copywriter Leif Kendall gives away his secret for happy and successful freelancing: coworking. If you haven’t tried coworking, you’re missing out on a wealth of potential. As a freelancer it’s an ideal way to get out of the house and be in an office, without all the extra baggage that comes with office life. Leif explains why co-working works for him…

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Family friendly freelancing – tips and advice from a working mum

Linda Jones | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Agency director and mum of twins Linda Jones shares some expert tips on how to successfully balance the demands of a freelance career with those of a growing family.

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Freelancer Interviews – Rowan Richardson

Leif Kendall | Lifestyle & Time out

 

In the first of Freelance Advisor’s freelancer interviews we speak to web designer Rowan Richardson, and discover how she succeeds as a freelancer.

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Freelance Coworking: Funny video with a serious message

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

A great little video with a simple message.

“Sure you can speak to me… but if I’m wearing my headphones you should come back later”

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Go Freelance! Making a living doing the things you love

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out, Starting Out

 

As Confucius said… “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

As part of our new series on Making a Living Without a Job, productivity guru and professional blogger Leo Babauta explains that everyone can go freelance and earn a good living by doing the things they love to do.

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Overcoming overload: How to Avoid Feature Creep in Your Life

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out

 

There’s a concept in programming called “feature creep” — when a software developer continually adds one feature after another because “wouldn’t it be nice” and “why not” and “isn’t it cool” and “some users asked for it”. The end result is a bloated program that tries to do everything but ends up being not very good at any of it.

Leo Babauta suggests a few ideas for overcoming feature-creep in your life.

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Put a fire in your belly: overcome inertia, forget fear and get things done

Leif Kendall | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Is something holding you back? Are you contemplating change, but struggling to make the leap? I can’t tell you how to motivate yourself. But I can write about the things that help me get going…

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Freelance Technology: How do you find co-working places?

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

If you are lucky enough to own an iPhone 3Gs and you are wandering around town trying to find a place to do a spot of co-working then this funky Augmented Reality app for iPhone looks like an awesome solution.

thanks @stephenfry

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Freelance Poll: Do you use ‘I’ or ‘We’ when talking about your one-person business?

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Web freelancer and email marketing consultant Jon Aizlewood has posed an interesting question and twitter-poll today.

Click below to add to the poll and twitter a reply if you’d like to explain your reasons.

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Getting Things Done: How NOT to Multitask

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Single-tasking: getting more done by doing less.

Developing good, simple habits and maintaining a focused mind can not only help you stay sane but is way more efficient than multitasking.

Guest blogger and productivity-pro Leo Babauta tells why multitasking is bad and how we can avoid doing it.

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Home working: Spending your time wisely

Emma Jones | Lifestyle & Time out, Working from home

 

Recent research has show that home workers and freelancers are more productive than their 9-5, desk-bound colleagues.

Freelance Advisor and Home Business expert Emma Jones takes a quick, efficient look at how you can make the most of your time in the home office.

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Freelance Productivity: ‘Making It All Work’ - Book Review

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

At Freelance Advisor we are big fans of finding smarter ways to work and many of the team have adopted David Allen’s approach to productivity and knowledge work.

Allen’s latest book, Making It All Work, helps illuminate some of the key ideas behind GTD, fleshing out some of the assumptions of his previous work and adding a new, streamlined approach to getting the core ideas across. The book works both as a primer for beginners that updates and in my opinion surpasses the original book as ‘the one to read and also a handy deeper exploration of the core princples and the sticking points that even GTD ninjas will appreciate.

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Thank God I’m Freelance – #TGIFreelance

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Last Friday we experimented with the #TGIFreelance Twitter hashtag.

The idea is simple, just tell the world what you love most about freelancing and tag it #TGIFreelance

Remind yourself, and others, why it is you do (and love) what you do.

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TGIF: Thank God I’m Freelance!

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Clients, in real life

This video has been doing the rounds the last couple of days… it’s a very funny look at what clients can be like and shows just how ridiculous it would be in other industries. Well worth a watch.

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Freelance Productivity: Happiness is an empty inbox

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Email Zen: Clear Out Your Inbox

Our productivity guru Leo Babauta, pro-blogger and founder of the highly successful Zen Habits, gives us three top tips on managing email and keeping your mind, and your inbox, clean and clear.

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Freelance Productivity: Focusing on what is most important

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Purpose Your Day: Most Important Task (MIT)

Leo Babauta, creator of the highly successful Zen Habits blog shares a few tips on prioritising your freelance tasks and streamlining your workflow.

Getting things done… zen style.

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Freelance Life: Working away from home

Emma Jones | Lifestyle & Time out

 

New technology means it’s possible to work wherever you want. You’ve already decided you want to work for yourself and away from the traditional office, but now – with a few simple tips and tricks – you can enjoy unprecedented flexibility, and work almost anywhere, from your local coffee shop to the public park. Freelance Advisor and Home Working author and expert Emma Jones explains how.

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Freelance Lifestyle: Keeping fit and healthy at 50 plus

Dianne Bown-Wilson | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Being a freelancer is tough at any age. Ultimately you only have yourself to rely on so you can end up working long hours hunched over a desk or keyboard, taking in far more energy-boosting coffee and carbohydrates than you know is good for you. And that’s without smoking, stress, and alcohol. Over time all can be hugely punishing on the body and mind.

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Freelance Coach: Personality profiling and freelancing

Daryl Close | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Do you know the critical personality and behavioural traits that you need to exhibit in order to be a successful freelancer?

You might spend a lot of time and energy working on your freelancing business but achieve little because you are not focusing on the key performance drivers. I’ve decided to improve your chances of becoming a [...]

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TGIF: Thank God I’m Freelance!

Leif Kendall | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Have you ever sat in a meeting about meetings, or a meeting to discuss an agenda, or a meeting to discuss the formation of a committee, or a meeting to discuss how the sales department should complete the new business acquisition form before giving it to the marketing department, and asked your aching brain: is [...]

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Freelance Coaching: SWOT yourself to success

Dianne Bown-Wilson | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Part of our ongoing Freelance Coaching series, author and trainer Dianne Bown-Wilson offers a simple tool for analysing yourself as a freelancer and the opportunities and threats to you and your business.

If your decision-making could do with a bit of a tune-up or you are facing new opportunities or an uncertain future then this simple technique can offer you insight into where your strengths lie and what needs your attention.

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Freelance Hacks: 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits rises at 4:30 a.m every day. He’s clearly insane. But before we roll over and pull the covers over our heads… lets hear some of the benefits and, if it sounds good to you, how you can make it a lasting, productive habit 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It Now, [...]

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Freelance Hacks: Do less and get more done

Leo Babauta | Lifestyle & Time out

 

As a freelancer with multiple clients, multiple deadlines and multiple todo lists it can be hard to know what to focus on next – so rather than choose we often end up doing two, or more, things at once. As part of a series of posts on Getting Things Done for Freelancers Leo Babauta of [...]

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Home office: One size doesn’t fit all

Jo Blood | Lifestyle & Time out, Working from home

 

It’s no fun being average… but at least your desk and workstation have been designed with you in mind. If you’re above-average height you will know that it’s not quite so easy. Posture professional Jo Blood gives tall guys and gals a few hints on how to make their working environment work for them. Tall tales: [...]

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Freelancing News: Freelancers urged to take Union survey

Kasey Brunt | Lifestyle & Time out, News

 

Media freelancers are being urged to take a wellbeing survey from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The NUJ survey aims to assess the well-being of freelance journalists based in the UK. Those who take part in the online survey will be asked questions about their work, and how their job affects their social life and [...]

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Freelance Advice: Portfolio Working and how to go about it

Dianne Bown-Wilson | Lifestyle & Time out

 

In part one of this series consultant, coach and trainer Dianne Bown-Wilson explored the advantages of portfolio working. Today she helps us identify the tools we’ll need to put it into practice. Portfolio career: How to Designing a Portfolio Career comes down to achieving an appropriate and desirable balance in your life between need and want. Ultimately [...]

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Freelance Advice: Make the most of your office chair

Jo Blood | Lifestyle & Time out

 

When working in a client’s office why is it the freelancers and contractors who always get the bum deal? Are you fed up with always being allocated the worst chair in the office? Our ergonomic expert Jo Blood gives us a practical guide to promoting good posture and making the most of your office chair. A [...]

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Working from home: 17 secrets for success

Leif Kendall | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Ah… the life of a freelancer… feet up, TV on, sitting around in your dressing gown and your clients are none the wiser. But is this really the best way to approach your freelance and contracting work? Freelance Advisor and Web Marketing Consultant Leif Kendall asked the freelancers on the Brighton New Media list what [...]

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Tools for Time boxing

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Mark Kirby’s piece on Time-Boxing for Freelancers this week got me thinking about all the time I could waste trying to find the perfect tools for the job. The irony of this is not lost on anyone I’m sure so, rather than waste unnecessary time on “productivity p0rn”, I thought I’d take Mark’s advice to [...]

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Thinking inside the box: A method for focusing on freelance tasks

Mark Kirby | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Getting things done throughout the day is what keeps the contracts and cash coming in. But how do we know which tasks we should be working on? And for how long? Freelance Advisor’s life-hacks guru Mark Kirby offers a smart solution to planning freelance work. In this post I’m going to focus on a simple technique [...]

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Freelance co-working, USA style

Darren Fell | Lifestyle & Time out

 

In this second article from the USA, Freelance Advisor founder and serial entrepreneur Darren Fell gets the low-down on the American co-working scene and some advice about the pitfalls of freelancer café culture. Wanting to continue the debate on the merits of co-working, I descend on one of the very first co-working establishments – the San [...]

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Adding exercise to your daily routine

Helen Wilkinson | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Professional Personal Trainer and Massage Therapist Helen Wilkinson is on a mission to get us work-from-home types up off our butts and out there exercising. If the thought of getting out of your comfy swivel chair fills you with dread then read on… she’s got a few ides that might inspire you.

Kick start your exercise [...]

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Plugging the RSS time-sink

Mark Kirby | Lifestyle & Time out

 

RSS feeds can be an easy way of saving time – subscribe to your favourite sites feeds and you’ll always know when they’ve been updated without having to check them individually. I’ll explain a great way of reading your feeds using the online Google Reader which ensures you read the most important articles whilst saving [...]

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Using exercise to unwind

Helen Wilkinson | Lifestyle & Time out

 

We all lead busy lives. Work, family life, socialising, work!

I repeat work, because for many people this is their main focus and even when they are not physically at work they are still there mentally.

At the pub, after leaving the office, what is the main topic of conversation? Work perhaps? When you get home, [...]

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Where’s your creative space?

Rosie Sherry | Lifestyle & Time out, Starting Out

 

Think freelance. Think freedom. Think about the 1 minute commute from your bed. Think working in your pyjamas.

Think it’s perfect?

Freelancing is often related to an improved lifestyle and work-life balance. Though the opposite often occurs. In today’s 24/7, always-connected world it’s all too easy to lock yourself away and lose track of what [...]

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Setting a real-life goal – 10 Top Training Tips for a successful Marathon!

Helen Wilkinson | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Fancy setting a real-life goal? Something that you will be so pleased about for years to come if you actually go and do it. Could it be as daring as climbing Mount Everest or possibly building a school in Africa? How about something a little closer to home that so many people enter into, do [...]

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A stress free way to manage all your chores

Mark Kirby | Lifestyle & Time out

 

In my last post I explained how to use the management tool Remember the Milk and how its important to write down everything you need to do. In this post I’m going to explain how you can take things further, and programme into your routine regular tasks which ensure mundane but essential stuff like cleaning [...]

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23+ ways to overcome insomnia

Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Us freelancers are prone to work overload! I have phases when my mind is like the inside of a very full washing machine on at full tilt. Or I have a worry that won’t go away and I fret at it like a dog with a bone. Result? Insomnia!

That maelstrom of tossing and turning, [...]

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A holiday for your stressed mind?

Darren Fell | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Stressed, clients permanently on your case and a to-do list as long as the M1? It can happen to all of us, but it’s all too easy to get to the point where you literally do not know which task to do next, as each and every one is screaming “I’m a critical important task….Do [...]

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Life / Work Balance? The new lifestyle section launches…

Darren Fell | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Ok, so you’ve got your freedom and work for yourself but are you starting to find it’s all work and no play?

Increasingly and particularly for freelancers and contractors projects often exceed initial expectations, or the drought of the early years has instilled a ‘grab it while you can’ mentality and there is simply too much [...]

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How to remember everything you need to do with Remember The Milk

Mark Kirby | Lifestyle & Time out

 

In my first post I introduced you to the web application remember the milk (RTM) and to David Allen’s GTD methodology.

In this post I will explain the most basic principle of GTD – write everything down so you don’t forget stuff – and how to do that efficiently using Remember the Milk.

I will also [...]

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Podcast #5: Five things you always wanted to ask your accountant – part 1

Andy White | Lifestyle & Time out, Podcast

 

Part one of an interview with Steve Crouch of SRC Chartered Accountants. Steve answers questions on such things as salaries, dividends, section 660, IR35 and VAT.

Topics covered:

Limited company verses sole trader; Taking a small salary with big dividends; Section 660 – profit share between spouses; [...]

 
icon for podpress  #5: Five things you always wanted to ask your accountant - part 1 [19:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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Managing your Time

Mark Kirby | Lifestyle & Time out

 

Our resident time-management guru Mark Kirby starts the first of his regular columns with hints and tips on ways to better manage your time. The techniques Mark uses have enabled him to achieve far more in the week than he ever thought possible, and enabled him to feel more relaxed when not working…

If [...]

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