Networking: a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest (Dictionary.Com)
BeLink’d began with a network. Some people knew that I already managed a site – it’s not in existence anymore, but it surrounded my writing and graphics. But it wasn’t until I began networking that I found my own calling: to create web sites. Read more »
In my last post, I stated that to be successful, a person has to be interesting as well as take an interest. I explained very briefly a few ways in which this could be accomplished – namely, reading and getting out there. But how does this make a person successful?
First, let’s assess our definition of success.
What is success?
You might say that it’s being a big CEO. It’s being at the top of the pyramind in your field – the big cheese, the big guy with cars and money and a trophy wife. Or maybe success to you is being able to retire and live in the tropics. Is that what you feel will make you happy?
Certainly, I’d love to be able to retire and live in the tropics! However, I feel that that’s more something that comes after success. As for the other statement, have you ever heard the statement ‘money doesn’t buy happiness’? Unfortunately, it doesn’t. It might be able to give you more perks in life, but I feel that many people fall into the pitfall of money somehow purchasing their happiness for them.
Step one. Take a deep breath. Read more »
One of the most impressionable lessons I was taught occured while I was in middle school. I remember that they had us read a book about personal development, and followed it up with a lecture based upon what we had read. The text itself I found interesting; I don’t remember the name of the book, but it was about a personal development coach (essentially) who had gained fortune through recycling tires to use as a safer surface on playgrounds, and also had a fishing show. The book went on to explain networking tips, and how networking is important. Read more »
As some know, I always tried to help out where I could at LiveJournal where I could. I even took an official design and coded it into HTML/CSS for them (which was perhaps a highlight of my summer). I also volunteered (and still do, to a point) as a support volunteer for LiveJournal – helping users do things with their account, such as confirm their email address, debug their CSS, et cetera. It was definitely a highlight for me, and I greatly enjoyed it.
Then, LiveJournal was sold yet again, and many of the friends I had made in their San Francisco office were summarily laid off. I do believe I started stepping away from LiveJournal at this time, as I suppose I sensed that things were taking a turn. I worried about the blog. Read more »
Something designers have to encounter at one point or another are the job boards. One of the easiest ways, I’ve found, to find jobs is through these job boards – namely, by adding their feeds to Google Reader and responding to ads as they show up.
One of the things I’ve found most frustrating lately are the amounts of job boards that there are, and that many of my clients invite me to make an account on whatever job board they have. This, to me, feels low – it is not only taking the users of one job board to pull them onto another, but means that I have to pay for yet another service. And mind you – work has been sparse and far apart. I know that the economy has impacted my own business of late, and I honestly do not appreciate being spammed with offers to join yet another job board that I’m going to have to pay X amount of dollars for.
So, I’ve compiled a list of the job services I use, and my general impression of them. Read more »
