We have all had it happen before. You are standing at a function, likely standing in a far off corner avoiding the one person you should meet and make contact with. You are prepared. You made sure to pack an extra stack of business cards in your pocket just for this occassion. However, there is a problem. Your feet are cemented to the floor….what happens now?

If you are like me, this is all too common. For several reasons, networking is just like the first day of school. Some people make instant contacts and friends, and the rest of us would rather gargle glass then make the first step. The important thing to remember is that you are not alone…think middle school dance. No one makes the first move. However, you can overcome this fear and become a networking guru in no time. Read the rest of this entry »

When you get one of those full time jobs that freelancers, i.e. creative consultants dread, your dreams of a freelance career get put in the back seat. Sometimes they even make it to the trunk. However, is it possible to have a career and freelance?

For the past several months I have juggled a full time career in the field that I freelance in. In this form, I get the best of both worlds with a steady paycheck creating websites and other materials while going home at night and working on other client’s projects. I feel as though I am freelancing all the time because I go to the office for one and home for the other, yet I am creating for someone at both jobs. The great thing about the full time job is that my creative freedom is very open. I would say more so than my freelance client’s. The only trouble is there aren’t enough hours in the day. Can you be happy with a steady paycheck and extra freelancing on the side? Or is it all too much at the end of they day?

Busy Busy

To be extra busy is to be my current life right now. Constantly creating and having a demand to find constant inspiration is sometimes overwhelming. I sit at home and work, and I sit at work and work all the while feeling the creative juices flow and stagger. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to run just a freelance business sans the steady paycheck and health benefits. Sometimes I dream of a wall with Multi-Designs, LLC painted above my office desk with an even bigger version outside the building I so luckily can afford. But then is this all wishful thinking? The steady pay and extra change isn’t bad when I can create for both worlds and in the end feel as though the reason I work has been successful each day.

What are some of your thoughts out there? For those that work both jobs or one or the other, what is your ideal dream job that you would like to have? Are you there yet?