FREELANCER RESOURCES

It's interesting how the blog world works. I just read this great post from NOUPE that lead me to the Design Cubicle, which sent me to the Freelance Switch Web site. Freelance Switch grabbed their idea for the list from the I Help You Blog.

However the final links and blogs come about, this link to "101 Essential Freelancing Resources" is a great source for any designer, especially students looking at getting into the freelance design market.

101 Essential Freelancing Resources

Section titles to the content include:

Timing
These are tools to help you time and track your work.

Invoicing
When you don’t invoice, you don’t get paid, so it literally pays to stay on top of your billing.

Project Management and Organization
These resources will help you stay organised and manage those projects and clients.

Stock Libraries
Templates, Photos, Flash files all to help make you look good.

Business Tools
Resources to help with the business of freelancing.

Legal
Because you have to protect yourself and your work.

Job Boards
A whole bunch of places to find jobs.

Web Tools
Tools to get your Web Presence Up and running.

Advertising and Marketing
A few ways to market and advertise yourself online.

Miscellaneous
All the many things we couldn’t fit anywhere else!

Check it out.

-Daniel

MORE JOB SEARCH SITES

Here is a list of job search sites for those looking for employment. Thanks to Graphic Fetish for this list. Contact me with other sites you may know of that I could list.

1. Freelance Switch

2. CoroFlot

3. Talk Freelance

4. Project for Hire

5. GURU

6. 99 Designs

7. Authentic Jobs

8. Smashing Jobs

9. Freelance Job Search

10. iFreelance

11. Freelance Jobs for All

12. Solo Gigs

13. All Freelance

14. No Agencies Please

15. Get a freelancer

16. E-Lance

17. Webmaster Talk

18. ODesk

19. Crowdspring

20. Freelance Writing 

-Daniel

BLOGGING and GOOGLE READER

WELCOME TO THE BLOGOSPHERE

It's taken me a while, but I'm finally surfing the blogosphere. I've limited myself to design and advertising-related blogs, but this hasn't stunted my options for great blogs in any way. Currently I'm subscribed to more than a dozen blogs that are pretty amazing for their content.

Graphic Fetish is the most recent blog I've subscribed to–within the last ten minutes. The "40+ Creative Postcards" posting is fantastic (postcards gathered from Behance Network). I found my way there from Noupe.com, which has quickly become one of my favorites for the number of great posts they send out daily.

Credit for my newbie entrance to the designo-blogo-sphere (can I coin that term?), goes to my partner, Jeannie, who has been using Google's Reader for quite some time and I finally listened to her when she told me "once again" that I should start using it.

GOOGLE READER

The Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading RSS feeds online or offline. This means that you can subscribe to blogs through an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed and have them sent (fed) directly to your personal reader regularly, allowing you to check the blogs at your leisure. If you aren't using GR yet, or another similar reader, then it's time to start looking into it.

Here are a few of my favorite design blogs for you to check out on your own:

• Graphic Fetish

• Noupe

• AdRants

• You the Designer

• I Love Typography

• Just Creative Design

• New at Pentagram

• Logo of the Day

That's enough for now, if I give you all of the blogs I'm currently reading, you'll be in the same trouble as I am, and most of your time will be spent checking out all of the cool and interesting items they all have available.

Used to be my time was spent on Deviant Art, now it's split between blogs and DA. It won't be long before we start reading about bloggers anonymous groups starting up in cities near you.

Let me know if there's a blog I should be subscribing to that you just can't stop reading.

-Daniel