I just wanted to let you know that you can see more of my work now on the news site Elites TV. It’s an interesting site which has been around for awhile but which as recently relaunched and is not starting to gain attention as a great place to get current news. There is news here on all types of different topics and it should be interesting to see how this develops.

My first two articles on the site are about:

• How the Recession is Changing Productivity. As you know, this is a topic that I’m really interested in right now so it’s something that I keep trying to learn more about. As I learn, I’m trying to share what I learn with others.
• How Easy It Is To Stop Snoring. I recently wrote about this issue over at HubPages and was surprised about just how easy it can be to quit this problem. I think that’s newsworthy, don’t you?

I’d love to know your thoughts on the news site and on my participation there!

Tags: blogging, kathryn vercillo, news, work, writing

I’ve been writing a whole lot lately about how hard it is to work from home. I’ve been thinking about productivity and how to make it better in the home office. I’ve been wondering if multi-tasking helps or hinders these goals. And I’ve been putting together tips for increasing home office productivity. All of these things are based on my own experiences working from home for so many years.

But the truth is that I don’t always do what I recommend that others should do. And yes, my productivity probably falters because of it. Some of the things that I do wrong when it comes to working from home:

• I turn on the TV at lunchtime. It’s supposed to be a quick distraction but usually I get sucked in and leave it on for several hours in the background while I try to do my work which tends to mean that I’m only half paying attention to what I need to be working on.
• I check my social networking sites and IM throughout the day. This means that I’m regularly getting distracted by non-work conversations during my work hours.
• I often work from bed. I don’t have a good work space in my house and I frequently spend hours working from my bed even though I don’t think this is healthy for the mind or body.

However, there’s a lot I do right which is why I can make things work as a full-time freelancers. Things I’ve gotten down include:

• Scheduling. I’ve learned to create a schedule that works for me and I’ve learned how to adapt that schedule as needed when other things come up.
• Setting boundaries. When I don’t want to be bothered during working hours I have no problem letting people know that.
• Getting up and dressed. Even though I work from bed a lot, I always get up first and shower and put on clothes that are nice and make the bed before getting back into it.

Learning to work well from home takes time. I’m getting there.

Tags: advice, business, freelance, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, productivity, small business, work, work from home, working for yourself, writing

Many people have told me that they would love to work from home but that they don’t think they could be productive there. It’s true; it’s really easy to get off task when you work from home. Your home life and work life tend to blend and you could easily find yourself watching TV when you’re supposed to be working. However, if you put a few simple things in place at your home office then you can have the benefits of working from home without the drawbacks.

To be productive when working from home you really need to make a commitment to doing this work. If you’re fully committed to the idea that you’ll work from home then you’ll be able to put an effective plan in place for being productive during your working hours at home. This plan includes when and where you will work and how you will separate that from your home life.

It’s not easy to figure out this plan. You will constantly be adjusting things (especially your schedule) to see what works so that you can be productive at home without feeling like you’re constantly tied to work. It’s true that this type of balancing act isn’t right for everyone. However, it’s great for some of us when we can figure out how to make it work for us!

Tags: business, employment, productivity, self-employed, tips, work

I’ve really been struggling lately with trying to figure out how to increase my happiness throughout the day. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not particularly unhappy. However, I have come to truly believe that the key to complete satisfaction in life is to maximize contentedness within every moment. It’s basically the idea of “being here now” and learning how to do that within the confines of a real (busy!) life.

One of the things that I’m wondering in relation to this is whether I need to stop multi-tasking. There are certainly pros and cons to multi-tasking. I’ve derived many benefits from multi-tasking in terms of being able to take on many jobs at once and to seamlessly integrate work life with my home life. I am a natural mutli-tasker and I feel more comfortable working this way than focusing on one task at a time.

However, I don’t think multi-tasking is conducive to my goal of trying to find true happiness in every moment. In order to “be here now”, you actually have to be present and fully focused on what you’re doing. You have to do things mindfully which means doing them with your full attention. Multi-tasking is the exact opposite of this.

I’m not really sure that I can give up multi-tasking all together. My brain tends to just keep trying to sort things out while I’m doing other things. And I don’t really know if quitting mutli-tasking is good for me in terms of productivity. But it’s something that I want to play around with more because I do think that true peace of mind only comes when you are focused on what is in front of you.

Tags: business, freelance, mulit-tasking, multitasking, productivity, work

One of the posts that I wrote about in the not too distant past on this blog was about serving drinks as a career. There are a lot of pros and cons to being a bartender but it’s definitely one job choice for a lot of people. Employment is a big issues for a lot of people right now and it’s discussed intelligently through the many different articles submitted to the Career and Internships blog carnival where my own post was featured.

The other articles that were included in this carnival were on different jobs, careers and job issues. These topics included job interview tricks and tips, looking for and finding a new job using today’s technology, working after retirement, working for love vs. money and the issue of boring employment. All quite important topics for the working world today I think.

What other topics do you wish would have been covered here? It seems that we’re talking a lot about how to get or keep jobs in today’s recession but are there other employment issues that are also pressing which aren’t being covered by your favorite blogs? Tell me, I’d love to know!

Tags: best blogs, blog carnival, blog roundup, blogging, blogs, Careers, diary of a smart chick, education, employment, information, kathryn vercillo, work

One of the things that you have to incorporate into your daily schedule when you work as a freelancer is the time to look for new freelance work. Although it’s a good idea to build up a set of steady clients so that you’re essentially working as a remote employee for just a few businesses, it is equally important to make sure that you’re continuously putting yourself out there to get new (and perhaps better) freelance jobs.

There are a few things that I’ve learned about finding work as a freelance writer that make the process of doing this simpler for me:

• It needs to be something that I do every day. This helps me stay abreast of the job opportunities that are out there so that I can apply to all of the ones that seem right for me.
• It should be done at the same time every day. That’s because it becomes part of a habitual schedule so you don’t have to think about when you’re going to fit it in. It’s just what you do every day like answer emails or update your social networking sites.
• It’s important to know where to look. I have a post up today listing ten places to look for freelance writing job leads for those people who are also working in this same industry.
• My resume must be kept up to date. As a freelancer, I usually rely on a web portfolio to show off my work but there are many potential clients who want a resume so it’s important to update mine regularly.
• The more you look, the better you get at looking. I can typically just glance at an ad now and easily tell whether it’s worth pursuing, whether or not to put a lot of effort into the application or if it’s a scam. Practice makes perfect so they say.

What have you learned about finding work as a freelancer? Any good tips or advice to share?

Tags: employment, freelance, freelance writing, job leads, work, writers, writing, writing work

I have held a dozen different jobs in my lifetime – maybe more. I’m always interested in trying new things and seeing what I like (or don’t like) firsthand. Before I had a college degree, I took on a lot of the kinds of jobs that you can get without an education. For example, I tried waitressing several times.

I didn’t like waitressing at all. I wasn’t good at it. My memory wasn’t great. I didn’t really serve people quickly or efficiently. It just wasn’t my thing. But there was one kind of waitressing that I did that worked for me for awhile. I worked as a cocktail waitress in a bowling alley.

That sounds funny now but at the time it was a really good job. It wasn’t as intense as serving drinks in a bar. The men who hit on me (and proposed to me) were relatively harmless so I never felt like I was being hassled or was facing any serious risks. Nobody got especially drunk but everyone was having a good time.

The fact that this went so well made me think for awhile that I might want to be a bartender at a place like that, somewhere laidback and easygoing. But there are a lot of pros and cons to being a bartender. There’s definitely the benefit of good money and decent part-time hours. But there are legal risks and social complications and other drawbacks that ultimately made me choose not to pursue that route.

Still, I can see bartending being fun in the right kind of setting. What do you think?

Tags: bartender, bartending, career choices, employment, jobs, pros and cons of bartending, waitressing, work

You know what I think is one of the smartest things that you can do for yourself emotionally? Learn to find support when you need it. We all need people to support our choices and decisions and actions so that we can feel confident in what we’re doing. Finding the right people to support each different aspect of our lives can be hard but learning to do it can make the difference between a tough life and a much easier one.

One of the areas of life that we need support in is our work. Another, for many of us, is our creativity. And for those of us who do freelance work such as freelance writing, those two things often go hand-in-hand. Our creative selves and our money-making selves are all tied up in one and there can be a lot of conflict around that. To be strong enough to resolve that conflict, we need support.

The smart freelance writer will figure out where to get that support. They will realize that it can come in many different forms and from many different people from the support of people who read what we write to the support of people who pay us for our work. Making sure that we know where it’s coming from and that we get enough of it can be one of the smartest things we do for our careers!

Tags: employment, freelance, freelance writing, people, Relationships, support, work, writing