Special Report: A Freelancer’s Helper

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A Freelancer’s Helper

A Special Report by Shannon L. Buck

In this special report, A Freelancer’s Helper, I will show you the value of having people to help you with every day tasks while you work. Each person will have different needs, and this report will help you to decide what help would be best for your circumstances.

* A Mother’s (or Father’s) Helper

* A Part-Time Housekeeper

* A Yard Worker

It will also help you to determine what your own needs are so that you can decide what services may be worth your hard-earned dollars.

This Special Report is available through: PDF Format

This Special Report is available for: $3.95

A Freelancer’s Helper

Thank You!

Shannon L. Buck

How to Live the Freelance Life

Special Report: Your Teen Can Help Your Freelance Career

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Your Teen Can Help Your Freelance Career

A Special Report By Shannon L. Buck

In my Special Report, Your Teen Can Help Your Freelance Career, you will see how it is possible  for your teenager to help you out while you are building your freelance career and how much, if anything, you should pay him or her for that help.

Teens can be a big help with:

* Their younger siblings.

* Keeping up the house.

* Your business tasks.

This Special Report is available through: PDF Format

This Special Report is available for: $3.95

Your Teen Can Help Your Freelance Career

Thank You!

Shannon L. Buck

How to Live the Freelance Life

Organize Your Home to Give Yourself More Time for Your Freelance Career

Writers want to write. Photographers want to take photographs. All freelancers want to do what they love, rather than spend all their time on household tasks.

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On February 1^st, I will be offering a Create a Pantry in 1 Month Challenge that will free up time for freelancers, thereby allowing them to spend more time on their favorite passion. The challenge will be taking place on another blog I own, Frugal Recipes: Spending Less to Eat Healthy. Please visit, and enjoy the challenge.

Once a pantry is created and organized, you will have extra time to spend furthering your career

This week, I will be spending my time writing for the Frugal Recipes blog. I am writing articles and creating the other aspects of the challenge, so I will not be making another post here. Next week will net you with more blog posts to read here.

I am very excited about the challenge, and considering the possibility of offering it as a work shop later in the year, so this is a freelancing task for me.

Have a great week!

Happy freelancing,

Shannon L. Buck

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• A New Challenge… Create and Organize and Pantry Space (frugalrecipes.wordpress.com)
• Special Report: Careers for Freelancer’s (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)
• Working and Writing (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)
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Bloggers, Provide Challenges to Your Readers

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Readers enjoy having something to do. Something that will allow them to join in on something. To become a part of the community. Or even to just accomplish something.

Currently, I am creating the 31 Day healthy Recipe Challenge over on the Frugal Recipes blog, while creating another challenge for the same blog. I am also working on a couple of challenges to use on this blog in the coming year.

Why not provide a challenge on your own blog or website. There are many options available for challenge topics. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• If you have a photography site, consider a challenge where your readers must move out of their comfort zone and take a nature photo each day for a month.

• A freelance writer may provide a challenge where their readers will spend a month creating an informational product to sell on their blog.

• A fiction author may choose a challenge where their readers will complete a book in a 3 to 6 month time period.

• A website creator may provide a challenge requiring followers to create their own site and flipping it within 2 weeks or a month.

As you can see, there are a variety of challenges that can be offered. Choose what you believe your readers will enjoy.

Shannon L. Buck

Special Report: Careers for Freelancer’s

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Careers for Freelancer’s

A Special Report By Shannon L. Buck

Are you interested in building a freelance business from home?

Are you interested in expanding upon the freelance business that you have already created?

Careers for Freelancers was written with you in mind. Take a journey into the freelance career base with this special report. Decide what careers interest you, buckle up, and enjoy the ride. There are many opportunities out there for each and every one of you. Which one(s) will you choose?

This Special Report is available through: PDF Format

This Special Report is available for: $3.95

Careers for Freelancer’s

Thank You!

Shannon L. Buck

How to Live the Freelance Life

New Ideas

I have so many ideas floating around in my head I don’t know what to do with them all. I have a running list (or, um, lists) of ideas for this writing business… and story lines and eBook ideas, etc. I never seem to have enough to accomplish things.

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Not that I am complaining, mind you. I am loving it. This means that I am still motivated to keep building my writing career.

Do you have ideas swimming around in your head? Ideas that will help your freelance career along? Get them down on paper and start working one of them. Once you have accomplished that task, move onto the next. Keep going like this, and see how much you can accomplish in the first quarter of the year.

Shannon L. Buck

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Working on Fiction

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The beauty of a freelance career is that we can write (or otherwise work on) what we want. I love to write short stories, and finished my first book of short stories in 2011. It is in the editing stages, then will likely be published as an eBook.

I am now working on my second collection of short stories, and am very excited to be doing so. I love that I can take a break from article writing when I want, and concentrate on something truly creative. Being able to do so helps me to stay motivated within the freelance career that I have chosen to build.

If you have not already done so, read my story The Haunted Dinner Party.

Shannon L. Buck

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The Haunted Dinner Party

I wrote The Haunted Dinner Party a few years back, and recently decided to publish it on Yahoo! Contributor Network. This is a story of two young people, invited to a dinner party scarier than any party they had ever attended.

Enjoy!

Shannon L. Buck

P.S. I added this to the sidebar for easy reference.

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eCourse: Organize Your Paperwork

Organize Your Paperwork

an eCourse by Shannon Buck

Are you wondering what information you should keep on file for your business?

How long to keep that information?

What your accountant will want to see?

How to store everything?

Then this eCourse is for you! Organize Your Paperwork is a 6 week eCourse that will help you to get all of those important papers organized and will explain how you should be storing your tax packets and your business records. The eCourse also covers such topics as file system choices and how to set them up, creating a filing schedule and storing bulk supplies for your business.

Format: PDF

Price: $11.95

Organize Your Paperwork

Thank You!

Shannon L. Buck

How to Live the Freelance Life

Use Your Holiday Memories

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On the 26th of December, I suggested that you record your holiday memories. Now I want to suggest that you use these writings as the base for your writing – at least for the next few days.

Why?

Because the memories are fresh in your mind. You can pull your writings from your recent memory, from your journal and photographs, from your emotions.

Write however you like. Articles. Short stories. Poems. Blog posts. Perhaps a book.

Just write, then save your work. You will use these writings later in the year, when blogging at the holidays, submitting to magazines and sites. You will already have the work done when others’ editorial calendars call for submissions.

Shannon L. Buck

Your Freelance Business Goals for 2012

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I hope you all had a happy holiday season, and welcome to 2012. It is a new year, begging for new goals from each of us. What will yours be.

In checking my goals from last year, I was impressed to find that I have accomplished a lot in my freelance career. I also noticed that there were things that no longer seemed to apply for my business. And there are things that I never got around to working on – these are the base for my new list of goals.

Last week, I asked you to perform the same task with your 2011 goals list. Did you have the opportunity to do this?

It is now time to add your new goals. Keep your list to business goals. Personal goals can be done separately.

Open your word processor and start a new document. Type Business Goals: 2012 at the top of the page, centered, then add your list of goals for the year. Some categories you will want to consider are:

• Financial
• Projects
• Places to Submit Work
• Places You Want to Apply to Freelance For
• Scheduling
• Organizing

… and the list goes on, dependent on your freelance career.

Save your document, and print a copy to hang in or near your work area. You will be able to refer to this list any time you are in a slump, and mark off goals as they are met.

Feel free to share your goals for this year in the comments below. I will be sharing mine with you soon.

Shannon L. Buck

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Writing Goals for 2012

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I love to write. Even though I am now working at the inn, I am sticking with this passion and continuing to build my writing business. This year I will be trying new things while building, but the following goals are the most important to me. Everything else would be like icing on the cake

1. Finish edits on my first book of short stories and start the publishing process.

2. Come up with a marketing/promotional plan for the first book of short stories.

3. Learn more about the marketing/promotional process.

4. Complete the first draft of a second book of short stories.

5. Work on ideas for a third book of short stories.

6. Build up my Examiner.com channels by adding more content and promoting each. They are all geared toward helping others: Bangor Single Mom, Bangor Easy Meals, Bangor Frugal Living.

7. Continue to update all blogs and add content to them regularly: Frugal Recipes, Living the Low-Income Life, How to Live the Freelance Life, The Fitness Journal.

8. Continue to build the writing business.

What goals do you have regarding your freelance career?

Enjoy your holiday and set some of your goals into motion this week. Regular posts will resume next week.

Shannon L. Buck

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eCourse: Organizing Your Work Area: When You Don’t Have An Office

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Organizing Your Work Area: When You Don’t Have An Office

An eCourse by Shannon L. Buck

The eCourse Organizing Your Work Area: When You Don’t Have An Office was specifically created for those freelancer’s who do not have their own space to work in. This is a 6 day course that will take you through the steps necessary for setting up your work space.

Learn how to:

* Choose and appropriate area for your office.

* Choose what will go into your office.

* Set up your office in an area with limited space.

* Choose and organize books and magazines for your business.

* Choose the supplies and materials that you will need to run your business successfully.

* Organize your supplies.

* Create a file system that works for you.

* Streamline your computer uses, as much as is possible.

* Add a personal touch to your office area.

* And more…

This eCourse is available through: PDF

This eCourse is available for: $11.95

Organizing Your Work Area: When You Don’t Have An Office

Thank You!

Shannon L. Buck

How to Live the Freelance Life

31 Day Healthy Recipe Challenge: A Great Opportunity for Freelancers and Everyone

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Welcome to the New Year! I can think of no better way to start a new year than with a challenge lasting the entire first month of the year. This year I would like to you to a challenge that I am running on my blog, Frugal Recipes: Spending Less to Eat Healthy.

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time sitting while working on my freelance career. I do not always eat the healthiest meals, either. One of my goals for the new year is to eat healthier.

I have been losing weight, slow as the process may seem, for a couple years, and am feeling good about my progress. I want to share some of the techniques that I am using. This challenge is one such technique.

NOTES:

• Each day prepare and consume at least one healthy recipe. More is better

• Speak with your doctor before beginning, and always follow his or her guidelines. You can change recipes to cater to your own needs.

• You do not have to use my recipes. You can use your own, or recipes from someone else.

• Read each days post whether you use the recipe for that day or not. Many, if not all, of the posts will provide you with nutritional information.

• If you want to live a truly healthy lifestyle, combine healthy eating with exercise.

• See my blog The Fitness Journal to follow my fitness journey. At my heaviest, I weighed 279 pounds. I have lost quite a bit thus far, and I have learned so much on this adventure.

• The recipes you use should also be as frugal as possible, in keeping in line with this blogs purpose.

The first recipe will be one for breakfast, so check it out before eating in the morning!

Enjoy the challenge!

Shannon

http://thefitnessjournal.wordpress.com

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Think About Your Freelance Goals, Past and Future

I prefer not to use the term resolutions, using instead goals. As freelancers, we have businesses that require at least minimal planning each year. Most of us go far and beyond minimal

It is time to begin thinking about the goals for our businesses. We need to consider financial and project goals, among others.

For the next few days, simply let your mind think about this task. Don’t worry about getting it down on paper at this point. Simply think about the goals you want to accomplish in 2012.

On the 1st, I will post about what to do with these thoughts.

It is also a good idea to look over your goals for 2011. What did you accomplish? What will hold over until 2012? (Add these to next years goals!) What no longer seems necessary?

Be proud and thankful for all that you have accomplished. Give yourself a pat on t

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he back. You deserve it. You have worked hard, and it is all paying off.

This will be the last post of 2012, except for the ad post on Saturday. Enjoy your New Years’ Eve celebration.

Shannon L. Buck

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• Special Report: A Freelancer’s Helper (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)

Record Your Holiday Memories

Now is the time to record your memories from the holiday season. All the school plays and concerts. The holiday parties. The evenings reading Christmas or Yule stories by the fire. Think about the events, the characters of the people involved, and the emotions of the season.

Start a journal, on the computer or in a book, to have at the ready year round. This will give you a place to write about important celebrations throughout the year.

In a later post (after the New Year), I will discuss how you can use this information… these reflections. For now, just get it all written down.

Shannon L. Buck

 

8 Writing Ideas for New Years Eve and New Years Day

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If you are still looking for writing ideas this month, why not concentrate on the New Year celebrations. Ideally, you will have already gotten to this but there is still time if you haven’t. Try planning your December topic articles for October or early November next year so that you do not feel rushed. (Or, if submitting to a publication, you will want to look at their editorial calendar.)

Writing Ideas

1. New Years Eve and New Years day recipes.

2. What to do with the leftovers from these celebrations.

3. Cocktail recipes for the big event.

4. How to make New Year’s resolutions.

5. A guide to preparing for a big New Year’s Eve celebration.

6. Decorating ideas for the home and/or the table.

7. Craft ideas for children and adults.

8. Fun activities for children and adults.

There are many other topics that can be written about for the New Year celebrations. The sky is the limit, really. Think about what people need to know, or what they might consider fun or newsworthy, and go with it.

Shannon

eCourse: Setting Up Your Business Blog

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Setting Up Your Business Blog

an eCourse by Shannon Buck

Do you want to put your business online?

Are you unsure about how to set up a business blog?

Then this 5 week eCourse is for you!

The eCourse Setting Up Your Business blog will help you to brainstorm and plan your career blog. You will learn about affiliate marketing, informational products, and how to set up a blog. The eCourse also covers such topics as newsletters, online filing systems and business accounts.

Format: PDF

Price: $10.95

Setting Up Your Business Blog

Thank you!

Shannon L. Buck

How to Live the Freelance Life

Taking a Break (of sorts) for the Holidays

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Happy Holidays to all of you!

Tomorrow is Yule, Christmas Eve and Christmas day are the 24th & 25th, and then the New year is upon us. During that time, you will see a decrease in the number of posts – don’t worry, the frequency will pick back up again after the holidays.

Right now, even freelancers can use a break to spend time with their families and friends. To relax. To regenerate and think about their goals for the coming year. Doing so will allow our brains to work through what we want to accomplish during 2012 for our freelance businesses. Taking this time to relax is good for our mental health. Everyone’s brain needs a break sometime.

So, enjoy the holidays. Watch for a few important posts. And think about your goals for the coming year.

Shannon L. Buck

 

Promoting Your Articles Using Digg

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Digg is a social website specifically for posting news type items. This site is very helpful in getting the word out about our articles and newsworthy blog posts.

I use my Digg account to promote many of the posts on this blog, placing them under the Business topic. Many of the posts from two of my other blogs are promoted under the Lifestyle topic:

Frugal Recipes: Spending Less to Eat Healthy

Living the Low-Income Life

Indeed, most of my writing end up in the Lifestyle section.

Digg.com also has other topics:

Entertainment

Gaming

Offbeat

Politics

Science

Sports

Technology

World News

Do you write on any of these topics? If so, then Digg may be a useful way to promote your articles. Check it out and see what you think.

If you have a Digg account, feel free to post a link to your profile here.

Shannon L. Buck