• The fact that Cookie Monster is a vegetarian.
• That the Nation Action Against Obesity organization is pissed Michael Phelps is on the Frosted Flakes box.
• That people are pissed about Tropic Thunder because it’s ‘offensive to handicapped people.’
• That people make a big deal about Obama’s middle name.
• That people make a big deal about McCain’s age.
• That people are focusing on EVERYTHING BUT the issues in this election so far.
• Keith Olbermann. A lot. You wouldn’t believe how much.
• Micromanaging.

Freelance Switch wrote on this a while back, but this summer it’s been a goal of mine. Since my junior year of college, I’ve freelanced every long break in lieu of getting a ‘real’ (read: 9-5) job, but have stuck strictly to contract jobs and what amounted to (in most cases) one time shots. I’ve always had a bunch of side projects bouncing around in my head or ones I half-started but never capitalized on. I even created a couple of small Facebook apps that I never made an effort to make money with. This summer I launching several side projects in hopes that one succeeds and does well. I’ve also got an ace in the hole. But why put the time and effort into it?

Well, Freelance Switch also wrote about that a few days ago. The main reason for me is security. I want to know that if there are lulls in work, I am still making money. This summer I got a lot of leads that never amount to anything, and that was incredibly stressful. I am on my last leg of my college career and before expenses really start piling on, I want to invest some money in IRAs and other long term savings accounts but can’t do that if I’m not making the money. Of course, now with school starting I run the risk of any or all of those leads following up. And, to put it bluntly…

I want to be able to say no to work and still have cash flow. This year is going to be particularly busy and I won’t sacrifice school for some short-term cash. Knowing I don’t have to is a big comfort. Aside from the money though, it’s really cool to know I made something people use regularly; and it’s that satisfaction that tells me I got into the right industry.

So how would one go about doing this? Well, I have a couple of side projects I’ve launched: 101-Things and YouWouldntGetIt.Com, as well as one that will be relaunched soon. Apart from those, I am getting into hosting resale. Hosting goes hand-in-hand with web design, so it makes sense for me to offer both services to my clients. What you do is up to you, but as a freelancer it’s important that you do it.

My summer was an eye opener for this stuff, and it’s a real turning point in my career. By increasing revenue streams we are opening up a lot of doors for ourselves- we just need the will do to it. Feel free to plug your side projects (and maybe throw in a thought or two) in the comments.

New post here Friday.

For the time being, you can read super awesome, and new, blog Of Folly and Of Vice. Also, here is my Manga Avatar. Apparently they are all the rage:

I’m a little bit surprised I haven’t written about Amazon Mp3 before as I use it quite frequently. My main grip about services like iTunes, the Zune Marketplace, Napster, Ruckus, and nearly every other digital music outlet is that their songs are protected by some form of Digital Rights Management (DRM). You can only transfer them x number of times. You need a username and password to listen to them, or in the case of Ruckus, download for free (as a college student), but only listen to them on your computer. Yes, there was EMusic, but last time I checked their collect was not as diverse as I would have liked. But Amazon Mp3 changes all of that.

Amazon Mp3 offers a full line of music, underground and mainstream, completely DRM-free. It doesn’t expire, there isn’t a set number of transfers, play it on any Mp3 player as much as you’d like. This is the way digital music should be. If I have a CD, I can rip that onto my computer and do with it what I want. Why shouldn’t digital music be the same. But beyond that, their deals are amazing.

Amazon Mp3 offers two types of deals I use regularly (and use twitter to follow): Daily deals, where for a day they will sell a digital CD significantly cheaper (like $2 or 3) and Friday 5, where from Friday until Monday, they pick 5 albums to sell for $5 a pop. Plus, setup couldn’t be easier. Install their downloader, which links to your favorite music player, and when you download mp3s, they automatically get added to your music collection.

I really feel Amazon got digital music right. Freedom, easy of use, and low cost is everything I was looking for. If any online service will get me to stop buying CDs, it’s this one.

It was in October of last year that I went to a couple of my friends and mentioned to them that I wanted to start a t-shirt company. I felt I had a couple of good ideas and enough business know-how to do it. They were the creative ones that could be the personality of the company.

Then nothing happened for a while. We kept track of ideas, but nothing more than that. Finally in February, we put out our first product for Scranton’s widely celebrated Parade Day. We did pretty well, especially considering the competition. But then we all got busy and put pursuing anything further off. Until now.

We decided to finally launch a site with some flagship designs, which you can find here. The site has been what I’m calling ’soft launched,’ which I guess you can equate to a beta. But everything, as far as I know, is working. You can order shirts! Now it’s time to promote and generate enough cash to pursue some other designs we’ve come up with.

If you’d like to help out, you can find all kinds of stuff on our Promote page. And as always, any feedback is welcomed. Since this is probably the most involved site I’ve done, I’ll be doing a write up of the design/programming in a later post. For now, let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best!

On a final note, we also want our company to be the middleman between people who want shirts and people who print shirts. So if you want to have shirts done, please fill out this form. We will do the artwork, and take care of ordering. We can also work something out for distributing if you’d like. Just let us know!

Update:

Special thanks to Bring Back the Stache! and Consumer Whore for the links. Much Appreciated.

About a week and a half ago I decided I wanted to start a new blog with something fun to post daily. I got the idea from Sean Blanda, who started the website Consumer Whore, a blog with something new to buy every day. 101 Things is simply a website that posts some activity to do every day- whether you are looking to pick up a hobby or are just plain bored. There are also featured posts that will change weekly and take a little longer to do.

Hopefully this takes off- I think it could be a fun website where people can try new things and share their experiences. This week (and next week’s) featured post is about how to start a blog. Today’s daily is “Solve the Rubik’s Cube.” Check it out- and if you have any suggestions, you can make them here.

Even with a lull in work (up until yesterday things were pretty slow), I was doing work every day. I am launching a t-shirt company with my friends (more on that later). I am launching a new blog (announcement Friday). I came up with a new gimmick to make money. I’ve realized my mind is constantly going. Even on the days I say I’m not going to work, I do work. When I am away from my computer, it’s usually because I make work related trips. When I am in front of my computer, I work as much as I can.

Don’t get me wrong, I do take time to myself. I hang out with friends and go out once in a while. But the last time I took a full day off- no work at all - was…well I can’t even remember. Even when I went to see Rush a few weeks ago, I was discussing a website for my friend’s dad. I was calling my t-shirt printer to make sure things were set with our first batch of shirts. He said they were. They weren’t. And I was thinking about a lot of things related to work. But this realization brings me to a serious problem. I don’t know if I can take one full day off.

Even when I’m not working I’m scheming. I’m thinking of my next big thing, or how to get more clients. Or how to make money while doing little work. I’m constantly checking email. When I take a normal work break, it usually consists of surfing the net for new things.

So, why did I write this post? Oh I don’t know. To warn people thinking about freelancing to not be like me? Not really. Mostly to get it off my chest. I think I should make it a goal of mine to take one day a week to do no work. That will be a challenge though. You see to me, some work is also play.

The buzz today has been about Cuil, a new search engine that is challenging the current champion of the interwebs, Google. Pronounced “cool,” Cuil makes the claim to have indexed more pages than Google, and in a better way too! That’s quite the claim, and IMHO, Cuil needs to heat up a bit (sorry).

Even though I am pretty biased towards Google, if you’re going to challenge them, you better come up big. Cuil certainly does not. My first search was my name, Joe Casabona. The first five results that came up were comments I made on sites, or my name mentioned on another page. The next one was finally my personal site and Google’s first result, Casabona.Org. But as you can see by the pic on the right, they botched that too. The photo with the result, while it kinda sorta looks like me, is not me. I don’t even host that picture. In a Google Image Search of my name, that pic isn’t in the first three pages. What gives?

The design isn’t that great either. My eyes bounce back and forth between the columns of results, making it difficult to easily find what I’m looking for. And the site is pretty slow. I understand maybe you’re getting more traffic than you expected, but I’m holding you to the fact that you’re claiming to be better than Google.

Over all, I didn’t have a great experience with Cuil. Besides, since they are ‘changing search,’ what does that mean for my current sites and the way I Search Engine Optimize?

Dear Yankees,

If you acquire Barry Bonds, I will be very, very disappointed. And beyond pissed. I will lose a lot of respect for you as a franchise. In short, we’d be fighting. I’m still kind of pissed at you for slapping Torre in the face. So to Brian Cashman and the brothers Steinbrenner, do the right thing.

Your Fan,
Joe