Guest Post by Lamer Cook

Working as a freelancer is a fantastic decision in our current era, and the value of freelance work seems to be on the rise. There’s a few clear reasons why freelancing skills can be better than many career options for millions of people, and many employers could even learn a thing or two from all this.

Reason One: Build an Immaculate Portfolio or Start a Business

Most employers these days are looking for individuals that already have experience. This creates a kind of “dead zone” for entry-level workers with marketable skills. They want to gain experience with the job, but they can’t get the job to gain experience. It’s an unfortunate catch-22, and contrary to popular belief, a college degree does not replace the desire for hands-on experience in the workplace. Businesses do not want to pay to train people any more than they have to, and this attitude is creating a shortage of trained individuals.

Read On…

I like to share some of my work with you, in case you feel you don’t get enough of me on my own sites. I’ve been busy writing my way across the web, with often humorous results!

• I had a lot of fun writing this post - Writing Tips from Blackbeard the Pirate - for the Men with Pens blog, which is one of the most popular writing blogs online. I had a lot of positive feedback about my comparison of the writing process with the notorious pirate. Please have a read and let me know if you agree!
• Marketing Creativity is a site run by Lisa Jacobs, an amazing woman who’s made a full-time career out of her Etsy shop – Energy Shop Jewelry. She uses her blog to offer other online handmade sellers advice on business and creativity. Lisa invited me to contribute some articles to her site, and I jumped at the chance to talk about one of my favorite things – creativity in business. My most recent article, Soothing Troubled Waters: Dealing with Unhappy Customers and Negative Feedback, is up now, and is timely for the Christmas season, where mistakes can be made and postage delays can leave customers feeling brassed off.
• And, if you like to keep up with the latest blogging tips, you might have seen my recent Problogger article, 40 Cool Things to Do With Your Post AFTER You Hit Publish. I love writing list articles like this one because the format forces you to get creative with your list items. This article has over 40 comments, and was retweeted more than 500 times, so it seems my ideas resonated with the blogosphere!
• The Disabled Shop is one of my oldest blogging clients, and as I live with a disability myself, the subject matter and audience are very close to my heart. Some of my favorite recent posts include Christmas Gift Ideas: Children’s Books About Disability, and Top Ten UK Disability Blogs. The last article was shared more than 100 times, which is big numbers in a small niche like this.
• And, lastly, over on Empty Easel, I put on my illustrator/artist hat, and write about 6 Powerful New Years Art Resolutions, and well as 10 Ways to Increase Your Christmas Art Sales this Holiday Season.

So there you have it – plenty of reading to occupy you for the rest of the afternoon! Now, you tell me, what have you been writing and reading online lately?

Does your blog need a little rock-star attitude? If you’re looking for a professional ghost-blogger, check out my work in my blogging portfolio, and contact me on steff@grymmandepic.com to discuss your needs. Or you could join the Grymm & Epic Gazette for a fortnightly dose of business tips, special deals on writing services, and general silliness.

It’s a lazy, sunny Sunday here in New Zealand. My husband and I have just purchased a 4 acre lifestyle block – eeee! – and it is sucking away every moment of free time we have right now. It’s wonderful to be spending so much time outside, doing physical labour, feeling the satisfaction of dirt under your nails and a sun on your arms. I haven’t had such restful sleep in years! We have a lot of work ahead of us before we can even begin to build our dream home, but we’re excited about building our future in this place.

Since it’s a lazy Sunday, and you might be spending the day thinking about your business and catching up on your Internet reading, I thought I’d link you up to some of my most recent articles for writers and small businesses around the web:

Read On…

This is a guest post by Emily Helms, an incredibly talented, intelligent and compassionate writer, bookworm and creative copywriter (she’s humble too, but trust me, this girl has the “brain smarts”.)

If you’re a creative biz owner who is just starting out, I’m willing to bet that the money isn’t rolling in the door yet. In that case, teaching may be a great way to earn some extra cash while honing your skills.

I’ve taught for almost two years in three different settings: out of my home, out of a community arts school, and most recently, out of a teaching studio at my local music store.

In this post, I’ll go over some advantages and disadvantages of teaching to help you decide whether it’d be a good addition to your artist’s bag of tools. I’ll also go over some of the things you’ll need to consider before taking on your first victim…er, student.

Read On…

Here on Grymm & Epic, I talk mostly about business – but I’m a true believer that you are happiest when your business – what you accomplish in life – is a reflection of the person you are inside, and when you’re able to reach out and help a group of people who you identify with. In life, everything we do comes back to the basic truth that human beings are inherently gentle and kind.

I wrote about this, and in particular, about the kindness of MY people – the metalheads – over on Amanda Oak’s amazing blog – Kind over Matter. This post – The Kindness of Metalheads – was published while I was away, but I’d love it if you wanted to go and have a look at it and maybe leave a comment over there, or here, or on your own blog, and let me know what you think.

And, you should also check out the rest of the Kind Over Matter blog – a world of inspiration for artists just like you who believe that the best work is that which brings kindness to others. I especially love this recent post by Dyamond Robinson-Patlyek called Fight Fire with Love.

Also, yay, I’m back!

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