If you’re a frequent user of Netflix or Amazon, then you’re familiar with how they use what they know about you to tailor their platform to your tastes. Personalization is an effective marketing technique. It makes you a more engaged customer, and more likely to get out your wallet. But you don’t have a team of […]
Continue readingI’m writing this using Siri’s dictation feature on my iPhone. This new method of writing first draft has been a game changer for me. It’s more accurate and sophisticated than I was expecting. Once I got used to the cadence(Saying “Period. New line.” and stopping every 30 seconds because due to technical limitations ), it’s starting […]
Continue readingAfter a second full-time stint, I’ve decided to seek full-time employment opportunities. I’ve had a few people ask me why I’ve made this switch, so here’s my reason why. First, to clarify: I don’t mean to put freelancing as a profession or those who make that career choice on blast. I have plenty of friends […]
Continue readingMost creatives freelance at some point. Either as extra nights-and-weekends work, filling gaps between jobs, or building your own business. I advocate for learning the basics of doing client work. It gives you immutable job security. If you know how to find clients and profitable work, you’re never unemployed. The ability to fend for yourself provides freedom. At some point, you’ll face […]
Continue readingWhen surgery was invented, the job title “surgeon” came with no modifiers. It didn’t matter what needed to come off or go in, you could see the same person. As medicine advanced, the job splintered. More knowledge meant increased complexity which necessitated specialization. Soon you would see one person for your war wounds and a […]
Continue readingI want to review a quote from Mike Monteiro’s book, You’re my Favorite Client: — So let’s look deeper into the design process, with a giant caveat. Every designer claims their own process… But whether you’re working on an agile or a waterfall process (or smartly between the two), all processes break down to some version […]
Continue readingA few weeks back a reader asked: Where should consultants start with marketing automation? I wanted to take a second to answer this. Here’s the challenge consultants face: working to relationships based business. You want to be efficient without being robotic. How can you put systems in place that make you more effective without turning clients off? Most of the times, […]
Continue reading
There are three terms used for a technical service professional, often interchangeably: contractor, freelancer, and consultant. Let’s put a more specific point on it. Contracting… is the closest to employment. As a contractor, you are effectively an employee that doesn’t get benefits or pay payroll taxes. Engagements are often months in length, and 40 hours/week. […]
Continue reading
It’s a common use case: You want to personalize someone’s email by using their first name. You may try to use a liquid snippet like this: Hey {{ subscriber.first_name | default: “” }}, But there’s a problem. If the first name isn’t set, you end up with this wonky salutation with an awkward space: Hey […]
Continue reading
When applying for a development job, especially if it is your first, you may be faced with a horrifying request: Stand up, grab a marker & get ready to code on a whiteboard. No internet. No IDE. Not even a keyboard. Just you & the awkward silence of the interview room. The Case Against Whiteboard […]
Continue reading