Posts Filed Under ‘Career’
Host Your Nameplate Site on a Domain You Control
February 25th, 2011, 6 comments
I couldn't agree more with the premise behind services like About.me and Flavors.me: if you spend a lot of time online for work, play, and your sparetime projects, you want a one-pager which explains who you are, what you do, and where to find you regarding those different contexts. A nameplate site is a great way to do this, which is why I've kept up ginatrapani.org for over six years. Since I've always linked to it from every single thing I do online, it's the first search result for my name. (Sorry, other Gina Trapani's). Social networks like Twitter and Facebook and services like About.me and Flavors.me and LinkedIn come and go, but when you host your nameplate site (and blog) on a domain you control, it doesn't change, you never lose Google juice, and there's never a question about the canonical web page which identifies you.
November 1st, 2010, 1 comment
When you have lots of ideas for things to make, how do you choose which projects to actually work on?
In this episode of Work Smart, idea guy Bryan Serven asks the question every entrepreneur has wrestled with; I offer a way to reframe the question and weigh your options, and author of Do More Great Work Michael Bungay Stanier weighs in with a great tip. Press the play button below, and then check out part 2, which covers how you know when to kill a project you're already working on.
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Google Code University
September 1st, 2010
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, "How can I learn how to code?" Today fluorescentinca showed me Google Code University, a collection of tutorials on Googly languages (like Python, Java and Go) for relative beginners. Some good stuff there. (I also wrote a more general Lifehacker piece last year that can help you decide what language to start in.)
My Interview on The Pipeline
April 6th, 2010, 1 comment
Almost every interview I do these days for podcasts or magazines involves the inevitable question: "What are your best productivity tricks?" That's why it was so refreshing to do an interview with Dan Benjamin on his excellent show, The Pipeline, and never have to answer that question. Instead Dan wanted to chat about my progression from a day coder and no-name night blogger back in 2001 to a "pro blogger," about what made Lifehacker a success (hint: it's not talent, it's a big platform and LOTS of posts over the course of years), about self-publishing books, and about what I think an aspiring blogger these days has to do to make blogging a full-time job. Good times. Check it out: The Pipeline 10: Gina Trapani
Adopt a Freelancer’s Mindset (Even If You’re a Nine-to-Fiver)
November 12th, 2009
Freelancers work a whole lot differently than nine-to-fivers, but thinking like a freelancer can help along your career, even if you're working full-time for a big company. Over at Harvard Business Online this week, I ran down how employees can benefit from a freelancer's mindset.
New Stuff Shipping Tomorrow
October 30th, 2009
Things have been quiet around these parts lately because I've been heads-down on a fun project that's finally ready to see the light of day: tomorrow, that is. Tune into tomorrow's episode of This Week in Google on live.twit.tv at 2:15pm Pacific/5:15pm Eastern to be the very first to get the scoop. Of course, if you're off having a grand old time enjoying Halloween tomorrow afternoon, more power to you. I'll also publish details here right after the show.
Essential Tools to Set Up Your Virtual Storefront
April 24th, 2009
While I'd call myself more a freelancer than a small business owner, I've done plenty of work for small tech startups running their business on webapps and a shoestring budget. This morning my feature over at Lifehacker's called Essential Tools for Starting Up Your Side Business, and it's a starter list of the bare essentials a side or small business needs. What did I forget?
April 9th, 2009, 3 comments
The hardest part about being a freelancer for me is deciding what jobs are worth taking on, and what I should turn down. I want to do and have it all--but the whole "only 24 hours in a day" thing really throws a wrench into that plan.
Fact is, when you're the boss of you, you've got to be a really good editor: recognize the good gigs and avoid everything else. Over at the FreelanceSwitch blog this morning, I published a piece called How to Craft Your Personal Business Model, in which I describe how I am attempting to do just that. Part of it was designing my ideal work mix, a high-tech pie chart I scribbled on a piece of paper, which you see here.
The work you turn down says more about you as a professional than the work you take on. While I'm still figuring out exactly what I want to be when I grow up, I do know what's important to me, and right now I'm trying to use those values as best I can to guide me to the right people and projects. For more of this kind of touchy-feely career mush, check out the full article.
February 17th, 2009, 9 comments
Leaving your full-time job in the midst of a recession is either a really stupid or really smart decision. Since I just made the move myself, I'm going to make the case for smart.
If you can swing it, a recession is an ideal time to stop being an employee and start doing your own thing. Your plans to go freelance, start your own business, or take a sabbatical shouldn't be on hold right now because of the economy. While the fear mongers might be saying you should be grateful just to have a job at all, I challenge you to expand your vision.
Now's a fine time to take a risk because there's just not much to lose.
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When you have lots of ideas for things to make, how do you choose which projects to actually work on? 
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