October 2010
Exhaustion
Submitted by Tim Wasson on Wed, 10/13/2010 - 17:55I've tried to keep this blog away from delving too far into the life of a freelancer and keep it a little more general into just 'real' life, but I guess that gets more difficult once I realize that freelancing has occupied virtually my entire life for quite some time. Maybe that's why blog entries are few and far between and nearly always mention work and how busy I've been and remain to be.
Obviously I'm not complaining. Things are great and being too busy as a self-employed dude is better than the alternative. Still, landing this 6-month contract is like a blessing for me. I can work on that, but still stop working occasionally and focus on the 'next big thing'. For this round, it'll be focusing on my illustration... both in selling to companies on a freelance basis as well as produce something I can sell many, many times. I'm already seeing the limitations of a freelancer, which is as a 1-man operation you can only produce so much in any given day. I've known for a while that I need to look into transitioning from a service-based guy into a product-based guy, and this will be the perfect, 6-month opportunity to make that happen.
I've already turned away some work to ensure that will happen for me. It's difficult to say no to clients or potential clients, but I have to keep in mind that these are changes that won't only benefit me personally, but my entire life. Once that's in perspective, small sacrifices along the way aren't a big deal.
Anyhoo, in other news, I'm picking up an old, new hobby. The wifey bought me piano lessons as a birthday gift, and I've been trying to re-learn the piano. I took lessons for many years in my youth and got pretty good, but haven't touched a piano in many years and it was all lost. My first lesson was today, and some vague memories of playing came back to me and I was able to power through a children's book of songs in short order. Now I've got a grown-up book, which will probably (hopefully) be a bit more difficult.
The big Three One.
Submitted by Tim Wasson on Mon, 10/04/2010 - 21:09Well, life goes on, I get a year older. Yesterday I hit the big 31, which is sort of a wasted birthday if you ask me. I guess as the years wear on and there's fewer and fewer monumental birthdays, the ones between them lose their appeal. The wife was way more excited about my 31st than I was, and it came and went without any big to-do, which is the way I prefer it.
Hill got me and my new office all decked out with some fancy wall decor, making my home-away-from-home that much more inviting and cozy. It's strange that I got sick of working from home, so I got an office only to then go decorate that office like it was my home.
The office is really helping with the whole work/home separation, and in strange ways motivating me to do better with my career. I feel like after 2 years, I've gotten the freelance web developing business under control, and it may be time to focus on my real passion... illustration. It took 2 years to get my web design business into self-maintaining and thriving mode, so I suppose I can use that same amount of time to get an illustration business off the ground. If I spend my 33rd birthday celebrating as a freelance illustrator, I think I'll be at the point where my life couldn't really get all that much better.
In totally unrelated news, after over 10 years of never hitting an animal, I've run over a suicidal squirrel and the world's stupid pigeon in the last few days. I feel like a murderer.
