Since I left the corporate world, I’ve been having a bit of a time dilemma. When I was working in an office, I had distractions, sure. But those were all within the realm of work. Trying to stay productive here at home is a little different. So my planner and I had a come-to-Jesus meeting on F...

Ever get an interesting assignment, land some great interviews, and then struggle for motivation when it’s time to start writing? A freelancer friend of mine was having a crisis of this sort recently and talked about it in one of the writers forums I belong to. There were a lot of people who e...

“To survive and succeed, every organization will have to turn itself into a change agent. The most effective way to manage change is to create it.” —Peter Drucker The creator and inventor of modern management had it right about change—the best way to manage change is to create it. Of...

You probably have editor’s brain if you’re always writing five words and deleting four, if you automatically critique every word choice (and everyone else’s), and you can pick up a newspaper or read a book and automatically spot the one error on a page. Editing skills are great to ...

Efficiency and effectiveness are equally important to freelance designers and small design firms (and large ones as well, but that won’t be the focus of this article). There are obviously any number of different things you can do to improve your workflow or to produce a better end result for y...

When was the last time you had ink-stained fingers after reading an article? It’s been a while for me. As someone who grew up around newspapers, I am almost ashamed to say this: I can’t remember the last time I picked up and read an actual newspaper. These days, I read all my news online...

Good Monday morning readers! Today, I’m shining the spotlight on Rachel C. Weingarten, a creative brand strategist and president of Octagon Marketing Group (Formerly GTK Marketing Group). Rachel also is the author of Career and Corporate Coolâ„¢, Hello Gorgeous! Beauty Products in America, and...

I’m trying to work today, but I have a head full of Barack. That’s the status line that I just wrote on my Facebook page. And it’s the reason why—at 10:20 a.m.—I am still writing today’s post. Normally, I write my Golden Pencil posts in advance. But not today. I don’...

Have you ever hammered nails into a board with a banana? Me neither. But yesterday, a Minnesota news station demonstrated that cold weather has certain unlikely advantages. Apparently, when the mercury drops to -13 or below, a banana will freeze so solid that you can use it to hammer nails into a bo...

In Part 1 of this interview, we discussed how you can make a good living as a freelance writer. In this segment, Part 2, we delve deeper into Kristen King’s experiences as an entrepreneur and what people need to have done to be prepared for a tough year ahead. Now, back to our interview…. Steve:...