Cat Rocketship

Holy cow dude this is amazing. SO FUN! AWESOME ILLOS! YOU WIN!

How to Make a Monster

ASAP Winter Session 2012

Project 1: How to make a Monster Maker

Thanks Cat Rocketship for the idea about how to make a “monster maker”. You’ve created a master tool for improved monster experimentation!

Why you will fail to have a great career

I have the “weird” part down.

“ I think for me Twitter is the equivalent of working in an office and having those casual conversations that make … you feel less isolated in the course of writing.
”

Susan Orlean on her constant Twittering. [This is what I use Tumblr for.] (via nprfreshair)

This is what I use both Twitter and Tumblr for.

(via me3dia)

HA! I was JUST thinking this today!

(via samsanator)

How to be self-employed on the internet: my money-makers

This is part two of a two-part answer to a question. Read part one (and the question!) here.

Ways to make money on the internets:

First, I do have a gig. I get a regular paycheck with Offbeat Home and also earn commissions for advertorials for sponsors there.
Affiliate programs. YES. I absolutely use affiliate programs. Mainly, I use Amazon — it’s the easiest, gives me great rates, and although Amazon’s had some iffy PR lately, I think overall Jeff Bezos runs an ethical company. When I can’t find a product I want to link to on Amazon, I search “product name affiliate program” and see what I get — and I’ve finally started keeping a spreadsheet so I can keep track of my Affiliate program memberships.
Referral programs (also just helps discount things!) — My most successful program is E-Mealz, which worked because I was able to give it a ringing endorsement. Not that it makes me a ton of money, but as you can see, I have a multi-tiered income structure. :)
Elance/others: In times of great need, I keep an eye on sites like Elance and Craigslist where people might be pitching writing or illustration gigs I can pick up for a few bucks. I’ve also participated in forums with job/service boards where I can sell services/illustrations/paintings/whatever.
M Turk: Back to Amazon. M Turk is a service Amazon runs. Say Person A needs lots of information categorized, or photos labeled, or even paragraphs translated. They list “hits” on M Turk with instructions, and Person B (me!) can accept a hit and perform work. I’ve done everything from double-check the accuracy of Google Street View photos to write short slugs about products — and I get paid anywhere from 1 cent to $1.50 each to do it. It’s tedious, but if you have time on your hands (or a shitty job where you’re at a computer with nothing else to do for hours) it can help.
ChaCha: Sort of like MTurk. ChaCha is a service where people can text questions from their cell phone and “guides” research the answer and reply to the asker. More tedious than MTurk. Pays less. But again — sometimes every little bit helps.
Work-for-hire/writing elsewhere/illustrating commissions. I’ve also run an active illustration business for a few years, taking commissions on projects, written for other blogs and our local young professional weekly rag.
Etsy. Not now, but in the past!
Consulting. I don’t do consulting, but my husband does. You have to get good enough at something that you can concisely tell other people how to do it. You also have to be good at telling people how to do things.

I really don’t make much money, but I met my personal monthly income goal last year. Setting goals really helps, even if you start small, when you know your goal is “make 100 dollars through freelance every month in 2012”, you’ll find a way to get there.

There’s one more bit that’s important: It helps immensely to have a partner. Scott and I have had aligned goals since the get-go. Building this lifestyle has cause occasional friction and probably always will, but knowing we have the same goals is crazy helpful. We try to help each other as best we can — we’ve both worked jobs we HATED while the other was doing more “fun” work, and that might happen again, too! I hope not, though. I HOPE we’re to the point where we can keep moving forward on this strategy without taking shit jobs. Anyway: we married the right people. :)

Lastly: never ever ever ever ever ever go without insurance. If I hadn’t been buying it for myself during my accident in 09, I’d be up to my ears in debt. $50,000 or more. I would have kissed any sort of independent career goodbye forever.

This is a wall of text, I know. I just also know that a few years ago all I had was My Goal: WORK FOR MYSELF OR BUST! And I didn’t have any idea how to get here. I desperately wanted someone to tell me all that they knew so I could try to glean any clue I could from the path they’d taken. So I hope this helps. If you have any questions, ask or email! And good luck!

How to be self-employed on the internet: a starter’s guide

Hi Cat!

I recently came upon Offbeat Home which then led me to Hipster Housewife. Cannot get enough, btw. Love them both so very much. ^_^

I see in your blog that you work from home, which is a goal I’ve been working towards for some time now. It is crazy overwhelming trying to get started, just for lack of good information I’m sure.

I’m assuming part of your work-from-home income is from your blogs. Just wondering if you have any kind of advice or info on getting started, or how it works. Perhaps some of the programs you use, like pay per click and google ads type stuff.

Anything you have time to tell me about would be such a huge help. And again, LOVE your blogs.

Thanks For Your Time :)
Brittany
OffBeat Home Owner (teehee)

Hi Brittany!

First, thanks. :) That’s really nice of you. I’m glad you like what I write!

Okay, ADVICE. Here’s how we did it. So far.

Set goals. My husband Scott and I have known since college we wanted to work for ourselves. I majored in art, so it was pretty clear I was going to have to be working for myself — and that required me to start learning skills I knew I’d need later: accounting basics, tax information, basic marketing skills, and more. Since I knew the general idea of where I wanted to go (“I want to work for myself so that I don’t have to wake up early and I can drink beers at work and swear on Twitter and also because I am a curmudgeon.”) I have been able to better identify skills I need to cultivate.
Reduce costs. THANK YOU IOWA. I totally do covet the big city lives of many of my friends — but we found a city we loved that we could afford to make a go in, and it’s worked out well. Our mortgage is low, food is inexpensive, fun is cheap, and drinks are affordable. We also spend very little money — we’re definitely still in the building phase of our careers and our budget may continue to be touch and go for several years. It’s helped a lot to cultivate very good friends and very inexpensive hobbies. Other ways we’ve enabled our bohemian lifestyle: we only have one car. No cable (SO MUCH INTERNET, THOUGH!). We cultivate our savings accounts in case of emergencies (or work drought). Learning to cook well so we don’t miss going out to eat has been HUGE. Gardening! Eating vegetarian! LEARNING TO DARN SOCKS! Embracing free entertainment — podcasts, public radio. LIBRARIES.
Take baby steps. We’ve had setbacks. Scott got laid off in 2008. I had a nasty accident and spent most of 2009 recovering. I got let go in 2010. We closed a business in 2010, and another in 2011. Scott got laid off again this December. Happily, each time we’ve learned a little bit more — the most recent layoff has barely been a blip on our radar, relatively. However, it’s definitely the case that each time we take two steps forward, we take one step back again. It’s important to understand that building a lifestyle like this will take time — and that’s where stuff like making sure you’re investing in savings (and not carrying a huge credit card bill!) can be make-or-break.
Start projects. I’m sure I only have my job at Offbeat Home because I started Hipster Housewife for fun and could point to it as a non-mainstream home-related blog I’d been able to consistently update when I applied. I also run stuff like Market Day — which, in its third year, actually pays me, too! But even if it didn’t, it taught me loads of skills and showed other people I am a Responsible Adult Who Gets Shit Done. Scott got his last job because we started a creative coworking space so we could create a studio workshop with our friends. Starting lots of projects for yourself helps you know what you like to do, what you don’t, what you want to hire other people to do FOR you (accounting. All the stuff my assistant Riane does.)
Never avoid the hard stuff: You still owe taxes, even if you don’t want to do them. If you want to work for yourself, you have to put big kid pants on and embrace all your duties with courage and vigor, or it just sucks.
Cultivate other sources of income. OKAY. This is the key: I make money from 6-7 sources any given month. They’re related (lots of writing) so it’s not overwhelming, but I certainly didn’t expect to be singing for my supper to that many “bosses”. But it’s great! I love it!

Next post I’ll give you the run-down of those actual sources of income — all the ways I’ve found successful for creating income.

While our Dungeon Master sets up a new member of our party, I’m doodling Ken’s character and his cat as his familiar.

My main thought this week

In 2011, I learned to have even more thankfulness for the people I know. We have good friends who work hard, make cool things, want to run for office, and are SO SMART we are proud to know them.

We are kind to each other and that means so much, every year. This year proves it will always be important.

Go, go 2012!

The rules #art (Taken with instagram)

Chickens can’t get in. Not my chickens. (Taken with instagram)

This works for an iPhone background. If you like it, take it with you.

This is the kind of drawings I’ve been working on lately. Either word-heavy or very scenic, drawn in pen on paper and then scanned in and colored.

This is the first time I’ve really worked digitally — at least since 6th grade, when I spent a summer drawing in ClarisWorks in my basement — and I’m still not sure what I’m doing with it. I still get to physically draw, but then I can make many more — and cheaper — color experiments.

So I’m not painting. But at the same time, I’m sort of getting to play with paint. It costs a LOT to experiment with oil paints, and you have to spend money to get the good paints if you’re going to mix color. I’m really enjoying being able to hone color on the cheap.

Right now I think my next step will be to choose a drawing and work it into a painting. It would be interesting to interpret a very digital look into a very ancient, much more beautiful, veneer of paint.