Jonathan Fields has compiled a laundry list of occupations over the years ranging from lawyer to yoga instructor, and has found a great niche in his most recent profession: Author. Jonathan’s book Career Renegade is a must-read for any freelancer. Freelancers so often get caught up in the battle of trying to survive that we forget what it means to truly do what we love. Jonathan’s book helps bring focus back to our goals, back to what we really want to do with our life, and how to make a decent living doing it too.

We were able to catch up with Jonathan for an interview in which he shares some insights into his book, and how freelancer’s can benefit from being a Career Renegade.

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While everyone is finishing up their present wrapping and placing the milk and cookies out for Santa, I thought I would take this moment to wish a very merry holidays to the FSw readers. We are very blessed to have such an active, friendly and smart community behind this site. Thanks for all that you do!

Now don’t eat too many holiday cookies…

Glen

Photo by laverrue.

As everyone is preparing for Halloween this evening, we thought we’d share some interesting reading for those freelancer’s with their porch lights off trying to avoid the trick-or-treaters. On a dark and scary night, who wouldn’t want to read about design and small business tips. Consider it virtual candy!

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This week’s linkswitch focuses on the cosmetics of web development. Many readers of FSw are web developers (or web developers at heart), so hopefully this switch will satisfy your weekly craving for all things web dev.

Using technologies like CSS, javascript and some custom scripting, just about anything can be accomplished to spice up a web page. Here’s a few ways to really add some sizzle and pop to your pages, as seen recently around the Internets.

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Photo by JasonRogers.

While we talk a lot about how to better our working conditions and pay at FSw, there is a much bigger world out there than what we see every day. Poverty is an issue that 99.9% of the good people who read FSw don’t have to worry about. But we should be thinking about it, and we can make a difference with our unique skills. And there’s no better time to talk about how we can help those less fortunate than us than with our unique freelancing skills than on Blog Action Day.

There’s always the option of donating money to those less fortunate, but as freelancers we offer a lot of skills that are sometimes more valuable than money. We have very specialized talents that can be much more beneficial than a few dollars.

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Well, to make a long story short, the Carbonmade contest that we hosted a little shy of a month ago was a brilliant success. 150 freelancers from FSw signed up for accounts and created some pretty amazing portfolios.

As you might recall, Carbonmade generously donated some awesome equipment that any freelancer could salivate over. So I’ll list the winning portfolios below, and show the prize the winners won.
If you’re a winner, you’ll need to email support@carbonmade.com to claim their prize.

Creative Use of Technology

• 1. truepresence – A Western Digital Passport 250GB External Hard drive and a one-year subscription to Carbonmade ($120 value)
• 2. Sonata Creative – Corsair 4GB FlashVoyager rugged USB thumb drive and a one-year subscription to Carbonmade ($120 value)
• 3. kenton – A one-year subscription to Carbonmade ($120 value)

Most Innovative

• 1. draw SINNA draw – A Western Digital Passport 250GB External Hard drive and a one-year subscription to Carbonmade ($120 value
• 2. The Creative Works Of Thomas C. Calder. – A Corsair 4GB FlashVoyager rugged USB thumb drive and a one-year subscription to Carbonmade ($120 value)
• 3. Megan Kearney – A one-year subscription to Carbonmade ($120 value)

The winners need to email support@carbonmade.com to claim their prize.

Great job everyone! The portfolios were absolutely stunning, and really showcased the power of Carbonmade’s easy portfolio system (demo).

And lastly, a big Thank-You to Carbonmade for generously donating the prizes.

The good people from UPrinting have been generous enough to give away 1,000 business cards shipped for free to 10 lucky FSw readers. They’ll give any combination of business cards that you can dream of: Any type of stock (including the eco friendly stock), finish or size. The sky is the limit.

Uprinting has been printing business cards for the past 25 years, and they support FSw’s readers, so don’t be afraid to send people their way.

Contest Details

So, let’s turn this into a little contest, shall we? In the comments below, write how you’ll use your free business cards to improve your freelancing. Be sure to use a real email that we can contact you at if you’re the winner. Comments must be in by Friday at 5pm CST. If you’re a winner, we’ll email you the information.

Now, there’s one unfortunate caveat: The contest is only open to U.S. and Canada residents, due to shipping costs for international rates.

Ok! Let the games begin!

Note: The contest has ended. Thanks for playing!