Free Teleseminar: 7 Strategies for Profitable Blogs and Ezines

By Jessica Albon

Edited at 2:15 p.m. on March 19 (immediately following the call.)

Were you on the line with me? I hope so! (We had to score extra lines to fit everyone in–that was awesome! and nerve wracking!) The call went really well, if I do say so myself, except for that little interruption when Izzy decided he wanted to say hello! ;-) If you haven’t signed up, please do–I’ll send you the link to the recording. And, if you were on the line, please post any comments, feedback, or questions below. I can’t wait to hear about how you use what you learned to thrive your business and Thrive Your Tribe!

I don’t do teleclasses often, let alone free ones. My last teleclass was almost two years ago! I much prefer having my audience in the same room with me where I can see if people have questions, and chat with everyone …

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Is Your Designer Ignoring Every Word You Say?

By Jessica Albon

Is Your Designer Ignoring You Completely?
Image by s-s

Apparently, communication between WordPress designers and their clients is really hard on both sides. Just in the last two weeks, I’ve heard from three people who have “absolutely had it” with their web designers and want to start fresh with someone new (me :-) ).

If you’re at your wits end with your designer, before you hire someone new, walk through this article with me. Because, just like divorce, if you don’t resolve the issues you’ve brought to this relationship, just hiring someone new won’t necessarily solve the problem.

1. Figure out what the heck you want.
This is the rant of designers everywhere. Under no circumstances are you allowed to say to me, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Unless you have a budget in the tens of thousands of dollars, this is not a game you will find an experienced designer willing to play.

So, …

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Why it’s Never the Easy Metaphor

By Jessica Albon

Screenshot of metaphor handout

Struggling to come up with the right stories for your newsletter? You’re not alone.

You know it’s important to share personal stories, but may not be quite sure what that should look like. You know it’s not enough to simply relay the story of the super cute thing Toby did this weekend, and think you should try to link it into your main story somehow… But, how?

One trick of expert writers is to use metaphors. But, these aren’t exactly the metaphors you were taught to use in school (e.g. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances.”). You’re not looking to write just a single sentence or two about your metaphor.

Rather, you’re going to use two advanced techniques to improve your use of metaphor (and really improve your articles).

So, let’s say that this weekend, …

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Review: My So-Called Freelance Life

By Jessica Albon

My So-Called Freelance Life review
I’d heard good things about Michelle Goodman’s The Anti 9-to-5 Guide so when I received a copy of My So-Called Freelance Life, I was looking forward to diving in.

[This is where I'm supposed to insert that required paragraph of how the "crappy economy" absolutely positively means that people should be turning to freelancing to supplement their incomes right now that you're seeing appended to *everything* at the moment. But I refuse. So there.]

I’m not exactly shy about this particular fact of my employment history–I freelanced my way through college and only ever worked part time (I’ve never held a 9-5, ever, thankyouverymuch). So, to me, this is sort of a no-brainer approach to work and life. You find fabulous clients, do great work for them, turn it in, get paid, and find a new fabulous client (or start a new project for the first one).

Though I’ve

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