Summer Breaks: So Very Refreshing!

Sneaking away from home without laptop in tow is the best form of relaxation, especially with the waves at your feet, sun up above, and sand all around.

Catching A Break

Last Friday, I did something I hadn’t done in several years: I left my home with my family and headed away for a five-day, four-night seaside excursion. We’ve been away several times over these past several years, but there was a big difference this time: I did not have my laptop with me nor did I stop by the local library or cyber cafe to check my email.

Yes, I was internet-free for several days and that short bit of freedom was a welcome relief.

Blogging In Advance

I knew back in early June that I would catch a break, but I wasn’t certain until a few weeks ago that I would actually be able to leave my laptop behind. Because I write for several blogs with some of that writing done on a daily basis, I knew that in order to get away without blogging, I’d need to write many articles in advance. Without doing that it would have meant me logging on at least once daily, writing for several hours, and checking my email to respond to feedback. Certainly, not my idea of a vacation.

My good planning paid off!

To give myself a needed break, I started to blog ahead about two months ago. By the time that I left for vacation, my most popular blogs each had a week’s worth of articles in queue, scheduled to appear in the wee hours of the morning thanks to WordPress’ scheduling capabilities. Each blog is set up to ping the internet and with select backlinks added in, bring visitors to each site.

It worked.

4 Benefits of Traveling Laptop Free

The benefits of not being wired for several days included:

• Spending extra special time with my wife and children.
• Exploring the area where we stayed by visiting a museum, aquarium, shops, restaurants, etc.
• Not being rigidly scheduled which meant we could all relax.
• The chance to consider other important aspects of our lives without a computer getting in the way.

Though the trip away was a few days shorter than originally planned, it seemed as if we were away for much longer. No crowds to deal with, no spam mail to cull through, and no fires to put out. Even if one or more of my sites were to go down, I knew that I’d be able to restore everything upon my return. Thank God, no mischief took place while we were away.

You Can Go PC Free Too!

I am sharing this with you to say that you can put the laptop away for a few days and head out too. What seems like urgency often isn’t, not important stuff that simply can wait. If you still haven’t taken a break this summer and have plans to escape, consider going internet-free for at least a few days.

You’ll feel better and those you are with will enjoy your company; what could be better than that?

Client Versus Personal Work: Which Do You Prefer?

I stopped over at Sphinn this morning and noticed that Kevin Gibbons of SEOptimise Ltd. of Oxford, UK had bookmarked an article from SEORoundtable titled, “Are The Best SEOs Not Taking on Client Work?“  That article was developed as a response to a thread the author read on a popular webmaster forum where the writer pondered the reasoning behind why an SEO expert would take on client work instead of building up their own ideas.

Though I don’t call myself an SEO expert — I’ll leave the bragging to those who have built up a name for themselves over the years — I’ve had to ask myself the same question several times since I launched my freelance writing site, The Article Writer, in May 2005: would I do better building up my personal network of sites or should I take on client work?

Well, that answer would be “all of the above” as I like to balance the work that I do for my clients with the small network of sites I own and manage.  Definitely, I like receiving money from a client for work done, but I also like to monetize my sites and use them as one way to showcase my talents.  My thinking in this area is probably best described along these lines:

Build, Monetize, and Sell — Over the past three years I’ve built up more than a dozen sites from the ground up, monetized almost every single one of them, and later sold off ten forums, blogs, and websites during that period. There is a certain thrill that I get when I build a site from scratch, attract a following, make some money off of it and, when tired of it, am able to sell it for a profit.

Fix, Improve, and Move On — When working for a client, I almost always am brought on to help improve an existing site. I’ve gotten away from building sites from nothing as the time involved in this work is intensive. Besides, I haven’t kept up with my web design skills other than being able to build a decent WordPress blog with the assorted tools I like to use. What’s fun about this option is that I can measure a job’s progress and show the client where improvements have been made. In most cases they quickly see it for themselves which makes my job a snap.

Mixing Things Up — I promised myself when I became self-employed in 2002 that I wouldn’t grow stagnant in my work. My last full time paid position hindered my growth, something that I will not allow to happen again. I do have a long term strategy in place, but I also make adjustments along the way. I find that making careful changes helps me to work better, a benefit for my clients as well as for my sites.

How about you? What is your business strategy? Do you like to work for clients exclusively? For yourself? Or do you balance the two? Inquiring minds want to know, so please hit the comment button and share what’s on your mind.