I wasn’t happy with the initial logo. In fact, this new one is so different to the previous logo. This time I am happy.

Evolution of my logo

As you can see, there was no relation between 1 & 2 with the last. A complete turn around and change of taste.

Final logo. Typeface used: Capture It

I have done a lot of development and coding, and would like to get into some more digital art whether web, logos, graphics. It has been a while. This is my dive back. Expect more soon!

Hope to put pictures up soon. So yeah, I haven’t been slack with the blog. Just been doing a lot of moving

Honesty in front of people goes far. Honesty with you being the only one in the room goes even further. Being an avid user of Social Media venues such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., in the past, I have experienced a slug in productivity. It wasn’t such an issue when I worked for a design agency/firm (probably because there were no alone times at all), but in the world of freelancing, you are the man. You are the boss. You also don’t have anyone to answer to, besides your client of course, but I’m talking about being alone, and powering along at your workspace.

Friend or Foe

Every freelance career has their own way of dealing with distractions. Today on Twitter, I mentioned that my wife had deactivated her Facebook account, and her reason being was she found it way too distracting. I agree with her… partly. Thus, I have been considering doing the same. A follower and fellow web geek replied saying that it is a wrong reason, and that your will power needs to be exercised to combat that. They also went on to say that if it is not Facebook, then it is something else.

My freelance has not been a consistent one. Though I have had the privilege and experience to freelance for the past 6 years, it has been an on/off type of income source. In those 6 years, I have worked for multimedia companies, marketing agencies, and design firms. I say that freelancing is a privilege because it is. The freedom to not be babysat, watched, and work at your own pace at which you see fit is great. On the other hand, having that watchful eye and shove every now an that goes a long way as well. Every freelancer that I have met and know uses Twitter. Majority of them also have Facebook. Both mediums can prove to be productivity killers if not used with care.

Survival Tips

Twitter (and Facebook) is an awesome tool to get the word out. Whether it be self promotion, establishing work related networks, using it as a support system, and even being able to find people who you can collaborate with on your next project, social media expresses great power. Hey, you can even find out if a follower or someone you are following is having a foul day.

Then why is a productivity killer if it does all those things mentioned above? Let me just clear something up. Not every freelancer I know has this problem. I applaud and have much respect for you if you are a master in the department of self-discipline. I am only writing about past experiences, thus, the following pointers are how I overcome such self-discipline issues.

#1 Notifications Be Gone!

By default (as far as I know anyway), Twitter does not send you notifications via email if someone has replied to your tweets, but I do know that you can explicitly set your account up so that you get notified via email if someone starts following you or sends you a direct message. This can easily be changed to cater to your needs. However, if you use desktop apps such as TweetDeck (or even various Twitter apps on your phone), notifications go even further than that. Let’s take the iPhone for example, different apps have an option where you can receive push notifications for not just new followers or direct messages, but also replies. Unless 90% of your tweets/replies are essential to your work, kill these notifications. Even if they take you away from whats important at hand for a few minutes, that’s a few minutes of your productivity taken away. Now lets say that a “few minutes” is 3 minutes. You send some tweets, and in that day you get 20 replies in total for your different tweets that take you out of the zone for a few minutes. That’s an hour gone. Just make sure that hour was related to your work.

I absolutely love TweetDeck for Mac. I don’t need to use the Twitter web interface, which also means less browser tabs open. It allows me to have a Facebook column, which again, takes away my need to have a browser tab/window open to use Facebook. However, your screen can be plagued with notifications. Change this by having notifications pop up less frequently. The less frequent the better. If you absolutely need to watch out for replies related to your work, then just view the app. Don’t be checking it every 5 minutes though. You might as well forget the purpose of notifications.

#2 Productive Connections

My Facebook account has way more friends than my Twitter has followers. I have a strict friends/family only policy with Facebook. On the other hand, I only follow people on Twitter that are relevant to my work, passions, and even on the odd occasion, people that I just really get along with in all those walks.

Be sure that your connections encourage better productivity. Not just that, but also encourage you to enhance what knowledge you have. If you’re freelancing, then you know that you must never settle for what you already know. Always learning, may impact what time you have greatly, but knowledge gained is worth every minute it took to possess it.

How do you go by handling what’s needed and what isn’t in Twitter and Facebook?

More On Next Post

As this is part of a series of freelance topics, check back often or subscribe. This post was not meant to put down Twitter or Facebook in anyway. It is to raise awareness for freelancers, and those considering taking the plunge into this crazy yet awesome world of working for yourself. Next in this series, we’ll discuss more ways of enhancing your Social Media experience with some practical methods, and all that jazz.

The Blog: A Love Hate Relationship

Since this blog is of fresh beginnings, that also means my blog contents of the past are gone. Which isn’t so bad, as my blogging habits back then were pretty scarce also. This time its a different story. I have so much I want to write about, I have noted them down, and damn it, I will publish them on this site.

Until next time…