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Grunge, the August 2010 Free GPL release, is outfitted with a sophisticated, artistic and professional design, in conjunction with a powerful configuration options.
The style is a perfect example of an artistic club release, with a range of key features that accompany all our RocketTheme phpBB3 styles, provides a useful sample for you to experience club level themes.
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Here’s a celebration of all the ways we are uniquely freelancers… set apart from our cubicle counterparts, yet aware that we are perhaps still not so different. Or are we? Enjoy!
You Know You’re a Freelancer When…
- You’re starting to grumble about your 5-step commute from the bed to your computer. The snooze button is soooo much closer…
- The car stays parked in your garage for days at a time and somehow you continue to grow without sunlight.
- You can vacation as often as you want now. Chained to your computer and phone, yeah, but hey: the ocean looks beautiful from here and yes honey, I’ll join you out there in a moment!
- Working in the buff is actually an option! Just remember to switch your Skype chat default to “Answer with NO Video!”
- Work begins stalking you around the house, skulking and whining like an unloved pup. Work is home is office is everywhere – ACK! I’m sure there’s a zen proverb around here somewhere…
- You finally remove all the fart jokes and Mafia Wars from your Facebook Profile because your playground just became your chief marketing and advertising venue.
- Laptop parties with your freelance buddies are your brilliant attempt at “having a life” and still getting things done.
- You catch yourself bouncing ideas off of your apathetic cat and your chatterbox four-year old.
- You start playing pranks on your unsuspecting canine because you miss the office shenanigans.
- You finally get paid for knowing more than the person who hired you.
- Strangling yourself with the laptop chord is a popular and approved reaction to client emails and phone calls.
- Friends pimp you out for favors: “Oh yeah, I have a friend that can do that for you. I’m sure he’ll do it for super cheap. In fact, we’re good friends, I bet he’ll do it for free!”
- You can justify anything to one client by simply referencing a vague “other client.” {Yes of course I’d love to have a 5am meeting for your East Coast team! Unfortunately, I’ve already booked that slot with my Australian client.}
- Social sites your old boss banned aren’t even fun to visit now because they’re actually on your Client Acquisition To Do list.
- You talk excitedly about the latest Wordpress plugin or Photoshop brush you just downloaded… and the barista was only asking for your coffee order. {“It’s just so lonely working from home, you see. Nice to have someone to talk to is all…”}
- You’re actually nodding and laughing right now, filled with that warm and fuzzy feeling that “yes, I still fit in somewhere.”
Much love to my fellow freelancers! We may be spread out across the global office but our common world still unites us. 
I’d love to hear any other items you’d add to this list. If I get enough responses, I’ll do an updated *2.0* post with the additional items. Just ask to be “Anonymous” if you don’t want me to attribute the item to you!
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Tricycle vector by Chrisobrien Design
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Product Description
One of the pioneering forces of modernism in European graphic design, Treumann could be heralded as a patron saint of functionality. His whole oeuvre from posters to his famous postage stamps is included in this comprehensive and creatively designed (by Irma Boom) retrospective. Texts include reprints of Treumann’s typed letters to the Groene Amsterdammer’ weekly, and to Hajo Rose. The dust jacket folds out into a Treumannesque poster on beautifully crafted paper…. More >>
The JoomlaXTC FM Gallery is a full feature Flash Photo, Mp3, SWF and Video Gallery.
Features: * Auto Resizing – The gallery adjusts after the browser or embedded window size. If the browser window is resized, and in any resolution, everything will look the same for all your visitors, also you can embed the gallery at any size, it will adapt based on the size of the embedded window.
* It can handle images (.jpg , .png), flash files(.swf), sound(.mp3), video files(FLV / H.264 encoded video including MP4, M4V, M4A, MOV, Mp4v, F4V).
* You can use any type of image format for the thumbs or the big images, the gallery will resize and display perfectly regardless of the image size or format, this makes it perfect for photographers.
* The sound and video player width and height can be changed.
* Advanced video player for playing videos.
* Advanced mp3 player with sound spectrum for playing music.
* The color theme can be changed.
Gallery Features
* Advanced thumbnails navigation, handled by an advanced mathematics.
* The entire color theme can be changed for the buttons, preloaders, images and thumbs, you can adapt it to fit any web page.
* You can set the thumb color theme, width, height and space between them.
* Full screen button (optional).
* Pan and zoom the thumb images (optional).
* Navigation buttons for the thumbs.
* Short description for the current image, it supports HTML formatted text.
* Maximize / minimize support for the big images (optional).
Video player Features
* It plays any kind of video file that Flash Player supports ( FLV / H.264 encoded video including MP4, M4V, M4A, MOV, Mp4v, F4V).
* Play / Pause / Resume / Replay buttons.
* Seek Bar.
* Volume Bar.
* Video streaming with buffer.
* Full screen video mode supported.
* AutoHide controls bar, you can set the player to autohide the controls bar and mouse after a number of seconds of inactivity.
* Autoplay option.
* Loop option.
* Short description for the current video, it supports HTML formatted text.
* Space key listener, you can use Space key to play/pause the video.
* Click listener, you can click on the video to play/pause the video.
* Video smoothing, for a better quality this can be enabled or disabled.
Sound player Features
* Cool colored sound spectrum. The spectrum color can be changed also it can be disabled if you don’t need it.
* Play / Pause / Resume / Replay buttons.
* Seek Bar.
* Volume Bar
* Short description for the current sound, it supports HTML formatted text. * Autoplay option. * Loop option. * Space key listener, you can use Space key to play/pause the sound.
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Who is the person in your life that helps you be the best freelancer in your world?
Is it a loving spouse that goes to work every day, providing your family with the extra income you need to make sure the mortgage is paid, food is on the table, and your kids are not dirty urchins picking the pockets of the fine folks on the streets of London?
Maybe you’ve got a good friend that promotes you to his customers and business associates, and his influence is so vast that you doubt that you will ever be short of work from these contacts.
Or perhaps you have an amazing client that loves what you do, pays you handsomely for it, and trusts you to spread your creative wings on every project.
Have you said thank you to these folks lately?
Here are a few simple ways to let them know you are thinking of them, and that you appreciate what they mean to you.
- Supportive Spouse – Take a night to appreciate them. Have the kids stay with friends, make your partner their favourite dinner, tell them why you are grateful for their support. To someone that has to go into a real job every day, listening to you gripe about how rough your life is while working from home might be a bit difficult. Let them know you couldn’t do this without their support – be honest, where would you be without them?
- Fantastic Friend – If you can afford it, take them out for a nice lunch and give them a gift that lets them know you appreciate what they are doing for your business. It’s not about how much you spend, but make sure you show them how much you appreciate what they have done for you and your business. If you can’t afford it, maybe you need to look at your rates again.
- Perfect Patron – Find a new way to promote your clients business. Make sure your friends, family, and former high school crushes all purchase products from this client. The more they succeed, the more you succeed – and that’s the best way to say thanks.
What are you doing to show your gratitude to the people around you?
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In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at the drain of working two jobs and how to grab the eye of a video agency.
Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.
Hit it!
Question #1
Hi I moved to Spain about 3 and a half years during that time I’ve landed a few projects I have a 2 year old kid and my wife works so I had to find a job at a local pub to provide for them I just work at nights, so is there any advice you can give me when it comes to focusing on my career when I find myself working more than 45 hours a week. Although I feel the desire to work on projects that come to me, I’m just too exhausted to get them done.
-Celso
Thursday: Trying to manage a freelance business at the same time that you’re working full-time on your feet is definitely not easy. At best, if you’re serious about making the switch to freelancing full-time, you’re going to be in a position where you have little time to spend with your family. With that in mind, the most important advice I can give is to raise your rates. That may sound a little unconnected, but here’s the thinking: if you’re working what can easily amount to two jobs, it needs to be worth your while, especially when you’re spending time away from your family to do so. That has to be worth your while, so you need to bump your rates up.
You have to be worth that higher rate, of course, but most of the freelancers I know really aren’t charging all the market can stand, so the odds are good that you can increase your rates. Ideally, a higher rate also means that you can cut back on hours at your day job.
The other piece of advice I have is to get up earlier if you can — work on your freelance projects before going into the day job. You’re just about guaranteed to be exhausted when you get home from work, making it slower going on freelance projects. If you can hit them when you’re freshest, though, things often go faster. On the down side, you’ll have less energy for the day job, but if it doesn’t require as much creative thought, that isn’t always a problem.
Travis: It sounds to me that you’re nervous about starting your freelance career, and with a young family to support, I don’t blame you.
I was pretty terrified too when I started freelancing. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if there was a 2 year old in the mix. Because I’d probably be all “What’s this 2 year old doing here? Is he mine?”
The truth is, it will be pretty near impossible to get beyond were you are now unless you commit to making it happen. So either you’re going to need to cut back on your hours at the pub and work like crazy to build up your client base, or you’re going to have to continue to burn the midnight oil to make it happen.
Currently, you’re like a man trying to straddle two row boats as they slowly drift apart. You’re going to have to pick a rowboat and jump in. After all, other people are waiting for rowboats and nobody likes a rowboat hog.
Question #2
I would like to know which is the best way to introduce yourself and your company to publicity agencies when you work with video and motion graphics? Who should I talk to in the publicity agency? What material should I present and in which way?
-Daniel
Thursday: Because I don’t work with video or motion graphics, I went straight to Mel Rainsberger, who takes on freelance film and animation projects. She told me the following:
First thing first, find out if the agency does any video in-house or if they hire outside agencies. Most agencies aren’t big enough to justify all the expensive equipment needed to offer broadcast quality video production. Many prefer to hire studios dedicated to video/animation because they only have a need for video 3 to 5 times a year. Even big studios / companies might farm out their video needs because the cost of building an in-house studio can run into the millions of dollars.
If they do have in-house video capabilities, try to find out who the head of that department is. Next, try to find out if they have an opening/need for another video person. If you’ve seen their work, try to tailor your demo reel/resume to the agency’s offerings. Do they do a lot of stuff with kids? For sporting events? How can you support what they already do? Lastly, submit a kick-ass demo reel. Agency folks like to be entertained. Keep it to 2 to 4 minutes and only use your best work.
If they DON’T have in-house video, try to find out if this is something they want. They may be very happy with the outside contractor/studio they already use. You’ll have to be much more persistent and inventive. Try to find out if all of the three big needs are met: faster, cheaper, better. Maybe, their video/motion graphics contractor is really cheap and fast, but their quality is more akin to a local car dealership. Or, maybe their video contractor is very fast and good, but they are looking for cheaper options for smaller projects. You’ll have to work harder to make friends with someone in the agency, get to know them and their agency’s needs. Try to find out if they go to local networking events, or have a blog, or even just start with the info@agency.com e-mail address that’s on their site. VP’s, design directors, and senior-level designers are good places to start as points of contact. Don’t make friends with junior designers or the marketing team. It sounds horrible, but their opinions on hires are not greatly regarded. This is a very hard route to go, and you might have to take an internship with them or even give a discount to prove yourself. Another route would be to join up with their outside contractor, work for that person directly. A good video contractor/studio will always have too much work and if they can send out another cameraman or grip to an event, it’s a plus. Again, a good, entertaining demo reel, a concise resume.
Travis: I’ve never worked in the video or motion graphics arena either, but I’ve watched a lot of movies, which pretty much makes me an expert in anything.
So I, like Thursday, decided to phone a friend to get the scoop on how things work in Tinseltown and called world renowned TV and film superstar Rowdy Roddy Piper (as a fellow Canadian we’re allowed to call Mr. Rowdy once a year with any question). And while he went on a bit of a rant about bubblegum and butt-kicking, I got the distinct impression that he was implying that you should always bring your ‘A’ game to any potential gig.
So here’s what I suggest you do:
- Research the top five agencies that you really want to work for
- Compare your work against the quality of work that they are putting out
- If your work is equal or better to what they’re doing then pitch your best stuff
- If your work doesn’t measure up, then it’s time to buy a pack of bubblegum and start working on your butt-kicking skills
Anyway, I need to call Bill Shatner now and ask him some questions about this macaroni salad I’m making.
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