Give Me Back My Five Bucks

After almost a full year of writing and working 65+ hours/week, I started to think about what it would be like to take on a fulltime freelancing career. So, in typical fashion, I headed to Twitter for some advice: I immediately got this reply: His answer really hit home, because truthfully, I have been thinking about becoming a full-time freelancer for the majority of this year. There are thousands (maybe even millions) of people around the world whose goal is to earn money from blogging and writing on the internet. Or to be a published writer. In fact, I receive … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned a few times in the past couple of weeks that I’ve got a new freelancing gig – well now I can tell you that I’m a brand new personal finance writer for Canadian Living! For those who don’t know, Canadian Living is a monthly lifestyle magazine (and also available online), which focuses on food, fashion, crafts, health, family advice – and now personal finance. The topics that I will be covering are a bit different than on this blog, and on Moneyville. With Canadian Living, I’ll be discussing personal finance news, tax, real estate, government policy/law, history, book … Continue reading →

I was asked a few weeks ago to talk about my freelancing income: when I started to make good money from it, and if I’m still on track to earn $25,000 this year.  My freelancing business started in 2005, when I was still in college. I didn’t have many clients. In fact, I think I mostly did volunteer work in order to build up my portfolio. Which actually turned out to be a good move, because I was able to get full-time jobs a lot easier during the first few years out of college, since I had a decent portfolio … Continue reading →

Yesterday on Twitter, an interesting conversation developed over this tweet (linking to this article): Here are a few of the responses: Which brings me to my question for today: in terms of presenting yourself at work, where do you draw the line between expressing your individuality and staying professional? It might surprise some people to know that I have 7 piercings (6 in my ears, 1 body) and 2 tattoos. Probably because when I’m at work, you’d never be able to see them. While I understand that these days, it’s becoming more and more acceptable for people to have visible body … Continue reading →

I was recently asked by a few people how I was able to land my first job out of college (as a writer with the provincial government), with no experience. I don’t really think I’m qualified to give much advice on this topic, but I can definitely tell my story and let you know what I learned. This is going to be kind of a long post, so I apologize in advance. During college It seems so cliché to say that I “worked hard” while in college, but I worked effing hard. What I’m doing right now doesn’t even come … Continue reading →