Independent Income Sources

In brisk financial times, multiple streams of income help ensure a reasonable degree of financial security. When the majority of them are independent, all the better. Embarking on a freelance venture can be daunting at first when you're conditioned to expect income to arrive in your hands via a weekly paycheck, but it doesn't take long to see the viability of indie business if you start off slow and take the time to experiment with what works. Some sources are steady income streams, others are fallbacks. Identifying which is which makes it possible to live fully on an independent income stream fairly swiftly (given the right attention and stick-to-it-iveness).

Before embarking on a freelance venture, identity your strengths, and then identity strengths you can develop overtime.

Optimizing Immediate Strengths

All of us have talents. You may be a wiz with numbers, formidable with a pen, a born organizer, an exemplary imagist, or talented in another field your services are needed in. Identify what you do well, and decide whether or not it's something you want to freelance. If it is. Start brainstorming your service plan and marketing approach. There are content mills and virtual staffing companies you can join but its always advisable to build your brand, at least on the side.

Long-term Strength Training

For those skills you don't quite feel secure in or need.to learn completely from scratch, there are opensource digital program tools, online schools, virtual libraries, and social groups where you might find someone to apprentice under. We're in a time of great possibility, despite appearances. Devote an alloted amount of time each week and you'll be an old hat in swift time.

Markets and Freelancing Tools

The following are markets for some of the more readily visible categories of freelance work supported by online presence. They aren't by any means all there is, however, just a listing of some of the best, legit tools and potential clients. If you know of any worthwhile additions, drop a line in the comments.

www.write-jobs.blogspot.com
(writing) jobs.problogger.net
(writing forum) absolutewrite.com
(SEO marketing blog) SmartPassiveIncome.com
(writing, general business/marketing) sitepoint.com
(writing, graphic design/visual, tech) donanza.com
(writing) allofcraigs.com
(easeful writing for spare change) postloop.com
(bid-based virtual staffing) Odesk.com
(writing) Copify.com
(writing) PureContent.com
(writing) Groupon.com
(writing) ReadyCopywriter.com
(Sell digital wares) Ejunkie.com
(Open Digital Market) PeopleStox.com
(Open Market For Spare Change) Fiverr.com

Check back for updates.

Why Cheating Your Customers Is Silly, Subway.

Could Subway be any stingier of late? Extra finger motions midsprinkle "delivering" two tablespoons of shredded mozz (on a footlong no less), or a teaspoon of olives for those cheeseless vegan flatbread numbers doesn't make customers want to return. I've broken up with at least four Subway locations in less than three weeks for this ridiculous display of amnesia on the former grinder-haven's part.

As an eatery of such wide-reaching acclaim, Subway should be ashamed to have staff literally giving the least amount of fillings possible during sub orders. If one can't enjoy their sandwich without worrying about a miserly sub-maker growling "that'll  be extra" every five seconds or so, one will have to find an eatery that actually cares about whether or not their customers are happy with their purchase. Only a foolish merchant plays with their customers' food.

At this point, the only Subway I'll shell out cash to acquire a veggie delight from is one that can part with the overflowing buckets of green goodness laid out not as a tease, but as a promise of swoons and heartlight flickerings to come. If you know of locations that still deserve to be open to the buying public, do post them in the comments.

Feel free to post the locations hungry patrons would fare best avoiding.

Stretch Thy Dollar: Luxury Brews

During a visit to the illustrious Red Lentil today, after ordering a Berry Rooibos tea (pure magik), it occurred to me that while I'll continue to support my current favorite vegan eatery I will need to keep the beverage fund tightly leashed for awhile. Whole Paycheck has a decent selection of teas, as do online purveyors, that I can make at home (added vanilla extract and all) for a much smaller pricetag. The same is true for the cheerful frothy charms of the ubiquitous smoothie.

I can, for the price of a banana and a cup of pineapples, blend a small bit of liquid heaven in my humble green kitchen and err on the side of caution in such treacherously tight-fisted times where prices grow bold and sometimes cruel to keep merchant heads above water.

If you're paying heed to this particular lightbulb, what homespun creations are satiating the spendlust within?

Finding The Self

We're in an age that promotes homogeny before a backdrop of flashing lights, big booty vixens (many with the new injectables filling out their apple bottom jeans), and all manner of trend-regurgitating target-market candy. Mainstream music has grown more soulless and sensational by the day, and nearly anything-baseless-goes in the media. It's a circus of half-assed distractions, but most are so exhausted after several hundred miles on the fiat-paper hamster wheel that even drivel of this microtude has become acceptable.
When you can't feel anything anymore, distortion's sweet nothings feign the capability of filling the void.

But the void too many are running themselves into the ground to get away from can only be contended with when we have the metal to face it. The discontent of many years is an amalgam of experiences seasoned with criticisms from the "other" and the learned nitpicking assessments we make of ourselves well before we know who we truly are.

If we're ever to gain a sense of harmony and peace in this world, we'll first need to excavate the part of us that is willing to peer into the mirror with eyes that have fallen out of the habit of scorching what they look upon.

There's a certain amount of receptivity in that: a kind of freeflow in which we surrender our (perceived) dire need for (transitory) definition or foundation laying labels and categories.

When we can go here, we can find the self where its at home shining in truth.