Something I can relate to working.

Ten Things Your Employees Wish You Knew About Them | Fast Company: “

If you think it’s tough being a manager these days, try being an employee. Most are in the position of having to go with the flow because of the current economic conditions. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they do so with a smile on their face. Here are ten things your employees wish you knew about them: 1. They are happy to have a job. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are happy in their job. Big difference. People who are happy in their jobs act a lot different than those grateful to have a job. They are highly engaged and will do whatever it takes to delight the customer. The other group simply floats along praying for the day they can tell you really what they are thinking.”

(Via .)

Newbie Freelancers: Hopefully this will help you jump-start your freelance marketing endeavors. Also a refresher course for veterans.

The article: Top 5 Self-Promotion Articles (FreelanceSwitch)

Here’s a great article from Smashing Magazine. Through examples, they illustrate how beautiful and effective  photography can be for your website. I always tell my clients, especially those who do promotion the importance of having great imagery in their websites. This article great sums up it and more.

The article: How To Use Photos To Sell More Online (Smashing Magazine) Click!

The parallelisms with what I see and feel as I work are so uncanny. What’s funny is that the first article was written in 2005. Amazing how a five-year-old piece could still be relevant today.

Here are two articles; one published in 2005, the other I saw just now, about why (to generalize) HR sucks and what we can do to solve it.

Overall it’s a very insightful read, although I feel that the second article was more of an appeasement piece. Still, towards the end it directs the question to both parties; how we can all foster a great working environment and differentiate ourselves from the rest?

• The 2005 article can be found here: Why We Hate HR (Fast Company)
• The second one here: Why We (Shouldn’t) Hate HR (Fast Company)

I recently read this article about speculative work. Speculative work is any work done without any agreed, fair or reasonable payment. It’s a very informative piece, and on my part very eye-opening. It makes me think about those contests companies hold that invite people to re-design their logo or website.

To those of you who are new to the business, you should read the article. It will help you to value your work and yourself as a designer.

The article can be found here: Click!

Those who want to know more about Spec work, you can find more information from the NO!SPEC website (advocacy website).

I found this in the interwebs, about how you can create a mission statement that stands out. I looooooove the part about using the word “solutions”.

It makes me reflect on the mission statement of the company I’m currently working for. It also makes me want to make my own.

The article can be found here.

Here’s a couple of interesting articles, saying that working while standing up can help you to become more productive. I found the first one in MacWorld. The author says:

Overall, I’m quite pleased with my shift to standing. I find I’m able to stay focused for longer stretches, and far less likely to succumb to distraction. When I’m standing up, I genuinely feel like I should be working. And I definitely don’t suffer now from the post-lunch crash—it’s tough to fade away into your chair if you’re not sitting in one.

I like the idea of being able to resist the post-lunch napping, especially with my work schedule (two jobs and all). Check the article out here.

The other is from Other World Computing. His decision was born out of necessity. You can find the article here.

oh cPanel...

I’ve had 2-3 sites that always eventually denies me access to editing the files. But then again maybe it’s because poor hosting administration. Or I’m just an idiot… or maybe it’s cPanel.

Which makes me love my current web host because I don’t get any problems from them about that, and if I do, they usually answer back very quickly.

By the way, they don’t run using cPanel!