Interview with FrugalTheme creator, Eric Hamm.
In my relatively short tenure in the blogging world, I’ve been fortunate to come across some really good people. One of them I actually met after purchasing his WordPress theme, FrugalTheme. His name is Eric Hamm, and his story is an interesting one if you are a blogger or not. If you’ve ever considered making a living online this interview is definitely for you. Eric was nice enough to thoroughly answer a number of questions I posed to him. So let’s get right to the interview.
When did you first get involved in the blogging world and why?
July 21st, 2008, I wrote my first post on my personal blog Motivate Thyself. It was just a week or so before the publishing of that post that I started thinking about starting a blog and maybe even an online business. Read More>>
5 Important Benefits of Time Management for Students.
This is a guest post by Adrienne Carlson. If you want to guest post on this blog, click here to get more information.
From the time we begin school till the time we graduate from college, we lead the charmed life of a student. We are free from the regular responsibilities of adult life with
nothing to worry about except how to get good grades and enjoy life without getting into serious trouble. But in spite of this relatively carefree life, there are certain responsibilities that we have, mainly to ourselves and our personal development. Each year that passes by, we must grow in maturity and wisdom, and one aspect of maturing as a student is to learn how to manage time. Time management is important for students because it:
1. Develops Responsibility. Read More>>
How do you plan on increasing blog traffic in 2010?
It’s the New Year and, as always, the word “resolution” gets bandied about in many conversations at this time of year. Here, at TotallyUniqueLife, I’m interested in what your resolutions are for the coming year when it comes to blogging. I know that all of my readers are not bloggers, but I would imagine that a large majority are blogging regularly. If you currently have a blog, I’d really like to hear about how you plan on increasing your blog traffic in 2010. For what it is worth, my priorities are to do more guest posting and to refine my blog design. If you’re interested in reading any of my guest posts of 2009, please see the right sidebar under “Guest Posts”.
Now let’s hear from you… Please take my poll!
I’d love to hear your comments about your plans for this year and, if you chose “Other”, I’d like to know what you plan on doing to increase traffic to your blog.
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The Drawbacks of Taking an Online Degree.
As I stated in my previous post, this Spring I will be completing my third degree but this one will be completely online. In that post I discussed the benefits of taking an online degree. In this post I will focus on the drawbacks of taking an online degree and an analysis of the two at the end.
Now let’s get to the drawbacks …
Removed from the College Scene.
My eldest daughter is currently a freshman in college and she lives there full-time. Even though she has been there for only a little over three months she now calls it “home”. The camaraderie that she feels with her fellow classmates is strong. Read More>>
The Benefits of Taking an Online Degree.
This Spring I will be completing my third degree but this one was a little bit different than the other two. This degree will be completed totally online. Online education has been a whole new ballgame for me as far as schooling is concerned. Since I work full-time (and not on this blog), taking an online degree was an attractive option for me.
When it comes to education I tend to live my life by the quote:
“The truly educated never graduate”.
I’m sure that there are many of you out there who either have taken online courses or are considering it. Some colleges out there offer complete degrees online and in this post I will detail what I consider the benefits. In my next post I will focus in on some of the drawbacks of online education. Read More>>
5 Time Wasters related to Planning (and a Poll)
In my last post I touched upon five time wasters that are related to self-management and how we can avoid them. In this post I am going to focus on five time wasters associated with planning. And, for the first time ever, I am running a poll on what you feel leads to the most time wasted. Please participate in my poll at the end of the post! I am really looking forward to seeing how you vote.
Lack of written goals with deadlines
Floundering is probably the best word to describe what happens when we don’t have clear written goals identified. There is no bigger time waster than the lack of written goals with deadlines. The act of having clear written goals is very powerful and will help us stay on track.
How to Avoid: This is an easy one. Set your plan of attack and your end goals down on paper and review them regularly. For the short-term I have daily and weekly goals and for more long-term planning I have monthly and yearly goals. I keep those goals in a place in my office where I can see them at all times. Visibility to my goals helps me stay the course and avoid wasted time floundering from one task to the next. Read More>>
5 Time Wasters Related to Self-Management.
Increasing productivity is a goal for most of us but there are many time wasters that can drastically affect how much we get done in our daily lives. In this post I will touch upon five time wasters that are related to managing ourselves each day and tips on how we can avoid them. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
Personal Disorganization
You may not consider being disorganized a time waster but it can surely be a major symptom. If you have a cluttered desk or a poorly organized filing system (or none at all), you certainly could waste time finding certain items associated with projects that you’re currently working on.
How to avoid: Take a few minutes each morning or at the end of the day to clean your desk and organize your filing system. This will go a long way in helping you find paperwork or documents associated with the projects you need to tackle that day and the next. Read More>>
10 Notable Losses in 2009.
(This post is written in association with a Group Writing Project initiated by Daniel Scocco of DailyBlogTips. Daniel will publish the list of all participants in the project on his blog on Monday, December 14th). Read More>>
Interview with Jonathan Fields.
I have never had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan Fields face-to-face but I think I know a little bit about him. I read his book, Career Renegade, a couple of times.
I also reviewed it in this post. I have exchanged emails with him a few times and he has been very gracious to respond to me. I also read his blog regularly because it is one of the most thought-provoking blogs I have found in the blogosphere. If you do not know his story, maybe you should. Just go visit his blog and go to the sidebar and download the first four chapters of his book, Career Renegade, for free. You will get to know a fascinating, dynamic person who has a compassion and a spirit that will touch you as he has me.
After I read his book, I emailed Jonathan telling him that I was planning on reviewing the book on my blog and I would appreciate it if he could answer a few questions that sprung from reading the book. He was very gracious that I had decided to review his book but he didn’t have time, at that time, to answer the questions thoroughly enough. He did say he would do so when he had the proper time to devote to answering the questions. Being a man of his word, Jonathan recently surprised me with a long email with all of my questions answered. I am happy to be able to share these answers with all of you. Read More>>
A little history and coming attractions…
Seeing that this is a holiday week in the States I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
And now that I am clearly entrenched in a WordPress environment, it is probably a good time to reflect a bit and to also talk about what is upcoming. I started this blog back in July of 2009 and it has been quite a trip. You might ask what have I learned?
The work is all worth it…
Blogging is a lot of work but, more importantly, I think it has been well worth it. I’ve always had a penchant for writing but I haven’t always had an outlet to do so. My day job is in software so being able to create and grow a blog during off-hours has certainly been a creative and welcome opportunity. Read More>>

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