Thanks for using my new comments functionality!

I’m glad to have you chime in. I’m glad you are looking at some entrepreneurial options. I know a lot of successful IT folks who contract their services back into larger companies but make more money per hour that way and it’s, in my mind, a much purer arrangement because there is no b.s. about job security, just a clean trade of $ for skills. And over time, you can definitely build a successful company that way too.

Good luck to you and stay in touch!

I’m currently working on a bunch of final changes to the final version of the book, I’m hoping to have it out in October.

- Jon Reed -

I plan on writing a longer article on this subject before too long, but the short version is that we can’t let ourselves be daunted by the challenges in front of us. I know a lot of people who spend endless time managing their friends and photos on myspace, and some of that time could be spent on mastering the obstacles involved in getting to a better place in our careers and with our online positioning.

If a web site is too daunting, just starting a simple blog on someone else’s service may be a good first step. The best thing would be to start on a blog that you could eventually transition to your own domain if you get more momentum and a bigger audience. Wordpress is one example of a blog service that I believe allows you to transfer over to your own domain over time, and I think there are others that would allow this also. As long as you start on a “portable” service, you should be fine.

As you start writing, that’s the key thing, then you will build some confidence and hopefully get a better idea of what your audience responds to. As I’ve written elsewhere on this site, that kind of feedback loop is invaluable.

- Jon Reed -

Of course, as a freelance writer, you have the luxury of not having to live off of your web site revenues, so any traffic you build will be a bonus. Look at it this way: if/when you look for book deals with larger publishers, they will all be interested in your “platform,” which is, essentially, your ability to market yourself. If you have a web site already built and active, even if it’s not all you hoped it could be, it will be a big head start over having nothing at all.

Too many creative people, in my opinion, are content with a myspace page. In my opinion, there’s no substitute for your own web site as well. I will write a full article on this topic at some point.

- Jon Reed -

It’s great to be testing out this new comment functionality. I recently transferred this entire site to a Wordpress site, and there are still some bugs I am working out, but the real perk is to be able to add comments to all the chapters and engage in conversations on these important topics, or at least, topics that I obsess about, and I’m hoping I’m not alone.

So, bear with me as I get the site spiffed up, but with the new setup, I’ll be able to add lots of new podcasts and other fun stuff as well as have some spicy back-and-forth on how to be successsul in a corporate world while holding onto that freedom that keeps us feeling strong and young even when the obtacles are many.

- Jon Reed -

Yes, it’s true, you can now comment on all the entries on Free From Corporate America.com! And yes, I will generally respond to those comments right away. I look forward to discussing the book’s themes with you!

And I’d also like to take this chance to thank Rachel Meyers for her excellent foreword and all she’s done to encourage this project…the book should be on the streets sometime later in 2008!

- Jon Reed -