One of the things I wanted to work on this summer (and still determined to do) is to build up my local clientele. The goal is to start including more non-web design clients. I would like to start conducting private training and workshop. As soloprenurs, I think we fear failure so much that we don’t launch anything until we feel its absolutely prefect. It tough to know if you have found the right combination of things if you don’t…

If you are self-employed like myself, you will feel that jury duty is one of worst things that could ever pop up at any given moment. The only hope you have to hold on to is if you are not chosen as a juror and dismissed or are picked, you can’t get call back to serve for up to 6 years (at least in the New York City, not sure if it apply to the entire state). Last week Tuesday and Wednesday I reported to the Kings County Supreme Court in downtown Brooklyn with the hope of moving quickly…

Almost two months ago I wanted to start profiling (in a good way, lol) other freelancers/ self-employed/small business owners like myself on my blog, ArtiatesiaDeal.com. I reach out to a few people and there was some interest in the beginning but then it died off. It wasn't until I posted about it on here the MYBBWO Network site that not only did the original five spots were filled but I had to start a waiting…

Yes, I’m blogging on the weekends. I know I don’t normally do but I been coming up with new blog post series (have you check out Savvy Professional Profiles) and I am decided debut yet another today. Plus if you did as much walking as I have in the past two days anything that include kicking up my feet, chilling and catching up my blogging is welcome. My legs are killing me right now. I am that…

Hi, my name is Artiatesia Deal and I am addicted to buying books and sometimes I don’t read or never finish them. This is why I try to stay clear of my favorite place Barnes and Nobles bookstore. I can never leave empty handed.

I even keep my BN member card update, so I can save a little money on my purchases. In my late…

When I went to print something out yesterday, I got alerted that my ink cartridges were running low. So I check to see if I had any and found only one black cartridge left. It actually been over a year (maybe two) since I last purchase ink for my HP all-in-one printer. I love my printer and the best investment I made, besides buying it was switching over from regular size ink cartridges to the XL ones. Yes, the XL ones are more expensive but it last way longer (even longer if you rarely…

I have stop ranting online and never really have done one on my blog, but that will change today. So why now, it’s because I have something to get off my chest. I feel like if I don’t do it now, I just might explode. Plus if I ever get told or text something similar to what spark this post, I can just send them here and hopefully they will get it. It will be my 2012 (and beyond) version of “Talk to the Hand!”

“You ain’t got no job man!”

I…

There is no secret about how much I love WordPress. It has made my life so much easier since I have embraced it but it wasn’t always that way. I look at web design as two parts – the designing of the graphics and then the back-end with the HTML and CSS. I have no problem doing both but sometimes the coding part can really kick your butt. I hate when I am working on some html edits and something goes wrong. Then it take me hours to figure out what’s wrong and it turns I added an extra…

Early this week I have the please of having fellow MyBBWO member Tamara Garrison-Thomas be a guest blogger on my blog.

Even though it goes unnoticed, cold calling is probably the most effective way to grow your business. Believe it or not, cold calling is a part of business development. Steve Richard shares in his blog, ‘Outbound Prospecting The Cold Calling Tactic That Works’ that 71% of sales reps…

If you are an entrepreneur in the service industry or have physical products to sell, there are two things you must have in your business toolbox. Although, I have yet figured out how to incorporate one of them into my business, I do own both. So what am I talking about? The first thing is a smartphone. Not sure if you have seen the latest Blackberry commercial taking jabs at iphone users saying that they don’t need a toy but a tool help run their business. On a side note, I think Blackberry…

Marketing is a very important part of any business no matter the size or budget. As a Solopreneur we have to come up with creative ways to get the word out about our perspective endeavors. Guerrilla marketing is one of them. So what’s Guerrilla Marketing? It is an advertising strategy thats all about low-cost unconventional means (graffiti, sticker bombing, flash mobs) to promote a product or an idea. The goal is to create buzz and maybe go viral.

Here are a few…

Its seem like it was ages ago when I created my first web page. Now today I am making a career of something that I love to do. Something that was just a hobby, never did it cross my mind that there’s a person(s) behind the scenes writing code that turns into my favorite website or those cool billboards that you see everywhere. All I knew was that I wanted to created websites but as the time pass my skills needed to grow as well. So I learned how to do other things.

A few weeks ago…

Dear friend,

We can all follow our dreams. It may seem impossible or extremely difficult at times, but it’s doable. We may fall several times before we figure out how not to though. I know you are working at that 9-5 job/building your business and hating every minute of it, wishing you could just bust out and live the life you want. You may know a few people who’re already on their dream path and say, “That will be me one day!”

You know that saying “The grass is always greener…

My year wasn’t totally bad…

I found the holes in my business and plugged them. Now it was time to focus on what is currently working for me and there were a few things that I did right this year. I was always attending webinars and taking tons of notes and the cycle just continued. I decided to stop learning (well more like cut back on taking part in so many) and start putting what I was learning into action. Basically that’s what we all should be doing – learn the knowledge and then…

It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks and yesterday was the worst. I won’t get into details (keeping my rant for offline). What I will say is that I’ve been coming to terms with a few personal things which gave me time to reflect on the past year. The perfect place to start was with my business. I am writing this to help you not make the same mistakes I did or at least notice them ahead of time so you can nip them the butt quickly.

I’m slowing getting back into my daily grind after spending a few days in the beautiful LA area. I had a wonderful time on the west coast (first time ever, but won’t be my last) for the 4th Blogging While Brown Conference and the first ever live Black Weblog Awards. I wish I could have stayed a little longer because I didn’t want my amazing vacation to end. Even though…

Have you ever tried to email a file but it was too large? Then you probably try to zip or archive it but it was still too big. I suggest you give Dropbox a try. Dropbox is the easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online. You can get their 2GB Basic package for…