April Aspirations: Half Way Mark

Elizabeth Ann West · Post by **Elizabeth Ann West** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:06 am

Hello All,
Just thought I would continue our newly formed tradition of goal setting and tracking with a half-way mark check up.

I feel accomplished, and ready to keep conquering.

My ENTIRE website is now finished. WOOHOO. You can see it at www.eawestwriting.com.

I finished my accounting for Quarter 1, and I managed to stay in the black. Plus, my sales for the month of April are already 75% of March's sales, so I am confident I can continue my improvement there.

I also was selected and finished 2 projects at a different freelancing website, so I am excited to continue work there. This is good, because while they don't take more than 5% of project fees, there is a significant sign up fee, and I am just shy of making that up!

All I have left for this month is to finish my submittals to CC for the month of April (I have 3.5 articles in progress at the moment), and complete a gratis editing project I accepted. PHEW! Hope all you are managing to be just as productive! (After a dismal March, I am happy to be making so much progress).

Always Smiling,
Elizabeth Ann West

CRDonovan · Post by **CRDonovan** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:55 am

Elizabeth, you've got a terrific site. Nicely done.

Celeste Stewart · Post by **Celeste Stewart** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:36 am

Ditto!

Good job. I'd hire you for sure!

Lauren · Post by **Lauren** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:33 pm

Okay, I believe my goals were to post $500 worth of articles and to get up to date on my blog.

Since then I've posted $300 worth of articles, and I'm up to March 10 on my blog (but I have several posts ready from the end of the month). It's a personal travel/living abroad journal, which is why I can measure it by dates.

Half of the month left to go - yay!

SKetcham · Post by **SKetcham** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:14 pm

Elizabeth:

The website is gorgeous! I am extremely impressed.

I noticed you have been using Guru to find freelance work. You might want to take a look at oDesk. It is free to sign up and they offer the same general benefits as Guru. I have had great success using their website.

Also, because I am an editor even more than a writer, I noticed a few small errors on your website. If you are interested, I will let you know where they are located. They are not something a web user would likely notice.

Visiting your new site is giving me ideas about creating my own freelance website

Sandra

Elizabeth Ann West · Post by **Elizabeth Ann West** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:15 pm

WTG Lauren,

I always feel a kindred connection with you since we started at the same time, and I am hopelessly jealous you live in France.

I am actually working on my French with, don't fall over from laughing, but a Nintendo DS game called My French Coach. It teaches you like a kid, so there are vocabulary lessons where you whack a mole with the right word, and word searches (very hard to do a word find thinking in English but reading in French).

Keep up the pace, and your blog will be up to date in no time.

Lauren · Post by **Lauren** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:40 pm

Thanks Elizabeth! I feel the same connection for the same reason - and I've been impressed with what you've done in the same amount of time! Your website looks very professional, and you've certainly made a name for yourself here. And here's a secret: when I feel I need to remind myself to go deeper into my writing, do more research or take more chances, I remind myself of the article you had in the Premium Articles section. I haven't yet written anything that would be a candidate for that section, but I have quite a few potential topics, and I've taken a few risks with private requests I had to educate myself about. So thanks for the encouragement, even if you didn't realize!

I could probably use some Whack A Mole French myself. It has been pretty hard to find opportunities to properly practice my French. (Even in France!) But I'll actually be back in the States before too long - less than three months.

Elizabeth Ann West · Post by **Elizabeth Ann West** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:17 am

Sketcham--

Thanks for the compliment. I know there are mistakes... but I also knew I was too close to the information to spot them effectively. I plan to go back in a day or two, get over the shock of the mistakes, and fix them!

I just feel bad I didn't make my CSS template myself, I used one from freecsstemplates.com. But, manipulating it for my needs is far easier than writing from scratch. Plus, I would even know how to manipulate it if I didn't use 4 weeks of learning HTML and CSS on my own from a book (Thank you Sam's).

I signed up with oDesk, but have yet to try it out really. Thanks for the suggestion. When I met with my business coach, she was proud of my earnings through Constant-Content, but then asked how would I expand etc. We discussed how I can only produce a finite amount of writing each month, so the only way I will make more is to charge more. Hence the search for other ways to expand. But, I love Constant-Content's system too, I just need to get a well-rounded experience in all that is freelance writing.

I will try to give oDesk another shot. It will have to wait for May though, because in April I'm pure taffy being pulled in every direction.

Note to Lauren: Thanks for your kind words too. What C-C doesn't have in comparison to other freelancing websites, they make up for in love on the forums!

So far, I haven't seen any love among writers on any of the other sites.... closest thing you get is like.

breidi · Post by **breidi** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:22 am

Elizabeth,
I had the chance to visit your webpage today and it is very impressive! I think you can certainly tell that much time was put into making the pages take on a life of their own. I wish you much luck in the future!

Breidi