A pic of the downtown Minneapolis skyline is our pic of the week.
Welcome to the Weekly Quick Hits Roundup!
If you’re new here, every week I write a weekly wrap-up of things that were going on here at Young Adult Money, a few personal updates/thoughts, and finally a few posts I read this week that I thought were worth sharing.
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We also have our giveaway roundup every Friday. This Friday there are 112 giveaways listed this week that end today (9/26) through next Thursday (10/2).
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Happy Friday everyone!
Well this week went by quick, to say the least. It was a strange week for a few reasons. Here’s my “Friday random though dump” for you:
- Cat’s last post – As I’m sure many of you saw, Cat’s last post on the blog was this week. She’s been a weekly contributor for well over a year and I really enjoyed working with her.
In that time she not only had twins, but also became a full-time freelance writer. She’s really taken her business to the next level and she will be pursuing other opportunities such as her blog coaching business. She’ll be missed! Now you’re stuck with me on Wednesdays :0
- Giveaways – As you can see from the 100+ giveaways listed on our Friday giveaway roundup, it seems like the giveaway craze has only increased in recent times. This week there’s a 50′ LG LED Smart TV I have my eye on.
If you’re looking to do something (relatively) mindless in your spare time to make extra money, I would recommend giveaways. I wrote about how to make money entering giveaways in the past, and while I can’t guarantee you will even win anything, it’s something worth trying if you want a side hustle that is low-to-no commitment.
- Blog Improvements – So I decided to stop being lazy and updated my “contact me” section this past weekend. Before it was literally one or two sentences with my email address. Since adding guest post guidelines as well as *kind of* pitching my review option for businesses, I have been able to cut down on my ‘spam’ email and secured a review.
Next I really need to add a “hire me” tab. I’d really like to land one or two more freelance writing gigs but have put 0 effort into pursuing them.
I also need a redesign, but I’ve been saying that for a year and a half now so…probably won’t happen anytime soon.
- Random Thoughts on Freelancing – I have a friend who is a freelance sports writer here in Minnesota and it’s really exciting to see her success. It’s a lot of hard work to get traction in the media industry but I truly believe if you’re willing to put in the work and “grind” it out for a few months (or years), you will eventually succeed.
It’s honestly refreshing to see someone actually put in the time and effort necessary to succeed.
So that’s some of what I’ve been thinking about recently. We are celebrating our anniversary this weekend. Nothing big, but it’ll be nice to step away from the blog and everything else, even if only for a day.
Below are the posts we published this week:
- On Monday I explained 5 Ways Rich People Have an Advantage in Life.
- On Tuesday I asked Should You Add Your Blog to LinkedIn?.
- On Wednesday Cat explains How to Resist Spending Temptation
Posts of the Week:
As usual, here are 5 posts that I enjoyed this week from around the blogosphere. Actually, I got excited and added a few more this week.
Want to be featured? I pick blogs that comment on the site regularly, so stop by and leave a comment!
- Stefanie from The Broke and the Beautiful Life shared In Pursuit of Millionaires: Secrets to Success
- Shannon from Financially Blonde shared Music Mondays – All the Small Things
- Alexa from Single Moms Income tells us How to Save $500 by Christmas
- Natalie from The Finance Girl talked about 5 Savings And Debt Ratios For Young Professionals
- Andrew from Living Rich Cheaply asked Are You a Sports Fanatic?
- E.M. from Journey to Saving talked about her experience going to FinCon in Being Grateful: Forty-Forth Edition / FinCon
- Jef from My Career Crusader shared 5 secrets to entrepreneurial success
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What has been on your mind this week? What do you have planned this weekend?
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Photo by mtellin
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Seems like you’ve had a busy week. I appreciate your words on freelancing as I do want to break into it. I’m off to check out your new “contact” page. Have a good weekend!
Good call on updating your “contact me”–I really need to do the same. I’ve been thinking of adding a “hire me” as well, so I’ll be interested to see what you add. There’s just always more to do, isn’t there ;)? Looking forward to a fabulous fall weekend here–hoping to go apple picking! Hope you have a great one!
I agree with you changing the Contact Me to Hire Me tab, I actually just realized that my blog has the Contact on it and not Hire Me, and I should probably change that, although I am going to launch shannonmclay.com next week which I plan to use for hiring. Anywho, thank you SO much for including my blog post in your round up! I had that song in my head all day on Monday and every time I see it, it gets in my head all over again. :-) Have a great weekend!!
Thanks for the link love. I combine my contact and hire me tab and have seen a lot of work flow in that way. I’ve also been amazed at how many of my freelance gigs have come from other bloggers who go on to be content managers at bigger sites.
Thanks for the mention! I took my hire me tab down quite awhile ago. I think I have maxed out the number of freelance jobs I can take without feeling burnt out. Plus I’m ready to really focus on my own blogs and make my own products :) I see more potential there.
Thanks for the mention! Freelance sports writing sounds like fun, though it’s probably tough to get into. Speaking of sports…I’m a Yankees fan…wow what an ending to Jeter’s career last night at Yankee Stadium. I still think fans are crazy for paying upwards of $800 for tickets though. Anyways, as for giveaways, I used to enter them with no luck so I stopped…I know you’ve won a few good ones though.
Good call on the updates. A Hire Me tab is a great way to get some more attention towards that. But, I may be following Alexa and taking mine down soon for a bit as I’m getting to a point where I have about all the freelance writing I can handle. Hope you have a great weekend celebrating your anniversary – I’ll be at the K-State game tomorrow and looking forward to it. :)
Thank you so much for the mention!! I didn’t know you were doing all these new things with your blog; I think freelancing is a great way to expand your business. Good luck!!
Happy Anniversary! What do you have planned?
Thanks for the mention! I have a contact me and hire me page, but I still get spam requests, or requests that really don’t make sense for my blog. I can’t imagine how much competition there is for freelance sports writing, but it sounds like a fun opportunity if you’re a sports fan!
If you find a way to totally eliminate all the spam emails, please let me know. Best of all, this will not cost you one penny, only a link to my payday loan website! Have a great weekend.
Yes kind of crazy to think of all the changes. I was sitting in my office in Grenada when you first asked me to guest post about living overseas which started our whole entire thing! It’s crazy the amount of stuff that’s happened since then! Also I like that your friend is having success with her freelance sports writing. That’s definitely not easy to freelance in mainstream media. Good for her!
Congrats on your wedding anniversary DC! I not long ago created a Contact/Hire Me as one page and it has paid off for me in terms of new freelance work.
bustedbudget Let me know if you have any feedback on my contact page. Everything can always be improved. Hope you have a great weekend as well!
Mrs. Frugalwoods I also plan on adding a “hire me” page, but still deciding exactly what I want it to look like. There is definitely always something more to do! Hope you have a great weekend too!
blonde_finance That’s really smart of you to create a separate website to drive business! I used to have a separate blog but it was too much. If I went harder into freelancing I would definitely consider giving the personal page another try.
brokeandbeau That’s awesome that networking has worked to your advantage! I also know a lot of other bloggers who have become freelance writers and even a couple content managers. It’s always good to keep up your network.
SingleMomIncome I think that’s why I don’t have a hire me tab or even mention that I’m looking for freelance jobs. I’m arguably over-extended already. I think you’re smart for focusing on your own blogs and products. Being a freelance writer, you still trade your time for money. With your own websites and products you can potentially get paid while you sleep.
Andrew LivingRichCheaply It’s still hard to believe how that game ended! Unreal. Jeter and the Yankees always beat the Twins in the playoffs…so I have mixed emotions about him.
FrugalRules That’s exactly why I don’t have one up yet. I have received emails from companies and content managers, but I have a relatively high minimum to protect myself from getting too many gigs and freelancing my life away. Have a great time at the K-State game, looks like they are a really good team this year.
theFinancegirl Yeah….my blog is in need of change haha. The redesign I am just so picky about that I’m not sure how or when that will get done. I’m scared to death of making the site look worse!
Beachbudget Thanks! We are headed to the same hotel we stayed at on our wedding night. It’s near the Mall of America so we’ll hit up ikea and do some shopping – something we don’t do much of anymore!
JourneytoSaving No problem! Yeah freelance sports writing would be a competitive field, but I’m sure others would look at personal finance writing and think it’s super competitive as well. The advantage of sports writing is there is always something NEW happening, so there will always be a steady work flow.
BudgetandBees Yes life changes quick! The only thing constant about life is that it goes on. Wow I’m getting philosophical here haha but yeah I forgot to mention you moved back to the United States in that time!
Kassandra @ More Than Just Money Thanks! I should probably add the “hire me” details to the contact page. There is no reason to break it out, really.
Happy anniversary, DC!! Gorgeous pic of the skyline! LOVE the weather we’re having here this weekend! A trip to the apple orchards is on our list of fun stuff this weekend. Have an awesome one, DC!
I am going to try and make the meetup tonight! Maybe see you there.
Hey DC, thanks a lot for the share here! :) Looking forward to the blog improvements… Looks like things are really happening here for you
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer Nice! We’ll hit up the apple orchard later in October, but it’s a must for us. Hope you have a great weekend too!
No Nonsense Landlord I won’t make it, but I hope you have a great time!
mycareercrusade No problem! Yeah I’m excited to spend a bit more time developing various aspects of my site. It’ll force me to cut down the number of blog posts I publish each week, but I think long-term it’s worth it.
DC @ Young Adult Money No Nonsense Landlord I was there. We all gave each other gold stars for attending. No gold star for you.