Technically, I’ve only visited one actual co-working location so far and the rest have been libraries. You won’t find libraries on a list of co-working spaces but I wanted to include this into my experiment for several reasons. You can do get work done and get an Internet connection too. Although there are signs that say no loud music, no cell phones and no food I have seen all of these rules broken. They aren’t the ideal place to make as your “temporary” away from home office space but for some it’s all that they can afford.

I had an interesting conversation the other day with an older woman who shared that actual sentiment. She now finds herself out of work and temporary homeless because of the economy. Despite all of that she was still in good spirits because she was determined to find her way again and she goes to the library to look for a job. However, this particular day the WiFi was acting crazy, constantly going out or having to be rebooted. So when she expressed her feelings about how it’s ashamed that the Internet going out is a regular occurrence especially when for some this is all they have, got me thinking.

The New York City library system can never completely shut down. Too many people rely on them from using the computers, looking for a job or taking classes to learn everything from English to how to use Microsoft Office. I have notice that there’s two main groups who us these facilities – the average person and then the shoestring budget entrepreneur. For the shoestring budget entrepreneur, there have been some complainants and there are pretty consistent across the board.

5 things I have learns so far doing Operation Cowork at libraries

#1 – Libraries are invaluable. Far from a traditional a co-working location but you get free WiFi, access to a bathroom, tons of research materials at your fingertips. Although sometimes that free WiFi can suck and go down at any moment.

#2 – If you have your own laptop, walk with an extra battery or two. Outlets are very scarce and most of the times they are being used to charge up cell phones. You may want to invest in an extension cord or powerstrip but be prepared to share. Although, some people don’t ask, they just plug in their stuff without batting an eyelash.

#3 – Adults are louder and ruder than kids. Don’t forget your patience and a good pair of headphones.

#4 – If you don’t have a laptop of your own you can use one from the library. You must have a valid Brooklyn library card and a photo id to check one out. Although you cannot take them outside building (or inside the bathroom) you can use them for up to two hours. However, not all Brooklyn libraries provided this service. The following braches do: Brownsville, Bushwish, DeKalb, Macon, Marcy, Saratoga, Stone Ave and Washington. You cannot save to the laptop so you need to walk with a flash drive or use Google Docs.

#5 – Make a few friends or bring a friend to work with. The staff at the library is not responsible for your belonging. I watch people leave not only the library laptop unattended (wish is against the rules) but also their personal laptop on the table and walked away. I guess they feel comfortable doing so but I won’t.

I have three more libraries on my list to visit before I make me way to actual co-working locations and outdoor cafes (I can’t wait for Spring).

As I sit at my computer typing the title of the today’s post, I can’t believe it. I’m totally freaking out inside. First off I would like to thank LaShanda Henry for not only creating this power event last year but allowing me to be part of it this year. She has impacted my life in such a positive way. I am truly humbled and blessed to have my first speaking gig at this year’s SistaSense Power Circle TeleSummit.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the event, LaShanda Henry of SistaSense.com (a money and marketing blog for web entrepreneurs) created it. Its model is “The Success of Your Business Depends on the Company You Keep.” The listeners of last year telesummit, we got to hear amazing panelist such as Lamar Tyler and Pam Perry share their stories about how they haven’t gotten to where they are today and how we can get their too.

This year in celebration with Women’s History Month, LaShanda have put together another great panel of speakers including Pam Perry, Richelle Shaw, Jai Stone, Deborah Owens, LaShanda Henry and myself. It will take place on March 1 and its’ an all day event with 12 information pack sessions on such topic as Branding, Blogging for Business, New Media Marketing and how to generate more traffic to your site/blog.

Space is limited to you better reserve you seats now.

Early Bird Registration is $45 | Regular Registration is $90

For the Early Bird Registration use this code “EAR10″ at check out. Seats are going fast and the code will expired today. You get to call in and listen in as you like AND all registered attendees will receive access to the REPLAYS (when available) PLUS a surprise gift from LaShanda.

Please stay glued to this post for upcoming details.

It’s that time of year again – TAX SEASON. When you are self-employed your taxes are handled a little different than if you are only generating income from a traditional 9to5 job. The burden of documenting everything from income to expenses falls squarely on you. I am no tax expert but now that I am a full-time freelancer I need to stay on top of everything right down to the smallest detail. So this weekend I set aside some time for gathering all of my things so I can move ahead with making an appointment to get my taxes done.

I had talk with my tax preparer a few months ago to make sure I’ve been doing things correctly. One of the homework assignments she gave me was to create spreadsheets outlining both my income and expenses. She said the online site I am using (Outright) to track everything is okay but doing it old school will give both her and me a better understanding of what going on it my business. Also because there were a few line items on my Schedule C (that generate from the site) didn’t apply to my business.

So that was exactly what I did. Last year I had two streams of income. The first being freelancing doing web design work accounted for 94% of my total 2011 income and the rest (6%) came from Affiliate Marketing. I plan on adding a third source of income and increasing Affiliate Marketing revenue this year. Once I inputted all of the income data in an Excel spreadsheet I double-check it against my outright account. Both numbers checked out.

Then it was time to move on to expenses and since that big task I decided to deal with it in pieces. I started off calculating how much Paypal took in fees. Supposedly Paypal Fees can be considered as an expense*. Also cost related to the conferences and webinars I attended last year is considered an expense, so I had to made sure all of those documents and receipts were in order*.

However, as I started to complete my Expense spreadsheet, I notice that my numbers weren’t matching up. You know what this means, I need to go back to the drawing board and go through every single receipt, email, Paypal transaction, bank and credit statements. One thing I need to make sure of is that neither Outright nor I counted something twice. I believe this year we have an extension on the deadline to fail our taxes because April 15th falls on a Sunday. My goal is to have my taxes done before than so I can start worrying this year taxes.

Have you don’t your taxes yet?

Setting up and managing your own online store is becoming easier. I personally know quite few people who are making money online by sharing their passions with the world and have found success. You can be one of them and there’s nothing stopping you (well sometimes we hold ourselves back). It doesn’t matter if you are selling a tangible good, digital product or service; there is a site for pretty much everything.

In some cases you won’t even have to spend a penny to get started, where as others you may have to make a small investment. When it comes to your business, you shouldn’t be afraid to make an investment in your future. Just do you homework (make Google your best friend) and figure out which avenue is the right fit for you.

Here are a few sites to help you get a jump-start on making your dreams a reality.

1. E-junkie – great for those who are selling digital products such as e-courses, eBooks, or services

2. iStockphoto – photographers and illustrators can sell their work

3. Etsy – marketplace to buy and sell anything from handmade to vintage items

4. Big Cartel – a shopping cart for artist, bands, and more.

5. Zazzle – make your own design and put it on a variety of items to sell

6. Cafepress – similar to Zazzle where you can apply your own design on items to sell

7. HP Mag Cloud – sell your own content in print or digital form

8. WordPress – you can create a regular site or blog but there’s are some great E-Commerce themes to use also

9. Paypal – create a buttons and collect payments on any type of site

Check out these shops for inspirations

Wilma Jean Designs via Etsy

Atslopes and Gifted Apparel NYC via Big Cartel

SistaSense in Print Magazine via HP Mag Cloud

Afrobella via Zazzle

I hope this inspires all of my budding entrepreneurs out there. Setting up a online shop can be a great side hustle for you busy guys and gals.

Do you find yourself wishing you had more time in the day to complete what you set out to do? Raise your hand if you ever beat yourself up because you feel like you didn’t accomplish enough or didn’t meet your goals? (Raise both hands and feet) You tell yourself if you could just find one or two more hours, you could finish a few blog posts, find a new writing gig or make a few more sales. What if you I told you it possible to achieve it and you won’t feel guilty stepping away to sit down for dinner with your family, hang out with your friends, or get an extra 30 minutes of sleep.

I am in the service industry doing web design. My design studio has one employee – me – I have to handle both the creative and business end. There are times when I wish I had a team to handle the business end so I can just focus on being creative. So I did what anyone would do in my situation. Whether in the future I decided to expand my business, I needed to found a way to help relieve some of the stress by streamlining some of my tasks. It will be better for everyone.

At the end of 2010 I found out about a great site called E-junkie. E-junkie is a site that will allow you to sell your products and services. I currently use it to sell some of my most popular design services (Blog headers & Facebook Page Banners). It’s have been a tremendous help for my and my business. Whenever I get an inquiry about one of those services, I can now easily direct them to that sell page which they can do one of two things: make a purchase directly from there or contact me if they have additional questions. The great thing is that I will never forget to invoice because my E-Junkie shop is my own personal express checkout line.

It makes me smile when I check my email and I see that I have a sale. It’s a great feeling and with a recent tweak, I know that within hours or the next day new customers will email me with all the information I need to complete their job because they receive an special instructional PDF upon making a purchase.

I know now see the importance of eliminated unnecessary steps in my process, freeing up time to focus on designing. I can’t forget to mention how affordable using this service has been. For just $5 a month I am able to sell up to 10 digital products and/or services. E-Junkie has been one those tools I incorporated into my business that has stood the test of time. You should give their FREE 1-week trial try.

Sometimes we all need something to brighten up our day.

Photo Credit: Danatanamachi.com

I came across these images before and I wanted to share it but didn’t want to just link to it in a link love post. So I decided that it was time to bring back my Creative Corner Blog Post Series.

I just love the chalkboard look and need to get me a copy of this issue ASAP before they are all gone. The artist behind the gorgeous cover is Dana Tanamachi, a graphic designer and custom chalk letterer living in Brooklyn, New York. GO BROOKLYN! You can learn more about Dana and see her other chalk work on here site at Danatanamachi.com.

That’s right my second annual Web Design New Year Sale is almost over and it’s been very successful. A lot of Bloggers and Soloprenurs are planning on doing a lot of great things this year and investing in their online presence seems to be at the top of their lists. These past few weeks I have been busy working on everything from custom blog headers to web banners and blog customizations. I have been having a blast working on these creative jobs that I totally forgot to share this news here on the blog. I can see you guys shaking your finger that me but still time to cash in on these amazing deals (if I say so myself). So with out further ado here they are:

Sales ends Feb. 29th 11:59pm EST

Blog Header Design w/ a free Grab me Button
Currently on sale for $15 (regularly $45)
Use Code: BHD12 (6 left)

WordPress Starter Kit | $77
Don’t have a website or blog yet? Then my WP Starter Bundle is just right for you. This kit are for those who are interested in: 1) using WordPress as the platform for their new site or blog, and 2) are going to host it themselves

First person to to use Code: wpsk12 will receive a 15% discount (only 1 available)

Virtual WordPress Assistant
When was the last time you updated your WordPress software? When was the last time you back up your entire site? Don’t have the time right now or just need some technical assistant – Let me take care of it for you. I have three different levels: Mini, Basic, and Premium.

Use Code: jan12 for any level- Virtual WP Packages (only 12 available)

On Monday I visited my third library pick for the third time for my CoWorking Experiment – Central Library (I’ve always referred to as Grand Army Plaza because of the location). It’s the only branch I know that is open on the weekends (Sundays included) and has longer hours. I spent many hours at the GAP location back in high school – ah the memories. The majority of the time, my friends and I would go there just to use the Mac computers in the kids area. I was surprise to see that it hadn’t change all that much. A few weeks ago I figured that Sunday would be a great day to check them out, shouldn’t be too crowded especially since it’s was very cold out. Well the turn out was just the opposite. I suppose it was because libraries were closed the following day to observe Dr. Kings Holiday but my second visit proved that wasn’t the case. If NYC ever closed down all of the libraries I don’t know what will they do will all of the books and materials, let alone where will all of the people use these facilities would do.

I was able to put in about 3 ½ hours of works, with Sunday having shorter hours (1pm-5pm). What I enjoy was that there tons of space from which to work. The library has three floors and the café is still there, which is a good thing because we will have to walk a little ways to get food. Most importantly there is tables and outlets. The section of the library I choose to work from had about 5 tables set aside for laptop users and each had an outlet underneath them allow up to four people to juice up at a time. The Internet connection was slow. I had to reconnect several times and it always happened when I was saving something. Even with the amount of people there it was pretty quiet. Well there was this one guy, who made his presence known even before the doors open. Not sure if they kick him how but his had several because the guard went to talk to him. Other than that I really didn’t need my headphones. People really respected that it was a library and kept the noise to a minimum.

On the first day, upon entering I asked if there was a place where I could work with my laptop and the polite librarian pointed to the quite room as well as a table near the elevator which is set aside for laptop users only. Also next to there, is a build-in bench area that has outlets on each side, so at the most a total of 6 people (with one device each) can juice up at a time. I should mention that all of this is the children area.

My most recent visit went way better despite some transportation delays. It was beyond peaceful, working with nothing but adults, no loud kids running around. I think it was the closest I have gotten to an actual CoWorking experience in a library setting. I believe I put in about 7 hours of work. If I had more snacks with me, I would have stay until closing time. I wish I live closer because it truly not a bad place to work from. The internet connection was better and plus it’s right next to the park, which would be a great place to hang out when it gets warmer – Summer Fridays! LOL.

Cost of Coworking at Central Library Branch: $13.50

Cost of running Operation CoWork (as of 2/08/12): $22.50