Fabian and I began what became nearly an 8-month email conversation about freelancing, choosing good work, and living the location-independent dream.

Check out the first half of our chat on his site, then return here for part two:

Melanie: What about you? It seems like every email I get from you is from a different country! I love that you’re able to take on different gigs and try new things, and I’m surprised that a lot of the jobs you’ve listed can’t be done “virtually”… It’s hard to be a tour guide over the phone or computer! What advice would you have for someone trying to decide which jobs to take, to allow for location independence?

Fabian: There are different approaches to this, of course. The web 2.0 version is working online and playing the whole “wi-fi addict sitting in a Starbucks” game… admittedly, I enjoy doing that from time to time, although I wouldn’t want to do it for 30 or 40 hours a week. It would just be swapping a cubicle for a coffee shop.

The much older, “classic” version, though, is to travel and take temporary jobs, without getting caught up in them. The downside is that these jobs often aren’t well paid and don’t look beautiful in a CV – but on the other hand, they leave you with a lot of freedom and the opportunity to experiment.

My advice would be for everybody to decide upon how mobile he or she really wants to be. For me, it’s more important to be able to move anywhere within a week or so, than to really do it all the time. That means that you don’t have to live permanently in hostels or hotels to be location-independent. I personally have been changing places every couple of months during the last two years, but I enjoy the freedom of moving more or less often, whatever currently feels best.

Once you’ve reached a pace you feel comfortable with, you may freely combine different sources of income, i.e. from online ventures and local work alike. You may also start to work for free, if you can, for example helping out in NGOs or schools you visit on your way.

What do you think about creating multiple income streams? For me, it seems central for freelancers, but how do you decide about what projects to pursue, and how do you avoid to be or under capacity or totally stressed out because of high demand?

Melanie: I love the flexibility you describe… being able to combine work from online and “real-world” ventures. People always talk about the need to find work-life balance, but I wonder if some of that is also a need to find online-offline balance or some sort of mixture of work types.

As a freelancer, I think I’m always fighting that feeling that I’m either working too much or too little. I haven’t found any way to make that disappear entirely, but I try to get past that by going after projects that support my long-term happiness. Even if I’m working crazy deadlines or long hours, if I believe in the project or I’m fired up about some part of it, then it seems worth it.

When I take projects out of guilt, or just for the money… that’s when I get into trouble.

Here in the US, it definitely seems as though the schools don’t prepare us to take control of our own lives and make conscious decisions about how to spend our time, where to live, what to do. Did you find the same thing growing up?

Fabian: I think I was lucky in some ways, because I attended relatively small schools in a tiny town in Germany, and also had many good teachers. Some of them were really worried about getting us pupils to think on our own, questioning politics and society in general, and this certainly left an impression on me.

What I perceive as more problematic is the “decision making” part you mention. Sure, the internet wasn’t a big issue when I was at school (graduated in 2000), but at least it was perceivable that the old model of employment – growing in one company, making a career, having a lifetime contract and all imaginable benefits – was broken and wouldn’t be fixed easily. Instead of motivating us to become more entrepreneurial thinkers, we were taught to just strive to be “perfect” in as many areas as possible, in order to get a job: Flawless marks, no leisure time, doing unpaid internships, speaking several languages, etc.

While the skills I gained through this certainly are worth a lot to me, I had a hard time finding out that I’m actually able to decide upon how I want to organize life and career myself. I had to struggle for quite some time to start constructing my own way in this new world of labor. For the generations following me, it seems to have become even harder, and most of them – at least in Germany – are just fighting against each other to grab one of the cool jobs out there – but almost nobody thinks about the possibility of creating a dream job on your own!

You have been writing about these matters for quite some time now on Rock Unemployment, what is your perspective on this? Will we see a rise of micro entrepreneurs, or is this just a small online niche, or even a bubble that might burst soon?

Melanie: I feel like the workforce is shifting. My guess is that we won’t see much of a rise in the number of people who take the leap to become entrepreneurs, but of the people who do start their own businesses, more will be choosing to go solo, rather than start large companies or location-dependent businesses. Technology is allowing for some great shifts in how we choose to work!

Fabian: Also, you recently decided to experiment a little more on your site. How has the feedback been until now, and can you already tell us more about the direction where you are heading with Rock Unemployment?

Melanie: The experiment has been great! I was amazed to see that email list sign-ups and comments went up. I thought I’d lose half my followers by changing direction.

I’m still trying to sort out where Rock Unemployment is heading, but I’m choosing to write about things that interest me (how we work and live), instead of things that I’m no longer as passionate about (résumés and job applications). As with anything creative, it’s a process of testing and trying new things.

Fabian: I’m really looking forward to it! Thanks Melanie, for taking the time to answer my questions!

Melanie: Thanks for this conversation, Fabian! I love your site and look forward to reading more.

If you’re needing to slow down and get creative this month… The August Break
Susannah Conway’s running The August Break, a chance to step away from the computer and spend the month with a camera. Though I’ve decided to continue blogging a bit this month, I’m participating in the break so I can get in the habit of taking more photos and spend time playing around with all of the fun camera apps I’ve got on my iPhone. (You can see my pix as I add them here).

If you’re running a business… Minimalist Workday: 50 Strategies for Working Less
Everett Bogue’s free e-book, Minimalist Workday, is both a great introduction to working for yourself and an exhaustive list of ways to gain focus if you’re already in business. I found several tips to immediately improve my workday, and I plan to re-read it again in a month or so to see what else I can improve.

If you’re thinking of starting your own side gig… 27 Reasons Why You Should Never Have a Job
While you’re on Everett’s site, downloading Minimalist Workday, be sure to check out 27 Reasons Why You Should Never Have a Job. I think I ought to frame this and post it on my wall for those days when I get tempted to return to a salaried job.

If you’re needing a little R&R… Yoga for Bloggers, Writers, Concert Pianists, and Computer Geeks
Marianne Elliott released this 10-minute Yoga For Bloggers video when she launched her new website in April. I downloaded it a while back, and it sat on my computer desktop for ages until I clicked on it again today. Holy heck! This thing is a gem! My neck, shoulders, and wrists feel open, relaxed, and downright yummy. I plan to make this a part of my daily routine, and I highly recommend it to anyone who sits at a desk or computer. Looking for more yoga goodness? Her next 30 Days of Yoga starts in October.

If you need to know that all’s right with the world… Touching Strangers Photo Project
In Touching Strangers, photographer Richard Renaldi asked complete strangers to pose together for photos, “with the stipulation that they must touch each other in some manner.” The resulting photos—some awkward, some moving—are a great way to be reminded that we’re all just trying to figure out this life stuff.

Today, via Super Duper Fantastic—who I met a few years back when I was doing my 101 in 1001—I came across Not That Kind of Girl.

“NTKOG” is “on a quest to do 250 completely uncharacteristic things before August 23, 2010″. Not only is her writing snappy, she’s out there rocking it! Among other things, she’s gone out on the town in a blonde wig, asked for a do-over on a manicure, and tried being a day drinker. Check out her What I’ve Learned page for the whole list.

Consider me a fan!

Bear with me, since this post is going to be all about me. (Look! I’ve already used “me” twice in a sentence!)

Yesterday, I broke apart the Rock Unemployment site. Today, I’m taking down the Twitter feed. I’m killing off the Disqus comments, too, and returning to the standard WordPress commenting system.

Thanks to two terrific blog posts (from Marie Forleo and Elsie of A Beautiful Mess), I’ve realized that it’s time to simplify and stop doing the crap that was taking up all of my time and keeping me from the good stuff. I want to share ideas, learn from you, and do it all with the tools that I enjoy: a simple website and an email list.

I’m tired of writing what I think I *should* be writing—it was boring to me, so I can’t even imagine how YOU feel about it—and I want to start writing stuff that I find interesting. That may or may not include:

• Restructuring the way we learn and work: Our education system here in the US is crap. Our jobs are worse. Freelancing and creative gigging are perfectly legitimate options for a lot of folks, and we should start talking about that.
• Minimalism and the simple life: I’ve been tracking my progress reducing my personal consumption over at Daily Guilt. I want to share that with you.
• Cool people doing cool stuff: I keep bookmarking awesome projects I see on the web and in real life, such as this cool-as-hell Flickr set by Jason Travis, showing people and their stuff. I find these projects inspirational. If you’re like me, you’ll probably dig ‘em, too.

I agonized about these changes and even called my friend, Dyana, for “permission” before I started deleting code.

I don’t know where this site is going, or if I should even call it Rock Unemployment anymore, but I’m moving forward and figuring it out on my way. I’d love your feedback, suggestions, or great links (I’ve been reading a lot). Let’s get this party started!

This morning, Sam Bennett and I had a chat about creativity, organization, and getting geared up for your next project or job search. We had such a great time, I’m posting the whole 30-minute conversation here, unedited.

In our chat:

• The magic of the “Genius Envelope”
• How to rock your goals in as little as 15 minutes a day
• Why the people you vibe with are the key to your next big opportunity

Listen to our conversation here:

Right-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) here to download the mp3

Links from the interview:

• You can visit Sam Bennett’s website, The Organized Artist Company, at: theorganizedartistcompany.com
• While you’re there, be sure to check out her Creativity Jump Start Home Study program
• Also mentioned: Creative Freelancer Conference

Watch more free documentaries

Following up on yesterday’s post where I showed my insanely jealous side, here’s a kick-ass video of Sir Ken Robinson from the TED conference this year, talking about how we can revolutionize education. Anyone who feels, as I do, that our education system is failing us and falsely limiting our career choices should watch this right away.

So what are we going to do now?

I’m not going to lie to you and say that I wasn’t jealous at all. I was completely overwhelmed with jealousy! (She’s only 17! How can she do such awesome stuff? It’s not fair. Blah, blah, blah…)

Then I thought about what it would take to create great photos like that: a thorough understanding of my camera, practice shooting, a little reading up on light and color. These things aren’t impossible. In fact, they’re pretty easy to achieve with a little dedication.

Whether or not I’m willing to take the time to become an excellent photographer (I’m not), it’s within my reach at any age. Do I want to become a world-class pastry chef? Totally possible. Do I want to learn to play guitar? I can!

There’s nothing stopping me—or you—from creating awesome stuff. It’s usually just a matter of learning a few basics, then practice, practice, practice.

So, what do you want to create? Is anything really stopping you?

This video of a talk by Jasmine Star is geared mostly toward photographers, but don’t let that stop you. All creatives can benefit from her advice on branding (hint: it’s YOU). The video’s not short, but I’m pretty sure it’ll make you rethink the way you do things. As she says in the video, “…You can rent a camera, and you can rent a lens, but you cannot rent your brand…”

I somehow missed this 15-minute talk by Gary Vaynerchuk. (I think it’s from 2008). If you’re at all doubting your ability to do work you enjoy or to create a legacy for future generations, Gary’s talk will knock that right out of you. Watch it now…

I’m making some changes to my business and shifting my priorities as a result of watching these videos, so you’ll see new stuff on the site in the coming weeks.

Have you been inspired to try something new in your work or personal life? Share your story in the comments!

I had a great time seeing friends new and old in Denver last weekend (as well as checking out a Rockies game at Coors Field). Welcome new readers!

Here are this week’s quick tips from @RUbetweenjobs on Twitter…

Job Search Tip:

• Make sure to spell the hiring manager’s name correctly! You may even want to have a friend double-check it.
• At your interview, get the names (or cards) of everyone you talk with, then send thank you notes immediately.
• “Help” is not a dirty word. Don’t be afraid to ask for some if you need it!

Side Gig Tip:

• If you’re not able to help a client, don’t be afraid to recommend your competitors for the job. It’ll come back to you!

Cheap Fun Idea:

• Naps aren’t just for kids. Take a couple of hours and enjoy your time away from the 9 to 5!