First and foremost, thank you to all of you who’re following me along on this, it’s been fun sharing the process and I hope that some of this is valuable to some of you! If anything, the hats and do-rags I use to cover my bed head are amusing! :) If you’re interested in hearing stories about crazy work schedules from other freelancers, I have a whole post dedicated to it! Freelancers, You Can Sleep When You’re Dead!

Everyone should check out the Wordpress Theme Framework Kyle left a comment about yesterday, called Thematic, download and save this for jump starting your next theme project!

Today I talk about designing for web with weak identity systems. We have all had to do it and sometimes it’s a fun challenge… a similar issue effecting freelance web designers, Coding Designs That Are Not Your Own (namely bad ones.)

Rush Project Tip of the day: Creating good design is more remarkable than sleep.

Oh …and in case you were wondering, YES! I did set 2 alarms last night.

If you don’t want to struggle though this crappy video, I will recap in my Day #3 Video tomorrow!

Thanks everyone for following me on this roller coaster, all your comments and tweets really brighten my day!

My RUSH project tip for today: Set 2 alarms!

Bonus!

Here is the Lorem Ipsum Wordpress template I mentioned – Import this .XML file into any clean install of Wordpress and you’ll have a collection of placeholder posts, pages, categories and tags to help you get a kick start on styling all the text elements that a blog will need!

You can see what these placeholder posts look like if you visit the demo version of the FREE Wordpress theme I released earlier this year called Simple Changes.

Day #1:

Client supplied me with all the necessary pieces needed to get a running start, client meeting was this morning and from now till 11am tomorrow I am getting the design together!

My RUSH project tip for today: Get feedback sooner than later when time is tight!

The idea of “personal brand” has to do with thinking of yourself as a unique part of your industry, and marketing your one-of-a-kind skills, style and personality as its own brand — and in my opinion, it is NEVER a waste of time to start growing one! Growing your personal brand through the use of social networking tools is something that can be beneficial in many ways, whether you are a freelancer or 9to5er, here are a few…

1. Just because you’re happy and secure at your 9to5 now does not mean you always will be. In the economy of today, layoffs have been widespread over many industries and if a sudden change in economic climate puts you out of a job, having well-laid foundation with your personal brand could give you a leg up in a competitive job market!

2. Future potential employers will look at your online profiles if you are applying for a staff position! This is the case for many industries nowadays, but especially in web design. Being a web designer, it is so important to be educated about emerging trends and technologies on the web and the only way to really understand these tools is to use them!

3. In addition to using social media tools to grow your personal brand, you will also be benefiting your current employer and current clients by educating yourself more about these tools!

4. If you hope to start a business in your future, make an investment in that future and start making your name known NOW. Building a foundation now will only help you when you do break out on your own. Buy your vanity domain name (yourname.com) and secure your name on as many of the social networks as you can.

5. Blogging and social networking will help you connect with other in your industry, which can come in helpful if you need to relocate to another city, outsource a project, ask questions about software or code, get a design critique or business advice, or just to nerd out about a new font you just bought!  Your interactions with those in the design community will aid you in improving your skills at your 9 to 5 and you can make some awesome FRIENDS along the way!

What Do You Think?

These are just a few reasons why I see social networking as valuable to those in the design industry, maybe some of you disagree with me? Leave a comment and give me your thoughts on the matter!

You can buy these titles on Amazon and read along with me!

Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us by Seth Godin | This book is all about community!

The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business by Tara | This one’s about community, personal branding and social media marketing.

Wildly Sophisticated: A Bold New Attitude for Career Success by Nicole Williams | A unique womans perspctive on marketing yourself in a competitive business world. I chose this cause I was intrigued by her interview on Obsessed.tv – check that out here.

Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash | The title should explain this one… :)

The Lucky Reader Drawing…

I wrote down everyones Twitter handle and did a drawing from a hat (old-school style!) Thank you to everyone who participated and those who shared the link on Twitter! Of course a BIG Thank you to Bidsketch.com. (If you don’t want the suspense of the video, scroll down to see the winner – or click where I tagged the name announcement!)

So what is Bidsketch? It’s proposal software made for designers. It provides a way to easily manage clients and the proposal process. More importantly, it lets designers present their services in a completely new way.

Features they’ll get in the Premium Account

• Client landing pages designed to help you win more projects. Clients can export to PDF or accept a proposal with a single click.
• Several professional looking proposal templates and designs to choose from.
• Ability to embed images, and Flash video. Anything you can do with HTML/CSS, you can have in your proposal.
• Unlimited number of proposals, clients, and user accounts.
• Customize templates for reusing content, and create fee items to quickly price proposals.

Congrats to @corinspired on receiving a full year FREE premium account from Bidsketch!

The folks over at Overnight Prints have offered the readers of CMD+Shift Design blog a chance to win 500 free business cards. Free printing, free shipping!

The Lucky Reader Drawing…

Yesterday I wrote down everyones Twitter handle and did a drawing from a hat (old-school style!) Thank you to everyone who participated and those who shared the link on Twitter! Of course a BIG Thank you to OvernightPrints.com. (If you don’t want the suspense of the video, scroll down to see the winner.)

Congratulations to @aaroni268, hope you enjoy your cards — I will be contacting you shortly with more info!!!

Join in the discussion!

Leave a comment below or at one of the other posts I mentioned! OR make your own video response on this subject and post it to your blog, then share the link with us! :)

How You Use It

You can group your followed friends into categories like “Designers”, “Blogs”, “Celebrities” and then view you lists to get a more targeted look at what people are talking about.

How Your Followers Use It

When you are looking at a Twitter profile, in addition to seeing who they follow you can also check out the groups they have created or the groups other people have listed them in! This can be helpful if you are looking for a certain group of people like designers or freelancers to add to your stream.

What do you think of this new feature? Do you see it as something valuable? How will you use it?