The Blog of Will Mayo http://www.willmayo.com Exploring Life, Inspiration & Design Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:30:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en Freelancing: 3 Jobs In 1 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/AT_mtZVuANI/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/08/03/freelancing-3-jobs-in-1/#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:38:24 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/2007/08/03/freelancing-3-jobs-in-1/ There are 3 sides to working for yourself. Mastering the following 3 areas will absolutely help you make a success at freelancing.

The Technician:

Most of your time is going to be spent as the worker bee. Going about daily tasks, answering the phone, dealing with client problems, and writing the code. This is the easy part, as most freelancers know their job well and are highly skilled in this area.

How to increase your technical skills:

Online forums & tutorials, training courses and degrees, asking people in the know for tips. [Recommended website: webdesignfromscratch.com]

The Manager:

This is where most people (including myself sometimes) slip up. It can be very easy to focus all your attention on being a Technician, because you suck at the business/accounting/marketing side of things. I for one find most of this stuff boring as heck, but if you don’t get this area handled you are going to wake up one day with a mountain of paperwork and debt you don’t know how to deal with, or no clients at all because you didn’t market yourself enough.

How to increase your managerial skills:

Experience in the real world is by far the most effective way, but also materials such as marketing or sales books and learning how to deal with people by studying psychology. This can help a lot when working with clients, even if you have no employees to manage. [Recommended: How to Win Friends & Influence People]

The Entrepreneur:

Another side of working for yourself often overlooked. Have you ever thought about the long-term goals of your business? Where do you want it to be in 5 years time? Being the Entrepreneur means keeping track of your direction, and keeping the passion alive. You can be working on a difficult project all day, but if you’re excited about waking up to go to work in the morning it stops being hard work and turns into playtime – all the time.

If you find yourself lacking focus, like wandering off to check your email and watch a couple of funny YouTube videos in the middle of a job, you need to work on this area. It will help keep your attention hyper-focussed on your long-term goals, and short-term gratification will melt away.

How to increase your entrepreneurial skills:

Motivational books are great for inspiration and to make you passionate about life. Get into the habit of reviewing your personal and business goals.
[Recommended: Think and Grow Rich]

Closing The Gap

Don’t worry if you really suck in one of these areas, if you don’t have the time or just hate maths like I do, hire an accountant for example. If you don’t have an artistic bone in your body but need a flashy website, hire a designer. It will save you countless headaches and allow you to work to your strengths, not your weaknesses.

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2007/08/03/freelancing-3-jobs-in-1/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/08/03/freelancing-3-jobs-in-1/ Icon Bee http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/1jEGwp6uXUY/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/07/30/icon-bee/#comments Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:55:56 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/2007/07/30/icon-bee/ Icon Bee

Hey all! Long time no see.

I just launched a mini-site over at http://iconbee.willmayo.com for sharing great looking free icons. Check it out, you might find a few you like for your next project.

If I’m honest, I have a bit of a designers fetish for cute little icons. These are a few of the best I’ve seen on my travels around the interwebs. If you know of any send a link on over to iconbee@gmail.com.

Enjoy :o)

P.S. Are you loving Icon Buffet like me? Add me as a friend and lets swap!

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2007/07/30/icon-bee/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/07/30/icon-bee/ CSS Speech Bubbles http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/MESnNr60OjI/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/02/10/css-speech-bubbles/#comments Sat, 10 Feb 2007 20:52:42 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/2007/02/10/css-speech-bubbles/ Speech Bubbles Preview

Download Package (zip)

Easy to customize speech bubbles coded in valid XHTML and CSS.

Tested in all major browsers:

  • Internet Explorer 6 & 7
  • Firefox 2.0
  • Safari 2.0
  • Opera 9.0

All code is released under the terms of the GPL version 2.0 licence.

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2007/02/10/css-speech-bubbles/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/02/10/css-speech-bubbles/ Banana Switcheroo http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/aw3UfN6icMc/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/18/banana-switcheroo-with-little-nuts-on-the-side/#comments Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:11:24 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/18/banana-switcheroo-with-little-nuts-on-the-side/

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/18/banana-switcheroo-with-little-nuts-on-the-side/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/18/banana-switcheroo-with-little-nuts-on-the-side/ Taking The Chance http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/6IMXtFuwyng/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/02/taking-the-chance/#comments Tue, 02 Jan 2007 18:49:19 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/my-life/taking-the-chance/ It’s official. I’m leaving uni in search of bigger things, plentiful riches and to travel the world. I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life.

Is it a risk? Hell yeah. Is it gunna be fun, having nothing but a dream and the drive to do whatever it takes? HELL YEAH!

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/02/taking-the-chance/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2007/01/02/taking-the-chance/ Back Home http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/m5e5YHTEXuU/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/18/back-home/#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2006 23:21:57 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/my-life/back-home/ Safe and well, just. I managed to get left behind by the coach in the middle of nowhere at a motorway service station, but apart from that I’m just dandy. I never knew coming home from uni could be such an adventure.

The term has ended, and Christmas is upon me. I finally got to unpack my Xbox 360 that I won in a competition a month ago. Luck has been upon me it seems ever since I left school 2 years ago.

Lately I’ve been in the mood for making myself a rich man, using the web design skills that have taken me 7 or so years of learning in my own time to acquire. I wonder if I really need to continue learning at uni, whether I should just jack it all in and concentrate on making it happen.

The stories of some of the richest men in recent history have inspired me, for better or worse…

  • Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to pursue software development working out of a garage.
  • Steve Jobs, founder of Apple computer and the man behind the iPod, dropped out of college after one semester.
  • Shawn Fanning quit college at 19 to create a music download site called Napster. A year later it was worth £42 million.

Other dropouts of note include, but are not limited to:

  • Richard Branson
  • Michael Dell
  • Henry Ford

I’ve got to wonder, am I doing the right thing?

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/18/back-home/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/18/back-home/ That Is Big http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/XAmCmus7_aE/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/17/that-is-big/#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:20:10 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/uncategorized/that-is-big/

Holy. Shit.

Featured Information

Nowadays any one can make money on the internet because lots of window software are available in the market which any one can use in his online business and can earn easily, if any one has a website the he must get the services of Canada hosting or if wants more reliable hosting then linux hosting would be best for website which is also can be used for taking backups. Some people want php hosting for their business or rank analyzer for their website so for this lots of companies are providing affordable services.

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/17/that-is-big/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/17/that-is-big/ Progress Report http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/nTuukDoOBhU/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/10/progress-report/#comments Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:53:46 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/university/progress-report/ Made lots of headway this weekend, good job as the deadline is Monday. Since the first scene the next few were a doddle, as everything was set up the way I needed it.

Young Child’s Room

Teenager’s Room

Broken Pig Glued Together

In The Attic

Next came the death of piggy, boxed away and all alone in scene 5. This was a little trickier because I had to build a whole new environment for it.

The lighting was very important on this one, I built the set with a fake door which blocks the light and will be used to simulate the light of the door opening in the animation.

Added props, boxes, suitcases, you name it.

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/10/progress-report/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/10/progress-report/ Making of the First Scene http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/e_n_zDxItEs/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/10/making-of-the-first-scene/#comments Sun, 10 Dec 2006 11:21:55 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/university/making-of-the-first-scene/ This is for the baby boy’s room.










The final render


The animation will have the shadow of the mobile hypnotically spinning, and some lullaby music coming from a music box in the background.

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/10/making-of-the-first-scene/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/10/making-of-the-first-scene/ Setting The Stage http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/B_NTNIu13eo/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/08/setting-the-stage/#comments Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:17:45 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/university/setting-the-stage/ With the basic concept for the short story down, it’s time to start padding out the scenes. With each cut you will see the environment and the piggy bank changing, from the child’s early years to adulthood.

  • Scene 1:
    Begins in a small baby boy’s room, with a cot and rotating mobile. The camera focusses on the piggy bank, wrapped in a bow as a gift to the new born child.
  • Scene 2:
    Cot has changed to a small bed, and other props appear. A hand extends out to put coins in the piggy bank. This represents the young child caring for the object.
  • Scene 3:
    The room has changed to a teenagers, and loud music is playing in the background. The bass from this begins to shake the piggy bank off the table, when it falls and smashes on the ground
  • Scene 4:
    2 hours later. Same scene as before, just with the smashed object glued together, looking brittle and worn
  • Scene 5:
    The piggy bank has been neglected and put away in a box, left in the dark surrounded by clutter.
  • Scene 6:
    Rebirth of the object. Brought back into the light in a new baby girls room, as a handed down gift.

I’ve decided on a name for the short, forgotten. But piggy is remembered in the end, so all is good.

]]> http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/08/setting-the-stage/feed/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/08/setting-the-stage/ Wee Planets http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/willmayo/blog/~3/BlPBXPpEPCk/ http://www.willmayo.com/2006/12/08/wee-planets/#comments Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:45:47 +0000 Will http://www.willmayo.com/journal/uncategorized/wee-planets/ This set of photos is an ingenious twist on the fish eye lens. The stitching together of anything up to 80 photos gives the illusion of planet like globes.

Wee Planet

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