AnywhereMan

This thought goes through my head every single day.

Here’s a link to a very thought-provoking article on Mac AppStorm. One of the things I like about iOS is that it’s locked down, and I like that to an extent on the Mac too. But where do they draw the line to both promote innovation as well as preserve a pleasant user experience?

Yes, you can build your own PC with your own components, custom software, etc., but you’ll also be running utility after utility in an attempt to keep it running. I’ve always liked how well-integrated Apple software is with Apple hardware.

I’ve been so busy that I completely forgot to post this. Freelance Jam keeps on rolling along and last week we had super duper talented graphic designer, Sean Farrell, on to talk about logo design. The guy went from doing his thing part time while working at a Dippin’ Dots to designing amazing logos from his living room. He is a true Anywhere Man.

Fun episode. Check it out.

Is the title of the latest podcast episode fitting or what?! In this edition, Brian and I spent some time…a lot of time…chatting with my good friend Phil Montero of TheAnywhereOffice.com. We talked about things like building trust, working in virtual teams, and the future of the “anywhere lifestyle” – being able to do the work you want, where you want.

Phil and I actually met (virtually) soon after I launched AnywhereMan.com. Someone recommended that the two of us connect as we were both doing the “Anywhere” thing with our respective sites. The difference is that Phil actually makes a living by consulting businesses and individuals about the anywhere lifestyle.

If you already work where you want or if you’re thinking about it, listen to this episode. It will be worth your while and you can tell Phil knows what he’s talking about. I’ve been working remotely for almost five years now and I even learned quite a few things in this interview.

It’s only fitting that it’s already Thursday, I haven’t blogged all week, and I’m blogging about a podcast episode about blogging.

That being said, this past week’s episode of Freelance Jam was a lot of fun. We talked blogging with Amber Weinberg and she shared some of the ways it’s helped her grow her business. It ended up being a really good episode packed full of stories and great tips.

There, I blogged.

One of the best things about co-hosting Freelance Jam so far has been learning new things. I learned a lot in this week’s chat about typography featuring Sean McCabe from Bold Perspective.

We had a blast talking with Jason Schuller about the web design process on last night’s Freelance Jam.

Just wanted to give a quick testimonial for a Chrome/Firefox plugin that turns your Gmail inbox into an absolute “getting things done” (GTD) factory. It’s called ActiveInbox and I am proud to say it’s allowed me to finally create a good system of managing tasks, follow-up items, and project-related items within my Gmail inbox.

I use Gmail interfaces for both my personal and business accounts, and I find that (especially with my business account) many of the items that get emailed to me are tasks: Update this, change that, etc. With ActiveInbox, I can assign those emails as task to specific projects, give them a due date, and even leave associated internal notes.

A few weeks ago I had literally thousands of emails in my inboxes, and after a day with ActiveInbox I was at inbox zero with both of them. I consider that a major victory.

Have you used this plugin? If so, share your story and experience in the comments below.

For the rest of you, check out ActiveInbox today.

Ironically I was just sitting down to figure out a good system for my wife to back up her photos when I noticed the announcement on Amazon about their new Cloud Drive service which offers 5 GB of storage for free.

You can upgrade to premium plans with additional storage, and if you purchase a full MP3 album from the Amazon store they’ll give you a year of 20 GB storage for free.

Check out the Cloud Player, too, which allows you to listen to get those gigs and gigs of music off your local drive yet playable from anywhere.

Anywhere? Hey I kind of like that.

I just signed up for Michael Hyatt‘s email list so that I could download his new e-book, Creating Your Personal Life Plan.  I haven’t even read it in full yet but after just skimming through the topics I can already tell it’s going to be a good one.

There are so many things in life that we plan: vacations, projects, events…but do we ever set out a plan for our life itself? I certainly haven’t and I can’t help but think planning everything else would get that much simpler if I had a set of goals and actionable items for my life as a whole.

Definitely take the time to sign up for Michael’s email list and download this free e-book. Also, his blog is one of my favorites so go ahead and add that to your reader app. Lots of great topics on everything from leadership to technology to lifehacks to book reviews. A goodie-bag of awesomeness.