Do you use Facebook?  I think most freelance people are using it on some level to either market themselves or just to have a place to meet other freelancers.  But are you taking advantage of all the great groups and pages there are out there?

Since I’m on Facebook I frequently join pages or groups that have to do with writing and social media.  Some have proven to be more useful than others.  Here are some of my favorites:

Groups:

• Writing Gigs Community

Pages

• Freelance Folder
• Sharon Hurley Hall
• Facebook4Freelancers
• Freelance Writing Jobs
• The Work at Home Life
• Savvy Freelance Writers
• The Blog Squad
• Social Media Examiner

Each of these pages and groups have their own advantages and can bring something to you Facebook experience.  Instead of just hanging out on Facebook and playing games why don’t you check out some pages and groups and learn while you’re there?

Of course, I would love it if you’d join my page as well.  Danielle Gibbings McGaw is still growing but I’d love to see some interaction happening!

Do you have others that I’ve mentioned?  Do you have your own?  I’d love it if you’d leave a link in the comments!

Well, I’m one month into full-time writing and loving it.

I’ve been hustling my butt to get extra writing to top off the one regular writing/social media job that I have and I have not found it difficult. In fact, some days I’ve had too much.  But it was good to hustle for a bit.

As a result of the hustling I’ve gotten two more regular gigs and have two more in the works for September.  Between these I have no need to do anything else but I have time to take on a few more things.  That’s good.  That means that when I need to make a little extra cash I can do some of my content mill writing or I can put out word to a few sources and get a little extra in.

It’s no where nearly as difficult as I thought it would be and if I’d known how suited I was for this life I would have done it five years ago!

Day 1 of the 31 Days Blog Challenge is to come up with an elevator pitch.  I remember doing this one before but I think I missed the point of it.

The point of an elevator pitch is to have a response to people question when they say, “Exactly what do you do?” (and you know if you tell them that you’re a freelance anything that is going to be the first question they ask!) – you need to have something short and sweet to tell them that explains what you do in simple words.

Now, if you look at the title of my blog I guess it isn’t exactly clear.  Text Media?  What’s that?  I guess that text media is my play on text writing and social media.  So Text Media is any type of social media that is based on words – like Facebook, Twitter, or blogging.  It can be other things as well – article marketing, bookmarking (although I’m not really big on that yet), LinkedIn…and some others that I haven’t really gotten into so we’ll leave it at that.

You should have a short version to give to those who are just asking to be polite and likely won’t sit through a 3 minute spiel but you should also have a longer version that you can use when they really do want to know what you do.

So, my short version elevator pitch:

I help people with written social media like blogging, Facebook, and Twitter.

And my longer version:

I help people with written social media like blogging, Facebook, and Twitter.  I write profiles for their social media accounts, I help set up their accounts or their blogs, and I write the content.  It can be as simple as writing a blog post for them a couple times a week or it can go as far as writing the blog post and then spreading it through their social networks.

So, despite the fact that I’m seriously behind on The Ultimate Blog Challenge I’m also starting The 31 Days Blog Challenge tomorrow.  They’ll kind of merge together but the 31 Days Blog Challenge has specific tasks.

It’s based on Darren Rowse’s e-book 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.  I bought this ages ago and while I’ve read over parts of it I’ve never really put it to use so I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to go through it with a bunch of other people for support.

If you missed getting in on the Ultimate Blog Challenge you might want to try this one.    Since I’ve been through this book I know it is going to be a great experience!

Have you heard of this event? It’s happening on August 30th and it looks like it is going to be amazing. This is a FREE teleseminar serious that has a line up of some of the smartest women online today.

If you’re a work at home mom or a sole entrepreneur – and yes, that includes work at home dad’s, too! – you’ll want to check this out. It’s not just the same info that you hear every day and read on every blog you come across – this going to be the kind of info that you can immediately put into action and it’s original stuff!

Wondering what exactly you’ll learn?

• Establishing the right mindset to achieve more success than you could imagine possible
• Leveraging radio so you can grow your list, get more clients and position yourself as an expert
• Achieving a six-figure income in four short months with FREE marketing
• Tapping into the power of the huge, ever-growing Hispanic market
• Transforming your website into a powerhouse branding and marketing machine
• Taking full advantage of your social media tools through some great creative tips and tricks
• Making your blog ROCK so you can make more money and attract lots of new clients
• Hiring a virtual assistant to free your time and set your business alight
• Taking your networking or multi-level marketing program to new heights
• Using community marketing to explode your online presence
• Transforming your lackluster Facebook Fan Page into a fantastic, entertaining and profitable business tool

Check it out – I know I’m not planning to miss this one. Why would I? It is FREE and you all know how I love free!