These are my links for November 30th from 14:16 to 14:33:

• Selling Basics - Ebay’s selling basics video.
• eBay University: Index - Looks like ebay has a series of courses and tutorials on how to set up an ebay-style business. Looks like there’s a search engine for local classes as well.
• Drop Ship, Light Bulk, Liquidation and Import Wholesalers from Worldwide Brands! - Home Page - Here’s a place that gives you some options in doing “light bulk” orders for drop shipping–good for the little guy just starting out without the kind of volume most places want. Also, their search engine is pretty nifty. Type in a product that you want to sell, and it comes back with all kinds of options.

    

These are my links for November 30th from 13:46 to 14:03:

• Wholesale dropshipper product dropshipping source - Drop Ship Access - Yet another dropshipper, this one mentioned in the article by chickenmonsterr on ebay.
• The Next Generation In Dropshipping - Simplx - An even larger drop shipper/whole saler — 60 million products. Wow. I wonder what they want in exchange for access?
• eBay Guides - How to Find a Good Drop Shipper - Some words of wisdom from chickenmonsterr on ebay–how to find a good dropshipper.
• eBay Products to Dropship - Dropship Brand Name Products at Wholesale Prices - Shopster - Yet another ebay dropshipper. 1 million products in inventory. Someone was telling me that they couldn’t find dropshippers who were reputable. I wonder why not? I’ve found three in five minutes on Google. What’s the catch? Again, I’ll keep you posted if I figure anything out.
• Connect with drop-ship distributors and manufacturers | Doba - Here’s another ebay dropshipper. They claim to be the only one certified by ebay. Hmmmmmm. Another free 7-day deal.
• MegaGoods.com Wholesale Consumer Electronics DropShipper. - Just the first in a long line of ebay drop-shippers I’ll be looking into as I experiment with side businesses. I promise to report back how I do on each of these.

These are my links for November 25th through November 26th:

• TweetStalk - I’ve had this experience–notice somebody interesting on Twitter, but don’t want to go to the trouble of following them. Why follow, when you can stalk them….aka follow them without letting them know you are doing so. Minus the hanging around at odd hours in their bushes, machete in hand.
• Gizmo’s - 50 Places for Free Books Online | Gizmo’s Tech Support Alert - A great list of free books/ebooks online.
• InfoQ: Colors and the UI - Every single person who has ever asked a web designer to put blue and red together should read this piece. It’s a great article on the science behind colors and how we perceive wavelengths of light.
• DevSnippets » jQuery - Some JQuery snippets that are ready to go, right now…for all of you who want the benefits of fantastic snippets on your site, but no time/talent/desire to actually build it out.
• Why the Four C’s of Community Require the Commitment of Many - Advertising Age - DigitalNext - Forget viral…concentrate on the Four Cs: Content, Context, Connectivity, and Continuity.

  

These are my links for November 25th from 08:13 to 12:37:

• Pragmatic Developer Guide to UML (covering uml 2 with uml 1 comparison) - A developer’s view of UML.
• UML 2 Activity Diagramming Guidelines - Once you’ve got the use case diagram down, the next step in modeling a process is to master the art of activity diagrams. They’re not that hard to learn, and they’re very useful no matter what activity you’re trying to diagram. I use them all the time to try to understand the complex nature of software and processes at companies.
• Abusing Social Media - I’m torn by the perspective in this article. On the one hand, I have to agree that a lot of companies are misusing (or underusing) social media applications like Facebook widgets, twitter, and so on. That indeed, most of them had zero clue how to blog, and that yeah, verily, they will ultimately screw up iphone and mobile marketing.However, I think that this is all just part of a heuristic process that needs to proceed along a path (albeit winding and confusing). Otherwise, companies just get stuck in a communications and marketing rut.

  

These are my links for November 24th through November 25th:

• Where GM went wrong: Let me count the ways - Nov. 24, 2008 - A chilling look at how GM went from top dog to whipping boy in just 30 years. There are some bitter lessons in all this for those of us who run our own businesses, no matter how small or large.”In many ways the story of General Motors since the 1960s is a tale of accelerating irrelevance. Customer preferences changed, competition tightened, technology made big leaps, and GM was always driving a lap behind. It became a red-state company, its Buicks and Pontiacs seldom seen in California or New York City. GM has been losing market share in the U.S. since the 1960s, destroying capital for years, and returning no share price appreciation to investors.”
• Coding Horror: Can You Really Rent a Coder? - I’ve always thought that sites like RentACoder and Elance were harbingers of the apocalypse. Why should I, as a professional, participate in the dismemberment of my own industry? Think about it. “It’s too easy to write these sites off as an affront to software engineering. I guess they’re sort of like dating sites — they might be one way to find a client relationship, but I’d be highly suspicious of any professional developer who can’t find a stable, long term relationship with a client eventually.”
• Polymorph: Hacking Business Models - Some interesting thoughts on creating an open source business model, complete with egalitarianism and agile methodologies. I don’t agree with all the ideas presented here, but they certainly are food for thought.
• Seth’s Blog: Watching the Times struggle (and what you can learn) - Seth Godin does a piercing analysis of what’s wrong with the NY Times (and maybe your business too!). “Lots of organizations go through this analysis. How do you leverage your brand or your customer base to get to the next level, to enter new markets or new technologies–and do it while running your old business. And almost without exception, organizations are run by people who want to protect the old business, not develop the new one.”
• If I Started A Company Today | Andrew Hyde - Humble Yet Bold - Some bold advice, and five steps to success to starting a company in a down economy.
• Social Patterns - The art and science of designing social media spaces — wikis, blogs, social marketing sites, community sites, and more.

  

These are my links for November 24th from 10:24 to 12:33:

• The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Optimization - Search Engine Guide Blog -
• Influential Marketing Blog: 5 Rules of Social Media Optimization (SMO) - How to use social media optimization (bookmarking, tagging, social discussions) to help build your site traffic.
• UML Primer - An oldie but goodie–very thorough UML diagraming primer.
• Rational UML introduction.pdf (application/pdf Object) - A very concise (and entertaining) introduction to UML modeling.

      

These are my links for November 23rd from 20:23 to 20:37:

• How to Be a Copywriting Genius: The Brilliantly Sneaky Trick You Must Learn | Copyblogger - Here’s a sneaky trick that’s so obvious, it’s a wonder why we haven’t thought of it before now.
• Warning: Use These 5 Surefire Headline Formulas at Your Own Risk | Copyblogger - Some more useful headline templates from CopyBlogger.com.
• Mac 101: schedule your scripts - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) - Learn how to schedule AppleScript scripts with iCal. This is a great way to turn your Mac into a GTD machine — not only send reminders, but schedule certain tasks (such as pulling down email only during certain times of the day, shutting off apps like Safari when you need to concentrate on writing).
• Using Tiger: Learning AppleScript - Page 1 | Macworld - Learn the basics of applescript for those of you on Mac–it can make your day a lot more productive if you can automate some tasks!

      

These are my links for November 23rd from 19:32 to 19:38:

• Hardingco Blog » Blog Archive » Making Time for Business Development # 3: Keep Your Eye on the Prize - Make time for rainmaking in your business! If it’s important enough, you will make the time for it. If it isn’t, then don’t complain when sales are flat.
• Which Marketing Book Can Help You? - Three books on rainmaking that you need to read.
• How to Change the World: The Art of Rainmaking - Guy Kawasaki strikes again: “As long as you have sales, cash will flow, and as long as cash flows, (a) you will have the time to fix your team, your technology, and your marketing; (b) the press won’t be able to say much because customers are pouring money into your coffers; and (c) your investors will leave you alone because (i) they will focus on companies with weaker sales and (ii) they won’t want to jinx your success.”
• SKMurphy ” Customer Development for a Consulting Practice in a Downturn - Some hard questions you need to answer if you’re currently losing customers in this downturn.
• Consulting Pulse: Extra-ordinary Consulting - Timely advice on consulting from the likes of Alan Weiss, Seth Godin, and others.

  

These are my links for November 23rd from 17:04 to 17:09:

• “Starting A Business” - Idea Cafe on business plans, business names, & startup issues -
• Three Keys to Successful Branding for Small Business | Branding Matters -
• Open Source 101: An Executive Guide to Open Source -
• Smart Money’s Small Business Site -
• Copywriting Tips for Online Marketing Success From Copyblogger — Copyblogger -
• The Fast, Good and Cheap Pricing Method | Freelance Tools, Advice, and Resources | Freelance Folder -
• 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on - Inside CRM -
• Business Owner’s Toolkit -
• Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development Blog -
• http://www.sba.gov/ -
• 10 Free powerful Content Management Systems -

   

The call on Friday November 7 was pretty good, I think. I talked for about 10-15 minutes and then took questions for about an hour. The topics ranged from working with overseas clients to fixing up your portfolio/clips and networking for the shy/introverted.

Here’s the audio recording in case you missed it:

Jump Start your Freelance Career (MP3)