So, I’ve decided to sell it on eBay to one lucky buyer. It’s a Xeon Quad Core, 2.66GHZ,  All specs are listed on the eBay listing . The usuals are all included with the item (power cable, Apple mouse & keyboard, Apple airport, manuals, discs and Snow Leopard is up to date 10.6.6. as of today.)

It’s a wonderful and powerful machine, runs blazingly fast with 7GB’s of RAM, and looks and feels brand new. I also have the original Apple Mac Pro box ready to go and ship to the buyer.

If you or anyone you know may be interested, please let me know or place a bid, thanks very much. Let me know if you have any questions also!

It was a fun experience and I think Michele and I had a pretty good discussion on the topic of social media..what it is..why businesses need to understand it etc..

You can listen to a recording of our segment of the show below. If you are reading this in your email or rss browser, you may need to visit the actual post on BrianYerkes.com by clicking this link.

[audio:twestival-wgcu-radioshow.mp3]

For those in or near Southwest Florida, please consider attending some of the Twestival SWFL events starting on September 10th. For a full list of the events and everything that is going on, please click here. Oh, and one thing some of you may be interested in is the fact that Chris Brogan (yep, you read that correctly!) will be attending some of our events this weekend, and he will also be the main speaker on Saturday.

While we’re talking about social media, why not follow me on Twitter (@BrianYerkes), and if you’re in or near Southwest Florida, follow @TwestivalSWFL

I will probably be able to get Chris to sign a copy of his book “Trust Agents” that I might just give away as a prize on BrianYerkes.com. Would any of you be interested in that?

Here is a list of 5 people I follow on Twitter and why I follow them:

@tonychester

Serious reason: he owns a cool web design company in North Carolina, named “onwired”, and I enjoy networking with a fellow business owner in a similar situation as myself.

Non-serious reason: because he is a smart ass

@brianyerkes :Just fired up the grill to cook some chicken, and flames blew up in my face and burned half my arm hair, that wasn’t fun
@tonychester : My question is “why do you have arm hair on your face”?

@mayhemstudios (Calvin Lee)

Serious reason: he’s a cool guy, and personable even though he has over 30,000 followers. A fellow designer and he is the king of RT’s.

Non-serious reason: because he looks like “The Hulk” and has a severe case of narcolepsy

@randaclay

Serious reason: another fellow designer, Randa is also experienced in all things WordPress, and a very nice person.

Non-serious reason: I find amusement when she tweets about her kids! (I won’t be laughing when I have some of my own I’m sure)

@randaclay : Why is it that when you’re on the phone, your kids have to follow you around like they’re tethered to your backside?

@randaclay : Unbelievable. It’s 7:21 and both kiddos are still asleep. Doing a quiet little happy dance at my desk.

@davidairey

Serious reason: David has one of the most popular personal design blogs out there, and is a logo designer’s role model for his professionalism and knowledge of brand identity.

Non-serious reason: He is a Liverpool supporter and I get to rip on him when they lose. Which is quite often.

@andysowards

Serious reason: Andy is another great RT’er and shares a lot of good design & social media related links. He also takes the time to frequently ask you how your day is going, and is a cool guy.

Non-serious reason: Together with @McLucky34, we coined the phrase “Temperature is Ball Relative“, after we were talking about how hot the weather was. “hot as balls” etc…

So, I thought I might as well share my response to him with you, and it may end up helping someone else similar to this 14 yr old that emailed my company.

The three pieces you sent are quite impressive for a 14 yr old (for any age really). You obviously have a natural artistic ability and this is vital to being a good graphic designer. You can only learn so much but you need that intrinsic ability to know what visually appeals and works for the look you are trying to achieve.

It is important to learn how to combine your creativity and natural artistic ability with the business aspect of being a graphic designer. As a graphic designer, you also play a large role as a marketing professional, and you need to learn how to apply your art and design skills to the business world. This is vitally important as this will allow you to make a living from your craft. I know many designers that are extremely creative but lack the ability to use that creativity in a business / advertising environment.

Professional graphic design is all about communicating a message as powerfully and memorable as possible. If you become a professional designer, you will have clients that have messages (products , services etc) that they need to communicate to their market through advertising, and it will be up to you to figure out how to use your design skill and knowledge to present that message in the most effective way possible.

Another piece of advice is to always continue learning and expanding upon your skill set. Never settle for the knowledge you have at any point. Always strive to learn more.

Some other recent posts that I have published that provide advice for young designers are "50 Reasons Why You Will Not Make It As A Freelancer ", "What Not To Do When Designing a Logo " and "Most Important Thing I Would Tell A Design Student "

Some designers make a great career out of freelancing, some struggle to ever pay the bills solely from freelancing income.

If you are already a successful freelancer, you will probably see that you are not guilty of most of the points made below. If you are hoping to be a full-time freelancer, or are currently finding it difficult to get your freelancing going, some points below may help you figure out why!

To explain this post a little better, my personal opinion on when a freelancer knows they have "made it", is when you own your own house, own your own car, and can comfortably pay 100% of your bills from your freelancing income. Some of you may disagree with that description of "making it", but that is how I personally measure it. I encourage you to add your thoughts in the comments at the end, thanks!

And so, the 50 reasons why you will not make it as a freelancer:

1. The thought of working a 16 – 19 hour day makes you feel violently ill
2. You sleep in past 12pm most mornings
3. You don’t know what the word "typography " means
4. You hear the word "Hex " and you think someone is talking about dinosaurs
5. When meeting clients, you wear jeans and a t-shirt
6. Your hair is a mess, all the time
7. Your phone manner is terrible (you answer with "hello", and nothing else)
8. You don’t understand what a "bleed " is
9. Your business card is a home-made Microsoft Publisher job
10. You have never started conversation with a stranger
11. You are not confident
12. You are not likeable
13. You do not manage your personal finances well
14. Your mum doesn’t even like your design work
15. You want to be successful, but your drive is completely lacking
16. You are not self-motivated
17. You don’t have a desire to be the most successful person you know
18. You don’t have a website
19. Explaining the difference between 300 dpi and 72 dpi is like speaking a foreign language to you
20. You think white space is wasted space
21. The bevel function in Photoshop doesn’t work anymore because you have worn it out so badly
22. You struggle to actually complete a project
23. You have to give your clients money back because you over promised on your ability
24. You have 0 business skills and have no idea how to develop them
25. You really dislike sales and feeling like a sales person
26. You don’t make your clients sign contracts
27. You think it’s cool to be flaky and disorganized because that is what "us creative types are like"
28. You think you are right, and the client is wrong
29. You think that your prices need to be lower than anyone around so that you can get the business
30. Your people skills are terrible
31. You don’t have a plan for your freelancing career, you are just floating along
32. You don’t really understand what marketing is
33. You haven’t developed a brand for your freelancing career
34. You are unable to save money
35. You don’t have a desire to continue learning all the time
36. You have never worked more than 40 hours a week in your life
37. You have never worked for a design company
38. Seeing a logo you designed on a billboard or on tv doesn’t give you a rush
39. You design things that look good but don’t match the brief whatsoever
40. You spend most of your time working on entries for silly online design contests
41. You let clients name their price
42. You’re not a risk taker
43. You do not manage your time whatsoever
44. You are not disciplined in a daily routine
45. You don’t study your competition
46. You don’t even know who your competition is
47. The word "crop " makes you think of the farm
48. You suck at Photoshop
49. You are guilty of over 20 of the points above
50. You are angry at me after reading this

Do you have any to add? How many of the 50 are you guilty of?

Related links and helpful articles about freelancing

How To Fail Miserably as a Freelancer

How To Fail at Freelancing in 5 Easy Steps

Why Failure as a Freelancer can be a Good Thing

The 7 Deadly Sins of Freelancing

10 Tips for Getting More Personal Interaction as a Freelancer

Last week, I was asked to speak as a guest on "Inside Digital Design ", a radio show and podcast. The topic of the show last week was "Social Networking" and I spoke a little about what social networking has done for me and my career. The recording here is a little jumpy but other than that it is quite clear. It is also available on iTunes, simply search "Inside Digital Design" and you’ll find it.

Scott and Gene (hosts of the show) brought up an interesting point, adding to what I discussed in a previous post about "The Most Important Thing I Would Tell a Design Student ". ; "Designers / freelancers worry so much about their portfolio when trying to land that job or that client, but how much thought and time do they put into themselves, their appearance, their speech, their manner. This is an equally vital aspect when marketing and selling yourself and your services."

You can listen to the short interview here (go forward to the 24th minute of the show)

How much time do you put into these aspects of your career outside of your portfolio? Do you think that your phone / email manner could be better? Do you do anything specifically that you think works well in your favor?

A small thing I like to always do is end an email with the clients’ name…for example, at the end of the email, I usually say "Thanks Stephanie , I look forward to meeting you next week."

So here I am…..after starting this site on February 26th 2008 , as a fun side project where I could release some thoughts and ideas, and make a few friends along the way..I find myself with a rapidly growing blog and having an exciting time networking with some excellent and highly skilled designers and developers. I have even hired a few for specific projects and they have all produced extraordinary results for me and my company.

As a result, and to say thank you , I would like to use this post to give something back to my regular visitors, and all of the new ones that have been flowing in during the past few weeks. I have learned so much from you and I hope that my site has somehow contributed to your careers a little also.

Here’s what to do!

So, if you currently subscribe to my RSS feed , or via Email , email me using my contact form , and provide a small blurb about your site , upload a graphic to your site to be displayed with your name (530px by 210px) and put the link to this image in your email . I will add your entry into this post and give you some link love.

If you do not currently subscribe to my site , please do so and follow the instructions above and I will be happy to include you also.

This is a chance to tell everyone about your site, Free love for all subscribers!

**UPDATE** – The list begins…

Personal and professional blog of Jin Yang .
Jin has been a web designer and developer since 1995. He likes to talk about web design philosophy and techniques. When he’s not talking about design, he likes to translate ancient Chinese books on Taoism.

Craig Farrall
Craig Farrall is a youthful 18 year old webdesigner making his way up in the webdesign industry, this blog talks about anything web design related.

Doug Cloud
I started my blog as a way to introduce people to me and my craft, but since then it has taken on another life. Now I write articles and tutorials encouraging people to tap into their inner creativity and to teach them how to do things on their own.

James Paden
I’ve been a web developer and designer for over eight years. I run the Xemion Designer Directory and also write a blog with tips and advice for design firms and freelancers.

Tim Ernst
Corvus is an area on my site where I comment on all sorts of topics from marketing, social media and design and their affects on communication in today’s world.

Andrew Kelsall
started this new blog a couple of months ago, and have just about finished the design. I blog about my latest designs, design advise and Graphic Design in general.

I’m looking for CSS Coders to partner with at the moment, so why not visit my site and leave your details with me? In the near future, I plan to release about 2 posts per week, but I’ll see how it goes…

James Kurtz
James Kurtz III is a graphic designer for hire based in Northeast Ohio. The site includes a portfolio, client testimonials, a short-biography, and a blog.

Tut Search
A custom search engine that searches tutorial sites ONLY. Find tutorials on Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, web design, html & more.

Dainis Graveris
1stwebdesigner is a design blog dedicated to bloggers, freelancers, web-developers and designers. Topics focus on web design, tutorials and inspirational articles.

Franz Jeitz
Fudgegraphics offers loads of freebies such as photoshop brushes, vectors and textures. Furthermore it features a lot of artists as a source of inspiration. It also hosts the personal portfolio of Franz Jeitz.

Katie Oddy
Acorn Creative is a branding, creative design, and marketing team. Our main focus is to help businesses with identity crises ditch their baggage and become their strongest, ultra, powerful, most profitable selves. Keep your eyes peeled for our new web site coming soon!

Stephen Olmstead
Sonata Creative is a recently launched graphic design firm and creative blogging endeavor run by Stephen Olmstead. Blog topics are generally focused on graphic design and touch on subjects spanning freelancing, productivity, design workflow, and graphics-specific technology. Check out the blog and let Stephen know what you think!

Mayhem Studios
Mayhem Studios is a small award-winning design firm located in Los Angeles, California, developing identity and brand recognition for the business sector across the nation. The Studio uses strategic and creative design with effective messages targeted to the client’s specific audiences.

Stefano Maffi
Stefano Maffi is a young italian designer, interested in graphic, web and user experience. He is currently working as web designer and is free for freelance projects in his spare time.

Christian Messer
Christian Messer is passionate about design and Apple. The “Apple Mind” is the frame of mind that beauty in form and function can be achieved, with little sacrifice. Those with this frame of mind expect nothing less than stellar quality from the vendors we use, to the products we choose in life and work.