Adventures In Freelancing

I've got a new giveaway here at Adventures in Freelancing that you're going to love! The folks at Carolina Pad have provided me with a ton of organizational products to give away to one lucky winner. They also gave me a set of the same great products to review. Here's what I received and what one lucky reader will also be able to win:

· 1-subject notebook (MSRP $2.99)

· Ideal Book (MSRP $3.99)

· Personal Book (MSRP $1.99)

· 3-ring binder (MSRP $4.99)

· Tab dividers (MSRP $1.99)

· File Folders (MSRP $4.99)

· 13-pocket expandable folder (MSRP $5.99)

· Coupon expandable folder (MSRP $3.99)

· 19-month planner (MSRP $4.99)

· Stick-on notes/flags (MSRP $1.99)

The retail value of this package is $38.00!

The Hot Chocolate pattern is a fun collection in chocolate brown with pastel swirls, circles, and stripes. I love that it stands out from the standard black and navy notebooks that line my bookshelves and plain manila files in my cabinet. Here are some of my favorite pieces and how I'm using them to simplify my freelance life:

7" x 5" Personal Book - I use this compact notebook to take with me EVERYWHERE. It's easy to find in my purse or laptop bag whenever I have a great idea for an article or pitch. A writer cannot be without a good notebook to record those fleeting flashes of brilliance.

Sticky Notes and Flags - These are perfect for marking pages in magazines, when I want to go back and reference an idea. They're also useful as bookmarks. I'm constantly reading and can never find my bookmark.

Accordion Folder - An accordion folder is a must-have for organizing tax information, research materials, and idea snippets by category. I have several, and I was thrilled to receive this one from Carolina Pad!

Three Ring Binder and Tab Dividers - I use this combination of supplies to organize my blogs. I keep a section for each blog that contains post ideas, rough editorial calendar, and review/giveaway information. I couldn't live without my binders!

Which Carolina Pad supplies would YOU use to make your life easier? That's what you have to tell me for your chance to win this bundle of life-changing products. So head over to the Carolina Pad website, take a look around, then come back here to leave your comment.

Entries must be received by Tuesday, November 10th at noon EST. For extra entries:

Follow Carolina Pad on Twitter.

Join the Carolina Pad Fan Page on Facebook.

Subscribe to this blog through RSS or email.

Follow this blog.

Tweet about the contest, including post link, and @marybabysteps.

You may use each of these extra entries once, and you must leave a separate comment for each. Good luck!

Today's amazing giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting.UPrinting offers a variety of printing services, but one of their most popular products is definitely their business cards. As freelancers, we're constantly handing out our cards. I just attended a social media panel in my town and gave my business cards to lots of folks, hoping to make connections with local businesses looking for help with their online outreach. So I'm sure you could use 500 FREE business cards, right?

Well, UPrinting has offered to give two Adventures in Freelancing readers 500 shiny, new business cards of their choice. The lucky winners will be able to choose from three different business card sizes. Die cut business cards are also available, along with a choice of color combinations. Winners will be able to customize their business cards to suit their needs.

So, you want to win, right? Okay. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me how you would use your business cards if you were to win. Easy as that. All entries must be received by Thursday, September 10th at noon EST. Want a chance for some extra entries? I thought so.

For extra chances to win:

1.  Subscribe to this blog either by RSS or e-mail. You'll find the links in the upper right hand column.

2.  Follow this blog by adding yourself to the followers in the right column.

3. Tweet about this contest. Be sure to add @marybabysteps to your tweet, so I'll be sure to know you tweeted it.

Please leave a separate comment for each method of entry. You must enter by telling me how you'd use your cards. Other methods are optional. Good luck!

* Contest available to U.S. residents only. Shipping must be paid by winner.

I've got another chance for Adventures in Freelancing readers to win an amazing prize. This time it's 1000 free business cards from digitalroom.com! Business cards are something we all need as freelancers. You'll want to have nicely printed business cards to take to writer's conferences, send to editors with your queries, and give to prospective business clients.

Digital Room is a reliable source for meeting your printing and marketing needs. They offer tons of print services including business cards, postcards, brochures, marketing services, and more. They even have an online design tool and templates to help you make business cards that are uniquely yours. For the eco-conscious, you'll be glad to learn that Digital Room is green-friendly and uses eco-friendly soy-based inks and paper stocks that range from 10% to 30% recycled paper.

So I'm sure you want to win these great cards. Here's what you have to do for your chance to win 1000 free business cards:

Just leave a comment telling me how you would use your free business card printing! Comments must be received by Monday, April April 13th at noon EST.

Don't forget to put your email address in the comments so that I can contact you.

NOTE: Shipping is free for residents of the U. S. and Canada. Those who reside in other countries must pay for shipping, but the cards are still free!

For extra entries:

1. Twwet the contest on Twitter, linking back to this post. Be sure to include me, @marybabysteps, in your tweet!
2. Subscribe to Adventures in Freelancing through the links at the top of the page.
3. Blog about the contest.

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each method of entry!

Here's another giveaway for you. This time the prize is a dream how-to guide for aspiring copywriters. If you want to get into writing copy for business, advertising, or other commercial means, this is the book for you! The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman will teach you everything you need to know, from how to get started as a copywriter to some of the best marketing techniques I've ever seen.

Visit Peter's website to learn more about the book and to find great resources like a free report on commercial writing. You can also sign up to receive the Well-Fed E-Pub. Doing so will allow you to receive Peter's words of wisdom delivered to your email on a regular basis. If you want to get into commercial writing, Peter Bowerman is definitely a great source to learn from.

Peter has generously donated four copies of his book, The Well-Fed Writer:Financial Self-Sufficiency As a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less. To enter, just leave me a comment here telling me what you hope to learn about copywriting and why you think this book would be helpful to you. All comments must be received by March 6th, at noon EST. Best of luck!

I have a great freelance guide for you. It's called My So-Called Freelance Life, and it's a thorough look at the life of a freelancer in any field. The author is Michelle Goodman, whose book The Anti 9-to-5 Guide taught thousands how to leave the shackles of the cube behind.

I just finished the book and found it to be so helpful. There's information on everything a freelancer needs to know, from how to set up shop to details like getting your own insurance and filing your taxes. You'll find all the nitty gritty you need to know in My So-Called Freelance Life.

Look for my review later in the week, as well as the review I promised of another book for writers. In the meantime, here's your chance to win your very own copy of My So-Called Freelance Life. Just leave me a comment telling me what you most want to learn about becoming a freelancer, and you're entered. All entries must be received by February 17th at noon EST, and a winner will be chosen at random. Best of luck to you!

This week's prize is a good one. No, make that a great one. Kristen King, of Inkthinker, is offering up a half hour of career counseling to one of my readers here at Adventures in Freelancing. What a generous contribution of her time. I have to say you people would be crazy not to jump at this chance!

Kristen is a freelance writer and editor who achieved success in a relatively short amount of time. She gives tips on what's worked for her at her blog, but imagine having a half hour to talk to an established freelancer of her caliber. Having the opportunity to get your questions about the freelancing life answered according to your personal situation is not something that comes around just every day.

Take a look at what others have to say about Kristen, her abilities, and talents. Leave a comment here with what you hope to gain from a one-on-one consulting session or the biggest question you'd ask Kristen. I'll pick a winner at random on Tuesday, February 3rd. All entries must be received by noon EST on that date. Lots of luck to you.

By the way, I'm really peeved that I'm not eligible for this one!

This is the perfect prize for writers, and it's the perfect time to offer it. I know many of you have the same New Year's Resolution as I do - to get organized so that we can be more productive writers. You'll definitely want to check out Julie Hood's OrganizedWriter.com. Julie is the epitome of organization, and she tailors her approach specifically for writers.

You'll find so many amazing tools and resources on her site. You'll surely want to add it to your favorites. You'll find articles for writers and a comprehensive list of resources. Julie has a great free e-book called The Sidetracked Writer's Planner with so many helpful tools including a submission tracker, query and clips indexes and so much more.

If you want more of what you'll find in her free e-book, you'll definitely want to get her 216 page e-book, The Organized Writer. It's only $14.95 and is a tremendous value and investment in yourself and your writing career. But Julie has donated a free copy just for Adventures in Freelancing readers!

I've read most of the book and have begun implementing some of Julie's organizational suggestions. If she can help me, she can help anyone! I'll be posting my review later in the week, so come back to learn more. Meanwhile, all you have to do for your chance to win this amazing book is go check out her site and come back here and tell me in the comments what you're most interested in learning from Julie's book or what you found to be most helpful on her site. A winner will be chosen at random Monday, January 26th at noon EST. Get your comments in!

For an extra entry, tweet about the contest or blog about it. Don't forget to come back and leave a comment telling me you've done so. Thanks for entering. Stay tuned for my review, and good luck.

If you're a freelancer of any kind, chances are you're inquisitive and love to learn.  I certainly do.  And I've got a prize for FOUR lucky readers to help you get a jumjpstart on your intellectual pursuits for the new year.  Ana from Family Eden has generously donated 4 prize packages of e-learning courses.

Family Eden is a fantastic social networking site for families.  Isn't that an awesome concept?  You and your kids can all have accounts and have fun keeping up with each other in a safe, online environment.  Your family and friends from far away can sign up for Family Eden accounts as well, allowing you to share phtos, videos, and other treasures.  There are so many capabilities at this site.  You can shop, create wish lists, and share goals.  Go check it out for yourself.

One of the best features of the site is the learning community.  There are tons of courses available in areas such as computers, business, communication, and health.  Go explore the offerings in the learning center, then come back here and comment about which course you'd choose. Four winners will be able to choose up to $66 worth of coursework for free.  This contest will end Monday, January 19th at noon EST. So choose your classes and leave a comment before then.  Best of luck!

I'm reposting this awesome prize from Invotrak because the winner did not come forward. You won't want to miss your chance to win this great prize; it'll help you to simplify your invoice tracking process tremendously!

This week's prize is a good one.  Are you slowly, but surely making progress and getting your work accepted to publications?  Or is your list of corporate clients growing?  We freelancers wear alot of hats.  We're marketers, secretaries, and accountants.  I've got a prize to help make your administrative tasks a little easier.  Invotrak is an online invoice tracker that allows you to send out and keep track of your invoices.  The folks at Invotrak have been nice enough to donate a three-month membership to one luck winner here at Adventures in Freelancing?  If you want to be that winner, just leave a comment telling me why you NEED this program. All entries must be received by Monday, January 5th at noon Eastern to be eligible. Just leave that comment and good luck!

Please join me in congratulating Kari, from Imperfect Clarity.  She won my prize TWO weeks in a row.  Kari will have lots of reading to do, as she's won the Doing It Frugally e-book series from Carolyn Howard Johnson and an e-book from Ed Gandia, The Profitable Freelancer.  Yay, Kari!  Congratulations!

Don't worry.  There are lots more prizes to come.  I've recently added a couple more, in fact.  So keep coming back and leaving your comments.  I will allow multiple wins because it's my opinion that anyone who keeps trying is deserving of the prize.  Good luck to everyone in future giveaways.  And congratulations, again, Kari!