Resolution #2 revolves around my freelancing – the basics of it is to increase my cash flow from my freelancing.

This is rather generic resolution I know but again I want to do it in small steps.

#1- do at least one project and one update a week for HIT Web Design a week. This will gradually increase over time I hope but this is my starter goal. I can’t handle more than one project at a time, but updates I’m sure I can handle up to three with out a project so we’ll see how that goes.

#2 – make a new wordpress theme every month to give away or sell for money. This is a two fold increase in revenue. The first being actually selling wordpress themes to those who want it for a minimal fee. But even the free ones could lead to revenue by increasing traffic to my site and pulling in potential customers.

#3 – design something everyday. This is a smashing magazine challenge and I intend to try this once I get my PC up. I think my first stab at this task is going to the common icons I use in a blog for wordpress and then common category icons/headers to use for categories, starting first with my own blogs. This doesn’t bring money in and of itself, but by designing something everyday provides me with practice so that I can make more money with the graphical and/or design aspects of the freelancing. Posting it on my site can also pull in additional clientele which is a money maker.

#4 – learn asp.net C# version. This is something that I’ve already started and I’m working on chapter 3 of my book, and I’ll be writing the code here soon. This doesn’t increase cash flow persay but it opens up options not present otherwise.

With each of these there are minor little things I need to do to accomplish the larger task. But all in all this is as miniute as I want to get with my resolutions. And I don’t think of these as a new start or trying to do something I didn’t next year, these are more like guidelines into the new year. I seriously doubt I will follow through with everything but they are the goals I’m setting short term.

I have one more resolution for the family, but that is going to take a bit more thinking on my part as to what I want to include in this particular resolution. It’s the most important and yet the hardest to think of actions to take this year.

I was reading the article, Understanding your brain for better design – Left vs Right. I read the descriptions in order, right brain, and felt yep, that’s me. Then I read the left and was confused, yep that’s me too.

I took the first quiz in the article and scored 50%. I took the second quiz and I scored 51% left, 49% right. So does that 1% mean something? I have no clue.

But I guess that they both fit in their own ways. I don’t like verbal instruction, though it’s very helpful. When in college I never looked at my notes again, but if I didn’t take them I didn’t remember what was in the lecture. The physical act of writing it down helped. I find it very difficult for me to pick up completely new things and new concepts with out some sort of instruction and the doing afterwards. Reading a book with out assignments really doesn’t work for me. I need hands on or I won’t remember it. That’s probably why I do so well with my web projects, I continually have hands on time with them.

I also consider myself a programmer more than a designer. I see the code but I know what it’s suppose to look like. I do mostly design work, but I’m always thinking how will I code this. I can code a page with out first doing it in photoshop if I’ve a general idea of how I want to do the layout, however graphics are my down side I am continually trying to improve that aspect. I work on whatever graphics I can and try to insure I learn new techniques all the time.

I don’t know if any of this makes me left or right brained, I’m not sure how it can help me really. But it was interesting. I learn as I know what works best for me. I design and code how it works best for me. I know no other way.