Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here on Mint each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.

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Oh man it’s crunch time for me this week! I’m eyeball-deep in a a couple big projects that both launching right on top of each other. More than ever I am trying all my Howdy Do It tricks so I can keep my head straight and my to do list on track. But I’ve been cutting a few corners here and there. I’m exhausted (yes I realize it’s only Sunday, Monday), there’s take-out boxes littering the coffee table and a huge pile of dirty laundry on the bed. Also, ahem, workout clothes do not count as getting dressed.

Sigh. You can’t always have it together right? But there are three things on my mind to help:

five.sentenc.es: “A disciplined way to dealing with email.” This to help keep me from drowning in my inbox. Sort of like how Twitter has a character limit, you limit your email responses to a few sentences. Also comes in two, three & four senten.ce varieties for the extra brief overachievers!

My new file cabinet (excuse the crappy iPhone shot)! Here she is, scored free at an office that was being demolished in my neighborhood. A most fetching hue of seafoam green, with retractable hinged lid and complimentary red, yellow AND pink folders, she’s quite a beaut I think. Old offices are the best places to score office supplies & materials! And I’m so excited to have more spots to put stuff!

Also a goal for AFTER these projects launch: paint the bathroom. Benjamin Moore Sea Haze 2137-50 and I have a date and I *will* tackle this one then. After only six months talking about doing it, crikey.

Let’s have it guys, what shortcuts do you take when things get bananas?

{Photo credits: Collaboration pieces from Eric Smith’s Live Now series}

—Margot

Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here on Mint each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.

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After Ellie shared her blogging history on Pitch last week, there’s been some interesting commenting going on about why and what leads people to blog and how they finally take the plunge into it. You guys got me mulling about my own background in the medium and the part it plays in my career as a freelance designer.

Back in 2004, I’d cobbled together a life that I barely knew what to do with. I was a brand-new grad with a Jr. Designer job, lonely and bored in new city where I hardly knew anyone. Lacking in creative inspiration and longing for more community, I picked up a design magazine one slow day at work and poof I discovered what blogs were. HOW had done a piece on Under Consideration and from then on something clicked and I was completely hooked. And by hooked I mean obsessed, and by the time Google Reader launched I was already a “heavy user”. I jumped quickly from a small handful of big name blogs (even then Dooce was huge) to more widespread topics and themes, fascinated by all the things people could present in this new medium.

During all this, I kept my habit under wraps because a lot of people write off blogs & blog-reading as a self-indulgent dalliance. A productivity-hindrance instead of a legit form of community & inspiration. Still, I absorbed everything I could find and I always knew I would join the community myself one day. It took getting laid off in September of 2008 for me to actually get my act together and get Pitch off the ground.

If I wasn’t enough of an internet addict before, I definitely am now. I have an average of 50 tabs open in Firefox at any given time, sometimes in multiple windows, which admittedly is a bit out of control. I rely heavily on the internet for any kind of project inspiration, it is my train of thought, launch pad, sketchbook and extension of my social life. There’s a real sense of instant gratification seeing so many different things, ideas and concepts instantly, reading people’s specific & unique views. It feels fresh & raw; endlessly flexible and un-curated. The more the better and it’s yours for the finding.

However, my most favorite thing about blogging and what it does for me is that it’s a point of contact. It gives me the ability to approach someone online and off and say, ” Hey I run this website (credibility), it’s about (x) and I love your work, can I post it/ask you about it/etc.” And there you have a new contact. It’s pretty easy and super fun to hear what people have to say. I honestly attribute my continued ability to stay afloat freelancing because of this. Especially so on a dark day when I’m barely scraping by, because there is always another resource to seek out and start talking to. Because it might even lead to a paying gig.

So if you’ve If you’re unhappy with your work or clients, start a blog. You’ll find like-minded people, and thus the greater chance of being hired to do work you want to do. And with better clients, as Ellie said her last post: “instead of asking me to make their logo bigger, they trust my judgement and also hold me to a high standard.” Indeed, sista. New better clients and better work in the end. So true. So do it. Start your blog. And send me the link, will you? You know I will want to read it.

{Photo Credit: Diagram of Geek Culture [ed note: ie- Internet Culture too] by Ibrahim Evsan. Via Fast Company + Steve Heisler.}

Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here on Mint each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.

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Hi Howdy Do It friends! This week I have a fantastic surprise that I’m super excited about. Workspace tours! With interview included! And exclamation points! To me, one of the biggest interior design challenges is the office/workspace. It’s the one room that packs such a disparate group of objects and is particularly tricky for me to organize and style. Theoretically the paperclips, paper, books, tools, computer, cables, printer/scanner, more paper, lighting, craft projects, and art should all live in easy to find locations around the office. Like many things, easier said than done, eh? Thankfully, Amanda from Red Jet Whistle offers some really fantastic ideas and neat photos of how she put together her space.

Margot: Hi Amanda! Thank you so much for indulging us! Can you tell us a little bit about your space: the size/layout and how do you use it? How long did it take you to get to its present incarnation?

Amanda: My “studio” space is actually the dining room of my apartment, but since we have a huge kitchen with room for a table, I’ve taken over the dining room as my workspace. I moved into this apartment in summer of 2006, and it’s been continually evolving since then. I use this room for sewing, crafting, furniture and other home improvement projects. It’s an all purpose workroom, so I need to store quite a lot, but it’s also a highly visible room, so I wanted it to be a presentable space that flows easily into the living room next to it.

The room is approximately 9’ x 15’, the fourth wall is open to the living room, with floor curtains hung on wire hardware to close it off if need be. It has a built-in china cabinet in the corner, and a chair rail wraps around the room adding some architectural detail. I placed everything against the wall to leave floor space for bigger projects.

M: What about your organization style, do you have one? Stacker, filer, hoarder… Seems like yours is a multi-use space, so I’m curious to hear more about how you make that work.

A: I’m a “boxer” I suppose, or maybe “hider” would be better, I like to keep things in containers, but not necessarily organize within the containers themselves – throw it in, close the lid. I’ve got so many tools and supplies, that I need a system that’s tidy and accessible, but realistic. I also try to group similar items together, making projects easier – with the most common everyday tools in the easy to grab places. I only keep tools on display if I truly use them all the time.

M: Can you walk us through the before/after shots? What issues were you having that made you rethink the space? Was it a complete overhaul or did you make do with what you had? Most notably, where did everything in the before shots GO?

A: God, that red! So dark! At the time I thought that I needed to see everything at once to know what I had, and that clutter and disorganization was somehow evidence of my “creativity”. It was overwhelming, impossible to keep neat, and well, ugly. I was using open, wall mounted shelving and open floor shelves, leaving the mess on full display, everything was spilling out, and the visual assault was non-productive to say the least.

So I painted over the landlord’s hideous red paint, purged my considerable stash, rearranged, and added some storage furniture. A tall dresser now holds my growing fabric stash, an Ikea PS cabinet holds my paper supplies, the built-in china cabinet has camera equipment and ongoing projects, the tanker desk has sewing supplies and tools, and the wall shelf holds craft books and odds and ends. Having a designated space to put work in progress was key for me, looking back, those unfinished projects were creating a lot of the mess. I learned the hard way to set aside that space instead of filling every nook and cranny. I think this can be a common pitfall.

Now I have a calm, orderly space. I can walk in at any time and go! – no more shoving things aside to make space for my next project, and no more embarrassment when I have people over.

M: Are you happier with the space now? Do you spend less time looking for things?

A: Heck yes, everything has a drawer, box, or shelf which makes it easy to clean up, and easy to remember where things are. Most of the change has come from adding furniture and shelving, and really thinking about how I work, but what really makes this room successful is forcing myself to put things away, no excuses.

M: What about the fun parts of designing a workspace, what was your inspiration for your office? What’s one of your favorites pieces in it?

A: I love that internal “click” when you realize the best way to store something – that “Ah Ha!” moment that just made your life easier. I think that’s why my workroom has undergone more evolutions than the rest of my apartment, the quest to make it make sense. I also wanted this room to display some of the eclectic junk I collect, but just enough to add interest, I’m learning to embrace white space.

My favorite piece is the green Steelcase tanker desk. I got it from ebay for a song, and it’s THE BEST. It’s 60” x 30” and can hold more stuff than you can imagine. The drawers are so deep – it’s magical. I have a second, smaller tanker desk for my computer in my bedroom, and between the two of them, I don’t think I’ll ever need buy another desk in my lifetime. Tanker desks are nearly indestructible, have huge amounts of storage, and have a mid-century industrial look that will never be out of style. (Plus you can take them completely apart for moving!!!)

M: I love the postcard holder you use for organizing cards! Any other favorite styling ideas for offices?

A: I love containers, boxes and tins, especially vintage wood or metal, while commercial plastic tubs are useful, they’re not pretty. I’m always keeping my eyes open for storage containers that I would like to look at empty! Kitchen canister sets are great for sewing items like buttons and trim, and vintage recipe boxes are also handy. Stay way from that Rubbermaid stuff – it’s for your attic! I believe in using real, beautiful furniture to organize things, you’ll keep it and reuse it much more than commercial “storage” products.

I also make sure that my work surface is always bare (except for the sewing machine and serger), even though I have mugs for pens, scissors and bushes, I made sure to place them on a shelf above the desk – it’s my experience that if my work surface is bare to begin with, I’m less likely to leave anything on it – those pencil/brush mugs always seem to breed more clutter! Oh – and anyone who sews needs to buy a thread rack – life changing!

M: What’s some of your favorite decorating advice?

A: My favorite decorating advice is to always consider your home a work in progress, getting it right takes time. Be willing to wait for the right piece.

M: Can you finish us off with some of your dream resources and inspiration?

A: I try to get everything from flea markets, garage sales, thrift stores, etsy, craigslist, ebay or the curb, but I also like Ikea (with a strict no particleboard caveat) for basics. I window shop here and there on the internet, but nearly 90% of the things in my home were gotten from the sources above. Most of my inspiration comes from blogs – Apartment Therapy, design*sponge, Door Sixteen, The Brick House, notcot, decor8, Mint, swiss-miss, emma’s design blogg, shelterrific, Modish, Oh Joy!, and so many more!

Thank you so much Amanda! Make sure you check out the rest of her office photos on flickr.

Where to start! I had a blast at Alt. Every minute was awesome and if you’re into this kind of thing (you know, this blogging thing) then I think you should start planning your trip for 2011. I know I am.

Although the panels were great, the main thing I got out of Alt was the opportunity to hear many of my favorite bloggers speak, and to meet them personally. Blog celebs. Like Heather Armstrong (dooce), Victoria Smith (sfgirlbybay), Chelsea Fuss (frolic), Grace Bonney (design*sponge), Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan (apartment therapy), Joy Deangdeelert Cho (oh joy), Jaime Derringer (design milk), and a whole bunch of other favorites… but I think you get the point. I hung out with ladies whose blogs I read daily, and it was enormously helpful to hear the things they struggle with, the solutions they’ve found, the joys and irritations of being a blogger. It was great to put faces (real, live faces) with the names I see on twitter and in my inbox on a daily basis.

But, what you really want to know is maybe not who I met and what these people are like in real life, but what we talked about that will make us all become super-bloggers? Here are my yet-to-be-digested notes (plus some of the fun stuff too). Since I know you aren’t all interested in the nitty gritty details, you can read more after the jump:

(more…)

Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here on Mint each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I’m so excited that you guys like the mixtape idea! I definitely tried to stay true to it as much as a I could, though a few times I found it hard to clear the noise enough to buckle down and give it my best for 40 interrupted minutes. I’m sure the urge for distraction will always persevere to infinity, but I think I managed to keep it in check for the most part.

For example, this week I:

- Sent out 4 proposals for new projects (fingers crossed for me buddies, my February’s looking grim otherwise).

- Cooked 3 new recipes from this book: the most delicious garlic bread I’ve ever had, refried beans with cinnamon & clove (made excellent burritos), and white beans with rosemary on greens.

- 1 inedible attempt at these pancakes. 2nd attempt with a different recipe yields ok results. Apparently I have issues with pancakes!

- Wrote only 4 blog posts.

- Spent time with friends & boyfriend.

- Probably far too many hours internetting, iChatting and emailing.

- Slept 12 hours, two times. I can’t decide if that was indulgent or necessary.

- 2 loads of laundry and kept the house mostly clean.

- For the first time, reached over 1000+ posts in my google reader. It stops tallying once you get past a thousand. I had no idea!

- Discovered the continuous play button on Hulu. Um…Countless hours catching up on 30 Rock and The Office.

- I started running again after a 6 month hiatus. (HUGE!) Ran a total of 9.6 miles. Outside. In 30 degree weather.

- Worked a total of 32.75 billable hours.

Overall I think I did pretty ok! Can’t win ‘em all, but I did manage to accomplish some stuff I’m proud of and kept a good balance between everything. I’d say a high five is in order right?

What about you? How did your week turn out?

{photo credit: Happiness in Business by Bud Caddell}

Hi Mint readers! It’s Margot back with week 7 of Howdy Do It! This week I’ve got some mixtape love which hopefully you’ll dig.

People always say you’re supposed to take regular breaks when you work. But my “brakes” only happen because I got distracted and, oops, there goes an hour. Or three. Which I then try and post-rationalize so I don’t feel bad about losing so much time when I told myself I would be working. So this week I’m trying to actually build in downtime and see what happens. And to aid in my attempt, I’ve put together a short 38-minute mix to help me stick to the schedule.

I got this idea after reading about the Pomodoro Technique and here’s how it works: 38 minutes of the hour is devoted to complete and total concentration on a task. No email, Facebook, or iChat. Nothing else but working. Once the mix is over then I take the next 10 minutes to do whatever I want and then 10 minutes to reassess my progress and to plan the next task on my to-do list. My thinking is that if I delineate a specific time period that is fairly brief, I will be able to stay on task. And by working in cycles, you still have a sense of accomplishment but won’t be overwhelmed because you still get some of your own time in there to balance it out.

Makes sense? Am I crazy? Who knows, but I’m going to try. Download the mix, or make your own, and tell us what happened! If you like it, send us some song suggestions and we’ll and start putting up more mixes to keep you working.

Download directions:
The download link contains a .zip file (virus free, I promise) which contains a folder of the songs and an import playlist file. First drag the songs to the library and then import the playlist (File>Library>Import playlist). It will make you a nice little list in your iTunes and you should be good to go.

Here’s the track list:
Intro / The xx
Sugarette / Bibio
West End Girls / Pet Shop Boys
The Music Scene / Blockhead
Green Grass of Tunnel / Mum
Anthems for a 17 Year-Old Girl / Broken Social Scene
Maybe So, Maybe No / Mayer Hawthorne
Sunrise / Yeasayer
What Grows? / Lotus Plaza
My My / Menomena

It’s some oldies, some newbies, some upper, some low-down, some smooth, a few high fives, and some sparkles at the end. Enjoy.

Also? Don’t forget you get a lunch break in there somewhere too.

See you cats next week!

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Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here on Mint each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.

Hey Mint readers, it’s Margot back again with Howdy Do It! Ellie & I took a little break for the holidays, but like your favorite TV reruns, are back on again. If you’re new here, each Monday Ellie & I switch blogs to write about the highs and the hassles of working for yourself. Check out my previous Howdy Do It posts here, and Ellie’s here, and tell us how we’re doing!

Ellie’s totally right, the resolutions game is kinda played out. Yet somehow, I’m pretty much addicted to New Year’s resolutions. Maybe it’s because my Dad always made us do them as kids (which was always met with groans) but now I always do them and mull them over as the year unfolds. I’m always totally way off on at least one of them, but surprisingly I do pretty okay with my resolutions goals. I posted my list last year here, and it’s funny to compare. For example? My own store on Etsy? Really?! Uhhh. NOPE, not even close on that one. Nor did I manage to procure any kind of camera (iPhones do not count), much less an SLR. But I did manage to fulfill all of the rest of them at least in someway. High fives! And obvs, this is a great segue into the first Howdy Do It of the year when we get to catch up and think of fun things to make happen in 2010.

I think a big theme for me this year is to really keep pushing my own work further. Here’s some ideas for how to make that happen:
- Find 2 reasons that will make me draw more
- Finish my Ampersand project
- 5 collaborations/for fun/for me projects. These are always the most fun and the most fulfilling. One idea is to design, build or collab on furniture piece.
- 3 screenprinted and 3 letterpress projects. I’m not particular on what form specifically these can take, but fabric, posters, cards are all options.
- Update and re-organize my portfolio.

And as far as Howdy Do it and work-flow, productivity, organization go:
- Continue organizing & setting up my office, keep on track with filing.
- Pay off 2 debts.
- Try at least 2 tips/tricks/fixes for time-management
- File my 2009 taxes early. Yes, early, so I have more time to pay them off.

Otherwise, personal goals include: a steady influx of new music to listen to, grow my own tomatoes, perfect bread-making, annnnd take an art trip/vacation some place. Any place will do.
So? How’s about you guys? Any takers out there care to share?

{Image credits: All work by Mary Kate McDevitt. Those cutie chalkboards which are on sale too! Via My Love for You.}

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Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.