Annie Anderson | Blog

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It seems that clearing clutter is a hot topic lately - I’ve seen various posts and articles on a wide range of blogs and websites discussing it, many in the past week. And it’s not that I’m trying to follow the herd, so to speak, but it’s something that’s been on my mind in the past several weeks. As such, I’ve decided to add my .02¢ to the fray. Apparently, I’m not alone in thinking a lot about it.

One of my biggest clutter areas (in fact, really the only clutter area in the entire house) is my office. I’ve always been of the mind that “A messy desk is the sign of a genius” as the saying goes. But in this fast-paced, stress-filled world (and the equally fast-paced, stress-filled world of freelance writing and design), clutter is not one’s friend and being surrounded by it while trying to work with any sense of function and accomplishment is just plain nuts.

A couple of days ago, I was on a teleseminar about clearing clutter and until I heard these women speaking about it, I hadn’t entirely realized that my space was so chaotic. I figured if I could clear off my desk by the end of the day, I was doing good. But apparently, that’s not enough. One of the biggest things I took away from the call was that the physical clutter is also clogging other areas of your life - finances, business, relationships and pretty much everything else. Clearing out the clutter and releasing anything that doesn’t work or serve a purpose, is essential for moving forward in your life.

And yes - that means those size 3 jeans hiding in the back of your closet that you swear you will get into again “someday.”

All of that to say - I’m spending the next couple of days totally re-arranging and re-organizing my entire office - the desk, the closet, the bookshelf - everything. If it doesn’t work, doesn’t fit, doesn’t whatever, it’s outta here! I’ve found the perfect new desk and it will be arriving tomorrow afternoon so I’ve got lots of work ahead of me to be ready when it gets here. Although my husband doesn’t know it yet, he’ll be picking it up for me after he gets off work. ;-)  (It’s a good thing he’s such sweetie.)

I’m hoping that my space will turn out to be minimalist (to a certain degree) and yet have everything easily accessible. If there’s room, my husband might get lucky enough to share the space instead of having his computer in the middle of the living room. Fortunately, he doesn’t “work” there so it isn’t cluttered with papers, books and all that stuff. But still, it’s an eyesore I’d rather not have in my living room. So, hopefully this re-organization of my office will benefit that, too.

Alright then - better get started! Let me know your thoughts - do you have a cluttered place in your home, your office, your car, or wherever that needs to be cleared out? What are you holding onto that no longer serves a purpose? What can you get rid of? I’d love to hear from you!

Speak soon,

Annie

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

There. I said it. And it’s true.

Now, don’t get me wrong - I love design and writing and coaching and real estate but I still feel like there’s something else - something I’m missing, maybe. I don’t know.

(Yeah, I know - how could I be missing something with my plate so full, right?? Yep, I wonder, too.)

But even as a child, I knew I wanted to be a writer. It truly is my passion. The way words come together on a page is magical for me. But even so, I still don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up.

(Mind you, I’m in my 30’s. With 4 kids.)

It’s just that often, I don’t even feel grown up. Sure, there’s responsibilities and bills to pay and those little people (who are getting so tall, I nearly don’t recognize them) to take care of. A house to take care of, a car to maintain and all those good things and yet, sometimes I think “What do I want to DO with my life?”

There are so many things -

• Travel the world
• Go on a cruise
• Learn to fly helicopters
• Teach
• Build an orphanage
• Live on farm with animals and a huge garden
• Start a non-profit organization to help others in need
• Travel the US in a motorhome
• Learn another language . . . or two or twenty

And stuff like that.

I read Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Workweek a while back and found I could relate to a lot of the information there, wanting to get to a point that my business runs itself more or less, leaving me free to do other things with my time. And frankly, by this age, I always thought I’d have it all together and be getting ready to do just that. Not so. It’s a little depressing at times.

All of this to say, it’s time to get there and ratchet this gig up to a new level. What do you think? Have you read the Four Hour Workweek? What are your thoughts and plans to achieve the lifestyle you want? Mine is finally beginning to seriously get somewhere.

Hey, I might even grow up soon.

Or not.

In the arena,

PS - Just found a great post by Cath Lawson called “131 Star Bloggers and Their Best Posts” and I’m honored that Cath would include me in the list. What a special way to say thanks to all of her commenters and readers. And so I’d like to say a very heartfelt Thank You to Cath for making my day, being so generous and for all the great things she shares with us on her blog. Do yourself a favor and check out Cath’s blog.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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This week, you’ll notice a lot of stuff happening. My husband is home on vacation for the next 9 days (doing some remodeling in our house and keeping the kids occupied) so I’m busy, busy, busy! I have tons of ideas on the table, many of which are being put into action as we speak. I intend that by Friday, much of what I’ve been working on the past few months will be live. Yay!

This is so exciting!

Projects on the table:

NW Stone Guide - this is a new project my husband is the mastermind of. He works for a granite and tile wholesale place and has been working in this industry for quite a few years now so he has a lot of knowledge in the stone market that he wants to share with others. NW Stone Guide will have local resources including stone fabricators, import warehouses, builders and remodelers, and info on all things stone. It will not only be for homeowners looking for info, but we also hope to make it *THE* portal for all facets of the industry. All that’s there right now (that viewers can see, anyway) is a nice little subscription form you can fill out to get updates so that once the site is live, you can have a look. You can subscribe via RSS or email.

The Write Point - my original writing and design project. It used to be a site for all of my writing and design endeavors but it’s now primarily a blog on writing - including fiction and non-fiction tips, writing how-to, editing, publishing and everything else. The site is in redesign right now as I add new stuff but it is live and you can check it out. Subscribe to the RSS feed for updates.

Weight Loss Papers - a new-ish site dedicated to my pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. It’s about weight loss, healthy eating, balance and just living life in the best way I possibly can. The tag line is “A Journey in Lifestyle Creation” - which really explains it all. I hope you’ll visit and come back to it often. My plan is to update at least 3 times or more per week about what I’m learning about all things health, etc. Ultimately I plan to have some recipes, articles on exercise, and other topics of interest. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed over there as well.

ASAmedia Group - where my writing and design business is now located. This is the actual business side of things. It is live but not everything is there yet. This is the project I’ll be pushing hard this week. Right now, you can see the *copywriting* section when you visit the homepage but the *design* link will take you nowhere. At least for now. I’m opening my business up for writing clients so if you are thinking of hiring a writer for any of YOUR projects, please check it out. This is the first time I’ve opened up my business to new clients in 2 years. So, if you might want to work with me, you should seriously jump on it right away. Just go fill out the form on the bottom of the Copywriting page and I’ll get in touch with you as quickly as I can.

So . . . As you can see, lots of stuff going on! The office door is closed, radio is cranked up and the To Do list is dwindling!

See you again soon!

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