Today marks the relaunch of our sister site, The Netsetter. Along with this site and FreelanceSwitch, the new Netsetter creates a “triple threat” in terms of getting better at what moves you.  All three sites offer practical tips that cover topics that can help those who want to get better at what they love doing.

The Netsetter was a blog started by Envato’s CEO, Collis Ta’eed in 2009 as a place to discuss start ups. The second iteration of the site doesn’t stray too far from the initial concept, but has been retooled by the Netsetter team to appeal to a wider audience.

If you’re a true netsetter then you’re already on your way to doing something that you truly love doing.  With The Netsetter, FreelanceSwitch and WorkAwesome, you have an arsenal of resources available to you that can enable you to do what you love at a whole new level.

Are you a netsetter? Then head on over to the newly-revamped Netsetter today!

That is, until now.

This guy seems to have them all down…

(Video courtesy of TVO’s Search Engine with Jesse Brown.)

I found every which way to do everything but the task at hand…even though I knew full well that I had to get it done. Combating these “creative time-wasters” is something ew need to work at every single day. Over at our sister site, FreelanceSwitch, Will Kenny gives us a few tips on how to do just that.

Fight Creative Time Wasting: Tips for Resourceful Time Wasters

But before you go, check out this video by Levni Yilmaz that takes creative time wasting to a whole other level.

Ubiquitous Capture

While I don’t necessarily have to carry my iPad with me wherever I go, I generally have my iPhone with me.  With the synchronizing of common apps between the two devices, I no longer have to fiddle for a pad and pen – no matter how elegant they may be.  Before, I’d have to bring around my Hipster PDA (which, to be fair, I still have in my car just in case my 1st generation iPhone’s battery dies on me – and yes, I am going to upgrade) and then transfer what I captured there to my productivity program of choice.  No longer.  Now, I simply use a program like Note2Self if something comes to me quickly or go directly into my productivity app of choice and record it there.  By the time I get home I’ve either emailed the note to my self or have synced the task with my iPad (and MacBook Pro).  I’m never at a loss.  There’s nothing more ubiquitous than that.

The Right Tools

With my new Dodocase, my iPad is disguised as Moleskine.  I can carry it around with me and search for things quickly and easily.  I can move much faster and make the two-minute rule achievable on a consistent basis.

Besides a case that is functional, you’ll need to have software that is just as functional – likely more so.  Here’s what I’m currently using:

• OmniFocus: Tried ‘em all…yet I keep coming back to OmniFocus.  It appears to be the heavyweight champion of productivity apps.  It’s the syncing that does it for me – and I’m beta-testing their web server now as well…which has worked like a charm. I’ve got a lot on the go and don’t mind that you have to wrap your head around OmniFocus before you can really make it what you need it to be.  There are other great apps out there in the native application realm (Things, The Hit List), the web app realm (Producteev2, Remember The Milk, Nozbe) and others that either work in tandem or do one thing really well (Evernote is one I sue for all the “other stuff”) but OmniFocus just keeps hooking me back in.  It’s that good.
• Note2Self: This is great for those times that you need to quickly get something out of your head and don’t want to scramble to do so.  Just record your voice memo and you can email it directly to yourself (or to an assistant, someone you delegate to, etc.) straight away.  You can preset email addresses in the app and if you’re not in 3G range or just feel it can wait, you can save the note.  Simple and useful…that’s why I like it. (And it’s available for Blackberry and Windows Mobile as well.)

The transition hasn’t been completely smooth – setting up OmniFocus again to work just as I need it to has taken some time.  There’s plenty of ways to do it, and having a listen to the MacPowerUser podcast comparing OmniFocus to Things definitely helped.  So even though it took some time, it was time well spent.  Just as the money on my iPad was.

Not that I’m giving up paper completely.  I still use my trusty actual Moleskine for journalling.  For now.

The Freelance Folder blog put together a great post that not only outlines a few of the author’s “bucket list” items, but challenges the reader to come up with their own.  It’s an inspiring read and will hopefully serveto get you thinking about what you really want to achieve to live your life to the fullest.

The Freelancer’s Bucket List

This is where having a workout routine comes into play.

It’s called a “workout” for a reason – it’s work.  You have to treat it as such.  If you didn’t show up for work when you were scheduled, you’d have to face the consequences.  Same goes with working out.  Both set of consequences could spell long-term trouble for you.

Freelancers may have an easier time consistently working out – they generally have a strong sense of self-discipline to call on and keep them honest.  That said, they may be “too busy” to do a regular workout.  Those who work at the office 9 to 5 will use the same excuse – or bring up plenty of others that fit the bill.

A site I like to check out for fitness tips is NerdFitness – and it’s fitting that the creator of the site, Steve Kamb, took the plunge this week by quitting his “safe” job to focus solely on the site.  He’s got the goods to make it all work, too.

So, what’s your workout routine?  What are your favorite sites to get fitness tips?  Let us know in the comments.

In honor of Father’s Day, this article takes a look at how the new fathers of the day are meeting the responsibilities of the role both at home and at work.

App demo: Round the Clock

The Unofficial Apple Weblog gives us a sneak peek at an app called Round the Clock.  What this productivity app for all of Apple’s line of mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) does is present all of your calendar information as a pie chart – and that’s just for starters.  It’s kind of like having a digital Muji Chronotebook at the ready.  It may not be for everyone, but the video is worth a look.

Freelancer’s Wishlist – Father’s Day Edition

Dads aren’t the easiest to shop for – I know, I’m one of them.  But sister site FreelanceSwitch has thoughts on what could be a solid (or solid-state) gift for the “freelance father” in your life!

Manymoon: Free Social Productivity, Project Management & Task Management

Fan of Google’s web apps?  Then Manymoon has a productivity solution that could be what you’ve been looking for…and it’s free.  Definitely something to check out if you (and your team) rely on having stuff in the “cloud.”

Lemonade: The Movie

This movie touches on what we’ve talked about in terms of  “dream jobs” here at WorkAwesome, but it also takes it a step further.  What if you were given a chance for a clean slate because you found yourself without a job altogether?  A pretty inspirng film – and fairly short as it clocks in at just over half an hour.

What is LinkedIn?

“LinkedIn allows you to create a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. You can then form enduring connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to a vast number of qualified professionals and experts.”

- LinkedIn’s About page

You’re going to use LinkedIn to land the job you really want so make sure you put forth not only the energy, but qualifications that are pertinent.  Nothing really outside of what you’re looking for should be in your profile.

LinkedIn provides you with a measuring stick to get your profile to where it needs to be to get the best results (i.e. adding connections, a photo, bio, work history, etc.) and once you’ve filled that stick then you need to keep nurturing it.  There are several third-party apps that work well with the service, and if you line everything up right you end up with zero communication loss between you and your profile.

The service is all about connecting with, collaborating with and commending others.  There’s a lot that goes into it – more that can be (should be) covered on a weekend read.  But, since it is the weekend there’s no time like the present to get a profile started or reinvigorate the one you’ve already established.  Go to it.

The website AppSumo is offering a bundle of the professional level of web-based productivity apps such as Evernote, Remember The Milk and RescueTime (the last of which was used to calculate the lost time during Google’s Pac-Man logo day)  The package is just $55, which is pretty much the most awesome savings I’ve ever seen on a bundle of pure productivity apps.  The best part: they’re not platform-dependent so they’ll work on any OS of your choosing.  The not-so-best part: they’re only available at this price for a limited time and also for a limited duration (ranging from 2 months to 1 year before you have to pony up more dough).

Even with that caveat, the value of this package is well over $300 – a great deal no matter how you look at it.  So if you’re wanting to upgrade to the premium version from the “freemium” version of any of these apps -  or just want to give something new a try, this bundle is the perfect excuse/reason to do so.

Grab Premium Versions of Your Favorite Productivity Webapps for Cheap with AppSumo (via Lifehacker)

An example of this would be the latest release of Flock, which went into beta testing this past Tuesday.  One of the great aspects of Flock is that you can integrate your social networking profiles from Facebook and Twitter into your browser rather than go to each website or external application.  It now becomes your “one stop shop” to make status updates or check out your latest “tweets” – among other nifty little features.  Its newest version (now built on the open-source Chromium code than previous versions) is only available for Windows right now, but you can sign up at their beta site to find out when it’s going be ready for Mac users.

While Flock may not be everyone’s cup of tea, everyone does have a browser (or browsers) they prefer to use.  What do you use?  Why?  Let us know in the comments.