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February 25, 2006
Quitting my day job to work online
Recently I decided to give up my day job and work full time on the internet as a freelancer. Its fun to work on projects. There are many advantages of working as a freelancer and more working on the internet. There is no one to boss you around. You are your own boss. You can choose flexible time slots to complete your daily assignments. Since you work from home, you save on travelling (both time and money).
It has always been my dream to work as a freelancer. If you are also thinking of quitting your day job here is a quick list that you must follow. It helps you decide where you stand and whether you can really work online 100%
1. How much money have you made from your online business in past 15 months. Get a break up of each month. Is it consistent? Is it growing?
2. What is the major source of this income? Are you confident enough that in the source will last for a long term?
3. How many long term clients do you have? Where do you see your business relation going as far as your few big clients are concerned.
4. Are you sure you are not dependent of a single income (adsense etc) but that your portfolio is diversified?
These questions will help you decide where you stand and whether you can really quit your day job. Other factors that may come into play are current liabilities like a mortgage, car loan etc that you have. Make sure to keep your liabilities to minimum and under control. Save 2 to 3 months of your day job income before you decide to quit. Work on some deal while you are in your day job or notice period. This would mean by the time you are out of your day job, you already have some work to look forward too.
Also remember there may be a month or two in between where you have absolutely no work. Don't get panicky. Remember always save 2-3 months of your profits/income. This will make sure you can sail through difficult times.
And last but not the least - Get your business visiting cards printed :-D
Posted by manish at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
« November 2005 | Main | March 2006 »February 23, 2006
Setting up a Wireless WiFi network at home
I have 4 computers at home (2 desktops and 2 laptops). Networking them has always been the best thing to do. Initially I just wanted to share internet connection and tried a lot of things like cross over cable, hub. However I wanted the flexibility to move around in the house with my laptop. Also the cables were getting a lot messier than I thought they will be.
I read and experimented with the idea of Bluetooth based Personal Area Network (PAN). It was great for sharing internet connection (700Kbps wireless connection between computers) however it didn't give the true LAN experience. It was a pain transfering music/videos over the network.
I decided WiFi was the only way out. I purchased D-Link ADSL 604T Wireless Router. Plugged it in, did a quick installation and everything was working fine.
To harden the Wireless security, here is what I did.
1. Changed the default router password.
2. Disabled telnet and ping from external network
3. Enabled the router NAT and Firewall
4. Enabled WPA-PSK encryption for Wireless AP.
5. Created an access list of wireless machines (my two laptops)
I tested everything again and it seemed to work pretty fine. Its now fun to share files and internet connection over a 54Mbps wireless and 100Mbps wired connection.
Posted by manish at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)