Personal Assessment

Posted by N.E. Lilly on

Before I run off and start trying to get gigs on Fiver and before I bring my car into Uber to be an approved driver, I should probably take a look at what I already have going for me and what I have to work with. Previously, I listed the skills and assets that my family had collectively (mainly the abilities of three working-age adults), as well as material resources that I had. Here’s a more detailed list of wide range of skills and abilities that I personally have available:

Websites

I’ve been making websites since 1998. In that time I’ve created a number of personal projects.

In creating these websites, over the years, I have set up an Amazon Associates account, a Project Wonderful account, and a Google Ads account. Everyday Weirdness and Thaumatrope were labors of love, and never intended to host advertisements. Space Westerns Magazine and ConTainment were also labors of love, but had more commercial aspirations and used all three programs.

Some of those sites will be seeing increased attention and activity in the very near future. I’ve added Amazon Associate links to certain posts on my personal journal. I’ll be adding Google Ads and Amazon Associates to this site, and certain Affiliate Programs to all the sites, where appropriate. I’ll also be adding other potential revenue streams, some of which are tied to my personal goals for 2018.

Skills and Services

I could use these following skills to make products or sell my time, giving other people access to these skills, as services.

  • Basic computer skills (listing this feels like listing “basic literacy skills” but I know that actual knowledge of basic computer skills still isn’t widespread)
    • Knowledge of operating systems: PC & Mac
    • Business applications: Word processing, Spreadsheets, Databases
  • Editing
    • Skills gained from editing the above websites and magazines… I have no idea how I would make money doing this.
  • Graphic design and illustration
    • Illustration
    • Advertising specialties (t-shirts, pens, bumper stickers, etc.)
    • Business cards
    • Flyers and posters
    • Print design (book and magazine layouts)
  • Web development
    • Web guru: I’ll hold your hand and walk you through the process of buying a domain name and setting up a WordPress website
    • Web graphics: I’ll make custom images, banners, etc. for you
    • WordPress theme customization & development: I’ll develop a custom WordPress Theme for you, if you’ve outgrown the current WordPress offerings or if you need something more customized to your personal goals
    • Web development: custom websites
    • Performance review: A review of your current website with guidance on how to make it faster
    • Performance optimization: The development work to make the changes recommended the in the performance review
    • Accessibility testing (A11Y): A review of your current website with guidance on how to make it more accessible to people who use assistive technology
    • Accessibility development (A11Y): The development work to make the changes recommended the in the accessibility review
  • Education (I’ve taught people how to do things in the past, I can teach people how to do things in the future)
    • Tutoring and classes for basic computing
    • Tutoring and classes for graphic design applications
    • Tutoring and classes for web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript Programming)
  • Art/craft/maker (I can make pretty things)
    • Drawing
    • Painting (in Acrylic and Oils)
    • Photography (seriously, don’t hire me for this: get an experienced professional)
    • Stained-glass
    • Sculpture (amateur level)
    • I made a mummy

I’ve been doing art/craft/maker work since I was very young, but it has been more of a hobby since 1998, just the odd craft here and there. I’m only just now returning to it to find some personal fulfillment. After college I spent about 5 years working in graphic design: advertising specialties and desktop publishing. Web development has been my primary focus since 1998, with a bit of graphic design and illustration thrown in (like when my daughter’s marching band needed tickets for their fundraisers or my son’s robotics team needed a team display). Most of it has been a combination of work for my “day” jobs, freelance work for SF/F/H professionals through GreenTentacles, and other one-off freelance projects listed on my personal portfolio site.

I’m sure I missed some things, but it’s a good formidable list to get started with. It’s a list of everything and anything. It’s a wide ranging list that comes from the panic of having to answer: How am I going to pay for this?

I’m going to just throw myself into it and make it work. As I choose how to focus my efforts you can expect to see regular updates of what I’m doing and how well it’s working.