Wednesday 1st July marked a significant milestone for me: one year of self employment.

When I embarked on this journey a year ago, I wasn’t 100% confident I’d make it this far. I didn’t have as much savings as I had planned to have, I wasn’t sure where clients were going to come from, and it was quite clear a recession was just round the corner.

So hear I am, one year older, wiser and slightly fatter. What can I tell you about my experiences?

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As a freelancer or self employed person, you are your most valuable asset. It is vital you invest in yourself by developing your own skills and ability whether through formal training or more informal ‘on-the-job’ training.

The start of a year is of course a great time to look forward and think about how you would like to better yourself. In this unashamedly self-focused blog post, I list a few areas I am planning to focus my attentions on, and how I’m intending to do so. If nothing else, this article will be useful to refer back to in six months time to evaluate how well I’m developing.

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Ah, those were the days – back in early 2007 and relatively new to the world of blogging, I used to bash out articles on my first blog miLienzo.com almost on a daily basis. Some articles, admittedly, better than others.

Now time has moved on and six months after launching my new site – the one you’re reading now – I have posted on miLienzo.com only three times. And I’m ashamed to admit this, but there are almost 200 unpublished comments. Yes, 200!

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I find it difficult to comprehend that just over two months ago I was enduring sleepless nights trying to decide whether the time had come to cut my ties and take the plunge into the unknown as a self-employed person.

Ten weeks on and my life truly has changed beyond recognition – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. So, what can I tell you about being a freelancer? What’s it really like?

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When I began this blog earlier this year, I made a few pledges to myself. One was to refrain from ‘personal’ posts and instead strive to solve a problem or pose a question with every article. Another was to commit to a regular posting pattern and another was not to apologise, or even mention it, if I did happen to slip out of that pattern.

Seven weeks since my last posted article and I just feel rude to carry on without some kind of update with where the hell I’ve been – so I’m throwing out the rulebook today.

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Many of you that have followed me for a while will know that I’ve always combined my freelance work with full-time employment. It’s always been the plan to go it alone as a full time freelancer once I was satisfied that I was ready to take the plunge.

This state of readiness has always been a safe distance away – when I’d saved X amount of money; once I’d got X number of years industry experience under my belt. When I took on the role at Inbox this mythical moment in the future was safely put back another year… or two, or three…

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A week from today, on Monday 2 June, my life will be taking a slightly new direction as I begin working for digital marketing agency, Inbox Digital.

Inbox are an award-winning digital marketing agency specialising in online advertising and viral marketing. They have an impressive list of clients including names such as Vodafone, BMW, Panasonic and AOL.

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Fellow blogger and designer, Florida-based Irishman Brian Yerkes recently invited bloggers to post images of their business cards. Here’s my contribution.

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You’ve read the about me page, you’ve flicked through my portfolio, you’ve even had a good read of my other blog, miLienzo.com, and you still want to know more?

Over the weekend I was interviewed by Ian who authors the Digital Revolution blog. He gave me quite a grilling and has now published his findings on his own blog. To find out what he discovered head over and read his interview with me.

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