9 Smart Links to Boost Your Income & Polish Your Image

It’s the end of the month (how did that happen?!) and I am on vacation at the beach.

Of course, even though I’m on vacation, I’m not entirely off-duty — I’m still up every morning to sneak in a few hours of work, and a few more in the afternoon when I have a minute.

But when I’m not working, I’m doing yoga by the pool, relaxing on the beach, killing it at mini golf, and indulging in a pina colada or two. It’s not too shabby!

If you need a break from work too (but can’t quite make it to the beach just yet) give yourself a productive time-out with these links that will help polish your online image and give your income a boost.

Wondering how to make a vacation work when you’re self-employed? I’ve got a few tips for you on how to take advantage of your location-independent work.

If you’re anything like me (and like most people in business today!) you send a lot  of email. (Too much email. Why is there so much email…?) Whether you’re pitching new clients or communicating with old ones, how you structure your email affects whether someone hits the reply button or not. Fast Company has five things you need to do to get people to read and  respond to your emails. They also have an amazingly helpful list of eight questions that will help you make better decisions at work.

Are you interested in working as a freelance writer, or adding writing to your business model? Then you need to check out Elna Cain’s step-by-step guide to getting paid to write.

I’ve got a Skype call with a client coming up later today, which is becoming more and more common. If you find yourself talking to clients or colleagues over video chat, how you look plays a big part in how you are received. Daily Worth tells you how to look your best on video chats to make a good impression.

If you share tutorials of any kind with your audience, you probably need to include a screenshot or two. Tom at Leaving Work Behind has a great run-down of how to create professional, helpful screenshots for your blog posts, ebooks, or tutorials.

When you’re self-employed, your income can be pretty sporadic. Luckily, John from Frugal Rules has a few awesome suggestions for how to save money when you work freelance.

And in case you haven’t caught up on my new series: Does your website have an About Page and a Services Page?

Read or written anything good lately? Leave a link in the comments!