It's Fun Friday! - Keeping It Local edition

Guess what?!

Photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu.

It's spring! And baseball season! Yaaaaahoooooo!!

When I freelanced for the Michigan Business Review on MLive.com back in 2008, I had the opportunity to write a piece about Paul Barbeau, president and general manager of the Great Lakes Loons. Because I'm focusing on everything local to the Great Lakes Bay region today as my Fun Friday experiment, and because it's the start of baseball season, I'd thought I'd share that story with you. Take a look here!

OK, so back to Fun Friday.



I've taken a hiatus from my Fun Friday experiment since I decided to focus most of my time on building a freelance career instead of hunting for a full-time position back in corporate America. Today, I dedicate my Friday afternoon to developing freelance opportunities with local businesses.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Creative agencies (marketing, advertising, public relations) - They could use an extra hand, right? I'm doing some research to create a list of all the local agencies and then I plan to find anyone who might have a connection to help me get a meeting to talk about how I can contribute to their success.

Entertainment - Restaurants, museums, events (especially with summer approaching!) are prime opportunities to pitch a story to a local publication. I am working on brainstorming some neat ideas that hopefully will result in a published article in the near future.

People - Now that i'm diving into a freelance career, I have a newfound interest in those who have started small businesses in the area on there own. I hope to develop some connections and perhaps have them share some insights for others right here on my blog.

News - News happens everyday, everywhere! I'm sure that some of the local news organizations might need an extra hand from time to time. So it's time for me to explore those areas too.


Since being downsized, I've obviously learned that nothing is forever. If a full-time job at a big local organization wasn't forever, I can't expect the one steady freelance gig I have now to last forever either. There's nothing wrong with an abundance of opportunities, and I've got to keep searching for even more opportunities as well.

If you have any ideas or potential freelance opportunities for me, please share in the comments below or email me at rachelhopkins826 [at] gmail.com.

Have a great weekend readers, and Go Tigers!!

(And did anyone see that Valverde was signed to a minor league contract with the Tigers? Arrrghh ...)