Pour another cup of coffee, tea, or whatever you like — the Friday Brief is here. Heading into this holiday weekend, I’m thinking about systems, about working smarter instead of longer, and reaching the right people, and more of ‘em. Here’s what the rest of the blogosphere was thinking about this week:

Blogs and Websites

You have to have them, and you have to use them correctly if you want them to work for you (instead of you working for them). Here are some of the more interesting thoughts about blogs and websites I’ve read this week:

• Real Lawyers Have Blogs: the counter-viewpoint to my earlier post about why you don’t need an expensive blog design to have a successful blog as a lawyer or any other solo service professional. There will be more on this topic in the coming week here at TIS.
• Write to Done: Tips on creating your about page. Geared towards writers but good tips for anyone
• SEOMoz: How to increase your traffic without increasing your ranking in search engines

Self-Employment Guide

Working for yourself is just different than your average W2 gig. It’s a whole new Pandora’s Box of delights and not-so-delightful stuff. Here are some tips about how to fly the plane yourself:

• LifeDev:  The top 10 misconceptions the self-employed deal with every day from friends, colleagues, relatives and others. Knowledge is power!
• RainToday: How to turn anxiety into an advantage for the self-employed

Networking and Business Relationships

You guys know I hate the word “networking” — I prefer to think of it as building professional relationships. Regardless, we have to do it, and here are a few posts to finesse your relationship-building style:

• Shine: Avoiding the seven deadly sins of networking
• Successfully Solo: Barbara Nelson shares a story about stepping outside her own comfort zone at a networking event.

Productivity and Mind Hacks

If you aren’t learning new things every day, may I suggest you’re missing out on a whole world of coolness? Recently, I reread something I’d written on this blog here, about why I don’t do blog setup. It hadn’t sat right with me since I published those words, and now I knew why: because I hate not knowing. And this was a pure and simple case of not knowing enough to be proficient.

So, for the last two weeks, I’ve been hitting the CSS and XHTML books pretty hard. It’s opening up a whole new level of business opportunities, of course, but it’s also forging new neuron pathways in my brain, because it’s basically learning a whole new language. And that’s one of the best ways to keep the brain functioning properly well into middle age and beyond.

And in honor of that new endeavor, and all the new endeavors you want to pick up, here are some study and mind hacks:

• Communicatrix: The beauty of working with what’s at hand
• Discovering Your Inner Samurai:  Concrete, actionable tips on how to increase your productivity levels dramatically
• Christine Kane: A guest post by Sue Ludwig on Christine Kane’s blog about the difference between surrendering and giving up
• Cognitive Daily:  Why Adam Lambert and Kris Allen have better memories than you do, and why you should pick up the guitar or the violin again, pronto
• Study Hacks:  Why it’s a good idea to reinvent the study wheel from time to time.
• Zen Habits: why you should put the book down and just try whatever it is you’re learning to do.