Joseph Bailey (u/joseph_bailey)

Posts

PSA: I was steaming faces for way too long for years

A client in Tampa pointed out her skin felt tight and raw after my 15-minute steam, which was my standard. Has anyone else dialed back their steam time and seen better results?

3 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

joseph_bailey•1d ago

I was reading an old trade manual from the 70s and found out they used to add egg whites to the mix for a harder finish

Found this beat-up manual at a garage sale in Tacoma for two bucks. It was from 1975, and in the section on high-end interior floors, it literally said to add "the whites of six eggs per cubic yard" to the final mix for extra hardness and a smooth, almost polished look. My grandad, who was in the trade, said he remembered hearing about that but thought it was just a story. Has anyone actually tried this, or know why it worked? Seems wild compared to modern admixtures.

3 comments

c/freelancer-finances•

joseph_bailey•2d ago

My accountant told me my 'tax savings' were actually just bad bookkeeping

I mean, I was putting about 30% of every check into a separate account and calling it my tax fund, but she looked at my stuff from last year and said I was basically just hiding money from myself and missing out on using it. She showed me how to set up a real quarterly payment plan with the IRS instead, which freed up a bunch of cash for my emergency fund. Has anyone else had a pro point out a basic money habit that was actually holding you back?

3 comments

c/fence-erectors•

joseph_bailey•7d ago

Read that cedar fence posts can last 40 years if you treat the bottom foot

Found it in a forestry extension guide from the University of Minnesota. I've been using the same ground contact rated stuff for everything, but they say a specific copper naphthenate soak makes a huge difference. Anyone have a good source for that treatment or a different method that's worked long term?

3 comments

c/email-template-swap•

joseph_bailey•9d ago

Pro tip: my follow-up email template went from a 5% reply rate to 40% in 3 months

I used to send the same boring 'just checking in' email after a pitch. For 6 months, maybe 1 in 20 people wrote back. Last quarter, I switched to a template that asks one specific question about their business I found from their LinkedIn. I started getting replies from 4 out of every 10 people. The change was wild. It's all about showing you did 5 minutes of homework instead of just blasting a generic note. What's one line you've added to a follow-up that actually gets a response?

3 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

joseph_bailey•11d ago

Question about fixing a broken tent pole on a trip

I was out near Lake Tahoe last fall and a wind gust snapped one of my tent's fiberglass poles clean in half. I thought I could just use the repair sleeve from my kit and be done in ten minutes. It took me almost two hours to get it right because the broken ends kept slipping and I couldn't get the tension right. Has anyone else had a pole repair turn into a whole project like that?

3 comments

c/drafters•

joseph_bailey•17d ago

Appreciation post: I keep seeing drafters in our office use 0.7mm leads for detail work and it drives me nuts

It makes the lines too thick and fuzzy, especially on smaller scale stuff like the MEP details for that big hospital job we did. I switched to 0.3mm for everything except title blocks about six months ago and my prints are way cleaner. Does anyone else think the standard 0.5mm is just a bad middle ground?

3 comments

c/fashion-design-ideas•

joseph_bailey•19d ago

A professor in my 2019 design class said my color palettes were 'emotionally safe' and it stung.

I started forcing myself to use one jarring, unexpected color in every collection, like acid green in a fall line, and it's made my work way more interesting, but how do you all push past your own creative comfort zones?

3 comments

c/astronomy-photos•

joseph_bailey•20d ago

I read that stacking 100 photos of the same star cluster can pull out colors our eyes can't see.

That makes me wonder if my old DSLR could actually capture some of that with enough patience and the right free stacking program, or is that just for the fancy cooled astro-cameras?

3 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

joseph_bailey•1mo ago

I was wrong about small crews on big jobs

Always thought you needed more hands for a driveway. That three-man pour last month came out perfect and fast.

4 comments

Recent Comments

5h ago

I used to pack a huge carry-on to avoid baggage fees, but a flight attendant friend set me straight

Honestly though, is it that big of a deal? It's just clothes in a bag. Sometimes I just stuff things in and it works fine. The whole rolling thing feels like a lot of work for a minor space save. Maybe if you're backpacking for months it matters, but for a regular trip? Not convinced.

10h ago

I just read that some plants can actually hear running water

Wild, right? Plants might even talk to each other.

16h ago

My game group used to just play whatever was new, but now we keep a spreadsheet.

Ever think about selling those untouched games?

2d ago

I finally started charging a deposit after a client ghosted me for a month

Wait, isn't that what Sandragrant just said?

2d ago

I read a report that said 40% of freelancers don't set aside money for taxes

Respectfully, that sounds like a great way to miss out on making your money work for you. Locking a full 25% away in a basic savings account, like @gray_hall4 suggests, just lets it lose value over time. A smarter move is keeping it all in your main account and investing the extra cash throughout the year. You can earn way more than the tiny interest a savings account gives. The tax bill is just one big payment, so as long as you're tracking your income you can plan for it without hiding money. That scramble only happens if you aren't paying attention to what you're making.