Was one of your New Year resolutions to be more productive and grow your business? Digital Dragonfly believes you need good IT systems in place to do both. If you spend all day working on your computer read on for 7 ways to develop healthy tech habits in 2012.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
Good news for all you retailing freelancers out there plying your trade through Etsy or your own online store – recent research has shown that online shoppers choose to buy from smaller retailers with personality rather than larger online stores.
New research carried out by our parent company Crunch has found that usage of Microsoft’s universally-loathed web browser IE6 spikes massively during working hours – seemingly indicating that corporate IT departments are failing in their duty to ensure a compliant and safe web experience for the employees they are charged with looking after.
Recent research has claimed that a full third of small- and medium-sized business that have to close down due to data loss can be chalked up to human error. The problem has been highlighted by an IT specialist, who also found that almost two thirds (64%) of employees had received no IT security training
One of the hardest things to get your head around when using Twitter is the hash tag. What are they? What do they mean? Where do they come from? A hash tag is simply a way for people to spread information and make it easier for people to search for tweets that have a common topic.
TimothyTim | Guides,Technology
OK, that’s it. I’ve had it with sloppy internet stupidity and moronic marketing strategies from site owners. Here are my top ten (alright, eight) moronic things you’re doing to your website that dramatically hinders your ability to sell stuff.
Late last year Prime Minister David Cameron announced his Government would be pumping £400 million into a project to create a Silicon Valley-style “Tech City” in the east end of London, specifically in the area surrounding the Old Street Roundabout.
Picture the scene – there’s a big important meeting, many miles away, you’re tired and it’s snowing. Do you get out of your nice warm bed four hours early and travel to the site, or simply stroll downstairs, log onto your PC and send in your virtual self via robot?
A new survey from technology market research specialists Radicati.com says the average corporate email user sends and receives around 105 email messages every day and that nearly 20% of these are spam or ‘greymail’ i.e. unwanted newsletters or notifications.
A survey carried out by Sedo, a global domain marketplace, has revealed that small businesses are paying 5% more for their domain names than they were this time last year.
Although the iPhone may still be the dominant force in the smartphone world, Android is quickly catching up – and with more users come more apps. For the worker on the go there are a number of apps that can range from handy additions to complete lifesavers.
Online productivity is becoming increasingly popular, but there is still a need for offline suites. Which is the best? Microsoft’s all-conquering Office, or open-source upstart Open Office?
Jon Norris | Getting a Job,News
The latest figures released by Freelancer.com, who use their gigantic repository of freelance jobs to track which the ebb and flow of different sectors, have shown that demand for mobile experts continues to grow at an exponential rate.
Although many businesses both big and small still struggle with shaking the snail mail, a new report has claimed that the great hope of the paperless office, email, is on the way out already. It is surmised that email will be replaced within a few years by private portals which allow users to post messages to a “wall” and tag individuals, essentially giving corporations their own private Facebook.
Rachel Soothill | News,Technology
Research published by PC World Business has revealed that UK small businesses are adopting tablets for use in the workplace, with many more looking to do so in the near future. According to the research nearly 25% of small firms are using tablets such as iPads and Android slates to increase the efficiency of their business.
Rachel Soothill | Lifestyle & Time out,Technology
If we didn’t appreciate the power of social media previously, the latest news headlines have confirmed just how influential platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are. Twitter in particular has hit the headlines recently after making a mockery of England’s privacy laws. While I couldn’t care less about who Ryan Giggs is bonking, the situation has grabbed my attention as it highlights the effectiveness of social media communication.
Rachel Soothill | Guides,Technology
As the biggest social networking site for professionals LinkedIn is a no-brainer for all freelancers looking to broaden their horizons. With over 6o million members, it is a great starting place for finding and connecting with potential new clients and also for being found.
Here’s something you don’t see often – the Government making appreciable, concrete strides towards a more user-friendly, useful web portal. Under the guidance of web brainbox Tom Loosemore, Alpha.gov.uk is a test version of a new Government portal that is supposed to eventually replace Direct.gov.uk.
Andy White | Guides,Technology
We’ve discussed planning and recording your podcast, now we’re going to explore how to make sure people can listen once you’ve produced it. Using some simple technology you can make it easy for people to subscribe and listen to your creation – let’s talk about your options.
Jon Norris | Review,Technology
Have you checked a calendar recently? It’s 2011 – officially the future. Where are the jetpacks? Why can’t I eat my lunch in pill form? Lots of the magical technologies we were promised as children have failed to materialise, however one of the few technologies that has mode it from the screen to our sweaty palms in wireless charging.
Jon Norris | Resources,Technology
External hard drive? Those things are heavy. USB stick? So last year. These days the vital and thrusting freelancer uses cloud storage to keep themselves mobile and ensure their work is backed up. But which service is the best? We’re looking into the benefits, drawbacks and intricacies of the main contenders to let you know your options.
Jon Norris | Resources,Technology
If there’s one thing the internet is good at its democratisation. Whether it be Wikipedia, file sharing, or blogging, the web has put a great deal of power back in the hands of the people. Now that same ethos is starting to filter down into services that would traditionally have been from one huge, faceless, costly provider.
It’s Friday, January 28th, which can only mean one thing: it’s international Data Privacy Day! Cue ticker tape and hastily draped bunting in the town square. Or perhaps not. This is, after all, a private affair.
Starting a business is a time-consuming and difficult task, which generally means getting down and dirty in all areas of the business. With so much to do every day, developing an optimised workflow becomes more than a just a ‘nice thing to have’ – it is essential to your business’s success.
This week in the Freelance Advisor Podcast we’re talking tech – with a man who knows all about tech, Carrypad’s Steve Paine. Steve is a full-time blogger and mobile computing expert – if you need to get stuff done on-the-go, he’s the man to talk to.
We’re all about peace and harmony here at FA – we believe you should love thy neighbour and high five strangers in the street and all that good stuff – but we also like a good fight. Every Friday we’re going to be pitching a couple of heavyweight competitors against one another in a battle royale with cheese to see who comes out on top.
Late last week the Prime Minister in his human form gave a speech outlining the Government’s grand plans to invest heavily in the East of London in order to create a “world-leading technology city to rival Silicon Valley”.
The term OCR probably sends a shiver down your spine – and you’re not quite sure why. The term usually pops up in places such as exams or driving tests – it stands for Optical Characters Recognition, and, simply put, it means teaching computers to recognise written characters.
Jon Norris | Guides,Resources,Technology
Software comes in many different flavours these days. The majority, from Microsoft, Apple and the like, is closed source – meaning the developers don’t release the source code their software is based on, which helps them protect both their intellectual property and bottom line. A growing percentage of software, however, is Open Source, meaning the developer releases the source code for anybody to poke around in and change as they see fit, and, most importantly for you and I, the software is almost always free.
Michael Rose | Resources,Technology
I can’t count the number of times I’ve needed to know the exact dimensions of a piece of A4 paper. It’s not something I need all the time, so it’s not in long-term memory, and it’s certainly not worth printing out and keeping by my monitor.
If I’m at my laptop I usually Google for the answer it but its always frustrated me that I can’t just have everything I need in one place.
International Paper Sizes is an ideal resource for looking up a variety of paper standards. It’s ideal for anyone working in graphic design, illustration, printing, export and packaging. And me.
Michael Rose | Money,Technology
Are slow payers crippling your cash flow? Are you spending too much time chasing overdue accounts and stifling your productivity? Spending more of your valuable time chasing payments than new customers?
There’s an app for that.
Ian Ozsvald | Guides,Resources
Monetising your knowledge is a core skill for freelancers – making money whilst you sleep is a necessary step forwards as you build your freelancing career.
Professional Screencaster Ian Ozsvald shows us ways of making money by screencasting. This post follows the earlier tutorials on Communicating more effectively and raising your profile through screencasts.
Ian Ozsvald | Resources,Training
Building a visible profile is essential if you want to receive a steady stream of readers and referred clients. Demonstrating your knowledge with screencasts is easy and is a very effective way of showing visitors that you’re on top of your game.
Professional Screencaster Ian Ozsvald shows us how short online tutorial and demonstration videos are a powerful way to raise your profile. This post follows the earlier tutorial on (Communicating more effectively with screencasts)
Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out
Freelancers need focus; without a boss to keep you in line and being outside a traditional workflow it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts. Combine this with the pace of modern life and it’s easy to get swamped and to feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Not only is there a lot of work there are constant distractions, tweets, bleeps and pings pulling us away from our true goals and aspirations.
Focus: The Power of Targeted Thinking attempts to give the solution to all these feelings of confusion and distraction.
Ian Ozsvald | Resources,Training
Getting your message across to customers and clients is vital and, as a freelancer, communicating clearly and effectively with can make a big difference to the success or failure of a project or product.
Professional Screencaster Ian Ozsvald shows us how short online videos are a powerful way to get communicate clearly.
Portfolio To Go is a fantastic iPad app for artists and photographers who use Flickr.com to showcase their photographs online.
Lovingly created by Brighton-based freelance developer Nick Kuh, easily allows freelance photographers, graphic designers and artists to present their portfolio offline to clients — perfect for use with a wifi iPad.
Just sync and go.
If you’re like me – a freelancer who occasionally works from home and who happens to live in an old, listed or converted flat – you’re no stranger to fluctuating wireless signals, and the headache they can cause when you’re trying to work.
Thick concrete walls, organic (horsehair) insulation and poor telephone infrastructure make working from home in these types of flats something of a struggle. It makes matters worse when the one room in your flat where you get the most work done just happens to be out of range from your wireless router. So, when you run a business that relies heavily on a stable internet connection, what’s a freelancer to do?
Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out
We’re big fans of Jason Fried, creator of Basecamp and co-author of Rework. His Get Real column for Inc.com is a must-read for freelancers interested in freelancing, small business advice, for stories of struggle and success.
His first column for Inc.com, Driven to Distraction, is Fried’s fascinating tale of how he built 37Signals from his solo freelancing business.
If you use Skype and have an iPhone then this week’s announcement via the Skype blog will come as very welcome news.
Thanks to the new update, available on iTunes, calls now go over 3G so you no longer need to be at home on a wireless network to make and receive calls.
I have always been interested in running a project/small business outside of my 9 to 5 full-time job. Something that I can grow in my spare time and that has the potential to grow and then become my main source of income! Talking with friends, I was given a copy of Emma Jone‘s Working 5 to 9 – How to start a successful business in your spare time — Great timing!
Michael Rose | Technology,Working From Home
If you occasionally work from home then getting a decent broadband connection can really help you get your work done effectively.
Thanks to modern-day technology, working from home is no longer a second-rate way of staying in touch with clients and colleagues and broadband has become a vital lifeline for many home workers, allowing them to email or browse the web in comfort while also being able to send and receive large files with ease.
If you’re not up to speed with Broadband at home Chris Marling of Broadband Genie gives you a a few things to consider.
Online security is a pain. If you have more than one bank account, multiple email addresses and numerous subscriptions to online services like Amazon, eBay and the rest, keeping track of your passwords becomes a real chore. We’re told not to write them down, and we’re told not to have anything too obvious that can be found in a dictionary.
Security experts recommend we have unique, strong, passwords of at least 12 characters including lowercase, uppercase and numbers. Generating random complicated passwords isn’t too hard… but remembering them is.
PROBLEM: You have limited, often fragmented time to meet clients and contacts. You might have a free spot for two hours this afternoon, time between finishing one project and starting the next, and it’d be great to generate some new business in that slot — if only people knew you were free to talk.
Setster solves this problem beautifully — perfect for consultants or small businesses.
If your website IS your business and it’s offering products, services or information then it might be something that you might seriously consider.
However, if your business website is just ABOUT your company then it’s probably not such a good idea. There is of course a thin line between the two, so another way of judging whether you should take advertising is by looking at some of your competitors and seeing what they do.
Checklists are an essential part of finishing any project and when it comes to website launches there are a whole host of checks, fixes and tests that need to be done to make sure your project is firing on all cylinders, with valid HTML, CSS and javscript, that works in every browser, at different resolutions and on all platforms.
Launchlist.net is your one stop web checklist. Simple enter your details, project name and your clients email address, then set to work checking all the boxes.
David Howell | Technology,Working From Home
If the underneath of your desk looks like a bird’s net of tangled cables, power bricks, and distribution sockets, now is the time to tame your wires and create a tidy environment in your home office.
Here are a few quick ways to tame those cables…
I’ve long advocated Dropbox as the absolute best file-sharing tool for Freelancers, Contractors and just about anyone who needs to backup their important work files and share content across multiple machines or locations.
But the best of the best has just added a killer new feature.
If you need to quote for a job and want to get a slick proposal back to the client before the end of the day then Quote Robot is your fantastic, futuristic, proposal-producing pal!
Michael Rose | Working From Home
Whiteboard are great for brainstorming, making quick notes, adding important phone numbers or targets… but they’re not cheap.
Whiteyboard is a brilliant ‘stick-on’ solution and, starting at $10, won’t break the bank. If you’ve got a spare space on your wall and want a quick, cheap whiteboard solution then this looks like a really smart solution.
Sinead Mac Manus | Getting a Job
As a freelancer, getting out from behind the desk (or kitchen table) and out into the real world is crucial for building relationships and winning new business. The pervasive nature of social media means that we are increasingly connected online. We tweet about our day on Twitter post news on Facebook, and share our location on Foursquare.
Social Entrepreneur Sinead Mac Manus shares 4 ways to use digital tools and social media to make the most of networking opportunities.
Emma Jones | Working From Home
Working from Home. If you need to work from home unexpectedly then these online tools and services will help you get the job done. Freelance Advisor Emma Jones shares her tips for staying connected with co-workers and clients.
As part of our #GreenOffice series we’re looking at neat tips and technology for keeping costs down and running an efficient eco-friendly office.
While most new PCs come with a decent keyboard and mouse these days (Dell’s keyboards are still a personal favourite of mine) the Solargizer package has all you’d expect from a keyboard (you know, keys with numbers and letters on them, all in the right places) but adds a nice little ‘solar powered’ feature for anyone concerned about chewing up batteries.
Do you have content you would like to share with an interested audience of existing and potential customers? It’s never been so easy to package your content in a stylish way, and distribute it in a cost-effective way.
Enter the age of home publishing with Emma Jones.
The guys and girls at Cloud Engines are my new best friends! As a roaming freelancer (working on contracts in other people’s offices, working from home and, sometimes, working from bed) the problem of where to keep my data has always been a difficult one to solve. Not any more.
Pogoplug is a great solution. It’s got 4 USB slots and it connects to a home WiFi router and, yes it really is that simple, now I have access to my portable hard drives wherever I am in the world.
Michael Rose | Working From Home
As Britain shivers though the coldest night this Winter, with local government offices reporting road grit supplies are dangerously low and the MetOffice predicting more snow on the way, we’re wondering how everyone is doing out there. Are you able to make it into the office? Are you working from home? Or are you just glad you’re a freelancer with everything you need in your home office?
We’d love to know how you’re working throughout this week.
As we approach ‘National Freelancers Day’ Freelance Advisor has created a new ‘Future of Freelancing’ section to focus on debate about the the biggest opportunities and threats to freelancing and contracting.
What does the recession mean to us? Do we get the help we deserve from the government? How important are we to the economy’s recovery? What is the role of technology in the future?
Michael Rose | Lifestyle & Time out
If you are lucky enough to own an iPhone 3Gs and you are wandering around town trying to find a place to do a spot of co-working then this funky Augmented Reality app for iPhone looks like an awesome solution. thanks @stephenfry
The laptop. A useful tool for portable working or an ergonomic time bomb? Nowadays with many of us relying on our portable friends as our main computer, the laptop has thrown up a new set of ergonomic challenges. By its very design the laptop is disastrous for the back, particularly if you use it as it’s meant to be used on a table hunched over the keyboard peering at the screen. At the end of the day you straighten up and wonder why you’ve got backache or neck ache.
Emma Jones | Lifestyle & Time out
New technology means it’s possible to work wherever you want. You’ve already decided you want to work for yourself and away from the traditional office, but now – with a few simple tips and tricks – you can enjoy unprecedented flexibility, and work almost anywhere, from your local coffee shop to the public park. Freelance Advisor and Home Working author and expert Emma Jones explains how.
If Hollywood sensationalism is to be believed, then every man and his dog are advanced cyber-terrorists who want nothing more than to drain your bank account, max your credit card, and maybe initiate nuclear war with an unspecified superpower. The truth is that the world of computers isn’t actually as dangerous as many people think, as long as you take a few simple precautions against potential threats.
If you wanna get ahead, get a headset Bluetooth headsets get a lot of stick from a lot of people, largely because the general public seems to have taken issue with the idea of somebody going about their business with a hi-tech gadget so visibly attached to the side of their head. I wonder if [...]
Jim Hatley | Technology,Working From Home
If you’re freelancing from home on a regular basis a well-lit, well kitted-out office is essential – not just a luxury. Freelance Advisor’s resident gadget guru Jim Hatley takes a look at some home office must-haves. Home office heaven: Screens, scanners, DAB and desk-lamps Last year I have covered a few bits of kit to [...]
Off on his travels again… tech-loving freelancer and electronic evangelist Jim Hatley grabs some essential items for work on the move (and gives us some novel uses for a digital camera). Essential items for your briefcase Continuing on from my briefcase fillers piece of last month, Id like to run through a few of the [...]
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones gives us her review of the best applications for freelancers. Top 5 technology apps of 2008 As we enter the month of December, I can’t help but look back at the year that was. The thousands of new businesses started, the people we’ve profiled, [...]
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones give us a timely reminder of the things we could be doing in the run up to Christmas. What can freelancers do when things get quiet over the holiday season and what plans can we make for 2009. When the phones hush and emails [...]
Freelance Advisor founder Darren Fell is a successful entrepreneur and all over the first page of results when you Google his name. We asked him to share the secrets of his success and he responded with this guide to marketing yourself. Marketing yourself for free, a guide. The big question running through everybody’s mind when [...]
Emma Jones | Working From Home
Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones offers us the first in a new series of pieces for our Working from Home section. Here she takes a looks at what freelancers with a home office can do to create a professional image for clients and a great first impression for customers [...]
Off on his travels again… our tech-loving freelancer and electronic evangelist Jim Hatley grabs some essential items for work on the move. Essential items for your mobile office Today I am going to look at a few more items that are essential for life on the road. Working from home is fantastic, and is certainly [...]
Resident gadget guru and reviewer for The Times Jim Hatley shares some invaluable advice on disaster recovery for freelancers. If you have a home office and don’t have an IT helpdesk… Who you gonna call? If your entire operating system went belly-up on the first day of an important contract, how would you deal with [...]
Free-roaming freelancer and technology evangelist Jim Hatley has been out and about putting a few mobiles phones through their paces finding out which work best for freelancers and contractors who need to stay connected on the road. Time to upgrade? Two great mobile phones for freelancers Mobile phones are big business, both for those who [...]
