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IT Update: What A Freelancer Needs Part II

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Communicate with clients in your office or from anywhere in the world with practical IT tools that will help you do business effectively and efficiently.  Freelancers must strive to create and reinforce an impression of capability and professionalism that inspires client confidence and trust.  Some clients may doubt our ability to take on the most important jobs and instead may elect to call in a big consulting firm.  Savvy use of selected IT tools may enhance your image and reassure clients.

The Computer, or Mission Control

Your first decision will be PC  vs.  Mac.  Graphics gurus,  photographers and marcomm writers choose  Macs for their sophisticated color and font style options.  The rest of us gravitate toward PCs, which work well for standard business functions.

Your next decision will be desktop vs. laptop vs. netbook.  Desktop units have  larger screens,  making them suitable to function as mini-home theaters.  Laptop units are smaller and portable  and for most of us  have excellent functionality and memory.

When you need a computer for the road,  a netbook is the smart choice.  Smaller,  lighter and less expensive than a laptop,  netbooks can run on battery power for long stretches.  Pick up free wifi internet access in schools, cafes, hotels and other office buildings while you’re there.  The trade-off  is netbooks don’t have much memory and they’re primarily suitable for web browsing and word processing.

A printer is standard,  even if you don’t print often.  You can find a  reliable inkjet color printer for under $200.00.  A scanner is also useful hardware to own.  The ability to convert hard copy documents into electronic form,  including a nice photo of yourself to upload to your social media profile (or blog!),  is beneficial.  You can have documents scanned at Staples for a quarter a page and  photos at CVS or Walgreens for about $1.00 – $2.00,  but if you can budget the price of a scanner (around $175-$200),  I recommend you do so.

You’ll also want to have a couple of portable memory devices,  i.e. flash drives,  in your possession.  When you go to Staples to scan documents, that’s where the data is transferred.  My flash drives are important storage units for me as my laptop runs out of memory.  They hold many of my files.

When I have a speaking engagement,  I transfer the Power Points to a flash drive and plug into the A/V equipment at the venue (if there is good A/V equipment).  That’s so much easier and safer than dragging around my laptop.

Cloud Computing

Processes that are usually performed through software running on your computer,  but are instead accessed directly via the internet,  is an elementary definition of cloud computing.  The cloud allows you to perform all manner of functions from anywhere there is internet access and a keyboard.

Service providers like Amazon,  Google,  Yahoo,  IBM and Microsoft maintain the servers, provide the content and charge customers  according to the services accessed via the cloud.  Flickr,  Office 2.0,  Googleapps and Googledocs are examples of how you may already use cloud computing.

Network storage that backs up and archives data,  application hosting and virtual IT that acts as an extension of  a company’s in-house IT network are other functions available through the cloud.

There is a perceived threat to the security of documents stored via the cloud, however, and sensitive documents perhaps should not be stored in that manner.  Archives and sensitive data can be safely stored on portable memory devices.

Software
Whether or not certain of your IT functions are in the cloud,  your computer still needs operating system software.  My tech expert colleague Craig,  owner of Roan Solutions roansolutions.com,  likes Windows 7.0.  Bookkeeping and financial statements can be handled with  Intuit QuickBooks Simple Start or Microsoft Office Accounting.  Another nice software feature is Microsoft Fax or other online faxing services that allow you to send and receive faxes directly from your computer.

VoIP

Voice-over-Internet Protocol services like Skype and Vonage allow you to make calls directly from your PC.  Local and international calling will be either free or cheap.  You can even get VoIP for your cell phone.  Voice,  video  and conference  calls,  voice mail,  faxing,  instant messaging and caller ID are all available through VoIP.  Use the video calling feature to set up a real time virtual face to face  meeting with team members based in various locations around the world.

Land Lines and Smart Phones

Let’s start small.  Get your phone company to add conference calling to your land line, because every once in a while you need to have a 3 or 4 way conversation to hash out an issue.

Now on to the smart phones,  which join together the features  of cell phones and personal digital assistants like Palm Pilot.  Smart phones provide you with a date book,  contact list,  to-do list,  email and internet access.  You can even create and edit Microsoft Word documents,  edit photos,  access  GPS  assistance  and create a play list of your favorite songs,  depending on the unit you purchase.

There is a standard keyboard for ease of typing.  You can text,  have voice mail and yes, make phone calls.  If you are away from your office for long stretches and would like to have internet and email service plus a telephone,  you’ll need a smart phone.

Hope I’ve helped to untangle your technology options.  Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Kim

Technology / Office , Leave a comment

IT Update: What A Freelancer Needs Part I

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I am not the techie type.  I don’t own an iPhone or BlackBerry and I may never own an iPad.  Cell phones with app attitude are not on my must-have list and they will not be,  unless my business changes and I find myself away from the office for long stretches and unable to respond to emails on time.

I’ve lived and worked on both sides of the technology divide.  I have typed on an IBM Selectric.  I remember mainframes and teletype (the first fax machines).  I am not a Luddite and I’ve never completely eschewed the many technological advances,  but neither am I enamored of them all.  I have never played a video game in my life and have no plans to do so.  I prefer the low tech life,  yet I spend lots of time online.

Around 1986,  my employer decided that its entire workforce would receive computer training.  Region by region,  department by department,  each employee in the white collar workforce and managerial level employees in our blue collar workforce,  spent 5 days from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM in computer skills training classes.

It was a massive undertaking.  Businesses the world over had no choice but to provide such training for their employees in response to a paradigm shift that was as powerful as the transition from the farm economy to the industrial age.  Small businesses struggled to  not only finance  the significant cost of  purchasing computers for many of their staff,  but also the cost of training staff.  Freelancers eventually had to enroll in training classes that seemed to average around $300.00 +.  Typewriters were out and word processing was in.  DOS ruled the day.

I was happy to receive the training.  Computers were the wave of the future and I was grateful to develop a vital skill set on the corporate dime.  Scott,  my manager, was thrilled that I was a fast learner and did not rebel against the training.  The same could not be said for several of my co-workers.

I’ve been able to recognize which tech tools are essential for me and I have acquired them.  I was an early adopter of fax machines and have owned a phone / fax since at least 1995.  We rarely fax now, but they’re still good to have around.

I also had an electronic date book in 1995,  pre-Palm Pilot.  After the memory ran out in ’97,  I switched back to paper date books.  For some things paper and pencil are easier, cheaper and more reliable.  Paper and pencil never crash or freeze up.

Like every Freelancer,  I maintain a home office.  I write to you on an aging laptop that’s real short on memory.  I need to buy a new one very soon—come on, clients!  I dislike spending money on that kind of stuff.  I’d much rather buy designer belts and bags, or  art,  jewelry and vacations to the world’s great capitals.  If I must spend a thousand-plus bucks on something,  I’d rather it be on what I enjoy and not on electronics that may be nonoperational or outmoded in 5 years (or less).

But Bill Gates and Larry Ellison have us by the short hairs and they will not let go.  Cloud computing is here to stay until the Next Big Thing overtakes it.  Plus,  some of that techie stuff is quite useful—when it works right.

So what are the must-haves for the average Freelancer in the office and in the field? Next week,  I’ll present an overview of the basics that will keep you and your business up to code,  technologically speaking.

More later,
Kim