Going Green in Your Workspace

Elance_Alex |

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If you’re dreading the inconvenient truth of going green in your workspace, don’t worry - an environmentally friendly office doesn’t have to mean major sacrifices or major expenses. There are several ways to design or makeover your workspace to meet the new standard of the office - green, budget friendly and best of all, efficient for your work.

Go Paperless
The biggest inefficiency in the office in terms of not only the environment but also space is the paper trail. Overflowing file cabinets, ceiling-high stacks of paper and boxes of office supplies are out, and high tech, digital media is in. With today’s technology, there’s no longer the need to have a paper copy of emails, client files and every bill received since the Carter administration. Most can be found in your online utility accounts, computer files, or be stored on digital media. (Don’t forget to have a backup!) PDAs and smartphones can easily take the place of files and reports on the road, and as a bonus, they’re becoming less expensive with more user-friendly and connectivity features.

Not only do computer-stored records take up less space, but they save paper and time, not to mention a few hundred trees. Make sure to use an offsite file storage service to protect your business from the loss of files from computer crashes. Companies such as Carbonite offer backup services for nominal monthly fees, and the cost is offset by using much less paper at $4 per ream, not to mention costly and space-gobbling filing systems.

While it’s best for the environment to go completely paperless, it may not be best for the IRS when tax time rolls around. Make sure you check the IRS website  to determine exactly which hard copies need to be kept and filed for backup with your taxes.

Save Energy
Saving energy takes front and center stage in the green workspace. Heat producing lighting and energy hogging office machines can be replaced with more efficient and modern pieces that bring down electrical bills while maximizing space and reducing your carbon footprint. Making the most of natural lighting in the workspace not only lightens the burden on the environment but is easier on the eyes as well. Windows that are placed on South-facing walls offer the most natural lighting throughout the year. While that’s the best placement in most environments, those in hot climates, such as South Florida, need to weigh the pros and cons, as the increased heat from the windows will also mean increased air conditioning usage.

Go Wireless, Cordless and Strip
The high tech office space used to be a jumble of cords, surge protectors and cables that not only drained electricity but were unsightly and a tripping hazard to boot. Take advantage of wireless technology with printers, modems and telephones and cable routing/management accessories to simplify, increase safety and save space in the office.

Using power surge strips not only protect your office equipment but can be a convenient way to make sure all office equipment and lamps are turned off at night. Computers in standby mode still draw electricity, as does that cell phone charger “harmlessly” left plugged in the wall and other equipment left in standby mode (Game consoles, audio amplifiers, televisions, etc).

Recycle Wisely
Recycling is the norm in today’s home and office, but make sure the pros of any recycling program outweigh the cons. While you may feel good about recycling a small container with two soda cans, if you’re driving your SUV to a recycling center 10 miles away, it doesn’t make sense for time, efficiency or the environment to do so. On the other hand, if you have curbside recycling in your area, take advantage of it. Just make sure to shred documents before placing them in the recycle bin.

Environmentally Friendly Décor
Using furnishings and flooring that are made of natural and sustainable materials is a big part of the going green process. Bamboo flooring in particular has become extremely popular, as it is durable and attractive. Bamboo is also more eco-friendly than hardwood as it has a five year harvest time compared to the 20+ year harvest time of typical hardwoods.

While your office furniture is not going to be made of 100% natural materials, you can choose furniture that is Greenguard certified. The Greenguard certification process involves testing products to ensure that chemical and particle emissions meet acceptable standards.

And speaking of those emissions, consider paints and carpets that have low VOC’s – Volatile Organic Compounds, which are elements in paint, carpets and adhesives that can be harmful to your health, particularly in freshly painted and carpeted rooms. VOC’s are the primary cause of ‘sick’ buildings, which in turn causes health problems for the workers. If you’re considering new flooring for an office, or in the process of decorating a home office, bamboo flooring with a natural fiber rug is a great choice and looks sleek and modern to boot.

Choosing Eco-Friendly Products
Going green in the office can mean wading through tons of information and differing opinions as to what qualifies as being environmentally friendly. It does vary for different products and situations, but some of the questions you can ask yourself are:

Is a product recyclable?
Does the product come from renewable materials?
How long is the life cycle for the product?
Will it impact indoor air quality?

Buy Local
What’s one of the biggest impact on the environment? Transportation! Buying locally made products cuts back on the carbon footprint of the methods of transport to get that product to your office. An added benefit, buying locally can also lead to valuable networking opportunities.

The Bottom Line
Going green in the office doesn’t necessarily mean dramatic changes to your workspace, décor or lifestyle – it’s about making conscious decisions for your situation that will be best for you and everyone else in the long run.

Technology for Every Occasion: Tools to Keep Freelancers Organized

Elance_Keith |

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As an online worker, how would you evaluate your organizational skills? Are you a well-oiled machine or do you find yourself scrambling to manage your calendar, expenses, and maybe even your sanity? Chances are that, as an online worker, you work from your home office or on the go and untethered. You’re managing several different projects at any given time, communicating with several clients, and flying around trying to manage what is essentially your own business. Instead of letting the demands of the job pile up, try utilizing some of the fantastic new programs and applications designed to make your work a whole lot more manageable.

Of course you could use a cloud-based enterprise suite from Google or Zoho, but now you can opt for something more individually tailored to your needs. Are you always getting new ideas and having to scribble them down on napkins or random pieces of paper? Maybe all your loose papers are receipts that accumulate in a tray on your work desk? Or is your computer desktop the one that needs to be de-cluttered?

We’re here to share with you some very useful apps and software, most of which are very affordable (or free), that can keep you and each aspect of your freelance work humming smoothly and as efficiently as possible.

Evernote | Notes
www.evernote.com
Evernote is a really exciting web-based note and clipping organization program that you can access on your home desktop, smartphone, or traveling web access connection. In a nutshell, Evernote is set up to compile all of your text notes, website clippings (text and images), photos and screenshots and index them so that they are searchable by keywords, titles and tags. The software can even detect keywords from your scanned handwriting. There are limitless possibilities to the sort of tasks to which you can use Evernote, but the key thing is that it makes being organized fun, visual, and most importantly—something you won’t have a problem maintaining.

There are different pricing tiers depending on how much information you sync monthly, but most users won’t need to have anything more than the basic free account. Evernote is increasingly popular among the freelance community as its accessibility is perfect for workers who are often on the move who use different workstations in different places. Here Freelance Weekly offers some great tips for maximizing your usage.

Also see: Springpad

Tungle.me | Meetings/Scheduling
www.tungle.me
How tedious and frustrating can it be to coordinate meetings, especially between multiple parties? Too often there’s a back and forth of email exchange proposing (and rejecting) different times, mismanagement of time zone differences, and heaven forbid an accidental double-booking. Tungle Corp.’s Tungle.me eliminates those headaches by providing a simple, web-based solution that synchronizes with leading online calendar systems including Outlook, Google Calendar, and Apple iCal, and even better—doesn’t require vistors to sign up or register with the service in order to schedule meetings.

Also see: Doodle

Trillian | IM Clients
www.trillian.com
We know that in these times, communication isn’t limited to phone and email anymore. We all use a bevy of instant messaging applications and belong to even more social networks, but we hate having to open multiple programs and sign into multiple accounts. Enter Trillian, which can connect to IM chat programs like AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and IRC services at once using a single interface. Additionally, Trillian gives you integrated access to your social networks like Facebook and Twitter, where you can watch your timelines and news feed and post universal status updates. Like most new apps, Trillian is designed to go wherever you go, so it’s available as a download for your desktop, access from the web, and even as a handy mobile app for your iPhone, Android device or (soon) Blackberry. Check out all 450+ Trillian features on their website.

Also see: Digsby, Adium (for Mac) 

Xmarks | Bookmarks and Tabs
www.xmarks.com
If you’re like me, odds are you use different browsers, maybe even on different computers, and you could stand to do a better job keeping all your favorite bookmarks in one place. Well, what started as a bookmark sync add-on made popular for the Firefox web browser has now grown into a very useful organizational tool across the major browser platforms. You simply need to install Xmarks on each computer you use, and then watch as it seamlessly integrates with any of the four leading web browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari) and keeps your bookmarks, open tabs and (optionally) passwords backed up and totally in sync. Want to keep your private bookmarks separated from your work bookmarks? The profile function in Xmarks lets you do that. Even when you don’t have access to your personal computer, you can log onto the Xmarks website, log into your free account, and access all your saved bookmarks from wherever you are.

Also see: Sync2It, Google Bookmarks

Shoeboxed | Expense Tracking
www.shoeboxed.com
Do you find yourself constantly pulling out receipts from your pockets or purse, and then tossing them in a pile thinking you’re going to go through them one day? How many of us actually follow through on a consistent basis? If you find yourself struggling with the time to stay on top of your expenses (especially if you travel frequently), let us introduce you to Shoebox.

With Shoebox you can take all of your loose receipts, invoices, and even business cards, send them to Shoebox’s headquarters in a secure, prepaid envelope and they’ll scan them all and add them to your online account. There, you’ll have access to all your data in multiple formats (PDF, Excel, etc.) and then have the option of having your hard copies returned to you. Don’t like having to snail mail your documents? Snap a photo on your mobile phone or if you’re an iPhone user, fire up their mobile app.

Also see: OfficeDrop

Box.net | File Storage/Backup
www.box.net
If you’ve ever been a victim of having your computer completely fail on you, you’re thankful that you always back up your important documents and files. Now for those of us who live in the real world, we need a file backup and management solution like Box.net. Not only can it back up your important data, it can synchronize files between any number of computers so, if one croaks, you can have access to your files by accessing your Box.net account on another system. Additionally, you can install Box.net on your mobile phone, giving you access to your files even on the go—how about that for mobile freelancing? Best of all you get to try it out for free (up to 5 GB of data) and upgrade if and when you need more storage.

Also see: Dropbox, SugarSync

DocScanner | Mobile Document Scanning
www.docscannerapp.com
A very handy device for smartphone users out there, DocScanner turns your iPhone, Android or Symbian phone into a mobile document scanner that does more than just email photos. It enhances our photos by applying additional functions, like automatically sharpening the image, removing shadows, and fixing the color balance. Once your photo is edited to your liking, you can perform OCR (optical character recognition) , send as a .pdf or .jpg file and even send directly to the aforementioned Evernote as part of its integration.

The 10 Myths Of Freelancing (And What It’s Really Like)

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Work at your own schedule. Get comfortable at the workplace of your choosing. How much work and how much money — you call the shots. You are the boss. This all may sound tantalizing to the business-suit wearing nine-to-fiver, but there are a number of things to consider before diving head first into the freelancing pool. We've asked Ilise Benun, co-founder of Marketing Mentor, to give us her insights on living the life of a freelancer.

“I know how to do X, so I’ll just make a business out of that and life will be good.”

You probably said that to yourself when you first thought about freelancing. But if you’re totally new to the concept or have been toying with the idea a little while now, know this: It isn't quite as easy as it seems.

If you’re serious about taking advantage of the “freedom” inherent in freelancing, the only way to make it work is to be realistic, because unrealistic expectations can cause extreme disappointment. So if that’s your aim, read on and take a look at the real world of freelancing; it may save you a lot of time in the long run.

Myth #1: You’ll be a creative (or techie, or other professional) running a business. Reality: Being a successful freelancer starts with the right mindset. You must see yourself as an entrepreneur providing services, not a designer, developer, writer, or any other skilled professional making money from your skill or talent. This is a subtle but important distinction. If you see yourself as a professional who provides services, or, better yet, a solver of problems, you’ll realize that what you do commercially for others is based on their need. And focusing on the needs of the market — instead of on yourself — is a direct path to a thriving business.

Myth #2: You’ll be free to do whatever you want. Reality: Freedom is a double-edged sword. In theory, it’s true that you are free to do whatever you want, however, some of those things that you don’t want to do – like bookkeeping and marketing – are essential to the survival of your business. If you ignore them, you may singlehandedly undermine your own success. You are certainly free to do that, but it’s not a very good idea.

Myth #3: No one will tell you what to do. Reality: Your clients won’t tell you what to do the way a boss would, but it may feel that way sometimes. It may seem like they’re dictating deadlines, fees, and everything in between, unless you determine and state your own terms and conditions — like how much time you need to do a project and how and when you get paid.

Myth #4: You’ll have lots of personal time to have fun and relax. Reality: There aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Besides the work, you are responsible for writing proposals, finding new work (whether on Elance or in person), following up, billing your clients, dealing with customers, and even cleaning the office (which sometimes doubles as your home). And don’t forget that everything takes twice as long as you imagine it will.

Myth #5: If you do good work, clients will flock to your door. Reality: There’s no flocking involved. Once you build it, then you have to go out and spread the word about it in a world that is already cluttered with lots of other words intent on being spread. But if you communicate what sets you apart from the competition clearly, you are more likely to get the work that is out there.

Myth #6: “My work will speak for itself.” Reality: No way. Logistically impossible. You must toot your own horn, which doesn’t mean boasting or bragging. It means getting the attention of the right people — qualified prospects — long enough to make an impression, then educating them about how you can help t hem. It’s called marketing.

Myth #7: You’ll only do work you love. Reality: Maybe eventually, but only if you pursue the work you love. It doesn’t just magically appear on your doorstep (See Myth #6). First you have to identify the work you love, make a plan to get it, and then follow the plan diligently over time. Until then, you’ll probably take whatever comes along.

Myth #8: You’ll have great clients you love. Reality: You may have a few clients you love, but no clients are perfect — even ideal clients. There will always be miscommunications and misunderstandings, processes to improve and problems to resolve. If you focus on improving processes with whatever clients you have, you will attract better clients because the “bad” ones will weed themselves out.

Myth 9: The “business part” is boring and difficult. Reality: The “business part” (dealing with money, business development and managing other people, even if those people are your clients) will be challenging and, yes, sometimes boring. If you’re in business to have fun, your success is not assured. But if you rise to the occasion, whatever you find difficult will certainly make you better at business.

Myth #10: You have to be a “business person” to be successful. Reality: There is no such thing as a “business person,” and labeling yourself that way can be a huge obstacle to success. There are, however, business tasks, activities, behaviors, and skills, all of which you can learn. Then you are free to practice them to your heart’s content.