Every piece matters!

When you work with a larger company, you can use that company’s reputation to build up your own. Surely, since that company is amazing, you must be amazing too, right?

At the same time, when you contract through a company (or work as an employee), you have the luxury of being able to create some distance should the company do something to embarrass itself or if some potentially harmful material surfaces. You can take a step away. Yes, the marketing department’s graphics on that campaign are disturbing, but you had no control over that—you just wrote the copy placed over the image! It might not win you any friends, but it is possible.

When you freelance, all you have is yourself. Everything you do matters. Everything you say has the potential to influence a potential client’s decision to work with you (or not). There is no cushion. There is no buffer.

This is why internet reputation management is important! The last thing you need is to be caught by surprise if something embarrassing or potentially damaging turns up.

Monitoring your reputation is important for the following reasons:

People Talk

Nowhere is this truer than the Internet. And because the Internet is widely un-policed, people can say pretty much whatever they want with very little fear of repercussions. What are they saying about you?  Is what people are saying true? Is someone spreading false rumors about you?

People Steal…Er…Borrow

Is your work being used only for the purposes for which it was originally intended? Or is it turning up in some surprising places? Is it turning up with someone else’s name on it? How will you know if you don’t take the time to monitor the situation?

People Want to Seem Bigger Than They Are

This can go both ways. Is someone using your name to promote something they are working on? Is someone telling others that they are your friend, your colleague, your client—even if they aren’t?

It’s flattering to know that people want to be associated with you, but that doesn’t mean that your being associated with them is necessarily in your best interest. Yes—that sounds hideously snobby, but it’s true. Who you choose to associate with says a lot about you.

People Impersonate

All of those fake celebrity profiles on Facebook prove this. This doesn’t just happen to Hollywood A-listers. It happens to prominent personalities from all walks of life. It might be happening to you.

People Mean Well

Your best friend from high school probably doesn’t have nefarious intentions when she posts that embarrassing (though hilarious) picture of the two of you from that one party that one time. Still, you don’t want a potential client to see that and get the wrong impression!

Is this what you want a client to see when they want to know more about you?

People Are Busy

Sure, every once in a while, a well-meaning friend might send you an email when they stumble across something about you online that seems off. If you sit around and wait to be notified, though, you’re doing it wrong. This is the big wide wonderful Internet. You need to be proactive!

Being proactive doesn’t have to be time-consuming. When you are just starting out in the world of freelance, a few Google and social media searches done each morning will usually suffice. As you grow your business (and reputation), though, it might be worth it to enlist a professional. There are a variety of different programs and companies out there that specialize in helping people with their online reputation management. Hiring one could save you a ton of time (and bad press)!

Try not to get too bogged down by the possibilities we’ve talked about here. Remember—even if someone online has decided to become your personal troll, everything you find is a potential to show off just how awesome you truly are!

Look at reputation management as a series of opportunities instead of damage control and you’ll do just fine.

Check out more freelancing articles!

• The Joys and Challenges of Working from Home
• 10 Marketplaces to Sell Your Digital Products
• A Creative’s Brief Guide to Productivity
• 3 Things that Should Motivate You to Have an Emergency Fund
• Five Fundamental Tools for Freelance Designers

Did you enjoy this article? We would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

If you are a writer by profession, like me, then it would probably be safe to say that you have gone through hours, even days, of not being able to write even when you know you need to. Deadlines looming ahead, and yet, your brain won’t let you pen one cohesive sentence or paragraph. This, my friends, is writer’s block.

There have been people who have contended that writer’s block does not exist. They say that this particular problem with a person not being able to write is merely an excuse for laziness or to procrastinate. A lot they know. Those who say this are probably not people who earn a living by writing every day.

Saying that writer’s block does not exist is just like saying a basketball player will never have an off day, or your hair will always be perfect every single day of your life and bad hair days do not exist. Much like everything in this world, there will always be days when you won’t be able to do what you are supposedly good at. Athletes suffer slumps, businesses go through slow days, and writers suffer from writer’s block.

Anyway, to get back on track, let us tackle some of the things you can do to help you get rid of this huge detriment to your livelihood. While you can’t get rid of an athlete’s slump right then and there, and you cannot turn a business around in a snap of your fingers, you can actually try to get your creative juices flowing within the day, if you are lucky. All you need to do is to find a way to relax, get some inspiration and get the brain to cooperate. Here are some of the things that have worked for me in the past:

• Take a walk – at times, when I feel that I have been holed up for far too long, and the brain won’t let me type one more cohesive sentence to save my life, I would simply get up and take a walk. I’d take a walk around the house, around the block, and if that does not work, I go to the mall and take a walk there (yes, working from home lets me do that whenever necessary). A change in scenery usually refreshes my mind and gives me enough creative juice to get things done when I get back.
• Read a book – I know this may sound weird to some, but reading a book actually relaxes the mind enough to get it to start working creatively again. Sometimes, reading a book gives me ideas that I would normally be struggling to get for whatever it is I am writing. Choose a book that you enjoy reading (a new one, an old favorite, anything that lets you clear your mind of work), flip a few pages and when you feel that your brain is refreshed enough to continue with work, get back to it and you will be finished with whatever it is you want to write in no time at all.
• Play a game – I was told in the past by one of my editors that if you have deadlines looming, playing computer games and online games will only eat up your time and distract you from doing what you need to do. That is true, if you play MMOs and other similar games that take a lot of time for you to level up and such. However I have found that playing puzzle games when my brain is not letting me write (Candy Crush anyone?) helps me get the old brain back in line to finish writing stuff that have deadlines bearing down on me. The trick is to find a game that has limited lives that will not let you stay on the game for too long.
• Sleep – what better way to relax than to hit the sack? Taking a quick nap usually helps restart and refresh the brain enough to help you get things written and submitted. I usually take a power nap when I find that I can’t finish what I started writing and this usually consists of me drinking a cup of strong coffee and snoozing for 30 minutes. When I wake up after my alarm goes off, I find myself recharged and ready to go at it.

These are just a few of the things that I use to help get me back on track when writer’s block (or writer’s blank) hits me. How about you? What tricks and strategies do you employ to get your creative juices flowing and your keyboard keys ticking again?

Check out more informative articles!

• Beneficent Writing Advice From Famous American Writers
• Efficient Tips for Corporate Blogging Success
• A Creative’s Brief Guide to Productivity
• 10 Best Practices for Better Social Media Writing
• Everything You Need to Know About Copywriting [Infographic]

Did you enjoy this article? We would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

Not everyone is given the opportunity to work from the comforts of their own home, and I am very fortunate to be able to do so. This gives me the chance to not only avoid the daily commute associated with working in an office (and to take a break any time I want), but it also gives me the opportunity to spend more time with my two kids. Now, who wouldn’t want to be in a situation like that?

As ideal as this may sound, (and it is, mind you) it does have a few drawbacks. One of the problems you will find yourself facing when you are taking on a telecommuting job is the one where you procrastinate. You often tell yourself that you will finish your work later, and then later becomes tomorrow, and tomorrow soon becomes three days later. When that happens, you find yourself with a mountain of work that you need to catch up on, which then results in sleepless nights trying to finish what should have been finished days ago, which then translates to unhealthy snacking habits and weight gain and grumpy days and…I can go on and on.

This can actually be avoided, and I found a way to help keep myself from procrastinating and putting off for tomorrow what can be done (and should be done) today. When I get up, and am scheduled to do some writing for the sites I am handling, I jump in the shower, get dressed and prepare, as if I was going to the office. No, I do not dress in a suit. I simply get out of my pajamas and dress like I was going out to the mall or some other place outside my home.

Another method that helps me stick to what needs to be done is to create a calendar of tasks to do and to follow that calendar as best as I possibly can. There will be days when I will miss writing one or two articles due to family emergencies and such, but as much as possible, this schedule has to be adhered to, or else huge backlogs are inevitable.

One of the perks of working from home is that you have the freedom to do whatever you want to do when you feel burned out or when your mind draws a blank while writing (they call this writer’s block, I call this writer’s blank, haha). It is important that you find a way to open up your mind for creativity to flow, and one of the things I find effective for such a problem is to watch a movie. This you cannot do at the office. You open up a YouTube stream on your office computer and boom! IT sanctions you.

At home, you can do this and a whole lot more. Sometimes, when watching a movie does not work, I take a power nap (coffee plus a 30 minute snooze) and I find myself ready to start pounding those keys again. However, you need to have enough discipline to get back to work when you need to. Abusing such privileges will only end up with you having to catch up on tasks that should have been finished hours, or even days ago.

Aside from being able to use a wide variety of methods you can’t use in the office to get yourself out of a slump, another perk that I find awesome with a work from home situation is the freedom to hit the sack when you find the need to.  For example, if I stayed up late the night before and needed to catch some more Zzs the following morning, I do so but I set my alarm to wake me up at a reasonable time so that I can finish my work for the day. I can also take a nap after lunch or in the middle of the day if I feel that I have done enough work and can spare some time for a snooze.

These are just some of the joys (and challenges) of working from home. There are a lot more of these, I assure you, like balancing family life and work while doing both in the same location, and defining the boundaries that help you keep both separate (something you have no problems with in an office situation). These I will endeavor to share with you in future posts.

Check out our previous articles:

• 15 Valuable Tools To Help Grow Your Business In 2013
• The Most Effective Marketing Strategies For 2013
• Powerful Landing Page Tips for Your Success
• 25 Premium Corporate PSD Templates
• Get the Job: Resume Writing Tips and Quality Templates

We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

Selling digital products is one of the best way to make money online. Not worrying about inventory, shipping, or damaged goods is definitely a huge perk. As long as they have an internet connection, your customers can be anywhere in the world to purchase your product. This eCommerce dream is now reality and today we will list high profiled marketplaces to get you going.

Apple Stores 

You can sell content on iTunes, the App Store, the iBookstore and the Mac App Store. To sell on iTunes you have to have a registered Apple ID, with a credit card for verification purposes.

Magazines

Magazines are uploaded with APPS, and customers can subscribe to the magazine (as people can pre-pay for their subscription or it can be free (with ads inside for APP creator to profit).  Magazines are sold by Apple from their “Newstand”.

Books

You can sell your eBooks on the iBookstore via “iTunes Connect”.  There is a “paid” book account, and a “free” book account, and the free one is quick and easy to join, whereas the “paid” one is more complicated requiring tax and bank details.

Free books do not require “ISBN”s, and ISBN’s are optional with the paid books.

The iBookstore only accepts “ePub” files and “multi-touch” books. “ePub” files are easily created with the free online program Callibre, whereby you can upload any format book and it will convert it to ePub for free. To create a multi-touch book you will need to create your book with the Apple iBooks Author Program.

Podcasts

You cannot sell a podcast on iTunes, however, it is free to upload your podcast to the iTunes directory.

Apps

To sell APPS on Apple you have to first apply to join the iOS Developer Program or Mac Developer Program. All APPS must be accepted by Apple, whereas APPS are all welcome on the Android database.

Udemy

Udemy is a growing marketplace for online video course creators. Most courses consist of many small videos put together as one big course. Udemy is well known for its ease of creating and uploading video course content.

You can upload video, documents and graphics as required in order to teach your course and they are all hosted by Udemy.

Customers come into Udemy and search keywords of a course they want to learn.  They then select a course from the course options, they pay the course fee, and then they can stream the course (or download the videos) any time from then on from their Udemy account.  Their settings are saved in their Udemy profile account so they can come and go as much as they please.  There is also a space for “chatting” to the teacher who can answer questions posted by students, which all other students can read too.

The benefit of Udemy over other video marketplaces like Mindbites is that it doesn’t cost anything to list your online video course, it is free to upload and host one of your video courses.  However, if someone buys your course, then Udemy will keep 20-30% of the sale price.  If you drive that traffic to your course, you earn more money.  Affiliates can also sell Udemy courses for a commission.

Udemy do require that your course be at least 60% video content and at least an hour of video.

MindBites 

Mindbites is a marketplace where you can upload your video online courses and people can buy and watch on the Mindbites website (where your digital course is hosted), and you can even embed the video players right into your own website or blog.

The main difference with Mindbites from Udemy is that you have to pay to have your course online for people to buy and view (whereas Udemy is free to upload and host your courses).  Mindbites has different size accounts depending on the size of your videos, the smaller your online course data, the cheaper it is to host them on Mindbites.

The “free” account with Mindbites will hold up to 250MB of data and any sales made on your account pays Mindbites 35% in commission when a sale is made.  But there are larger accounts with more features, and less commission is payable to Mindbites for a higher paid plan.

The video player has a “promo” video size that people can watch which is intended to make the viewer want to purchase the full video at your pre-determined price.

Like Udemy Mindbites has an affiliate program to encourage other people to sell your video course for you.

You can also upload other documents with your video course for the buyer to receive when they buy your video.  You can also put your collection of videos into a “series” to sell as a set.  So a customer could just buy one video to do one task, or a collection of videos to learn a whole new skillset.

Warrior Forum 

The Warrior Forum is a large forum with over 600,000 registered users, which appears to have at any one time between 5,000 and 10,000 people inside the forum browsing live.  It is free to join the forum, and you can post questions and answers to question any time.

For online product creators the Warrior Forum is a Hub of activity of newbie internet marketers looking for training, tools and advice on how to move forward in their online careers.

The Warrior Forum has a special area named the “Warrior Special Offers” and inside this area is an ongoing stream of online product creators and internet marketers listing their products for purchase (although some now give things away free in order to receive your email address – this is called “list building”).

To purchase a WSO “thread” will set you back $40, a one-time fee, and once your thread is “live” anyone who visits the WSO area will see your thread in the directory and they can buy your product there and then.

The down side to WSO’s is that it doesn’t stay on the top page one of the WSO forum for long, usually less than a day.  However, after your “thread” goes beyond page three you are allowed to “bump” the thread for another $40.

You need to source affiliates to sell your products on the WSO, or traffic alone will not bring much sales.  The Warrior Plus affiliate program (for a small fee) works alongside WSO’s to manage your affiliates, which are sourced from Warrior Forum profiles, this way you can avoid any suspicious affiliates out.

You can also sell your JV Zoo product, or Clickbank product from within the WSO forum.

JV Zoo

JV Zoo is a real contender for Clickbank as it has grown in popularity since its inception only a few years ago.

The main success of JV Zoo lies in it’s ability to seamlessly integrate with the Warrior Forum.  Unlike Clickbank, the seller and the affiliate are immediately paid into their Paypal accounts.  Product creators also have the benefit of perusing the affiliate applications to promote their products before they approve them.  This way you avoid accepting a fraudulent affiliates, which can happen.

JV Zoo also has many built in benefits, which all compete with Clickbank, including:

• Creating dime sales (increasing the price with each sale)
• Lifetime commissions for affiliates for future sales on your site

You need to know that JV Zoo only works with Paypal, if you can’t use Paypal you won’t be able to use JV Zoo.  Sometimes certain countries can’t use Paypal.

JV Zoo listing and sales fees are also relatively low compared to Clickbank, but like eJunkie, you may find the affiliate force at JV Zoo not as strong as Clickbank and you may have to recruit your affiliates (or Joint Venture partners) yourself in order to sell your digital product.

Most product creators list on marketplaces like JV Zoo because they intend to market their product to their own email list.  Therefore the demand on affiliates are not as large to turn a good profit.

Overcoming doubt and hesitation about creative endeavors — blogging, making videos, coming up with new products — can seem overwhelming in and of itself. Let’s look at tried and true successful techniques and methodologies for maintaining that productivity that you need in order to be profitable in a highly competitive world.

Cut to the chase.

A super-successful creative man named Neil Peart, who is widely regarded as one of the very best percussionists and one of the very best writers (lyric poetry, essays, and autobiographical writing) in the world, wrote a lyric for his band Rush back in 1994 which stated: “You may be right:/It’s just a waste of time./I guess that’s just the chance I’m prepared to take,/A danger I’m prepared to face./Cut to the chase.” Don’t get lost in hesitation. Trust yourself to begin creating with whatever new writing, content, or product idea you’ve got. If you’re a making a mistake with it, so what? You’ll find out about that and be able to correct it or learn from it a lot faster when you just cut to the chase.

Build foundations under your fantasy castles in the air.

Henry David Thoreau wrote: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. There is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.” Fantasy is extremely important to the creative life, be it artistic or entrepreneurial or both together. Fantasize big. Think big, no matter how small you may feel. Your big fantasies are what you should be having — not miniscule thoughts or mere daydreams. Once you’ve got one, start building the foundations of anchoring reality under them. Cut to the chase and start doing what you need to do to drag your fantasy existence for all to see.

Prototyping – the simplest solution never comes first.

You’ve got to begin with rough ideas, rough drafts or first drafts. Even if you have a sudden flash of insight into an idea and think you see it all at once, you then need to figure out how to bring it into hard reality. And that’s probably going to somewhat alter what you initially envisioned. Creativity isn’t a neat, clean, all-at-once process or event. You’re going to jumble your work desk and you’re going to get your hands dirty before you have before you what you want to share with the world.

Scope creep this way comes.

Scope creep is a term for all of those additional bright ideas that you get once you begin a creative endeavor. Those additional ideas become the problem of scope creep when they start distracting you from focusing on the initial idea that you began work on in the first place. You need to keep yourself focused on that project before you let yourself move on to work on another one. So, keep notepads, sketch pads, and voice recorders close at hand. Make note of the new ideas as they come in (keep it as short as you possibly can, too), but then quickly move back to finishing your initial project.

Ritualize your approach.

The root meaning of “ritual” is “a something done”. Daily ritualized approaches to completing an endeavor prevent us from getting all caught up in what’s novel or some imagined need for “variety”. They prevent us from getting lost in thinking about the tools instead of thinking about the end product. They also keep us going day after day until we have completed the creative work. They give us a sense that we’re getting something done even when we feel like we didn’t have the most creative or productive day.

Check out our previous articles:

• 15 Valuable Tools To Help Grow Your Business In 2013
• The Most Effective Marketing Strategies For 2013
• Powerful Landing Page Tips for Your Success
• 25 Premium Corporate PSD Templates
• Get the Job: Resume Writing Tips and Quality Templates

We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

If you’re like most people, you probably have purchased things that you really did not need. Whether it was a new blouse or cell phone cover, buying things you do not need can add a lot of clutter to your home and drain your wallet. Understanding the clear difference between a need and a desire is a must.

When you make any kind of purchasing decision, be sure to think a twice about what you’re buying. If you have a habit of purchasing items you do not  truly need, here are some useful tips that you can follow.

Consider Renting Items

If you know that you will only use an item once or twice, it is pretty silly to buy it. A better option would be to rent that item. For example, if you need some kind of power tool to fix something in your home and believe you will only need it one time, you should definitely rent the item from a home improvement store.

Borrow From Friends and Family Members

Another way to avoid buying something that you will only use once or twice is to borrow it from a family member or friend. For example, before you go out and buy a book, find out if someone you know already has it. Then, ask to borrow it. Just make sure to return the item in a timely fashion and keep it in good condition.

Leave Your Credit Cards At Home

Carrying credit cards with you can be dangerous if you are an impulsive shopper. Before you know it, you could end up charging hundreds of dollars on your credit card for items you really do not need. It is best to leave your credit cards at home and only bring cash with you.

Think About Sharing Ownership

Think about sharing an item with a neighbor or friend who lives nearby. For example, if it rarely snows in your area, consider sharing a snow shovel with a neighbor. This way, you will only have to pay half the price. Other items you can consider sharing include lawn mowers, waffle irons and sports equipment.

Avoid Buying Sets of Anything

Items that come in sets can seem like a good idea, but they are really a waste of money most of the time. For example, you probably do not need to buy a complete block set of knives. Instead of buying the set, only buy what you need. You can always add another piece when you need to.

Take Good Care of Your Items

If you actually take the time to take proper care of your items, you will not have to constantly buy new things. For example, if you wash your clothes properly and hang them up, you will not have to buy a new wardrobe every year.

Try Getting It for Free

Before you spend a lot of money on something, find out if you can get it for free. For example, you should check Craigslist. Many people are giving away free things on this site including children’s clothes, furniture and even bikes. All you have to do is go and pick the items up.

If you follow these simple tips, you will not be as likely to purchase items that you do not need.

Check out our previous articles!

• Self-Motivation: What is It, Why People Lack It, and How to Get It
• How to Develop True Passion in Your Life
• The Power of Positive Thinking Unveiled
• Learning Specific Skills with Online Classes
• How to Build Confidence Like a Champ

We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

This money usually stays in a savings account and is left alone for unexpected expenses or a truly “rainy day” where you’re in a situation that requires you pay a large sum of money. The “emergency” tag doesn’t necessarily mean life-threatening or disastrous, but rather an unforeseen interruption in your cash flow.

Now, being able to establish one does take, discipline, careful planning and above all, time. Being able to save close to $10,000 dollars might seem impossible for some people, but know that it can be done.

Understanding some of the benefits of having an emergency fund are important motivating factors when and if you decide to start establishing one.

What I want to do here is cover the three most prevalent and basic elements of an emergency fund, that will give you the beginning push and incentive to start setting money aside. Building up your savings this much takes time, but knowing the importance of it will definitely motivate you to start the process.

An emergency fund fireproofs your cash flow. — Having an emergency fund that is even just $5,000 dollars means you’ll have enough money set aside to be sure that even large unforeseen expenses will have little or no effect on your weekly cash flow.

Say for instance that you have a several thousand dollar repair on your car that you weren’t anticipating. With the money to pay that out of pocket set aside, your weekly cash flow will go on uninterrupted, and after the car is paid for, you can simply pay back your emergency savings over time, interest free.

It saves you from possibly having to go into debt, or be short of cash for a few weeks.

An emergency fund is the better credit card. — Borrowing money from your emergency fund is a much safer and more practical option than putting in on a credit card. As I’ve already mentioned, interest is a non-issue since you’re simply borrowing from a savings account. It’s also far less addictive to borrow money from yourself, since you’re acting as both the lender and the borrower.

It’s also worth noting that most credit card limits are somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 dollars. Perhaps your credit card limit is a good number to shoot for when planning how much to contribute towards your emergency fund? It’s just a thought.

An emergency fund can safeguard you against losing your job. — Once your emergency fund is established, you’ll typically have enough to pay somewhere around three months worth of expenses. This means that if you were to lose your job, you would have that much time to find another one before you had to worry about your cash flow running out.

Three months is plenty of time to spruce up your resume and get back to work, even in a tough economy.

Try to plan for your emergency fund to cover at least two months of expenses for you and your family; four or five would be optimal.

Conclusion

It’s not easy to get into the habit of saving money, but having an emergency fund that can provide a firewall between you and unforeseen financial disasters makes it well worth your effort.

Keep in mind too, that once you reach your emergency fund threshold you can keep saving and use that money for fun things, or for investments. Being financially stable isn’t about restriction, it’s about freedom, and an emergency fund is a huge contributor to that freedom.

Check out our previous articles:

• 5 Social Network Insights that Help People Choose Better Cars
• Niche Advertising and Marketing: Zeroing in on your Target
• Social Media is a New Virtual Market! Know How?
• Content Writing and StumbleUpon Traffic Driving Strategy
• Powerful Landing Page Tips for Your Success

We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to help us spread the word!

About The Author

Jenny Sampson is a professional blogger that enjoys providing consumers with personal finance advice. She writes for TitleMax.biz, a leading Title Loan company offering bad credit loans.

In most offices, innumerable resources such as printing papers, electricity, and office supplies get wasted. Cutting back on all of these problems is pretty simple, here are a few ideas to help you create a wonderful workplace.

Utilize Intelligence When it comes to Lighting

Majority of workplaces today utilize artificial lighting that accounts for approximately 50% of electricity use. Instead of artificial lighting, try to use natural light. Develop the good habit of turning the lights off every time they’re not used.

Another great way to save electricity bills is to install Energy Star-rated light bulbs and fixtures, as these consume less energy. Installing timers or motion sensors that routinely turn off lights when unused is also a great idea.

Make the most of Computer Efficiency

Did you know that computers used in most workplaces today consume a lot of electricity? Research studies have shown that approximately $1 billion dollars worth of electricity is wasted every year because of computer use at work. Ensure to turn off your computer, or use power saver options when you are away.

Unplug the computer from the main switch when unused. Most people have no idea that the computer (depending on the model) might still be sucking electricity even when they’re turned off. Setting you computer on sleep mode is a great way to save energy costs during short breaks at work.

Try to opt for energy-saving computers, monitors, and printers. Ensure to recycle old equipment or donate it to someone in dire need.

Opt for Recyclable Office Products

One of the best ways to make the workplace environment friendly is to purchase only recyclable office products. They cost only a few dollars more than non recyclable products. It is worth buying them to minimize waste and pollution. Invest on recycled paper and ensure to purchase refillable ink cartridges and non-toxic highlighters for your office.

Minimize Paper Use

Instead of storing all your important stuff on paper, try storing it in USB drives and your computer hard-drive. This is one way to minimize paper use and make the office environment Eco-friendly. For this we recommend scanners from Neat.

Make the most out of Green Marketing Tools

Ensure to incorporate environment friendly habits in your marketing materials internally as well as externally. Allowing your customers, suppliers, and employees know that you are making an effort to protect and preserve the environment, will not only help to enhance your company’s reputation, it will also build loyalty.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by sending a line at the bottom of every e-mail you send to your customers and employees, that says something like “Save Trees, Take Print Out if Necessary” or “Bio-based for a healthier environment.” This can be automatically inserted in every single email you send, by utilizing your email signature. You can modify it in the setting area on almost every single email client out there.

Familiarize Ways to Get Rid of or Reprocess Electronic Waste

Improper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) can cause several health hazards as well as be a major problem for the environment. Lead soldering used for e-waste can lead to groundwater pollution, as it oozes out of landfills. You will need to know about facilities and organizations that help you either get rid of e-waste or dispose it properly.

Check out our previous articles:

• 5 Social Network Insights that Help People Choose Better Cars
• Niche Advertising and Marketing: Zeroing in on your Target
• Social Media is a New Virtual Market! Know How?
• Content Writing and StumbleUpon Traffic Driving Strategy
• Powerful Landing Page Tips for Your Success

Apart from these ideas it is also advisable to keep the office well organized. An environment friendly office boosts work productivity and sustainability of your business. Follow these simple ideas for a green office. If you want to improve the energy efficiency of your home then it is vital to opt for spray foam insulation New York. We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to help us spread the word!

There can also be an instance where you, as a designer, want to break-free from the clutches of working under an organization and might want to venture out. After building-up a good number of contacts, getting the desired knowledge and accumulating the confidence, you can decide to make it on your own. Many glitches await you on the on-set, though. Some of them, like tracking your input-time, looking for clients, catering to customer inquiries, all have to be taken into account. You need tools to assist you in your daily activities. Multi-tasking will be the order of the day and managing the tasks will require priority.

Why the tools

Working all the time can lead to a situation where you are consumed by the business dimension of your design work. This could in-turn make you lose passion in your work. To negotiate such a deplorable turn-of events, you need to take assistance of crucial tools that will not only give a correct assessment of your work, but will also streamline your work. Getting aid from the tools will shift your focus more on the designing part and less on the management part.

Lending strength to your creativity within a structured framework is the basic need of these tools.

Below are stated five essential tools that instigate a sense of responsibility sharing for a freelance designer.

Say ‘GoodBye’ to Nerdy Accounting- Use Invoicera

Money is the ultimate goal for all the services that we render. This is where invoicing makes its presence felt. Catering to different functions for all forms of  freelancing, online invoicing is the need of the hour. So, a tool related to look after the invoicing needs of a web designer must be present right on top of the priority list. Invoicera, an online invoicing tool, has catered to thousands of freelancers all across the globe.

Whether the work pressure is piling up or there’s a long list of clientèle to cater to, Invoicera has its roots deep inside. Web designers can benefit the most from this invoicing application as it offers to create and send quick invoices to the clients and maintains an online record for the same, as well. There is also a recurring feature present that reminds the clients automatically about the unpaid amount.

Keep a Track of Your Time- Use Toggl

Some freelancers have the necessity of a time tracking tool as they bill their clients based on the time put-in. A manual calculation can make you go wayward and throw-up all sorts of mistakes. Even those who build time caps in their project estimates require such a tool. Some use spreadsheet for this purpose, whereas others use a notebook for the same.

With  increase in the project numbers, maintaining the details for the individual projects  becomes a burden and complexities  creep-in .  The calculation of the accurate fragmentation of time spent on a project will be tough to handle and even if you succeed in doing so, its synchronization with your accounting and billing software is quite a herculean task.

The market is flooded with tools that offer you this feature. Amongst all of them, Toggl is the one that you can consider. It not only helps you understand the process undertaken, but also tracks  time. There is a detailed chart that breaks down the activities, helps in budgeting your time and also in predicting the estimates of the future projects. It is compatible on all platforms and can be easily shared.

Communication is also Essential- Use MailChimp

A campaign that is based on email marketing can help you maintain relations between your present and former clients. This is not only a better way, but also a simpler way to communicate and keep in touch. This extra effort will help you maintain a good client retention rate.

Designing capabilities are also endowed with the help of this tool. MailChimp, also gives you access to design personal email templates during a campaign. There’s a tracker that helps you keep track of which client is opening your email and which one you should follow up with.

Project Management- Use Basecamp

There’s a general perception about projects that they never remain simple and centralized as they are at the proposal time. Clients are always on the look out for betterment and they change accordingly. There’s always an addition and subtraction of features, breaking down of a big project into innumerable smaller parts. This feature is of great concern when it comes to collaborating with other designers, who are also working on the same project, in different locations.

Basecamp, is the tool that comes to your rescue. It centralizes your projects and makes you use an easy dashboard, which has an easy-to-use interface and gives you access for a quick glance at the entire data.

Seeing is Believing- Use Adobe Kuler

One of the most basic design elements that you need to take care-of, is the color combination. As a designer, you ought to have a great color palette at your disposal to achieve the feat. But, getting the perfect one can be a little elusive. Innumerable  color palettes adorn the Net, but the most adaptive one is Adobe Kuler.

There’s a host of pre-attached themes in the tool and you can also go about creating your own customized palette. It’s simple. Proceed by entering a starting value, either on the fly or by its respective color code, and then tweak your complimentary values. There’s it, ready to implement.

Finally

That’s it. Five essential tools that you will want to have in your system for your freelancing skills. You get organized, your time is taken care of, expenses are handled and all the other details are looked into. So what are you waiting for, take the dive and reap the benefits.

Check out our previous articles!

• Easy, Unobtrusive Ways to Make Your Office Desk More Fun
• How to Add Value to Your Products or Services
• Setting Up a Mobile Storefront Has Become a Snap
• YouTube Marketing Tips For Small Businesses
• Strategies for Increasing Business Efficiency

We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

About The Author

Hitesh Bubbar is a Social Media Enthusiast who has been consulting and helping people excel in developing effective marketing strategies. He is an avid reader, writer and presently working with Invoicera, an online invoicing software that simplifies your billing and invoicing needs.