One of the biggest concerns for freelances is money and cash flow and when times are tight we have to make the most of the resources with have at our disposal. The online world is great for this, there are heaps of sites and tools that have been developed to make communicating simple and cheap. So why not get business savvy and start building a tool kit for free to help you run your creative business better?
To start you off, here are some of the applications and gadgets that I've found useful and ones that haven’t cost me a penny to download, see more for links to the relevant websites.
But if you have any more suggestions for free tools that you would recommend to other freelances, please use the comments box to write the name and link so that we can share resources and ideas.
MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
Skype
Make internet calls for free using Skype and call friends and family on any phone with Pay As You Go and Pay Monthly subscriptions. You need to download and install to your desktop and your mobile phone to make free calls between other users who have Skype. There is an option allowing you to add money to your account from your credit/debit card and make calls to people who don’t have Skype by calling landlines and mobiles via Skype.
Viber
Viber lets you make free calls from your iPhone. Call anyone, anytime, locally or internationally, provided both phones have Viber iPhone app installed. You need to download to your iPhone and make free calls between other users who have the software.
Tango
Tango is a free mobile video calling service for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad as well as for Android phones and tablets. Tango for Window users is coming soon. You can download to your desktop and your mobile phone and make free calls between other users who have the also downloaded the software.
STORAGE, SENDING AND SHARING FILES ONLINE
Dropbox
Dropboxis a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again! You need to install Dropbox and download to your desktop and mobile device and use it to create folders and share files with people that you invite. Newcomers get 250MB of space free and can increase the amount of space they have by inviting other people to join.
You Send it
There is a free option of You Send It, Lite single user that gives you 2GB storage and allows you to send up to 50 MB maximum file size and a maximum of 100 files per download.
Send Space
Send, receive, track and share big files using Send Space.
I am at a FEU workshop in Manchester and Pete has kindly made a suggestion for another free app. It is called SmartVoip (www.smartvoip.com/en/download.html) But it is only for PC running Windows 7, Vista, XP. Thanks Pete. If anyone else has any other suggestions, please share with us.
Scribus – for a variety of desktop publishing needs
OpenOffice – imagine the whole MS Office host of programs but free… and better… and open source.
GIMP – an amazing digital image manipulation software package. Imagine Photoshop… but better… and free.
GNUCash – a phenomenal accounting software package.
All of the above are open source and are constantly being worked on by loads of smart-cookie programmers in the open source community. Free is good. But it’s even better when it goes head to head with some of the leading paid-for products in the market.