Continue reading »]]> Over the years I have tried several tools to track my time when working on freelance projects. It’s by trial and error that I figured out what I really needed for my type of business. Small businesses want efficient, but economical tools and with the Internet the options are almost endless.

At first MyHours.com was okay to track my hours, but when I was applying it as a timesheet for employees, the limitations soon became obvious and I realized that I needed another, more flexible tool.

Since I love troubleshooting and doing research, I went online and found some interesting tools that offered a lot more features than My Hours.  Some were free (with limitations) and some came with a price tag that was still appealing to a small business owner. There was Traxtime, Slimtimer, Toggl, Timedoctor, but I finally decided to go with Paymo.biz.

Their free account is not (like most others) a trial, but gives full functionality of the application. Of course it has some limitations in regards to number of users or invoices to submit, but there are various pricing plans to fit the budget of any size small business.

The Paymo dashboard looks simple, but appealing and the fact that I could set up a free account with up to three users, manage client and project data, and submit a few invoices per month made this tool a good fit for my needs. I could track my own time and that of employees and contractors from any computer with internet access, create quick reports to save in PDF format, easily integrate tracked hours into an invoice and send the client a link to the invoice without having to attach in an email.

To track time on my own computer a small desktop app was available for download and installation, eliminating the need of going on the internet to log in. Once connected, the app automatically synchronizes logged time into the account. Taking this a step further, there is also a free iPhone app to track time with your iPhone so now you don’t even have to be at your computer!

I really like Paymo and I’m still using it, however, forever browsing on the Net, I found another app review on one of my favorite blogs that looked more useful for tracking and invoicing my own hours. Freshbooks is very similar to Paymo, includes free and paid accounts and multiple users, however, since it was probably created after Paymo, it provides more up to date tools and is less restricted.

The best thing about Freshbooks is that I can offer my clients the option to pay their invoice online with a credit card or PayPal! And boy does it work! The first time I used it, my client paid their invoice the same day I sent it. Who would not love THAT! Needless to say: I was sold!

But it gets even better! You can also use Freshbooks as an accounting or bookkeeping tool and it integrates with other online tools such as Basecamp (project management), MailChimp (autoresponder), PayPal (to accept online payments), and more.

I also like being able to create an invoice for other units than hours. For translation projects I charge per word, if not a minimum flat fee. This applies to fees for web services as well. It is something I missed having in Paymo so I am very happy I found Freshbooks!

Even though I like and use both applications at the moment, each serving their own purpose, one for time tracking of employees/contractors and the other for tracking and invoicing of my own business services, I may end up switching completely to Freshbooks. Unless a better product comes along…

Continue reading »]]> After all the energy involved in buying a new laptop, the next chore was waiting for me… personalizing the new computer, moving files & programs,  cleaning up the old one (to be used as a back up in my husband’s office).

I did some research on the Internet and found a lot of outdated tips written between 2001 to 2008 with only a few written in 2010. From all the information gathered, I followed the recommended steps to transition from the old laptop to the new one. I already knew it would not be an overnight thing, and boy, was I right. It took me about three months!

Here are the steps I took, most of which are based on a post of Popular Mechanics on how to move data to a new computer.

Old Laptop.

Get organized.

1. Inventory which files, photos, videos and music you want to move, looking in all folders, including Downloads. You can also do a file search using the extension, such as .jpg (photos). Don’t forget your email and database files if you’re using a desktop program like Outlook.
2. Get rid of duplicates, unless you have a good reason to keep.
3. Organize files into folders, f.e. by project, year, topic or style for easy retrieval.

Back up.

1. Save all your files to an external hard drive (HD) or a flash drive to backup and move (later). If you prefer, you can also burn them on DVD, but depending on the file sizes, that may take a while.
2. Also back up your Internet browser bookmarks and favorites. Some programs (like Firefox) have backup features to make it easy to transfer.

List:

1. the software you want to keep
2. preferred software settings
3. application or website passwords
4. then follow the list for your New Laptop (below), before proceeding to the next step.

Clean up.

1. Delete files, photos, videos, music no longer needed
2. Remove software that will not be used anymore in one of three ways:
   1. Use the program’s Uninstall option
   2. Use Windows’ Add/Remove feature in the Control Panel.
   3. Use special software if the above options fail. You can click here to buy Perfect Uninstaller.
      Never delete a program’s folder and think it will go away! Parts of the software may forever reside on your HD if not removed properly and could cause the computer to malfunction.
3. Upgrade to newer versions of the software that will still be used.
4. If you are getting rid of the laptop, be sure to scrub the HD with a special (free or paid) program. You can donate or recycle the computer, just don’t let it end up on the landfill.

New laptop.

1. Get rid of preinstalled programs you know you’ll never use (see step 2 above).
2. Copy the files, photos, videos and music from the external HD to your new computer. If you had already organized in folders, it will be fast. If not, this is the time to create those folders!
3. Install (upgraded) software per your list.
4. Personalize your software with the preferred settings and passwords.
5.  Import your bookmarks, favorites, and email or database files.
6. Check your list to make sure you have all the files and programs you want to transfer.
7. Take a deep breath. then go back to the Clean Up section of the Old Laptop list above.

Done? Pat yourself on the back, you did it!!

Again, as you can see from the lists above, this is not something you may be able to do ‘quickly’ as it takes time to do all the backups, lists, reinstalls, etc.  It took me about three months, but that’s because I could only work on this on the weekends. You can certainly do it all in one weekend if you take the time. Of course there is always the alternative to pay for a program or service that will take care of the above for you (faster). It’s your choice.

Do you have other tips? Feel free to add your comments below so others can benefit too.

Continue reading »]]> A huge pain it would be, and I was not looking forward to it!

My 4-year old laptop was slow as molasses and I knew I had to upgrade soon if I didn’t want to loose my sanity. That day finally came in October 2010, but after two weeks of research, looking at specs, comparing eight models of different brands to choose from, deciding to buy online or in store, trying to find the best deal and get the most for my money, I was ready to throw in the towel! Then I asked myself why it had to be so complicated? (I know, I know,  it’s me …)

Just buying something that was newer and better than what I had shouldn’t be that difficult right?  Unless you’re like me, trying to find the perfect computer for less money…!  If I used no more than four of the most important criteria it would be a cinch, so I said to my husband on a Sunday night: let’s go to the store tomorrow and buy the computer. Enough research done, opinions asked, going back & forth, etc.  I made my decision!

Eager to test it, I played some videos, opened some websites that used to take forever to load, and was happy to see things happen (almost) instantaneously. A huge improvement, also thanks to the Windows 7 operating system (haleluja, no more Vista!!!).

However, the next chore was waiting for me… personalizing my new computer, moving files and programs and cleaning up the old one which would be used as a back up in my hubby’s office. Just thinking about it made me want to cry, but that’s not me.  All I needed were some tips to make the transition as easy and smooth as possible. So here I had to go again with my ‘research’ ….  Jumped on the internet and found a lot of outdated tips from 2001 to 2008 with only a few written in 2010. Knowing myself, I would still create my own plan, drawing from information I gathered. But now I was at least prepared to make the moves ‘soon.’  It still took me almost three months working in increments, but hey, life happens!

I’m still getting used to my new laptop  and sometimes miss the features of my old (entertainment) laptop, except for Windows Vista! But I wanted a workhorse not a play thing, so I got one.

For the sake of keeping things ‘short’ but sweet, my next post (instead of this one) will list some tips on how to transition from the old to the new (laptop that is).  Happy New Year by the way!

Continue reading »]]> I regularly browse the web to find inspiration for my topics and as I was doing this a couple of weeks ago, the article about a “successful optimist” on Entrepreneur.com jumped out at me. Why? Because I like to look at the positive side of things and I could very much relate to the topic. Unfortunately, I got wrapped up in other projects and didn’t write the article as planned so it got on the back-burner.

Weeks later, as I was getting my daily news fix, I encountered not one, but two other articles about the very same topic! Now I really felt the pressure of doing something with this topic and that’s how this post was born.
I hope you can find some pearls in this post too, because it specifically applies to our business, language and attitude.

The first article on Entrepreneur.com relates to the language you use in business (and personal life). Remember the question: Glass half-empty or half-full? And, You get what you ask for? (or in this case say)
Some studies have proven that being optimistic brings you positive stuff, while pessimism leads to a less desirable outcome, the one you predicted yourself ….

Apparently:

• Optimists earn more and are more loyal.
• Optimists with a good sense of reality can make more money.
• Pessimists on the other hand are more accurate about reality, however optimists will be more creative and not give up easily.
• Pessimist (sometimes necessary) are unfortunately more depressed.
• Optimists easily  move on because they believe in options.

While it may not be easy, it would be ideal to have a mix of both to benefit your business or personal life. It’s good to get the real picture but still see options where others don’t. There are always options, always!  You just have to see them!

Read the full Successful Optimist article here.

The second article on Freelancefolder.com is about what message we are sending out in our communications.

• If you want a positive, don’t be negative because your (potential) customer will perceive it as such.
• Turn a negative into a positive and leave the not’s out of your communications. Say: “call me now” vs “don’t hesitate”

More on the ‘How negative of a freelancer are you’ article.

The third article was on Lifehack.org and it gives some ideas on how to deal with negative people.

1. don’t get into an argument, it may be a waste of energy
2. empathize, don’t advise, they will figure out the solution on their own
3. lend a helping hand, sometimes an offer is all they need
4. keep the topics light, unless you don’t want to hear the end of things
5. don’t feed negative comments
6. praise positive things they do
7. include more people in your circle so you can ‘share’ negativity
8. be responsible for your own perception (are you the one being negative?)
9. avoid them if you don’t have another choice!

(funny how we can’t get out of negatives at times )

Full article of dealing with negative people.

The sky is blue, not pink, and even if it’s grey the clouds have a silver lining. Really, go look for it!

Continue reading »]]> The answer should be: YES!
However, a lot of people (myself included) feel like they don’t gain anything from going to networking events.

When I used to go the translator’s association networking events, I would always think: how will I ever get business out of this, when the other attendees are doing exactly the same?

That was not exactly true, because the only thing we had in common was moving content from one language into another. Everything else was different. How so? For one, the languages were different (Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Russian, etc.), then there was a difference in style (translation or interpretation), and lastly the topics were different (medical, business, legal, technical, education or general). But the big question was: how could we get business from eachother? How could we each benefit from this monthly ‘networking’ event? Isn’t that the purpose of networking? I didn’t know the answer then and after attending the events for several years, I gave up mainly because I was not getting any business, but I also became more involved with nontranslation activities. Yes, the events resulted in getting over my initial shyness (being the webmaster helped too), meeting my peers, getting to know them and even make friends, but I wasn’t getting my “ROI” (return on investment)

Last week, when I read an article on Entrepreneur.com about the very same topic, it dawned on me that (unknowingly) I had been doing some of the things recommended in the article. Now I understand that the most important purpose for networking is to build relationships, and this can evolve into business later on. [Yes it's true, because I have worked with some of my peers on projects I had acquired!]

Here are the three main points of the article: 

1.  Limit the number of contacts per event. You don’t have to meet everyone and their mother. Five to 10 seems to be a good number, especially if you’re going to several events per week or month. It’s not about the quantity but the quality of your contacts. 
2. Spend five to 10 minutes talking to and (especially) listening to each person. You don’t have to hear their whole lifestory (or tell them yours), but you want to show interest and make an impression. That makes it easy to remember when you call them afterwards.
3. Write notes on the backs of people’s cards. If you are collecting 10 or more cards per event, you will not remember who you talked to by reading their card. How often have you looked at a card in your collection and had no inkling of who the person was? [I did plenty of times and even keywords I would use were not enough to trigger my memory!]

A few things to remember when networking:

• You don’t want to ‘sell’ anything to the people you have just met, but rather try to find out how to help them if you can.
• You want them to remember you, being different than the rest, so have your own identity.

Read the full Entrepreneur.com networking article here.

A great book I read on the first step of networking is:  “How to Work a Room” by Susan RoAne. It’s funny and very easy to understand.

I hope this article helped a bit to look at networking from a different angle, one that may offer better results for your business. Good luck!

Continue reading »]]> In this age of information overload, where everyone is bombarded daily with email, whether legitimate or spam, you have to go the extra mile to make your emails stand out.

Following are some tips for effective use of email communications.

1. Let your Subject Line speak for itself. You don’t have to put all the details in there, but say in a few words what the email is about. For example: “Rescheduling meeting of August 3rd”. Your recipient will immediately know what the purpose of the email is and will less likely ignore it.
2. Keep your message short and sweet. Who has time for long emails nowadays? No one! So keep it short, but polite and especially clear on what it is you need from the recipient. Know what the purpose is of your message and send a separate email if the topics are unrelated.
3. Before hitting Send, be sure to check the spelling, grammar and language. Is your message clear and to the point?
4. Familiarize yourself with email etiquette. Don’t use all Caps (= screaming) , don’t use abbreviations and emoticons in business correspondence, watch your tone and don’t be demanding or rude. It’s difficult to express your tone in writing, so be careful.
5. Attachments. Double-check if you attached the right document. Keep compatibility of the document in mind and use an older version of i.e. Word because not everyone may have the latest MS Office. Or convert to the a more universal format like PDF. If possible, decrease the file size of your attachment. Photos can be edited with special software, or use a Zip program to bundle documents in a zip file. Your recipients will thank you for not clogging their Inbox.
6. When replying, delete unnecessary info or email treads. Don’t Reply to All unless they need to stay in the loop. Use Bcc (blind carbon copy) to protect multiple recipients’ privacy, even if it looks like you’re sending the message to yourself. Reply to your emails within 24-48 hours otherwise they’ll get ‘lost’ in your Inbox, plus you might be paid the same respect.
7. Create a good signature file that includes your business and contact info. Why not use this free tool to market yourself? Add a tag line or your favorite quote to make it more memorable!
8. Keep your email lines to 70 characters and use ‘hard’ returns. This one is new to me, but it makes sense considering that not everyone may have the latest and greatest monitor, so they may have to scroll to the rigth to read the entire line. Anything to make it easier and be read!
9. My last tip is related to your mood when writing an email. If you are angry or upset, WAIT 12-24 hours before sending that message. Go ahead and write that email (leaving the To box empty) and express your anger, pour out your dissatisfaction, delete and rewrite, repeat, write down whatever is bothering you, but just DO NOT send the message out! Once it’s gone, it’s out there and cannot be retrieved! So don’t be a hot-head! When you go back after a few hours, your head will be clear, your emotions will be calm, you may see things differently, and you will be better able to get your point accross by leaving the emotions out of the equation. I have done this several times and I’m sure I saved myself many embarassing moments.  You have to think about the purpose of your email. What do you want to achieve? Not war I hope  

Follow these tips to get your message across effectively and you will surely  get the feedback you want or need.

Continue reading »]]> I have to admit, filing is not one of my strongest suits. However, after attending several workshops I was able to set up a filing system that helps me to find what I need, when I need it, fast!

Before I could start the system I had to figure out what I wanted to keep and here are some questions that helped me decide:

The papers that I want to keep, will be divided into:

 You can subdivide the stacks further into:

General filing tips:

Now you have your filing system, but wait, you are not done yet!
How will you find your papers quickly when you need them? Ah!

Guess what? There is a system for that too: Index your files! You can buy special indexing software, but you can also create your own index on the computer, using a spreadsheet, database or even wordprocessing software. It is a little bit tedious work when you first set it up, but after the initial work you will only have to update the index when adding and removing papers to your files. You can always hire a VA if you don’t want to deal with this.

The reason why it should be on the computer is for quick retrieval of the files. You can do a search for your files faster in f.e. Excel than going through a rolodex system.

So how do you set up your index?
This is where your labeling system comes in!

Next time you need to retrieve that 2007 tax file, you will know exactly where to find it!

Continue reading »]]> “The price of success is much lower than the price of failure.” Zig Ziglar

Okay, the first month of the new year has come and gone, but are you ready for success this year? It’s not too late to start!

Here are seven, (or nine?) no, ten things I found at dumblittleman.com to help you achieve success. Now why would you want to listens to a Dumb Little Man? Well, he is not so dumb at all because some of these are really great tips I will be following myself to achieve more success in 2010. Care to join me?

1. Passion = power. It is the fuel that will get you through the dip in the road. So your first key is passion, go follow it!
2. Experience, you need it. There are no successful people without experience, no matter what it is. Be the expert!
3. Ideas, let them flow. All you need is ONE good idea. There’s a sea of ideas out there, and in your head. You just have to listen.
4. Work, hard or smart. No one will do the work for you. Unless of course you pay them, but you would still have to work to get that money…
5. Faith + Courage. Can’t do one or the other. Believe in yourself and go do it!
6. Focus … ahh! I am currently working on that one and this says it all: The best way to stop a man with a good idea is to give him two… yes, focus is good. Mediocrity? Never!
7. Determination & Discipline. I can see why those two go together. Wanting to reach the finish line is not enough for a marathon runner; he has to train to get there.

Here is a funny, short video that gives you Thing number 8, in addition to the 7 (or 9?) above: Serve!

Is that a price you can pay for success? Not too bad! Looking back at the list I realize that I already have more than half of the ingredients for success. But, having a recipe and all the ingredients don’t make a cake. There’s work to do, but at least I know what I need to work on. There’s nothing worse than having to solve a problem and not knowing where to start.  Now let’s get to work!

Dumb Little Man provides tips on life, money, productivity, from contributors of various backgrounds. Be sure to check out their site too.

Continue reading »]]> Happy New Year!  

I wish every entrepreneur all the best in 2010. They said it will be a great year and I really want to believe that! Things at ADF International will change a little bit this year, but change is good, so stay tuned!

If you are like me, you may have 5 pots and pans going at the same time  on the stove. Not only would you need a big stove, but you would also have to know exactly what to do and when, or risk forgetting to add salt here or there. You may do a great job, but juggling multiple tasks requires that you are very organized, whether it’s in the kitchen or in your office.

To stay organized I use my favorite online project management tool created by 37 signals called Basecamp. It’s so easy to use that it feels like playing while working on my projects. I’ve tried other desktop programs, but those required far more training to use than Basecamp. With Basecamp there is nothing to install; all you need to do is register online and be instantly up and running. The available add-ons also help customize this tool, making life easier for users. Add-ons include apps for iPhones, invoicing, time-tracking, reporting, charts, etc.

Basecamp is highly recommended to associates, friends and family by almost 100% of its users (including moi). And if you find out who all is using this tool, you will be amazed and want to jump on it yourself! 

So who is benefitting from Basecamp? Users range from small business owners, to non-profits, from agencies to entrepreneurs. It looks like everyone is using this tool, are you?  Some of  the world famous brands utilizing Basecamp are: Adidas, Last FM, WWF, USA Today, Best Buy, DHL Express, Kellogs, National Geographic and many more.

There are various plans to choose from, including a free plan for doing a test-ride. If you have been looking for an easy way to manage your projects,  there is really no excuse for not trying out Basecamp.

Are you convinced yet?  Check out my affiliate link below to get more information about this awesome tool. I promise, you won’t regret it!