While I’m an advocate for the Adobe suite of tools (having had them drummed into me through ports of employment and education), the cost of buying the full Adobe Creative Suite can be quite expensive, as can picking up individual copies of both Photoshop and Illustrator, especially now in their CS3 iterations.

While I put aside the hard-earned dough to fund CS3 purchases of both Photoshop and Illustrator, there are cross-platform open source alternatives available for designers.

GIMP

If you’re looking for something along the lines of Photoshop, then why not try your hand at GIMP? Billed as “the GNU Image Manipulation Program“, GIMP can be used in both a Windows and OSX environment and is suitable for the likes of photo retouching, image composition, manipulation and authoring.

You still get the use of alpha channels, layers, quick-masking, paths and all the usual features you would expect from an image editor, with the added bonus that it opens PSD files (Photoshop Documents).

Download the latest version of GIMP here.

Inkscape

Inkscape came recommended to me a few months ago as a strong open source alternative to Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape being a vector drawing program.

Ideal for illustrators, logo and graphic designers, it packs features similar to those found in Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format. (via).

Support for Windows 98 or ME (shudder the thoughts) users no longer exists but you can download Linux / Windows / OSX copies, while the application has also been successfully used on FreeBSD and other Unix-based systems.

Download the latest version of Inkscape here.

When it’s not going to cost you anything, what have you really got lose? Plus, if you’re saving for that CS3 license, you’ve got two powerful, free packages that will act as a steady stop-gap until you spring for your preferred toolset.

Popularity: 19% [?]

If you’re a self-hosted Wordpress blogger then you need to have Akismet installed. One of my busier blogs has Akismet installed (as do all my other blogs), the comment and trackback spam blocker keeping out between 3 and 4 figures (yes, in the thousands) worth of spam on a daily basis.

Over the last week or two I’ve noted an increase in comment and trackback spam. For instance, I cleaned out my spam comments on one blog yesterday only to log in this morning and find 1,058 comments waiting in the Akismet queue.

All I have to do? Press that lovely “Delete All” button and it’s farewell to spam.

If you’re having trouble with spam comments and trackbacks or find yourself getting excessive amounts of “please moderate” emails from your Wordpress install, grab yourself the latest version of the Akismet plugin here.

You will also need a Wordpress.com API key, which you can get by registering at Wordpress.com. Upload the Akismet plugin to your wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate it from the Wordpress plugins menu, entering your API key when prompted. Then you can relax in the knowledge that you’re being protected by an extremely robust spam blocker for your blog.

Popularity: 9% [?]

In the lines of work I find myself in (I say lines because I have more than one business interest, but all are strongly interconnected) I have to be able to work on the move. I usually try and keep my travel load to one carry bag (like a laptop bag), though depending on the situation, I might require a second bag.

I have the ability to work anywhere - in my office, from my bed, the kitchen table, the passenger seat of a car, on a plane. But wherever I go, my mobile office comes with me.

What’s in the bag?

• 15″ MacBook Pro & charger - I rely a lot on the laptop’s WiFi connectivity and bluetooth connectivity, never mind the software I’ve got installed
• DVI to VGA adapter - for use with extra monitor / projector where needs be.
• Sony Ericsson K800i (being upgraded to a Nokia N95 8GB this week)
• Nikon Coolpix S200 - While the K800i is a terrific cameraphone, if I require extra detail while on a job, I’ll use the Coolpix
• Nokia N770 Internet Tablet - When a laptop just isn’t suitable in a WiFi environment. Likely to become redundant when the N95 arrives
• Stereo mini-jack to jack audio lead; stereo phono lead
• iPod and USB cable (though I should, I don’t use USB keys)
• 1 large refill pad (spiral bound), 1 small refill notebook (spiral bound)
• Six pens
• Fifty business cards (you never know who you’re going to meet)

Once I’ve got that much with me I can pretty much work anywhere. The best thing is, all of the above fit into the one laptop bag with great ease.

How about you, do you travel light when working away from base on a design or writing job? Is there anything you absolutely *must* travel with?

Popularity: 11% [?]

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last few years of business, it’s that no partnership is truely equal. If everything is 50/50 then nobody has control.

Some partnerships work. Maybe it’s two designers pooling their collective resources in order to taking on bigger projects. Maybe it’s someone highly skilled in design and the creative elements of freelancing, coupled with someone highly skilled in a business sense - the one I like to call “the face”.

If you are considering taking on a partner, forming a new business with a partner or entering an existing business as a partner then you need to be sure of a few things.

• Is this person or persons the right one to get involved with?
• What agreements exist in place between partners?
• Where does the responsibility lie - individually or collectively?
• If the partnership dissolves, what happens next?
• Do you really need a partner?

That said, here are a few links to online resources and articles you might consider exploring and reading if you are indeed looking to take or or set up a partnership.

• Locating The Ideal Partner
• Partnership Agreements - Are They Right For You?
• Before You Go Into Business With Family Or Friends
• Steps To Starting Your Own Business
• Starting A Partnership
• Creating A Winning Business Partnership
• Definition of the term “partnership”
• Setting Up General Partnerships & Limited Partnerships

The articles above are contributed by numerous authors writing for About.com. Details relating to partnerships apply across the board, regardless of where you live.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Some people argue that there are great differences between being a freelancer and being an entrepreneur. Some say freelancers are only concerned with the short-term while entrepreneurs are looking at the bigger picture.

However, speaking with my entrepreneurial hat on, I feel that working for yourself or going freelance share similar results, and as such the results are driven by similar characteristics in a person.

The Characteristics Of A Freelancer

I was interviewed recently about my business, one of the questions asking me to define what characteristics are evident in me as a person when it comes to business, and what characteristics are needed when you decide to work for yourself. These represent the characteristics of an entrepreneur, but on a whole I think they can be mirrored by those of a freelancer.

• You are a risk taker
  An entrepreneur will often take risks and must take risks in order to advance in business. These risks are often calculated. Working as a freelancer you are taking risks on clients (particularly new ones) and risking the uncertainty of future income. You must be able to take that risk in order to make the first step.
• You are passionate and enthusiastic
  I’ve met more people and have more friends who are “bored” with their jobs, working 9-5, five days a week, for some random large company. The happier of the bunch are those doing things for themselves. They’ve found something they love and are enthusiastic about and they’re making their living from it - designers, writers, film makers, advertisers, marketeers. Being both passionate and enthusiastic about the work you are doing is what gets you out of bed in the morning. If you can’t find those two vital ingredients then perhaps you need a change in direction.
• You are determined
  If you are freelancing part time I will make the bold assumption that you are balancing your income with another job or source of finance. If you are freelancing full time then determination plays a big factor - determined to succeed, determined to make your mark, determined to seek new work, determined to develop your skills and keep yourself on the top of your game.
• You are organised
  Organisation is a skill earned through practice. Organisation as a characteristic of one’s nature is also vital when working freelance. You are now responsible for setting and meeting deadlines, client appointments, paying the bills, paying the relevant taxes and juggling your self-employed workload. You need to be organised.
• You are a decision maker
  I’ve got a post in the pipeline titled ‘Procrastination Is A Freelancer’s Nightmare’. You need to be a decision maker and some times you’re going to need to make those ‘edge of the knife’ type decisions. It’s part of the entrepreneurial mindset and it is part of the freelancing mindset.
• You have a vision
  An entrepreneur without a vision is one without a path on which to travel (you can quote me on that one as well). Working for yourself isn’t just about going job to job, client to client trying to make ends meet. You’ve got to have a vision both for yourself now and where you want to be. Is your end goal to turn into a fulltime freelancer? To use freelancing as a means of getting a high-paid job at a big firm? Are you looking to eventually develop a small business of your own, a large company of your own?

  The vision is the key, it is what takes the drive and determination, the passion and enthusiasm and combines them into one, helping you to succeed at what you do best.

Would you agree with me? Have you got long term plans in your freelancing career or are you looking at a stop-gap between jobs, something to bring an extra few dollars or euro on the side? If you are looking at things on a full-time scale, then what characteristic do YOU feel best represent the freelancer in you?

Popularity: 18% [?]

A few weeks ago I had an angel card reading. A few members of the family had been for readings before and, while travelling for a job, I was presented with the opportunity to experience the same. On one level I was simply curious, wondering what lay in store me in the not-too-distant future. On another I was looking for some guidance. I had a number of thoughts in my head about certain aspects of work life and I wanted to see if the cards would highlight or clarify any of these thoughts.

The one big thing that came out of it was watching for the signs.

Not road signs or directions, or big events that come up and smack you in the face. But the subtle signs, the twist of a conversation, overhearing something in the street or in the pub, a chance arrival in the post, an article in a newspaper…

The lesson taught to me was that if you’re looking to welcome something into your life, in my case a change of work practices, then you will get what you’re looking for - if you can read the signs.

How Does This Apply To You?

If you’re considering entering the world of freelancing and working for yourself and you’ve been looking for a sign or a way out, something to get you in line, my advice is to keep an eye out for the signs.

I say this because from five very different sources in the past ten days, I’ve picked up tidbits of conversations, suggestions and rumblings that assure me I’m on the right track in relation to a project I’m commencing later this year.

I’ve asked for the change and the chance to start this project and slowly but surely things seem to be moving around to let me move forward.

I think they might be right when they say “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, don’t you?

Popularity: 11% [?]

You may think the question sounds silly, but I beg to differ - are you using the right chair?

For the past 2-3 years I’ve had a high-backed leather swivel chair. It is comfortable, my feet reach the ground with ease and the back is adjustable (in that you can sit in a fixed upright position or leave it loose to swing back and forth).

My desk space is large enough to hold a 19″ flat panel monitor (connected to PC under the desk), a set of speakers, my in/out tray (which houses bits of newspaper clippings, loose sheets for the printer, nothing pressing I assure you), my laptop and a second 17″ flat panel monitor for dual display, while also leaving room for writing / drawing.

The space under the desk could be utilised better though remains relatively clutter free, hiding away a PC (tower), a sub woofer for the speakers and a 4-way power adapter.

The problem was the chair. I could never quite get it in all the way under the desk or flush to the desk, and while it wasn’t uncomfortable, I found myself on occasion sitting on the edge of the seat without any support at all for my back.

About two weeks ago I offered my chair up to a client and I grabbed a small low-backed and cushioned chair from the back of the office (I’d had two sitting there from the office owner - I rent). I should have asked the client would they like the leather chair gift-wrapped and delivered - there was no way I was going back.

In the space of two weeks I’m surprised at how much my productivity has been boosted by the simple change of chair. My posture is better, the seat is about an inch lower than the high-backed leather chair which. While both chairs retail around the same price mark, I was so impressed that I’ve brought the other chair home with me for work in the evenings, ditching the same high-backed leather one I have here.

While the leather swivel chairs might look nice and executive-like, I can’t argue with the fact that I’m sitting better and more comfortable at my desk. The result? Less slouching, less fidgeting about in the chair, certainly less “swivelling” and a happier, more productive worker.

Given I’m in the line of work where I spend most of my hours sitting down (as many designers do), I’m surprised I never noticed the issue earlier. I now know, I was using the wrong chair - what about you?

Popularity: 13% [?]

Yesterday I made a point about having to reference everything when it comes to online banking. Today, I’m once again both mindful and thankful of that point.

After 3 consecutive days totalling roughly 27 hours, I’ve come through the other side of the accounts and I’ll be making and collecting payments due from/to me tomorrow morning.

The downside is that I lost 27 out of 40 hours (I usually put in 40 hours at a minimum in the office) available to me this week, leaving just 13 for client work, the bulk of which will be a full day behind my regular desk tomorrow. This is valuable time lost on jobs that will have to be made up over the next week or so (and will be made up, I assure you of that).

However, I’m looking at it this way.

Say I pay myself an hourly rate of €15. My take-home wage on a weekly basis would be €600. If I’ve spent 27 hours doing accounts, chasing bills, invoices and documenting everything along the way, those 27 hours have cost me a total of €405, leaving me an effective take-home page of €195.

Last year my accountants fees were in four figure territory, not three, largely due to the fact that this kind of work wasn’t done. So if I’ve dropped €405 because I took three days out to review finances, I’ve likely saved in excess of €1,000 for making the effort.

I’m not an accountant by any stretch of the imagination but if you were to sit me down in the morning I can show you where everything came and went - purchases, sales, cash, wages, loans, taxes and more.

If you’re working for yourself I feel it is vital you both know and understand that kind of information - especially when it comes to filing your taxes at year end. I also saved money on using accounting software too - I started a series of spreadsheets in OpenOffice, made out all my formulas and references and got stuck in.

That said, I’ll still use an accountant at the end of the year to make sure everything is in order from a legal perspective, but I’ll have saved a lot of time, hassle and money in the process.

I can promise you, after these three days I will thoroughly enjoy the weekend.

Popularity: 20% [?]

As I mentioned yesterday, I had informed a number of clients I would be unavailable Tuesday and Wednesday as I was making time for my accounts (for the business).

After two days of pouring over invoices, receipts, bank statements and preparing a number of payments to go out this week, I offer up this tip if you are using online banking…

It will save so much time in the long run. In my case, I deal with two bank accounts, one as a current account and one strictly for tax purposes - any taxes or VAT owed wind up in here so I can keep track of everything during the year. Given that situation, I transfer funds online between both accounts on a regular basis but it sure helps to use the ‘REFERENCE’ tag if you’re online banking platform allows it.

This comes in the form of a ‘reference’ box, notes, additional info on a payment - make sure you’re referencing and detailing everything. Unless you’re documenting every payment you could be facing a battle when, like me, you choose to go back through months and months of accounts.

Luckily, I referenced *most* payments. The rest seem to be falling into place!

Popularity: 20% [?]

If you’re still putting of upgrading your version of Wordpress to the latest (2.5, with 2.5.1 already on the way) then maybe it is time to make the jump. I say this as word circles the web yesterday and today that Technorati, one of the biggest blog indexing sites online, has decided NOT to index “vulnerable and exploited Wordpress blogs”.

If you don’t upgrade your copy of Wordpress, you’re at risk of being left out of the Technorati blog index as well as other services feeding off Technorati.

Some of the older versions of Wordpress have been exploited and may (a small possibility) in certain circumstances be hacked or are at a greater risk to hacking attempts, these issues being patched in more recent versions, especially in Wordpress 2.5.

Exploits can be made through core WP files and possibly through suspect Wordpress themes as well. Mark Ghosh, who writes for Weblog Tools Collection suggests the downloading of themes only from the author’s original link (unless, in my opinion, you’re sourcing themes from a high-traffic and respected theme host).

The bottom line is though, in the combat of spam, hacking attempts and the possibility of falling out of search engine results and rankings, now is the time to be upgrading to Wordpress 2.5. I’ve already updated several blogs and it’s an absolute breeze. If you’re stuck, don’t be afraid to shout!

Of course, this only applies to those of you hosting Wordpress blogs yourself, if you’re on Wordpress.com then you’ve got nothing to worry about!

Popularity: 27% [?]