photo credit: huzzahvintage

It’s the in thing in freelancing today. You have a home office. You work at home. You work from your bedroom. You telecommute.

If you have a day job, and you have to rush to the office before 8 a.m., and you need to run through the crowds downtown in a suit or high heels, chances are you envy those folks who can earn as much as you can (or even more) while in their shorts or nighties at the comfort of their living room.

But the moment you experience telecommuting, then you start shedding the formal workwear. You can now work in your pajamas, and you can still get things done. For all your client cares, you’re probably in your underwear, making those business calls, coding, designing or writing.

You try to tell yourself it’s a good thing you can run your business without having to think of your appearance. Or can you?

Do clothes make the man?

Sometimes, clothes do make the man (or woman). Even if you’re running a business from home, it doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have to dress up. For some people, dressing up involves pysching oneself for doing work. Even better, dressing up can mean psyching oneself for success.

I mean, have you ever felt sleepy or lazy during your telecommute workday because you’re in your sleepwear? Have you felt shy talking to clients on the phone or via email because you haven’t showered yet?

Working in your pajamas doesn’t necessarily make you less professional. But in some cases, it might make you feel less professional. You’re doing real work, after all. Why not try looking and feeling nice for the job.

You don’t necessarily have to wear a coat and tie at home. But wouldn’t it be nice to start your workday by showering, dressing in smart casuals, and grabbing a quick breakfast (or lunch or dinner, depending on your work schedule) before starting your work routine? It might get you in a more productive mood. It might get you into a more aggressive selling mood. It might help you close deals.

That’s unless you’re Hugh Hefner, which I seriously doubt.

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In the creative world, you don’t have to confine yourself to costly enterprise-level applications. Free (or really affordable) opportunities are available. In this article, I discuss my favorite tools to manage my clients and time online, and I invite you to share your favorite tools of the trade too.

These include Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, invoicing software, time tracking software, and even IM clients. If you’re an online professional like me, or if you run a small business based at home or a small office, then these could be very helpful.

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Sure, you can always use spreadsheet applications, but those can be cumbersome, and you’re constrained to keeping track of stuff on just one computer.

My solution: Google Spreadsheets.

This lets me “time in” so I can easily track how much I spend on my different tasks. The columns I usually use are:

• Date/Day
• Start time
• End time
• Time spent for task
• Total time for the day

– The sum of the individual tasks done for the day

• Total time for the week

– The sum of the time put in for that whole week (Mon to Sun)

• Total time for the month

– The sum of all time put in for a month

Sure, I do have to copy around formulas to different cells. But it’s as easy as Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V. And I do have full control!

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But with Google Chrome’s Incognito mode, life is now easier. You don’t have to open an entirely new application just to login with a different identity. Lifespy has an excellent tip.

Since it handles cookies separately, that also means that you can load two sessions of the same service and log in via separate accounts for each window. Well, this isn’t too different from launching a Firefox window and an IE window but at least you’re just running the same application.

You can even login multiple times. The fact that each of Chrome’s tabs and windows is a separate process makes it even better. Each session is distinct from the other.

Just be sure to open a new Incognito Window by typing Ctrl-Shift-N, or selecting the feature from the dropdown box at the right of the unified URL/search box.

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Web apps have taken the place of full-blown computer software for many people. This is because of the ubiquity of fast Internet connections and even mobile connectivity. Add to that the fact that portable tools are widely available these days, and not to mention cheap! Today $400 netbooks have replaced big, bulky notebook computers as the gadget of choice for the traveling person. There’s also the iPhone and other mobile phones that can let you get online even while on the road. With these broadband-enabled phones you can even connect your laptop or netbook while on the go.

These days, one app is turning out to be very popular among the online working crowd – Evernote. This app basically lets you clip, create, share and edit information from various devices and interfaces, including mobile, the web and a standalone app.

There’s also the Google suite of apps, which includes the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even other apps that let you access data from any web browser, like notebook and even Gmail.

Advantages

• Access from anywhere. Of course the main come-on of web apps is that you can access data from different computers. You don’t need to be stuck with your PC at the office. As long as you have a web browser, you can access your documents.
• Compatibility with different platforms. Being web-based you can access your information from different computers, and you’re not limited to the OS or platform. You can use a Windows PC, an Apple computer, a PC running on Linux, and in many cases even non-standard devices like mobile phones!
• You can easily collaborate. Sharing is easy. With many apps, two or more people can even edit a document at the same time, and the changes will be reflected real-time. There is also change-logging, so you know what was changed and when.
• Security from crashes. When your hard disc crashes, your data goes with it (unless recovered, but this can be expensive and will take time). When your data is online, you don’t have to worry about system crashes, unless it’s the web app provider itself that crashes or loses your files.

The Drawbacks

• Offline access. Face it, even with mobile broadband, there are those cases when you just can’t get online. No signal perhaps? Or how about slow ISP? Having a standalone app and being able to open a file from your hard drive or USB drive can sometimes be quicker!
• Unavailability of the Web app. It happens! Sometimes even Gmail goes down! What do you do when that happens? What if you have a critical presentation and you can’t access your documents because Google docs is offline?
• Security concerns. When your laptop is lost or stolen, your information goes with it. Sure, but with documents online, it could potentially be easier for thieves to steal your files. No physical access is required. Passwords are not always secure. You never know when you can fall victim to social engineering or even password sniffing!

With any technology there are ups and downs. So as a business user, it pays to cover your bases. Always keep backups and always have contingencies!

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