Changing the Game on so Many Levels

by Brian Casel  ·  11.5.2009  ·  Inspiration

I’m sure many of you, like myself, have watched hundreds of Gary V videos by now.  This one really stood out to me and hit home on several points:

  • The Internet is only 14 years old.  The way our social web has completely changed the game – every game – is truly mind boggling.  That phenomenon could be the single thing that keeps my passion for the web alive day after day.
  • The idea of change on a massive scale.  It frustrates me when I see so much potential and so little action.  Like my points I made about climate change.
  • Asking older folks for their thoughts as they look back on their life:  It’s all about doing what you love and spending time with the ones you love.  Definitely something to keep in mind as we head into this holiday season.

See My New Workspace

by Brian Casel  ·  11.4.2009  ·  Bits

Finally settling in today.

My new apartment is now furnished, cable installed, computers fired up, milk in the fridge. Today I’m back to the normal work routine, which feels far from normal because I’ve got a brand new workspace!

Refreshing the surroundings is always an exciting thing, especially for us work-at-home freelancers. It’s the perfect opportunity to assess and optimize every detail of your work environment, from where you position your desk to where you place your coffee mug.

Here’s a pic of my set up. Hoping to fill up the blank walls soon…

It’s always (strangely) interesting to see a glimps of other’s workspaces.  Share a link to yours in the comments!

Does the Recession Benefit Freelancers?

by Brian Casel  ·  11.2.2009  ·  Business

crashI say the answer is yes, the down economy does benefit the freelancer.

Now this is not to say that I’m glad we’re in a recession or anything of the sort.  We’re in tough times, and it affects everyone negatively in some way.  All I’m saying here is that freelancers, especially freelance web workers, are in a unique position to weather the storm more effectively than others.

My friends ask me, “how’s business these days?”  The common assumption is that since I’m self-employed, business must be slow in an economy like this.  But my honest answer is quite the contrary.  I’m having my best year yet.

OK, granted, it’s only my second full year of being completely self-employed.  You could chalk up some of this year’s success to learning from mistakes made in 2008 and generally improving my skills all around – both in design and in business.

But I still make the argument that a freelancer, especially one working in the web industry, has a unique advantage during a down economy.

Here’s why:

Companies aren’t hiring. But they still have work that needs to get done.  Where do they look when they can’t afford to pay for salaries and benefits?  Freelancers.  I made a healthy rate working for a company early in 2009 who needed extra help on several projects.

Freelancers can compete with larger agencies. In a tough economy, businesses seek the most bang for their buck.  Especially small and local businesses.  During a booming economy, these businesses might pay big bucks to a well-known agency with staff.  But these days, they’re considering alternatives, such as hiring a talented freelancer or small shop who can produce the same (or better) quality results at a fraction of the price.

People want to start side businesses. This economy makes people seek a secondary source of income.  This often means starting a side business.  What do small businesses need?  Quality, affordable web design, particularly e-commerce web design.

Freelancers can work anywhere. This benefit is two fold:  Freelancers can physically set up shop at home, on the road, at a local coffee shop, anywhere.  Having to relocate doesn’t hurt the freelancer’s business – as long as there’s an internet connection.  The other benefit is freelancers can find clients anywhere..  I have clients that reside in all corners of the US, plus a client or two in other countries.  As a freelancer, I have the ability to seek new projects anywhere, not just in my home city.

Over to you

Agree?  Disagree?  What affect has this economy had on your freelance business?

Finding the Perfect App for That

by Brian Casel  ·  10.27.2009  ·  Bits

Among web workers, we’ve seen a rising obsession with “apps”, particularly “Getting Things Done”, a.k.a. GTD apps.  Web apps, desktop apps, iPhone apps… They’re guided by the idea of being useful but simple and focused on a targeted need, or problem.

Our choices in apps are often very personal, and sometimes the tiniest detail can make or break our decision to download or purchase it.  The more apps we consume, the more we continue to search that perfect app for our need, our style, our work flow.

Here are some apps I use regularly and why I’m only 99% satisfied with each:

Things for mac + iPhone

Picture 1

Things for Mac & iPhone

It’s a great to-do list app.  I love the simple and clean design.  It’s not overloaded with features and buttons, leaving only the ones that I find useful.  I use this app to keep track of all my upcoming tasks for various projects.  I use their ‘projects’ feature to sort by client (projects = clients).  This way it separates my lists nicely by client.

Why it’s not perfect

Syncing is a pain.  I have the Things iPhone app, but the only way to sync it to my Things desktop app is to physically bring my iPhone into the same wi-fi network as my computer, then open both the iPhone app and Desktop app simultaneously.  Not ideal.  Why can’t I just enter tasks on my iPhone when I’m out, and know that they will show up as soon as I launch Things on my computer?  Or let me email tasks to my Things app when I’m out.  Or have a web-based counterpart to sync it.  Something!

Basecamp

Basecamp from 37 Signals

Basecamp from 37 Signals

Basecamp is the most popular project / team management web-app out there.  I recently signed up for an account (did you know that if you start with the free account, then click upgrade from within basecamp, they offer you a $12/month option, which is not listed on their website? Makes pricing a bit more reasonable).

It’s really a fantastic web-app with a super-simple interface.  It’s so easy to pick up right from your first log in, which makes it great when I need to give a colleague access and they’ve never used it before.  I love the hover over link color and nice CSS padding set on every link and button.  Makes everything have a fun and workable feel to it.

Why it’s not perfect

Some people love it, but I’m not a fan of Textile formatting.  That is the method of input for all messages, comments, textarea inputs.  I’m slowly getting used to it, but I’d love to see more formatting options (I found this Firefox plugin, which adds formatting options to basecamp, but it doesn’t work 100% of the time).  When writing long messages (such as detailed task instructions for contractors), better formatting options would make for a more legible message.  Then, tasks are easier to follow and work flow is improved.  And speaking of writing long messages in basecamp…

How about saving drafts?  I’m surprised this is not a feature.  Right now, as I type out messages I keep open a TextEdit doc to constantly paste what I’ve got so far, save it and keep going.  Otherwise, with one wrong click in the browser, everything I’ve got can be lost (Frustrating!  I know from experience.  Several times.)  Autosave drafts please.

Google Reader + Byline for iPhone

Byline iPhone

Byline iPhone

Google Reader is pretty damn near perfect in my opinion.  It’s a fantastic RSS Reader, with nice folder features, starring, sharing, etc.  I love GReader and RSS feeds in general so much that I need to have constant access on iPhone.  The mobile Google reader is OK (a little slow), but as a New Yorker, I have a unique but very important requirement:  I need access to my feeds when I’m in the subway, underground.  In fact, this is when I most need my feeds.

Enter, Byline.  An iPhone app that syncs my Google Reader feeds to my iPhone and downloads the article content to the phone so I can read it later when I’m not connected.  It’s a great app, and in my opinion worth the $10 price tag.  I like how it separates feeds by folder, and starring articles syncs both ways.

Why it’s not perfect

Downloading articles is too slow and unreliable.  The only way I can have a full batch of new articles to read when I’m underground is if I start my iPhone sync hours before I leave the house.  The ideal solution would be to sync articles in the background, all the time.  Keep the most recent 50 articles, delete the rest.  I’m sure this limitation is caused more by the iPhone and crappy 3G service from AT&T.  but that doesn’t make me crave recent RSS feeds any less when I’m stuck underground between subway stops.

iTrans NYC

iTrans iPhone

iTrans iPhone

Here’s another crucial app for New Yorkers.  It has changed my subway navigation experience for ever.  One of the most mind-numbingly boring things about living in New York is waiting for subways to arrive.  As far as subway systems go, NYC metro is still in the stone age.  We show up on the train platform and hope that a train is only minutes away (which too often is not the case).

iTrans solves this problem perfectly.  The app has the entire NYC subway schedule programmed in, so you can simply click on the station (from the map) and view when the next 5 trains are scheduled to arrive.  It covers every single subway line.  It works completely without internet connection.  Now I walk down to a platform, and know if the next train is 2 minutes or 20 minutes away.  Now I know whether to go for the local train or choose to wait for the express train.  Now I can plan my next subway transfer perfectly.  This app is a gem.

Why it’s not perfect

Honestly, this app is perfect.  There.  I said it.  What’s not perfect is the NYC subway system.  Delays and train traffic cause trains to go off schedule sometimes, making the iTrans app ineffective.  But I’ve been truly surprised at how accurate it is for the most part, or how close it comes.

Battle Climate Change With… Change.

by Brian Casel  ·  10.15.2009  ·  Bits, Opinion

And now for an off-topic rant (in support of Blog Action Day 2009)…

www.blogactionday.org

www.blogactionday.org

As an American, I have to say I am sorely disappointed with my country’s stance on climate change.  I see this as both the gravest problem and the biggest opportunity of our generation.  And we’re blowing it.  Big time.

We can all join hands and boycott plastic bottles, drive Toyotas, and use energy efficient light bulbs all we want.  But that really doesn’t attack the issue.  That stuff is just a drop in the bucket.

What we need (now!) is change. Real, concrete, binding government legislation that both caps our consumption and rebuilds our country’s infrastructure for energy efficiency.  I’m not seeing that.  I’m seeing waffling, compromise, propaganda, and politics.

I thought I voted for change a year ago when I cast my ballot for Barack Obama.  And I don’t mean to pile on here, but I’m not satisfied with the state of our country’s green revolution (or lack thereof).  I never expected to be out of our 2 wars by now.  I never expected health care reform to be passed by now.  I didn’t expect to be out of this recession by now.  Those are tough issues with loads of hurdles.

What I did expect within Obama’s first year was game-changing revolution on the climate change front.  What did we get?  A bill that promises 17% (not enough) reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.  2020?! 11 years from now?!  Are you f-ing kidding me?!

We were able to land a man on the moon within 1 year of John F. Kennedy announcing it.  Today, when it comes to making any type of progress, we only take baby steps (if we take any steps at all).  This political climate gets more and more frustrating every day.

Here are a few observations from a non-expert (me):

  • Isn’t most of our country’s land massive fields of wind?  We should be capturing that energy, spreading it, and selling it.  We’re not.
  • The core of our problems in the middle east is related to our dependence on oil.  Is it not?
  • 10% of our country is unemployed today.  Wouldn’t a real green revolution put these people back to work?

This problem needs real change on all levels.  But I think my hope is wearing thin.

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