Freelancing and the Smartphone

Well…I finally did it. I bought a smartphone. A Samsung Galaxy 4G Blaze.

Amid a confluence of events a few weeks ago, I noticed that I’d worn the numbers off the keypad of my old Motorola flip-phone, just as T-Mobile’s e-mail marketing announcement for their $50 unlimited plan landed in my inbox; and when I followed the link to investigate, I was seduced by their special price on the Blaze. So I took the leap.

It wasn’t that I had any burning need for a smartphone, and could easily have ordered an updated model of my old flip-phone. But I also believe that a key element of staying sharp through the aging process is to embrace and master any new technology that seems relevant and applicable to my livelihood and lifestyle.

I spent the first week customizing the aesthetics and functionality of my sleek new toy. I wallpapered my home screen with an alluring photo of a tropical beach; I added smiling headshot photos of family, friends, and clients to all my contact IDs; I created an upbeat ringtone for incoming calls; and I imported an MP3 of Joni Mitchell’s Chelsea Morning for my wake-up alarm. How could each day not get off to a fabulous start with her infectious exuberance to set the tone?

And then…Reality set in. The T-Mobile invoice arrived and smacked me upside the head like a mackerel. With the cost of the data plan upgrade, plus the price of my sexy new smartphone, I’ll be paying more than $800 a year for the next two years, which means that Miss Blaze is going to have to earn her keep.

Toward that end, I got rid of all the superfluous apps that came pre-installed on the phone to make room for a suite of downloads to boost my freelancing productivity. Of the hundred-bajillion apps out there to choose from, I managed to winnow the field to these five:

Dragon: I’ve conducted lots of interviews over the years with my Sony digital voice recorder. But reviewing and transcribing afterwards was always such a chore. So I’ll be using Dragon to record and transcribe my interviews with all those fascinating people.

Dropbox: The new darling for media creatives, this file sharing app allows users to access files of all kinds between their own devices, or with anyone authorized to access shared files.

HootSuite: I recently made a resolution to post more consistently and frequently to my professional pages on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But posting in triplicate can be so time consuming and redundant. So I added HootSuite to my Blaze so I can manage all my posts with one app.

QuickMark QR Barcode Scanner: There was a time when I had no idea what those little square bar codes were, until I was asked to put one in a client’s ad layout. Although I’m now reading reports that QR codes are already becoming obsolete, I still downloaded this QR scanning app to take advantage of the technology while it lasts. And of course, once the next iteration goes mainstream, I’ll download an app for that.

Mobile Banking: For the longest time, I’ve been seeing television ads by various financial institutions for mobile banking, in which account holders can receive money by electronic funds transfer (EFT), as well as by taking a snapshot of a check, thus saving themselves a trip to the bank. Can’t wait to give it a try when the payment checks arrive for this month’s invoices.

Sadly, and much to my dismay, although I searched high and low for a mobile app to help me find and apply for freelance writing and publication layout jobs, there just isn’t one out there yet that fills the bill. Sure there are lots of apps that make the claim, but the reviews for them are all negative, and some are even tagged as virus infected. Yikes! So I still live in hopes of finding an app that will notify me of freelance job opportunities the minute they’re posted to the web.

The four apps I’ve chosen to add to my Blaze represent only a few that I felt would serve my immediate needs, but I have no doubt that I will soon discover lots of others. In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list of my search results for the best mobile apps for freelancers:

iPhone.Appstorm: 90 Awesome iOS Apps for Freelancers

LifeHack: 30 Essential Tools and Web Apps for Freelancers

MediaBistro: Top 25 Most Popular Apps For Freelancers

FreelanceSwitch: The 10 Best Web Apps for Freelancers

CertifiedFreelance: 9 Android Apps for Freelancers on the Go

SitePoint: The 10 Essential Apps You Need to Run a Mobile Freelance Business

GuerillaFreelancing: 10 Apps for running your freelance business

FreelanceFolder: 18 Plus Free Mobile Apps for Freelancers

Celeste Heiter is the author of Turn Your PC into a Lean Mean Freelancing Machine, the creator of the LoveBites Cookbook Series for Kindle Fire, and the author of Potty Pals , a potty-training book for children. She has also written ten books published by ThingsAsian Press; and spent eight years posting her recipes, food photographs, and film reviews on ChopstickCinema .

Visit her website, and her Amazon Author Page.

…And We’re Back

After a few technical hiccups and an issue or two still needing to be ironed out, we are back to our regular posting schedule. New content coming soon! Thanks for your patience during our transition to the new server.

Construction Nearly Complete!

We’re entering the final stages of our behind-the-scenes work on Freelance-Zone.com. We return to our regular posts come Monday, though there may be a few bumps in the road between here and there or beyond, depending on how everything goes. We’ll be back very soon!

Happy 2013!

We’re taking a time-0ut and wishing all our readers a very happy New Year! May 2013 bring you closer to all your ultimate writing goals. It has been an honor to be a part of your journey. Keep an eye out for more from our wonderful columnists and a guest post or two that might just surprise you…

We look forward to serving you in the coming year and hope you have a happy, safe celebration!

Happy Holidays From Freelance-Zone.com

We’ll be on a reduced schedule for the remainder of the year, but we’ll be back at it in 2013. We want to thank all of our readers and contributors–we could not do it without you! Happy holidays from Freelance-Zone.com and we look forward to a new year. Have a safe holiday and remember those in uniform who can’t be home–there are plenty of military members (some of whom are writers, bloggers or aspire to be) deployed or stationed overseas, celebrating with friends and co-workers there. We salute you!

The Holidays, Writing & Marketing

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Every year I do something that helps move my career forward during the holidays…

I market myself.

This means reaching out to people to touch base, getting my contacts organized, sending out some new feelers and other strategies designed to both keep me working and find new jobs. Here are some great things you can do to stay on top of things for 2013:

• Send holiday cards. Sending out a simple holiday greeting is a great way to remind editors you are out there. Touch base and write a short note in the card. It’s good business.
• Organize your address book. Add contacts that you should have in there and delete old e-mail addresses.
• Research places to send an outreach e-mail to in the NY. Get an Excel document going with names and e-mails of people that you would like to reach out to for work in the New Year. Don’t send these e-mails over the holidays–they’ll probably never see light…but do get ready for your marketing push in January.
• Look for reprint options. Sift through any articles you sold in 2012 and see if you can re-slant them for another publication in 2013.
• Do your tax prep. I’d advise using an accountant, but no matter what you do for taxes, you’ll need to organize your receipts. Get it done while things are quiet and you’ll be thanking yourself in April. Believe me.
• Network. Arm yourself with business cards for all of the holiday parties that you will be attending and pass them out like crazy. You just never know when someone will need a writer.

Do you have any good tactics for marketing yourself during the holidays? If so, we’d love to hear from you!