Earlier this week, we discussed some of the requirements that you would need for tools to work at home. As promised, here are second set of tools that can help you be more productive while working at home. We talked about antivirus programs, office suites, and invoicing programs. Today, we will talk about mainly communication tools. One of t.he biggest challenges when you’re working at home with you working for a company or your freelancing, is keeping in contact. These tools, can help you stay in regular communication.
Skype: I am a firm believer in utilizing Skype. One of the biggest attractions for me was the opportunity to get an “online telephone number”. I did this because I was not particularly interested in giving out my home telephone number to people that I barely knew. The advantage of the online telephone number, is that it is simple to shut off. Just log out of Skype, and it will not ring. Skype also has built-in voicemail-which can be extremely convenient.
Yahoo! Messenger -Yahoo messenger also offers voice option which I have never used. That’s not to say, that it would not be sufficient for your own needs. Yahoo was reliable, you need only have a Yahoo ID to utilize it. One of the biggest advantages that I have found with Yahoo is the ability to store instant messages. While Skype is certainly capable of doing this, is not as clean as Yahoo’s options.
AOL also offers an instant messaging option. What surprised me, was how few people actually use it. I find that 99% of the people that I deal with on a regular basis use either Skype or Yahoo or a combination of both.
Windows messenger live, is also available. In three years of freelancing, I have only ever had one client who used it. To put that into perspective, I have worked for over 70 people in those three years. For that rare person who prefers Windows messenger, I do have it on my system.
Google also offers G.-talk through your Gmail program. The biggest issue with this, is if you’re not logged into your Gmail account, you don’t get the message. What does happen however is if somebody should send you an instant message through Google, it will create an e-mail if you are not online.
I strongly recommend, that should you elect to use any type of voice messaging system that you obtain a headset. Initially, I did not have one-people complain about the “tinny sound”, the “sound like you’re in a tunnel” that often accompanies online conversations.
Although a microphone can help alleviate some of this, having a headset along with the microphone offers you a number of other options which we will discuss in a future posts.
Now that we’ve discussed/conference call options, another consideration is e-mail. When I first started freelancing, I subscribed to the “enhanced” Yahoo! E-mail. This allowed me to set up a variety of e-mail addresses that could be specific for each client. I quickly discovered this was definitely not the way to go. It created a great deal of confusion, e-mails got lost and all too often important items wound up in spam. What I found instead, is that creating individual filters based on a customer’s e-mail address, is that I could move their e-mails into a customized folder. That has worked out extremely well. Although I no longer use my Yahoo e-mail address for client purposes,it is an option if you’re just getting started.
Google offers a very similar service although, I don’t find it as “friendly” as Yahoo!. The global filtering system that Google offers, can be a little bit confusing to get a handle on. And unless you specifically tell Google which “tag” to show in your sidebar, you could easily miss important e-mails. That’s not to say that Google will not work for you.
A much better recommendation, is if you have your own website the assigned e-mails that go with it are far better than having an @Gmail or @Yahoo address. They’re just more professional looking. It’s pretty hard to take somebody seriously when the e-mail ends with.Hotmail.com. Sadly, this could seriously damage your personal brand. Sometimes presentation is everything.
Summary
I hope you find some of these tools helpful. I am trying to share my experience so that you can get a running start when you’re working at home. Anyone else who has had experience with either of these products or others should feel free to chime in and share your thoughts.
About Doreen Martel
Well-rounded freelance writer who contributes to various blogs, paid to write sites and revenue sharing sites. Doreen is legally blind and has worked at home for more than 10 years. She uses the lessons learned from this experience to enhance her writing and share information with others.
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