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How Do You Gear Up?

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:00:48 +0000

I’m not gonna lie, a big reason that I like my current freelance tech blogging gig is the gear. But even if I wasn’t in this particular line of work, I’d still take an unnatural amount of interest in outfitting my office or workspace, regardless of whether it happens to be in my home or not. Computers, gadgets, office supplies, office furniture — these are the things that get me truly excited about doing my job, from the lowliest stapler to the most extravagantly outfitted desktop computer.

While just acquiring and setting up new gear is cause enough for celebration, better still is getting great deals on new work-related stuff. For instance, re-purposing an old SLR camera bag as the perfect clandestine portable HDD/DVD-RW/cable tote, or having Best Buy match the deep discount a much smaller competitor is offering on a 16GB SDHC card.

Gear-swapping via Craigslist or with friends and colleagues is another favorite pastime of mine. Through straight-up trades, I acquired my first film SLR camera (a Canon Rebel that’s still in great shape), a flatbed scanner with a special film/slide slot in the lid for archiving my parents’ extensive collection, and a Palm T|X that for a long time served as my go-to mobile device.

I’m curious about the hardware-sourcing habits of other similarly positioned freelancers. Do folks normally buy new, as might be expected from those who largely write about the cutting edge of remote working trends? Or is the preferred method to look for deals on gently used or refurbished goods in order to keep costs down and profit margins high? Personally, I find my own gear strategy to be a blend of both, though as a general rule it tends to lean strongly towards the new-and-shiny end of the spectrum — an approach much noted and frowned upon by my significant other.

Any and all tips, tricks, and strategies you have to share would be greatly appreciated, and maybe we can all save a few bucks in the process! So my question for you is, how do you manage your hardware/home office/tools and supplies acquisition process?

Image by SlipStreamJC from flickr

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Bizual: Attract New Customers & Find Suppliers

Imran Ali — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:00:18 +0000

Bizual, as Mashable noted in a recent profile, is a new web service that purports to help small businesses and freelancers attract new customers as well as find new suppliers — essentially a marketplace for matchmaking special offers from suppliers with potential customers.

As cofounder Elliot Jacobs explained, Bizual users sign up (the service is currently in an invitation-only beta test phase) and create “Bizual Offers” that offer incentives on their own products and services. Members can also take up offers from other Bizual members.

The kinds of offers Jacobs described as appropriate for Bizual included:

30 minutes of free telephone or email IT support
20 percent off personal training sessions
Free social media SWOT report for your business
20 percent off standard rate for a Flash web site
Free business cards with every identity design
Up to two hours’ free business start up advice

The company is looking to target smaller businesses and freelancers lacking the resources to market themselves and source suppliers more widely. It’s looking to replicate the success of project management, CRM and billing services apps developed for the same market.

Mashable described Bizual as a “Digg for special offers,” because it enables members to “vote up” and “vote down” offers. It’s not clear if the act of voting is tied to a transaction — like eBay’s feedback profile — or whether, like Digg, votes can be placed irrespective of taking up an offer. It’s crucial that digital reputation models in such a context need to include measures and mechanisms to prevent a member’s reputation from being gamed positively or negatively.

Nevertheless, whether Bizual can attract enough usage to create genuine opportunities for freelancers remains to be seen. For the service to be useful, it needs reach and actively participating members creating offers. I’m inclined to believe that Bizual is something that might exist more naturally within existing communities of trust, such as a LinkedIn network.

Have you tried Bizual? What did you think of it?

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