If you’re like me, you get disks full of videos that folks want placed on websites – and they’re never in the right format.

Them: “You mean you can’t make those videos in RealVideo stream and look like a million bucks?”

Me: “Um, I, uh, well – no…”

Enter Zamzar. While it’s not perfect, it is free (again, my favorite price) and it’s easy to use, with pretty good results.

You simply browse to the files you want to convert (in my case, a lot of mp4′s that needed to be made into flv,) pull down a menu to what your end needs are, enter your email address, click convert and wait until they send you an email with the download links. Sweet.

They don’t accept every file type (although I have yet to find one they don’t) and the free version only allows 100mb per upload, but you can get a lot done with this little goodie. Plus, it’s free. Did I mention free? I like that!

There is a paid option, but I have yet to really need it.

It’s online and it does it’s thang in the background, which is good for multitasking.

Check it out at …

It’s back! FREE DOCUMENT FRIDAY! I know you’ve missed it…

Anyhoo – today’s installment, a lovely little PSD that gives you a little more muscle and protection against the dreaded “my cousin can knock that logo off for $3″ attack. It’s my standard proof sheet for logos, web designs, etc. It’s got plenty of disclaimers, and the “official” nature of the language should help discourage knock-offs. If you’ve never had it happen to you, you’re lucky. Keep working this job long enough, and I’m sure copyright infringement (or intellectual property theft) will rear it’s ugly head.

Simply place in your logo, the name of your business, and you’re ready to show off the roughs without getting roughed up.

Click HERE to download…

Enjoy! Have a great weekend!

Brands of the World got a makeover – a much needed makeover.

What is it? Well – if you’re ever stuck laying out something as exciting as an ad sheet or t-shirt for a corporate event, a poster, or anything and you find that you need the latest logo for Coca-Cola, Brands of the World has it. And, it’s got it in vector format. Free. SWEEEEEEEEET…

(Plus, if you’re like me and you like to make fun of corporate logos and twist them into something horribly juvenile or punk rock, you’re covered!)

No need to register, no flaming hoops to jump through – just good quality, vector logos of the majority of the major brands and companies, plus a lot you’ve probably never heard of.

Check ‘em out – they’ve pulled my biscuits out of the fire many times. When a client say “Oh, yeah – we’ve got the Wachovia logo in high res!” and they send you a GIF from the website, turn to Brands of the World. They’ve got it.

You’re welcome!

I’ve found that my post, giving away a free logo design questionnaire, has been immensely popular. So, I thought I’d start a regular feature – Free Document Friday!

Today’s submission for your approval – the docket. I use this to keep a running total of clients, a running total of incoming cash and as a way to keep projects in front of me. If I rely on iCal (which I kind of do,) I’ve found a lot of things can slip through the cracks.

List your current, prospective, on-hold and billed projects, and their values. Write them down in order or use a numbering system (pencils work well, because you can move stuff up and down.)

I rework and rewrite the docket every Friday to reflect the upcoming week. It keeps things fresh, keeps them in front of me, and keeps them going in the right direction. I print of 10-20 of these at a time, now – you can too!

There are a couple of columns – what the project is worth (the $) and a blank column for little notes. Hold, stop, done, waiting, etc. I use a type …

There are several free stock photo sites out there – but you can never have too many. I’m notoriously cheap (I pay for stuff when I have to,) and free photos really make me smile. While Shutterstock has more and better and is probably a little more organized and pleasant, free is free and free is good with me!

So a couple of my favorite freebies for Thursday: Stock.xchng and MorgueFile.

Not much to say. Free photos, some free clipart and some pretty nifty features. Both Stock.xchng and Morgue File are easily searchable, well organized and offers pretty good sized files. Morgue File seems to have slightly more “arty” stuff, so plan accordingly.

Being a freelancer has taught me to be frugal. My next post will be how to construct an external hard drive from bits of lawnmowers and underwear waistbands from the thrift store. Stay tuned!

Need another way for folks to get in touch with you? I know – you’re saying to yourself “Yeah. I REALLY need one more way for people to interrupt my Kongregate session.”

Well – whether you like it or not, you have to be available. Clients like that sort of thing. Instant messaging is nice – but not everyone has a client installed or the ability to use that client. Plus, there’s cross-platform issues, blah blah blah.

Really, though – clients like being able to get in touch with you, and if someone is looking for a quote or proof that there’s a warm body out there behind your website or portfolio, instant gratification can go a long way towards making the sale or landing the gig.

So – Plugoo!

It’s a lovely little script that you can put anywhere on a page (it’s Flash, so Java can bite it) and it’s configurable and can be styled to match your site. It’s essentially an I.M. portal, and you can plug in your favorite messenger app and folks use Plugoo to talk to you. They stay on your site (which is ALWAYS a …

I’ve had tons of clients ask for email newsletters and ads, which can be a little tricky. HTML emails are finicky beasts – and mailing lists are even stranger. I’m not overly “techy” and any tool that can cut off hours and still allow for billing is a good (great) thing.

I found a couple recently – MailBuild and CampaignMonitor. They’re very similar – and they’re made by the same company.

MailBuild allows you to build a brandable sub-site that you sent clients to and allow them to build their own emails. Tons of templates, and a lot of customizability. The cool this is that you set the price, the client pays the bill through MailBuild and you reap the profits. The actual rates are pretty low, so you can mark them up and make a little dough on each recipient and each time they send an email. Your client thinks it’s great because they are “doing the work,” and you’re off the hook – you just sit back and wait for the money to come in.

CampaignMonitor is similar – but you get all the control. You design the email, set the …

Well, I’ve finally gotten off my duff and rolled out something I promised a while back…

FreakinFreelance.com

It’s still under construction, but the functionality is there. You can sign up for a free blog and start going nuts.

The vision is to have a community where freelance designers can blog and connect with the other freelancers in the world.

Plus, it’ll offer a few cool features:

Online portfolio
Ecommerce built-in (make money!)
Adsense built-in (make more money!) 
KILLER SEO stuff (really)
Tons of bells and whistles
Lots of themes
True Community Interactivity
Easy-to-use
Easy Domain Names (yourblog.freakinfreelance.com)
Much, much more! 

And, of course, it will be all free. I think this can be pretty sweet – and I think we need more of this sort of discourse out there. One thing I’ve found is that a lot of freelance designers are kind of secretive about their businesses and practices – but I’ve also seen a lot of folks open up on blogs and share a LOT of great stuff, so having some of that in one place would be a boon to all of us.

So – GET STARTED! Blog now, blog often!

One of the banes of my existence as a freelance graphic artist has been trying to track down weird fonts. You routinely get logos or layouts that have the fonts converted, and they’re invariably something obscure or tacky or from a strange foundry.

If you’re like me, you’ve got thousands upon thousands of fonts from every manufacturer out there, and rolling through them all can take a long, long time – and make you crazy because of the subtle variations.

But – a great tool has come to the resuce: What the Font from MyFonts.com.

You scan the offending font and upload it to their server, answer a few questions and it gives you several fonts that it most likely is. The better your input is, the more precise the answer is. Plus, once you’ve got your answer, it gives you links to the font manufacturer so you can buy the font if you need to.

Best of all, it’s free and it’s fast. It’s not always dead-on, but it’s the closest thing I’ve seen to the perfect tool. Very nice, very slick.

Now, if it would just revoke the design license of folks that use Comic Sans, …

Time management is crucial to the success of a freelance business.

I’ll be posting some links and software solutions, but in the meantime – let’s talk nuts n’ bolts of time management.

I sit in front of the computer far too much, and being sort of old-school, the analog time management system (read: pieces of paper) work best for me. And that’s the first key to time management – you have to find what works for you. If you don’t keep it updated and actually use it, the most expensive, killer piece of time-management or project management software is just taking up precious hard drive space. I’ve found that out the hard way. Crash in all your info and then forget to use it. It can take more time than it’s worth. So, for me – pen and legal pad and Post-it Notes.

So, find what you’re comfortable with – and stick with it. I’ve tried just about everything out there, and each one of them has highs and lows. But, the most important bit is that it works for YOU. Everyone is different, and you’ll have to do some research and trial-and-failure time to find what …