3 open source softwares to help you run your freelance business

When running a business, you obviously want to increase your income. Chances are that you also want to reduce your expenses, or that you have too. For designers, software costs quite a lot (yes, I’m thinking of you Adobe Creative Suite). I never could make the switch to use open-source software only for graphic design work, but I wouldn’t switch back to paid software for some tasks.

Among thoses tasks that can be handled with Open Sources software, I’d like to mention a few that have been very useful to me over the past years.

FreeMind

My favorite mind-mapping application. I’ve tried quite a few online apps for that but wasn’t satisfied with it. If you don’t use mind mapping you should, it helps you to structure your thoughts on complex things. You can use it for various tasks like creating a website’s hierarchy, structuring a blog posts, planning your business’ promotion or pretty much whatever you can think of. FreeMind is quite straightforward to learn and multi-platforms, so why don’t you give it a try?

Gnu Cash

Whether you like it or not, if you have a company you’ll have to do a bit of accounting. Instead of investing in some expensive accounting software, why don’t you give a try to GnuCash?

Open Office

A full and efficient office suit for all your office needs, it’s already very popular so if you don’t use it yet, I strongly suggest that you try it.