Tips for Taking Your Business Portable

One of the benefits about being self-employed or working from home is that you don’t have to be tethered to a cubicle. And in this recession, it pays to be able to work from anywhere and be connected to clients.

Savvy web workers know how to access the Internet in most places and are already sold on a laptop or netbook that suits their performance needs, but here are apps, tools and gear that can make business on the road a lot easier. Hongkiat.com recently compiled a handy list of free portable applications for bloggers and designers. In addition to showcasing apps such as GIMP Portable, Portable Safari and IrfanView – which I only discovered last year and quickly fell in love with – it also lists portable applications for general business purposes. So this list is helpful for people in noncreative fields as well. You’ll find OpenOffice.org Portable, ToDoList and 7-Zip, which Hongkiat claims has an even better compression ratio than WinZip. Since creative professionals tend to be Macaddicts, Webdesigner Depot offers 13 iPhone-specific apps, including Caliper, which is a measuring tool, and ColorExpert, which lets you grab, identify, capture and showcase your chosen colors. There are different kinds of tools that make portability easier that are not found on a computer or a smartphone. I’m talking about actual physical stuff. Swissmiss identifies a number of handy toys for the road, such as Hotel in a Bag, which looks like a bundled-up sleeping bag and unrolls into a mattress. Then there’s the Laptop Drybag, which is a waterproof bag that’s not only attractive but also has a nice handle – perfect for when a water bottle unexpectedly leaks! What’s your most valuable tool that helps you out on the road?