Today’s post introduces Google Voice.

Google’s soon-to-be competitor to Skype, has some great features that any small business owner may want to get.  Being able to get a free phone number that you can “route” to any existing phone number is terrific.  What happens if you’re starting a business and want all your calls to get routed to your mobile phone? With Voice, you can do that…for free…for now.

Having voicemail sent to your inbox is pretty sweet, too.  But, there are a few downfalls to the service. For now, you can’t call out using your Voice number.

Check out the video below and let me know your thoughts!

photo credit: lars hammar

The post thumbnail came from this website.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m some kind of book reviewer. The book was great. I found it absolutely fascinating how the foundations were dug and built. It’s also interesting to note that the Brooklyn Bridge is a one of a kind engineering masterpiece. The likes of which don’t exist anymore. The combination of masonry and steel cabling are one of a kind on such a large scale.

Purchase the book here: The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge

There are two rules.

1. The check can’t be more than $1000
2. You can only deposit a maximum of $3000 per week

The app is extremely simple to use.  All you do is take a picture of the check (both sides) with your phone. The camera is built into the app and is proportioned for the rectangular shape of checks.  On the next day, the money is magically deposited in your account without ever leaving home. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Here are a few screen grabs I found online of the app in action.

I really like books that are compact. Ones that can travel with me. Don’t get me wrong. I have my favorite coffee table-architecture books, too. But, if I’m going to get something out of it. The book needs to travel with me. Freehand Sketching is compact and thin. It gets right to the point in the first few pages. I love it.

The writing style is purely instructional. Everything to get started sketching simple line drawings is the name of this book’s game.

I like it how the author, Paul Laseau, emphasizes the art of sketching. He doesn’t suggest you purchase some expensive pens or sketchbooks. He concentrates on the importance of practicing, training yourself to DRAW what you SEE. I admit, this is my biggest challenge. It’s difficult for me to not fill in the gaps, by drawing what I THINK I see.

I appreciate all the samples and exercises that are found throughout the book. Using found object to practice sketching. It reminds me of our drawing class, back in college.

Please check out this book. I first took it out of my local library, but it’s inexpensive and worth every penny!

Link to Freehand Sketching: An Introduction

photo credit: Tattershall

More often than not, some sort of special promotion or discount can be found for whatever type piece you need printed.

If you’re a small business and operate on a tight budget, uprinting.com is a great solution. Follow this link to find out all the different printed products they can create. Professional templates can be found in a wide variety of formats to help get you started with the layout and design.

Do you have experience with uprinting.com or any other online print shops, both positive and negative? We’d love to hear them and we’re always looking for other alternatives for printing.

Here are some of my thoughts regarding sketching.

Why Sketch?

Honestly, I don’t know the answer. Maybe it’s good for the soul? Sketching is definitely therapeutic.  But, you have to LET yourself sketch. You have to hold back your self judgments and just take it for what it is…sketching. It’s not an exact art. The colors may not be just right. That tree you sketched may only be a tree…to you.  Who cares!?! You know what my seal of approval was? I sketched my shed and my three year old said, “Oh, look at the shed!” Case closed, another satisfied customer.  And, you don’t need anything fancy. Just start with a writing instrument and some kind of paper.

Keeping Record

Sketching is a lot like journaling. In fact, it IS journaling. If you don’t like to write, then sketch. Or, sketch and write a little summary of your sketch. What’s the date? How’s the weather? Anything particular happening, or going to happen?

Get Involved

I follow an incredible group of sketchers online called Urban Sketchers. The guy in charge is Gabriel Campanario. He’s a great artist and a really nice guy!

Also, you should find out about your local sketchcrawl. This is similar to a pubcrawl, minus the pubs…unless you want to sketch in a pub? Huh, that could be fun, especially after a few. But really, this is a regular event that happens all around the world. Check it out.

It all starts with that first line. Happy sketching!

photo credit: nancymaewi

Now for the review. Rhyolite Design was hired to create the packaging for a product that is in development by Progressive Solutions called Protecshine. It’s a cleaning/protecting solution designed for automobiles. Specifically, it protects and shines metal. Through the initial development I came up with a conceptual logo. After the project started making some headway we decided it was time to seek help from an illustrator to polish it up and create something unique. After seeing some of their previous work, we settled on the company Ink Tycoon.

We couldn’t have been more pleased with the results.

The project involved 3 stages. 1. Providing us with an initial sketch 2. Computerizing our selected option 3. Final Delivery of the product. It really was that simple. The sketching proved to be pretty important. The first concept, while he was nicely drawn, wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for.

So, we talked it over with the Ink Tycoon and requested another concept. In no time at all, we were provided with sketch number two. This was much closer to what we had hoped for and resembles the final drawing.

With a couple of revisions to the sketch and a couple of days in between, we were presented with the final logo concept. Ink Tycoon comes highly recommend from me. Very professional and a pleasure to work with.

The First Sketch.

The Second Sketch.

Final Design.

For me, there were a couple of major advantages to using Skype.

1. It’s significantly cheaper than our local phone service provider.  In fact, two months with our local phone service equals the entire one year plan I purchased with Skype.

2. Call forwarding is simple. I give people my business number only. It rings that, I don’t answer so it sends the call to my cell phone. This way I am available all the time and only have to worry about checking voicemails in one location.

3. I work on my computer, Skype is on my computer, plus there’s an iPhone app.

4. Video calls, screen sharing, text messaging, and traditional calls can all be done through a Skype account.

Skype is free for Skype to Skype calling and text messaging.  Give it a try. I even bought myself a nifty USB Headset.

Thumbnail image by elaininspired

Listening

Before talking about Google Reader, I want to discuss a key reason to use the program. That reason would be to improve your online listening skills.   I wish I could take credit for the idea, but this guy is The Man when it comes to online listening. Please go here to check out his post after reading this one.

Traditionally, we would read the newspaper every morning, read trade magazines once a month and have as many conversations with others to keep us up on current events.

Now, the rules have changed and the way we listen needs an update.  Perhaps, that prospective client has their own website, writes in an online journal (blog), shares photos and other information in web based communities and is a member of many different social networking websites. Besides that, they’re mentioned across the web in other places we can’t begin to imagine.

How do you keep up?

Here’s a web-based program that I frequently use to keep me informed to whatever RSS feeds I subscribe.

(A quick video on what an RSS feed is.)

Google Reader

My RSS feed reader choice is Google Reader. It’s part of the Google family and it’s FREE. You can subscribe to any site that has a feed,. (Actually, they just added a feature that allows you to subscribe to any site and it will do somekind of mystical majic to keep you updated.  I don’t know how it works, but it does, rather nicely.

I subscribe to local newspapers, architecture magazines, business websites, and friends’ blogs and websites.

(A quick video on Google Reader.)

I would encourage you to give it a try and please share your thoughts!!