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Last week my little boy turned 10 years old and it dawned on me that in 5-6 years he will be driving, in 8-9 heading off to college (if he so chooses) and a few years after that maybe having children of his own.

Now, I know that is not any different than what every parent goes through (including the realization that 40 is just around the corner) and, I imagine that it will just be another day when my middle son and youngest daughter hit double digits.

But, as this time of year rolls around I am reminded by my older and wiser sister that the March of Dimes – March for Babies is just around the corner and I come to another realization. Birthdays are not the same for every parent. For some it is the reminder that the birth of every child is a miracle. My sister’s first baby Isaiah was born at 25 weeks weighing just 1 lb 5 oz and fought for 111 days in the Meritcare NICU to stay alive. Today he is a healthy young boy full of life and spirit.

I travel a lot and so do my partners and employees. We often find ourselves working very far away from each other and we need tools to work just like if we were in the same room. These are my 10 favorite free (or almost free) collaboration tools.

SkypeSkype allows you to talk to people all over the world for free. It also offers chat, video chat and you can also share your screen with other people.

BaseCampIf you’re looking for a tool to manage your projects, BaseCamp is by far the best option. Create to-do lists, milestones, projects, upload files, assign tasks to people, control the progress of your project and communicate with other team members.

TwiddlaThink of Twiddla as a whiteboard that several people can see at the same time. It’s great to explain ideas, draw arrows, call-outs, etc.

Google DocsThis Google tool allows you to share documents with your team. Just put them in a folder everybody can access and you can all edit the same documents.

MintThis is a great money-management tool and it’s free.

LogMeInDo you need to remotely control a computer? This is a great tool for it. You can use your partner’s computer from Seattle if you’re in New York. You can leave your computer at home and access it from any other computer in the world.

Google CalendarKeep all your events and meetings organized with this tool from Google. The best part is that you and your team can share the same calendar so you can all see what everyone else is up to and when they all have some free time to meet.

BlueTieThis application isn’t free, but it’s only $5/month, so it’s almost free. BlueTie is a great tool to manage emails and keep your contacts organized. You can share email messages and contacts with your team. BlueTie has a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) engine built-in that I really like.

PamFax

Send and receive faxes for very cheap from your own computer. You can send documents (PDF, DOC, etc.). When you receive a fax, you’ll get the pages as email attachments that you can print if you want. Having fax has never been so cheap.

EchoSignIsn’t it annoying when you have to print out an agreement, sign it, fax it, have the other person sign it and fax it back to you? There’s a better option: EchoSign. This cool tool allows you to sign documents online in just a few seconds.

Zeke Camusio
www.theoutsourcingcompany.com/blog/