August 2021 – Freelancer Meetup Notes

Mario presentation – Nextcloud

  • open source
  • free
  • self host or host through a provider
  • apps (like plugins in WP)
  • everything in one place and integrated
  • easy collaboration
  • sync to phone

Nextcloud use examples:

Document storage (like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc)

  • file system
  • sync locally

Deck (app)

  • Trello like kanban board
  • blog post production pipeline
  • calendar integrated

Calendar

  • items from Deck integrated

Activity

  • feed of all things that have happened (added event to calendar, completed task, etc.)

Fail2Ban

  • for blocking spam/hack attempts

News

  • RSS feed
  • podcasts

Notes

Patty presentation – Airtable

  • Free version
  • Pay for extensions
  • Pay by seat
  • Free plan for clients
  • Better organization (different views) than Google Sheet

New site process:

  • drop XML sitemap into AirTable
  • organize into tables for each page
  • label and categorize pages
  • IA view with chunks and page map
  • client adds Google Doc (with template) for every page for new content
  • works great for large projects (makes it easier for them to see what content they need to do)

Other Questions

Best practices for getting content written on big projects?

How do you manage tasks?

  • Gmail email to Google task -> 
  • Use Outlook and color code emails into different categories.  Can also transfer with Outlook into a nondate location.  Use Calendar which generates reminders which are easily dismissed.
  • Nextcloud DIY approach (Linux)

How to make hierarchy of tasks (what tasks depend on what)?

How do you evaluate new tools / decide when to switch?

  • focus on pain points
  • paradigm shifts harder to evaluate
  • prioritize impact
  • ignore the shiny – does it work?
  • ask meetup community!

Is it bad to use @gmail email address for your business?

  • depends on business (branding, marketing, or tech business maybe customer would expect custom domain)
  • local business might matter less
  • looks a bit more professional to have custom domain. more trustworthy?
  • gmail is recognizable
  • is possible to hurt email deliverability by misconfiguring custom domain (SPF, DKIM records). @gmail just works

Other Tools Mentioned

Share this!