I was just talking to a friend of mine on the phone. He is self employed as well and we were trading stories about clients, the economy, outsourcing, etc. He said I should share this story on my blog, so here goes...

 A few years ago when I first started my business, I had one client that was the majority of my work. The client sent me jobs every week. Not big jobs, but it was steady work. This went on for over a year. Then over the course of a couple of months the work from this client slowed to almost nothing.  I got a call from a guy that worked for my client that I had worked with prior at another job. He tells me that my client had been getting his graphics work done in China. I had guessed that was happening earlier but I didn't want to admit it.

 The next week my client calls me and asks me to adjust the view on a 3D model. I normally built the 3D models and generated the views for him. I said I would adjust the view but that I was charging him for a complete job. He accepted but was not happy about it. I received the file via email and opened it up. All of the entity names were in garbled text and ascii characters...the model was from a chinese version of the software for sure. I adjusted the view and sent the image to him. He called to discuss it and I questioned him about outsourcing his work to China. He said it was just an experiment and told me, "you are still our guy".

 A couple of weeks go by with no jobs and I get a call from my friend again. He tells me they are still using the source in China for their 3D work. I'm not surprised by this, they had mislead me on a few occasions before. I'm freaked out by the sudden loss of income so I start concentrating on getting more/better clients.

 Another week or so goes by and I'm still freaking out. My wife brings a stack of paperwork out there to me and shows me that my income has remained the same even after I stopped doing work for this guy. Gee has a very......stern.... attitude towards things like this. She backs me up on these things, thats one of the reasons I'm so crazy about this chic. We were about to move into a bigger house so I was worried about the money. I do good work so I knew that wasn't the issue. Gee told me I wasn't listening because the universe was telling me I needed to change things..........looking back now, she was right.

 Another couple of weeks go by and out of the blue I get a call from my (ex)client. He was on his cell phone on the way back from a meeting with his biggest and most long term client (decades). His client, an architectural firm, had just shown him this new program called SketchUp. He told my client that he didnt need his services anymore and that my client should learn the program (no chance in hell of that happening). My client asks me if I knew Sketchup.....I told him yes, and that I use it evey day.  This is the rest of the conversation:

Client- "Do you really think that will take the place of what I do?"

Me- "Eventually yes. Why would he want one view when he can generate as many as he wants for a fraction of the cost?"

Client- "Can we work out some kind of deal where I get the job and you do the 3D work? My whole family works for me, what do you think will happen?"

Me-  "I'll tell you exactly what will happen...... He will get someone in China to do the work for nothing and not call you anymore."

There was a uncomfortable long pause that seemed to last minutes. I could still hear the sound of traffic on the phone.

I didnt speak either, I was to busy realizing what a bitch karma is.

Moral of the story?  Don't outsource.

 I get calls from people every week that ask if I buy old PC's. I dont, but these PC's still have a lot of value to someone with no computer, kids, etc. I take old (free) PC's to refurbish and pass on. Here is a list of things that I pull from when recycling computers. 

Install Ubuntu or some version of it (depending on the hardware).

Open Office

Yep. It comes with Ubuntu, but if you keep Windows as the OS installing Open Office is a good idea. I use OO exclusivley in my studio, I wont install M$ Office on any of my boxes again.  The latest release keeps everything compatible with M$ Office. It has a smaller footprint than Office and you guessed it.....it's free.

CRT Monitors

You can get a 19" CRT for nothing now. Businesses are giving these away when they upgrade. For some reason if you give a kid a used computer with a giant monitor, they think it's a super computer. A lot of these monitors have a few years left in them, and it's good for the planet.Older peoplereally like big monitors and low resolution desktop settings!! :)

Antivirus

AVGfree. For a free Windows AV app you cant beat it. I've tried them all and AVG is the best of the bunch. If you use Ubuntu, you may not even need an AV app. Install it and set the updates to daily. Explain to the person getting the PC what it is and what it will do.

Remote Desktop

I usually install some sort of remote desktop app. If I know the person, I can answer questions, give tutorials, etc. If you use Ubuntu, you can connect to it using  UltraVNC in Windows. If youhave windows on the recycled box, you can use Teamviewer. Teamviewer is a no install remote desktop app that runs over a secure password protected connection.

Media Player

Everyone wants to listen to music or some type of audio file. In Ubuntu I use VLC, in Windows I like Winamp.

CD Burner

Most of the PCs I've refurbished have had CD Burners. Theres a few options for software here, Ubuntu works out of the box. XP also has a built in burning app, but it's.....lacking. I use CDBurnerXP instead.

General info

Once you get this stuff installed, test it! Try to set things up so it will be easy for the user to operate. A new user will be afraid to touch anything. Iin Windows use the Quick Launch area in the task bar for icons. In Ubuntu add every program they will use often to the task bar.
Set Google as their homepage and install an instant messenger app complete with account.  I made a document that they can open in Open Office. This has instructions that walks them through simple things like changing wallpaper, copy & paste, etc.I'll also include their email, IM names, passwords, etc.

Normally I can set up Ubuntu and all the stuff listed above in a little over an hour. Total cost of the rebuild using the apps above = $0.00

If 5 or 6 of us nerd types pulled together and built a couple of these freebie boxes each, we could supply a school with a computer lab.
Something to think about.