As their airplane fell from the sky, just blocks from where the World Trade Center used to stand, every passenger onboard believed this to be their last moment of life as they braced for impact.

The plane forcefully rattled as it dipped it’s tail into the frigid waters of the Hudson River, and then turbulently whipped itself around to a halt. And then nothing. No explosion. Captain Sullenberger of US Airways Flight 1549 had safely executed an emergency landing in the Hudson River, and spared all 155 people on board their lives.

The survivors call themselves the “1549ers” as a reminder of the traumatic experience they all shared. For some miraculous reason, everyone had survived what could have been a complete tragedy. Because they were given a second chance at life, many of the 1549ers changed their lives overnight and talk about the immense perspective they were given. Immediately following the experience, Lori Lightner quit her well-paying job as a manager of a chain of retail stores and began volunteering her time at the Red Cross, saying “money is not important”.

Over Privileged & Entitled

Many of us, in our over privileged Western culture, sweat the small stuff on a daily basis. I’m sure today you’ve already stressed out about something trivial—the lineup at Starbucks, rush hour traffic, annoying people on public transit, a coworker, a boss. We get angry with our loved ones over things that don’t matter, we judge our friends, we criticize people we don’t know, and we carry on as if we’re entitled to something.

Okay, that might have sounded a bit harsh, and I don’t mean to say that we’re all jerks who don’t appreciate anything, but let’s face it, we make things bigger than they really are.

Sometimes the things we stress about are much bigger than a lineup at Starbucks—mortgage payments, car payments, credit card payments, student loan payments—it’s easier to make these things almost larger than life itself. Many of us thrust ourselves into getting a University Degree (or many University Degrees), securing a solid “job”, and ”buying [a house] young”, because that’s what our society furiously tells us to do, so we viciously plummet ourselves into a lifelong debt that many of us may never see the end of.

Why You Need Perspective

Whether it’s the long lineup at Starbucks that’s making you late for work, or the never-ending mortgage payments on your house that’s causing you stress today, you need to know something:

You might not live to see tomorrow.

Then what?

What about the mortgage payments?

The student debt?

The stressful boss?

The rush hour traffic?

The annoying person on the bus?

The long lineup at Starbucks?

All of this now seems quite trivial now, doesn’t it?

This is exactly why you need perspective.

You are Entitled to Nothing

Yes, you read that correctly. Other than the moment you are living right now, you are entitled to nothing. Your life, your one and only life—whether you believe it’s from God, the Universe, or just by mere chance—is a gift. You are not promised anything, and your life may be shorter than you had planned, so why would you ever waste another moment of your beautiful life on something that does not matter?

You Don’t Need to Survive a Plane Crash to Have Perspective

Every single one of the 1549ers, and any other person who has had a near-death experience, were forcefully gifted perspective. The trauma they went through gave them no other choice but to realize how absolutely lucky, or blessed they were to be given a second chance. Many of them drastically changed their lives overnight, because the permanent perspective that they were given simply did not allow them to stress about trivial things anymore.

However, it seems slightly more difficult for those of us who haven’t had a near-death experience before to truly live in the moment, completely forget about our daily troubles, and stop worrying about “the future”. The truth is, you don’t ever get to live in the future, you only live in the present, and you will only ever be in the present moment until the day you die. Whether you’re emotionally living in the present is a different story, so get your head back in the game and bring yourself to realize that you’re alive right now, in the present, not the future.

One of the most amazing things about our species, the Human Being, is that we can simulate experiences without ever having experienced them. This is something that only we can do. So, let’s put that amazing imagination of yours to use:

A Little Push on the Path of Perspective

Take a moment and vividly imagine that you’re a passenger on US Airways Flight 1549, flying over the beautiful City of New York, and as you look out the window, a flock of Canada Geese are vacuumed into one of the jet engines, tearing it completely off of the airliner’s wing. In complete shock, you cannot believe your eyes, and you hesitate to imagine what this could possibly mean. As the plane rattles in descent towards the Hudson River, you are counting the seconds before the plane plummets into the frigid water. Captain Sullenberger’s voice suddenly appears throughout the cabin speakers, “prepare for impact”. The river is now looking like the runway, just seconds before touchdown, and you think, “this is it” as your mind races through all of the reasons why you’re not ready to die. And then it happens. Impact. Your stomach feels weak, your head is in a blur as the entire cabin violently shakes. The aircraft turbulently whips around until everything stops. Then nothing. You look out your window, and you’re gracefully floating in the water. You’re alive.

If you were able to vividly simulate that experience in your mind, you probably felt something — fear, anxiety, nervousness, something. While it’s nearly impossible you are able to fully appreciate what those passengers felt that day, in the very least, you are able to realize that you don’t ever want to experience something like that first-hand, and you have likely gained perspective on how life can end in a fleeting moment.

Perspective Acquired. Now What?

As you carry on throughout your day, be mindful of others and incredibly thankful for what you have.

The mortgage? You get to own a house. Many people don’t get that privilege. If you can’t afford a mortgage, sell your house and don’t buy one until you can afford it. Or, don’t even buy a house. They’re incredibly overpriced and the Canadian housing industry is mostly weak, and corrupt anyway.

The student debt? You are educated—something that is only ever acquired within the dreams of some young people. Stop wasting your money on things you don’t need and pay it off.

The stressful boss? You have a job! Do you not like your job? Quit! Find a better one today. You don’t have time for people who treat you poorly.

The rush hour traffic? Buy a bicycle, or take public transit. If that’s not an option, listen to your favourite music and take the long way.

The annoying person on the bus? Get over yourself. He’s probably a great guy and you’re judging him for no reason. Shake his hand, or tell him that he’s awesome.

The long lineup at Starbucks? Make your own coffee. It’s cheaper. Put the savings towards your student loans or a vacation. If you spend $5 each morning on a latte, that’s $100 a workweek, $1200 a year, or a round trip flight to Varadero, Cuba in Executive Class, fool!

You Must Start Today

Be nicer to your friends, don’t judge people anymore, don’t do things you hate, stop hanging out with people who bring you down. If you despise getting up to go to your job every morning, it’s time to move on and find a better job, or make your own job. It’s not worth wasting your beautiful time, and your amazing life on things that don’t add value.

Take baby steps. Take a giant leap. Move forward in some fashion, right now.

Ask yourself this morning, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”

If the answer is no, and you feel it will be the same tomorrow. It’s time for a change.

My friends, my family, my people, my readers — you are absolutely amazing, I promise. Whether you’re about to change something big or something small, you can do it.

What are your thoughts? I would love to know.

I want to hear from you. If you have questions, or you’re scared, or you’re excited, please let me know in the comments below, or just straight up send me a message! I have been trying to live my life according to what I’m telling you today, and sometimes it’s scary, sometimes it’s hard to remember, but it’s worth it because every day is the best day ever.

Thank you for reading so many of my words.

Brad

After many hours of development, I am finally launching my latest Online Course, called Web Hosting 101: Get Your Website Live on the Web in No Time! Learn how to publish your own website live on the web in no time with this web hosting crash course.

Here’s the official course description:

Do you want to know how to get your website live on the web with your own domain name and hosting? You’ve come to the right place!

Buying a domain name, hosting package and getting your website live can be an incredibly intimidating and confusing process if you’re unfamiliar with the territory, but let me tell you a secret: It’s surprisingly easy! And I’m going to show you exactly how to do all of these things in no time by guiding you in a simple, step-by-step process.

In less than 1-hour, you will no longer be uncomfortable with the process of purchasing a Domain Name & Hosting Package, or Uploading your Website Live to the Web via FTP.

Don’t have a Website or Blog yet? No problem! I will also be showing you how to set up a WordPress Website (and write your first blog post) in less than 5 minutes.

Want to Learn how to Hand-Code your own Website? Check out my popular course: “PSD to HTML5 to CSS3: Hand Code a Beautiful Website Today! ”. In 4-hours, you will know how to hand-code your very first HTML5 & CSS3 website.

So, what do you say? Want me to teach you how to get your website live on your own domain? Sign up for free today!

Check out the promo video as well, you might like it:

A past boss of mine once said to my wife, “I spend more waking hours with your husband than you do.”

At that moment, I realized, even though the statement wasn’t entirely true, the amount of time I spent away from the most important person in my life was shocking.

Let’s do the math, for further clarification:

Hours Spent Working

There are roughly 8,760 hours in a calendar year.

Based on a 52-week work year, I would work 5-days a week, for roughly 9-hours a day, while commuting 1-hour. That works out to 2,600 hours total.

Subtract 2-weeks of paid vacation.

In theory, I would be away from my wife for 2,500 hours in the calendar year.

“Waking” Hours Spent Not Working (a.k.a with my wife)

Subtract the hours spent away (2,500 hours) from the hours in the year (8,760 hours).

That’s 6,260 hours spent not working.

Remember, this is ”waking” hours spent not working.

Let’s say I sleep 8-hours per night.

Multiply that by 365 nights in a year.

That’s 2,920 hours spent sleeping in a year.

Let’s subtract my time spent sleeping (2,920 hours) from my non-working hours (6,260 hours).

That’s 3,340 hours spent awake and not working.

Basically, I would spend 3,340 waking hours with the most important person in my life and almost 2,500 hours with my boss in the year.

The fact that nearly 43% of my waking hours would be dedicated to someone who didn’t mean the world to me just didn’t make sense.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually liked my boss and enjoyed my work environment. However, how long must I do this? When does the cycle end? When I retire?

Making a change

Once I came to terms with the fact that I spent way too much time away from loved ones, with no foreseeable end to the cycle, I decided that this was not the way I wanted to live the next 40 years of my life. This realization was the catalyst for a change. A big change.

At this point, I had found out my wife was pregnant. Most people would think that this would be a very good reason not to leave their job, however, I saw it as an even stronger reason why I needed to leave; I would now have another person who meant the world to me and needed me. I didn’t want to spend 43% of my waking hours away from both my wife and my child! I wanted to be there to help my wife recover, I wanted to see my little child change every single day, I wanted to be the one who decided how much time I spent with my loved ones, doing the things we wanted to do.

And so that’s what I did.

I kindly left my full-time job; a job that I quite liked. However, it wasn’t just a job that I left behind—the 9-5, “work-your-way-up”, 2-week (or too weak) vacation, on-location work environment became a thing of the past. I had no desire to return to that type of work again, not because it’s inherently bad, but because it just didn’t quite jive with me.

It never has jived with me, since the day I found out what “work” was.

“Burning the boat”

A phrase I quite like; it very accurately sums up what I did next. After I left my job, I decided to go it alone, become a full-time freelancer, and finally build Brightside Studios. The burning of the boat aspect came into play once we moved down to Lethbridge — a charming, windy-ass city with absolutely no prominent web design/development studios or agencies. In short, no job to fall back on if I failed miserably Essentially, I gave myself no option other than success.

I was scared as shit, but absolutely invigorated and determined.

8 months later

Professionally, this has been by far, the best decision I’ve ever made. I’ve achieved exactly, and more, than what I could have dreamed of when I set out on this journey of location-independent self employment. I’m still working for myself, on my own terms, and have absolutely no intentions of stopping.

I now have a gorgeous little daughter, Ayla Levanna, who’s changed my life forever, and I get to spend as much time with her as I want. In fact, since she was born, I don’t think I’ve spent more than 4-hours away from her at a time. When my wife was in labour, I just told my clients “my wife’s having a baby right now, I’ll get back in touch in a week or so”, and that was it. I was able to support her for as long as she needed throughout labour and delivery, and postpartum, too.

I get to work from home, a coffee shop, a plane, a train—it doesn’t matter. My work comes with me wherever I go. And wherever I go, is where my loved ones are. I now spend 90% or more of my waking hours with the ones I love. I do the things I want to do (which includes work, because I love what I do), when I want to do them, on my own terms.

That, mis amigos, is worth more than a good salary. And if you can make a good salary doing what you love, what the heck are you waiting for?

The Takeaway

To be clear, this is my story, and it’s quite specific to my situation. I’m not bashing 9-5 jobs, or saying that you’re wrong for having one; you may love your job, and I think that’s perfect. My point is I believe that it’s important to recognize how your time is being spent, and to try your best to utilize it so that you’re happy. Whether you’re a corporate soldier, an actor, a full-time traveler, or just simply working a great job that helps pay the bills, and support your lifestyle — as long as you’re happy doing what you’re doing, then I think you’re on the right track. I would be misrepresenting my message if I said that you need to be doing what I’m doing in order to be happy.

How do you spend your waking hours?

Have you considered leaving your job for something more fulfilling? Toying with a business idea? Have you already been doing what you love? Do you work a 9-5 job and love it? If you’re still reading at this point, please share your story (or your thoughts) below in the comments section—I would absolutely love to hear it!

Cheers, my good friends.

The more I think of it, the more I want to start my own *something* — whether it’s a web startup company, freelance, or even just coming up with a really successful website/web app idea. I’m still playing around with this idea, as the past few of my freelance jobs have been quite successful (creatively and financially), and I like the direction I can take this.

The idea of working for myself in that regard seems like it could be tremendously satisfying, and very successful (if I put in the hard work, obviously). I can picture not having to report to a “boss” figure, or working Monday – Friday from 9 – 5, and having to plan my life around a schedule that I have little to no power in deciding, not to mention the cap on your salary. Not having to do these things just seems so right to me; don’t get me wrong, I know working for yourself isn’t that easy either, but these are my thoughts.

I will always freelance, because at the very least, it’s an awesome way to make good money on the side. I’m just wondering if I can take it to the next level, and be very successful with it.

I posted that comment on March 30, 2011. It’s been exactly 2 years and 16 days since then, and I am so excited to say that I am on the exact path I desired to be 2 years and 16 days ago.

I’ll leave you with this:

If you’re not scared shitless, you’re not aiming high enough.

— Some awesome person, not sure who.

Remember my course on Udemy, PSD to HTML5 & CSS3? It’s been doing quite well, with almost 400 subscribers and a 5-star rating (not to mention being featured on the Udemy home page twice).

Well, I’ve been working on a brand new course called “Web Hosting 101: Get Your Website Live on the Web in No Time”. It’s a free course that will show you how to buy a domain name, set up hosting for your website, and get your website live on the web. I also show you how to set up a WordPress Blog (and write your first blog post) in less than 5 minutes.

I plan on launching this free course within the next couple weeks, so look forward to that!

In the meantime, check out my latest post about why I think every aspiring actor should learn how to code. That’s right, you heard correctly! Even the New York Film Academy agrees with me. Read more about it, and get a discount on my course here.

Tally ho, amigos!

I’m about to make a bold statement (no pun intended).

Every aspiring actor must learn how to code.

Why? For many great reasons. But first, let me explain what I mean by learning “how to code”:

There are many computer languages one can learn, but I am speaking specifically about HTML, CSS & jQuery. They are key languages in building websites and web applications. The great thing is, they’re quite easy to learn; within a couple months of dedicated effort, one could already be applying those skills.

Now, let me explain why actors must learn how to code in these languages.

You can design your own website

If you have a working knowledge of HTML & CSS, you can bypass those free website services, where everybody’s website looks and behaves the same, and code your own custom website the way you want it. This is an incredible benefit for actors, because by having your own website where your resume, showreel and contact information can be easily found online, you will stand out from the thousands of other actors competing for the attention of talent agencies, artistic directors, theatre companies, etc.

You can stop waiting tables

Unless you really love it, you can stop working at [insert local chain restaurant here] and work from home (or your trailer) as a web designer instead. When you’re equipped with HTML, CSS, and even jQuery, you have access to thousands of remote-based jobs with sites like Authentic Jobs, Krop, Coroflot, and so many more. Remember Danny Pudi, a.k.a. “Abed” from Community? He worked a home-based job and never had to do the whole “struggling actor thing” like waiting tables, or getting temp jobs. So, instead of trading your valuable time for minimum wage + tips at a job that doesn’t further your acting career, you can work from home as a web designer, and make $30 – $60 / hour. You’ll never call yourself a “starving actor” again.

You can live anywhere you want

When all you need is a laptop and WiFi, you can work from anywhere. Many aspiring actors move to film & theatre hubs like New York City, Toronto, Vancouver, or Los Angeles. All of these cities are hubs for web design & development as well, so there is an abundance of jobs—whether it’s full-time, part-time, or freelance.

Where do you start?

There are so many ways to begin learning HTML, CSS & jQuery. However, I’ve been there and done that, and I can save you searching time and get you started right away.

Enroll in a College program

This is the most direct and expensive option, however, if you’re shopping around for a school anyway, I’d recommend enrolling in a college that offers a Web Design-related program. Be sure the program has a website (wouldn’t it be ironic if a web design program didn’t have a website?). I’d avoid private institutions as they often charge exorbitant tuition fees and offer the same (if not less) than the college program that costs a fraction of the tuition. If you’re in the Vancouver area, I’d strongly suggest the Interactive Design Program at Capilano University.

Learn online

The abundance of learning resources found online can be overwhelming, however, I’ll give you a place to start:

PSD to HTML5 & CSS3

Taught by yours truly, I guide you step-by-step in coding your very first HTML5 & CSS3 website in less than 4-hours (or however long you wish to take). And just for you, I’ll give you the course for 75% off if you use the coupon code “CODING_ACTOR”.

HTML5 Beginners Crash Course

The course covers everything you need to know to learn HTML5 and leverage its power to create highly dynamic websites.

HTML and CSS for Beginners

Learn HTML and CSS, including everything you need to create a creative, quality and professional web site.

More online resources

code.org

codecademy.com

nycda.com — If you’re an aspiring actor and living in New York City, check these guys out. The New York Code & Design Academy offers hands-on, intensive courses designed to teach aspiring programmers and designers how to build their own fully functioning websites and mobile apps

What are you waiting for?

One of the great things about this is you can start today! You don’t need to wait. Spend a few hours a week learning how to code, or hit the ground running and acquire some new skills ASAP—you’re investing in yourself, you’re learning skills that can allow you to further your career as an actor.

So go ahead, start coding!

—

Update

Even the New York Film Academy backs me on this one!

RT @nycodedesign: All aspring #actors should #learntocode. RT@bradhusseyshrd.by/G34DFb

— NY Film Academy (@NYFA) April 9, 2013

I was recently approached by a fellow Udemy user and he wanted to know a few things about my experience with Udemy and the benefits of teaching using online mediums rather than traditional.

Here is the interview:

Why publish online content?

I recently left the “full-time, 9-5″ work environment because I wanted to set out on my own and work for myself as a “location-independent” freelancer. Given the nature of freelancing, there can be “ups and downs” in regards to income, so I wanted to find out creative ways to smooth out the low periods. I wanted to teach what I do well, and what I’m passionate about (which is web design & development), but I also wanted to maintain the “location-independence” element, rather than having to be physically present and trading time for money. Finding Udemy seemed to be the perfect medium.

What advantages/disadvantages over traditional mediums?

The Udemy medium is almost entirely advantageous. I suppose one could say that being in person would be more efficient for “one-on-one” time, however, Udemy features “live sessions” where one can help people in real-time using live video. I personally haven’t come across any major disadvantages.

What are your challenges?

Creating a solid course curriculum. Perfecting the wording of the course descriptions and details.

Do people typically finish the courses? Why or why not.

I’d say about 50% of my students have completed my course front-to-back, and the rest are still doing the course. There may be some of them who have stopped entirely, but they have access to the course for life, so they may have personal reasons for putting their studying on hold. That’s the beauty of learning at-your-own-pace online

Do you engage your students with anything more? Why?

I regularly update my course with new content & features, and post an announcement to my students that there is new content to be accessed. I want for my students to know that I’m doing this because I want to add value to their educational experience and share something great with them, rather than just for profit.

How do you measure the experience/outcome of your students?

I ask for the students to leave reviews and ratings, so I could know their thoughts on the course and if they thought it was valuable to them. So far, I’ve received no negative feedback, some constructive feedback to improve the course (which I do regularly), and excellent feedback. Of the 51 students (so far), none have asked for a refund, which I think is a great thing.

If you’re interested in taking the course yourself, I highly recommend it. And because you’re awesome, I’d like to give you 75% off my course, all you have to do is click to button below to get your coupon code:

Happy Coding!

Hiking in Newfoundland. Photo by Laura Hussey of Ash & Vine Photography

Life is amazing. You get only one, and it’s essentially up to you what you want to do with it. There was a moment in late 2012 when I truly realized how profound that statement was, and I began questioning things. Steve Jobs once said,

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something … Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

His words resonated with me, and over the past year, my wife and I began making some big changes—embracing minimalism, leaving my full-time job and setting out on my own as a freelance web designer/developer, being some of the biggest changes.

My List of Outlandish Goals

Here is my list of what I will call “outlandish goals”. Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Workweek, says that unrealistic goals are actually easier to attain than “realistic” goals. That being said, some of these goals are actually quite realistic. However, a few on the list could very much qualify as “unrealistic”, and that’s exactly the point. I believe in the power of positive-thinking, and persistence.

Plus, I’ve never really been one to aim for the “realistic”. The real world is kind of overrated

My reasoning for posting these goals is to hold myself accountable, and perhaps to inspire somebody else to make a list of goals or dreams they’d love to accomplish themselves. This list will constantly evolve, be added to and change over time. It’s also important to note that these goals involve my family and not just myself (specifically the travel-related goals).

Culture

• Learn Spanish — I’m still learning this one, but I’ve learned enough to consider this goal accomplished
• Learn French
• Learn Italian

Travel & Adventure

• Surf in Hawaii
• Film myself Bodyboarding or Surfing with a GoPro Camera
• Learn to Kiteboard
• Visit every Hawaiian Island
  • O’ahu
  • Hawai’i (Big Island)
  • Maui
  • Kaua’i
  • Moloka’i
  • Lana’i
  • Ni’ihau
• Travel the UK and Europe
  • Drink a real pint of Guinness in Ireland
  • Visit Dingle, Ireland and meet a Hussey
  • Drink Scotch in Scotland
  • Walk the Camino de Santiago, with my family, in Spain
  • Eat pizza & drink wine in Italy
  • Have a short conversation with someone en Français, in France
  • Eat real Greek food in Greece
  • Visit St. Pierre et Miquelon (A colony of France, only 20km off the coast of Newfoundland)
• Visit Easter Island

Professional

• Work for myself — Began September 1, 2012
• Have 500 subscribers for my Udemy course, PSD to HTML5 & CSS3 — Completed May 10, 2013
• Have 1,000 subscribers for my Udemy course, PSD to HTML5 & CSS3 — Get 75% off by getting your coupon code in the sidebar on the right!
• Have 500 subscribers for my Udemy course, Web Hosting 101
• Publish 10 Udemy courses — currently have 2, working on a 3rd
• Make a consistent passive income with Udemy courses
• Win a web design award on awwwards.com or thefwa.com — submitted one website to awwwards so far
• Write an eBook
• Become financially independent
• Have 50% of my income be passive income
• Have 10,000 Twitter followers
• Have 1,000 Facebook Likes for Brightside Studios — help me out my clicking “like” below:

Personal

• Have a child
• Speak at a TED or TEDx event
• Send my parents on a trip of a lifetime
• Own property somewhere tropical
• Memorize the order of a deck of shuffled cards (I can do 26 so far!)
• Write a folk album with Laura
• Sell the folk album on iTunes

Keep checking back to see how I’ve been doing!

One of the latest projects I’ve had the privilege of working on with Inspire Studios in Calgary is Emma Grace May’s Realtor Website.

Inspire approached Brightside Studios (my company), in January looking to re-build Emma Grace May’s website. They were particularly interested in my experience building responsive websites. For those of you that do not know what that means, let’s let Wikipedia do the talking:

Responsive web design (often abbreviated to RWD) is an approach to web design in which a site is crafted to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).

I have a lot of experience designing and building Responsive websites, as I completely believe in the theory “Mobile First“. I admit, not all of my websites are built entirely mobile-first; there are sometimes variables that can make building a responsive website not a priority (budget, time, size of the website, etc.) But for the clients who come to Brightside Studios looking for a responsive website, boy, do I give it to them

Emma Grace May’s new Realtor website now boasts a minimal design with a fully responsive framework.

Head on over to emmagracemay.com to check it out. And don’t forget to resize your browser to see the responsive magic

Over the past couple years, I’ve met some incredible people, and those incredible people have introduced me to tools that help them in their trade. I’ve since curated my own list of tools that help me manage my time and work smarter and not necessarily harder.

Without further ado, here is my toolkit:

• 21″ iMac - Nice and simple, bought it used for $600 and sold my old 20″ iMac for $400, bringing me to a total of $200 for an awesome computer. I only use Apple computers for my work, not because I’m an Apple fanboy—there are a few things I don’t necessarily like about Apple—but because their computers simply work best for me. I only use PC computers for testing, and it’s always a disappointing experience
• Origami Folding Desk - A beautiful, simple, inexpensive minimalist workspace. It folds up completely flat, and can be packed up (or set up) in less than 1-minute, and it cost me $80 at Staples. Amazing.
• Ballpark - An invoicing web app that literally saves my (freelancing) life. When you have 8 open estimates, 4 closed estimates, 10 open invoices, 5 overdue invoices and you’re trying to juggle all of those numbers and due dates in your head, you will actually go crazy and never get paid on time, if at all.
  
• Coda 2 - I exclusively use Coda 2 for all of my coding needs. It’s great.
• Gmail – You should know this one. It might be an obvious choice for some, but it’s simply the best choice for email.
• Rdio - It’s basically Netflix for music. $5/month gets you unlimited streaming of millions of awesome songs. Plus it’s social, and you can see what all of your friends are listening to, discover new music, and collaborate on playlists. I’ve basically abandoned iTunes.
• Campaign Monitor - I almost exclusively use Campaign Monitor for Email Campaigns, for both myself and my clients. It’s beautiful, very easy to use, and has some pretty outstanding features.
• Apple Messages & Skype - Since my work is essentially location-independent, I need to be able to communicate with my clients. These services work great for everyday communication and video meetings.
• Gridbooks - Beautiful, simple notebooks made by Sajak & Farki for general note taking, wireframing, and sketching. I use this for all of my notes, sketches, doodles, and wireframes.

A couple other things I enjoy while working:

• A fresh, home-made latté
• Water, water, water

Lastly, this song gets me in the zone:

• White Keys – Gonzales

Are you a freelancer yourself? What tools do you use? Do you use any of these tools yourself? Let me know in the comments below!