Big surprise coming! Did you know that the Real Estate community is one of the most marketed group? J/k, there's no surprise there. We are all looking for that magic bullet that will catapult our business to the top. Someone comes along and says they have that magic bullet and we are so quick to try it out. We justify it by saying that what we are doing now isn't working so it can't hurt to try, right.

I want to warn people to go slow on your purchases, especially in the beginning of your career when money is still tight. If you find you need something and you don't have it,  you can always purchase it later. If you purchase it and find you don't need it, you have simply lost money.

I am the self-proclaimed "Queen of Free". Some people like to pay top dollar for everything they buy thinking that the more they spend, the better the product will be. It's a personal choice that isn't necessarily bad. I just don't perceive value as having anything to do with the cost of an item. In my experience, many free programs are just as good as the top dollar ones.

I especially love Open Source software. An Open Source program means that the software comes with the source code so developers can fiddle with it and make it even better. Open Source programs are almost always - free.

As you would suspect, free doesn't mean you get the best programs, just as it doesn't mean you get the bottom of the barrel. It does sometimes mean you get the bare minimum of what you need a program to do.

If you purchase a program and it doesn't do things the way you need it to, you may find yourself purchasing a second program to fill in the gaps. Most programs don't allow reselling, and even if they do, you'll never recoup the full cost of what you paid. If you download a free program and you find out you need it to do more, first you now have a clear understanding of what was missing out of it. Second, you haven't spent a dime, only sweat and (sometimes) tears.

Free is great in the beginning of your business building when you don't have a lot of money coming in and you are on a limited budget. When you start bringing in a little extra cash, you can upgrade to the programs with the extra bells and whistles.

When choosing what programs and software you want, be open minded and check out what is available for free first. Ask around and find out if anyone you know has tried the free programs. See what limitations the free programs have. Then decide if free meets your needs.

And don't forget that your computer comes with many programs already installed so take a good look at your list of Programs under the Start menu and see what programs you already have before you decide to make a purchase.