

Ask HN: Software/Resources for Freelancers - edanm

Hi HN,<p>tl;dr - Starting a new freelance business, need help on how to run it. This is a long post, but I hope it helps people in the future. It might also spur a few startup ideas; if so, have at them!<p>I'm starting a new software freelance shop. I don't know much about running a small business, and I've run into lots problems that I hope have software solutions. I'll list my problems, and I hope I can use the collective wisdom of HN to discover which software products I should be using. I made this one post instead of a few because I'm hoping some solutions will solve several of the problems at once.<p>The problems<p>============<p>Background:
We are a team of 3. At any given time, we'll be doing a few things:
* Checking new leads for projects.<p>* Working on existing projects. Sometimes hourly, sometimes bulk pricing.<p>* Giving pricing estimates for new projects, negotiating new deals.<p>Problem 1 - I'd love a tool that helps me understand/visualize which projects the team is working on, how many projects we have coming in, how much time is being taken on each project, who is working on what, what's our capacity for more projects, etc.<p>Problem 2 - Time-tracking and bookkeeping. I use a bookkeeper, who gets receipts and invoices at the end of each month, and prepares reports and does taxes (is this standard?). What I need is a way to track what charges I have per customer. (As far as I understand, I <i>don't</i> need something like Quickbooks, because the bookkeeper handles that for me.)<p>I actually have a few ways of working - either hourly, or bulk per project. Some clients also prefer that we use their pet time-tracking tool. And for all clients, I might have to charge the one-off fees for expenses (purchasing a theme, for example).<p>So, I need a tool that lets me track what to charge each customer. Preferably, it will also be the same as my time-tracking tool, just to make things easier. But that's not a necessity.<p>Problem 3 - CRM? I have a lot of communication with a lot of potential customers. Right now, I have a Trello board for the various people I'm talking to, but this is probably less than optimal. What do people use to manage these projects? Preferably, I should be able to tell at a glance what's going on with each potential customer that we're in negotiations with (since no team member does every negotiation). This is related to problem 1.<p>Problem 4 - What am I missing? If anyone has any recommendations for resources to learn about running a freelance company (good blogs, books, etc), I'd appreciate that too. I'm sure I'm missing a lot.<p>Thanks to anyone that made it through this post, and definitely thanks to anyone who gives me ideas!
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kibbie
I think my biggest "trial and error" experience that I can share with you is
to find companies that are the best at what they do. Yes, you can find
companies that do everything from time tracking to bookkeeping to CRM to
project management to invoicing to payroll but I found personally that you
create the issue of "yes, I have everything covered but not one function
performs exactly the way I want/need it to."

The best solution is to find the best time tracking tool - I use TSheets -
<http://www.tsheets.com> \- (which may solve your time tracking needs as well
as show you a visual of your real-time clock in/out of your team showing you
who is working, and on what, and for how long, and with detailed notes for
future reference) - then integrate that with the best invoicing company - I
use FreshBooks - <http://www.freshbooks.com> -(yes, they also have a time
tracking app but I believe their focus and strength in their product is in
their invoicing solution).

This way, what you set up provides you the functionality and custom options
that you have outlined as your basic needs above - better communication,
better focus, more accurate billing and forecasting.... overall a better
experience as a first time small business owner.

Good luck!

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lrobb
Do you really have problem #1 with just 3 people?

I was always impressed with the feature set on fogbugz, but never had a real
need to use it:

[http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz/features/project-
management....](http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz/features/project-
management.html)

My timekeeping needs were satisfied by toggle: <https://www.toggl.com/>

But it sounds like you need/want a lot more than that. I've encountered quite
a few freelancers that like freshbooks.

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mgallivan
Bulk pricing can / will really bite you in the ass.

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vincyjoseph
Nice

