Online Organization Tools for Freelancers
As an internet entrepreneur, it can sometimes be difficult to stay organized. A constant flood of information is at your fingertips - leading to information overload. As we enter 2008, with New Years Resolutions at the forefront, I thought I’d take time to share some great organizational tools that I’ve found to help me on a daily basis.
1. Gmail - This free web based email application from Google is an entrepreneur’s best friend. The easy to use interface makes finding messages a breeze, allowing you to archive a virtually limitless number of emails. The recently added colored labels allow you to sort emails and label them by category - perfect for those of us who allow our inbox to double as a to-do list! For the more tech-savvy readers, you may want to setup Gmail to be your Personal Nerve Center to handle all of your incoming information.
2. Backpack - This product from 37 Signals has a free trial, and then a month to month subscription with a variety of rates. It incorporates a calendar, to do lists, and write-boards, for one stop online organization. You can even upload files and share write-boards with others, making it a perfect choice for client conferences and information management.
3. Quickbooks - This financial software is perfect for small businesses. As the New Year begins, it’s a great time to start tracking your finances carefully for the new tax year. Quickbooks helps you to keep all your accounts and invoices in one place. They’re offering a free trial of their Simple Start program for 2008, as well. You can’t beat free!
4. GoToMyPC - If you are like me, you likely have at least 2 different computers that you use on a regular basis. But keeping all of your data organized, and keeping track of where it is can be tricky. GoToMyPC lets you login on any computer and use your home computer, office computer, or any other computer connected to the internet that you installed the software on.
These four tools will help you to organize your business properly for the upcoming year. By organizing your communication, time, and money, you’ll be well on your way to a successful business year.
Did I leave any tools out? Share with me in the comments.
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January 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Hey good bits there - I had a few tips earlier on in the year: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/useful-tools-for-freelance-seos-and-web-developers . Maybe useful for your readers.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
[…] Cohen has a useful review of four very good productivity tools for freelancers on his blog Life of an Internet Entrepreneur. Along with these four, I would recommend Yugma for desktop sharing and online meetings. Check it […]
January 11th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
this is useful.
I use LogMeIn to connect to my home and/or office computer.
It is free and works great for my needs.
Marcus
January 11th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Good tips, I use Teamviewer, I like it more than LogMeIn and it’s also free for personal use.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
[…] struggle to compete with large companies. To give yourself the best edge, learn to use some nifty organization tools and hold your […]
January 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Good topic, I think you should go more in depth with it though and try to give free options…no body likes to pay monthly fees for products.
Chris,
Thank you for the feedback. Allow me to clarify:
Gmail is free
Backpack is free forever (for the 5 page version, which should be enough for most people)
Quickbooks - the alternative here is FreshBooks.com, which is free for 3 active clients at a time.
GoToMyPC - As Marcus suggested above, LogMeIn is a free alternative.
I tried to present the best options in my post, and sometimes we need to balance the best with the free. Usually the free sites are not best, but are most often good enough for the average user who doesn’t need a lot of power.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hi. I came to your site today via a freinds RSS feed.
I just wanted to throw my two-cents in on a product I have been using to balance the budget.
I’ve been using MoneyDance, which runs on PC, MAC, and Linux platforms, for almost a year now. It uses double-entry accounting, and has a developer that is attentive to the users issues via a forum.
Although I have not used QB, from what I hear it is better than QB. There is even a 30 day free trial, and it only costs $29.99, much cheaper than QB, with free upgrades.
You can find more info at moneydance.com.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I am grateful for all of the information. thank you everyone who contributed it to the blog — you all only made the fantastic blog post better.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Has anyone checked out Your Online Organizer? It has online organizational tools, email access, task lists, etc. As well as email marketing capabilities. It offers a free trial as well.
http://www.youronlineorganizer.com