Business, Marketing & Productivity Software Reviews

Boosting productivity is a hot topic, especially for business owners and entrepreneurs who find themselves doing a ton of work.

The whole time is money adage is true, but here’s what your run-of-the-mill productivity article won’t tell you…

Productivity means nothing if you’re doing the wrong things.

This is where so many people go wrong. They focus on being efficient but don’t stop to think about being effective.

In order to boost your productivity, you’ve got to do both. But before we go into how let’s talk about what makes them different.[Continue Reading]

There are tons of free options for graphic design on the web. I love using everything from Hipster Logo Generator to Canva to Stencil to Pixlr. But when it comes to website or blog logo design – or really anything related to graphic design that makes your blog stand out – you’ll need expertise.

And professional graphic design expertise isn’t cheap. So how can you make your website or blog really stand out – give it that extra ‘pop’ that it needs without turning hiring a professional graphic designer directly?

One option is crowd-sourced design. It’s a way to help make good graphic design accessible to all budgets, while giving freelance graphic designers a vibrant marketplace.

I’ve personally used 99designs for a couple of my website projects. I’ve had clients use their design contests feature as well. Based on those experiences, here’s my 99designs review with how it works, along with pros and cons…

Skip to the Conclusion & Next Steps

*Editor’s Note – this post was originally published in April 2013. It’s been updated and re-published for September 2016.

Disclosure – I receive referral fees from any companies mentioned. All data and opinion is based on my experience as a paying customer.

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RescueTime has been a part of my working life for more than 6 years, but I’ve never sat down to write a RescueTime review until just a few months ago.

A few months ago marked my first full year of self-employment. I took the time to re-evaluate all my tools and working processes to make sure I had a solid time balance among all my priorities.

After all – whether you are paid hourly or not, your time is your only non-renewable resource. If you are going to manage anything, it should be your time.

Since almost all my professional priorities are on a computer – time management software (ie, RescueTime) is a core part of that.

Check out RescueTime’s Plans here.

Here’s my RescueTime review with pros, cons, use cases and next steps based on my experience.[Continue Reading]

I’ve been running a business for more than 5 years now. The last 4+ years, I’ve been using FreshBooks for invoicing and bookkeeping. It’s also one the companies on my Resources page that readers ask me most about. I thought I’d convert those emails into a full FreshBooks review for reference – because here’s the thing.

I’ve had 3 bosses at 3 different companies tell me variations of the same idiom. “If it feels tedious, you’re doing it wrong.” Or, “if you’re working hard, you are using the wrong tool.” Or, “if you’re working hard, you’re probably ignoring what’s important.”

Boring stuff like invoicing and bookkeeping aren’t technically part of marketing or improving your or your client’s website. But it does compete for your time and attention. It’s also an easy-time suck.

By 2012, I had been running a freelance marketing & web design business for several years. I was spending way too much time trying to keep costs down while also looking professional and legit. I was using PayPal’s free invoice feature and Google Sheets. It was quite a mess. So I started looking a resource for bookkeeping, invoicing, and a bit of accounting.

I started using FreshBooks. I’ve never used QuickBooks or compared QuickBooks vs. FreshBooks. It seemed feature overkill (and $$$) at the time. But I haven’t left FreshBooks even as business has grown and my career has changed.

BTW – I evaluated it by signing up for a free plan and clicking around. Check out FreshBooks’ free trial & plans here.

I don’t use FreshBooks for anything super-complicated. I use it to:

• Create and send invoices to clients and advertising partners and track their accounts.
• Track and manage expenses.
• Basic accounting (aka looking at P&L sheets & Schedule C documentation).
• Simplify communication with my accountant.

So here’s my FreshBooks review with pros & cons. It’s not for everyone, but it’s also not meant to be either.[Continue Reading]