Business, Marketing & Productivity Software Reviews

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]