For most, working from home and/or for themselves is a dream come true. They are able to choose your clients, manage responsibilities and work when and where they want. However, in the words of Sir Isaac Newton, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” So, while working from the comforts of a home office, while sipping coffee in your pajamas might seem like a gloriously granted wish, it does have it’s downsides.
There are those days, or weeks where the frustrations of client management, bookkeeping, communication, and of course the struggle to get off your butt and get stuff done is real. Being self-employed is one of those things that is easier said than done.
It should be said though, that I personally wouldn’t give up my ability to roll out of bed and walk across the hall to my pc for anything. I’ve just learned to use the available technology available to me. Below, are my top four resources to keep both me and my business on track.
#1 Aweber
If you’re looking to boost your inbound marketing efforts, Aweber is for you. This marketing automation software makes it extremely easy to create online email campaigns (aka autoresponders) that convert.
#2 Asana
Asana is a task management tool that I’ve used for years now. It helps me to collaborate, stay on top of deadlines, and communicate with other team members all in one place.
#3 Freshbooks
Bookkeeping can be a nightmare if you don’t stay on top of it. Freshbooks allows you to track time spent on projects, send out invoices, and manage your monthly reports. Think of the services as a hassle-free lite Quickbooks. Plus, you can save money on those pesky Pay-Pal fees. How? Essentially they’ve worked out a deal, when your client pays the invoice via PayPal with their account balance or echeck, that you’ll only have to pay a $0.50 flat fee, instead of the usual 3ish percent.
#4 Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud based storage service. Think of it as Google Docs on steroids. Save your files on your pc, then access them anywhere you go. Everything that you save to your Dropbox will automatically be synced to all your devices. They even offer a free plan that includes 2 GB of space.
