Tools I Love

October 19th, 2009 | Chris | View Comments

The following is a list of tools I’ve found useful to beginning entrepreneurs:

  • Outright – Free Online Bookkeeping software for Sole Proprietors and Single-Member LLCs
  • Shoeboxed – Receipt scanning, organizing, and repository service. (Also does business cards.) Syncs with Outright and Quickbooks
  • FreshBooks – Online Accounts Receivable (A/R) system with integrated dunning, merchant account for credit cards, and snail-mail capabilities
  • BaseCamp – Online, simplified project management system created by 37Signals
  • HighRise – Online, simplified CRM system also created by 37Signals
  • Google Apps – A complete company intranet solution including docs, sites, private-label email, and calendaring with resource scheduling capabilities
  • Wiggio – Free, online collaboration tool which provides conference calling, virtual meeting, and document repository and collaboration to groups of individuals (can even import users from your Facebook connections)
  • MailChimp – Online email marketing system, great tools and free for up to 500 subscribers
  • RightSignature – Electronic Signature service, free to sign up, can sign docs with a mouse or touchpad, and even include a webcam snapshot for proof of identity
  • Lotus Live – Online collaboration from IBM, provided as a cloud-based SaaS model, low price-per-user for the capabilities provided

There is some great work being done around integration between most of these programs.

For example: I can link ShoeBoxed and Freshbooks up with Outright to record the majority of my business’s expenses and income. That information can then either be downloaded from Outright to QuickBooks or PeachTree if I want.

Additionally, Freshbooks integrates well with Basecamp, so hours I log on projects can be transferred and then billed to the appropriate client.

HighRise integrates with MailChimp so I can run my mail campaigns right from my CRM contacts. And last but not least, RightSignature can integrate with Google Docs/Apps so the forms I use everyday in my organization can be signed online, reducing the amount of paper I ever have to print. It can also integrate with FreshBooks so I can sign the estimates I send to clients.

Pretty darn cool, huh?