Doing freelancing it seems like half of the work is not the freelancing. It’s administration, accounting, management etc…
I got tired of spending my time doing those types of things and started looking for solutions, I quickly found the FREE CreativePro Office by Jeff Denton at UpStart Productions. It has already made my freelance life easier! Since it is free, I wanted to put out this review as a thank you to Jeff!
The site claims:
CreativePro Office is the most complete set of online office management tools you’re likely to find at any price – and it’s completely free! Manage your team, clients, projects, invoices, events and quotes (coming soon) from one web-based application.
CreativePro Office is well suited for both independent professionals and small teams of graphic designers, programmers and web developers.
I’ve been doing small freelance web design jobs on the side since I was in school, but noticed that sometimes I spent seemingly as much time with administration as I did designing. Since I was always doing small things on the side, it never seemed important to be organized, but I can assure you that being organized is much easier than getting organized ;). But CreativePro Office seems to be exactly what I need, something better than email threads and spreadsheets to keep track of hours, rates, tasks, clients, projects and bills! I was up and running in minutes and already have a good understanding of how to manage myself better, I’ve even sent some invoices! It is much more professional than what I’ve been doing (keeping the tab documented on post it notes). I have learned a lot about my process through freelancing and I’m trying to incorporate that into a more transparent, organized and overall more professional process now. It can’t do anything but good for the client experience, and help me keep track of my tasks and hours without having to use my own clock and calculator. =)
I even wrote to Jeff personally to thank him for the great work he’s done and the service he is providing. He says there are many new features coming soon that he is very excited about. He says CPO 2.0 “will include features that are being requested most frequently!” Their website says CPO has amassed 15312 users, 14213 projects & $48,207,004.99 invoiced
CreativePro Office seems pretty flexible, and I can imagine a number of different business types utilizing it. So if you are wanting to focus more on actual work and not the other half, go check it out!
