Freelancing is a great thing.  You work your own hours, you set your own salary – you are your own “The Man”.  But what does being “The Man” really involve?  It’s not as glamorous as people think it is.  As a freelancer we all work long hours, we lay out the project complete with timeline and estimate for our clients, the client signs off on that estimate, but the next thing you know there comes unforeseeable forces at hand that threaten your budget.  Things sometimes take a little longer than expected, but are you getting paid for that time?

There’s no point in trying to do it all by jotting it down in a text program.  We’ve scoured the net and we think we’ve come up with some pretty handy-dandy little tools for you to use to help you enjoy being “The Man”.

Although there is a host of “freebies” out there, that doesn’t always mean it’s the best.  If the freebie doesn’t offer exactly what you need, or maybe you had to get 3 different free apps to complete what it is you need for your business, that involves time and as we all know time is money.  So maybe the best choice for your business is to pay that little bit extra just to have some free time for yourself or time to start on another project.

Over the next few weeks, WebTipsMagazine has decided to throw some information and reference material out there for different types of applications needed by freelancers to not only try to give you some tools to help you stay organized but to also help you track your projects from the concept quote to the paid invoice.

GnuCash

GnuCash is a a freely licensed personal and small-business financial-accounting software under the GNU GPL and is available for FNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Windows.

Some of the featured highlights include Double-Entry Accounting, Small-business Accounting, Reports & Graphs, Invoicing.  That’s just to name a few.

The checkbook-style register gives you a custom and convenient interface for entering financial transaction and supports common checking and credit-card transactions as well as income , stock and currency transactions.

This software can  handle multiple currencies.  Different accounts can be denominated in different currency movements between accounts to insure balance accuracy when double-entry is enabled.

Income/Expense Account Types allow you to categorize your cash flow and can generate reports such as Profit & Loss that ordinary freebies can’t handle.

QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition

QuickBooks is a simple and easy.  It’s one of the more “Big Name” freebies out there but provides what most small-business’ need to manage their accounting.  The Free Edition provides the basic accounting needed with tracking sales and expenses for up to 20 customers, allows you to create invoices, pay bills, print checks all from online.  Since the software is completely online, you can access your information from anywhere in the world, even from your iPhone or BlackBerry.

With such features as online back-up, automatic upgrades and free support.  Let’s take a closer look at some of the other features offered with this software.

• Easily print checks, pay bills & track expenses.
• Track sales, sales taxes and customer payments.
• Track up to 20  vendor contacts.
• Manage payroll & payroll taxes (Direct Deposit sold separately)
• Email estimates, invoices and reports including creating your own invoices and forms to match in with your corporate colors
• Organize and back up documents by attaching them to your QuickBooks records.

The main drawback for using QuickBooks whether you use the free version or want to upgrade to Basic or Plus is that this software is only available on Windows and  the free edition only supports up to 20 vendors.  So depending on the size of your business or the operating system you use, this may not be your best option.

Express Accounts

NCH Software has created Express Accounts.  This software provides basic accounting features such as tracking and reporting on cash flow such as sales, receipts, payments and purchases for a single company and multiple companies.

Some of the features provided  include creating invoices, orders and quotes as well as creating and printing checks.  One of the cool features with this software is that not only do you get Profit and Loss reports as well as Balance Sheets, you can automatically email or fax your report directly from this software.

The software isn’t provided as a free version, but  at $79.99 USD isn’t badly priced.  Depending on your needs might just be what your looking for.

iRatchet

iRatchet is a freebie that is only available to Mac users (yay – we have exclusiveness). iRatchet features include Address Book and iCal integration, mileage tracking/reporting, tax support, invoice/report generation.  iRatchet is simple and easy to use.  iRatchet uses CSS templates for full customization for your invoices, however the reporting feature offered isn’t the best for polling information from your system about each client.  There is no limitations to  the clients you can add to this software.  It’s not one widely used software out there with some known bugs listed in the forums but does get the job for invoicing and payment tracking.

MyCake

MyCake is used in UK only for our good ole’ Blighty readers.  MyCake is offered for 2 months free trial and if you like, you can get for 12.50 GBP / month.  This software is accessible from anywhere in the world via the online interface.  There’s no fancy accounting terms that you need to know, it’s simple to use and of course provides free support on hand if you need it.

There’s a lot of advice offered and explanations offered with this software to build best practices for book keeping.  You can run reports that can be added to your business plan or use to talk to bank managers.  Email reminders can be set up with overdue invoices.  This software also provides anonymous and confidential comparison’s to other businesses.

FreeAgent

FreeAgent is an awesome program.  This software can be customized to your business regardless of the country you are in.  With such features, you can view through the tour, such as estimates, time tracking, invoicing, accounting and those dreaded taxes you can customize this software to match in with your company identity.  This software is also an online software so there’s no downloads or installs to be seen.  You can access your information from anywhere.  Your information is backed up every  minutes and is encrypted and backed up offsite every 15 minutes.  FreeAgent uses the same technology banks use to protect your data.

Your estimates, proposals and quotes can be tracked through approval or rejection history and can be easily converted into invoices with one click.  It doesn’t get any easier than that.

All accounts have unlimited invoicing, users, clients, projects, estimates and bank accounts plus expense tracking, time tracking, account reports and data back-up.

This software provides a no contract pay-as-you-go and includes a free 30 day trial.  For $20 a month (does not include VAT for UK businesses), this software could get you exactly the software you need to manage your business.

BlinkSale

BlinkSale is an excellent simple tool to use for invoicing.  With several different packages offered, BlinkSale is the most affordable if all your looking is an invoicing bundle.  One of the best features provide with this software is that it is integrated with BaseCamp.  BlinkSale offers the same CSS option to create your own invoices that match in with your company as well as unlimited user accounts, clients and can also receive PayPal payments straight into your software.  With Bronze, Silver and Gold options available you can pick which package is best for you ranging from $6 USD to $24 USD.  For a complete list of options and payments, check out BlinkSale and sign up for a free trial.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks also offers multi-currency options and automation of payment reminders as well as automation of recurring invoices for things like your standard hosting and web maintenance, with the ability to enter your client’s credit card for auto-billing.

You can even collect online payments through this software by allowing clients to pay your invoice with no hassle through the major online payment gateways such as PayPal, Authorize.Net and FirstData (aka LinkPoint) just to name a few.

With other features not limited to invoicing, you also have the time tracking, the estimates, expenses.  You can do things such as setting up a support ticket area for your clients that you can then assign staff and prioritize, track expenses so that you can bill these back to your client/project, manage and document the estimate acceptance process, invite contractors to join your team and track time on projects as well as receive their invoices all in one place.  You can even brand the login page with your logo and colors to give you software a company theme – however, they 1-time fee charged for this is $279 uSD and may not be that important depending on the size of your business.

FreshBooks also offers a host of packages/plans for you to pick the package that meets your business needs.

LessAccounting

LessAccounting software is a widely used application.  This software offers a host of packages including letting them do your bookkeeping for you for a charge of $300 USD per month with other packages starting at $12 USD.

Some of the features for this software include:

• Multiple currencies and taxing information
• Reports such as Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and many other easy reports
• Inviting your accountant to monitor your books and export the data from their own office
• Tracking expenses with nightly bank data aggregation
• Sending invoices and proposals
• Mileage Tracker
• Export Data
• Track Sales Leads
• Manage your contacts

This software can integrate with Highrise, BaseCamp, LessTimeSpent, PayPal, Shopify and billFlo and is available through the AppStore from your iPhone.

Your dashboard will give you an instant snapshot of where you are with your business.  Log-in and see your expense overview, a chart for your cash flow and which invoices haven’t been paid yet.

Enjoy this Post?

Remember to subscribe to our RSS Feed and if you would like, please share this post.