Everyone meet Chris Molitor. Chris is a very talented designer, illustrator and wordpress theme developer from Themeforest and Graphic River with an impressive portfolio collection on both marketplaces. Chris took a few minutes to sit down and answer some questions with WebTipsMagazine.com and to help us understand the man behind his awesome designs.

I’m 27, living in the outskirts of Seattle, WA with my beautiful wife, Christine (yes, Chris and Christine). I received my BA in marketing from the University of Washington.

I work as the lead developer for a fantastic company called Blackwave Creative (blackwave.net) where I build custom WordPress themes all day. Recently I’ve taken up skiing as a hobby, so I’ve spent the last couple of months falling down the slopes of the Cascade Mountains. I started making themes for Theme Forest when it first opened its doors back in 2008.

WordPress HUD – By Chris Molitor – preview here

I’m a gamer. For a long time I frequented an Xbox 360 blog that was built with WordPress. I looked into this WordPress thing and thought it was so cool that I could have my own website and share all my Photoshop pictures and Chuck Norris comics (based on the Chuck Norris facts).

After awhile, I decided to purchase the CSS upgrade so that I could mess around with the actual code of the theme. I had so much fun that I decided to learn HTML/CSS so I could totally customize the look of my site. Later I decided to branch out and get my own hosting account and install WordPress so I could customize it even further.

Hobby turned into obsession. Obsession turned into profession. The rest is history

Samurai Warrior Illustration by Chris Molitor – Preview here

When Envato first announced Theme Forest, I got a sudden rush of anticipation. I knew it was going to be huge.

I first encountered the Envato marketplaces as a buyer on Active Den (then called Flash Den). I wasn’t very good with flash, so it was an awesome resource for me when clients had flash needs. I was really impressed with the quality of files on the site and how strong the community was.

I remember putting together my very first submission for Theme Forest. I spent hours and hours on it, and was so sad when it was rejected. While it was tough getting rejected, I realized that it only made my themes that much better. To this day, I’m so thankful for the high quality standards that Theme Forest enforces. It really does make us better web designers.

WordPress University by Chris Molitor – Preview here

I always start in Photoshop. I typically spend a week playing with design ideas. When I think I’ve reached the end of my creative exercise, I start developing the site in Coda. I’ve spent the last 2 years making my own WordPress framework so that I can develop a fully custom WordPress site in less than a week (in some cases a couple days). I remember when I was so excited about finishing my WordPress University design that I actually stayed up all night developing it until it was done (I love coffee). For some reason, I feel most creative in the midnight hours. Weird.

I try not to think of Theme Forest as a money making tool, but more as a creative outlet. With that mind set, I only build themes that I think are cool and allow me to incorporate some new jQuery techniques or WordPress functions I’ve learned recently. Sometimes I build themes that fill a gap, such as my WordPress Church theme or WordPress University theme, and other times I build themes just for the sake of making something cool, like my WordPress HUD theme and WordPress Glass theme (which I also use for my personal website).

WordPress Church by Chris Molitor – Preview here

For web design, I’m heavily inspired by the authors on the Envato marketplaces. Especially Collis, DigitalScience, Kriesi, Maximus, and Akay. These guys are really amazing web designers. I’m also a fan of Design Bombs. They not only have a fantastic site design, but offer really astounding designs in their gallery.

For general graphics, I’m really inspired by 17th century Japanese art. I’m not sure why, but I think it is one of the most interesting periods in the history of art and design.

Japanese Business Card by Chris Molitor – Preview here

Graphic River is great. It’s the perfect place to flex your artistic muscle. Like with Theme Forest, I don’t really focus on using Graphic River to make money, but use it as a platform to try out some of my ideas. I get goosebumps when I receive nice comments about my items and receive 5 star ratings. I honestly think making money on Graphic River and Theme Forest as an added benefit of the sites. It’s extremely satisfying just having an audience that enjoys my work.

WordPress Glass by Chris Molitor – Preview here

I have an ongoing goal of learning as much as I can about WordPress. I think for 2010 my focus will be on plugin development. I haven’t really explored this aspect of WordPress and it’s definitely one of the features of WordPress that sets it apart from all other CMS options.

I also look forward to possibly speaking at WordCamp Seattle again this year. We’ll see

The most important thing I’ve learned is to make it easy for buyers to customize your item and make it their own. That means clean code, totally layered PSD files, and lots of admin options in WordPress.

I’m amazed when I get emails from people who bought my files and totally made it their own. In some cases, they almost completely changed it to where it was hard to tell it was ever my theme to begin with. I think that’s really cool.

Also, it never hurts to have great support resources for you buyers, such as video walk-throughs or having a forum for them to ask questions.

Chris’s Workstation – nice!

I’m rocking’ a 27″ iMac 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 and a 13″ MacBook Pro, Photoshop CS4 (upgrading to CS5 soon!), Coda and FireFox.

I’m tempted to say Google Reader because then I can still “visit” all my favorite sites.

To play along, I’ll go with Theme Forest, Twitter, Facebook, College Humor and YouTube.

Thanks for taking a few moments out of what is obviously a very busy schedule Chris to share your story, workflow and interests with our readers – hopefully you can become an inspiration to many readers!

Keep in contact with Chris

Twitter
GraphicRiver
ThemeForest

So far we’ve discussed accounting software (the none glamorous side of the business) & online portfolio’s (the shiny eye candy side of things), and before going on to discuss things like time tracking or project managing, we need to get on to the topic of where do we go to find the jobs and gigs?

Web Tips Magazine has been searching for you and we think we found some great places for freelance designers to find some projects out there to start building your clientele.  And the best thing is, you can register with all these places and spread the wealth!  :)  All the work you can handle is just 1 click away.

Authentic Jobs

Authentic Jobs is a place for developers and designers to seek out jobs posted for full-time or freelance. This place has been going since 2005 and has some pretty big names of employers that have posted work here before such as Apple, ESPN, Facebook (I know, I know – but it’s still a job) and even HBO.

For the employers, it’s a great site because the offer 100% money back guarantee. If you post a job and it expires before you found the right person, you’re guaranteed your money back as long as you request a refund within 30 days of your post expiring.

For $250 USD per ad you get your job posted for 60 days, $75 USD for freelance postings, and not only are the jobs posted on this site, but also on CameronMoll.com and a host of other partner sites as well. They even have an affiliate program, incase you want to check that out as well.

Again completely free for those who are hunting for work and the ultra clean, easy to navigate website is a dream to search around – check it out.

Programmer Meets Designer

Programmer Meets Designer is a site that is designed to do exactly what the name represents.  A place where programmers and designers work together to complete a project.  The tag line on the site is “This site was created to unite programmers and designers because rarely is a person good at both programming and designing.”

So if your a programmer and you have a project to complete – let’s say an online web application, but need someone to handle the UI for you, you would post your project on this site and communications would start from there.

This site isn’t just for programmers and designers though.  The jobs posted on this site may include: programming, web developing, graphic/interface designers, content writers or web entrepreneurs.

So check it out and see what you think.

RentACoder

RentACoder is a website for people looking to post jobs to have custom software built or for coders to bid on projects that other users have requested to have built.

One of the cool things about this site is they collect the money up front for you, so you don’t have to worry about that portion of the project.

It’s free, you just register with the site and can start searching for projects.  By the time you start the project – RentACoder has already collected the money for you.  All you have to do is complete the project.

Now of course there is a fee to them for collecting the money for you, 7 1/2 – 15% on the project total, but the fee is reduced on different auction types and/or if the buyer uses a preferred payment method.    If you don’t have any projects – you don’t pay RentACoder – there’s no hidden fees or costs involved.

For buyers, they just need to post their project and specifications – there are no finder fees or service fees to pay.  Buyers are under no obligation to accept bids, but once they do – the money is placed in an escrow account until the project is complete, according to the original specification.

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine has an amazing following.  Who doesn’t check out their site on a daily basis?  They also have a freelance section.

Here you can search not just freelance jobs, but full time jobs as well.  The search is quite simple – search all, search programming, search design or search other.  Some of the “other” jobs include (as of today) SQL, Web Content, Front End Developer, SEO Manager or even Entry Level Blogger.

Not only can you search jobs, but you can post jobs here as well.  And the obvious benefit to posting here is the huge amount of hits this site gets per day.

For a charge you can have 30 day access to post as many jobs as you want or need.  Just buy some credits and your job will be posted immediately.  For 2 credits – you can post for full time jobs.  1 credit will get you a freelance job.  The credits won’t expire – they even offer discounts for the more credits that you buy. For freelancers looking for gigs the setup is completely free – it’s a one way deal for charges, which proves to be a great way of doing things, but increases the amount of people interested in the position or job.

Creative Heads

Creative Heads is a simple and easy to use web search to find a plethora of jobs out there.  If you are looking for a job in the video games industry, animation, VFX or software and technologies, to name a few of their categories of search criteria.  You may want to check out this site.

You can search not only by industry, but location, country, experience level, job type and even position.

You can slice and dice your search to whatever it may be that your looking for and of course it’s free to register to begin searching for your next money maker.

Fresh Web Jobs

Fresh Web Jobs is another good one to use.  Search the job postings to find something in the web technologies, web standards and web design trends all over.

The job posting section works much the same as the others.  Buy a credit and that gives you a 30 day listing.  But with the credits only being $75, it is a little less of an outgoing cost for you.  And if you register as an employer, you get 1 free credit just for signing up. The site is free for freelancers to view and apply, this is a great source for gig hunters.

Krop

Krop is really cool as well.  Not only can you search and post jobs, but they also offer an online portfolio section unique with your own url.  I can’t believe we missed this one from our Part 2 Online Portfolio post.

Search job postings from around the world for free.  Take advantage of their online portfolio and resume builder.  Your portfolio is free of any advertisements as well.  Everything you need right here in 1 place.

The separate employer side offers a host of packages to choose to post your jobs, search the online creative resumes or even have your company scroll across the top of their site.

Taken from their site, here’s some information about the company:

It all started in 2000 as a private mailing list of top designers helping each other find work. In 2001 it had become a simple job board on our design community website QBN. Propelled by the interactive renaissance that followed, by ’06 the job board had outgrown it’s home and Krop.com was born. In ’07, QBN & Krop had become an industry phenomenon, launching a design lecture series at the Getty Center to sold out crowds and critical acclaim. In ’08 Krop released the Creative Database, a portfolio and resume application enjoying instant success.

Today, in 2009 while continuing to release tools and features on an entirely new platform, Krop is still owned by the same designers, and still thrives by helping great creatives find great jobs.

Again this is completely free for freelancers who are job, gig hunting and I highly recommend this site simply because it’s UI is spot on, the structure of the posts is clean and clear, they have plenty of listings and the added features for the portfolio section and adding yourself to the creative database is a must!

Design Jobs on the Wall

Design Jobs On The Wall also offers a money back guarantee for people posting projects.  If within 60 days of your job posting, your not satisfied, just request a refund.

Managed by Web Designer Wall, this site also has a pretty good following with jobs not only being posted here, but other online portals and design publications such as Web Designer magazine, Practical Web Design (.Net magazine), and Computer Arts Projects.

3 tokens ($75 USD) will get you a full-time job posting or 2 tokens ($50 USD) will get you a freelance job posting for 30 days.  You can buy more tokens for a bigger discount and they will not expire.

They are even offering a 75% discount for an opening special.

Again, as per the majority of these kinds of job posting sites, it’s completely free for those looking for work.

Elance

Elance has been around for a very long time.  It’s one of the originals out there.  With job postings ranging from Web designers to Social Media campaign’s.

Elance has a large client base from both sides of the fence.  They have different tiers for members to sign up for.  You just need to sign up, pick your membership plan, build your profile and start searching and applying.  It’s a little different here, as the jobs that are posted have a required skill level – which you pick when you choose one of 4 membership plans ranging from free to $40 per month.  There’s no contracts, this is a month to month plan.

For employers – when the work is delivered and payments are made, Elance will deduct 4 – 6 % to cover the Service Fee and Payment Processing.  There is also a one-time account activation fee to setup the Employer account.

Although Elance is a great site for those posting and hunting you have to balance your monthly dues and charges against the huge wealth of other sites we have listed that do things in a different way. The competition on pricing on Elance can be quite daunting, when you are looking however at web based jobs, the World as a whole is in competition with you, and therefore someone living in India, as an example, does not have the same living costs involved with someone say who lives in New York, therefore their rates can seem quite different – be careful here, price at a comfortable level and try to focus on quality and experience if possible.

Freelance Switch

Freelance Switch is an awesome site.  Of course it is, it’s owned by Envato.

They not only have job boards and the ability to post jobs, but their blog is one of the most useful and insightful blog’s seen offering advice on what your hourly rate should be, tax advice and more.

The only downside to the job listings are that it’s a reversed system where employers can post at zero cost, while job hunters need to pay a subscription of $7 per month. Of course there is actually a huge upside to this for those looking for work, there are possibly less people looking and applying for these gigs that those systems that offer the ability for anyone to look and apply – it could well be worth the small investment to gain the upper hand in this situation – certainly worth a couple of months at $14 to see how things go for you.

They not only offer a job board but a community also, with their blog, podcasts, forums and resources, this site is an fantastic place to get almost everything you need.

Continuing with our Freelance 101 – A Suggestive Guide (part one available here!) , this week Web Tips Magazine wants to point out some fantastic free and paid online services for you to host your portfolio.

An online portfolio is a necessary and convenient way to showcase your works.  The benefit for you is that you don’t have to mess with the website you’ve never created, or the domain name, the hosting and everything else that comes with going the traditional self-hosted method.  Using a service that is created explicitly for uploading and maintaining a portfolio is a great way for freelancers to not just display their works, but gain momentum to their careers, link up with other like-minded individuals and receive exposure to possible clients.

It’s not just for the novices. Some experienced freelancers use these online portfolio services to help broaden their capture market and run them simultaneously with their personal portfolio sites and blogs. The benefit of doing this is quite obvious, further exposure to your work, social media hounds help pass on the links and search engines pick up your name and links to your site – food for thought for any struggling freelancer out there.

Web Tips Magazine has searched out some examples for you, some free, some paid, some traditional and non-traditional solutions.  Take a look and see if any of the following solutions could work for you.

Carbonmade

Carbonmade has not only a free service with limited projects and pictures you can upload but also a paid service.  No html experience is necessary.  It’s easy to use management tools will allow you to have up to 5 projects with up to 35 images on the free service.  It includes building a profile page to give information about you, allows you to order your projects however you want them to display and also includes uploading Flash projects.  You can also use Google Analytics to monitor your traffic to your portfolio.

The paid service allows you to have up to 50 project with up to 500 hi-res images and 10 high quality videos.  For $12 a month you not only increase your project and images, you get the feature to upload videos.  With no super-compressed videos – if it plays in Quicktime, you can display the video here.

One of the drawback to this service is that you can’t design your portfolio page to match in more with your company identity.  Your styling is limited.

FigDig

FigDig is another free portfolio.  Some of the cool features for this online portfolio is that you can upload and view 1224 x 792 high definition portfolio samples as well as FigDig has safeguards in place to help prevent theft of your work as well.

With this being a free service you are limited to only uploading 8 pieces.  But you do have the portfolio ratings so that you can rate your best work so if someone does a search, your best pieces will display.

The profile piece will let you input or even upload in .pdf format things that you want viewers to see about you.  With the ability to upload in .pdf format, you can focus more on your creative talent rather than the “sell me to anyone” details.

Every few months, the FigDig team will vote one member to the FigDig Hall of Fame which wins them an Apple iPod Nano as well as having their work displayed for all to see.

Coroflot

Coroflot is not only an online portfolio but also has a job board section.  Your portfolio is free of charge, not only free but has unlimited amount of uploads allowed.

This service will give you details on your traffic, an easy-to-remember URL to point your visitors too.  You can make your portfolio public or confidential.  The grouping and ordering of your projects and pictures is as easy as drag and drop.

The best thing about this service is the built in job board.  You can get new job postings that match your criteria via email or RSS feeds.

Envato

Envato and any of it’s marketplaces, such as ThemeForest, Graphic River, or Video Hive is probably not the first place people think of when it comes to portfolio hosting.  However, I can tell you from experience that if you are looking to firstly improve your skills, and second, gain new clients, this is a really great resource. Think about it for just a few moments, you are trying to make your mark on the world of freelance, or you are currently attempting to push yourself through college, so you are trying to build your portfolio, you have no money for a domain, hosting etc then why not create your portfolio pieces.

Envato’s marketplaces cover almost every creative field there is from html and css, to video animations and even music and sound files, so it doesn’t matter what your creative talents are, they offer a place to join a community to receive help and advise, and a review team to ensure your work is up-to standard. Once accepted this work is then sold and you receive a share of the revenue. All your work is tied to your account and you have a portfolio page displaying all your current items across all the marketplaces (for those that are multi-talented) – you can use this to drive traffic to your items, gain exposure and earn some extra income at the same time, not just from item sales but buyers will contact you with regards to alterations, modifications and even complete new projects.

The draw back for using the Envato sites for your portfolio are that if  your are trying to get clients, they will see the $12, or start browsing and they will loose your showcased works.  They amy decide it’s better to purchase one of the items through this avenue rather than sign up for contract work with you.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is a simple and free online portfolio source, but has a huge following.  This service has an audience of over 12 million viewers.  You can set up your profile and create galleries to start building your fan base.

DeviantArt also has a shop where you can sell your item.  You can use their print service to make money while they handle the fulfilling and shipping of your orders.

The uploads are unlimited and you can dynamically present your artwork with the slideshow feature as well as get feedback from others on your uploads.  This service also has a feature where you can track your page views and stats. Obviously DeviantArt has a huge following, but this will mean you are a small fish in a very, very large pond of both amateurs and professionals, plus it’s exactly the place to gain new clients.

Host My Portfolio

Host My Portfolio is another free service.  With the ability have unlimited projects complete with 50 image uploads you also receive your own personal domain name to make the presence more targeted toward you and your business.

As with the other services, you don’t need any web experience to create your portfolio.  You can create and attach your profile information to share with your prospective clients.  You can share your portfolio or make it private or a little of both.

Flickr

The always expanding Flickr is not always a first choice for freelancers, but the benefits are quite large. Flickr offers both free and paid accounts, with limitations on uploads being one of the main decisions you will need to make. With groups, streams and sets it’s very easy to define sections for your account and provide direct access to particular creative work based on the client you may need to pass a link to.

Because of the size of  Flickr and an extensive API it’s a really good choice for those that may have a basic self hosted website because you can dynamically draw in sets, or streams etc in to your site pages quite easily thanks to WordPress plugins, Jquery scripts etc and even free flash based services. Most people think of Flickr as just a photography site, however browsing around you will find that most freelancers do use the service to some degree to help promote their portfolio of work whether it’s screen shots of websites and themes, through to photography and images / graphics.

Me.com

For Apple computer users they have the ability to sign-up for a Me.com account (free for 60 days!) and using programs such as iWeb you can immediately and very effectively create a smart portfolio full of your images direct to your account from your computer, without the need to know html and css. They even offer simple uploading of images (could be graphics, photos or screen shots) to create some really rather nice online portfolios you can then share with contacts. Again this is not a “standard” portfolio site, but really does offer new freelancers a cheap and easy way to get an online presence very quickly.

FolioLink

FolioLink offers a complete paid solution that offers elegant HTML and Flash based portfolio website solutions. Not only do they offer the website solution, but  your Image Archive is an online destination with 1000s of images and /or videos where your visitors and clients can search, proof, select, save, order and download content in public and restricted areas that you manage. Because this solution is a paid service you will need to seriously consider the benefits of their system compared to the pricing, however if you are looking to sell your work, deal with proofing with clients and an online portfolio this could well be a good decision – FolioLink do offer a free 7 Day Trial – although that may not be quite long enough to be able to test out the full system.

Squarespace

A relative newcomer to the online portfolio service market – Squarespace seems to of done it’s homework when it comes to freelancers. Their system runs on templates, all professionally created with many options for customization regardless of your skill levels. Their photo galleries are quite stunning and certainly the entire system is clearly built on a professional appearance and ease of use.

Squarespace offer many tools and widgets to get you up and running and stay running with social integration, a blog, form building and stats it really is quite an impressive solution and definitely one of the best out there. They offer a free 14 Day trial, and plans start from $8 and run all the way up to $50 for the “community” solution, however I would presume that the “pro” or “Advanced” packages would be most suitable to freelancers.

And your solutions are….?

Do you have a service or solution that you are using that you feel we should of included? We would love to hear from you. Drop a comment below and share your knowledge with us all – we’ll love you forever.

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.