General Consultant Discussion

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  • 1.  It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be in

    Posted 07-07-2017 12:34
    It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be interesting to see what tools you all use to make your job easier. I recently installed SnagIt to capture screen shots, especially on remote desktops or during remote assist sessions. It's the best $50 I've spent this year.


  • 2.  RE: It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be in

    Posted 07-07-2017 12:53
      |   view attached
    **To track projects = Basecamp** - http://www.basecamp.com - I think it's $79/mo for unlimited projects. All my projects are tracked here. It's nothing formal but better than trying to find random written notes. At a minimum, I track (a) Contacts, (b) Server login info, (c) Scope. I've sporadically tried to have customers login and participate but find that they usually are not interested in logging into another system. I've resigned myself to knowing that Baseceamp is primarily for internal tracking. Because it's unlimited, **I open and archive projects a lot**. If a customer decides not to move forward I just archive. Then when they come back in 15 months ready to go - I open the old project. Seems like 80% of the projects I create and immediately archive come back in some form later. **For daily tasks that are not projects - Todoist** - $28/year. I setup each of my customers as a project with a name (c) Customer Name, then I group them together. I use this for loose odds and ends that I need to get back to the customer about but where the task is not big enough to be a project -- ex - Make sure that customer sends in Sage 100c paperwork. We use the business version and that gives a section for ""Team"" and I use this for all sorts of notes about billing, collections and things that we need to watch for. There are more to-do apps than you can shake a stick at. Todoist is reasonably priced and works well with multiple users (allows comments). **Billing = Freshbooks.com** - every bill goes through here and it's all electronic - I think about $300/yr. Zero paper. Zero billable hours. This saves lots of money over postage. I setup all my recurring support customers here and they are billed automatically on their anniversary. Freshbooks can also generate quotes for customers to approve online which can then be turned into an invoice. I found 98% of customers didn't bother approving anything so I don't use the quotes as much as before. **For my KB - Evernote** - I share public links quite frequently. I have a section for upgrade notes, general kb, FAQ. There are a ton of note taking apps as well but none of them seem to have the strongest combination of multi-platform, browser integration and ability to share with people outside your company. **For file storage = Dropbox** - I use this on my iMAC to keep a group of folders that I've labeled Common Documents. Within that folder I have subfolders for (a) Price Lists, (b) What's New Guides, (c) common forms like sale tax exemption. Because it's Dropbox I can share any document via email by right clicking and selecting ""create shareable line"". I sync this Dropbox across all my computers so no matter which machine I'm on the files I need are there. **For email and documents - G-Suite** - this is Google Apps - my main email. I've used it for years and also use Google Drive to store customer written proposals. Office 365 would probably be my choice here if I was starting out but I have so much info already in Google and the differences between them are not that noticeable for my usage. **For remote support - GotoAssist** - There are probably better/cheaper apps but this one works and gets me into 90% of the customers without hassle. If there is a problem getting into a customer site it is usually that tech support at the customer turned off the ability to run Java or something similar.


  • 3.  RE: It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be in

    Posted 07-07-2017 12:54
    Been using this for many years now. Hats off to either @BillPfahnl or @BobPfahnl for getting me addicted to this product. Better than an apple a day!!! Great for screen shots to be used in emails, word how to documents, etc. One of those priceless utilities that I can't recommend enough.


  • 4.  RE: It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be in

    Posted 07-07-2017 12:59
    Another one I can't live without is Copernic desktop search. Once installed, it indexes nearly every file on your laptop or server. Find a file with a simple search word in seconds. http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/


  • 5.  RE: It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be in

    Posted 07-07-2017 15:07
    Smartsheet: Web-based collaborative tool that really is a database disguised as a spreadsheet, and can be used for anything you would use a spreadsheet for, but all in one place and more powerful. We use it for project management and project details and status. https://www.smartsheet.com/landing


  • 6.  RE: It's Friday afternoon and I thought it might be in

    Posted 07-07-2017 15:08
    I've only dabbled in LucidChart - but I see good potential for workflow outlines. https://www.lucidchart.com/