Growth

We're growing.

Not technically by numbers of employees, mind you. The current count is a single employee (me) and one Technology Consultant contractor (Justin). I have added a part time contracted admin assistant (Cheryl). Cheryl works from home on her computer... but synchronizes with me. More on that below. So why do I need to add an admin assistant?

Because she's good at what she does, and I'm not good at what she does. Because I will be losing Justin soon - he is moving to Australia to pursue studies. I think I can handle most of the technical duties if she is handling the backoffice stuff. But most of all, because we're gaining clients. A lot of them... This may well be the fastest growing quarte since we opened. This is exciting stuff.

So all of this growth, adding people and such have since created a need for increased communication between the various elements of the business. We are using many of the products that I have discussed on this blog as a very practical approach to our workday. Here's some highlights:

Freshbooks - Our time and billing app. This is the beating heart of our business - Time entries go in, invoices come out. It's web based, it's easy to learn and fun to use. It has a wonderful timer that you can use when you're working on a project. I first mentioned them here.

Timedroid - This Android based application has a timer and a data exchange system for use with your Freshbooks account. It synchronizes with your account, downloading your clients and projects. It uploads the time you spend on projects and also has a timer. Cell service is not required for operation, but is required for synchroniztion. This app is brilliant, simple, and has greatly increased my connection with my phone.

Batchbook - Our CRM application. It ties together with Freshbooks - create a client in Batchbook, click a button and it's in Freshbooks. You can now create projects for them and start billing. History is maintained in Batchbook stating what was billed, when it was billed, and when it was paid. The first mention of them (mostly a link) was here.

Basecamp - Our project management application. We're still getting the hang of this one. In short, you can create your projects in here, export them to Freshbooks, and start billing. Create milestones, task lists, track messages and more.

Dropbox - We can't get enough of dropbox. Cheryl and I pass all kinds of stuff back and forth - engagement letters, research materials, spreadsheets, documents, scanned PDFs... you name it, we're synchronizing it between her computer and mine via Dropbox. We first mentioned them here.

While I can't say that my life has been simplified with the addition of all of this software, I can say that it has been streamlined. There are new skills to learn, but the applications are laid out very well to provide the absolute minimum barrier to adoption of their product. Everybody that needs to - and is authorized to - (including clients!) can access invoices and project details. After it is all done, I am convinced that this is the right direction for my company to head towards - Web based applications that create collaborative groups out of individuals in random locations.