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Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

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11–20 of 60 posts

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#11
In our company we use plain TXT files with an agreed formatting between the team mates.

We have the plain TXT files stored in dropbox shared location.

Easy, slick, cost 0, and accessible by search through OSX Spotlight. Also, we don't depend on third parties (we can move disconnect from dropbox at any time)

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#12

Make your own dude. That's a good way to show your skills! That's what I did for me at http://marques.io

I'm sure it's a great learning exercise, but I've built enough CRUD applications as 'toy' projects without adding another! I'm not stuck for portfolio content, so I need to focus my time on generating business.

Not reinventing the wheel this time, but thanks anyway! :-)

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#14

Make your own dude. That's a good way to show your skills! That's what I did for me at http://marques.io

Took me about 3 weeks (working after work and week-ends) so anyone could (and should do it also).

looks nice, i like the scrolling but there is a bug there ... if you highlight something that is more than a line it will scroll to the next article.

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#15
Trello or Asana is pretty easy to use

https://asana.com/guide/explore/videos/crm

Plus you can use those for your projects/tickets/personal todos too.

I hate having one million webapps to do one million things. Even if they aren't best in class for _everything_ there is something to be said for _good enough_ in a single location

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#16
I remember seeing an article from the guy who built this where he mentions that you shouldn't bother with a CRM until you get to a certain number on sales.

http://spreadsheetcrm.com/

I couldn't find the article. Seems about right though. It's easy to spend a lot of time looking for something that we feel we need when a simple spreadsheet app probably works well enough for solo use.

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#17
You are doing it wrong.

I don't mean to be contrarian but if you want to be successful as a independent developer (I have been for almost 15 years now) and you are looking for a CRM you are off the rails.

CRM systems are for the most part, for companies or sales individuals who need help managing the number of contacts they have at any given time and ensuring they follow a structured interaction pattern.

I know about a dozen people like me, some of whom float in and out of full-time gigs and consulting and others who are years or decades into the independent consulting arrangement. Not a single one interacts with a high volume of customers. At any given time I have two or three I interact with and maybe one in the pipeline. If I make contact with new potential customers I create a contact record for them in Outlook/Gmail/Whatever and record any extraneous details in the notes section. That is all, if you need more than that I question the approach.

ps - Another tip. 'Freelancers' are cheap and not serious, 'consultants' or 'developers' or 'independent developers' take home the big checks. Just a perception thing.

Re: Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

#19
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Took me about 3 weeks (working after work and week-ends) so anyone could (and should do it also).

looks nice, i like the scrolling but there is a bug there ... if you highlight something that is more than a line it will scroll to the next article.

Yeah! I already noticed it but never had time to correct it! Thanks for the highlight! Ps : it's for mobile/tablet compatibility but yeah, it should be disabled in desktop! Thanks for checking!
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