Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 60 posts

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

#51

Post by keithwarren »

joshdance wrote: post #49
keithwarren wrote: post #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…

Good advice, but don't assume he is 'doing it wrong' without knowing his use case etc. Maybe he really does need a CRM. Your advice is 'you don't need one' which could be exactly true, but it could not work for his needs.

Certainly true. But starting out with 'You are doing it wrong' is the opening sentence version of link-baiting :) You read it didn't you?

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

#53

Post by ulisesrmzroche »

brudgers wrote: post #26
keithwarren wrote: post #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…

I'll go further and say that researching CRM's only feels like work. It isn't. Cold calling and chasing contracts and closing them and completing the contracted work is all that counts as actually working. Choosing and installing and learning a CRM is easier. That's why it doesn't count.

No, this is wrong. Researching counts as actual work, that's why people put R&D as an expense. It feels like work to you because you recognize it as such.

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

#54

Post by ulisesrmzroche »

marvin wrote: post #34
brudgers wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll go further and say that researching CRM's only feels like work. It isn't. Cold calling and chasing contracts and closing them and completing the contracted work is all that counts as actually working. Choosing and installing and learning a CRM is easier. That's why it doesn't count.

Perfect observation of real, honest-to-God procrastination. You are usually better served taking the time researching the CRM and slacking off. Or at the very least admitting that the CRM research is part of your time off, not your job.

No. You're both missing the whole point. This is like researching a move to Node from Rails, or something similar. In fact, using the right tool for your sales has a direct effect on your bottom line, so I'm going to say it's far more important if you like stuff like money.

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

#55

Post by ulisesrmzroche »

keithwarren wrote: post #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…

No thank you bud. The scientific method works both for code and sales. The better you have a grasp of your sales pipeline, the contacts you are making, how much money you are making and spending, THEN the better you will run your business, the more projects you will be able to take on, and the more money you will make. Your tools are too simple to make any real analysis, and that's probably a reason why ya'll don't get too many leads.

This is a good question, not something to dismiss just out of hand.

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

#56

Post by samspenc »

We've been using Zhen CRM at my company for a while now: http://codecanyon.net/item/zhen-crm/4149099

The cool thing about Zhen CRM is that its self-hosted and a one-time fee - so you pay for the software one-time, and download and self-host on your local server (LAMP stack) and off you go! You can create as many users as you want, and you don't have to worry about it being hosted at a third party.

What I find really cool about it is the price - right now its only $25! (used to be even less, the price must have gone up recently) I purchased it to experiment, but found it has enough features to use as a primary CRM.

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

#58

Post by ohado »

Disclaimer - I am a co-founder at ONDiGO Mobile CRM.

I completely agree with what I've read here on previous answers.. Being a solo freelancer or a small business owner you don't need a CRM. At least not the good old fashion CRM solutions our there.

What you do need is a simple to use, easy to on-board and free solution. It should also be mobile as we're constantly on the go and rarely sit all day in front of the desktop.

That is exactly what we had in mind when we started working on ONDiGO. Check it out.. I'm sure you are going to love it!

http://ondigo.me/

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

#60

Post by soci »

EC1 wrote: post #35
soci wrote: post #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)

Could you post a template? That's a neat way of doing it.

Sure, here you have it, very simple.

EDIT:: The formatting got corrupted when I posted the comment. Feel free to contact me and I'll send you the format by mail. marc /at/ kitebit /dot/ com

* CUSTOMER2 NAME Contact details Where we did find about him * ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

---> ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

* CUSTOMER2 NAME Contact details Where we did find about him * ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

---> ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

Post reply on HN