ClickTime sounds intriguing. I'll look into that. And, I think I'll
use QB too, I've used it some at work so it shouldn't be TOO hard to
pick up, especially with an accountants help, like you said.
And, thank you ALL so much for the excellent advice. You've helped me
quite a bit. I'm getting excited to begin making the purchases and get
set up...it's been a long time coming.
Cheers,
Holly
David Brockman wrote:
Holly, regarding software, I strongly recommend using hosted
applications (Software-as-a-Service or SaaS) wherever possible. It
will greatly reduce your setup costs and maintenance issues going
forward. Typically these services can also easily grow with you as you
add a few employees. Here are a few specific software ideas:
* *Email & Calendar - Get Google Apps for email for your custom
domain. It's free (you won't need the paid version) and you also
get shared calendar, basic document and spreadsheet
functionality. If you don't already have your own custom domain
(e.g. www.MyCompany.com <http://www.MyCompany.com>) then get
that first (GoDaddy <http://www.godaddy.com/>, etc.).*
* *Backup* - Get Mozy <http://mozy.com/> and a MozyHome
(unlimited) account. It's only $4.95/month per computer and can
backup everything (documents, images, photos, music, etc.).
Don't take a chance on losing all of your data should something
happen to your computer or your home office. You can also get a
large external hard drive and use it for Time Machine backups
(built into Mac OS X). Together, Mozy and Time Machine provide a
good level of on-site and off-site backups. But if you're only
getting one of these, signup with Mozy.
* *Bug Tracking* - FogBugz <http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBugz/>:
there are cheaper solutions out there but this one works well,
especially with multiple people/employees.
* *Versioning* - I use Subversion in my office and it works well.
There's also a new hosted versioning system from the makers of
FogBugz called Kiln but I haven't tried it out.
* *Accounting* - There are alternatives but QuickBooks is the
standard. It's confusing if you're not experienced or an
accountant. You'll probably want a QuickBooks
consultant/accountant to help you get setup properly and then
help you a couple times per year as needed (before tax season,
etc.).
* *Time Tracking* - I'm biased since my company makes ClickTime
<http://www.clicktime.com/>. Our solution is good, especially as
you add a couple employees.
Here's a blog post that has some other helpful tips
too: http://www.mann.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/getting-businesses-to-snap-out-of-it/
~ Dave
On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 9:26 PM, Holly Fortenberry
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi folks,
I've been a web hobbyist since 1997 and have finally decided to
bite the bullet and start a 1-woman web shop. I plan on staying
small, perhaps never growing larger than 5 employees. Over the
years, I've designed on pc's and macs (I stuck with the mac), I've
used at least 10 different editors and ended up mostly hand-coding
or using Coda or Dreamweaver. I am passionate about web standards
and progressive enhancement. I am also really getting into
database work and am looking forward to building small business
sites for the folks in my moderately-size town.
So, for those of you who have been where I am now, do you have any
suggestions on the best Mac hardware to buy? My laptop won't cut
it anymore. I'd like a tower but perhaps that's overkill when you
can get those little boxes more cheaply.
Then I wonder how to handle separating the development from
production environments. That is one of my biggest concerns.
What software do you recommend for that?
And, what about versioning, billing and accounting software? I'm
thinking about going with Quickbooks but using Billings to track
my time. Any thoughts about that?
Finally, any other advice you want to give would be welcome. I'll
take advice on any aspect of this.
Thanks!
Holly
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