This week, Lea Woodward (location independent professional and half of business consulting company Project Woodward) gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her digital office.
To market the business
- Wordpress and Typepad for blogs and websites
To service clients
- Google Apps: for email, online docs and calendar functionality using our domain name
- SkypePro for voice communications: I have 3 SkypeIn numbers for clients in the US, the UK and Australia
- SimplyBill: a simple, no frills online invoicing tool
- Paypal & Online Banking: to receive and send client payments
- ProjectStat.us: this is what we used before we streamlined our processes, to manage projects and keep clients up to date with projects
To manage & run the business
- Excel: I’m a bit of a spreadsheet whiz so manage all our business finances on custom-built spreadsheets
- Smartdraw: to create and tweak processes and streamline what we do and the way we do it
- Carbonite: as an online back up for my files; I like the way it just runs in the background without me having to do anything - this is in addition to an external portable hard drive.
To stay connected
- Boingo wireless: to stay connected around the world as we travel; Great for airports and major cities.
- Efax: for online faxing services
- EarthClassMail: to manage snail mail we have 2 addresses; one in Oregon and one in Miami.
- The in-laws: we also get most of our UK mail sent to my in-laws!!
And my laptop is a Sony Vaio SZ3 and my browser of choice is, of course, Firefox!
Links
- Wordpress
- Typepad
- Google Apps
- SkypePro
- Simply Bill
- PayPal
- Projectstat.us
- Smartdraw (Windows Version)
- Carbonite
- Boingo Wireless
- Efax
- EarthClassMail
- Sony Vaio SZ3
Photo by stevoarnold.
7 Responses
cool some good links… Short post thou.
Of course we all now love this woman.. For her good taste in browsers, thats what won us all over.
@ Grant: The length of the post really depends on how much the interviewees want to write ;-).
Good stuff…I’m learning…(Some things I’ve never heard of)
Sounds productive!
BTW that link to SmartDraw on Amazon is to an old version. You can find SmartDraw 2008 here:
http://www.amazon.com/SmartDraw-2008-Standard-SmartDraw-com/dp/0978653262/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202678127&sr=8-1
@ Aaron: Thanks! I’ll fix that when I get home (just on the way out at the moment.)
Hi, nice post. I’ve been using SmartDraw in my consulting business for a few years, and it’s been awesome for workflow diagrams. I can whip out a workflow in a few minutes, but the results are so good it looks like I’ve spent hours on it. A sure-fire way to impress the clients!
I’ll have to try out some of your other recs…
Best,
Christine
I’m always happy to see a positive comment about SmartDraw! (yes, it’s my obligatory employee comment…)
Quick question about your use of Google Apps. I’m setting up a new domain name and hosting for a friend who is starting a new business. I figure she doesn’t need a lot of hardcore web services but it would be nice to give her decent email access and some simple shared document functionality. Do you use it at all as a repository for your business documents? Does it meet most of your basic needs as a small business?