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Choosing Account Software For Your Freelance Life


Please note that all opinions are that of the author.


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I’m in the process of gearing up for a return to the freelance lifestyle. One thing I’ve never done, since I started as a real freelancer, is actually use accounting software. I know, I know, I know – bad decision. Well accounting and taxes are among my least favorite things in life so that’s why I’ve justified it but that’s kind of being a child about it. Ignoring something does not make it better so one of my 2017 resolutions was “Deal with Accounting / Taxes”.

Requirements

Here are my requirements for an accounting tool for freelancers in 2017:

Options

I looked at three options:

accounting_software.png

QuickBooks

Like, I suspect every other entrepreneur, I’ve used Quick Books in the past so it was my first stop along this path. Sadly, for what should be such a strong product, I rejected it almost immediately. The version I was examining was the very low end, $10 / month version, Quick Books Self Employed - left most option. Here’s what I found wrong with it:

Hurdlr

I found Hurdlr somewhere and I’m intrigued by the promise and absolutely terrified by the reality. This is a brand new app / website seemingly and they’re not even charging yet. Sure I can use it for free – and what happens when they fail? Can I get my data back? Can I trust them with passwords to my bank account? Will they stay in business? They do a good job of talking the talk but I’m not going thru this selection process again. I hate to not risk my efforts on a startup given my predilections for startups but this is just too risky.

FreshBooks

Surprisingly to me I ended up picking FreshBooks as my choice. Here’s how it matched up against my criteria:

I’ve had one problem so far - expense import brought in far more than I wanted but Support helped me out and did a great job.

I have the app on my phone; my wife has it on her phone and for the first time since I’ve been a freelancer, I have a heads up view as to the money that’s coming in. Honestly it feels fantastic.

freshbooks_dashboard.png

Note: Actual number above removed.

Further Reading

While FreshBooks was right for me, you may need more information. I found very good info on the CarefulCents.com site.