How Dubsado got me to stop being cheap with my business.

I am cheap. There I said it! Wheew, that was like a weight off my shoulders. The truth is, from the perspective of what it takes to run a full-time freelance business and the tens of thousands of dollars spent on software and equipment over the years I may not truly fall into the “cheap” category. Like many business owners, I try to cut cost where I can. For me, that meant keeping my own books for FREE. I had been aware of client management and project management software for some time. But keep in mind we are talking about a guy (me) who kept an actual daily planner on him up until the late 2000’s. I was slowly grandfathered in on the digital revolution and resistant the whole way! Spend money to keep track of client schedules? Why? I have a calendar, don’t I? Contracts? I have Microsoft Word, don’t I? There was no way I was going to pay for that.

Eventually I caved and the ease of technology was too much to resist. In fact, I found several apps to help me with the mundane duties of project management for FREE! All I had to do was put up with a few unwanted ads or the inconvenience of client limitations. And when I hit a brick wall, just jump to another system to finish the job. Eventually my tireless search for the best FREE solutions brought me to some pretty good pay for’s. In this list was Dubsado. Though it was not free, the price point was decent and most importantly the functionality was tailored to creatives’ such as myself. That was the ultimate draw for me. I had researched general client management software before and it wasn’t enough to pull me in. In fact, it was a blog similar to what you are reading now that influenced me to check out Dubsado’s free trial. At the time there was a lot to be desired from the platform. But just like the blog I read explained, the staff at Dubsado is very proactive in feedback and quick to respond. Since I’ve been an affiliate one fo the main add’s has been a booking platform, which helps with my photography business. Anyone who books appointments would love this, it marries right into your Google calendar and enables direct invoicing options.

Dubsado is nowhere near perfect, for example they have not included an app (they REALLY need an app). And the options for time-tracking are still in beta, I believe. But they really do take their clients suggestions seriously, which is rare. If you are interested in joining Dubsado you can use this link for your free-trail and purchase with my affiliate code for a 20% discount. Use code: 2creative