A few readers were interested in knowing the “why” of the previous email. Why were these apps chosen, and why did they merit paying for them?
CRM
Q: Why not Salesforce?
A: I’ve always felt Salesforce was designed for larger organizations. I would not be able to manage with anything less than Enterprise Edition, and that’s pricey for a small business. SF is a platform, not just a CRM, and I needed something simple and good looking.
Not to mention that Attio seamlessly created contacts and accounts based on my Gmail. It also enriches the data with publicly available data. And the Kanban feature is just is perfect for simple pipeline management.
And it’s free for up to 3 users.
Workona
Q: Why is this worth $84 USD / year?
A: I cannot imagine life without this app anymore. Each client is managed a saved space, and you can effortlessly toggle between spaces. It also replaced most bookmarks, as they are now contextual to each client.
More details are available in a previous email.
BitWarden
Q: Why this over any other password manager?
A: BitWarden is free, is available on web and mobile. It has a great reputation and I don’t recall news about it being hacked.
In addition to storing website logins, it can store secure notes and credit cards. It also has a quick form filler, so you don’t have to constantly enter your name and email address for website registration.
VPN
Q: What’s the advantage of one?
A: Security. I hear too many stories of websites selling your data to data brokers. A VPN helps conceal your data.
Of all the VPNs, NordVPN is well known, and the speeds are very decent. So it’s active most of the day.
Time tracker
Q: Can you recommend a time tracker?
A: Back when I billed by the hour, I used Toggl.
It’s a free Chrome extension that allows you to create multiple clients and projects. You can quickly start a timer and then associate the allocated time to a specific client or project.
The takeaway
Thanks for your feedback about which apps you use!