A word from the wise: If you’re going to slack off at work, don’t document everything you’re doing (or, not doing) in a journal and save it on your office computer like Sheraton hotel employee Emmalee Bauer did. (via Gawker)

I was recently looking for a simple solution for handing day-to-day tracking of quotes and invoices. I mentioned Mark Boulton‘s upcoming Flow web app which enters Beta very soon, but I also re-discovered Side Job Track. It’s changed quite a bit since I last saw it and I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and use it for now — it seems that this app (of the ones currently available) is best suited to my present needs.

It’ll be interesting to compare the two upcoming apps, Pro Job Track (Side Job Track for SMEs) and Flow compare when they’re both released. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on them both.

Now, all I have to do is decide between QuickBooks and MYOB to handle my accounting… and find some time to do some design around all this paperwork!

This post is bit of a deviation from my usual posts of cartoons and gadgets. At the beginning of the month I took the plunge (perhaps with concrete shoes) of setting up on my own as a freelance designer and every day I come across necessary things which I have no joy in doing (accounting, project management, etc.) which I’d like to take less time to do, and wish were easier to manage.

At the moment I’m looking into something (or a couple of things) that I can manage jobs with. As a consultant it’s a fairly simple process: I quote a client for a job, the quote is approved (or amended and approved), the job is done, the client is invoiced, the invoice is paid.

Fairly simple? Yes. Now, why can’t I find a software application that can help me record that process? I’ve had a quick look at MYOB BusinessBasics but, while it probably can do what I want, it seems overly complicated. Another one that appears interesting is Quickbooks SimpleStart, but they don’t seem to have a downloadable demo. Mark Boulton anncouned an application called Flow a little while ago, which looks quite interesting as well. But that’s not available yet, and I really need something immediately!

If anyone has any suggestions to a suitable solution, let me know. It’d have to work on a Windows machine though. Cheers!