Startups have limited resources. You can't afford to waste time or money. The right project management tool saves you both by making it possible to get more done, and in less time. We speak with Josh Byrne, founder of Cape Town based startup SEO consultancy, Trail Digital and he shares his thoughts on why project management is a key ingredient for a productive work-life balance, the business problems he was facing prior to purchasing a robust project management tool, and how ActiveCollab helps him run daily operations at Trail Digital.
Sometimes life throws you a curveball. It was an idea he had been mulling over for years, and although the middle of a global pandemic may not have been his “ideal moment”, is there ever an ideal moment to start a business though? Josh went forward and started his consultancy Trail Digital amid a pandemic.
Josh Byrne is the founder of Trail Digital, a search engine marketing consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa that specializes in Search Engine Marketing & Web Design for dentists.
How Trail Digital got started with ActiveCollab
A friend had recommended Josh to look into ActiveCollab for some growing pains he was facing at Trail Digital. He knew the three core issues that could tank his budding consultancy and these included:
1) He required a tool to manage projects coming in and projects going out.
2) Effective time tracking would be essential in billing correctly and knowing if a project's profitability was threatened.
3) Being bootstrapped, it’s a priority to be as lean as possible, to ensure profitability. Trail Digital needed a cost-effective tool that would grow alongside them. They didn’t want to pay for a portion of the platform that doesn’t serve them or that they could not fully capitalize on in the now.
I signed up for the trial and I’ve stayed for ActiveCollab's excellent capabilities!
ActiveCollab’s automation capabilities helped Trail Digital to increase productivity
Using ActiveCollab’s automation features can help you increase your team’s productivity and get more done in less time, without having to buy more resources. Josh explains how he uses templates to help him launch new projects and tasks more quickly. By pre-populating templates with standard information, he also reduces the likelihood of errors and missing data.
Josh values automation as this allows him to scale his business. The magic of automation is that, when implemented correctly, it can increase a team’s output and quality exponentially. Plus, automation increases the predictability of work, making it easier to scale with less risk and fewer variables.
With ActiveCollab you don't have to keep creating the same tasks every day, week, or month. Let the system take over!
How ActiveCollab helps run daily operations at Trail Digital
The tool has so many advanced functionalities, which simply aren't available on other platforms within the price bracket, beating some project management tools 500% the cost.
Josh tells us how “every day, I'll open up my ActiveCollab Workload tab, to look at what is on the agenda for the day. Which I can view through a list, column, or timeline format. Invaluable when I’m looking at everything from a birds-eye view. Once I've determined the most critical tasks for the day; I'll open my calendar, which is already synced with today's tasks.”
Something else Josh finds valuable, especially as he’s in this startup phase of the business, is our time tracking capabilities. Accurately tracking time, setting revenue goals, and viewing your company's timesheet makes it easy to keep count and keep your accountant happy. Custom reports also make it easy to create a rolling monthly cash flow forecast and anticipate potential cash flow issues.
Josh says, “Becoming profitable was easy, and with ActiveCollab, my business has expanded to the point of extreme personal and professional fulfillment. With an annual price of under $150 with the Get Paid bundle, ActiveCollab made managing my projects and keeping them profitable very easy. Choosing between ActiveCollab and other tools (or sheets) was a no-brainer.”
Josh’s 5 favorite features ActiveCollab offers
How ActiveCollab has helped Trail Digital grow their business
Josh uses ActiveCollab’s project management software to tackle administrative tasks and busywork, such as sending out project reports, reminding people of upcoming deadlines, and checking on task statuses. Josh no longer has to spend hours doing administrative work. By allowing his system to take care of these routine tasks, he is free to focus on the important aspects of the business growth and have an improved work-life balance.
As Josh explains,
When I think about growth, especially within the business, I always look at it from the personal as well as the professional perspective because I'm very much about work-life balance. And although I love my job, I obviously have a life outside of work…ActiveCollab allows me to set some time aside within my day for things that are more personal to myself and manage everything in a central location… And when it comes to choosing between ActiveCollab and any other tools based on the features based on the price based on the functionality, it's a no brainer.
Get started with ActiveCollab
Plan and organize your entire work, from start to finish. Communicate and collaborate with your team, other teams in your company, and clients. Track your time, evaluate your progress, and measure the impact your business is making. Always stay within budget and get paid for your work!
