Help me pick the best business producitivity management tool(s) for my consulting practice! (Not Daylite)

I got it! My spirit guide Mahatma contacted me shortly after your post, and here is the rest of your psychic's message: "Ser....iously, why are you asking a psychic about productivity management tools?"

Ha ha, thanks for the useful reply. Because they've been right on many other things, including the best tool to create my website with, that would work will with how I do work. On another note, one feature from Highrise that I'd definitely like to see in what I use is smooth integration with email, like this: http://highrisehq.com/email

http://www.sugarcrm.com/ was recommended to me by my neighbor's cat (who is actually a reincarnation of Richard Feynmann, go figure).

take another look at highrise/basecamp -- it hits probably 75% of your requirements, and I think that's pretty good. I'm not psychic, but I think you're going to have difficulty finding something that'll do everything you want: most project management and CRM software still needs to evolve a bit before it is useful. There are some downsides to Basecamp (and I imagine, Highrise, which I haven't used) -- it can be a little *overly* simplistic at times due to 37signals approach to software. Still, for just a single person starting out who doesn't have time to waste on learning curves for software products, 37signals is a good choice. I wouldn't recommend SugarCRM at all for someone in your position -- it's very powerful, but it's stock install is not even close to intuitive. fwiw, it sounds like you want BOTH project management software AND CRM: the big commercial players in this field are Microsoft Project for the former, and Salesforce.com* for the latter. Maybe see what you like about those two products (which again, I think are too complex for your needs) and then look for other stuff like it? * SugarCRM is often looked at as the open source clone of Salesforce.com's functionality.

"most project management and CRM software still needs to evolve a bit before it is useful" should probably read "most project management and CRM software still needs to evolve a bit before it is useful to MOST small businesses". I have no doubts that a lot of the CRM/PM stuff that's out there is useful

Thanks, this is a start. FF, you're right, Basecamp et al are in some ways too simple in the function set, and have some just plain dumb flaws (ie not being able to calendar tasks more then a day away, on a specific day, and not have them be time specific, tasks are based only on completion time, not start time, etc) I'm not afraid of something being complex and feature rich, as long as I can make use of some of its capability early on, and grow into it as my practice grows. And yes, you're right, I do want project management and CRM in one tool. Daylite seems to be most of the way there, but I'm concerned about its Mac only and software based (as in every user needs to buy it, at $185 a pop) model. If only there were something like it, that was web based. Anybody?

[question edited slightly at poster's request]

You might take a look at http://www.contactoffice.com/.

I used Daylite and abandoned it--it was too complex & rigid. Highrise is a little *too* simple for a few things, but it's far easier to use than Daylite was and is now central to my business. It's super easy to attach emails & very easy to attach files and notes. The free-form fields make it easy to capture all the "soft" info about a person or company. It's feasible (though I haven't done it yet) to have a virtual assistant go in and do whatever you don't want to do. I don't think you're going to find one tool to do everything. I run an online business using mostly an iMac. My tools: Highrise for contact management, the mundane tasks like "Call Gheeta today," and ongoing notes about a project or prospect. Life Balance for big-picture planning, project tasks, and personal goals--very useful. iCal for calendary stuff and daily timed reminders to work out, etc. TimeEqualsMoney for time tracking. It also creates basic invoices. Super easy: just hit "start," work for awhile, and hit "stop." Of these, only Highrise is web based. The kind of collaboration I do can be done on my company wiki or over Skype, so I don't need third-party collaboration engines. I'm looking for web-based money & invoicing management and like Xero the best so far, though it's currently focused on the New Zealand market and I bank in the US.