What tools do you use to run your business? (for invoicing, custom management, project management)

What I'm noticing a lot of throughout these posts is combinations of software being used to achieve a workflow. The problem here is, when you're using multiple apps to manage everything your business does, it creates an inefficient, counter-productive workflow and is pretty discouraging to use. Your data's spread throughout multiple apps, you're paying multiple subscriptions, and you don't get any of the benefits you would from keeping all data central.

There's apps that combine CRM, project management, billing, time tracking, and other tools into one app. WORKetc is a great example, combining all of what i've listed above with Google Apps integration, mobile apps for iPhone and Android, and numerous other features (email marketing, calendars, dashboards, business wide reporting, etc).

With WORKetc you can manage the entire lifecycle of your clients in one system; bring in leads, manage your sales pipeline, then convert any won lead directly into a project. Collaborate with clients using the client portal, track time, manage a list of tasks, and then all billable items you create (i.e. timesheets, expenses, products, milestones) can be pushed through to billing directly, and you can put all these on an invoice for your client. Everything you do with a client then shows up on that client's history page. There's numerous other benefits as well, I'd recommend looking into a consolidated business management tool if you want to save some time and cash!