Ashleyidesign is a web design and inbound marketing agency in Massachusetts (USA) that provides services for HubSpot customers across the world. Ashley Hill, founder of ashleyidesign, identifies strategies and website improvements that bring in more customers and revenue for her clients on a daily basis. As a solo consultancy, Ashley discovered Teamwork Projects when she was looking for project management software that could help her stay on top of several projects at once without needing a collection of additional apps. Here’s how Teamwork Projects gave her the ability to handle a complex workload and communicate more effectively with clients.

“Teamwork Projects lets me start projects easily and stay in control of all of the details. It’s a great fit for the way most companies work today!”

One-person agencies like ashleyidesign face multiple pressures as they meet deadlines, interact with clients, create accurate checklists, and take care of all the details that keep projects and revenue flowing. Over the past decade in business, Ashley relied on several different apps to support every aspect of each phase in her projects. Trello and ToDoist provided some assistance with checklists and project workflows, but the features were limited. Every time Ashley wanted to start a new project, she had to input every step by hand, even if it was a standard workflow she had been using for months. In addition, adaptations she made to use these tools in her business only provided partial solutions. She was still having to create additional lists or backup strategies to make everything coordinate smoothly, and she was tired of spending extra time to input all of the project details.

“I work on many different projects at any one time, and it’s important to me to be able to easily manage those projects without fighting the user interface at the same time. I wanted a platform that would allow me to handle multiple projects and still keep within my quasi-scrum workflow.”

After all of the info was entered, Trello and other apps still didn’t give her a good overview of tasks and priorities that needed attention each week. Keeping everything on track still required hours of attention as she hopped from one page or platform to another to gather all of the information she needed. Even when all of those tools were working together perfectly, Ashley lost valuable time using email for client communication. Trying to organize or locate important conversations in a sea of hundreds of emails was time-consuming and nerve-wracking. Ashley wanted software that allowed to store and manage every part of every project, from messages to milestones to deadlines. Her research started with platforms that had integrations with Harvest, her favorite time-tracking app, and Hubspot which she depended on for CRM and marketing efforts.

Ashley compared Teamwork Projects to several other project management tools, eventually choosing it because of its intuitive UI and tools that reduce the amount of repetitive work needed to update the progress on each project. One of the first features Ashley put to use was task list templates, which allow her to build a new project with just a few clicks. All of the efficient workflows she’s created for evaluating websites are already in place.

“Teamwork Projects is a lifesaver for new projects with series of tasks I’ve done before. I have the entire process for a web redesign laid out in tasks as a template, and I can add that to projects, complete with the expected start and finish dates.”

Individual tasks are also easily managed, from social media posts to one-off tasks that could easily slip through the cracks. A few quick entries, and the tasks are logged into the project, complete with deadline reminders. Conversations now take place within Teamwork Projects, too. Information typically communicated via email are now added as comments to individual tasks within each project. Important exchanges are automatically organized and located there or with the powerful search tool, saving time and reducing confusion. Because Teamwork Projects offers granular permissions, information is shared with only the clients and contractors who need it.

“Messaging is much easier, but Teamwork Projects also lets me and clients upload files and collaborate entirely within that platform. It’s been so easy to get clients to use Projects.”

Switching to Teamwork Projects was simple with the Trello importer, and integrations with some of Ashley’s favorite apps meant less downtime due to learning new software. She could keep right on using Harvest and HubSpot without a loss of continuity or data.

Ashley hasn’t calculated an exact ROI after the switch to Teamwork Projects, but the software has saved her so much time that she can’t imagine giving it up. Instead of juggling different apps and platforms to manage her workload, she goes to one location for all of her files and tasks, and clients enjoy using software, too.

“I wish I had exact numbers, but I can say that Teamwork Projects has definitely has improved my productivity. I spend less time managing projects, which gives me more time for clients or working on my business instead of in it.”

The simplicity of the interface makes quick work of inputs and project updates, and generating status reports lets her see the big picture in seconds. So many different processes that support her business now take a few keystrokes to complete instead of hours, which gives Ashley the confidence to take on more clients and more challenging projects.

“I’ve already recommended Teamwork Projects to several clients and friends. It’s a versatile tool that can fit any sort of project management workflow to make your business more automated.”