After seeing @juliaxgulia’s question on twitter about creating online invoicing, I started looking for sites that help businesses run. I’ve put together short list of resources and tools that help businesses, freelancers, and other folks collaborate and run organizations.

INVOICING

For creating and sending invoices, Freshbooks.com is definitely the standard.

There are also a few alternatives:
http://www.fluttervoice.co.za/
http://www.blinksale.com/home
http://www.invoiceplace.com/invoice/
http://www.invoicesmadeeasy.com/
http://www.simplyinvoices.com/

For project management…
Currently, I use Basecamp to manage projects, but found Collabtive, a free alternative that can run on your own server. Installation is required, and is not as slick as Basecamp, but then again, it’s free and works great. I think both services are great for sharing files, and managing any kind of project. In addition to freelancers, I’ve seen marketing firms and ad agenices use these services too.

For other alternatives to Basecamp, read WhyBaseCampSux

BUSINESS TEMPLATES + DOCUMENTS

Finally, take a look at Docstoc. They have a full collection of templates for contracts, invoices, and other business documents.

Scribd is another popular site for sharing documents. From their site: “Scribd is the place where you publish, discover and discuss original writings and documents. More than 50 million people each month are finding or sharing fun, functional or fantastical writings and documents on Scribd.com and tens of thousands of other websites that have embedded Scribd’s document reader.”

For an interesting look at how people are using Scribd, take a look at Obama’s Scribd account.

What online tools do you use to run your business?