Running your own small business just got easier. Here’s how Hurdlr can make your freelance life a breeze.

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Freelancers, solopreneurs, side hustlers, and others know how difficult it can be to manage bookkeeping activities and stay on top of their tax situation. Managing income and expenses, along with items like mileage, can feel like a daunting task.

This is where Hurdlr comes in. With the help of this app, you can track expenses, manage your income, and even estimate what you owe in taxes. Here’s what you need to know about this newcomer to the field.

What is Hurdlr?

Hurdlr is an app aimed at freelancers, side hustlers, and others who need help managing their business income and expenses and integrating their business finances with other aspects, like mileage and taxes.

You can connect Hurdlr to various accounts and the app will generate reports designed to help you keep track of what’s happening in order to make it easier to file your taxes.

Hurdlr Features

Hurdlr comes with a number of features designed to make your life easier as a freelancer or solopreneur. Some of the things you can expect to see include:

• Income tracking: Connect various accounts, including your bank account, as well as your PayPal, Square, Upwork, or Lyft accounts. This allows you to see all the income coming in and you can then categorize which income is business income.
• Expense tracking: In addition to tracking your income, Hurdlr will also track your expenses. Your best bet is to separate your finances, so you have separate credit cards and bank accounts for business costs.
• Mileage tracking: With Hurdlr on your phone, the miles you drive are automatically logged. You can look at the trip later and categorize it as work-related (or not). Using the information, Hurdlr automatically figures your deduction.
• Automated reports: Want to stay up-to-date with what’s happening? Hurdlr will email you reports automatically each month, letting you see exactly what’s going on with your business.
• Tax estimator: Using the information from your account, Hurdlr can estimate how much you owe in taxes at the state and federal levels. You can also see what you owe in self-employment tax. You can look at an annual estimate, as well as break it down by quarter.

Most of these features are designed to help you manage your situation when you don’t have a traditional work circumstance. If you do have a real job on top of a side gig, you can enter that information and Hurdlr will take it into account.

Hurdlr Pricing

Hurdler is a freemium app. You can get automatic mileage tracking and connect accounts for free. However, you have to do the categorizing related to income and expenses yourself.

You can pay $7.99 per month to upgrade to a premium subscription. If you pay for a year at a time, you receive a discount, paying $60 annually. With the premium version you can:

• Automatically categorize your expenses
• Set up rules for tagging your income and expenses
• Create work hours so mileage during that time is considered deductible

For some, this can be worth the cost. However, for many using the app, taking the time to regularly categorize expenses shouldn’t cause a lot of problems, so it might not be worth it to pay extra for the added automation.

How to Sign Up for Hurdlr

To sign up, head to the website and choose the “Sign Up” option. You can then select the business that most accurately reflects your situation. Hurdlr includes designations like freelancer, driver, real estate agent, host, and consultant. You can fit your business under most of the categories provided. If not, though, there is still the option to choose “Other.”

Once you select the broad business category, you’ll be asked to narrow it down. For example, as a “Freelancer,” I have the option to select items like writer, speaker, photographer, or marketer to describe the work I do. You can also add multiple businesses when you sign up.

Once that’s done, you enter your email address and create a password. Then you’re taken into the dashboard where you can begin connecting accounts.

Hurdlr Security

Hurdlr uses bank-level encryption to keep your data safe. Additionally, Hurdlr uses tokenization, so when you link an account, the credentials go straight to the bank and Hurdlr receives read-only access. Hurdlr doesn’t store your credentials at all, so this adds another layer of security.

Mobile Support

Hurdlr’s app is fully mobile, allowing you access from your phone. Additionally, the mileage tracking runs in the background of your phone so that when you’re in the car, whether your driving for a rideshare service or taking a work-related trip, it’s all done automatically. This allows you to keep track of your miles effortlessly and then categorize the trip later.

Hurdlr Customer Service

Hurdlr doesn’t have a phone number to call, but you can use the “Contact Us” link to start a live chat with members of the team. Additionally, there is a searchable help center that allows you to find information on your own. You can see tutorial videos about Hurdlr, check out FAQs, and read articles on getting started and using Hurdlr.

Hurdlr Pros and Cons

Pros

• Income tracker: Hurdlr links to a wide variety of accounts and partners for easy income tracking.
• Free to use: The free version has several useful features.
• Mileage tracker: Automatic mileage tracking.
• Tax estimator: To give you an idea of where you stand.
• Informative: Receive automatic monthly reports.

Cons

• Can be pricey: Premium features might not be worth the cost of the upgrade.
• Limited customer service: You won’t be able to speak to someone by phone, customer service is limited to live chat.
• Depletes phone battery: Hurdlr tends to use a lot of battery power when tracking automatically.
• No ability to create invoices: Hurdlr doesn’t have an invoicing feature.

Hurdlr Alternatives

Hurdlr really is a solid choice when it comes to tracking income, expenses, and mileage. However, there are some alternatives that might provide more services.

QuickBooks is probably the most complete alternative. You can send invoices, track income and expenses, and there’s even an automatic mileage tracking feature. Plus, if you use an accountant, it’s possible for you to give your accountant limited access. However, QuickBooks is much more expensive.

FreshBooks is another alternative to Hurdlr. You can send invoices and track your income. FreshBooks integrates with Hurdlr, so, while you can’t send invoices using Hurdlr, your income, when it’s paid through FreshBooks, is tracked by Hurdlr. FreshBooks also costs more than Hurdlr.

In many cases, you might actually choose to use invoicing features through PayPal or through something like Wave, Xero, or FreshBooks and connect them to Hurdlr. With a little extra work, you could manage things cost-efficiently by connecting a low-cost invoicing solution to Hurdlr.

Who is Hurdlr For?

If you’re self-employed or side-gigging and want an easy way to track your income and expenses–along with your mileage–Hurdlr might be a good choice. It’s relatively inexpensive, and it can keep everything in one place while helping you keep an eye on your tax bill. It integrates with most tools that freelancers, rideshare drivers, and Airbnb hosts, among others, use to run their businesses.

Bottom Line

Hurdlr is a reasonably-priced app that can help you see the state of your business in one place. You can use it in conjunction with a number of tools you probably already use, allowing you to consolidate information from various payment sources into one place.

The premium upgrade cost might not be necessary (or even worth it) for some users, but the free version is robust enough to make things easier for freelancers, side hustlers, and solopreneurs come tax time.

Topics: Reviews • small business

The post Hurdlr Review – Small Business Tracking for the Freelancer appeared first on The Dough Roller.

via Finance Xpress