What are some tools/systems every project manager should know about?

Whenever you assign them a task, break down the task into small chunks. Make the chunks as small as you can (within reason, and to the extent that your knowledge allows), and tell your devs that if any chunks seem large, that they should further break those chunks down into bite size pieces. For instance, for the overall task of making a new webpage, _you_ might break it down as follows: 1) Set up a database 2) Make a form that takes user email, name, and phone number and adds them to database 3) Have our site send an email to everyone above the age of 50 each week When your devs take a look at it, _they_ might further break down the third step into: A) Set up an email service B) Connect it to the client database C) Figure out how to query the database for certain users D) Have it send emails to users over 50 You can keep using Asana, or you could use something like Trello which might make more sense for a small company, and might be easier to understand and track by yourself. In Trello you'd set up 4 columns titled, "To Do", "Doing", "Ready for Review", "Approved" (or combine the last two into "Done") You might want to tell them to only have tasks in the "Doing" column if they/re actually sitting at their desk working on it. For instance: not to leave a task in "Doing" overnight after work. That way you can actually see what they're working on and how long it takes, but that might be overly micro-manager-y At the end of each day / week when you review the tasks completed, look for ones that took a longer time than average (since, on average, all the tasks should be broken down into sub-tasks of approximately the same difficulty). Ask them about those tasks and why they took longer to do. It may be because they neglected to further break it down into chunks as you had asked (in which case you ask them to do that next time), or it may be that some unexpected snag came up, or it may be a hard task that can't be further broken down. In any case, listen to their explanation and you should be able to tell if it sounds reasonable, and if it sounds fishy, google the problem they say they encountered. You'll be able to get a better feel of their work ethic and honesty by how they answer the question, without worrying as much about what their actual words are. Make sure that when you ask for more details about why a task took longer, you don't do it in a probing way. Make sure they understand that you're doing it for your own learning and to help predict and properly plan future timelines.

I don't think it is what you are looking for, but MailChimp.com was created by mistake from a services agency. They were sending emails for their clients and the next thing you know, they were making most of their money from send costs and the rest is history. Sorry I can't be more help.

I am based in Canada and ended up opening a US bank account with Harris Bank in Chicago without physically visiting their office. This was about 4 years ago. So maybe contact them and see if they could help you.

I tried Basecamp, Jira, Unfuddle, Trello and PivotalTracker before for different projects which were developed with agile approach. All of them worked fine to me and I needed some time to setup my framework and processes there. I think it would be worth checking Trello or PivotalTracker which I personally like more than Basecamp because of better agile oriented structure.

Very possible, the hardest part is finding the area of interest. What niche market or opportunity do you see yourself enjoying as a hobby. Enjoyment or purpose is key because passive income often requires putting in some time. At least at the beginning and on going. Here is an example: I'm good at marketing, enjoy talking business tactics, sharing my expertise and like to write, although I'm not good at it. :) One option I saw a few years ago was starting a strategy blog, this blog shares random thoughts, stories, tactics, tips, FYIs, etc. regarding business. I run Adsense on the blog to generat income from there. But my bread and butter when it comes to making passive income from the blog is the affiliate links I have on there. I enjoy reading and think I'm really good at finding great stories, bios, and How To books and I share some of those there, I think I have one of my favorite albums listed there and links to courses and services offered by other companies and some for my own companies (I run a web development firm, a business analytic and advertising team, and a hosting platform that is cheaper than GoDaddy) I have links there. All affiliates or ads to my other services. All I do is drive traffic there once in a while and see the commissions add up. I do my homework in driving the right traffic. Also, another example which is connected to the prior is that I have landing pages (see: trainer.unthink.me for example) where i get registrations for single page landing pages done by a contractor that works for me and we split the earnings. I don't do anything, but post them once In a while on Instagram. I also have an affiliate system for online programs im vested in, and help drive traffic to increase the bottom line and get commission. I also don't do anything for this one. did take time and effort in finding the right market to advertise and message to use. Once that was done the rest takes care of itself. Another example, a friend of mine has a blog about a particular lens piece for a camera loved by many professional photographers, they come to his blog (which he doesn't invest much time in anymore) to find information about tips and how tos for the lens... During the time he updated the blog daily and then weekly he would share his own affiliate links to Amazon and collects money that way. Because the niche was so targeted and there are a ton of people looking for that information he gets good return on that. This is what you call a lifestyle business, but what the people that make money off selling lifestyle businesses don't tell you is that is for those who don't require much income. Another passive income is investing, consider investing in family or friend that maybe wants to start selling Mary Kay or something, you invest in them by buying the products for them. The person sells you collect either an interest or perpetuating until you find some agreement of full repayment to you. Buy a soda or vending machine if you have a truck and are handy with fixing stuff. You can always find deals on snacks and sodas and in a good spot a machine can generate average $50 per cycle. May not sound like much, but if you get yourself a couple of them you have a small income stream that can be saved and used to buy a candy machine or another vending machine... And give you weekend spending money. These are just some ideas I hope help you get your brain flowing to see that you might not need money to do something and if you do you might have more choices than you realized before.