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Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine Vol 02 Issue 10
------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 2, Issue 10
I've been working seriously on growing my business now for almost
a year and a half -- and business *has* been growing. To take it
to the next step, though, I will soon have to consider hiring an
employee or at least developing a network of subcontractors. The
question is, in what areas do I need the help? I need to start
breaking down my daily activities to know where I'm spending my
time. To help out in this effort, I've started using a new tool
called CreativeProOffice -- the subject of my article this issue.
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In This Issue...
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1. Article: Tracking My Busy-ness
2. Blog Posts
3. Shameless Self-Promotion
4. The Fine Print
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1. Article: Tracking My Busy-ness
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I met recently with Steve Owsinski of Igadea
(http://igadea.com/), a Web applications business located in
downtown Ann Arbor. Steve's company is where I would like mine
to be in a few years. His advice to me was to start tracking the
time I spend on my business. Only in that way would I know where
I would need help in the future. About the same time I saw
Steve, I received a tip from another friend, Barry Marshall of
Micor Design (http://www.micordesign.com/) about a tool he uses
to track his business -- CreativeProOffice
(http://creativeprooffice.com/). I've been using CPO for a
couple of weeks now and I've got to say that, for a free service
(yes, I said "free"), this is a mighty nice system.
First of all, the system allows you to track your clients,
projects for those clients, and tasks within each project
(including milestone goals). It has all of the facilities you
would expect for such an effort -- the people involved, contact
information, deadlines, etc. It even has a file upload facility
-- nice to keep track of the relevant paperwork for the project
in question. Of course, the fact that this is a Web application
means that as long as I have Internet access, I can keep track of
my business.
Beyond all of that, the makers of the software, Upstart
Productions have added the facility to track expenses, issue and
track invoices, and even maintain a timesheet showing in what
areas you've been spending your time.
It's this last feature that I've been using extensively lately.
I've set up my own company, Cyber Data Solutions, LLC, in the
client list. I've created a series of projects under that --
Marketing, Newsletter, Blogging, etc. Under some of these, I've
broken it down even further. For example, under Newsletter, I
have tasks for writing and for the eventual redesign. In the
sidebar, the system has a timer. Whenever I start working on a
project, I first start the timer. As I complete work, I log that
time to a particular project and task. In this way, by the end
of the week, I've got a pretty good idea of where I've been
spending my time -- both those tasks I do for my clients and
those that I need to do to keep my company running.
Of course, no system is perfect. One limitation I've already
discovered is that it won't just read my mind to determine which
tasks I'm focusing on at the moment. This means that I have to
remember to log my time myself. Kidding aside, though, it has
most of the features you would need to track a small business and
most of the drawbacks are related to my desire to customize the
system a little more (add my own logo, categories of progress,
etc). Still, for the price (did I mention it was free?), it
certainly can go a long way toward helping you keep your business
organized.
If you are using a different system to organize your
business/life or if you've already started using CPO, drop me a
line to let me know the details. You can reach me at
gpeters@cyberdatasolutionsllc.com. Take care until next time!
Copyright 2008, Greg Peters
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2. Blog Posts
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Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confusion" Blog from the
last year:
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 -- My Good Name
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-good-name.html
"I had something happen tonight which just irritates the heck out
of me. I was checking my email and found some bounced messages. A
whole lot of them...."
Thursday, March 06, 2008 -- The Little Rewards
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2008/03/little-rewards.html
"As I've worked in my business over the years (and especially
since I went full-time in my business), I've spent some time
observing my behavior. This isn't only because I'm self-absorbed,
but rather that I hope to find ways to make myself more efficient
and effective at running my business...."
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3. Shameless Self-Promotion
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The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg
Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data
Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better
web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us
on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your
webmaster.
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4. The Fine Print
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Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at:
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