Moving back into the business fray; Part 2

Running a design company is essentially like running any other business: There are proposals, agreements, progress payment to invoice, vendors and their invoices, estimates, projects and project numbers, hours worked to be tracked, work in progress examples, submissions, completed work, archived projects, and a flow of conversation between everyone involved in the project.

Most of my friends think that running a design business is all about design and creativity. If the truth be known, running an active design business is really about design, creativity and communicating with the person in your company that deals with the bookkeeping and accounting side of things.

If you're not going to get mired in your operating and project vendor invoice questions and problems you'll want some help. I find it's a good idea to have a primary set of eyes looking at what is going in the back office: receive and pay bills, handle cash flow projections, manage contracts, and deal with the local, state and federal governments. 

I was surprised to find that accounting/purchasing talent looks at money through an entirely different set of eyes and these eyes see things much differently than a set of creative eyes. Generally -- in so far as business is concerned -- the accounting talent has a much clearer idea of what a successful business looks like. It wasn't accounting that was going to learn about the design business, it was the creative side of our business that was going to be molded into a more accurate information manager and better communicator of work activity. Dan, my finance person, really didn't/doesn't care about the vagaries of creative work. He cares about the black and white of numbers, the flow of paperwork as it relates to the company ledgers, and the information he needs to send an invoice, pay a bill, and then report to me on the month's financial activities.

I quickly discovered something that I have known for years: that accounting needs the same information about every job that I have; that accounting is generally scrambling to keep up with this flow of information; and that I have a responsibility to keep accounting as current as possible about the current status of jobs. If accounting is scrambling, it is because I have not communicated clearly or currently. 

Here's the kicker: Dan, my accounting manager, works half-a-dozen miles away. Keeping files and paperwork current -- particularly at the velocity we often work at -- would require a level of daunting duplication and organization. I don't have an assistant, so this duplication and organization would fall on my shoulders.

Unless, of course, we have an electronic project management/reporting/commenting system that channels all project information into a single on-line respository that is available to the creative and accounting departments in real time, securely, from any machine at any location.

We do.

In "Moving back into the business fray; Part 3" I'll reveal the simplicity and functionality of our system. It's very cool.

Moving back into the business fray; Part 1

A few months ago I was complaining to my wife that I felt stifled in my home office, and that I wasn't getting out and around sufficiently to gin up new business. 

So I've packed up my files, PCs and Macs, 23" monitor, artwork, awards and color books. I've opened a new design office in the hopping, burgeoning town of Melbourne, Florida.

Most of our friends envy our home office. We work out of reasonably large spaces in a freestanding, two-story three-car garage. The larger upstairs office -- recently claimed by my wife -- even sports a small kitchenette and bathroom [with a urinal as well].

Friends often ask if a home office breeds laziness and slothness...afterall, we can show up in our jammies with a cup of coffee. But the truth is that we treated our home office as though it was a 'real' office; dressing for work and rarely returning to the main house during the day. The downside of working at home is that you're AT home, and find yourself returning to the home office evenings to get in that extra hour of work. For me the home office negatives outweighed the positives. 

I've been canvasing area business with my new brochure and business cards; meeting and introducing myself to owners and employees.

One of my little goals was to be located in a place that was close enough to restaurants and services that I wouldn't need my car. This has been accomplished, and now I slip out to lunch in any one of half a dozen restaurants. I often walk to the post office. The office supply company [it's been here for years] is only a few steps from my office.

All I'm missing now is new business. Thankfully my current clients come up with the occasional new project. The economy has been challenging, but most business people that I run into in this area are enthusiastic about the future of their own businesses, which leads me to believe that mine will be fine as well.

Visit my new website at www.efsmart.com

You can still reach me at 321-449-0400 or my cell [preferred] at 321-536-5379.

In Pursuit of Explaining What I Do for a Living; V1

A neighbor of mine is a Drupal coder at drupaleasy.com. If you need to ask what Drupal is all about you're in for a pleasant surprise. It's a content management tool that has a surprising following. Go to Drupal.org.

Partner/neighbor Mike Anello asked me as a favor to design a logo for him as well as work with him on his Drupaleasy site. I prefer doing these things rather than helping someone move or clean gutters.

This past weekend Mike and his partner Ryan hosted a Florida Drupal Camp in Orlando. They were kind enough to give me a little acknowledgement during the event.

I have a fair amount of experience with coders. Rather than lecture about the value of design, which always falls on deaf ears. I suspected that my audience was pretty hard wired to not appreciating designers, so I wrote the following [let me know what you think...].

My little self promotion was never read to the 100 or so drupelettes. Mike says it was too long. But I'm always in pursuit of explaining my craft both to prospective customers and friends -- or a subset of coders in this situation -- so this was an intriquing opportunity to accomplish both:

Some day a client or boss will say to you, "I love the Drupal you've written, but God these pages are ugly."

 

You will reply: "what do you mean? I think it looks great. It's a Drupal template!"

 

At this point -- over your objections -- they may hire someone like our own designer Steve Hall to assist them in dressing up your work.

 

This is not the end of the world. A true professional designer appreciates that you think design people are useless and potentially troublesome. But smart designers like Steve will calmly coax and cajole you through rethinking your design. You may even decide that the new design looks pretty good.

 

At the end of the re-design process your boss or client will be happier; you will still think that your original work was great, and the designer will have a few dollars to spend on food for their shoeless children. It's a win-win for everyone.

 

Steve has worked for over 35 years with large and small clients. His clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as companies like yours. He does print work, advertising and interactive consulting. As a coder I haven't always agreed with him, but I seem to eventually come around to his way of thinking. And, if you pay him enough money he can be your friend too. Call him. He's very good. We recommend him highly.

 

His phone number and web address is on our flyer. 

Operators are standing by.

Posterized Obama

I was watching our President make a speech from the White House on February 4th. He was speaking to a room full of adoring fans about a minor bill -- SCHIP -- he was about to sign. He spoke awkwardly from a teleprompter, leaving me [and a few pundits] to wonder if he had even looked at his short speech before giving it. 

Obama's brilliant, focused and well managed "CHANGE" campaign is also its archille's heel. The democratic party didn't win the presidency, Obama did. The posterized image [see image] of Obama is a metaphor for his lightness and inexperience. The democratic congress and multitude of Clinton-era appointees have already figured out that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, using Obama's lack of experience as a signal for business as usual. 

The President-thing has got to be one tough gig for someone with no practical experience other than 24/7 campaigning and reading teleprompters in front of large crowds. 

Google's Chrome + 2 months: Perfect

I've been using Google's Chrome for a few months. It's out of beta [rare for Google] and it's a fine browser. I use it 99% of the time. Cranks up quickly and plug-in problems have been minimal. I've heard a lot of complaints by tech people about security, but I have to say that for someone who uses their browser for news feeds and site browsing, Chrome is perfect.

It's much lighter than Explorer 7 [or 8 for that matter] and installs quickly. I don't use Foxfire or Opera, so I'm limited in use and installation opinions where these are concerned, but I'd recommend a download to see for yourself.

Here's a link: http://www.google.com/chrome

My love of TV promotions -- I love this stuff

I'm an absent-minded cheap convenience shopper. For example, I buy disposable razors for my very coarse facial hair. I get a handful of pastic razors in a plastic package. By the time I'm ready to buy more I've forgotten the brand. So I'm always a little annoyed that the handles are different and the blades shave a little differently. I am also annoyed that they don't last very long, and they also seem to dull immediately after my wife shaves her legs [which, I should add, is the equivalent of 10 face shaves].

Cheap plastic razors last me about as long as expensive disposable razors that fit into a nicely designed handle. The expensive disposable razors cost a pile more. Other than the lure of the young busty women that I apparently am likely to attract by using these expensive disposable razors [I see them on the expensive disposable razor TV commericals], there is not much of an advantage. So, finding a product that will save me 2 cents per package of blades is a compelling feature.

On TV over holidays I watched repeated commercials for the "Razor Shaver." As an older person [56] I am obliged to say that I have sat in a barber's chair and watched the barber sharpen his razor on the leather strap. This product is promoted by virtue of a comparison between the leather strap and a set of straps that sharpen your disposible razor blades. I was hooked [or strapped]. I also inclined to buy things from the TV. This product just seemed like a good idea, and I have ordered one at $11.95 + shipping [delivery in 2 - 3 weeks].

My wife laughs at me for ordering things that are sold on TV. My daughter [12] is so aware of the 'free' additional feature if you act now' that she is in the habit of saying "and if you act now you can have a free with your purchase!" regardless of the product -- even a Toyota.  

A couple of years ago I ordered a set of nicely designed stackable square-ish kitchen plastic containers with blue covers and they have been a big hit at our house, so I am on the "wife and home opinion" plus-side regarding TV purchases. I only hope that my razor shaver is as popular. The hand-held whip [with free jar cover remover if act now!] was not quite as popular, but is still in limited use.

Someone must support innovation, and it might as well be me.

Here's a link: http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/servlet/display/product/detail/34539

Grownies, not grownups

I was at dinner the other night with my wife and two other couples [Milliken's Reef at Port Canaveral...very nice, btw]. One couple, a very youngish long married pair in their late seventies and early eighties and the other -- like my wife and I -- in their late forties and mid fifties.

Over the course of the dinner we caught up with recent work, travels and children. Most of our 'kids' are grown, which puts them in the position of potentially being grownups. This is not always the case, as they still do mystifying things, but some of the things that we do baffle them too.

At 56 I don't like being called a grownup. It's not that I mind being grownup, but I hate most of the stiff, unbending and older associations that come with it. I yearn for a younger way of expressing my age. A little hipper, a little less mom and dad-ish. Less tapioca and more frozen yogurt. Less Camry and more Prius. Less erectile disfunction and more, well, erectile functioning [not that that's a problem, hahaha].

So in the middle of a second-vodka side chat with my TV producer friend about some great mutual friends, I blurted out that they were 'grownies': too interesting to be mere grownups, too old to be up much past 10:30, and generally stradling the short divide between a very productive end to their careers and their first social security check. My parents are grownups. My brothers and sisters are grownies. My friends are grownies. My kids are grown. Their friends are grown.

Youth

Grown

Grownies

Grown Up

Deceased

So now I finally have a label that fits. I'm a grownie (or as my kids would prefer, a 'groanie') but I can avoid full-fledged grownupedness and skate over being merely grown. I can pare down the age range of being grownup -- currently 20 to 95 -- to something more reasonable, say 50 to 65. Comments?