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.