Business

Tag: Business

Equipment – …the result of iBiz vs. Billings 3

Since my last post about searching for an invoicing program I’ve finally made a desicion…

It’s official, I’m now a Billings 3 man. Now you’re probably wondering how it eeked out iBiz in the competition. There are a couple things that made it the better choice:

  1. Billings 3 has the option for you to send out an estimate and based off of that you can start the job and pull from those items depending on what you and the client agree on. Up until now I’ll admit estimates were on full scalp …now, nice clean workflow.
  2. It syncs wonderfully with my Address book, simple right? Something a lot of invoicing software I tried doesn’t get right.
  3. It has an iPhone App. I spend a lot of time on set with photographers, times change, you’re asked to pay for a courier/coffee/lunch I can keep track right there on my new iPhone. Get a payment from a client while away from the computer, input it right then and there on your phone.
  4. One click invoicing, click and BAM it’s into Mail and gone.
  5. One click statements, invoice overdue? Send a quick polite remainder to the client that the amount is still outstanding.
  6. Awesome Reports, again simple thing done right.  I can see how much I’ve collected over the year, what I’ve spent on expenses. Information that can help me see where my business is going and what I need to tighten up.

All of these were enough to get me to switch over. Still a bit of a learning curve as with any new software but I think this is a change for the better. Anything else great pops up I’ll be sure to let you all know.

A screenshot of the Billings 3 website, my new invoicing software - © Kurtis Stewart 2010

With any luck this is formatted properly with a tiny excerpt at the top and a remainder of the article below, crossing my fingers that WordPress plays nice on this.

Business – My Card

I can't stress it enough, ALWAYS have business cards WITH you.

If you're going swimming bring a business card with you. If you're just going to grab 2L of milk from the Grocery store bring a business card with you. If you're backpacking through Europe take a stack with you. If you're taking a cooking class with your cousin in Chechnya, take a stack with you.

ALWAYS have business cards WITH you.

If you WANT to meet a client DON'T have a business card with you. When I don't have a business card with me I inevitably meet someone that would be interested in working with me and I have to write my contact info on a napkin/crushed receipt/they're hand. This does not look professional.

A little bit about my card, when I spoke to Simone Sando (the designer) I said I wanted something very minimal and easy to read from a distance (read as BIG FONT). What I got in return was a slick card with all the info and high contrast that stands out anywhere (if it was white text on black font and you hand it out under bad lighting it could be hard to read)

You could shoot one wedding a year, you could shoot 60, no difference in my eyes need a business card. There is no excuse not to get business cards, my first batch was $60/500 Cards at Third Eye Productions and they were ready in 24hrs.

ALWAYS have business cards WITH you.

Read more