Mike Chandler

So I’ve been using 5pm now for several weeks and my clients love it.

I already have a relatively interesting process in place to handle billing.  I log my billable hours in an intranet under the client’s name which calculates billable amounts by hours clocked and the hourly rate.  That data gets converted into a printer friendly PDF that gets emailed to the client along with an invoice.  It’s detailed stuff and clients appreciate it.

Combine that with the project management provided by 5pm and I’ve got me some very informed, very much in-the-loop clients that are treated like active participants in the production process.  It’s working out very well!  I highly recommend 5pm for any business that does project based work.

It was bound to happen… I’ve taken on a project that requires me to convert a video upload into web friendly Flash.  I suppose it was inevidable.  Of course, I’m using my native language of ColdFusion to do the project.

I’ve found several command line solutions ranging in price from $600 to $1000, which seems pretty reasonable considering how easy they seem to implement.  Of course, the added cost to the price tag makes the client lean towards finding an open source solution.  Quite frankly, if one exists and is simple to use in a Windows server environment, I’m all for it.

I found FFMPEG and it looks like it can be compiled to run on Windows.  I’ve even found Windows executables.  I was just wondering if anyone knows of any current uses of FFMPEG that exist on the Windows platform that they can point me to so I can test out the performance.  Anyone?  Anyone?

After weeks of searching, trial registrations, research and mild frustration, I have finally settled on what I believe is the best online project management tool available online.  It’s called 5pm and it’s easily the most solid, most thorough and most surprisingly simple option.

I tried Basecamp for a while, mostly because it’s built on Ruby on Rails which I find to be a fascinating platform.  But Basecamp was overly simplistic for my needs and the authors seemed disinterested in expanding its capabilities.  In researching the options, I found that while Basecamp had a heavy user base, they also had a heavy base of unanswered complaints.  I ditched my account and moved on.

When I found 5pm, I found the screenshots of the interface were more along the lines of what I was searching for, and this was evident before I even signed in for the first time.  The 5pm pricing plans are in line with what their competitors are offering, so there wasn’t anything surprising there.  When I signed up for the free trial, I was pleased to find everything I had been looking for, from task management to reporting.  My clients can login and view screenshots that I upload, review their specifications and view progress.  It’s perfect.  So after a few hours in my trial, I decided 5pm was the winner and I purchased a subscription.

Check it out for yourself on the 5pm website.

So… After many weeks of pondering, I had a change of heart.  I decided I would give business another go.  I decided to start out small, targeting local businesses for logo design only, leaving web design as am upsell with lower priority.  The feelings of hesitance were rising.  I wasn’t digging it like I thought I would.  I had an ad published in a local magazine, so I began to worry that I was throwing money away.

Then it hit me.  It’s not that I’m not capable of being a business person anymore.  It’s that I simply don’t gravitate to the smaller, local jobs.  I mean, it’s one thing if they come to me and they like my service and pricing.  But breaking in to that market just isn’t for me.  It was the biggest barrier and most difficult part of operating 2Xtreme Media.  And when we finally got there, it was less than rewarding.  I liked the attention, but didn’t find the work challenging and didn’t find the pricing model suitable for a multiple partner business.  That’s it!  I’m just not going after the right clients.

So I changed.  I began looking for bigger fish.  I wanted to find people or companies in need of a higher level of service.  I went in search of people looking for more advanced level needs.  I scoured the internet for ads and answered them.  I cold-called.  I emailed.  And I got business.  Good business!  And I really like it.  And it’s earning me good money.

So I’m jumping in big time.  I’ve incorporated my business and I am contemplating new advertising methods.  I’m contacting old leads and letting them know I’m here.  I’m ready… finally!

I knew it was possible to read Excel files using ColdFusion because of your ability to extend java libraries and there are documented ways to do this with Java.  What I didn’t know was that a java library already ships with ColdFusion to do this.  And what I REALLY didn’t know is that someone wrote a CFC to easily and quickly do just that.

See it here.

I always hated the whole CSV conversion explanation (convert your Excel to CSV, then upload it so my lame parser can cut through it and choke on null columns and irritate me).  Not only does this let me parse Excel documents, but it’s easier to do this than any lame CSV conversion.  I love it!