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.

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?

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.

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!

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!

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15851207/detail.html

That’s quality news right there!

Well, my dogs pee all over it, resulting in dead spots.  So I watched with great interest when one of those tacky infomercials came on talking about a product called PatchPerfect.  And I was sold!  I bought it… It’ll be here in 4 to 6 weeks.

I’ll let you know how it goes… but if you care to try it yourself in the meantime, here it is: http://www.patchperfect.com

I’m just shocked that it all cost so much considering how much of this can be found online at no cost!

At any rate, Verdana and Arial were my plain, boring fonts of choice.  Default fonts in styles in applications like WordPress go beyond that as you can plainly see.  But compatibility is important… the user browsing the site needs to have those fonts installed on their computer to see it the way you intend, so that limits the pool of choices.

If you can point me to some good examples of use of different fonts in Web 2.0 style designs, that would be cool.

So far, I’ve found a lot of stuff available for project management and tracking milestones and tasks, gantt charts and other things I don’t necessarily care about.  I’m trying to avoid writing something since time constraints are an issue.

My search phrases have been “web based project management”, “creative project management tool”, “web design project management”, “web design collaboration” and so on…  Of course, I’m open to suggestions!