Who Needs Control?

Everyone needs a sense of control, stability, and sanity to your business. I’ve been using a multitude of programs lately in an attempt to wrangle my business functions and to be honest there is so much out there that work okay but nothing that really worked great for me.

What Was I Looking For?

The software had to handle contacts (not my Address Book but my business contacts), businesses, appointments, projects, opportunities (sales), tasks, calendar, and miscellaneous notes. Also, I wanted something that could interface with my email as that is where the majority of where I spend my life when I’m not actually working.

What Did I Find?

After looking through dozens of applications I decided to use one that integrates with my billing software, Billings 3, made by MarketCircle. They have a great application called Daylite, if you haven’t checked it out you should. I had downloaded it before but never really got to using it because it always seemed disjointed from the way I work. Basically, I had to change the way I work to work with it and I always hate doing that with software.

What Did I Do?

I did what everyone does only years later after struggling through use of a great software, I read the user guides. To be honest I rarely do it because most user guides are so very simply telling you where the menu is and to be honest, I’m not that dumb. Well, I guess I was. But regardless of that, I found their Concepts Guide and that was very helpful. Obviously it told me what was what but it went into short detail about how one would use each feature and how implementing the way you work into the software can help you really find the power in the software.

So I Set It Up

I took a trial copy I had downloaded before and installed it clean and began setting it up to run my business. You can import any of your contacts out of your Address Book via vCard. Getting everything set up was pretty simple. Then I installed the Daylite Mail Integration module, this is where things got fun!

What’s So Cool About DMI?

The Daylite Mail Integration module hooks into Apple Mail application so easily it’s amazing! Now I know many of you run from Apple’s Mail application and I get it because you use Gmail or something cool like that. Well, I use Gmail for our business, you know the free one that you can get your domain hooked up to? If you read a little and follow Google’s instructions on how to successfully set up Mail for use of a Gmail account whether for your @gmail.com or @yourdomain.com you’ll find that Mail works wonderfully.

But enough of Gmail for now, back to DMI. You can toggle the DMI module by pressing control+7 and a little window slides out from the left side of Mail. As you click on each one of your contacts the window will change. If that client, employee, vendor, etc. is not in the database it will ask you if you want to add them, just a button, not a pop-up. If they are already in the database, it will show you a check box that you click to add the email to the database as a note. You can also choose to take the attachment with it or strip it out of the email. The DMI is really helpful when you are tracking projects in which your primary communication is through email.

Overall

This software works very well if you setup it up right from the start, they warn you about just using it and trying to change the way you work mid-way through. Mainly because it will break your reporting, to me reporting is very important so I decided to take the little time needed and set it up right. There are some huge benefits of the software that can help every business but one downside that I can’t stand, I know it’s petty, but for the company that makes Billings 3 (which is beautiful), Daylite is just okay looking. I’ve seen worse but they have a standard that they set themselves. One of the best features I look forward to is the iPhone integration which from their blog seems to be right on track.

One More Thing

They have this additional module called Daylite Delivery which in their words

…You can share andschedule PDF reports for automatic delivery to your inbox. And because the reports are delivered via email, you’ll receive them wherever you are. They’ll also look great on your iPhone. There is no need to worry about being in front of the computer, schedule it once on the server and forget it.

I haven’t used this feature but when you are always out and about it would be nice to have the reports in your mailbox every morning. This feature would be very powerful for firms who are not in one geographical location or a firm who is always in and out of the office.

Daylite Shines On Your Business

I really look forward to the next thirty days while I use this software, good things can happen when you have your business under control. Having your business tamed will help you keep your business mind like water allowing you to be productive, effective, and hopefully really, really profitable.

Did I Mention GTD?

If you’re a Getting Things Done nut like almost everyone these days you should know that they have a guide to help you setup Daylite to match GTD practices. This was a big seller for me as I use Things (which is the best program by far that I’ve used for GTD) but it is just not enough, it lacks so much on the “everything else I do” factor. I might begin to slowly transfer over to using Daylite as my GTD trusted system. 

Why do we buy the things we do?

Look around you and choose a few things you’ve purchased 5 years ago, 2 years ago, 6 months ago, and this week. Why did you buy? This is a series attempting to dig into the why behind our actions.

Brands often influence our purchasing decisions, hell, sometimes they down right make them for us. When did a brand become such a deciding factor? Does buying due to a brand mean you bought based on their clout? Or is it the history of the brand? The reliability, quality of the brand?

As I thought about these questions myself I began to find that with some items I buy I could care less about brand and others I wouldn’t sway away from. Take table salt, picture frames, file folders, envelopes, mousepads, legal pads, checks; all I don’t care about brand, I care about functionality and could value. But now take computers, pens, watches, kitchen knives, hot sauce; I care very much about brand. Why is that I thought? Well, I would like to think to myself that I don’t buy brand name items simply because a certain name is on it but it brings up a interesting conjecture. Do I buy my brand names because I’ve used them and have found success with them, meaning I’ve found quality, usefulness, and value in it therefore I will purchase from that brand. Should that brand release a new product am I more inclined to purchase from them because I use other products from the same brand?

Take why I love Apple computers, the software is great, they work great for the industries I operate in which are all creative. Also, I like to work closely with applications that integrate smoothly together, Apple provides that very well. Does that mean that Apple makes the best hardware? Not at all, the fact is I can purchase a stronger, faster notebook for far cheaper from another vendor than Apple would. But does cheaper mean best value? I think not. I think Apple executes that aspect very well. But just because I enjoy Apple notebooks does that mean I will buy other product lines solely on the Apple name because they’ve been good to me so far? I think not, I know for certain that I will definitely give them a look and a shot for my business before anyone else but does it mean I will attempt to pick up everything they sell just because they have proven themselves on one product I use.

So I think products are quite easy to run this type of qualitative comparison against but are services so easy? Sometimes I think. Say insurance, you’re mandated by law to have certain insurance lines, that being said who is better? Lower price, larger reserves, quicker response, how do you choose? Many times you won’t know all the key factors until you really need the service. That being said do you trust a brand? How do you find implicit trust in a company when your only interaction with them is a passive ad on the television or website.

Quality, value, offerings; all valid items to consider but can you remove them when considering a brand to purchase or are they too intertwined?

Can you decide if you wish to buy a brand without considering price, quality, reviews, customer service, utility, appearance, status, environmental impact? Or is this what makes a brand?

If that’s the case then how do we apply this thought process to what we sell? Instead of fancy marketing (which helps immensely when selling) maybe we should be interested in these other facets of our company and the products we offer. Maybe we have a great product but our customer service is weak, does that affect our brand? What do we consider our brand? The internal, mental conception of our external reality relating to our products? Would we consider a brand regardless of quality solely for a status that we relate to a brand?

I ask these questions because the psychology of brand is so important in todays culture and how we shape our brand (your product, service, or yourself) is of great significance. How will others, customers, vendors see our brands? Some might think that brands don’t matter because you purchase generics because brand names are over-rated. But if you look at your life and the things you’ve purchased I think you’ll find that you’ve purchased brand name items for a reason. Cheap is not always the answer. In fact, I would say cost is rarely the only answer, it is a part, a big part. The fact though that one would actually spend more money on another option when a cheaper one is clearly available shows that brands matter to us just as much as air does to our lungs.

How connected are you to brands? What are you doing to improve your brand?

I had a meeting with one of my client’s employees and he seemed to only focus on delivering new features and working out stability as time goes by.

It brought up an interesting point while attempting to deliver your product to your customer. Where do you draw the lines? When you release new features do you release them so your customers have the newest, coolest feature or do you wait until they are fully stable. Obviously, I think most people would go for reliable, cool features but at what cost? How long will that take to release some new feature fully stable? So, then a company must decide what the consumer tolerance is. How long will a consumer deal with a poorly released feature?

Take a page from Apple’s playbook recently, they released the iPhone 3G with software and features that weren’t ready for primetime. They hedged those concerns by limiting supply and allowed consumers to waddle in a pool of core features that did not work well. Dropped phone calls and browsing your Contacts worked when it seemed like it felt like it. It was a good thing that you never call people or need to find their information on your PHONE. But what was Apple to do? They had to please consumers and shareholders by releasing new features over stability. However, how long would it take if Apple waited for a complete stable iPhone? A few months after they release of the iPhone 3G and stability was just now promised today!

However, that being said I don’t believe many consumers or shareholders want a company to wait, they want to move product.

How would you suggest companies balance this out?

You know those times when life is pleasant, easy-going, listless, bountiful, absolutely and resoundingly happy? Well, this week has been far from that pipe dream of hopeful cheer. What could be so bad you ask? Why are you a little down this week? Why do you look like you’ve aged to a grim reaping age of 28? (I’m 25)

Well let me list it for you:

1. DS3 died (First time ever it went down)
2. Lost footage
3. Memory went bad in iMac
4. Server hard drive stopped working
5. Video camera broke (Didn’t break the lens but the CCD board is gone, which means we need a new camera)
6. Hard drive recorder broke (May have lost more footage)
7. No good movies came out this week (I guess that one has nothing to do with me)

So with my ever so shining martyr-like personality (not really) itching to tell the world that if you were thinking about asking me to head to Vegas with you to help you play 5-Card Draw in the High Stakes room; I would have to respectfully, ever most eloquently decline with pride in tact as my luck has seem to have ran out and over-drawn my “Good Karma” account.

However, before you buy a plane ticket to come be my saving grace I would recommend you stop and think of those actions. I would not advise coming with any electronics, trinkets, nicknack’s, grandmothers, watches or pace makers. It could be lethal for you, well, maybe not lethal but definitely hazardous to your technological well being, which in my industry is really your life.

So it is now that I sit and reflect upon my actions, my hopes, my dreams, defeats and I ponder. Will I make it through? Of course, I’m stubborn, driven, an over-achiever and just plain committed to overcoming adversity with utter-most dignity.

So I raise my glass (there’s nothing in my hand) and embrace this menial setback with prudence, humility and ambition. The good thing about Karma is that when it swings bad one day, it can and most likely will swing great the next.

(Disclosure: I’m not sure if I believe in Karma but it fit the theme of the post rather well)

I like CES, it is a place for geeks of all kinds to gather, awe, buy, sell, be surprised and/or be utterly disappointed. We (GIMP) booth at CES because it helps our business, as many times as I’ve been told that boothing at CES is not only a waste of time but a waste of money, I can’t help but think they are wrong. We get the majority of our business contacts, deals and empty promises from CES. It is one of the longest weeks we have amongst the tradeshow circuit we hit. We arrive on Sunday and leave on Thursday night or Friday morning. When we get home I don’t know how many people want to know how it went and what new deals we came back with. After talking non-stop for a week straight, telling I don’t know how many thousands of people what we did, giving that damn pitch so many times it makes you loath it by the end of the week.

I spoke with many people saying that they are going to opt out of CES for 2009 and focus more on MacWorld as they feel more innovation is coming out of the Apple arena than any other industry. I have to say that I slightly disagree with that, most people love Apple because it’s pretty and sleek. Apple fully accomplishes that with every product/software release, they excitingly astonish everyone every time. There is innovation at CES but other companies do not market effectively or show off how amazing their product really is.

One word of advice to those speaking with exhibitors, don’t argue with them on why they chose the spot they did, or why podcasting is dead or why new media isn’t podcasting or how you can only think of some weird sexual character in a Tarantino flick when you see our company name. We don’t care why you think whether our spot is good or bad, what you think about podcasting vs. new media or how GIMP only reminds you of Pulp Fiction. This isn’t to say we don’t care about what you think but at a show where we are talking continuously for five days please don’t make me talk to you hurting my throat on a useless conversation.

When we booth at any tradeshow we feel it is only necessary to go talk to your neighbors and see how they are doing and if there is anyway we can help them. It always helps your cause when lost people always find your booth from a neighboring exhibitor because they knowledgeable about what you do. We also make sure to return that favor as well. It is important to truly listen and help people. Business will come to you if you are helpful and a resource. We had some tradeshow newbies by us and they were always coming over asking questions. It was of no bother and we were glad to help them out. Many times large shows like that can be confusing because the amount of paperwork you receive every morning, badge issues and worst of all shipping issues. One of the newbies shipped something to arrive on Monday, it did not arrive until 3 hours before closing Thursday. It was a hard lesson to learn, they became bitter and angry and began to resent coming to CES saying they got nothing by exhibiting.

I feel often it is important that you are able to make your connections/deals without the use of literature, presentations, products, etc. It is YOU that sells anyone on what you do, not your tri-fold!

Overall, I feel CES worked very well for us, however, that being said we may choose a different section to be in as the Podcasting TechZone only had 2 other companies representing besides us. 2008 will really be the test to see how well CES 2008 worked for us.

What do you think about tradeshows? What makes them successful for exhibitors? How do you measure success?