 |  |  |  |
| Product Info | | | About Us | Resources | FAQs | | | Free Demo | | | Purchase | | | Contact Us | | | Site Map | | | TimeFox Login |
| Articles | | | Productivity Tools | | | About Time Newsletter |
 |  |
   |
Growing Pains
Balancing Your Business How many clients should you serve? In what categories? And where? Three consultants who work exclusively with creative firms offer advice to help you develop the ideal client mix for your business... more Will this Year be Any Different? It may be too ambitious to plan how you want next year to be different from this one. Sentimental resolutions have expiration dates stamped all over them. And long, involved business plans leave no energy for implementation!... more A Dozen Common Mistakes The reason firms fail is not creativity, location, or the marketplace. It's management ability. Your firm is a direct reflection of you, and you must take responsibility for it. Here are the most common 12 mistakes we see creative service firms make... more Common Struggles in Firms Using a database of 280 + firms in 84 different metropolitan areas across North America, what are the three things that these principals struggle with the most? You might recognize yourself... more In This Industry, Being Proactive Is Necessary In today's design world, things get so incredibly busy and hectic that it's difficult to concentrate on anything except the next deadline for your active clients. However, in order to stay competitive, you need to find time to look at new products, new design and marketing trends and new methods of business... more Curing What Ails Us Let's face it: You only have clients because you haven't yet figured out how to do your work without them. You live for your work and crave the outlet it provides for your creativity. There are several reasons why it's dangerous to expect too much creative stimulation from your work... more Working Smart in a Virtual Age It's important to find the most effective methods for communicating clearly with those at the office. Following are some of the most common mistakes people make when working off-site and how to avoid them... more What You'll Need to Worry about in the Near Future If you've had your head down just getting things done, you may not have realized how well advertising, design, public relations, and interactive firms are doing these days. With very few exceptions, principals are finally getting back to the point where they can be pickier about what clients they work for. more The Value of Tracking Time Achieving Timekeeping Compliance in a Marketing Firm This article offers suggestions on effective timekeeping compliance, and why should you track time in the first place? There are endless details in a good timekeeping policy, but here are some of the basics. more Billing What You Quote "I don't need to track my time because I always bill what I quote". Lots of creative companies feel this way... more Cutting Costs in Your Small Business Do you know where to start? You know when something big goes wrong in your business when a contract isn't renewed, or a product line doesn't sell. But not every business owner... more So How do You Use TimeFox, Anyway? You know how to use timesheets - fill them out, hand them in, explain why it took you so long, and then forget them. But what do you do with a web-based time tracking system?... more Managing to make a profit Building a successful small marketing company means you've got to be good at a lot of things -- strategic planning, market and trend analysis, creative problem-solving, client relations and team motivation... more Procrastination Finding ways to reduce procrastination throughout your company will have a direct, beneficial impact on both productivity and profitability... more Reduce Stress - How to manage stress in the workplace! We've all been stressed out at work or know someone that is. Whether it's the pressure to do more, take on extra jobs, added responsibility, or working long hours on a project that's due - we've all felt the heaviness of stress. If you're feeling the pressure, you're not alone! We all need to find ways to reduce stress so that the workplace can be more efficient and productive... more The Value of Relationships What's love got to do with it? A designer's guide to relationships. Before you get carried away with self-congratulations, remember that the love you feel when you pick up your perfect printed piece is probably the result of some serious relationship work with your printer and your paper rep. And the more you put into those relationships, the better chance you have of opening more packages of perfect printing... more Making the Perfect Pitch New-business presentations are the make-or-break opportunity to win clients, but many creatives lack the skills to deliver great pitches. Three pros identify the pitfalls and share the secrets of winning in the boardroom... more A Call to Arms: Twelve Proclamations of a Win Without Pitching Agency What if rethinking your methods of getting new business could actually help you to win more business, better business? Do you think it might be possible to quit pitching and actually win more business, even while your competitors continue to free pitch? more Be Your Client's Best Friend How do you keep established clients from defecting to cheaper firms? Simple: Become the essential partner your clients can't live without. A veteran designer and a management consultant offer eight tips on staying connected... more Building Business by Building Community "Ultimately, the success of business is linked to the prosperity and stability of the society that hosts it." Bob Dunn, CEO Levi Strauss... more 10 Things You Must Understand About Your Prospects Your prospects need you. Your prospects want to look good. Your prospects may not know what they need... more Creating a Winning Portfolio As any marketing pro will tell you, packaging counts. And that's especially true when it comes to your portfolio. Although creating a strong book may seem like a daunting process, it doesn't have to be. Here are 10 steps to get you on your way. more How Green is the Grass at Your Company? Is retaining valuable team members, finding better ways to reward, motivate and inspire your creative team important? This article features ways to boost team morale and retain your most important commodity! more Culture Shock Are you getting the most out of your team? Does everyone enjoy coming to work? The only way to find out is to ask, but you may be shocked at what you hear. more Staffing Decisions With the Greatest Impact on Clients Your clients care more about how the work is managed and delivered than the work itself. Nearly every mistake you'll make in structuring roles at your firm will relate in some way to how you handle the coordinating of the work you do and the interfacing between the firm and your client. These employees are the core of what clients value and notice... more Additional Resources What is an "ASP"? An Application Service Provider is a company that creates a subscription based software service. For a fee (usually monthly or yearly) the ASP provides secure access to critical operations and management software over the Internet. There are several ways that ASPs out-perform traditional software... more The Strategic Edge Strategic thinking may be the sharpest design tool in your arsenal. The principals of DesignMatters tell you how to hone it and keep yourself a cut above the competition... more Work Smarter: New Opportunities with Internet Market Research Ranking highly in search results is extremely effective in ensuring that potential customers will find you at the most opportune time within the buying cycle – when they are ready to learn, compare, and of course, buy! This is critical to any organization with an online presence... more Advertising as we know it, is dead If traditional advertising isn't dead, it's certainly on its deathbed. The Open Source economy is quickly replacing and will continue to replace traditional advertising methods. Open Source is a term that first described a software revolution, i.e. Linux. The term has now evolved into any open forum in which the general public can contribute to the greater public knowledge base. Open Source opinions are affecting everything from buying decisions to political public opinions. Agencies that do not adjust to these changes will whither and die along side their 30-second television commercial. more Put Your Funny Bone to Work Go ahead and laugh. Your sense of humor can enhance your career prospects and build camaraderie with your colleagues. In a Creative Group survey of advertising executives, 97% ranked a sense of humor important in reaching senior management levels–and more than half said they consider humor very important. more |
Understanding the Numbers
How Do You Determine Pricing? Common questions that many creative professionals ask with regards to pricing: How do you determine pricing in your company? When do you raise your rates? What is your target Billable Efficiency, and how do you come up with those numbers? more Stop Giving Away Your Time (Guidelines on how to close the billing efficiency gap) How much are you giving away to clients because of the omissions and "guesstimates" of time spent on the project? Do you question what can be charged back to the client, write off an hour spent on a project because you like your client or don't want to be seen as a penny pincher? Would you like to stop "subsidizing" clients at a personal expense to your quality of life? more Six steps to pricing your services well Are your prices too high? Too low? Do you know? You want pricing to be competitive so clients will use your service, but you don't want to leave money on the table. Here's how: ... more Agency Check-up: How are you doing? Below are some basic figures that will help you determine if your agency is "in the pink" or "feeling poorly". On average, agency gross income (billings minus direct costs ) should be around 30% of total non-capitalized billings... more Bill with Markup The Average agency markup for a $1000 outside buy is $223. The average agency earnings for a $1,000 outside buy, if the agency charges for hours spent in supervision instead of taking markup, is $122!... more Results based Compensation Get paid for results. Clients respect agencies who are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Being paid on results is an idea whose time has come... more Blended Rates The secret to making money on blended rates is to get the client to agree to a satisfactory blended rate. This is in most cases, lower than the rate normally billed by top management, but higher than the rate normally billed by other staff members... more Progress Bill Progress billing means you bill the client for work completed on a monthly basis whether the project is completed or not... more Half-Year Check-Up I have always recommended you conduct a half-year agency financial review. By this I don't mean a cursory look at financials, but a complete study along with appropriate adjustments... more Cashflow vs Profitability The first step toward an improved business environment is stepping out of denial with a deep sigh of relief as you begin to use new found energy to fix the problems instead of mask them. We all have ways of talking about specific situations that make them a bit more palatable... more How Professionals Negotiate Price Pricing is one of the most complex and grueling aspects of the design and illustration business. You can read the books and go to the seminars, but at some point you have to talk to clients. We asked creative professionals what price-negotiating techniques work for them and how they find common ground with clients and agree to a price. Whether you are an experienced professional or just starting out, these tips and techniques will give you a much better grip on pricing and the negotiation process... more Creating a Capital-Budget Tool The decisions you make regarding the acquisition of assets are a key component of your company's success. When it comes to capital expenditures, poor decisions will usually cause a drain on productivity—and can dearly cost a company on the bottom line. Conversely, good buying decisions can propel sales and productivity upward, thus creating profits and positive cash flow... more Get What You (Don't) Pay For Pro bono work is a two-way street. Here's how to get the most out of your partnership, no matter which side you're on... more How Much is Your Time Worth? Designers spend an inordinate amount of time fretting over how much to charge. But there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to pricing. It's all completely subjective and dependent on a wide variety of factors, including what the market will bear, geographic location, timing, aggravation factor (or lack thereof) and your level of desperation (hopefully low to non-existent), just to name a few. more The Value of Management The Key to Success at Work? Identify Who's Next in Line Between fielding client calls, managing a team of eight and strategizing on your firm's new advertising campaign, you barely have time to accomplish your day-to-day work, much less consider your replacement. Doing so, however, is key to your long-term success. In a nationwide survey by our company, 100% of executives polled said it is valuable for a manager to identify and groom a successor at work. The majority—72%—said they're currently training someone to take their place... more Are You a Micromanager? If you believe that in order to get the job done right you should do it yourself, you may be a micromanager. If you do the work you hired others to do, you may be a micromanager. If you consistently do routine tasks instead of letting others do them, you may be a micromanager. If any of these symptoms describe you, then you are probably a micromanager. If any of these symptoms describe you, then you are probably a micromanager. It is also likely that your business is desperately reliant upon you for survival and that you are trapped by your business... more Micromanagement: Whose Fault is it Anyway? Challenging managers come in all different shapes and sizes: those who pile on too much work and those who don't provide enough information, for example. But the bane of a highly capable employee's existence are supervisors who micromanage. For an experienced designer, it can be frustrating to work for someone who constantly looks over your shoulder... more Profit-Based Management Environment Many firms suffer from a management environment that has been shaped more by client demand than by careful planning. Ultimately client demands are an inevitable force in shaping the delivery of services, but even clients are not well served with lack of planning, in spite of the appearance (and sometimes reality) that the client is running the firm from the outside... more Handling Capacity Too many times our clients have called and said something like: "We are so busy, it looks like it's time to add someone. Can you help us think through the right person to add, and how their role should be structured?" We usually back up and say: "Let's walk through whether you really need someone. First, why are you adding someone?" ... more |
| Timesheet Software | Time Tracking Software | Project Management Software | Estimating Software | Contact Management Software | Employee Time Tracking Software |