Billing

One thing I have a hard time with is getting my invoices to my clients. On one hand, sure I can keep a spreadsheet in Google Docs that I spent 2 hours at Starbucks working on a mini website for Joe the Plumber -- but how do I turn that two hours into $50?

So I've hooked up with Harvest; it does time tracking, expense reporting and invoicing. All in one. And the price, twelve bucks a month, is great. I don't need more than the Solo plan.

Although, if I can figure out how to get Ted (I met him on LinkedIn) to handle some of my design problems, I can use Ring Central to send some of the phone calls to him, and then use him like a subcontractor and pay him for design.

Yes, that would be good. Just gotta get my workflow right, and then start paying him when my clients pay me. That's a terrific idea!

Business Cards

After I got that Virtual PBX, I figured I'd better get some business cards with my new number. So I signed up with VistaPrint and ordered them. They were cheap, which is good because this coffee is not. But drinking the coffee here gives me permission to suck on their wireless internet.

They should be here in a few days. In the mean time, I'm putting some posts up on Craigslist and building a little website to show some code samples and some client testimonials. I've set up a filter for callers; "Dial 1 to hear my services. Press 2 to leave a message. If your my mother, press 3." And I'm setting up a LLC. Everyone should have a LLC. You too.

A lead!

Someone got through on my Ring Central line! And they've offered me a contract; $500 for building a little mobile site for them. Fantastic! Probably about 20 hours of work, testing it on all those little devices. I hope I can find enough emulators; my budget won't stretch far enough for real handhelds. But I can look at it on my iPhone.

That's, uh, my car payment and the visa, and the natural gas bill! Wow, this virtual PBX thing just paid for itself.

I'm excited to get this done. I'll talk to you tomorrow!