Quasi-Evil

Posts Tagged ‘project management’

ESPs, CRMs, SFAs, Oh My

I’m starting a new business. I’ve started businesses before but not like this, this is my baby, there’s nobody else involved except very soon, a whole bunch of customers and consumers. I am starting a community magazine for families. It will be funded by advertising and thus free for the consumers. So I’ve been looking for software and man, is that complicated. I want one or more programmes to handle the following:

• Database of possible advertisers – so sales leads basically which I can then convert when I start selling space.
• Database of possible distribution locations – again sort of sales leads although there’ll be no money involved here.
• Advertising sales manager – which from rigorous searching seems to be either a specialist Contact/Customer Relationship Manager or a Sales Force Automation tool or some other things that get shortened to three-letter acronyms. Unfortunately the ones aimed at print publishing seem to cost an absolute fortune.
• Accounting software with invoicing capability and preferably some kind of integration with my advertising database.
• Project management software – for handling copy deadlines, print deadlines, etc.

And you know what else can do all that stuff? A spreadsheet.

Whilst I eventually want some software with a few bells and whistles, I’ve so far wasted about 10 hours looking for it (not counting the Project Management software – I’ve been trying to find my favourite one of those for three years). So for now, it’s all going in a spreadsheet. A Google Spreadsheet in fact. With that clever form building thing they’ve got going on for idiots like me that don’t understand spreadsheets.

Here goes.

Organisation Rediscovered

I appear to have rediscovered my old organised, productive pre-Scarlett self. I didn’t want to say anything too soon in case I jinxed it but then when I was tagging all my old posts, I realised that far too many of them are filled with worry over my procrastinating ways and I thought it might do me good to focus on the positive. So I am:

1. University is going well. I’m currently acheiving a very solid First and though it’s early days, there’s not many other people managing it so it’s something to be proud of especially with the current workload. Of course, now I’ve got a website, an event budget, a presentation, a PR plan, market research pilot study, an outdoor event plan and an updated portfolio all due within the next two weeks. I’m on it.
2. Scarlett is still the best baby ever. She’s a little angel, everyone adores her, she’s super well-behaved, has progressed to talking in sentences (mostly “Where are you? I am here.” and “In the Night Garden.” and “Can I have milk….than-q.”) and I’ll stop now.
3. Conventions are mostly in line. I’ve got an online committee meeting for Discworld Con 2008 later today (and I haven’t been to bed yet, oh well), a whole lot of planning to do for LX 2009 (I don’t know why I don’t just stick it all in a Project Manager, for some reason I feel like I shouldn’t use project management software for SF cons and then it all takes three times as long as it should), a possible proposal to produce for a conference and a couple of bits for an as-yet-unannounced con in 2009.

So that’s me being positive. It feels good.