Until now, I’ve been using a combination of MarketCircle’s "Billings2" application, and the Harvest web time tracking application. I had to use two apps because neither was capable of doing what I wanted by itself. Billings couldn’t handle a simple weekly time entry or summary. Harvest can’t track bills or anything but hours.

Yesterday I got fed up with the pain of keeping two systems in sync, and began looking for a new time and billing app. I’ve found what appears to be nearly my dream application in Cashboard.

(Note, this is not a paid review, and I won’t receive anything for the following almost 100% positive review.)

What it is

Cashboard is a Web 2.0 app for managing & billing project hours. It understands and handles smoothly:

• Multiple projects
• Multiple clients – including multiple projects-per-client
• Multiple employees or subcontractors – each can enter time, without an additional fee for each user.
• Clients who want to login and view hours – I can delegate access to them to view only their projects.
• Hour/Task estimates – with later analysis of the real time taken to that estimated
• Varying tasks. Each project can have custom tasks.
• Invoicing, it will generate invoices and allows you to apply payments to one or more invoices (which not even my accounting software does).
• Agreements with countersigning (I don’t use this, and don’t plan to do so). Basically this is a locked down estimate and Statement of Work, with recorded digital signatures.
• Weekly and summary timesheets.
• Flat-rate tasks, even alongside tasks which are hourly.
• Basecamp integration of projects and tasks.

Why I like it

There’s a lot to like. The feature list above is extensive, but it is also focused. It doesn’t try to take over my whole business, it just helps me match time to billing. That’s pleasant.

Also pleasant was the price. In Harvest, I was using the $9/month plan, but to go above 10 projects, I’d have needed to upgrade to $24/month. In Cashboard, I am paying $15/month and I’m not even half-using my available projects. Also, to have multiple users in Harvest, I’d have had to use the $40/month Business plan, but all Cashboard plans, even the free one allow multiple users.

What is even more pleasant is the ease of adding projects, time and tasks. I spent a total of 7 hours, loading in all 17 of my projects so far this year, and back-entering all hours for the entire year. It was boring, true, and it forced me to face the fact that I’d underbilled two clients due to synchronization problems in my old workflow.

But when I was done I got this incredible screen:

That screen told me so much about my business, my work, and my status. It also told me who needs billing and who needs me to get much more aggressive with about payment. I knew that before, but this screen shows it to me so much more clearly and in a way that promotes useful, efficient action.

What I don’t like

The system does let you apply downpayments or retainers without having to attach them to invoices. But it seems awkward, and it messes up the totals. For example, if a client pays me $1000 down, and I haven’t invoiced him yet, then my "amount uncollected" is decreased by $1000. For me, that seems to hide the negative balances of slow-paying customers. I’d rather it did not combine those downpayments.

Also, there is no way to partially invoice. I usually require 50% down to begin work on a project, and I can enter the flat-rates in my tasks on Cashboard, but I can’t bill for just the 50% down. If I invoice, I invoice the whole job and the remainder looks like an unpaid balance due, even if it is not *really* due yet, since I haven’t finished the job.

Lastly, during prime-time today, it seemed like the system was quite a bit more pokey than when I was entering most of my data last night. Harvest seemed much snappier, but then it was doing much less.

Conclusion

Cashboard is an invaluable tool for my business. It works the way I want it to work, and it gives me information not easily tracked in existing business workflows. I plan to be a long term user.

I give it a well-deserved 8 out of 10 rating. Cure those last functionality quibbles and I rate it a 10.

Descriptions and reasons why after the jump.

Currently reading

• “Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition” (Jay Abraham) – I basically bought this book because I wanted to see why Jay Abraham can command such incredibly high prices for his seminars and coaching programs. Now I see why. He’s incredibly incisive and has spent his life learning about sales and marketing. Very very good.
• “The Design of Sites: Patterns for Creating Winning Web Sites (2nd Edition)” (Douglas K. van Duyne, James A. Landay, Jason I. Hong) – A book to refer to or draw inspiration from when designing websites for clients. I haven’t gotten too far into it yet, but it sure is pretty.
• “Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition)” (Steve Krug) – Recommended by many designers I admire, I had to read it. Excellent, short, and achingly good. I am already applying concepts I learned from this gem.
• “Seven Secrets of Great Entrepreneurial Masters: The GEM Power Formula For Lifelong Success” (Allen E. Fishman) – An Entrepreneurial mindset book. So far nothing new for me, but I am doing the exercises anyway, to give it a fair shot.
• “Opportunity Investing: How To Profit When Stocks Advance, Stocks Decline, Inflation Runs Rampant, Prices Fall, Oil Prices Hit the Roof, … and Every Time in Between” (Gerald Appel) – The best book about investing in turbulent times (when are they not turbulent?) that I’ve ever read.
• “No B.S. Sales Success: The Ultimate No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners, Tough and Spirited Guide” (Dan Kennedy) – Dan is a curmudgeon, and I like curmudgeons. He’s also a brilliant salesman and has a lot to teach me. An easy read which bears rereading.
• “Time Management from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule and Your Life” (Julie Morgenstern) – I like Julie’s organizing book, so I picked this one up used. I haven’t started it yet.
• “Organizing from the Inside Out, second edition: The Foolproof System For Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life” (Julie Morgenstern) – An excellent system for organizing. Suggests making places for things near where you need them. The rest is details.
• “Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional’s Guide to Growing a Practice” (Alan Weiss) – Inspiring book about consulting rather than simply being and independent technician. I have so much to learn from this book.

Technorati Tags: reading

However, I’ve really outgrown him. I think he is wrong in his insistence that debt can never be used as a tool. But more importantly, I think he is psychologically and spiritually wrong to be so obsessively focused on debt. To really build wealth, you must be building toward something, not away from debt.

This quote summarizes my thoughts brilliantly well (italics mine):

It’s simple. Your field of focus determines what you find in life. Focus on opportunities and that’s what you find. Focus on obstacles and that’s what you find. I’m not saying that you don’t take care of problems. Of course, handle problems as they arise, in the present. But keep your eye on your goal, keep moving toward your target. Put your time and energy into creating what you want. When obstacles arise, handle them, then quickly refocus on your vision. You do not make your life about solving problems. You don’t spend all your time fighting fires. Those who do, move backward! You spend your time and energy in thought and deed, moving steadily forward, toward your goal.
–“Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” (T. Harv Eker)

Technorati Tags: eker, millionaire mind, millionairemind, debt, ramsey, dave ramsey, daveramsey

This summer, I took a break from my non-fiction diet, since a book I’d long been anticipating finally came out. I knew the first one was a cliffhanger, so I waited (years) until the second half of the story came out. Each is about 800 pages, so that was a lot to read! I thoroughly enjoyed both “Pandora’s Star” (Peter F. Hamilton) and “Judas Unchained” (Peter F. Hamilton)

This month

On my coffee table this month are:

• “Think And Grow Rich! The Original Version, Restored and Revised” (Napoleon Hill) – Excellent, classic money self-help book.
• “The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less” (Mark Joyner) – A great, easy to read, book on marketing and positioning.
• “Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman” (Yvon Chouinard) – The Patagonia story.
• “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” (Susan Jeffers) – An anti-procrastination book. I’m not that much a procrastinator, but I could use a bit of help to get rid of the last remnants of my old habit.
• “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth” (T. Harv Eker) – He’s an extremely good and motivating speaker. I’ve been listening to a recording of his Millionaire Intensive Weekend seminar, and that made me want to buy and read this book.

• “CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions” (Andy Budd, Simon Collison, Cameron Moll) – This book is helping me take my CSS skills to the next level.
• “Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling” (Michael Port) – encouraging, readable book on how to approach a service business to stay happy and “booked solid” with business.
• “Meditation in a New York Minute: Super Calm for the Super Busy” (Mark Thornton) – A breezy meditation book, fun and straightforward.
• “Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy Every Time” (Maria Veloso) – Demystifies the process of creating web copy for me, and makes it a step-by-step formula.

Technorati Tags: virtual coffee table, reading list

At least, that’s what I’ve been thinking about for the last few months as I’ve worked toward launching my first real business. There was so much more inertia, paperwork, learning, and personal growth to do than I had ever anticipated. I think that’s the key.

By starting a well-structured business and having it ready to handle the realities of taking orders, handling money, and doing taxes, I have placed myself in a position where I can take advantage of opportunity. After doing all this work, I find myself in awe of people who seem to simply catch a tiger by the tail and go on to make millions without planning. I know that I couldn’t do that, not without going insane with stress, unless I first had the proper structure in place.

Luckily I do have that now.

It was Loral Langemeier, in her book “The Millionaire Maker, who first put this idea in my head.

Our goal is to take those skills and gifts you have and put you in immediate action so that you can learn a whole new skillset, that of running your own business. Then, when you do become wealthy, you will have the business skills – marketing, sales, operations, management, and so forth – to run your life, which will look a lot like a business, and to create a business for any widget that winds its way out of your brain.
P.99, Millionaire Maker

I’ve preordered Loral’s next book,
The Millionaire Maker’s Guide to Wealth Cycle Investing,
which should be out next week. It is going to vault to the head of my reading list! Her first book was one of the two or three most influential books I’ve read in the last year, and I expect the second to be even better.

Technorati Tags: langemeier, business, business skills, entrepreneur

This month, my “actively reading” list is:

• “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness : Walking the Buddha’s Path” (Bhante Henepola Gunaratana)
• “The 48 Laws of Power” (Robert Greene)
• “iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business” (Jeffrey S. Young, William L. Simon)
• “Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy Every Time” (Maria Veloso)
• “The Irresistible Offer : How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less” (Mark Joyner)
• “Grow Rich! : With Peace of Mind” (Napoleon Hill) – One of the most recommended self-help books of all time, a great grandaddy of them all. It is worthy of all that praise, in my opinion.
• “Pandora’s Star” (Peter F. Hamilton)
• “Deadhouse Gates : Book Two of The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Malazan Book of the Fallen)” (Steven Erikson)

From audible, I am listening to:

• “The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living” (Joseph M. Marshall III)